Category: Riding

Work On Horse Basics When It Is Too Cold To Ride

Winter weather is like a bad cold. Once you get it, it seems like you just can’t get rid of it. My area had a tatse of spring this week, sunny, 80 degrees, light wind and then WWHHAAAMAMM . . . winter was right back. Cloudy 20 degree weather with wind chills in the single digits. BBBrrrrrr!!!!

I have never really let cold weather stop me from riding. What stops me from riding is the cut to the bone wind chill. I could probably ride a short while before my face freezes off, but is it worth it? If the frigid wind sucks the breath right out of your lungs, isn’t it doing the same to your horse? I’m not at a facility that has a heated enclosed arena. So on those extremely cold late winter days, I find other ways to keep me and my horse tuned up.

How? By doing some ground work. You don’t need much space and it doesn’t take a lot time to show some results. If there is a nice open space, the south side of the barn provides a nice wind break. You can teach your horse to give his head, move laterally or do a light longe workout. You could start teaching him to spin on his forehand or on his haunches.

Taking time to refresh the basics is always a good investment of your time with your horse.

February 28, 2009 By Dara In Beginners, Riding No Comment

Attitude Is Everything

Attitude Is Everything . . Choose A Good One

This plaque was hanging at the entrance to the holding pen for a horse show. Every exhibitor walked or rode past it every time they entered for their next class. Most acknowledged the importance of the message.

To me, this means I should have a winning attitude. Knowing I have done my best to prepare both me and my horse, I come out a winner even if I don’t place in class. I treat my horse with the respect that he deserves. I take responsiblity for the mistakes that are made. I don’t blame my horse for every missed cue. I try to ride with a gentle hand, a quiet leg and a soft seat. I’ve found that this gets better results even if my horse is having a bad day. I try to be polite, courteous and pleasant to all around me. Good manners should not be lost in the horse world. I arrive a little early. I offer my help if needed. Finally, I have fun!

Attitude Is Everything . . Choose A Good One

What does this mean to you? I encourage you to leave a comment.

August 7, 2008 By Dara In Beginners, Dressage, English, Horse Shows, Jumping, Lessons, Riding, Western 2 Comments

Come See The Palomino Youth World Show

Palomino Horse in Driving Rig The Palomino Youth World Show is now in full swing. If you live in the Tulsa Oklahoma area, THIS IS A MUST SEE!!!! No where else can you see so many beautiful golden horses in one place. No where else can you see so many different variations of the golden horse. Whether you like trail, English, Western or Halter, there is a class that will catch your attention. Come out to the Tulsa fairgrounds and see the kids guide these horses around the arena and put them through their paces. Go to www.palominohba.com for a tentative show schedule.
There’s no excuse, it’s free admission!

July 16, 2008 By Dara In English, Horse Shows, Riding, Trailer, Western No Comment

Secure Those Stall Doors

Even though Iggette is gone now, she still has lessons to teach. Let’s talk about securing the stall door & gates. Most people look at the latch on any typical stall and wonder how in the world can a horse open it. Well let me tell you, Iggette was quite an escape artist. She learned this little feat while at the first stable and continued it at other stables.

The small pasture I originally put Iggette in just didn’t work out as planned. She was the only horse there and horses just don’t fair well by themselves. So I moved her to a shed row with 3 large paddocks and each paddock was shared by 4 stalls. Everyone who had stalls here rotated paddock time. Iggette had other horses to visit and a mare next to her. I felt like I had her in a pretty safe place. The stall was big, it was in good condition, the stall door was a partial door so that she could stick her head out and socialize and the paddock was secure. The stall & paddock gate had “horse-proof” latches, so I knew she would be safe.

I’m one of those anal types when it comes to checking & rechecking for closed & locked doors. When I left everyday, I must have checked the stall door 5 times, the feed room door 10 times and the paddock gate 20 times. I absolutely wanted to make sure that my horse came to no harm through my carelessness. Can you imagine the shock I felt one day when one of my friends called me at work to say my horse was out. Not just out of her stall, not out of the paddock, but out in the open field!!!! This field had no fence and it was only a few yards from a busy street. I rushed from worked to the stable. As I drove up the long driveway, I saw my friend out in the pasture trying to coax Iggette AND her friend to come to her. I went to the tack room and got a bucket of grain. If Iggette was anything, she was a chow hound. I just knew she would come to me with this temptation. To my surprise, Iggette thought much more of her freedom at the time than what her belly would normally tell her. Everytime I got near her, she would turn tail & sprint off in the opposite direction. Remember I told she was hard to catch and she was certainly living up to that on this day.

