Horses

[R.D.Metcalf]

ROA,
Thank you for complimenting my horse. You hit some good points about problem horses. Like i told greg in the other string the biggest thing is taking time with the horse....I dont want to come across as a know it all or a horse guru but in my honest opinion alot of problems get solved by spending time with the animal.

But exceptions exist: Probably the most problematic horse I ever had was my quarterhorse, storm,hes pictured on here too in the Rohirrim string. He was out of 'Impressive' bloodlines and they dont get a good name. Storm was a great horse but he would occasionally spin out from under you at nothing. a missile could land in the pasture and he wouldnt even look up, but if a leaf or rock was out of place he was beside himself. I kept this horse for 10 years and he never got over that quirk, in fact, he got alot worse as he got older.

I hated like hel to let him go, but distance rides got to be a chore, he was too surly to pasture with Ranger so I sold him to a friend who runs a barn in SC. He is experienced and knew what he was getting. I couldnt trust storm anymore he was just too skittish to be anything but an aggervation. And I dont yet know what I did wrong, He was my horse and his mistakes were my mistakes. I put 10 years into this animal from his first steps to when I led him off the trailer at his new home and it bothers me to this day not being sure whether he failed me or if I failed him. I am a "take no crap" rider, storm was not spoiled, but no amount of discipline seemed to stop this, truth be told if you werent stern he was unmanageable toward the end. At 3 years old he acted like he was 10 at 10 years old he acted like he was a green 2 year old. I was and still am stumped at his behavourial change.

[Ranger of Arthedain]

Who does horse back riding?

I used to. Traumatic experience though. I fell off and was dragged for a ways. I was SO glad when my quarter ran out.

You gotta watch out for those types of horses, Eric, they're bad news.

You don't come off as a know it all in the least bit, I'm always eager and happy to hear advice when it comes to horses. I do agree with you though, even if the horse is old and is only meant to be a "paddock buddy" you still should spend time with them; they're one of the smartest creatures I've ever had the pleasure of working with.

Hmm, It may not have been any mistake you were making. I'll go out on a limb here with a guess, it may have been a neurological (sp?) disorder of some sort. For a drastic change in behavior such as that, it's the only thing I can guess would be the cause; I've never heard of a horse acting as such. If it's not that he may have inherited those behavioral tendencies from his parents. Oh goodness, I cringe when I have to work with spoiled horses; it's not that I don't like them per se, it's the fact that most haven't been disciplined properly that makes them so hard to deal with. Baby, the Ky Mt., is beginning to become unmanageable currently unless you are stern with her (the owner has three girls and they baby her to death and give her treats everytime they see her; whether she has done anything rewarding or not). I've never heard of a horse have that sort of behavioral (sp?) change, though; it's got me stumped too!

[R.D.Metcalf]

"I cringe when I have to work with spoiled horses"

I dont, I refuse to work with them I used to run a little stable training and boarding but while the money was there my biggest problem was a lack of patience with the owners....I got tired of explaining the same things over and over again. I was a one man band with 30 horses, which I could handle, *but* the owners.... that was like herding deer....mentally handicapped deer.

[Galina]

I love the wolf picture for Foalon. (Sorry if i spelled it wrong). Whats everyones favorite horse?

[R.D.Metcalf]

Tennessee Walkers are my breed of preference

[Suzanne]

I mainly hang out with Quarter Horses and American Paints, but know this incredible Arabian mare who is just so sweet, pretty, and intelligent everyone loves her. I also have a soft spot for Spanish breeds, and enjoy seeing an Andalusian or Paso Fino. Thoroughbreds are really nice, too. And all of the other breeds. ^_^

[Ranger of Arthedain]

"I cringe when I have to work with spoiled horses"

I dont, I refuse to work with them I used to run a little stable training and boarding but while the money was there my biggest problem was a lack of patience with the owners....I got tired of explaining the same things over and over again. I was a one man band with 30 horses, which I could handle, *but* the owners.... that was like herding deer....mentally handicapped deer.

mentally handicapped deer, that has made my night! I can't say I blame you for refusing to work with them though.

My favorite breed? I don't think I really have a favorite breed, to be honest. I'm partial to Rocky Mountains because of Trigger, but I do like Quarter Horses too. TN Walkers is another breed as well, I find that I can work with them easy enough; I love Thoroughbreds, but at a distance. I worked around one and he was a wee bit too high spirited. There was a woman around here on one of the horse farms that was out walking a Thoroughbred (leading him from the front, I mean directly IN front of the horse) and he trampled her.

