AmandaL

I have been working on a little project here and there for the last 6-7 years and it is finally almost completed. It's a horse book currently with the working title "A Guide to First Time Horse Buying" which really needs to be changed, but it pretty well sums up what the book entails. I've found about 20 other books over the last 30 years on the same subject. Each one is a little different, and I'd like to think mine is too. Either way, I've been writing it and figured I might as well at least try to see if it's worth publishing.

I've been doing a TON of research about pursuing publishing with a publisher, not self-publishing. But it is all very confusing. I would love any insight anyone can provide.

I am right now at the point where the text and images are finished. I am currently working on finishing the layout in InDesign and making it look all nice and pretty. I hope to have this completed in another month or two and then I would like to have a few people I know proof read it. After that, I'll try to get it submitted.

Is it better to to try to submit directly through a publisher or use an agent (I've read both, with perks and drawbacks to each). ?

What other information can anyone provide? I'm sure there's a ton I don't even know to ask, so any input at all will be greatly appreciated. My husband says there are a few people on here who have experience with writing.

Hi all; I've been riding a little over 18 years. I recently purchased an utterly exceptional 11 year old Quarter Horse. He used to be a barrel horse most of his life and was a trail horse for the last few years. He is 100% dead broke western, neck reins solid and has a great, great, mentality. I ride English and since I purchased him, I've been retraining him for hunter which has been going exceptional. He's been started over small fences and is just doing fantastic.

Over the winter I want to start him on training him to ride bridleless. I already drop the reins at the end of every ride and try to guide him with my legs/seat only. Is that a good place to start? He's not ready to advance to anything past this point yet, and I've only been doing it at the walk so far.

He's not super-sensitive to my aids and only yesterday did he truly walk in a straight line for the first time with no reins.

How do you start a horse into bridleless riding? What are some good suggestions and tips?

thanks!

http://www.kshai1715.wordpress.com/

A Barrel Horse Learns to Jump

I cannot seem to locate a local place that does any type of outdated electronics repair. I have an old, old sharp video camera that uses the miniDV tapes to record on. I love it. It's been a great camera for my needs for years. It is about 12ish years old. Now it had some kind of total power failure and is completely dead. The tape in it won't even come out. I would love to see about getting it repaired. I did end up buying a new modern video camera, but I'm only semi-happy with it. I was much happier with the old one.

anyone have any recommendations?

thanks in advance.

I want to teach my horse to ride bridleless... tips, anyone? He's got a dead broke western neck rein and is basically a totally broke horse. He's a little rusty on the leg cues right at the moment, but we're working on it. (I ride English).

Ultimately my goal is to jump him bridless around a full course complete with lead changes. Yea, that'll take YEARS.... lol. For now, I'm just starting to think about starting this type of training in the winter. I'll have a lot of down time in the winter and figure starting this in the roundpen at the walk would be a good place to start.

I already drop the reins when I'm done working after a ride, and can get him to generally stay in the vicinity I want him to be, and change directions and whoa with leg /seat position only. It's not a real refined (or very straight) thing yet, but I've only owned this horse 4 weeks. I figure the whole riding bridleless thing will take 1-2 years to perfect, and jumping has got to be on the 3-5 year plan.

So, what's the place to start with things like this?

http://www.kshai1715.wordpress.com/

I have several sunflowers that have grown over TEN FEET tall. Right now, I've got one massive one that's drooping down big time. It is 18" across the flower head and the stalk on the plant is a little over 4" around. I'm just not sure when I should cut it for seeds? From what I've read online, I should hang the head upside down for 1-2 weeks in a cool, dry place, too... is that right?

Here are two pictures of the super super super huge one... as you can see it's pretty well flopped over.. but I've included a close up of the head so maybe someone can tell me if I shut harvest it?

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/KShai/super...

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/KShai/super...

This is a second one that's a little behind the bigger one..

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/KShai/Other...

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/KShai/other...

Is this one ready, either? I think it's not, but then again, I'm not sure when they're ready at all.

Here's a shot of all my sunflowers. 3 of them are over 10' tall, one is over 10.5' tall. I've got 2 more that are about 7 feet right now, and 2 more that are only 4 feet tall. I don't think they're going to make it...

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/KShai/10fts...

I appreciate insight in how to harvest them and when...

