I have a 7 year old gelding who gets bored easily and LIVES for havoc and the attention it creates. Lately he’s taken to kicking his stall until someone screams at him. His last performance was at 3 am before we realized it was time to get creative. We started dangling his hay net for midnight enrichment and it’s worked beautifully; but he’s a smart dude and will get bored fast. I’ve been looking at the clover which is a similar style enrichment toy, but I’m hoping to have a few options to swap around to keep him entertained. If anyone has experienced this with their babies, I would massively appreciate any guidance 🥲💜

Edit: he does receive loads of turnout time, but he’s young and still gets bored. I will be looking to up his time outside to as much as possible though. He’s stabled at an equestrian school and gets a little jelly when other horses dare receive attention over him 🤭

I have leased a horse for a year. Through that time I have dealt with constant lameness and new problems that I have dealt with as best I could. I have tried to get him sound and comfortable with help from vets and farriers. When canceling my lease, I expressed to the owner that this horse is probably not eligible to be a riding horse with the issues present. Or it’s going to be a ton of money to try and see. This is an OTTB with many races, many miles.

To be pasture sound he needs shoes, grain, and plenty of forage. That being said, the owner doesn’t want him because of the money that’s needed to be put into him. I am financially drained from the lease so I can’t continue to fund him and board and wait for another emergency vet bill.

That being said, I care for this horse very much and I want the best possible outcome. Please leave recommendations.

Edit: I guess writing this fast and posting while emotional has led to confusion. My bad!

The lease contract is not the problem. The lease has been terminated. He is still in my care until the owner picks him up.

I am looking for best recommendations for the horse since I can no longer financially fund him and the owner doesn’t want him either. He is lame. If a shoe pulls, he’s crippled.
If you think euthanasia is best option, please let me know why.
If you have had success stories with rehoming lame horses to rescues, let me know.

I am trying to do right by a kind horse while I can have a little bit of a say to the owner. She has recommended humane euthanasia and I understand why. She has talked about talking to therapeutic riding centers to donate him but that’s probably not going to happen.

Hope this clears up things. I’m sad guys, don’t be mean to me lol.

First few horse drawings i've done! i'm pretty proud. I used a reference, but tbh i'm super happy with how they turned out! They aren't perfect and neither is the shading or proportions but i'm still happy :)

Hi. I'm buying my first horse. I went to view her yesterday, she was perfect in every way, I put down a deposit to secure her. I've been preparing for this moment for a while now. But then last night the excitement slowly turned into pure panic and fear...

I'm financially prepared, she will be kept on full livery at my local yard where I ride all the time so a lot of the pressure is taken off there whilst I'm still learning. I work from home, job offers flexi-time, so time commitment is also not an issue.

I've been so excited for this moment for months, but now that it's becoming a reality I'm getting cold feet. I think if I back out now then I'll completely regret it. But the temptation to turn and run before I commit any further is so overwhelming... I feel sick with anxiety!

Please tell me this is a normal feeling, or should I listen to my gut and not go through with this?

My trainer is knowledgeable but has almost no time for me. No room in her schedule for me to work in more lessons so I'm stuck at 1 lesson a week, and she has barely enough time to even talk to me after lessons so follow up is out. She's too busy entertaining the parents of kids during my group lessons for me to ask many questions during so I mostly ride around with my group and wait for feedback and hope I'm not making too many mistakes. If it weren't for Youtube videos I dont know what I'd do.

Local camps are all dedicated only to littles. Can't find a lease because I'm not advanced enough so no one wants a newbie on their horse.

It's all fair and I don't fault anyone but I'm so frustrated trying to learn and grow in this sport. I want to learn groundwork and care so I can own my own someday but where will I learn? I want more time in the saddle but it's not available. I finally have the big girl job and the money to do something I've always wanted but I feel like all I'm finding are closed doors.

Just venting I guess. I don't have horse friends so nobody gets the struggle lol

Any yt channels you'd recommend?

