Valkyrie

Question for today, in honor of the Belmont Stakes: What's the best horse race you've ever seen? Can be in person or on TV. When I was a kid, the best race I remember is the rivalry between Sunday Silence and Easy Goer. I yelled my lungs out at the TV during the Belmont, and I'm not a yeller... lol The best race of all time, IMO is when Secretariat won the Belmont. I cry every time I watch that race.

Aww... it looks like a cute movie! Yeah yeah yeah... I like sappy movies too.

Yes, eventing is very tough and needs a lot of reform, IMO. It's become incredibly technical and I don't get the current trend toward jumping corners and skinny jumps. Anyone riding in the field knows to avoid those types of objects.. not jump them.

Frodo Baggins. Sadly he was injured at Rolex a few years ago and had to be put to sleep.

Yes! Shadowfax is awesome! One of the Nazgul's horses was bought by someone who evented him. I'm drawing a blank as to the horse's name, but it was related to LoTR.

Oh, I'm wrong... It's going to be a Netflix series, not a movie.

Yes, I did know that. I think he bought the horse he rode in the LoTR, too.

How can you go wrong with Viggo Mortenson and a beautiful paint horse? And Phar Lap is a great movie, too.

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

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.

*scritch scritch scritch*

Thanks for sharing, William.

Thank you so much for your kind words, Emi. I was very interested in your opinion and I'm glad the poem worked for you.

Good idea, Drew I'm horrible at math, though. I can do basic math, but that's about it. And even that sometimes requires a calculator... lol

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.

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

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.

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...

Congrats!

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

Wow! That's an incredible story, Gary!

I totally understand. I could go on and on and on too, but yes... rationing will have to happen if I have any hope of getting anything done. lol Glad to have you here, though. I love hearing everybody's stories.

Sounds like fun! In competitive trail riding, there is an optimum time and you are penalized if you finish too early or too late.

My first day at the ranch I worked on in AZ, my boss and his wife were showing me his best roping horse and telling me how he was having some difficulty with him. Well it took me all of five minutes to pinpoint the problem, even with my boss on the horse's back. This poor horse had withers like a hat rack and the saddle was pressing right down on them. I can only imagine how much pain this poor horse was in. He ended up ordering a saddle that actually fit, thank god. I won't get into the rest of his idiocy now, but you are so right, Gary. There's always a reason for behavior... it's our job to figure out what it is.