I talked with my friend while trying to catch up with these two. She told me she didn’t know how they got out. She came out to feed her horse which was in the paddock next to mine. She noticed that my horse was not anywhere to be found. She looked for her and just happened to catch a glimpse of her through an alleyway between our shedrow and the one behind us. That’s when she called me. Since we weren’t having much luck trying to catch them, we changed out tactics. We decided to try to herd them into a semi-enclosed area. There at least, we might have a chance putting a halter on them. Funny how things work out. Iggette led us right into the alleyway and actually caught herself. I was quick to put a halter on her and my friend caught the other horse.

I put my horse back in her stall. The other horse, we just left out in the paddock since it was her time to be out. Iggette had another idea. I was standing not far from the stall talking with my friend, all of a sudden Iggette’s stall door flew open. Iggette promptly walked out and went over to her mare friend. She actually herded the mare back into her stall & closed the door on her. She didn’t lock, just pushed it shut. Then she returned to her stall and closed her door. My jaw just about hit the dirt. My friend & I looked at each other in total amazement. How did she do that?!

It was time for a little investigative work. I locked Iggette’s door and all of the others in our paddock area. In no time, Igggette’s head popped over the door and started jiggling the latch with her lip. You’ve seen how a horse will curl their lip when you scratch just the right spot, well that’s what her lip looked like. It was only about 30 seconds later and she was out of her stall. She went next door and got her lip working over that latch. Soon, her friend was out and they both went over to the gate. Iggette once again got the lip going. Fortunately for us, I had figured out where she was going and just got to the gate before it too went flying open.

An escape artist had been born. Now the hard part was going to figure out how to keep Iggette in her stall and keep her safe. We start with making sure the “horse-proof” latches have a way to lock it closed. Get a swivel snap or double ended snap & secure the stall door latch. A simple $2 piece of hardware can give you piece of mind. It may be more of a pain to the open the stall door, but wouldn’t you rather have a friendly face meeting you at the stall instead of you meeting your worst fears opening an empty stall?

June 19, 2008 By Dara In Barn, Beginners, Horse Care, Horse Shows, Lessons, Pasture, Trainers, Western No Comment

In Loving Memory

Juniper Moon Wind
Affectionately Known As Iggette

April 6, 1977 To March 20, 2008

She Was An Outstanding Horse For Many Years

She Will Be Greatly Missed
By All Who She Taught to Ride
& By Those Who She Helped Overcome Their Fears

April 11, 2008 By Dara In Beginners, Horse Care, Riding 2 Comments

Meet My First Horse

My first horse Igette was a race bred quarter horse

I’ve been referring to my first horse in several posts. Let me introduce you to Juniper Moon Wind, affectionately called Iggette. If you’ve read my posts on what & what not to look for, this is a very good lesson in what NOT to do for your first horse. Iggette, in her younger days, was an absolute nightmare for any novice. I will add that in time with a lot of patience & training, she became the best horse ever for both me and the countless students that she taught how to ride and overcome their fears.

Iggette is a race bred Quarter horse. In 1979, she was in training at a smaller track in my area. She had about 60 or 90 days of training. To be quite honest, I just don’t remember anymore. As with a lot of young race horses, her legs just couldn’t stand up to the strain of hard training. Before she ever had an official race, she hurt her front legs. This wasn’t a life threatening injury, but it did end her race career. The only good therapy was complete rest.

Iggette was taken off the track to recover at her owner’s home. She was put in a pasture with feeder cows. Unfortunately for Iggette, she has a lot more cow sense in her that a race horse should have. She herded the cows around the pen, cut them into corners and wouldn’t let eat. She did this several times a day. Let’s just say she wouldn’t let the cows fatten up and a skinny cow is not what you want to take to the butcher. To top this off, Iggette bucked off the owner’s wife when she was ridden. Remember Iggette only had race training, she didn’t know how to be a pleasure riding horse. This just added insult to injury. It was time to sell her.