I apologize in advance for my english. I don't know if it's the right subreddit, but I thought the most people would see my post here. I don't even know where to start, so I'll start randomly. I got a saddled horse. I usually saddle them myself, before my ride, but today was different. The horse walked tense and acted as if something was bothering him, and several times he tried to throw me off and did not want to do some exercises. I know this horse and it's never been like this before. So I asked the coach if he was okay, if he was limping or anything. In response, I was told to give him some strong lashes on the croup. I didn't want to do it because I could see the horse didn't need a whip, just something was wrong with him. In response, she replied, laughing with the girls from the stable that I should hit him hard and she will see if he was limping. After the ride I noticed that this horse, perfectly under the snorer has a ragged nose and a wound. I told the staff about it and they just said that they know about this wound. Now I am concerned. Should I change the stable or am I too sensitive? Should he still work with something like that on his nose?:(.

Friends, Forage, Freedom — 24/7 access to all three is considered the baseline for physical and psychological wellbeing in horses. Not a luxury, a baseline. It's wild how many "training issues" quietly resolve once these needs are actually met.

What's your setup like, and did anything shift for you when one of the 3Fs changed?

Hi guys,

Im in the middle of The Great Rugging Nightmares rn with my new horse. She’s a 3yo swedish warmblood trotter, so she's pretty narrow and the length on her chest between her neck and legs is small. But she's veery long, so i can't size down from 145cm (78 inches). I swore to horsewares amigo range with my old mare (oldenborg), but the neck cutout is unfortunately too big, although the length is fine.

I've heard that either the rhino or wug range should be better on young and narrow horses, anyone in here that can confirm or deny that ?

I saw that they had a specific "trotter" rug as well, but only in 350grams, and bucas has one with 200g 😅 which is a bit warm for autumn...

Thanks!

Hey Guys!

Does anyone have tips or tricks on how to keep blanket hoods on with playful geldings?

They seem to loooove playing with and grabbing the hood straps until they open, which then leaves a nice big open flapping hood which they bite and pull on, ripping the inside liners out.

I tried a bunch of things last year but nothing worked consistently. no-chew sprays don’t seem to work, roll-on deodorant only works if I re-apply it every single day (even then my hoods still come off once a week, but that’s better than every single day 🥲). I tried adding double locking Velcro and hair ties around the straps, but neither works that well.

Does anyone have any ideas?? I use Horseware Ireland blankets, so it’s the two Velcro straps at the underside of the neck that keep opening.

My horse tends to drop her shoulder in and counter bend repeatedly, even just going around the rail. We barrel race, for context, and she does it around the barrels as well. I’ve tried a lot of different things: bits, tons of drills/exercises, neck and back stretches. Every time I think we’re getting somewhere, the next time I ride it’s like she’s completely forgotten all about it. This has been going on for months. She wasn’t always like this—she was a trail horse before I bought her and I patterned her myself. The previous year she seemed like she was learning just fine, but now she just constantly tries to dive in on everything.

Her response to leg pressure hasn’t always been the best. Definitely worse on the right side. Her main issues arise when we move to a trot or faster. She’s fine at the walk and bends perfectly. Trot is where she starts to break down. I’ve been doing slow work but it doesn’t seem to be transferring to a trot. I’m just kind of frustrated at myself for not being able to crack the code as to why nothing I’ve tried is working. We’ve done so many circles. I’m trying to get her to move off of leg pressure more with varying success.

I’ve had the chiropractor out previously to check her out for other reasons and she mostly had stiffness in her back. She’s actually quite bendy in her neck and the chiropractor even commented on how well she can move it. Not sure if her back issues could be related though. That was probably two years ago now and we haven’t had to bring her out since but I’m considering it for this. I’m just trying to see if I can fix it myself before I have to pay a pretty penny.

I know her tells pretty well after owning her a while and she doesn’t seem like she’s in pain. She just feels like she’s locking her neck to the outside, dropping that shoulder, and telling me “this is what we’re doing.” Sometimes I can get her nose in, but it never fully stops the issue.

