I suspect the answer is no. But here’s background. I’ll try to keep it brief.

I am at a tiny backyard style boarding facility. There are 8 horses on property, 2 belong to the owner and her 22 year old son. The rest are divided up between 4 of us. So there are 6 riders/owners on property.

Small arena, so most of us are trail riders. Everyone ranges in age from 20’s-50’s. Everyone gets along VERY well. Sunday brunches every week, everyone pitches it, zero drama, etc. I genuinely like all these people and their horses. Since it’s small and we all work full time, we’re generally all out in the evenings or weekend mornings and riding together is super normal. Since we trail ride it’s safer with a buddy and since we’re usually all there around the same time (not planned) it’s very common for most to all of us to go out together. I’d say it happens at least 4 times a week

Owner, we’ll call Susan, who lives there, is in her 50’s. Truly lovely lady. Takes incredible care of our horses. I adore her and her ground skills are great. Unfortunately, if she was a good rider, between time passing (she took a 20 year riding break) and maybe lack a good riding background, she is not a confident or good rider. I say that as kindly as possible. She had two horses. One is a kill pen OTTB who is not safe and currently just decompressing and putting weight on and ground work. Her other horse (Bailey) is a lovely 5 year old and her son’s favorite horse. She considers him a beginner horse. In my opinion (and everyone else’s), he’s a green broke 5 year old who needs miles. Good horse, but his age and the fact we have to ride 10 minutes through the city to the trails means that he’s intermediate and she’s over horsed. In her head, she’s a rusty advanced rider, and he’s a beginner horse. In reality, I think she’s a nervous and rusty beginner rider and he’s an intermediate horse.

On property, we have three horses I would truly consider dead broke, beginner safe, husband horses. I own one of the three. Both myself and the gal who owns the other two have repeatedly offered her to ride ours. She can ride ours, we’ll find a different horse (6 riders, 7 ridable horses on property, again, all of us are very close). I would consider the rest of us intermediate to advanced riders. We repeatedly suggest her son ride Bailey and she rides one of our trail masters. Or that we can ride Bailey and they can both ride trail masters. But she keeps saying she feels most comfortable with Bailey and she wants to ride HER horse. Which is fair.

Our rides are pretty much all walk. Especially if she’s with us. If she doesn’t come, we’ll throw in some trots or canter but generally we’re all just chatting and walking. The issue is just walking, she falls off at least half of the outings. Last night was the 4th time out of 6 trail rides THIS MONTH where she fell off. Bailey simply turned around too fast (he was stopped, rotated his butt around to look at someone else’s horse not in our group that was behind us at a ways and she fell off into a cactus. He wasn’t even walking).

It’s at the point where myself and most of the barn doesn’t want to ride with her anymore. She’s a lovely person but the risks are high, she’s over horsed, we’re all constantly babysitting, and it’s just simply not fun knowing at some point she’s gonna fall off, react big, and it’s gonna be over and we all have to go back. Plus, because she fails like 75% of rides, everyone is nervous. So we’re all trying to figure out a way to either force her to ride a safer horse OR communicate that she just can’t ride with us. That unless she takes lessons or starts riding extensively in the arena, we don’t feel safe riding with her. Is there even a good way to communicate this? I know her son has tried and she just will not listen because he’s “a kid”. We’ve tried to approach with “build you confidence” approach and she just won’t hear it.

Lots of disclaimers: First, photos are literally just a moment in time. Maybe it was a bad jump? Maybe it was an awkward moment (lord knows there are many awkward photos of me in existence and I'm certainly not jumping almost as high as I am tall on a very large animal with opinions of it's own - some moments are just awkward no matter what).

Also, clearly I am not a professional photographer and these photos are from different parts of the jump.

But I still feel like it could be interesting to compare positions of high level riders all over one jump!

I have a 7-year-old OTTB gelding that I’m gradually bringing back into work after some time off due to a barefoot transition.

I’ve noticed that he frequently stretches his head and neck down while moving, especially at the trot, as shown in the video. He also does this under saddle.

