The Tack Room

[Valkyrie]

1 minute ago, Headstall said:

One more story... meant to be both uplifting, and informative. My first show horse was my first horse... he was the two year old I spoke of. He didn't start out a show horse... but we did everything for fun. I don't know who taught who more... he ended up being high-point performance horse many years in a row... we competed both English and Western... anyway... one day I arrived at my boarding barn and found him dead lame. I found out later there was a bonfire party at 'the Ranch' and there was a bet about who was faster... my horse or Wimpy... two drunken idiots ending up racing them in the dark, and my horse, who apparently won, ended up with a fractured coffin bone... I'll spare you some rather gory details... but they paid for what they did... anyway, his injury was why I studied and became a farrier(blacksmith) ... fifteen months later... the best vet in our province... a race horse vet... agreed to see him because he wasn't getting better... after x-rays, he told me there was over-calcification and he would never be sound and he recommended putting him down... I never even considered doing that... I just had me a big dog. I didn't give up, though... I alternated stall rest with short hand walking to keep him from getting stocked up... and two months later, the limp was no longer discernible... I continued for another month, afraid to get my hopes up... finally, I put him on a longe line and let him jog... NO LIMP!  The next day I walked him while riding bareback, and continued for about a week. The day came I saddled him and rode him along a trail... it was a reasonable distance, and we arrived home and he was sound... he was NEVER lame again, and this horse went on to be that show horse, jumping, reining, pleasure, trail... everything. So, the moral? Never give up!! And experts only know so much. There is more to his health adventures but I'll leave that for another time. 

Wow!  That's an incredible story, Gary!   

[Kitt]

14 minutes ago, Headstall said:

 So, the moral? Never give up!! And experts only know so much. 

You are so right Gary!  My old man pulled a suspensory and I was told he would probably never be able to be ridden again at all.  Stall rest, anti-inflamitory meds and a horse version of ben-gay were prescribed, with retirement and turn out when he tollerated it.   I didn't accept that he would not heal.  We gave him the whole summer off, built him a rehab pen in his regular field so he could be outside with his buddies but contained and not running around like a colt (thats how he did it in the first place) and started hand walking late in the summer.  By christmas we had progressed to cantering on the lunge, then started walking him out under saddle. Had one of the skinny teens work him at each gate first before I got on him. I'm a big girl and didn't want to push too fast.  Bottom line is while he is no longer allowed to jump (something he is not happy with!) he is sound and carries me anywhere I want to go!

[Headstall]

10 minutes ago, Kitt said:

You are so right Gary!  My old man pulled a suspensory and I was told he would probably never be able to be ridden again at all.  Stall rest, anti-inflamitory meds and a horse version of ben-gay were prescribed, with retirement and turn out when he tollerated it.   I didn't accept that he would not heal.  We gave him the whole summer off, built him a rehab pen in his regular field so he could be outside with his buddies but contained and not running around like a colt (thats how he did it in the first place) and started hand walking late in the summer.  By christmas we had progressed to cantering on the lunge, then started walking him out under saddle. Had one of the skinny teens work him at each gate first before I got on him. I'm a big girl and didn't want to push too fast.  Bottom line is while he is no longer allowed to jump (something he is not happy with!) he is sound and carries me anywhere I want to go!

Aewsome, Kitt! I love these kind of stories. I've got a couple more about founder and blindness, but they can wait  I'm a big fan of the series Heartland, and I love that Amy ... and Ty... never give up...

[Valkyrie]

1 minute ago, Headstall said:

Aewsome, Kitt! I love these kind of stories. I've got a couple more about founder and blindness, but they can wait  I'm a big fan of the series Heartland, and I love that Amy ... and Ty... never give up...

I love Heartland too!  It's one of the reasons I keep my cable subscription.  I get CBC and CTV, so am able to watch Heartland episodes as they are aired. (I'm still watching the current season so no spoilers, please!) I also love watching Spruce Meadows show jumping.  I grew up watching all the Spruce Meadows competitions.  I actually tend to root for the Canadian team over the US team  LOL 

[dughlas]

On 6/5/2017 at 6:53 PM, Headstall said:

This really happened and shows my stupidity... after my gelding was broke, I did everything with him, and he got used to all kinds of stuff... so I decided one day to see if I could do a running mount from behind, just like in the movies. I had an old western with a low cantle, and my gelding wasn't very tall then... he only ended up at 15 2... I start at a run, put my hands on his rump... nope, not what your thinking... he stayed dead still and I overshot the saddle and put precious cargo right on the horn... I don't think I've ever felt such pain... I rolled off onto the ground with a bunch of other boarders around me... <shudder>  still hurts to think about it  

And still you fathered four children ...

[Headstall]

38 minutes ago, dughlas said:

And still you fathered four children ...

