horse questions

Hi again! I'm so happy to hear from you again. I understand what you're saying about MyLot, I don't think it will ever be a thing I made a real financial profit on, but if I can have a few conversations I love and make a few pennies while I'm at it, then why not right? First, to answer your questions. Nope, I don't live on a farm. I live in an apartment complex with my boyfriend that is about 15 minutes from where my mare is boarded. I've been forunate to find and make good friends with a woman who owns a stable. She has very reasonable prices and is very flexible with helping out if needed. We do hope to eventually own our own property, but we'll be moving about 7 hours north first. We plan to move closer to family in about a year. Her name is Bailee and she's just about as sweet as can be. She's a Registered Appaloosa, so her registered name is TR's Bright Showy Dream. We actually just bought her about 2 months ago as a 3 year old. I started her training approximately 7 months ago. I've trained many horses over the years and gotten attached, I've never fallen in love with one quite the way I fell for Bailee. So the answer to that last question is no, I haven't had her since she was a foal, but yes, I've done all her training aside from halter training. She has a beautiful forward and smooth walk and trot and she just recently started getting more balanced and smooth at her canter. I'm a very proud horse mom as she learns very quickly. I mostly ride English and eventually do plan on seeing how she does as a jumper, but enjoy riding Western as well so I ride her both ways. Right now the two things we're working the most on is side-passing and neck-reining. Both she's picking up well, but it takes a lot of time and patience. I commend you on being more interested in natural horsemanship. I strongly feel that its a much better way to train. Do you have a specific professional trainer that you like to read about? All my methods, whenever possible, are based on natural horsemanship. If you do get in a position to take lessons eventually, I'd recommend and say that it's never a bad idea. Especially if you eventually like the idea of doing showing. Even after 20+ years I take a lesson once a month from two natural horsemanship trainers in this area whom I love. I kind of live by the belief that no matter how good I think I may be at something, there's always more I can learn. Granted, if you're not planning to show at all and are planning to ride for mostly just fun and pleasure, most things you can likely teach your self very well. So I'd love to hear more about you and your sweet mare. What style do you like to ride in? Have you gotten up on her yet since bringing her home? Is she having any ground problems with being pushy, walking to far ahead of you when you're leading her, not stopping? A lot of times when you first bring home a horse you can run into some problems like that when they're testing you. Of course if you have any other questions for me, I'd love to answer them. :)

Yes, I've decided basically the same thing - if I meet some nice people, have a few good conversations and manage to earn a little cash, then I'm happy. I have also looked through the Tasks, but most of them are for US residents only, so I can't do them. Lucky for you to be only 15 min. from where you board Bailee. She sounds like a really good horse and I think that it's wonderful that you are able to train her yourself. Midnight is 10 this spring, and she is basically a good horse, but there are a few things that I wish she wouldn't do. I'm not explaining myself very well here. I guess what I am saying is when you get an animal that is not a baby (be it cat, dog, horse, whatever), it has had life experiences that makes it the way it is. Our dog, Rocky, for example, is about 3 yrs old and we adopted him from the SPCA last Nov. He is a wonderful boy, but has issues because he was beaten, yelled at and abused. He would be a different dog had we raised him from a puppy. He is very protective of me, but is sometimes afraid of his own shadow. Poor boy. I've only had Midnight here since Dec 10th, and since it is the middle of our winter here, no, I haven't ridden her yet. I have had her halter off/on a few times, lots of grooming and cleaning of hooves, lots of time spent scooping poop. I try to spend at least a couple of hours everyday doing the above and just getting her used to me and the sound of my voice. She nickers at me in greeting whenever I go out to see her, so that's a great start. She is kind of nervous here still, but I don't blame her. New place, new people, new dog, new smells, new everything. I think that she's coming along well and I am trying to remain calm and peaceful at all times. I have a fairly soft voice and soft touch and I think she is responding well to that. I read that because a horse is a prey animal it is always very aware of it's surroundings and it's vital to not act like a predator. Sounds kind of funny, but makes sense to me. I have only ever ridden Western. Growing up in rural BC, I can't remember ever being exposed to anything else. Some of my friends were involved in gymkhana, some in rodeos, etc, but I just liked to ride out in the bush. I am SO NOT a competitive person, I don't have time to be worried about what anyone else is doing. I just want to ride and have fun. Some day, maybe, if I ever get a horse trailer (lol), I would maybe want to try endurance riding, but that's it. I think that the local Therapeutic Riding Club offers riding lessons. I have done some reading about Pat Parelli's methods, Touch Training and Gawani Pony Boy. Of them all, the last is probably the one that interests me the most. I am very interested in Native American culture and that fits right in. There is so much info out there, it can be overwhelming. I guess the main thing for me is that I am not one to lose patience, get angry, yell or hit. Any training that involves anything like that is not for me. I want my horse to trust me, like me and want to please me. She is pretty well trained. I guess when she was younger, she was a chuckwagon horse in the Calgary Stampede, so she is broke to drive. My last horse was too, so someday I would like to get a sleigh for winter sleigh rides. Midnight was also used out in the bush hunting, so will pack out meat with no problem. She is good crossing rivers & creeks and will stop if you fall off. This is so vital when riding out in the bush, or you may end up walking home, which would not be good! She leads well, stops when you clue her, etc. She does have a bit of an attitude sometimes, but then so do I! I tell people that she is a stocky mountain girl, just like me! I would like to ask you... do you clean Bailee's hooves daily? I have been reading about thrush, etc. I don't think that Midnight got much daily care so I am trying to spend some time everyday doing that - she looked pretty scruffy when she first arrived. I am really enjoying our contact and look forward to hearing from you!

oh I don't believe this!!! I had a big response to your post typed in, then forgot that I can't paste and I wanted to move a paragraph. Now I have lost it all!!!!! How frustrating... I can't remember everything that I just typed but will try my best. I am so sorry to hear about the horse at the stables. Do they know what spooked her? Pretty brave of that guy to jump in there with her, but I guess any of us would have done the same to try to keep her calm. You are very lucky to have Bailee stay there. Does Sean ride? Does he have his own horse too or do you share Bailee? My husband likes Midnight but has had bad experiences before with horses. I plan on getting him someone bombproof when we can get another horse. Yes, I have a great farrier who actually lives across the highway from us. He was here a few weeks ago to do her feet. He said that they were pretty good, just in need of a trim. I plan on sticking to a good schedule with him, he has been around horses all of his life and I guess they have about 50 horses. They do horse logging. What is the remedy for thrush? I don't think that she has it, but the stuff I dig out sure doesn't smell very nice! The grooves on either side of the frog seem to be quite deep, but it has been such a long time since I cleaned hooves that I can't tell if there is a problem or not. I will keep at it and will doublecheck with the farrier the next time I see them. Is it something that must be diagnosed/treated by the vet? We live on almost 14 acres in southeastern BC, Canada. We are about 4 km north of the Kingsgate Border Crossing. I think that the closest town in the US is Bonners Ferry, Idaho. I love it here so much. I grew up in the Kootenays and would rather live here in the mountains than anywhere else in the world. Thanks for all your information and hope that the mare is healing well. Take care, Cheryle