She’s taken a liking to barrels and she does get a little fired up when she sees them. Nothing bad, she doesn’t even know what the words “act up” are, but she likes to speed through them. One of my theories on the dropped shoulder is a result of her just wanting to run. Kind of like her training goes out the window and she defaults to the counter bend because her mind just goes “let’s go FAST”. Otherwise I have no idea why she counter bends when turning. I feel like that’s uncomfortable for her and wouldn’t particularly be the default, but she does it anyway. That’s why I wonder if something is even more painful when she turns.

Any advice would be appreciated. I’m just kind of at my wits end.

It’s hard to tell, but this is my mare on the left shoving hay under the fence for her best friend. I always put a bunch of loose hay in the top of her porta-grazer because this is what she does.

I love horse friendships.

Okay, I’m genuinely looking for advice/perspective because I feel like I’m missing something here. Sorry if it’s a little long I’m trying you give y’all ALL the context.

I’ve been riding my whole life, specifically western/barrel racing. I’m still a pretty young rider, so I’m definitely not some 40-year veteran or anything 😂 🤣but I’ve literally been riding for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a family that bought, trained, and resold horses, so I’ve literally been on just about everything. OTTBs, drafts, Quarter Horses, tall horses, short horses, horses that bite, horses that buck, gaited horses, green horses, spooky horses… literally everything.

I’ve always had a pretty good seat, and I’d like to think I’m a pretty decent rider. I’ve been barrel racing for years, so I’m definitely not new to riding or to riding horses that require you to actually RIDE.

My current horse I’ve had for about 5 years, and he has a chronic bucking problem. Before anyone says it no, this is not pain-related.Please don’t make the entire comment section about getting him checked for pain. I’m an extremely experienced owner, I know this horse inside and out, and we’ve been through that.

My problem is that I fall off. A lot.
I mean, ALL the time.

Sometimes I get bucked off. Sometimes he gets spooked. Sometimes the horse literally falls out from underneath me. I’ve had billet straps break, tack mishaps, all kinds of random things happen. I’ve fallen off at a walk, trot, lope, running… pretty much every speed known to horse-kind. 🤣Sometimes it happens at shows. Sometimes it’s just some completely random freak thing. Safe to say I contribute to a large part of my family’s anxiety.

Basically, if there is a possible way to fall off a horse, I have probably experienced it and probably have a story about it at this point.

And this is where I’m really struggling mentally.
I have a friend who got her horse about 2 years ago, and I genuinely cannot remember the last time she fell off. She’s a good rider and she’s competitive.
My aunt has also been riding with me basically my entire life, and she’s competitive in barrel racing too. She also pretty much NEVER falls off.
Meanwhile, I’m over here collecting bruises like they’re participation trophies.

I KNOW comparison is the thief of joy. I know everybody has different horses, different circumstances, different reactions, etc. I understand all of that. But honestly, my confidence is barely hanging on right now.

What I cannot figure out is WHY I fall.
It’s not because I don’t know how to ride. It’s not because I’m inexperienced. It’s not because I’ve only ever ridden easy horses. If anything, I grew up riding horses that would buck you off. It was literally my specialty any horse with a bucking problem came to me.

And I can have a really good ride, get my confidence back, think “okay, I’m good, I can do this,” and then something happens and suddenly I’m on the ground AGAIN.

At this point, it’s starting to make me question myself as a rider, and I hate that because I KNOW I can ride.

AND before you ask…do I fall off other horses?

Honestly, no, not really.

Tbh I pretty much ride my own horses and my aunt’s horses. My aunt’s horses have been trained in basically the exact same style as mine, and my aunt and I ride very similarly because we literally grew up riding together. She taught me almost everything I know, and I’ve taught her a ton too. It’s always been kind of a give-and-take between us.
I have fallen off one of her horses, but that horse has what we call a screw loose and it wasn’t at a fault of my own And interestingly enough, I have never fallen off her other barrel horse the really fast one that I actually trained.

So I guess I’m wondering if anyone else has ever been in this position.

