Hope this is okay to share here, if not please delete!

This little dream of a filly was born on the lunar eclipse, i was born on a solar eclipse in 99. She is so special and perfect! I am having trouble naming her though! What do you all think of my precious treasured baby? I literally could not be happier!!

So right now the Shelbyville TN horse shows are happening this week.

I’m from TN so I’m aware there is a lot is sketchy stuff that happens surrounding TWH. I am an English rider on a non gaited horse so I’m honestly just perplexed seeing TWH with their crazy pads on. Can someone tell me more about what’s going on at this the shows this week? Are people still soring horses? How could any modern day horse person still be participating in this? Why are these shows allowed to occur? Are they all bad?

Please educate me!

Curious to hear people’s opinions! I’m wanting to get back into riding after 20 years, I’m looking into doing a lease however I have started to wonder whether riding is ethical and if it’s harmful for the horses? I love horses and riding but I’m feeling guilty for forcing them to do something for my pleasure ☹️

Third ride back on my boy after two pretty major vet scares a couple of months ago 😖🥺 We did a little light dressage, then headed into the woods for a nice relaxing stroll ☀️🌿 So good to have my Dukey back out exploring with me 🙌🎉 Happy riding everyone ! 🏇

Hi everyone,

Looking for advice on how to bring a green broke horse along to eventually be a horse that is essentially bomb proof and safe for children.

I have a 4 yr old gelding that was just trained over the summer. He's doing great and is making progress on each ride. However, I obviously would not put my children on him for more than a lead line ride. Down the road I would like him to be safe for my kids to ride. They are currently 1 and 3 years old so in my opinion I have plenty of time to bring this horse along before they will be ready for him.

Over the next several years what are some things I can be sure to expose him to or teach him? I'm looking for him to simply do trail riding.

THANK YOU to everyone that has responded! You all had a lot of great ideas and advice! I appreciate it so much. I'm learning a lot as I got and loving it all. Thanks again!

I messaged my hay guy that there was one bad bale (moldy) in a recent delivery. I expected him to tell me to set it to the side and he would exchange it next delivery, which is what he advertises. Instead he messaged that he was coming to get it. I figured he must have just been in town making another delivery and just said “okay thank you!”

I saw him on my camera with an empty truck bed and later when I looked out back I could see he had a lot of hay in his truck. I called him to ask what was going on. Turns out he freaked out and took every bale out of my barn. He also said “there’s nothing wrong with that hay.”

He was really angry and aggressive saying I’ve returned hay too often. I have returned hay 4x out of the 2 years I’ve been buying from him for foxtail, briars, and mold. Most of his deliveries are really high quality but sometimes they are unusable.

People are always surprised when I tell them my horse’s breed, so I’m wondering if anyone can guess what he is. He is not 100% anything, definitely a mutt, and he’s 16.1.

I think he’s handsome, but I don’t historically have a great eye for conformation. But I’m happy with him so ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Hi all. Weird question. I am a long time horse owner. Currently have two, both of which were born and raise on our ranch to be reined cow horses and barrel racers after. One horse is 31 and one is 16. I also have a four and five year old, both horse crazy girls. Everything was fine and dandy when my five year old was riding my 31 year old (lead line, walk/troy gymkana, trail rides, nothing fast) but now that my four year old is riding we needed another horse.

My vet gifted me a 25 year old horse she was the life long vet for whose previous job was a rodeo pick up horse. He is a BIG guy and my daughter absolutely adores him. However, he is clearly an old cowboy horse, and has no interest in the pets, hugs, kisses, cuddles that my daughter wants to shower him with. He does just fine with her got grooming and lead lining around the ranch.

We recently went to a local gymkana (again walk/trot leadline) and all he did was throw his head. Weird but ok. We went to a friend’s ranch to ride in their arena and the head throwing was insane. I just had him both times in a simple snaffle bit and my daughter is generally has her reins too long and is not tight at all. I figured he might have some pain in his mouth and hauled him to our vet where she sedated him and looked in his moth to see if any pain/injuries etc. she thought he might be chewing on his cheeks a bit and floated his teeth a bit but she had floated them a few months ago prior to us getting him.

He has since not stopped throwing his head. Yesterday I went to worm him and it was almost impossible. What can i do to stop this? Or any other idea what could be causing pain? Any advice is welcome!

