Coronavirus, Covid 19 Discussion and How It Has Affected Your Daily Life Chat Thread

[SnapdragonQ]

@blackandtan
So beyond my Billy the evil pony, I grew up riding western... well bareback actually, but in a western riding family. All kinds of breeds and some gaited horses too, including a crazy TWH.
Somewhere in my mid teens I tried an AP English and was like...OMG I can feel my horse think like I do when riding bareback. I went on into the Hunter/Jumper and Eventing world and used quite a variety of english and jumping saddles. I kept trail riding too and was always the only one in english saddles, and a helmet.
Think I've sat in a western saddle a handful of times since then and am just not happy in them.

Life changed and took me out of horses for a while, and when I got back in I realized I just didn't bounce like I used to plus I had a kiddo with crappy balance to consider so decided to go back to a gaited breed. Because when my previous TWH wasn't wasn't having a hissy fit he was a really nice ride.
I settled on a Rocky Mountain/Kentucky Mountain horse that does a simple single foot gait. (there are many good gaited breeds to choose from) However this breed is know for their short backs and wide withers. Poor saddle fit will pinch, irritate, plus interfere with their shoulder and hip motion, probably not unlike your Fjords, so I started off measuring my horse thoroughly when I started on a new saddle quest for him.

None of my previous saddles fit because they were made for bigger and thinner withered warmblood breeds. Saddles made for Arabians were short enough, however way too narrow. QH saddles were wide enough but way too long.

There are some good videos out there on how to measure your horse(s) for proper bar fit, gullet width, and saddle length. There are also some good videos and sites to measure yourself too. Seat size matters and in english saddles the length of thigh matters and in Aussies the seat, length of thigh and circumference of thigh matters.

I used a bendable soft wire tie to make a wither mold, which I then made a template of to measure and for taking the template with me when I went saddle hunting. (Yes, I got strange looks...lol) but, once I knew what my horse needed, I could then shop in store or online for the right fit for him, in a saddle for the right size for me (average, 15 when younger and now 15 1/2)
There are specialty saddles out there for gaited horses and odd shaped horses, but a $1500 new saddle wasn't in the budget at the time, however a $300 used saddle was. I looked at dressage, AP english, and Aussies (traditional, no horn.) Also looked at cutbacks because I heard such good things about their comfort, but did not have any personal experience with them, just the others mentioned.

Anyway, long story short, once I had the right info for him and for myself, I was able to easily find something to fit my hard to fit little short backed horse.
Some of the english saddles now have changeable gullets but keep in mind the bars (for the shoulders) don't change.

edit: typos

 

[SnapdragonQ]

My boy was amazing. I "rescued" him from a man who had three horses, two stalls and a blizzard coming. He was a lean, jug-headed two-year-old with big feet and a cockeyed blaze. His mottled blue-roan coat had very few spots, and was never the same from one summer to the next ... or the next ... or the next! He had razor sharp withers and a trot that would jar the horns off a bull, but I didn't care. I fell in love with his endearing nicker and the warmth in his eyes. He came home in the bed of a pick-up truck ... facing backwards & munching hay the whole way up I-95! He and I were partners for almost thirty years. That homely hat-rack (16+ hh) would jump anything he was pointed at, including a picnic table, and come back looking for more. And he LOVED people. The only reason we had a screen door on the front of the house, back then, was to keep him from walking down the front hallway into the kitchen. He knew where both the people and the goodies were hiding!
Oh - and he liked spaghetti, too. Maybe its' a "Billy" thing?

He sounds amazing! Once in a lifetime horse.

When I was 20, I worked in a barn that had a 4th level dressage horse named Bobby Two Socks. Bobby had been saved from a meat auction and was figured to be an Appy/TB cross.
Tall and thin, but a beautiful dark chestnut coat with a smattering of spots across the rump. No one knew the mix for sure, but he was a rank and nasty tempered 2 year old that captured the farm owner's heart at the time.
Over the years she worked him into a very competitive show horse and he's the horse I took my first dressage lessons on. He was older by then and knew how to take care of a rider, even when she didn't know how to ask correctly for say... a passage, he did it anyway. However when asked for correctly, he blew your socks off with such a collected movement that you felt like you were floating on clouds.
I fell SO in love with that horse.
He still had a naughty streak to him, even as an old man, but he pushed me as a rider and taught me so so much. Though he was never mine, I took full care of him for years and we blazed the trails as well as the dressage ring and he was my once in a lifetime horse.

That's not to say don't love my current dufus, but they are just night and day different.
Oh, and my Billy pooped on the kitchen floor. My mom was not pleased.

edit: more typos

 

[ShrekDawg]

You guys aren’t helping my horse fever

Also, I had no idea saddles were so complicated.