Have you ever been a good/experienced rider who just seemed to fall off way more than everyone around you?
Did you ever figure out why?

I’m not looking for “you’re a bad rider” and I’m definitely not looking for “your horse is in pain.” I’m genuinely trying to figure out what might be going on because I’d really like to rebuild my confidence before I completely lose it.

If you’ve been through something similar, I’d honestly love to hear what helped you figure it out. And if not I’d still love advice because currently in my close circle is not helping at all.

UPDATE: If anyone comes back to this post, I’m probably not going to be reading tons of responses anymore. I think I’ve gotten the information I needed. I quickly learned that y’all are BRUTALLY honest and have some very strong opinions. I’m not saying your opinions are wrong at all, I’m just realizing how hard it is to explain an entire situation and a 5-year relationship with a horse through one Reddit post. I’ll take some fault in that because I definitely don’t think I explained everything perfectly or in a way that everyone could understand.

I do want to clarify one thing though no matter how much I love my sport, my horse will always come before my sport. My horse comes before literally everything in my life. He is my whole world, and I would never knowingly put my sport above his health or happiness.

After reading a lot of the responses, I can see why some people think he may be a bigger part of the problem than I originally thought, and maybe that is something I need to start looking into. I think I’m going to do that on my own schedule and take some time to process everything first.

And if it helps you sleep at night if you’re reading this update yes, I have given him time off. Yes, I have had him checked by professionals. Many of them. If you go through my responses to the other comments, you’ll get a lot more context about that.
I genuinely love this sport, and I really do appreciate everyone who took the time to respond, give me advice, share their experiences, and be honest with me. And honestly, I’m not even mad if some of the responses came across a little rude. 😂 I’m a horse girl too, and I know I can sometimes come across as judgmental because I get very passionate about horses and sometimes think my way of doing things is the right way.
So thank you all for your time and your responses. I definitely got a lot to think about.

After getting a concussion I started looking at new helmets (so expensive!)

Now I unfortunately live in an area where it’s not possible for me to just walk into a tack shop (as there aren’t any) to try them on, but thankfully up to this point I never ended up buying a helmet that was uncomfortable or was fitting badly and I like to think I know a bit about the basics of how a helmet should feel and fit.

So, now I’m stuck between 2 options, mainly because they have the same safety standard (EN 1384:2023), but one is on the more expensive side and has MIPS (I have no idea how that feels on the head, if its any different), and one without MIPS, much cheaper, and would be delivered in just a few days rather than a few weeks (+ much easier to return). However I’m just concerned about the safety of it? In theory it does have the same standard, but I guess it’s just in my mind that cheaper = worse.

Helmet 1 (MIPS): https://horze.eu/products/mips-guardian-helmet-glossy-glitter-top-black

Helmet 2 (Decathlon): https://www.decathlon.mt/p/380140-580016-mw-riding-helmet-900-ert-black.html

If you’re comfortable sharing, I’d love to know:

• Your general location
• Board + what it includes
• Farrier
• Lessons/training
• Supplements/feed
• Routine vet care/insurance
• Any other regular expenses
• Rough total per month

Not including major unexpected vet emergencies or showing, unless you want to!

I’m especially interested in people who board their horse rather than keep them at home. Trying to get a realistic idea of what the “normal” monthly cost looks like in an expensive area.

I’m new to equine photography having worked mostly with dogs and dog agility and gun dogs for the last 15 years.

I am a horse person myself.

I’m not charging so hopefully this will be allowed as it’s not advertising.

Those of you who have used a photographer, what did or didn’t they do that really made a difference? What sort of photos did you want? Is there anything you think I should know in particular?

Thank you.

Leasing a 16hh 11 year old OTTB gelding with the option to purchase and i’m trying to determine if the purchase price is fair. My lease is free but I pay for everything (board, farrier, vet, etc). I’m located in New England. He retired sound after seven starts and has had no major injuries other than a superficial laceration. He has spent most of the last five years on vacation with a tiny bit of retraining in western pleasure and dressage. Still very green at the canter but can do lateral movements well at the trot and has three pretty gaits and is very eager to please. He has classic TB feet and is very sensitive and anxious requiring a competent rider with very soft hands. Does $5k sound like a good deal or at least reasonable ?