My and Igge at Cavalier This is where I come in. I had never owned a horse, I had never taken care of a horse and I had only ridden a few backyard pets that my friends had. I was a stupid 20 something and was just as horse crazy then as when I was at 4. Oh yeah, I was also recuperating from a very bad fall off a lesson horse trying to learn how to jump fences. I was told Iggette was going to the sale barn and I just couldn’t let that happen. I talked my husband into buying her. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with her, but I knew I couldn’t let her go to the sale where she might end up in the hands of the killers. I bought her without even going to look at her first. This is how I became a novice owner.

When I went to get her, her former owner had offered to trailer her for me since I had neither a truck or trailer. Being off the track, I thought she would just jump in the trailer & off we’d go. We tried loading her the normal way by just walking into the trailer, she won that battle. We tried a rope around her backside to try to pull her in, she won that battle. We tried backing the trailer in the ditch so she wouldn’t have very far to step up, she won that battle. We finally had to put her in a stall and back the trailer up to the door. After an hour of trying to coax her in, we won – sort of. She did get in the trailer, but she did the 4-foot shuffle all the way to her new home. Whew, was I glad that was over.

Iggette’s new home was a stable not far from my house. I did the good owner thing and walked her around the pasture so that she would know the fenceline. Just as I took off her halter, a jet flew overhead as it was taking off from the airport. The airport was less than a 1/4 mile from the stable. Needless to say it was low and loud. Iggette reared up at the sound of very loud jet engines & took off running. She had never heard this sound before & it scared the daylights out of her. I couldn’t catch her the rest of the day. Within a week, jets didn’t phase her anymore. Catching her while in the pasture remained one of her biggest vices for quite a few years though.

As for riding her, I quickly learned race training is just what it implies. The only gaits she knew how to do were a fidgety walk and run at top speed. I needed help and decided to use the resident manager/trainer. This was another big mistake. ALWAYS – ALWAYS – ALWAYS check out the trainer before hand. Talk with some of their customers, watch a few of their training sessions and talk with other people in their barn. If the trainer discourages or flat out won’t let you talk to their clients or watch them train, pass them up. Don’t even think about it. After finding out a few of his “training techniques”, I knew this was definitely not the trainer for me or my new horse.

I suffered through trying to train her myself or maybe it was Iggette who suffered through a complete novice trying to train a green horse. We didn’t get very far. Since I had no idea of what I was doing, the best I could manage was a somewhat slower walk and a trot that would jar your teeth out. I didn’t try to lope at this point. To be quite honest, I was intimidated and she knew it. She never tried to dump me or rub me off on the nearest fence, but she was never willing to give to in to me either. She seemed to do better with women than with men. My husband would ride her and she would do little bunny hops sideways.

So to sum up this part of my novice experience: I bought a 3 yr old horse. I bought a horse off the racetrack. I bought a horse that only had race training and no other type of training. I bought a horse I had never even seen. I bought a horse from sheer emotion. I bought a horse that at times was almost impossible to catch. I bought a horse that would not load in a trailer.

How many more wrong things can a person do?

You can see now why I am passionate about helping other novice horsemen out there. It can be mighty painful without some experienced help.

March 24, 2008 By Dara In Barn, Beginners, Jumping, Lessons, Pasture, Riding, Trailer, Trainers 2 Comments

Magazine Must Haves For The Novice Horseman

I just received my Horse & Rider magazine. This is just one of my magazines that I read front to back. There is an article in this issue that you, as a novice looking to buy a horse, MUST read!! The article is “7 SIGNS YOU SHOULD WALK AWAY FROM A HORSE FOR SALE (OR SELLER)” by Bob Avila.

This article tells you what bad habits to look for. The article goes into bad attitude, this would be cranky, rude or impatient. It tells you about being barn sour and also about not respecting your space. There is a small section of information about lameness. There are also signs to look for in the seller. This article is only 4 pages long, but it does give you information that you will need when you go to look for that dream horse. READ IT!! & READ IT again!!

And when you are done with this article, read the one from Clinton Anderson on getting your foot shy horse to let you handle those ticklish feet. Oh and don’t miss YOUR HORSE YOUR LIFE for a few pointers. There are some really good common sense things a novice horse owner may not know. There are also on going articles on conformation, riding & horsemanship. AND THIS IS JUST 1 ISSUE!!!