I posted on here about a week but I had the name wrong. I had looked at an AQHA registered horse and was wondering if anyone in the AQHA could possibly find out if any information exists on him. I did end up purchasing him and think he's an absolutely wonderful animal!!!! WOO!! I'm so excited about him!!! You can see pictures here http://www.willowtreephotos.webs.com/

Anyway his registered name is TR'S QUICK OLE MAN All I know is he was used as a barrel horse in Iowa. He was bred in Iowa and he was also shown in Illinois. I don't know if there are any type of AQHA shows, but he was competed in the IA NBHA shows in 2003, 2004. I do not know if he was ever shown in any AQHA events. I just would like to know what information exists, if any. If someone could look that up that would be sweet...

I'm not a member of the AQHA, but when I transfer his papers, I think I'll join. I show hunters and will be teaching this barrel horse to jump!!! LOL! He's going to be great at it though!!

I put a deposit on a registered QH yesterday and I am terribly excited about getting him.. I hope he passes his vet exam, but I think he will with flying colors! Woo..

Anyway, I believe his registered name (if I remember it right --- should have written it down) is TR's One Good Ole Boy

I know it's defnitely TR's good ole boy and I'm pretty sure it's Tr's One Good Ole' Boy. I don't know if he has any type of information at all with the AQHA, but I'd like to know if anything exists. I know the horse was bred in Iowa and was shown in barrels. I don't know if he's done any AQHA shows, and I don't know much about AQHA showing.

Any info would be awesome. Anything at all. Sorry I didn't think to write down the name of his sire or dam, either.

Duh!

As short as possible: I purchased a custom made item from a seller (early February). I paid for it using my MC but processed it through Paypal. I waited an insanely long time to receive the item and once I finally got it (mid - may) it was incorrect. The business owner told me to return it and she would fix it. I returned the item less than 3 days later and she received it back. She inspected it, ADMITTED to making the item incorrectly and then proceeded to tell me she could offer me an equal replacement. The item I ordered was supposed to be traffic cone orange and the replacement she could offer was brick red. This was not acceptable. I asked her for a complete refund of the money I paid originally as well as the return shipped. She told me she would refund me via check. I told her since I paid on a credit card, I wanted it refunded back to my credit card, but she said she could send me a check.

Twice, throughout June, she promised me a refund. In July, after her failure to produce a refund or return my calls/emails, I filed a dispute with the credit card company. Paypal cannot help me because this transaction is not covered under Buyer Protection for whatever reason.

Now, the credit card company is telling me I have insufficient information available to obtain a refund. I have dozens of emails from this woman in writing with her admission she produced an incorrect item, and she would offer a refund. According to the credit card company since the emails do not have my name and account number and a total amount of refund due by the merchant, this is not valid terms for a dispute.

So now, this seller 1200 miles away has the incorrect item AND my money and I'm being told there is absolutely nothing I can do to get my money back. The woman will not return calls or emails, all I got from Paypal the other day was something saying she "cancelled an invoice"... I don't know what that means, but I don't see any type of refund at all.

So, what can I do? I cannot get the proper information from this business woman if she fails to respond to me, and I can't get my refund through the credit card, so I'm out a ton of money and this woman gets off scott free?

There has got to be some other way I can get my due money. This is ridiculous and how can I as the consumer be completely screwed out of my money ?? How else can I get my refund?

Hi All;

I know there a TON of books out there about horses and barns and Cherry Hill has a Myriad of them (I own many of them)... I think I've even seen Horses for Dummies if I'm correct?

I am doing a little project and I am wondering what books are out there that people have seen that pertain to buying a horse? Like a book of how to shop for horses, beginner guides to purchasing a horse, buying your first horse, owning a horse? First timer's do's and don't of horse buying? Things along that nature.

I'm scouring the internet, but I would like to know if any avid horse book readers out there have seen, read, or own any books about actually purchasing a horse? Titles, please?

Thanks!

Hi; I have written a book, purely for the fact that I like to write. I have no idea if it is publication worthy, but I was doing some research online about how to go about submitting it, and I am really confused. It is a non-fiction book about horses. I've found a few names of publishers that have currentlly published non-fiction horse books out there.. do I just send them my manuscript and hope for the best? The text of the book is finished, but there are many many many images in the book. A few I've provided for myself, that I personally took ( I'm an amateur equine photographer, too), but the majority of them are just "borrowed" so it's set up the way it should look. Does that matter? I realize my borrowed images cannot be printed, but I really wanted the book to look 100% done.

Any experienced authors out there who would offer me some insight on what to do next? I absolutely know I do NOT want to self-publish. NO way.

Thanks in advance for insight in to this matter.