 

[Valkyrie]

Here's the question for today:  What's one of your biggest "OMG what the hell was I thinking?" moments you've had with horses?  Can be during a lesson you either taught or were a student for, on the trail, or on the ground.  

 

I have a ton of those moments, but this one stands out.  I spent a year working for a team roper and part of my job was exercising the horses.  So the girl I worked with and I would take turns coming in on our days off and saddle up a couple of horses, lock up the barn, and take off on the trail for the afternoon to exercise the horses.  Well, we tended to goof off a bit, galloping down washes and doing stupid stuff like 'around the world' as we trotted down the trail. So one day, I started doing 'around the world' at a trot and the horse put his head down so the reins ended up by his ears with me sitting backwards in the saddle.  So he starts cantering... and I'm trying to reach behind me to grab the reins and my co-worker is useless because she's laughing her ass off at me.  Eventually the reins made their way down the horse's neck to the point where I could grab them and slow him down so I could sit properly again.  I couldn't do it at the canter because I was laughing too hard, too.  Ah, the stupidity of youth...  

[Former Member]

11 hours ago, Valkyrie said:

Here's the question for today:  What's one of your biggest "OMG what the hell was I thinking?" moments you've had with horses?  Can be during a lesson you either taught or were a student for, on the trail, or on the ground.  

 

I have a ton of those moments, but this one stands out.  I spent a year working for a team roper and part of my job was exercising the horses.  So the girl I worked with and I would take turns coming in on our days off and saddle up a couple of horses, lock up the barn, and take off on the trail for the afternoon to exercise the horses.  Well, we tended to goof off a bit, galloping down washes and doing stupid stuff like 'around the world' as we trotted down the trail. So one day, I started doing 'around the world' at a trot and the horse put his head down so the reins ended up by his ears with me sitting backwards in the saddle.  So he starts cantering... and I'm trying to reach behind me to grab the reins and my co-worker is useless because she's laughing her ass off at me.  Eventually the reins made their way down the horse's neck to the point where I could grab them and slow him down so I could sit properly again.  I couldn't do it at the canter because I was laughing too hard, too.  Ah, the stupidity of youth...  

My most stupid thing was done, when I had my horse only for 14 days. I was sick at home ( I still went to school at this time) and instead of staying in bed, I went to the horse and went for a ride, without someone knowing. On a barley trained ex race horse, which was still under shock from race court. If one of my kids would do this.....

Edited June 8, 2017 by Lyssa

[Timothy M.]

I love reading all these stories about horses. I have absolutely no experience myself, but I still find the subject fascinating. 

[Headstall]

3 minutes ago, Timothy M. said:

I love reading all these stories about horses. I have absolutely no experience myself, but I still find the subject fascinating. 

I have a million of them, Tim  

[Timothy M.]

4 minutes ago, Headstall said:

I have a million of them, Tim  

 

The Thousand and One Nights of Horse Tales ?

Edited June 8, 2017 by Timothy M.

[Headstall]

1 minute ago, Timothy M. said:

 

The Thousand and One Nights of Horse Tales ?

Hmmm... that could work... maybe it's time to branch out  

[Timothy M.]

4 minutes ago, Headstall said:

Hmmm... that could work... maybe it's time to branch out  

 

You'll be a male Scheherazade and I'll be the King ?  

[Headstall]

10 minutes ago, Timothy M. said:

 

You'll be a male Scheherazade and I'll be the King ?  

Works for me  

[Valkyrie]

Here's the question for the day:  What's your favorite horse book?  

 

I love reading young adult horse fiction and have an extensive collection of those kinds of books.  While I love Marguerite Henry, Sam Savitt, and Walter Farley, my favorite book from when I was a kid is called The Golden Horse of Willow Farm.  I'm drawing a blank on the author's name.  It's about a young girl who raises a morgan filly and ends up having a successful show career.  

[Headstall]

30 minutes ago, Valkyrie said:

Here's the question for the day:  What's your favorite horse book?  

 

I love reading young adult horse fiction and have an extensive collection of those kinds of books.  While I love Marguerite Henry, Sam Savitt, and Walter Farley, my favorite book from when I was a kid is called The Golden Horse of Willow Farm.  I'm drawing a blank on the author's name.  It's about a young girl who raises a morgan filly and ends up having a successful show career.  

Margaret Dana... I bought that one for my youngest daughter while we were perusing a used book store... knowing her, she still has it. I think they made a movie based on it. My favorite was The Black Stallion and all that followed. God, I got lost in those. Also, Misty of Chincoteague... and the one about her foal... My friend Flicka, National Velvet... I read them all... but yeah, Walter Farley was my hero for horse literature as a kid.  Oh... Nutmeg was the filly's name in the Willow Farm book... my daughter had a toy horse she named Nutmeg   

Edited June 8, 2017 by Headstall

[Former Member]

32 minutes ago, Valkyrie said:

Here's the question for the day:  What's your favorite horse book?  