 

[ColoradoPip]

Someone needs to make a video. Lock. Down. Fever.....to the tune of Juke Box Hero

This idea is gold.

Someone is gonna go viral (is that still ok to say?) with that!!

 

[21hens-incharge]

I recall we discussed peeps stealing our eggs/birds.....well it is getting real around me.

Our state patrol friend said they have had a few home invasion calls recently. It was food they stole.

It doesn't matter if stores get food stocked back up if no one has $ to buy any.

 

[Legacy Farms]

Wow! Quite some story! I like your attitude with showing. True ribbons are not worth risking health. Your parents were trainers? How awesome! Sidesaddle??? I saw it once at a show years ago. Not since then.

I've done the rounds with saddles. I started with a dressage saddle in 1986. For various reasons I tried more different types. I went back to the dressage saddle. My idea of comfort!

Yes, my parents were trainers. My mom was the showmanship, working horse & western equitation trainer. My dad was a driving, halter and English trainer. They also ran a breeding program, stood 2 studs. As a kid, I took it for granted. Looking back I was extremely fortunate to be given opportunities as a junior rider most people don't have in a lifetime. I was blessed to be given the opportunity to ride some amazing horses, work with talented trainers, experience different breeds & disciplines. I was pushed hard by my parents to ride as many as I could, become well rounded & well educated in the horse world. By the time I was a teenager, I was legged up for first rides, catch riding for other barns, in all divisions, Junior, ATR, even open classes. I picked up summer jobs breezing racehorses. Talk about an adrenaline rush!

At 13 I was given a gorgeous grey NSH for my birthday. He was unbroke, I was taught how to train him, I did all the work while dad talked me through it. I learned so much from that horse. I trained him from start to finish as my Saddleseat equitation horse. That was an amazing experience. That set the course for my life's passion.

Sidesaddle takes some serious getting used too. You literally have to retrain your body to be uncentered. It was a lot of fun, I wanted to show Flash sidesaddle but I never did. He would have looked breathtaking with an antebellum riding habit.

I have a tack room FULL of saddles, Every type of western imaginable, all purpose, jumping, racing, sidesaddle, umpteen cutbacks in all types of seat depths. The only saddle I do not own is dressage. I feel too confined in them. After all the years of breaking babies, I like the freedom of not being locked in a saddle.

I made all the cowboys die laughing a couple of years ago when I was invited on a cattle drive. I showed up with a saddlebred mare trained in cutting and cow work with my cutback saddle. They were laughing so hard and laying bets on how many times I'd come flying off. Not once did I become unseated. My mare & I earned their respect that week! I was invited back with my funny wannabe saddle anytime. My dad would be so proud!

Now that I have thoroughly bored everyone I will stop here.

 

[FortCluck]

I recall we discussed peeps stealing our eggs/birds.....well it is getting real around me.

Our state patrol friend said they have had a few home invasion calls recently. It was food they stole.

It doesn't matter if stores get food stocked back up if no one has $ to buy any.

Good thing for dogs and guns. I'll protect my house. If you need food, knock. Or my pit will tear you a new one. She's my guard dog and sleeps light. The neighbors coonhound watches the outside of my house.

 

[blackandtan]

You guys aren’t helping my horse fever

Also, I had no idea saddles were so complicated.

Well they didn’t used to be, people would just throw any old saddle on any old horse and then blame the horse for poor behaviour. That’s like saying pants are pants, one pair fits all people!
Truthfully I was very excited when a friend sold me a few saddles when I got my horses, they’re beautiful and the two higher end ones decorate my house currently cause they’re too pretty to lock up in a barn lol!
And there they may stay because of the fit, for me and for my horses. And truly I’m ok with that, cause if I’m going out for a ride my old English feels great or I just go bareback, easy on a fjord since they’re as wide as a sofa lol!

In other news I’m taking out the egg turner and going into lockdown today with my first ever batch of incubated eggs! Pretty sure they’re all alive and so excited to meet the babies!!!!

 

[Folly's place]

There are dressage saddles with very deep seats (confining?!) and saddles that are not so all embracing. I prefer the latter types myself.
My first riding lessons (junior high age!) were saddle seat, but much later found dressage, much better. Try it!
At least in those olden times, saddle seat training and riding made the horse 'disconnected' front to rear, the opposite of what's wanted in dressage.
Probably not the conversation for this thread though.
Now my horses are 'pasture pets'!
Mary

 

[Folly's place]

Chicks coming!!! Today 28 being shipped from Cackle! Yahoo!!!
Mary