Natalie CMK

I'm getting photos done with my three boys, and I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about posing with one person and three horses? (well, okay, two horses and a large pony)

I realize this sounds.. spoiled? but I have just about everything I want/need horse-wise. I even have a savings account for my pony's medical bills, should they arise, and put in 200$ more each week. HOWEVER. I recently got a 200$ bonus and I haven't been tack-store shopping in a long time, so I kinda want to binge. If YOU had 200$ to spend in a tack shop, what would you get? I want to make a list of possibilities :)

I ride english and western, I'm teaching the pony to drive, and again, I have all the tack/equipment needed, in excess. This is just a fun thing.

I just reread a question of mine from two years ago, asking for opinions on whether or not to talk to my mom about getting a horse before or after summer.

The majority of answers just snarked at me about the fact that I needed to pay for my own horse, pay for all the bills, that I need to realize that owning a horse is a big responsibility and takes a lot of money and blah blah blah.

I wanted an opinion. Not a lecture.

I just wanted to let everyone know that I never did buy a horse because - guess what - I couldn't find one that I clicked with. So I leased a horse. And paid for the lease, and the vet, and all the equipment. And then last year I was approached about adopting a rescue two year old. And I paid for the board, the transport, the equipment, the bills..

It has ALWAYS pissed me off that everyone in this section completely disregards the question and always goes right to belittling the asker and going on and on about things that most reputable people already know. Why is there so little faith in the horse section? Why can't we not make assumptions without knowing background information? Why can't we just answer a damn question and not try to give unsolicited advice?

BQ - Do you prefer riding indoors or out, and why?

I'm trying to build a website, facebook page, and youtube channel for our barn. I was wondering what things should be included on each form of media. Things like daily updates for facebook, conformation shots for the website, a tour of the place for youtube.. If anyone has anything they'd personally like to see from a potential or current horseback riding barn on any of the site, please let me know! I want ideas to make these things really pop and stand out for new and returning customers. Thanks in advance!

I teach riding lessons at a small, hobby-ish farm. I want my students to know as much as possible about the care and upkeep of horses, as well as riding and handling them. I have thousands of ideas and plans, but I I'd like any suggestions this community could come up with!

Again, looking for lessons both in the saddle and on the ground. In an arena, in the barn, on the books. ANYTHING you can think of, feel free to shout it out! No need to raise your hands!

Thanks guys :)

Okay, I know none of you have a stake in this, but I just want outside opinions, I suppose.

I've been riding at/taking lessons at/working at/leasing at/boarding at this same barn for the past three years. It's small, minimal (but very well kept) turn out space, and a nice outdoor arena. The majority of the people there have an amazing knack for getting on my last nerve. I feel very confidant in my riding there, it always makes me feel safe. (I moved my old lease horse from a fairly nice facility in order to rider there, and my confidence and riding shot through the roof.)

A friend of mine, and fellow boarder, wants to move to another barn (which has an indoor, a round pen, a bit more grazing land, no outdoor, and more horses). This new place does NOT have the best reputation - a few people I really respect have left that barn due to sub-par care and upkeep. However, I know those people are a bit hoity-toity, and can't judge for myself yet. Anyways - my friend wants to go there for the indoor - she likes riding inside, while I like riding outside. Plus, the outdoor we have at our current barn freezes with the weather, obviously. They also have a heated/ac tack room.

The stall I have at the current barn is a 12x10 box, with solid wood bottom half and bars on top, and a sliding door with a window that can open and close. The stall I'd have at the new barn is 12x10, solid wood all around on three sides, and a cattle fence on the front, open. It's also difficult to open due to the mating place down inexpertly.

We confronted our current barn owner tonight, saying we were thinking of leaving.. she broke down crying and said she felt like she was loosing her friends. I don't know.. The barn I'm at now, I feel very comfortable at. But I have a 2.5yr old pony I'll need to back and break and train soon, and a roundpen will help immensely, and the consistency of an indoor is appealing. But I like my current barn.. I feel safe and comfortable. I don't know about the new barn.

What would you do?

I hate that almost every horse treat recipe I come across uses mounds of molasses, honey or sugar. Have you come across any without those high-sugar options? Please share!

I was wondering if you had any tips for a short (5ish mile course) pace.. My first one. Don't know if my horse has been on one or not, but the way he behaves jumping in the field, and jumping solid jumps instead of just fillers, kind of makes me think he hasn't either.

He's a 13 year old Trakehner x Arabian gelding. Two vets have checked him in the past six weeks and both have said he's 100% sound, if a tad overweight (he was immediately put on a diet (with consultation from the vet)). He LOVES to jump.

He has open front boots and ankle boots.. and I also have support boots for all four legs, but they're made of fabric and there's water on course...

He's on a conditioning regiment right now that includes 4 days of field work (two jumping) and 2 more in the arena (one jumping, one flat). I'm working on switching around his regimen so it includes more stamina building.. a full day (1-2 hours) of w/t increments.

I have some electrolytes (and salt) for after the pace. He's also on probiotics and joint supplements.

I've been riding for eight years, and I've been with him for around 9 months. I've jumped 2'6" on him, and the course has jumps 1-3ft in height with go-around options.

We've been working on downward transitions in the field.. he likes to GO! lol.

...I cant think of anything else to say. xD

Any tips, comments, concerns, advice.. anything welcome!

