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I ride a gaited mare who has a tendency to short stride. We've taken her to the vet who didn't find anything. It isn't saddle fit because she is the same bareback. She does it consistently, like it is a learned behavior, but I'm not sure how she learned it. She is a hot, nervous mare, but even in the round pen when she is calm she still short strides. I think part of the reason for her short striding is her conformation (she is far behind herself and very narrow).

We've tried a bunch of exercises, but do you have any suggestions?

I make stupid mistakes on tests, especially in math. I have no anxiety issues over tests or the subject matter. I'm an honor roll student, I just want to get even better scores. When I say stupid mistakes, I mean things like multiplying wrong. My mind gets caught on the higher level parts of the math problems in my calculus class, and forgets how to multiply (for example). I can check over my test three times and still not catch the stupid mistake I made. My mind for some reason just skims over it.

How can I stop making stupid mistakes? Or how can I catch my mistakes when I check my test?

My boyfriend recently told me that I hurt him a couple days ago while having sex. We were doing girl-on-top (I was facing forward) and he says I went back to far which made a popping noise and hurt. He didn't finish that day because it hurt but hid that fact from me until today. We had sex two times after I hurt him (because I was unaware of hurting him) and he came extremely quick, in under two minutes. His lower abdominals are hurting him the most though he also says his penis hurts a little. He wouldn't let me examine him but he says that he has a small bruise on his penis. He says that the orgasms have been crappy these past two times and that he doesn't get as hard as he typically does.

I'm wondering if I possibly fractured his penis. He wasn't hurting terribly until today, which is why he finally told me. If he did fracture his penis, I'm wondering if there is any way he can get checked out without having to tell his parents (we're under 18 and his parents are not aware that we are having sex, my parents are).

My mare ties up mildly every once and a while and I'm trying to find a supplement to help her. The tying up is not related to amount of work (because she ties up doing the same amount of work we've been doing for weeks) and is not due to not warming up (we walk for 10 minutes to warm up). She is a hot young mare (a 6 year old mustang) that is heavily muscled.

Would you recommend as a supplement to help prevent tying up...

-Smart Calm?

-Smart Calm Ultra?

-Quiessence?

or

-Ex Stress?

For the second time now my horse has gotten a weird lameness that I think must be in her shoulder muscles. There is no swelling anywhere, and no heat. She is slightly tender in her shoulder. She is very stiff, and doesn't stride out at a walk or trot, but isn't "off" (in the way that she's uneven). She holds her neck very straight and stretched out as she walks. The whites of her eyes are showing (so I assume she's in pain) but her lip isn't wrinkled and there are no other signs of pain besides her stiffness. She doesn't care if we stretch her legs out, and a flexion test shows nothing different. She is the same for turning at a walk as straight at the walk. I put her in her stall, give her some bute, and the next day she's completely better (both times). I give her pasture rest for a week, and then start riding her again and she's perfectly fine.The first time it happened after she came in from pasture. She was running around with the other horses out to pasture. The second time it happened when warming up for a barrel race. They happened about two months apart from each other.

My mare is in top physical shape (she's ridden at all three gaits for an hour or two five days a week). She gets a flake of grass hay and a flake of a higher energy hay, plus about a pound of bermuda pellets. I take every care to make sure she's always wearing leg wraps when doing work other than walking and gets warmed up and cooled down properly. Is there an explanation for this weird lameness? I know its not a leg or hoof injury, and she's not tying up (she has no swelling, and its only her front legs that she won't stride out on). I was wondering if make she has a mineral deficiency or something that's making her get muscle cramps or something.

My horse went lame the other day. It is only slightly visible at the walk. She has no swelling/heat anywhere. I've poked, prodded and squeezed hard everywhere on her body (especially legs) with no response. Did a flexion test, no difference. Did a hoof test, no results. She doesn't have a hard racing pulse anywhere near her hooves.

She was racing around in the pasture the other day, but I rode her after she did that and she wasn't lame in the slightest. She turned up lame the next day.

She is a mustang mare, stoutly built, 5 years old. As far as I know she's had no past injuries. Her legs are clean except for a few small wind puffs.

Is there anything I can do for her besides stall rest and bute until I get her to the vets? What could be wrong with her?