[R.D.Metcalf]

Did she get hurt bad or just knocked senseless?

[Ranger of Arthedain]

Did she get hurt bad or just knocked senseless?

Sadly no, she lost her life. I don't want to sound mean or anything, but when the news caster said she was an experienced trainer (I can't remember how many years he said), I was thinking to myself, "Well if she was so experienced then she should have knew *not* to walk directly in front of the animal while he was prancing around in behind her."

[R.D.Metcalf]

Yeah 30 years of experience with dead broke plugs just aint the same as 30 years experience with *real* horses. I hate to see anyone killed especially a woman (backwoods chivalry, I guess) But we make choices alot of times a person will survive a bad decision, one time they wont.

Horses in the right situation can make a grisly mash out of a rider, My best friend in high school ended this way. That boy could and would ride anything and that was his downfall he tried to buck that horse out when he should've jumped. Josh never got throwed but he got rolled.

[Ringulf]

I used to ride a bit when I was young then in college I was a groom at the Myopia Hunt Club in MA. I took care of a troop of polo ponies, a pulling team of Percherons (wow was tthat mare a nasty @#$%^) and one rather large wolfhound named "Sugarbear" (riding him may have been easier).

Brandwyn is an equestrian marshal in the SCA though because of her relocation down here, she has had to give her horse up. Fortunately the woman who owned her pasturemate took her as the two were inseperable.
(kinda the problem you have with a herdbound, alpha female, pasture ornements) It is most likely for the best though for with all her baggage "Rainy" was not the right horse for the kind of riding she and I are going to be doing.

So when she gets settled down here, we will both be in the market.
I am looking for a drafty, off color Frisian, percheron, shire, something to that affect to be comensurate with my size and weight, (In Rohan they say that corpulence is cruelty to horses) Brandi keeps telling me that alot of the guys in her group are big fighter types , many larger than myself, but I dont want to have a mount that I have to take turns riding and carrying.

(I heard they have those big grey ones with the long noses and that they work for peanuts!)

But seriously the horse games, jousting, mounted combat and mounted archery will go better for me with a big horse so if you know of any we will be looking.

Brandwyn, on the other hand, will be replacing a slightly larger than pony size Mongol horse. She does all of the above but is very good with the mounted archery.

[Suzanne]

I used to ride a bit when I was young then in college I was a groom at the Myopia Hunt Club in MA. I took care of a troop of polo ponies, a pulling team of Percherons (wow was tthat mare a nasty @#$%^) and one rather large wolfhound named "Sugarbear" (riding him may have been easier).

Brandwyn is an equestrian marshal in the SCA though because of her relocation down here, she has had to give her horse up. Fortunately the woman who owned her pasturemate took her as the two were inseperable.
(kinda the problem you have with a herdbound, alpha female, pasture ornements) It is most likely for the best though for with all her baggage "Rainy" was not the right horse for the kind of riding she and I are going to be doing.

So when she gets settled down here, we will both be in the market.
I am looking for a drafty, off color Frisian, percheron, shire, something to that affect to be comensurate with my size and weight, (In Rohan they say that corpulence is cruelty to horses) Brandi keeps telling me that alot of the guys in her group are big fighter types , many larger than myself, but I dont want to have a mount that I have to take turns riding and carrying.

(I heard they have those big grey ones with the long noses and that they work for peanuts!)

But seriously the horse games, jousting, mounted combat and mounted archery will go better for me with a big horse so if you know of any we will be looking.

Brandwyn, on the other hand, will be replacing a slightly larger than pony size Mongol horse. She does all of the above but is very good with the mounted archery.

That's interesting, I was wondering if anyone in this forum does mounted combat. So far, I can't find a trainer in that category, so I'll stick with Western Pleasure.

I've always thought of Freisians as the perfect ranger horse, being nimble yet sturdy. They are very capable of carrying a ranger in full armor while cantering through the forest. Their black coloring makes them good for camouflage. They are also a Medieval breed and were used by knights.

Yup. Perfect ranger horse.

Here's a link to the wikipedia page for them, btw. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friesian_horse

Sorry, I get kind of excited while talking about horses.