If you don’t have this magazine . . . go out now & get it at your local bookstore, drug store or grocery store. It is well worth your time and effort for this one. This is just one MUST HAVE magazine for any novice. It is just full of information. There is also EQUUS. I highly recommend this magazine for the latest in horse health. Practical Horseman & Dressage Today are outstanding magazines for the owner who leans more towards English riding.

These are the magazines that I subscribe to for the latest information in health, riding and horse related products. Over the years, I have gotten an enormous amount of information from these magazines. There have been articles on legislations that effect the horse world. There have been articles on which hay may be better for your horse, oats vs sweet feed and which plants in your pasture are deadly to your horse.

If you don’t have a subscription for any of these, check out the MUST HAVE MAGAZINES in the right column of my blog. Just click on the magazine that you would like to subscribe to.

Subscribe today, don’t miss another issue!

February 21, 2008 By Dara In Barn, Beginners, Blanket, Bridle, Clothes, Dressage, English, Horse Care, Horse Shows, Jumping, Lessons, Pasture, Riding, Saddle, Shoeing, Tack, Trailer, Trainers, Vets, Western No Comment

What Horse To Look For – Part 4

It’s been a few days. Have you read up on the type of horse that is right for you? I do hope you’ve spent some serious time on this subject. You don’t want to go into horse ownership on just a whim. To make it work out for both you & the horse, you have to be as prepared as possible. So in all fairness, it’s time to talk about what a novice should not consider as their first horse. That’s not to say you should never consider one of these next types, but maybe you should wait until you are a little more experienced.

I already talked about my #1 horse a novice should not consider. That is the stallion. I won’t go into stallions much more than I did in my previous post. Stallions need absolute distinct differences between what is breeding routines and normal everyday routines. You need to be to the top dog . . horse. . . with a stallion. They need to respect you as the herd leader and you need to respect them for what they are.

My #2 horse a novice should not consider is a foal (weanling) or 1 year old. But you say they are sooooo cute & irresistible. Just remember foals are babies . . . big babies . . big babies growing bigger. Their nutritional needs are more than an older horse. This will end up in a higher feed bill. As with all babies, they take an enormous amount of time to raise and train properly. They absolutely need to learn who the leader is. If you don’t have the time EVERY DAY to spend with a foal/yearling, you are not doing yourself or the foal any good. You have to teach these guys everything a good horse should know. The only real discipline you can do with a baby is halter and if they are 1 year old maybe longe line. You can’t ride them until they are closer to 2 years old. Remember these are growing babies. They need consistency and repetition, repetition, repetition.

The #3 horse is the unbroke or green broke horse. I want to teach my horse myself you say. Green horses need consistency in their training, which means either you or the trainer needs to do something with them at least 5 or 6 days a week. Training a horse needs a steady hand that is also gentle and forgiving. A cool temperament on the rider’s part is an absolute must. If you can’t keep your cool when stressed, trying to train a green horse will be a disaster. If you are a novice, you are still learning. It is better to get a horse that can teach you.

The last horse I’ll talk about would be one fresh off the race track. These horses are trained for speed. While they can make excellent horses, it will take a lot of just quiet riding time to retrain them for gaits other than running. I would also watch for injuries to their legs. I tell you this from experience. My 1st horse was off the track. While I knew of the injury to her legs that ended her race career, she had another leg problem that took a little time to show up. I would definitely have a pre-purchase exam on an ex-racehorse.

This is my list of the top 4 horses not to consider if you are a novice. You can buy one of these if your heart is set on a horse from one of these groups. Just remember that you will probably need the help of a professional trainer not only for the horse but for you also. You can make it work, just don’t expect miracles overnight. Any of these will take a lot of time and even more patience.

February 17, 2008 By Dara In Beginners, Horse Care, Horse Shows, Lessons, Riding, Trainers No Comment

What Horse To Look For – Part 3

Let’s talk horse breeds. There are soooo many breeds and color breeds to choose from it’s mind boggling to a novice. Take your time, figure out what discipline you want to pursue (riding, jumping, halter, trail, etc). While any breed of horse can do just about anything, I would suggest that you read up on the different breeds. There are lots of books and magazines at the book store and on the web. I could go on for a long time about the breeds but you should consider this more homework. Choose a breed that will be best for your desired discipline. An example would be if you wanted a miniature horse, your desired discipline shouldn’t be dressage or trail riding. If you want to show in the quarter horse shows, you shouldn’t get a loud spotted paint. Talk with your riding instructor or horse friends. Talk with the people at the shows. Unless you are smitten with a certain breed, picking a breed will probably be a tough task.

