SummerPullet

I am hoping to try breakaway roping sometime this year with my mare. She is a 11 year old half QH, quarter TB and quarter Arab and stands at 14.2 hands. She is well conditioned, has a nice topline (although I continually work on adding more muscle to the top of her neck), and is light on the bit. She responds to leg cues, bit cues, neck reins, and stops well and I will sometimes even ride her in only a neck rope. She is patterned in barrels and poles but is not yet finished as she has only been training in those disciplines for a year. Here is a picture of her, taken yesterday. It is not a perfect conformation shot, but it shows off some of her muscling http://tinypic.com/r/2ivle6s/5

Do you think she would make a good prospect? I have thrown a rope off of her, dragged things, taken her on countless trails and she is perfectly bombproof.

She is barefoot, and is doing great that way. She has hooves as hard as rocks and does trails over all sorts of ground. But would being barefoot mean that she could not rope well? She knows how to stop on her hind end but does not have sliders.

Also, can I do breakaway roping in a treeless barrel saddle? She is very hard to fit western, so I barrel race her in a Bob Marshall saddle. I know I can't attach the rope to the horn, but would simply doing breakaway affect the saddle and/or her back?

Lastly- would I need a tie down? I would prefer to not have one, as my horse prefers as little pressure as possible.

Thank you!

The most asked question in this section of Y!A: Show name for my horse?

I have a sorrel mare named Gracey. She is an 11 year old QHxTBxArab cross, this year I am hoping to show her in western and English. Last year when I showed her I entered her as Nothin' But Grace, but it seems a little too western for the English show ring. Any suggestions for show names?

She is 14.2 hands tall and her birth name was Penny because her summer coat is so shiny she looks like a copper penny. Her next owners named her Pacey, then the owners after that changed it to Gracey. I kept the name Gracey when I bought her. I'm hoping to incorporate her three names in her show name if possible.

Here is a photo of her http://i563.photobucket.com/albums/ss80/Rosewing17...

http://www.actionridertack.com/p-673-myler-bits-en... This bit

I bought one used for my mare, but I am wondering how it works on her mouth. Such as, what types of pressure does it put on the bars, tongue, lips, etc. How harsh would this be in light English riding hands? My mare normally rides in a mullen mouth Myler with three rollers and very short shanks, but I'm hoping to try riding English a bit to improve my overall riding skills.

How does this bit work in the horse's mouth- what are the mechanics of this snaffle? And how does the horse react?

Thank you!

I've been looking at treeless saddle pads, and I'm wondering if anyone rides in a Best Ever Pad without a tree? It looks like it has spine and wither clearance, and I know a lot of people ride on 5 Stars which are built similarly. But I have a limited budget and even used I can't seem to find a thin 5 Star. But I have found a Best Ever that is thin enough not to roll the saddle within my price range and I'm thinking of buying it. Right now I have an ESP pad but it's a little thick and it presses down on my mare's withers a little too much. Has anyone used these pads with treeless before?

Today I went to the ranch where I board my horse, which is miles of fields and one parking lot. There are pigeons, cats, ground squirrels, raccoons, tarantulas, snakes, and possums that reside there. There are also birds of prey. When I got to the ranch there was a pigeon sitting on the ground near the door of an open chicken run (there is also a rooster that was abandoned at the ranch and adopted the boarders, who built a coop and run for him). She could not walk and stumbled into the run, where it was too enclosed and too surrounded by people for the hawk to venture in. So the hawk never finished her off, and now I have a pigeon that cannot walk and can fly only a few feet with a bunch of feathers ripped off her back. I'm not sure what I should do with her. I feel somewhat obliged to take her in, give her some electrolytes and shelter, and just have her comfortable until she heals. But should I just let nature take its course and have her starve or get picked off by a raccoon? I have chickens that I raised from chicks so I know a little about treating wounds on birds. So pigeon experts, any advice?

Right now she is in an enclosed area in the chicken run with some cracked corn and water with stones in it to keep her from drowning in it. But it's a chain-link run, so a raccoon could easily nab her and take a bite.

A year ago I got a Qh-TB-Arab cross mare who was neglected for four years. She's always been a little herd sour, but it seems to be getting worse. I do groundwork with her at least once every week (normally 2-3 days per week) to assert dominance and let her know that I'm her friend. She is very friendly in the round pen and trusts me (she bows, nickers when I come, join-ups, bridleless) but when you take her out of the round pen and refuses to turn left. She will turn her head but not her body, no matter what cues you give her. Only on her left turns, though. I've had her teeth checked, saddle fitted, and looked at by a chiropractor, but she still acts this way. I ride her in a Mullen mouth Myler bit with 5" shanks and three rollers as well as a Myler comfort D-ring snaffle with a port. I've tried making the pasture a place of work and the arenas a place of rest, but it doesn't seem to be working. Does anybody have any tips to correct her herd sourness?

Where can I buy full-grain leather to make horse tack with? I don't want a whole lot, most leather suppliers I've found make you buy hundreds of dollars worth of leather. I just want maybe 7 square yards or so. Where can I buy leather like this?

Not like skid boots. Something along the lines of hoof boots. I'm a reiner and I bought a mare, and I would like to teach her sliding stops and spins. However, I board her in a pasture where she cannot have back shoes since there are other horses living there too. Right now she is completely barefoot, but I can have the farrier put front shoes on her. But her back hooves: she can't have sliders, do you know of a certain boot that can protect her hooves while sliding to a stop?

Additional information: She is ten years old but acts like she's five, 14.2hh Appendix Quarter Horse but built like a full Quarter. I currently run her in barrels and drill team.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1SDN1xv6-8&feature...

Is something like this legal? Is it legal if the video clips are recorded from YouTube?