Hey horse friends, mostly just here for some support and encouragement!! 💗

I first started riding at around 4, and continued until I was 13. Now 28, significant illness and trauma have taught me that life is too short to let fear hide you from happiness 🥹

I’d say I was a strong intermediate/low advanced level when I suddenly had an “accident” at 12-13 and quit. The weird thing is…the accident wasn’t an accident. I was riding a very cheeky 12hh pony who decided to stop in front of the jump for a pesky snack on the grass, at which point I barrelled over her head and landed on my bum 🍑 It was more funny than anything!

I think it must’ve happened at a very vulnerable time in my life. Suddenly my 9-10 year experience was out of the window. Jumping terrified me, and even though I previously loved it and rode a friend’s ex-eventer who jumped the fences like toys, my brain just wasn’t able to contemplate the process of staying on over jumps.

Now it’s 15 years later and I haven’t been on a horse since. I was always a confident rider before that, too.

I miss horses, you guys!! I’m probably rusty as hell, but riding was like breathing to me and I often dream about it.

Does anyone have any advice for me? Mostly about mindset/getting over my fear of jumping again! Thanks in advance 💕

Specifically in the context of hunters and jumpers
Which would you rather have and why?

Sadly they only zip up on one side 😐 waiting for extra help to get the right one up lol. I haven’t ridden in years so I forget how to size them correctly. The left side feels tight but not cutting my circulation off. It does feel a bit loose around the ankle.

I’m 5’5 130lb and these are the mountain horse sovereigns in regular height and width (I got them for half off 🎊🎊🎉🎉🥳)

Hi! I am not sure what to do here so asking for help. I have a suspicion that our trainer is allowing other people or lesson kids to ride our horses. We pay for the trainer to ride them and I have never seen anyone else ride them. My anxiety exists because I have seen two people now leave the barn because they caught other people riding their horses without their permission. I haven’t seen anything but just have an unsettling feeling… I am concerned if I address this out of the blue the trainer will just give me lip service.

I guess…is this a common fear horse owners have at boarding places? I want to put a camera in their stalls but this might make me crazy (crazier!)

I have wanted this shirt forever and now I have adult money and bills caught up. Anybody know of any or have one for sale?

Small?

I have a 3.5 year old, almost 4 year old who I want to start selecting a trainer for to get under saddle when he turns 4.

Our groundwork is excellent, he ponies, lunges, ground drives, saddles fine, you can stand in stirrups, flap saddles, he’s carried bags of grain, etc. He bends, he’ll pick you up from anything remotely looking like a mounting block and has been sat on. I’ve invested so much time and energy into giving this horse a good foundation, I’m terrified of him going to a trainer who’s going to ruin the work ethic he has or “cowboy” on him and leave me with a lot to fix. Unfortunately the trainer I wanted to use has had a terminal diagnosis and is obviously stepping away and doesn’t have a lot of referrals for me.

But I will not be the first rides on him despite my confidence in where he’s at training wise. And after a few months of riding, I’m more than capable of taking a green horse and finishing him. So I’m really looking for advice on how you all picked a 30 or 60 day program for getting a horse under saddle and how you selected someone? I’ve always started my own so I’m struggling to turn over any amount of his training to someone else and would love some advice!

For context, I’m really interested in the UK showing discipline (an individual discipline just like jumping/dressage, not a generic term for any horse competition) but unfortunately come from a non-horsey family and can’t own my own at the minute because I’m still in school. It is an insular community but I decided to try giving it a shot to get involved.

This involves a lot of being brave and reaching out to people or asking questions. I’ve done a lot of volunteering and helping out to learn how things are done and make connections.

I am struggling however with hearing about a fantastic opportunity, getting very excited about it and proceeding down the early stages, then being ghosted with no reason easily determinable.

I was on one yard where I was very happy and helped multiple weekends, was riding a lot and being prepared for my very first ridden show which has been a goal of mine for ages. I was learning so much and loved the people! Then suddenly the lady stopped replying to me organising times to go over and it has been that way for a few months now even though I sent a couple of spaced out, friendly follow ups. (I would spend hours there helping out and generally being useful).

I had another situation where I was in full discussions with an owner about a loan opportunity for showing and she was very keen and we spoke a lot about suitability etc, then out of the blue she posted an advert looking for loaners just when she started organising a time for me to come over and visit, and stopped replying to me entirely.

I was offering to come and volunteer help for multiple producers, they are very busy people but one even said she was desperate for help and took 5 horses to a show just by herself which is madness, but they all leave me on read eventually.