My horse is a flea-bitten gray, 12 years old.

Well, as he's shedding out, his chest seems to be dappling...

I've never seen a horse who's both dappled and flea-bitten - does that happen at all? Or do you think his chest is doing something other than dappling?

You should be able to see this, sorry it's a facebook photo, but this is the "dapples" I've seen..

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4498435584...

I've made a YouTube channel for the barn I work, ride, board, lease and train at (haha it's sort of where I spend my life nowadays) and I want to make some "marketing" videos. The first being a kind of barn tour/lesson program introduction thing.

Here's what a couple friends and I figured out. For the first video, a tour of the place, showing the barn, arena, pastures, mini trail. Showing lessons with various instructors in various disciplines. Working the horses - training rides, lunging and liberty work. The people involved with the day to day stuff, and a shot of the owner (standing in front of the arena as a lesson is going on? Or in front of the pastures full of horses grazing?) talking about the barn - why she started it, how long, what we do.

Then I'm going to be posting more videos throughout the summer. I want to do more videos of different things. Meet the people (workers). Meet the horses, both lesson and boarder (and the cat). Maybe a few lessons (with parental/student permission). Any events we do - last year we did a preschool pony ride and info day which was fun, and there's talk of a week long kid's summer camp this year. A video of the rules in action - "All riders under 18 wears helmets" "no running or loud noises" "dogs are to be kept out of common traffic areas and on leashes at all times" etc etc. FAQs. about the program and the barn in general. We're planning on doing a spring cleaning day - everyone who works at the barn is to help out - and I was thinking I could do a video of that day. The feeding and turn out schedule. Etc.

Any other ideas for short videos to be added throughout the summer?

What questions should I put in the FAQ video?

Should I make an intro to put at the beginning of every video, to make it more uniform?

Same goes for an outro video?

This is none of my business, but I know a girl who's had her horse in his stall for about eleven months, occasionally hand walking him a couple times a week. He's not allowed to go in the pasture or be ridden. If you couldn't tell from the title of this post, he's got bone spurs in one of his hind hocks - the left, I think. He used to be a 3'6" competition Hunter over fences, he's 12 years old TB ex racer, built like the old English tbs - big, thick.

My question is what's your experience with horses with bone spurs? I've been doing a bit of research and tbh all I can see happening with this horse is living in his stall for the rest of his life.

If you know of treatments - there's a surgery, some injections, supplements, etc - do you know approx how much they would cost?

If you had a horse with bone spurs and couldn't afford treatment (which is the case with this girl) what would you do?

This is fairly long, sorry. It rambles. I ramble.

I've been riding for eight years.

Started out the way a lot of us do - little girl's fascination.

I've taken lessons with seven instructors now, have circled back to the sixth and have stuck with him. We've got a friendship too, which is nice.

Anyways, in the middle of switching, I've lost why I actually started riding. Now it's to get better, to show, etc, and that's NOT why I started. Hell, for seven years all I wanted to do is ride! Now it's so much more commercial for me and I hate it.

My trainer recently asked me my goals for the new year, because he wants to make this year's riding fun again. And it's got me thinking - my life hasn't been fun in a while.

Don't get me wrong! I'm blessed beyond belief. But I'm also super detached from everything. And no, not saying this for attention, but I am depressed, and I have anxiety and paranoia and all that shiz that messes with your head and your life. It's my goal to.. not get over it, but deal with it better this year. I want to have fun again, damnit.

So basically, what makes riding fun for you? What are some activities that are fun? Not educational, not something you think everyone should do with their horse or whatever - what do YOU, personally, enjoy about your horses?

Hacking? Bareback? Dressage? Do you just love grooming them? Trick training? Hell, just riding in grass?

What do you enjoy the most? Please, be specific and vague! Give me as many examples as you can think of. Think of your favorite memories with your horses - what were you doing? Tell me!

So long story short, I'm giving informal lessons to a 14 year old girl. She's been riding for either one or two years, and she's decent. w/t/c and her /formal/ instructor has put her over a 2'3" jump.

I found her a lease horse at my barn, named Joe. He's good, but he's old and needs leg to go/keep going. She CANNOT for the life of her keep him going. Which proves to me that her lower leg is crap. She says it swings over jumps too. She knows she needs help with it, and with technical things like keeping the horse supple and bent and such, and she's willing to learn.

What are some exercises I can have her do? I have about a dozen and a half in mind, and I know that I need to just play off of how she does with those, but I want more ideas anyways.

NO jumping. Ground poles and the occasional cavaletti are okay.

Mostly want suppleness exercises, bending exercises and things to work out her lower leg.

BQ: She has a hearing aid and sometimes I don't think it's up high enough, because she acts like she can't hear me in the ring. I don't know if it's that or if she's using it as an excuse to stop the horse and walk over to me for clarification. How would you deal with that?

This is mostly aimed towards people who lesson or board, not private barn owners. What's your favorite thing? Is there a picture display, or a boot washing rack, or... what? Small things, big things, a list of things, whatever.

I'll (hopefully) be managing a small (eight full stalls plus one pasture horse) lesson/boarding barn this year. There's things I like and things I don't, but I also want to do nice things that aren't necessary but kinda give the place life.

Any ideas?

Also, BQ, if you were planning a party for kids ages 6-13 at a barn, what activities come to mind?