Horses!

[Pampered chicken girl]

I do not like riding in the heat! Hopefully it will cool down this week!

Same

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Wow that sounds like a ton of work!!!! But totally worth it I bet!!!!

Definitely worth it!

 

[ShrekDawg]

Definitely worth it!

That’s awesome!!!!

 

[calicocows]

its been pretty hot and humid here this week, but i went riding today! we did 6 jumps in the course, which is the most i've done! i was on a new horse (for me), his name is Kobe and he has a very comfy trot for sitting and he likes to pretend he doesn't know how to canter. i had to drop my crop a lot, i'd hold it to get him moving and then basically throw it when he started trying to take off. it was a little silly, but fun regardless!

 

[HollowOfWisps]

its been pretty hot and humid here this week, but i went riding today! we did 6 jumps in the course, which is the most i've done! i was on a new horse (for me), his name is Kobe and he has a very comfy trot for sitting and he likes to pretend he doesn't know how to canter. i had to drop my crop a lot, i'd hold it to get him moving and then basically throw it when he started trying to take off. it was a little silly, but fun regardless!

Was Kobe by any chance trained with specific cues or buttons? I’m only asking because usually when I see a horse who seems to know what they are doing and all of a sudden act like they don’t know how to do something basic like cantering it is because they were trained to respond to a specific cue for that movement.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

Just my opinion, but it seems like our world changes so fast that being too specific in a narrow education for some current demand only leads for a short time to a well-paid career. Then things like AI chatbots, like you say, can totally twist up what is in demand and what is not.
Just like my partner - he's super talented at creating and troubleshooting electronic schematics, and when that career first existed, it was considered a big high-paid deal in the 80's and 90's, his parents bragged about his career choice at the time. But then other countries followed suit in education, and his company found it could be done cheaper by sending their manufacturing overseas where they could pay people less, and he got laid off. Don't feel too bad for him though, the analytical way he thinks and arranges things is still generally valuable for project management at his job, though it's more a middle-class job than something high-paid. Same as me, technology and the world changed so fast in the 90's that my degree in computer programming was so specific that it was obsolete by the time I was searching for a career.

This is why I believe it's better to have a broad education, plus a local skill.
First of all, the local skill - by this I mean something that can only be done in person, like horse skills. Teaching lessons and training horses is a set of talents and skills that can't be sent overseas! You need to be present, your clients and students have to be in your presence.
It's a trade like being a plumber or electrician (and those trades make a good living) it can't be offshored, you have to be there! And the demand will never go away, as long as people continue to love horses.

Next, why I believe a broad education is important: No matter what your career, an understanding of human and animal behavior is important. Studying science and biology, prehistory, ancient human history, animal behavior, comparative religions, comparative literature, philosophy, history, including other country's civilizations, English literature, American history and literature as well as the Art, Music and Architecture throughout all the ages you've studied, really makes you able to understand how our progress came about, how and why people and animals behave as they do. Which really helps when you're training a challenging horse or rider.

Plus it makes it more fun if you might have a chance to travel, to understand the history of what you're seeing - say, the Kentucky Horse Park, Badminton or Burghley if you go to England, Pardubice if you go to Checkhoslavakia, the Trakehner statue in Kaliningrad and all the WWII history that makes it unfair.

Hey, if you continue your studies as you have, there's nothing wrong with getting a Master's and teaching, or a pHd and teaching plus doing research, as long as you continue riding and training.

That's all so true, and I really appreciate your insightful thoughts on schooling! I think that when I get so wrapped up in what I hear and think about in my certain field, and what those close to me are saying, it can be hard to see the big picture. But it is true that local skills certainly need someone present, like plumbing or even training horses. And that broader education definitely does help and can apply to things like teaching and working with horses.

And hey, that is true! Nothing wrong with going back to school, just right now, I really don't want to lol. I would love a chance to train and work with some horses and maybe explore different options in the horse world.

My trainer herself has mentioned to me that she hasn't always been in the horse business, so that's definitely an option to do something else for a while. She grew up with horses and that work, got married and got a different job, and then her daughter got her back into it, and their business was created from that. Right now, for me, I am about to start teaching this year's summer camp and stay with my barn. After that, who knows where I'll go! But I know I'll always be doing something with horses.

To tilt this conversation back to horses in general lol (for the sake of the thread), I don't think I have ever shared a photo of a horse I have been training. His name is Dante! I prefer to call him Bugs though as a nickname. He's a saddlebred/draft cross that is boarded at our place.
I am also going to be having the opportunity to retrain a retired racehorse into a saddle horse, starting soon. I'm not sure about his background, but I heard he may have already had some training in this area. He is the horse of a soon to be boarder. I don't have a photo of him yet, but his name is Benny! I feel like I'm going to have a lot of fun with him.

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Three currently I had horses growing up (quarter horses, Arab crosses, paints, an Appaloosa, a fell cross and a welsh). I had to sell my horses when I left for college and I went from college to the military so I didn’t really have the time or ability with traveling to get back into horses. After getting out of the military we moved and bought a farm in the Midwest where we have been for the last three years. We purchased three horses this year (finally!). I would have loved to get back into horses as soon as we bought the farm, but the previous owner left behind a barn packed (and I mean to the ceiling) with junk and scrap metal along with giant piles of scrap metal all over the property. Not to mention the fields were completely overgrown with weeds so we not only had to haul away over 20 tons of trash, but we tilled up and replanted the fields with horse forage mix.

Wow! Sounds like a lot of work! What breeds are your horses?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Wow! Sounds like a lot of work! What breeds are your horses?

Two Friesian x Percheron crosses and one POA

 

[Farmgirl283420]

What are their names?

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Cici is so funny she will just stand there and lick your hand!

In this picture she was getting a piece of juicy apple!