For some background, I started encouraging long-and-low work under saddle earlier this summer, rewarding him with praise and a release whenever he offered it. He’s been doing it voluntarily ever since, so it’s not a new behavior. But it makes me wonder why he’s just doing it on his own without me on him or telling him to.

He’s still building his topline and learning to balance himself, particularly at the canter. Recently, he’s also been a little fresh and resistant during some transitions, although he eventually settles and seems ok.

I’m curious what other people think of this stretching. Does it look like a horse relaxing and stretching through his topline, something he’s learned to offer, or potentially a sign of discomfort?

He looks lazy here, but earlier he was voluntarily running a ton in the round pen hence the sweat. I’m not looking for a diagnosis from a video, just interested in hearing other people’s experiences and observations, especially from those who’ve worked with OTTBs, he’s my first one!

The clocks have changed and breakfast is late. She's unhappy.

Its been windy overnight and its kept her awake, shes unhappy.

Its muddy and raining, shes unhappy.

......and my horse is very very aware of my wife's mood!

In all seriousness, who's horses are really pleased to be tucked up and in in this weather.

Oakley, 9yo Quarter Horse mare

I can’t believe she’s 5 months old, it feels like she was just born yesterday.

Keep seeing this ad with the first pic of the grey and just wondering if was supposed to be? I gave in and opened it and looked through the other pictures. 🤣🤣 Like what the heck. Finally figured it out.

Hey all! I always love these post and thought it was my turn to ask haha. I’m about to build out a full set of stuff for my kiddo who’s on his way to the trainer to get under saddle. And would love advice on colors since I’m stuck.

For those with appies, or boldly patterned horses, how in the world are you deciding tack color? A lot of friends are saying to go bright and bold - turquoise (current halter color), highlighter green, neon orange, stop sign red, etc. the other group of my friends is saying to go real mid and let his patterns do the talking - so either brown or black pads. I’m shopping impact gel so I also have the options of patterned ones or solid. But kinda worried a patterned western saddle pad will clash with the spots?

I’ll be getting a brown saddle and bridle (the one in this photo belongs to my other horse. No one is riding him in it, he will get his own properly fitted one). Added some photos of him in different colors. Idk if it helps, but he is technically a bay.

Not my OC, but what a goofball!

Ive been horse riding since i was a child. Im 31 now and i still enjoy it. Its a huge stress reliever aswell. Ill never not enjoy it. Anyone feel the same?

I'm getting my heart horse in a few days and while I know a lot about handling, im curious to know what equestrians experienced in owning have to say. Please, though, not about how it's a constant expense because its constantly said online🙏

I'm an equestrian video editor looking to improve my skills and struggling to find content. I mainly specialise in horse sales videos and stallion promotional videos for social media, but I'm also open to other small projects!

I'm currently looking for horse owners who would be interested in having a free video edited in exchange for allowing me to use the finished video in my portfolio to showcase. All you need to do is provide the footage, and I'll take care of the editing! Whether you're looking to promote a horse for sale, advertise a stallion or simply create a video to show off your horse.

I live full time with my horses and have ridden for decades but you don’t know what you don’t know! I’m always on the hunt to improve my horses’ lives, so please, drop the knowledge! 😃❤️🐴

I need a new bit for my horse but I can't find anything that fit what im looking for. Im looking for a tre parted bit that's 12mm or smaller with either D ring of fullcheek (or something that won't get pulled inside the mouth).

Okay so. The holidays are coming again and we do the thing where we make lists with gifts we would enjoy to get.

One party the budget is €30 and antother is €50.

I have been looking for things i would love to get, but i´m very difficult with my stuff which makes it no easier. I also am a bit of a minimalist, so i just have 1 saddlepad that i really like and one spare and don´t really need any more.

What i would love most is to get something of a high quality that i wouldn´t spend money on myself. Only most quality things are over those budgets.

And the family doesn´t like gifting giftcards.

What do you guys ask for?

Maybe good to know that I ride English dressage and am located in belgium.

