Horses 4 Life

This summer I am going to start doing some local hunter jumper schooling shows, and I am trying to figure out what to do with his mane. Right now it is pretty long, probably a foot long. Should I cut it? If I cut it, could I leave it all loose, or would I need to put it in those button-braids (I think that is what they are called) If I leave it long, would I do that diamond pattern, or braid it, or what?

This summer, I am going to start trailering my horse more like to schooling shows, trail rides, etc. I want to make sure I have everything for my horse to be safe. What I mainly want to know is, what type of sheet should I get? I mainly just want something over him to keep him clean before shows. Would a fly sheet work? Would a nylon sheet like this: http://www.horse.com/item/saxon-600d-turnout-sheet... make him too hot in the summer, not being breathable enough? It is normally anywhere between 75 and 95 degrees F here in the summer. What type of sheet would you recomend?

Also, I want to make sure I have everything I need for him. I have/ am going to get a leather halter, a tail wrap, leg wraps and standing wraps, and probably a sleazy going on his neck and shoulders to keep his mane nice and neck clean. (I will give him a bath the night before, and just leave the sleazy on until we get to the show. He's grey, he would find a way to get dirty.) Am I forgetting anything?

I know we get a lot of these, but can you critique please? I know we missed leads a couple of times.

Oh, and you can probably see (really over the very first jump, the cross rail) that when coming down, I stick my arms straight out. I'm not sure why I do this, but what are some tips to stop doing that? It feels right when riding, but looks really wierd in the video. I think I am trying to give him enough of a release. And yes, I do take lessons. (my instructor is the one taking the video; sorry for the bad quality, it was taken on her phone)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwgEd2qHJaQ&list=HL...

*this is a repost, my other one wouldn't show up on the feed. Sorrry if it pops up twice!

I know we get a lot of these, but can you critique please? I know we missed leads a couple of times.

Oh, and you can probably see (really over the very first jump, the cross rail) that when coming down, I stick my arms straight out. I'm not sure why I do this, but what are some tips to stop doing that? It feels right when riding, but looks really wierd in the video. I think I am trying to give him enough of a release. And yes, I do take lessons. (my instructor is the one taking the video; sorry for the bad quality, it was taken on her phone)

The other day I was looking through some of my Practical Horseman magazines, and there were a couple different articles saying something about a horse being in front of the leg or behind the leg. What does this mean?

So, as you know, this summer we are moving our horses out to my house. I am starting to really get into hunter jumpers, so I want to make some jumps that won't break the bank. I am going to make standards and get some poles, but what are some different things I can use/make? I want to get my horse used to jumping things besides just the simple everyday jumps. I was thinking I could drape saddle pads or maybe even his blanket (which is blue camo, I bet pretty scary to jump over) Is that safe? What about making a filler out of some plywood? I just want to make sure it is safe to jump in case he knocks it over, I don't want it to hurt or trip him. What about laying barrels on their side and jumping those? Any other suggestions?

I know the horse section gets a lot of these, but could you judge my horse's conformation? Also, how has he improved from July to now? The first two pictures were from today, and the last one was from July when I first got him. Sorry about him being a little dirty, but he is a lot cleaner than when I brought him in from outside! Also, I don't have any pictures of his front or back legs, but the pictures I used do have him standing somewhat square.

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger, fyi.

I know the horse section gets a lot of these, but could you judge my horse's conformation? Also, how has he improved from July to now? The first two pictures were from today, and the last one was from July when I first got him. Sorry about him being a little dirty, but he is a lot cleaner than when I brought him in from outside! Also, I don't have any pictures of his front or back legs, but the pictures I used do have him standing somewhat square.

http://s1105.photobucket.com/albums/h359%E2%80%A6

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger, fyi.

My stepmom and I are going to be moving our horses out to our house this spring/summer. The area where we will be riding when we get the horses out to our house is a flat piece of grassy land. How safe is it for us to ride on it? Is it safe to jump 1-2 feet? This is just a flat piece of land, not prepared for riding horses on like arenas are.

This spring/summer, my stepmom and I are going to move our horses out to our house from the boarding stable they are at. Where the horses are now, they are basically in a dirt paddock, no or very little grass. But when they move out to our house, they will be on lots of grass. I know that if you suddenly give them tons of lush green grass (they'll be coming in the spring/summer) they could colic. We are building a barn, but we're going to put the fence up first and bring them out, so we can't put them in stalls yet. Would it be a good idea to trailer them out and back for maybe a week, starting with 1 hour on pasture the first day, 2 hours second day, etc, until they can be on it all day? Any other suggestions?

How much is the right amount to jump my horse? I ride 3-4 days a week, 1-2 hours each ride. I jump 1-2 feet with him. I always put open front jumping boots on him when jumping, but not on the flat. When I'm jumping, we usually do about 30 minutes of jumping after a good warm up. How much is the most I should jump him? I don't want to do it too much and hurt him, but I love doing it!

If a horse's tail is in a tail bag, how often should you take it out? After you take it out, how long should you wait to put it back in, and should you do anything to it besides checking it over?