I need a unique name for a horse and I was thinking something nature-like that is either fast or strong or both (for instance, Storm). It is a girl so names that are either unisex or female work.

I am looking to buy a barrel horse and I have a few that I really like but they are tall (all around 16hh). In your experience do tall horses have problems with barrel racing? The horses I am looking at have the conformation for barrels other than that they are tall. I understand that they probably won't be able to turn as tight but will be able to make up for the speed in between barrels.

My mare has been barefoot for over a year now and has amazingly tough feet. My farrier is getting a bit bothered though (not just because they are hard to trim) because they are beginning to be very inflexible and dry. He thinks we would do well to soak them in water every so often and use a hoof conditioner. What type of conditioner works best for a horse with hooves like a mule?

I have just been so worn out recently. I feel tired all the time. All I want to do is sleep or at least lay down and watch a movie.

I found out I was anemic last month and have been taking iron for it for a month now, so that isn't the cause, or at least, it isn't anymore. I figured it might just be a teenager thing but...

What can I do to get more energy? Why am I so tired?

I'm looking for some things to do in Arizona that have to deal with horses... My father is coming out and I want to go do some fun things with him, and of course, if it has to do with horses all the better. I'd like some events or activities that are cheap and preferably close to the Phoenix area. I don't want to go on a trail ride, I can do that for free at my barn. I'd like to go, for instance, watch Thoroughbreds race or a rodeo or something.

I am semi-retiring my horse now so we aren't going to do much more than trail riding as it would be too much on her legs (she's barrel raced all her life and got injured the last time she raced so we don't think she'll hold up anymore for something as tough). I find trail riding to be relaxing but I also like to do something else to keep us interested so I would like to try to teach her to respond to a rope around her neck and nothing else (bridleless).

I'm not sure exactly which way to go about doing this. She will neck rein with a bit and works with only a halter when we're at a walk but that's about as far as we've gotten. I was thinking of three ways to approach this task. Which would be best, or what other technique should I use?

1- Softening her up by riding her in a halter and working with her on neck reining with that, then gradually transitioning to the neck rope.

2- Working with her responses when she does have a bit in her mouth (ie, getting her to stop and turn by just my seat and legs). If you think this is the best way how would I go about this?

3- Putting a neck rope on along with her bridle and bit and using the neck rope and voice/seat/leg aids first to ask and then the neck rope and reins together if she doesn't respond.

Also, do you know anywhere else to get a lariat neck rope besides TTouch? Could I make my own? How?

This is more of a theoretical question than whether I actually want to know. I ride in position B typically, and find myself going forwards towards the withers sometimes, even though my mare's withers are very high in respect to the rest of her body.

Where do you sit on a horse's back when you are bareback? For the most part I think people sit wherever they are comfortable. Where is the best part of the back to sit for the horse's comfort? For the horse's performance?

Position A- up very close almost on top of the withers

Position B- behind the withers, a bit further back

Position C- in the middle of the horse's back (where western saddles typically have you sit)

I am only a highschool student and I am taking care of three horses at the moment (grooming, conditioning/training, shoveling) and I find myself with zero time to spare (besides time for school). I've always wanted to own many, many horses when I move out and get settled into a job (one for each of like twenty disciplines I'd like to do). Seeing how its going now, I'm figuring that I will not have time to take care of more than two horses in the future (figuring in that my job and family would be more demanding than highschool is now). It kind of ruins my dream...

So my question is to you guys, personally, how many horses can you take care of without going crazy? By that I mean horses you are actually competing on and/or training, not just horses you feed and ride once a month or who become pasture buddies, or who your family or other barn members partially take care of. How much time does you job take up? Do you think if you had an easier less time demanding job that you would be able to work with more horses (even with the lesser pay)?

So, its more of a debate between myself and the yahoo community it seems, than between two equal sized groups. Whenever anyone asks for a different bit or suggests to the asker that they try a different bit they are shunned. I can completely understand why, there are so many people that use bits for purposes other than what is intended or they think they can make their high strung horse safe for a green rider by putting a harsh bit in. It isn't acceptable. However, I have found many times where a change in bit can help a horse in rider team tremendously. For instance, often it works well for horses to be worked in a different bit for each different discipline they do. When the team changes from one bit to many different ones they sometimes get better than what they were. Other times the team has only ever worked in one bit and doesn't know how much better (or worse) a different bit could be. If they don't try out different bits they might miss an opportunity to become better.