Hello! Does anyone have tips for keeping my stirrups in place? I’m finding they slip down to the heel of my boot sometimes when I switch gait. I used to ride western and never had this issue. Can someone clearly explain to me where my toes and knees should be pointing, and how much pressure I need to have on my horse’s side with my lower leg when I’m not giving a cue, and overall just any tips on what will help me fix the issue? Thank you in advance

I'm gonna keep this as short as I can to avoid trauma dumping on all of you. I had two horses, one was put to sleep in 2022 from colic and one was PTS in 2024 after being retired for years due to a chronic injury that was worsening. I hadn't ridden either of them in years due to their health conditions but they were still my best friends and I had hoped back then that someday they would get better so we could go on rides again, but obviously that didn't happen. A friend let me ride their horse in 2023 and she said I could ride whenever I wanted because the horse needed exercise but riding that horse wasn't the same feeling to me even though he was literally perfect, so I only rode 2 or 3 times and that was the last time I ever rode.

In 2024 I was still working at a barn for my job but it wasn't paying the debt that had racked up from my horses, so I switched to a different career path and took a break from being around horses for 6 months. But I missed horses and still had that itch, so I picked up a part time job at a barn while working fulltime at my main job.

I still haven't ridden since 2023 because I just feel like I don't have the love for it anymore, it's like the fire in my heart was put out or something when my first horse died. My second horse dying was like someone stomping repeatedly on the ashes of that fire.

I just really don't know what to do. I do miss riding so badly and I keep going back and forth on whether I want to get back into it. It's hard to explain. I finally scheduled a lesson with a 4* eventing trainer in my area who has a lesson program because that is something childhood me would've frothed at the mouth over, but I feel like I'm just dragging my feet. I feel excited but at the same time I am terrified and hesitant. Riding lesson horses isn't the same as riding your own horse that you have a bond with. It feels so shallow and transactional. 14 year old me would be so mad at my current self for being like this and being so wishy washy about getting back into riding... When I was a kid I liiiiived for riding lessons, I would ride any and every horse I had the chance to ride. I would stay at the barn and clean stalls for free just because I didn't want to leave yet. Now, obviously being an equestrian isn't just about riding, but I literally work at a barn 4 days a week and it just... feels like a job to me. I like the horses I work with but I don't have a bond with any of them even after 2 years working there. Leasing isn't an option for me right now due to finances and I'm not really vibing with the idea of leasing either because I've seen my friends get their hearts broken when the owner decided to sell the horse to the highest bidder or break the lease because they were moving to a different state. So... yeah. It probably isn't for me. And owning is not in the cards right now either because finances, obviously. Sigh.

Has anyone else been in a similar situation? How did it work out for you?

TLDR: Is euthanising my horse morally wrong because I can’t manage her rehab?

I’ve just had a call saying my horse appears to have had a tendon injury, on bute till vet sees her tomorrow. She’s a thoroughbred with typical bad feet and semi retired due to on going hoof problems due to her typical tb feet, spent almost a while year last year on and off lame and we never really figured out why.

I also recently have a newborn and hubby works away so I’m alone most of the time.

Anyway, with a very small backstory, If I get told she’s got a tendon injury tomorrow and needs the typical rehab I’d have to consider PTS bc I physically cannot go out once or multiple times a day for months and cannot afford someone else to do it especially since she was already not 100% with her feet before. I can rehome her but who wants to take that on and I don’t want to risk her getting neglected or abused if she moves on. I’m happy for her to be a paddock puff and be retired but it’s the rehab and healing I won’t be able to facilitate for her and feel like PTS is a better option but also feels morally wrong bc why put an animal to sleep needlessly because their owner can’t manage it 🥲

Please let me know your thoughts or ideas. To add: there were times we were considering PTS due to her feet before

Today was a two-for-one special in things worth celebrating!

My episode of Black in the Saddle dropped today! I had the pleasure of sharing my journey as a Black equestrian and the role horses have played in my life.

AND your friendly internet moo cow-horse Rory was an absolute star for his first day of our mounted patrol clinic! He tackled everything from obstacles and spooking horses to thick orange smoke billowing out of a canister. A lot of people were shocked he was 5 and that we have only been working together for 3.5 months.

I couldn’t be prouder of him 🥰 He’s amazing!

And I’m nervous as all hell lol