[Brandwyn]

Yep, I ride horses, ever since I was about 4 months old (Mom has the pictures to prove it. LOL)

It was a very hard decision to make, giving up Rainey as I am very attached to her. We got quite close during the 3 months of doctoring her feet when they were trimmed to low. She got blood clots and bruises from her soles being cut down to nothing and they had to cut the soles out at the tip of her hoof. I had to pack sugar-iodine into them to draw the infection out and then pack them up in duck tape moon booties every night for 3 months until they grew back out. Was touchy for a while as to if she was going to survive or not. Lesson learned: pay attention to what your farrier is doing - especially if you board a horse and they do it when you are gone. They were trimming her feet every 5 to 6 weeks and she grows slow so she doesn't need it but every 10 to 12 weeks. Anyway, with all the intesnsive care we really bonded. So it has been rough this month knowing I don't own her now. I do feel it was the right thing for her though with my current status living in limbo. Her new Mama is taking great care of her and working with her far more often than I was. Plus I get to visit when I want.

I do mounted archery in the SCA, along with jousting, the quintain, beheading the enemy, pig-sticking, ring jousting, burjas, reed chop and spear throwing all from horseback, normally on someone else's horse. I still hold the record in Atlantia for most thrown rider as well as having ridden the most different horses (thus the thrown rider record - some of those I borrowed or rented really weren't quite ready for the SCA games.) But that's the price you pay when you are regional and kingdom marshal and introducing horses to new things, riding in borrowed saddles that are way too big and own a spoiled rotten pasture ornament who is as stubborn as her owner (well former owner now).

I have seen the mounted combat and done just a bit of crest combat or boffer combat, but I wouldn't be comfortable teaching it. I do know two guys in Meridies that are awesome with it though and willing to teach. You have to have the right horse and a strong rapport with your horse since it becomes your legs and you have to be able to sit the horse as it moves suddenly under you. Much like a cutting horse when you are herding cattle. But you don't want one like my mare that will attack another horse if they invade her 'space'. Great for middle ages - not so great for SCA.

As to my favorite, it would have to be the Arabian followed closely by Fresian, Morgan and Quarter Horse. Rainey is a Spotted Saddle Horse / Tennessee Walker mix (with no spots) and is gaited. She tends to throw herself off-balance and the rider side to side in anything over a running walk. She is pretty face when she gets her pace going though. I never had training with a gaited horse though, so I wasn't sure how to overcome the balance issue. Everyone who ever rode her said she has a strange feel and she does this shoulder drop that pitches the saddle to the right and then off you go. Doesn't work when bareback, but she's got it figured out with a saddle - English or Western.

I ride both, but prefer western. I used to do barrel racing and showing in 4-H, but now I pretty much just trail ride and do SCA games. Like Ringulf said, we will be horse shopping, but probably not within 6 months from now I don't think.

[Odigan]

I've always thought of Freisians as the perfect ranger horse, being nimble yet sturdy. They are very capable of carrying a ranger in full armor while cantering through the forest. Their black coloring makes them good for camouflage. They are also a Medieval breed and were used by knights.

Just a few quick notes, if you may permit me. There were no "breeds" per-se in the Middle Ages. Horses were categorized by type (Destrier/Courser/Palfrey/etc.), and the Friesian as we know them today did not exist. Certainly there were horses of similar conformation, which may have contributed to modern bloodlines, but these had nearly vanished by WWI and the breed was re-invigorated with (predominately) Oldenburg stock. The Friesian of today - being a light draft - is not comparable to the medieval warhorse (Destrier) type. Friesian Sport-horses on the other hand, are closer to the historical warhorse you seek, having been "back-bred" as it were to produce a riding-type horse.

Any of the Baroque breeds - Lipizzan, Andalusian, Spanish Barb, Lusitano - have a closer claim to "Medieval warhorse" than does the modern Friesian (and yes, I am aware there is a "Baroque" type Friesian). Were I seeking a horse to go traipsing about the forest on it would likely be something of indeterminate breeding around 15.2hh, short-backed, spirited yet willing, in any colour but black (which isn't particularly useful for camouflage).

[Faolan]

Find yourself a nice Curly, they're a good all-around horse and you should shouldn't have any problem finding one hefty enough to carry you Ringulf.

http://www.abcregistry.org/

Matter of fact we have 3 horses we are looking to sell, one is a full Curly gelding, a mare that is 1/2 Curly, 1/2 Suffolk Punch (she was the centerfold horse in the January 2000 Horse Illustrated) and a 20-something Leopard Appaloosa. The appy we will probably end up giving away because of her age.

They're all good horses, but we can't afford to feed all 6 that we have now, 2 thet we are keeping my wife will absolutely will not part with (both full curly mares) and the third even though it was suppose to be my wife's horse adopted me immediately when we got her at 6 months old. If I ever ride again she will be the one I ride.

Faolan