Don’t just consider a pure bred. There are lots of show circuits and fun shows that you don’t have to have a pure bred horse to show. You don’t have to have a pure bred to ride the trails. If showing in the breed show is not your cup of tea, you might even consider a grade horse. What is a grade horse? This is a horse that can’t be regisitered in a recongnized breed registery. This could be a solid colored paint that the owner just didn’t want to register. This can be a cross between 2 different breeds that don’t recognize the other in their registries. This could be a pony breed that the pony just grew too tall. There are a lot grade horses and all of them have the same potential as any pure bred horse.

I will say right up front, I’m partial to the quarter horse. This would include the Quarter horse & any breed that recognizes it for acceptable breeding. Why you ask? The only reason I can give you is this is what I grew up on. I personally own a Quarter mare, a Paint mare and a Palomino gelding. They are all mostly quarter horse in their breeding. They are not a small horse nor are they too big. I like their temperment and they are versatile. With that said, these qualities can be found in any breed.

You can have just as much enjoyment from your equine friend no matter what his breeding. The key is picking the right horse for you. Have you read my slogan?

Success is not what horse you have . . . but what you do with that horse.

February 6, 2008 By Dara In Beginners, Dressage, Horse Shows, Jumping, Lessons, Riding, Trainers, Western No Comment

What Horse To Look For – Part 1

Have you done your homework? Have you figured out your budget? I truly hope you didn’t skip that assignment. You are finding out that even if you have your own place, owning a horse is NOT CHEAP! It’s better to find out the cost of horse ownership on the front end of this process. You don’t want to find out in a couple of months that you have to sell your dream horse because you under estimated the cost of upkeep. It is far more important for you to make your mortgage payment and feed your family.

If you’ve found that your finances are in order and you can afford the maintenance of a horse, you are going to ask what horse is best for me? For a novice owner, there are sooo many choices. There are also some that you should steer away from for now. I’m going to break this down into several posts. This way I don’t have to try to condense the information too much.

In my Jan 9 2008 post, I suggested a mature horse. By this I mean a horse that is an 8-15 year old, I would even go as far as a 20 year old for the right horse. Why? Because these guys have been around a bit. They probably have years of training/riding and unless they are the nervous type, they are well out of that fidgety young horse mentality. Beside this, there are a few other manners that they probably have learned with age. They should have good ground manners, they have probably learned not to lean on the farrier, and they shouldn’t try to hurt the vet at shot time. If the horse has been shown or was a ranch horse, it will probably load in a trailer easily. I absolutely can’t emphasize enough just how much that is worth.

You want to find a horse that has a kind soft eye, not one that only shows the whites and has that wild scared look all of time. You want a horse that stands quietly no matter if it is tied to a fence, on crossties or tied to your trailer. You want a horse that respects you, your space and your authority. You don’t need a horse that strikes at you, tries to walk over you, or challenges your leadership. You want a horse that is reasonably trained. While it doesn’t have to be a "push button" horse, it should be a well broke horse. You want a horse that is healthy in both body & mind. You and the horse should have mutual trust for each. Without trust, you will never develop a rewarding relationship, you will never become a team.

Where do you find a horse like this? Like in the post mentioned above, your riding instructor may know of a prospect. Try your horse friends. They may know a youth or amateur who has outgrown their current horse and is looking for more of a challenge. Horse shows, especially the big breed shows, always have horses for sale. Use caution here though. You may find a good prospect. But if the owner is from out of town, they may want to sell while at the show. This could make it more difficult to test ride the horse a couple of times. It would also make it very hard to get a pre-purchase exam (I’ll discuss this more later). Working ranches will also have dispersal sales. This would be a good place to pick a nice ranch horse. This is also an instance where you need to be careful and taking a knowledgeable horse person with you would be best. They could help steer you away from a horse that may not be right for you. There are the classified ads in both the paper and on the internet. And finally, there are the bulletin boards at feed stores, tack stores and livestock sales.

Remember what I said about being in too much of a hurry. You don’t want your dream horse to turn out to be your worst nightmare.

February 1, 2008 By Dara In Beginners, Horse Shows, Lessons, Riding, Trailer, Trainers, Vets No Comment