My mare had become very excited when going around the barrel pattern. When I first started riding her she acted like an old dead trail horse and as I got better as a rider she got harder to handle. When we practice the barrel pattern, we have to keep it slow since our arena doesn't have the best footing (just dirt, we don't have a tractor to churn it deeper or a waterer). My mare especially will pull her check ligaments if we rate at a fast canter to a gallop because she has pulled them before. Because she has become so excited, to get her to calm herself down when we practice I have to have a whole bunch of contact in her mouth to get her to stop running (my hands pull from up in the middle of her neck back to my thighs). She's been hard mouthed since before I bought her. I'm pretty weak overall in the arms and it is hard to do this. I would typically do circles with her to get her to slow down if she wasn't reacting to my contact with the reins, but that would put her at risk of injuring herself if I did it more than a couple times. So the other day, we tried a bit that had longer shanks and wasn't broken in the middle. It worked wonders. I could give her loads more rein all the time, especially when she wanted to run around the pattern and I didn't want her to. I think it is going to help with her being hard mouthed also. Now we can work up to using less and less contact until she understands not to be hard mouthed.

So what is wrong with this? Why must everyone freak at the suggestion of a new bit? If you give a warning with your suggestion, what is so bad?

I am thinking of changing bits for my horse to see if she'll work better in a different bit. I would like something like my current bit, maybe with a bit more control so I can have less rein. I barrel race, if that helps you in suggesting a bit. My current bit is something like a 3 piece (broken in middle with roller piece) colt snaffle with short shanks. I would like a bit that is broken like a snaffle since I need to be able to have very good direction control when turning barrels, but it doesn't matter if it has a roller or not.

Do you have any suggestions? I've only ever ridden extensively in this type of bit so I have no clue what type of bit would be good.

I need alternatives.

My mare has become very stubborn recently. She will not listen to my feet (dead stopping and refusing to go forward) outside the arena and is very slow about listening to my reining outside the arena. It is definitely a respect issue and this isn't the first time it has happened. Both this time, and the time before when she picked up these stubborn respect issues, she was recovering from lameness. Because we are recovering from her being off, we can only walk, or walk with a little trotting. She gets very disrespectful when we are not doing some type of hard work (ex: running around the farm fields, barrel racing, jumping). She is fine now in the arena for that reason, whenever we are in there we are constantly changing the things we are doing. When I'm trail riding her back to health, I would like her just to walk in a straight line and relax.

I know that she will listen if I use a crop with her (which I will be doing until I get an alternative), and I might try using spurs, but I would rather try to find a way to explain to her that I understand why she is mad but we can't run around or do something exciting. Do you guys know any ways I can get my mare to understand this?

I rode in a large gymkhana for my saddle club Saturday night from about 4pm to midnight (the horses only got short breaks, they were ridden pretty constantly, and hard). When the gymkhana was over I checked my horse for back pain and she twitched a little when it came to a certain spot on her back. My saddle has never caused my horse back pain before. She never gets dry spots and it never rubs.

Do you think it is the saddle fit or just that we rode so much that day? If you think it is the saddle fit what western saddle would you recommend for a pony with high withers? Do you recommend treeless saddles?

As a project for The Odyssey I have to build a raft something like Odysseus' when he sails away from Calypso. I can only use things I find in nature (and I live in the desert). I've tried collecting twigs and tying them together using palm fronds but the twigs are uneven and the palm fronds won't hold the twigs together tight and they slip out.

Help please? :(

My buckskin mare has a brand on her that I've never know where it's from. She's grade but looks part quarter horse or mustang. I am planning on shaving her this summer around her freeze brand so I can get a good look at it. Polly (my mare) was passed around (I only know of her last two owners before me) so I can't figure out where she came from that way. I've always been interested in her past. I'm guessing she came from an Indian Reservation or something like that.

Where can I find a list of registered brands? I'm in Arizona if that helps.