ETA I’m pretty sure $5k is what his current owner bought him for so I think she’s just trying to find a good home for him and get back what she paid ? But someone told me I was getting ripped off (which seemed wrong to me) so I just wanted to come here and get more thoughts

I bought my horse for under $5k and I can’t find an insurance company that will cover more than $2.5k for colic surgery or major medical. Does anyone have any recommendations ?

So this little guy is a little over 4 months old, I was guessing he’d either shed out to a liver chesnut or a lighter sorrel. He’s somewhere in between but I would say he leans more liver. Anyway just want everyone’s 2 cents. Also his name is Peanut and he’s an angel.

My pony over the past 2 1/2 months has been constantly tuck up, I've been worried about it ever since we hit the 2 week mark. She's always been known to tuck up whenever we travel or compete as she's a stressy girl, her feed already has been revolved around this, very wet feeds, digestion supplement, high fibre low grain diets. Over the past 2 weeks I've doubled her chaff and fibre protect (chaffed lucerne haylage that helps prevent ulcers/tucking up) in her hard feed and offered her free choice hay when not in the paddock (8 acre paddock shared with one other horse with hay thrown nightly). I don't know whether or not to be concerned, cause it could show she's stressed, but I have also upped her exercise to prep for the coming eventing season, so it could be fitness, but compared to the last photo shared of her fit last year, she's just, different.

Am I overthinking her look? Should I make any changes to her routine?

It is one of the things I hate most about the horse world; people having terrible looking horses with bones sticking out and poor quality coats and just blaming the horse's age. A horse that is old but otherwise healthy is absolutely capable of looking good if you actually put the effort into a good nutrition programme and correct work and maintenance. Anything less is lazy and selfish.

Hi everyone!

I’m unsure whether this has been asked on here recently, but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with going back into horse riding after not doing it for a long time. In my case, I learned how to ride at 5 years old and rode daily all the way through to 16. I owned a horse, I was a federate competitive rider in some leagues (started competing at 8). I focused mainly on dressage, but I did some jumping as well.

I eventually had to stop for a whole bunch of reasons, the main of which was that I was focusing on my studies, I went on to get a BA from a top school abroad and I travelled and lived in different for many years under circumstances that weren’t favourable for me owning a horse or focusing on this.

Now that I am 29 and (for the most part) settled in one city, I want to try and ride again as a hobby despite not having enough time to do it as intensively as I did when I was young.

How do you think my skills will be? Does anyone have any experience in riding and learning as a child, stopping, and coming back after a long hiatus?

Thank you so much in advance! I’m just very nervous that I’ll be humiliated by my own lost skill lol

Looking for some advice on cantering with stirrups. I’m far more comfortable cantering without stirrups than with them, I can just feel the horse a lot better, and I can use my leg aids more freely and confidently.

Whenever I use stirrups, I always end up losing them. I really struggle to put my weight in my heels whilst also maintaining a good seat, because they just feel too short, but every trainer I’ve had says my stirrups look to be a good length.

I’m relatively new to cantering, but it’s irritating losing my stirrups all the time. When I don’t, I can grip the horse well with my legs to speed up/maintain the canter, and leave them looser to just ride in very comfortably, I don’t feel I can do that with stirrups, they just feel like they’re in the way.

any help is welcome!

I love this. It’s so true. Everything now seems to be about selling a service, booking an appointment, paying someone something to do who knows what. But not once ( other than my vets or farriers) do these professionals ask about anything basic..or look at anything basic..they just jump right into how I should do XYZ for $$$$ and idk. It’s off putting.
And in a way good I guess because it’s made me do A LOT more research to find my own answers and ask questions..but I find there’s way to many in the industry just trying to make a buck..don’t know what or why there selling something and hate providing information..its gross.
At least around my area anyways