I am very very torn about if I should buy another horse or not. I really have had my confidence shattered pretty hard over the last 5 years or so. I owned a horse that really turned out to be a very very bad situation, and I believe I created that situation and I'm afraid to do it again. I've been riding for 18 years, mostly hunter and about 7 years of Dressage, but I think my dressage ruins horses. Anyway, I'm toeing the water of buying horse #12, to try to find a piece of myself that I've lost - to be able to ride consistently again and to try get back into showing, which I have not been able to do since 2005.

You can read about my horse woes on my blog ( http://www.wordpress.com/kshai1715 ). But anyway, here is a video of this horse I'm looking at. This was my first ride on him http://www.youtube.com/user/yautjakshai#p/a/u/0/89... just a few days ago. He's green, but he's 11 years old. He isn't used to being ridden English or on a long rein. And while he did nothing wrong in particular, he doesn't really do anything well either. LOL. He needs training and 10 years ago or more I would have jumped on it, but now I'm just not so sure I'm up to the task. But he's in my budget, and I know, for what' I'm needing to spend, I won't find a fully trained horse. I'm just not sure if maybe I can find something a little more trained? Or if I should just leap in again and tackle this one?

What do you think of him? I'm going to take a second look with my trainer, but I really wanted opinions!

My 16 year old miniature mare doesn't really shed out all that well - she gets a very fuzzy winter coat and clumps of winter hair will stay on her long past spring. I'm expecting to have to clip her body this year, but I've never done that before, amazingly enough . In almost 20 years, you'd think I might have clipped 1 horse.

I can pay someone else to do it, but with the costs they charge to clip a mini around here ($150.00), I can buy my own set of body shearers, so I'm thinking of doing just that. I saw a new pair for $235.00 at the farm store the other day. What # blade does one use to body clip? I would think 10 would be too long? But then 20 might be too short?

Are the blades on the big clippers the same as the blades on the smaller clippers in terms of blade numbers?

Any input would be great!

I'll keep this as short as I can- lol. Suffice it to say that the last 2 horses in a row that I owned (to ride), I had DISASTROUS issues with. They both went from quiet gentle horses to violent attacking and bucking nightmares after 6 months of me riding them dressage. I took one to my hunter jumper trainer and they never had issues with her, so she is no longer mine. The other one eventually became too lame to maintain and he was euthanized after 4 years of standing around. I said I would not buy another one, as I didn't want to ruin another one. But I have never had issues ever riding any hunter horse. I've been riding 18 years so I like to think I know what I'm doing.

I have 2 ponies to drive, but nothing to ride, and the ponies are really my hubby's to show and drive and enjoy. So, I've been taking consistent lessons with a H/J trainer for 3 years now and thought maybe I should buy another horse and just concentrate hunters, not dressage. I've even had issues with horses I've leased for dressage- that were dressage trained & shown.

Anyway, my trainer doesn't feel that I can get a horse that can competently handle w/t/c in an arena in the price I'm looking at. She believes to get a horse that can walk trot and canter when asked will cost about 5 times my budget. Thus at the price I'm looking I cannot get a horse to suit my low-level needs.

I did go look at a horse 2 weeks ago that I really liked. He was SUPER SUPER quiet, which is a huge factor to me. But he did not know how to be ridden in an arena at all. He was confused about trotting and I couldn't get him to canter at all.

In the past, I used to ride *anything* and always felt "I could handle it". Now, I guess my bones don't bend as well and the ground's a lot harder. I really liked this horse, even if he did have a slight parrot mouth.. He was well within my budget (not my trainers!), but I am not sure I could finish this horse or not. His seller thought I could, my husband thinks I should buy him, but I am so unsure of everything anymore.

If I stick to my trainer's plan, I'll never own a horse - there's no way I could come up with the money she says I need to spend - not in 20 years could I save that kind of money up. I love my lessons, and I jump 2'6" - 2'9" but I feel it's not enough, I have owned 8 horses in the past, and have always owned a horse for the last 12 years, now I'm facing eternity not owning one, and I'm not even sure if I should ever get one, or if I could finish a horse like that QH I looked at the other week.

How should I decide? How can I possibly decide?

I would love some suggestions!

http://www.kshai1715.wordpress.com/

I am working on a little project and need to know as many equine magazines as possible. I'm trying to think off the top of my head and so far the only ones I can think of are:

Horse Illustrated

Dressage Today

Equus

Horse & Rider

Young Rider

Western Horseman

What are some other ones? I know there's a ton more than just these.