1. So this spring/ summer my stepmom and I are moving our horses to our land from the boarding stable they are at now. Both horses are completely used to dogs, but my dog has never been around horses before. My dog is outside with an underground electric fence, and her fence line will run right up along side the horse's wooden fence, so she won't be able to get into their pasture, but when riding and stuff they will be in the same area. Any suggestion on how to get her used to them safely? The boarding stable does not allow you to bring your dog, so that is out of the question.

2. Where the horses are now, they are basically in a dirt paddock, no or very little grass. But when they move out to our house, they will be on lots of grass. I know that if you suddenly give them tons of lush green grass (they'll be coming in the spring/summer) they could colic. We are building a barn, but we're going to put the fence up first and bring them out, so we can't put them in stalls yet. Would it be a good idea to trailer them out and back for maybe a week, starting with 1 hour on pasture the first day, 2 hours second day, etc, until they can be on it all day? Any other suggestions?

3. The place where I will be riding when we get the horses out to our house is a flat piece of grassy land. How safe is it for us to ride on it? Is it safe to jump 1-2 feet? This is just a flat piece of land, not prepared for riding horses on like arenas are.

4. How much is the right amount to jump my horse? I ride 3-4 days a week, 1-2 hours each ride. I jump 1-2 feet with him. I always put open front jumping boots on him when jumping, but not on the flat. When I'm jumping, we usually do about 30 minutes of jumping after a good warm up. How much is the most I should jump him? I don't want to do it too much and hurt him, but I love doing it!

So, my horse has had diarrhea for a while, a couple of months. It has gotten better and more solid, but he squirts water. We asked our vet about it when the diarrhea first started (wasn't squirting water then) and he suggested to start feeding him oats with yogurt. He was also getting a grass-alfalfa mix hay at the time, too. That didn't seem to be helping, so we tried switching to just grass hay, no oats or yogurt. (We took him off of them slowly) That seemed to help with the diarrhea (it got more solid, but still seems a little too wet than normal.) But he started squirting water out, if that makes sense. I am starting to think that it was not what he is eating entirely, but maybe something more internal.

Some info about the horse: He has been dewormed within the past few weeks. He is outside during the day in a dirt lot with two other horses. He is in a stall at night. He gets 3 flakes of grass hay in the morning, and then again at night. He drinks a lot of water. (he has two buckets of water in his stall and I think he drinks it all by morning.) He is ridden/exercised 3-4 days a week. He is a very easy keeper, he's fat. If I left anything important out, just let me know and I will add it.

We are going to call a different vet next week. We had the other vet out a few times and the problem has not been solved.

What do you think is going on? Could it be that he is taking in a lot of water and his body isn't absorbing it all (or whatever their bodies do with the water they take in)

So, I was bored today and looking at my horse's pedigree. I'm not an expert on this kinda stuff, so I was wondering if you guys could take a look at it and tell me if it looks like he has good lineage? From what I can tell he can. (besides the Impressive trying to hide in the corner)

http://www.allbreedpedigree.com/time+to+brighten+u...

Also, because of the Impressive, how likely is it that he could be positive for HYPP? As far as I know he hasn't shown any signs, but is there a possibility that it could pop up?

So, I've always wondered this, and just now remembered to ask about it. The jumps like this: http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=1311&b... Why are they called verticals? It doesn't make sense. You'd think it would be called a horizantal, not vertical. I asked my trainer about this today, and she didn't know.

1. Do you use sprus?

2. Why do you use them?

3. What discipline do ride with spurs on?

4. What type of spurs?

5. If they are roweled, what kind of rowel are on them?

6. Any pictures of your spurs? (Just to see what they look like)

So I just got a saddle from the auction the other day, a wintec. I know that it has the interchangable gullet system thing, but it doesn't have any of those plates in it. I tried it on my horse and it fit, but do I need one of those plates in it?

Hey I just took a video of my horse in the round pen today, and I was wondering what you guys think. How does he look? Conformation? The way he moves?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sPK9kacCEA

You probably noticed that he got the wrong lead going the one way, its pretty obvious. He never picks up that lead, lunging or riding. Here is a video of him being ridden by my instructor for a sale video they made before I bought him. If you go to 1:03, you can see him pick up that lead easily. I got him in August, and this was made a month before I bought him. He must've just recently picked up this habit, but I don't know why. We asked the vet about it and he checked him out, but there was nothing wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQOdJqZT-bQ&feature...

Thank you!

1. Now that summer's over, fall is going to go by quickly and winter will be here before we know it. I want to get a blanket for my horse, who will be outside 24/7. I'm not going to clip him, he will be all fuzzy :) I live in Iowa, and the winters here can get pretty cold. It can easily get below 0 (Fahrenheit) at night. So I was wondering if I should get a heavy blanket, or medium? I'm not sure.

2. And just to clear it up, when it says "# denier" that is how good the fabric is, right? And the higher the number, the better it is?

3. I just noticed this as I was looking through a magazine. There are sheets, and then there are blankets. I'm guessing a sheet just keeps the horse clean and the blanket keeps them warm, right?

4. What is your favorite brand of blanket? I'm not sure what the good brands are, and what I should stay away from.