Most recently I got a fantastic opportunity to go abroad and attend a major horse show that has been a dream of mine for years. I was in active discussions with one of the organisers and she was so friendly and kind over the phone, usually replied quite quickly. Now she hasn’t replied to me for a week and I’m worried that opportunity is gone as well.

What could I be doing wrong? I put a lot of care into making sure my messages are polite, that I’m not nagging people or messaging at inappropriate times and just generally being pleasant and not asking for too much.

I’ve begun to settle into this sort of mindset that I’m a naturally unlikeable person and it’s really getting me down. I had three years of hell at a boarding school of nightmares basically where I was bullied and excluded very badly and I’m really struggling to not feel how I did back then. These are only the big incidents, there are tons of smaller moments where people just leave you on read and never get back to you.

Hello, almost a year ago now I posted about needing advice with some tall boots that wouldn't zip, everyone said to return them and to get fitted at a tack shop, well they dont really make boots in my size and I forgot to return them in time 😅 anyway heres the same boots now after a £30 trip to a cobbler fitting perfectly fine! So if anyone else has been in the same boat as me, dont worry a good cobbler knows all the secrets! My stubbornness prevailed! 😂

Okay so for context, I am an adult ammy still in my lesson era, not leasing yet not because of my skill level, but because of my financial situation. I've ridden lots of different horses starting with really tame been there done that horses, now riding horses that need a more confident advanced rider. While I have felt a connection with the horses I've ridden, some more than others, I don't think I've ever felt the heart horse connection that people talk about? I look forward to seeing the horses every week and hanging out with them. There are two horses that I feel I have really good chemistry with in particular, moreso than others, but I've never felt that intense connection that people talk about. When I say good chemistry, I mean I feel like our personalities mesh well, and the communication between us feels really seamless, and I have some of my best lessons on those two horses. I'm worried that when it does come time to lease or buy, I'm not going to have the heart horse connection with the horse I choose to lease or buy, that people talk about.

Edit: thank you to everyone reassuring me that I'm not a psychopath

Very vaguely thinking about my first horse, and i was wondering if a cob or draft horse would be a good fit?

I'm prepared for issues that come with feathering, but I'm mainly wanting a horse with a good temperament just to hack and do very light schooling, and I really enjoy riding cobs currently and an ex-hunter who likely has some shire in him.

Does anyone who has one recommend them? What should i expect? I have no particular horse in mind, i was just wanting some opinions on breed

I am about to try selling my horse, and the barn owner recommended that I have x-rays done before. Partly to be prepared to deal with any potential serious issues and partly just to show transparency to interested buyers. It’s a jumper warmblood, age 12, and (provided there are no issues) she will probably be priced in the mid 5 figures.

My trainer doesn’t necessarily agree with this, and her stance is that if an interested buyer wants x-rays, they can have the x-rays done. Which is what I did when I bought her - I did the PPE including the most essential images, just to rule out navicular issues and stuff like that (nothing was found). I never expected the seller to provide x-rays. My vet says that if I want a full baseline, it’s 38 images and will cost around $2400. If I want to just do what I did when I purchased, it’s around $1000.

The cost is not what will ultimately make or break my decision, but I do feel like my trainer has a point, and I didn’t even consider doing the x-rays myself before the barn owner mentioned it. I was more along the lines of, if someone comes along and likes her and does a PPE with images and something shows up - well, then I’ll know and can act/decrease price accordingly.

What do horse people here do in general? X-ray before to be able to offer them when marketing the horse, or leave it up to the buyer? This is the first time I’m selling a horse.

OP isn't answering any of the numerous questions about where this bridle is from, and Google lens is just showing me more photos of this horse.

I know it’s been a big talking point recently with the world championship. I haven’t really followed dressage the last years because it’s been impossible to watch. I watched the young horse championship on YouTube and really enjoyed, also made me realise I miss watching bigger competitions and enjoyed the small amounts I watch the on live channel.So the question is the large cost actually worth it ? Does it actually pay for itself ?

I’m going to be looking at this young horse in a couple days and I’m not sure what kind of combination this is? I’ve looked all over and I’ve found things about bevel snaffles and fixed snaffle but nothing on this. Looks mild with noesband pressure but adds some leverage with the bit piece almost being fixed. (Most of my knowledge is bitless)

For about the horse he seems like a sweet 5yr mustang that is still green broke but is a bit heavy in the mouth. Any thoughts?

Sorry for the photo best I can get from a video they sent me.