Thanks for the help!!

I have made a few videos in Adobe Premiere that feature edited video, special effects, and soundtracks. I converted them from a Premiere project into a .avi file, and uploaded them to YouTube, and they work perfectly. I then burned them to DVD and I can't get them to play correctly in a DVD player.

I used Nero 8, and I made it a DVDISO because I couldn't do a DVD-Video, it said I needed another program to do that. How can I burn these so they work fine on a regular DVD Player?

If I can keep this to only a mini - novel, not an epic, I will. Very brief history of me/my riding. Age 30. Been riding 18 years mainly hunters, jumped through 4 foot.I showed in hunters for something like 6 or 8 years until I started Dressage in 2000 because one of my very best hunter horses was very on the forehand and we used that training to lighten him up to improve his coursework. I started to love Dressage for the amount of collection I could produce and how cool it felt. About 2003 I got pretty heavy into Dressage, lessoning with GP level trainers and riding GP trained horses. I didn't do much showing, more learning than anything.

In 2005 everything went down hill and I have been consistently ruining every horse I ride attempting to ride Dressage. I work with upper level trainers, USDF bronze and silver medalists, I still ride hunters and ride with trainers that compete in 4' hunters and GP level jumpers. I have no problems riding hunter. Whenever I ride a horse in dressage consistently, they get ruined. I mean ruined.

In 2005, I bought a low level dressage horse, by April 2006, he was totally unrideable, painfully back sore, and would buck like crazy if you sat on him at the mounting block. I gave him many months off and tried to ride him again, managed to get through 2 Dressage shows and 3 months, and he started back into bucking and being tense. He had 3 years off until this summer a girl got on him western and he was perfect for her. With no warm up, no pre working, nothing. She just asked if she could ride him, I told her how he'd behaved 3 years before and up she went and he was perfect for her.

At the time, I was also riding another horse 1-2 x's a week and he began to buck and jump off the ground and refused to be ridden after a few months of me riding him.

In June 06 I bought a lovely warmblood mare that had some basic dressage training into 1st level movements on her. I had no problems with her at all and we were working well on the basics of suppling, flexing, and bending. I really thought I bought the perfect horse and our trainer always said we were a great pair. By Dec, the mare was completlely unrideable. She exploded on me one day when I asked for a canter and reared and bucked and started squealing and striking the ground. About 10 minutes later, I couldn't get her to walk, she would bite at me and tense up when I put my leg on her.

The whole time, I worked with trainers (and then many vets) who all said it wasn't me, that I ride correctly, effectively, and am not hand heavy or doing anything I shouldn't be doing. The trainers said I can't be causing these problems. I had the saddle looked at, I changed saddles, I rode Western on these horses, I tried everything.

I had one vet who told me it was all me and I shouldn't be riding Dressage because I clearly have no clue what I'm doing.

A 5 star eventer rider and problem horse trainer came to ride the mare and said it was a behavioural problem. He saw me ride and didn't think I was doing anything wrong, but very clearly saw the violent and aggressive way the mare would react to me - bitinig, striking, cow kicking, bucking and rearing - VERY high. She behaved the same way for him but he was able to get her going nicely in a frame and working. I couldn't even get her to walk off the mounting block. I tried for 2 years to ride her after that and she always reacted the same to me- even just being leadlined by someon on the ground. I took her to my hunter trainer and they've never had a problem with her, they jump her around full courses and she's been fine with them.

I have also been riding hunters for the last couple years and have no problems, I don't jump very high anymore, only about 2'6", and I don't ride any where near as often as I used to, going from every day riding different horses to riding once a week if I'm lucky on a school horse.

But I really miss Dressage and this summer started leasing a trained 4th level horse. He was a very good boy and once again I started with working with a medal winning trainer. She said I rode the horse correctly and handled him well, even though he was a 17.3h powerhouse with a huge motor. Personally I felt like I did nothing but fight with him to keep him from bolting around the arena, and combined with that he was incredibly spooky at every little thing, I stopped leasing him.

I continued with lessons with a different trainer starting this fall and rode her school horse for a while and only had one issue with him pinning his ears, throwing his head up and not wanting to move forward. 5 weeks ago I started leasing a fantastic lower level dressage horse that she trains. He is so soft, so light, and so well trained, I thought this was the best thing ever. Working with the trainer this horse and I have really blossomed. I've only been on him maybe 12 times.