 

I love reading young adult horse fiction and have an extensive collection of those kinds of books.  While I love Marguerite Henry, Sam Savitt, and Walter Farley, my favorite book from when I was a kid is called The Golden Horse of Willow Farm.  I'm drawing a blank on the author's name.  It's about a young girl who raises a morgan filly and ends up having a successful show career.  

Promise not to laugh: "Bille und Zottel" from Tina Caspari. It is a book for children. But I grew up with it and Bille the main character, a girl felt very close to me as a child, and she began to work with Tellington in the same age in the book as I did and so on. So yeah, this will be my forever favorite horse book.

[Valkyrie]

2 minutes ago, Headstall said:

Margaret Dana... I bought that one for my youngest daughter while we were perusing a used book store... knowing her, she still has it. I think they made a movie based on it. My favorite was The Black Stallion and all that followed. God, I got lost in those. Also, Misty of Chincoteague... and the one about her foal... My friend Flicka, National Velvet... I read them all... but yeah, Walter Farley was my hero for horse literature as a kid.  Oh... Nutmeg was the filly's name in the Willow Farm book... my daughter had a toy horse she named Nutmeg   

Yes!  That's it!  I LOVE that story!  OMG a movie?  I'm going to have to search for it now  

[Valkyrie]

1 minute ago, Lyssa said:

Promise not to laugh: "Bille und Zottel" from Tina Caspari. It is a book for children. But I grew up with it and Bille the main character, a girl felt very close to me as a child, and she began to work with Tellington in the same age in the book as I did and so on. So yeah, this will be my forever favorite horse book.

I have tons of young adult and kids horse books, so no laughter here.   You reminded me that I totally forgot CW Anderson.  Billy and Blaze   I loved his books, too.  

[Headstall]

2 minutes ago, Valkyrie said:

Yes!  That's it!  I LOVE that story!  OMG a movie?  I'm going to have to search for it now  

I'm pretty sure... but I could be wrong.  

[Timothy M.]

39 minutes ago, Headstall said:

My favorite was The Black Stallion and all that followed. God, I got lost in those.

My friend Flicka,

 

Those were in the library of my school, so I've read them (in Danish). I enjoyed them a lot.  

I like reading the Riding Lessons series here on GA.

[Valkyrie]

Today's question goes hand in hand with yesterday's.  What's your favorite horse movie?

 

The Black Stallion is one of my all-time faves.  I also really like Sylvester, which stars Melissa Gilbert and features three day eventing.  There was a movie I saw a long time ago about a boarding school that featured horses.  I can't remember the name, but one of the girls in the movie had a parent who was a famous rider.  The girl was scared of jumping and ashamed of that fact since she was from such a famous riding family.  I think it may have been a British movie. 

[Kitt]

2 minutes ago, Valkyrie said:

Today's question goes hand in hand with yesterday's.  What's your favorite horse movie?

 

The Black Stallion is one of my all-time faves.  I also really like Sylvester, which stars Melissa Gilbert and features three day eventing.  There was a movie I saw a long time ago about a boarding school that featured horses.  I can't remember the name, but one of the girls in the movie had a parent who was a famous rider.  The girl was scared of jumping and ashamed of that fact since she was from such a famous riding family.  I think it may have been a British movie. 

Dang - there simply are not enough hours in a day to keep up with everything!

 

 

Favorite horse movie? Don't laugh, it's animated,  Spirit, Legend of the Cimmaron.

 

Favorite book?  ( yesterdays q)  Gotta be Black Beauty.  Was the first one I ever read, and I blame it for getting me hooked on horses!

 

Now to go back and see what q's I missed!

[Valkyrie]

Just now, Kitt said:

Dang - there simply are not enough hours in a day to keep up with everything!

 

 

Favorite horse movie? Don't laugh, it's animated,  Spirit, Legend of the Cimmaron.

 

Favorite book?  ( yesterdays q)  Gotta be Black Beauty.  Was the first one I ever read, and I blame it for getting me hooked on horses!

 

Now to go back and see what q's I missed!

I loved Spirit!  Did you know they're making a sequel?  

 

 

[Headstall]

12 minutes ago, Valkyrie said:

Today's question goes hand in hand with yesterday's.  What's your favorite horse movie?

 

The Black Stallion is one of my all-time faves.  I also really like Sylvester, which stars Melissa Gilbert and features three day eventing.  There was a movie I saw a long time ago about a boarding school that featured horses.  I can't remember the name, but one of the girls in the movie had a parent who was a famous rider.  The girl was scared of jumping and ashamed of that fact since she was from such a famous riding family.  I think it may have been a British movie. 

Phar Lap... hands down! And The Black Stallion would be next. These are my quick answers, but there is another one niggling at me... I'm too busy to think, but I'll be back