Now he's getting incredibly girth sore, far worse than he was when I started leasing him, last night he started

I am wondering if there are other websites that I can list free local sale ads that might be sort of similar to Craigslist?

In June, my husband had a sinus surgery and spent about 4 weeks out of work. The doctors found cancer in his sinus, so in August, he underwent brain surgery to have the cancer removed. He spent 9 weeks out of work due to that, literally just starting back to work 3 days ago.

We did Ok, bill wise during those 2 episodes. I make only about 1/3 of our combined income. So it was a big hit living off of my pay alone. We have no savings at all, and generally keep a very low balance, less than $100 in the checking acct. We have a LOT of bills, 4 credit cards, rent, utilities, car insurance, cell phone (no home) . They are probably the usual bills for everyone, but with a huge hit to income like this, we've been leaching off our parents.

Needless to say, they are not really well off enough to help us cover nearly $2500 in expenses every month that his pay would normally cover.

Yesterday, after a recheck appointment, now my husband has to undergo radiation therapy at the hopsital 1 1/2 hours from home. He will not be able to work during this, so he will be off from the end of OCT to the beginning of JAN.

What can we do to cope with the bills during this time? His mother seems to think there would be a program to give him a stipend while he's out of work? He gets no pay from work during this, and in fact, he OWES his work money for health insurance, so he's working for free right now to pay back his health insurance. We will get maybe 1 full paycheck from him before he goes back to being out of work.

I don't think our parents can support us anymore. I need suggestions on what to do with the bills until at least the end of January 2010 before his paychecks start coming back in.

Thanks.

I have a 25-ish year old QH. He is in great shape for the most part. I've owned him 4 years. He was supposed to be 14 when I bought him. LOL.

Anyway, he has navicular, ring bone, and arthritis in every other joint on the planet. When I first got him, I spent thousands on vet care (yes, for all that money, I could have bought a younger, much nicer animal). I get him xrayed regularly, and I used to do joint injections, special shoeing and medication.

That got me about 8 months of riding time on him before he went pretty lame and was not ridden for over 2 1/2 years. This summer, he's been ridden maybe 10 times, at the walk mostly, and on good ground. He did ok all summer, but the last time I was on him ( a month ago), he was pretty lame at the trot. So he has not been ridden anymore.

He is lame on all 4 legs. He's gets seen by the vet 2-3 times a year just as a check up for his issues, and new xrays, but he is not on any medication any more because it just doesn't really make a difference. He colics with bute. He used to live on naproxen daily and banamine weekly, and an herbal therapy too.

So anyway, he's pretty dang lame now. He got his feet trimmed saturday and now he's just about crippled. Historically, he always get a little tender foot for about 3 days after a trim, but this is the worst he's ever been. He is dead lame on one foot right now. Just a sign that he is getting worse with his very very severe navicular.

The veterinarian that cares for him says he's never seen a navicular bone so bad before.

How much do you think is too much? I board, it's expensive, and he is a useless horse as far as riding goes. I've spent thousands and have had 2 of the top vets in the country look at him. I used to do a ton for him, but now, money is short, and I am not particularly interested in doing any more "heroics".

He's usually pretty comfy to stand around in the pasture. He's just terribly lame now because of the feet trim. He is noticeably lame at the trot (before the trim), but OK enough at the walk.

What would your opinion be? Winter is coming after all... His navicular bone stands a chance of breaking, it is so paper thin and worn through. It's possible that could happen. Hasn't happened yet. I guess I am just not sure how much I can (or want to) put into him.

Recent pictures:

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/KShai/Horse...

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/KShai/Horse...

http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e393/KShai/Horse...

I am thinking how nice it would be to go watch the 2010 WEG at the Horse Park there. I've to the horse park before and loved it there and have been dying to go back for almost 10 years now.

As I look at the WEG website, can someone help me with this.... am I correct in reading that you have to buy tickets for each individual competition you want to see, and not one ticket for everything?

I would like to go for 2-3 days and try to see driving, dressage, and jumping if I can, but it seems like I would be paying $50 for a driving ticket, $95 for a dressage ticket and $100 for a jumpers ticket.

Maybe I am missing on the website, but is there not just one ticket that covers everything, so that way if I want to peek in on something else, I can ?

Maybe this will be too pricey for me to do. 2 people, hotel, gas, and all those tickets... wow! Talk about an expensive 3 days !! It would be worth it, though... Especially since I won't get to see the Equestrian Olympics here in my backyard in Chicago now.

Does anyone know how the ticketing/pricing works for the WEG ?