hi I'm not really that much of a horse fanatic cause I've never riden before but Blazey (BlazeTroy) is starting to make me want to. Any one feel like sharing their first experiences with me?

Oh cool! That must be really fun! I would go but I live in another town from the riding schools and they cost a lot of money but I think I would start out really scared even with a old nice horse that wont hurt anything but then I might get balanced and get used to it and grow to love it....all I need to do is ride!

Well I rode once before....I was 4 and was at a fair and my dad threw(not literaly) me on the horse behind my friend, I don't remember if I like it or not. Just that I was really scared.

Hope you fall off sooner rather than later. Fear and horses generally don't mix well?
I'm not talking about the cliched "They can smell fear" stuff. That's a joke. I mean you need to trust the horse, and I'm sorry, but if you're afraid of it there's no way you can do that. :[

I've been thrown to the point where I could really care less. I've been hurt a lot, but I still know when I'm able to trust my big monster. XD

hee the thing that scares me the most is that my friend always comes to school with some injury or another from horse riding and stories of horses bolting . There was a girl at a show that was riding a horse called Charlie Brown who was trying to throw her off or something, she was hanging on the side of the saddle for dear life.

Scary. *shivers*

that does sound scarry i have no horse myself but i do often ride at a local RS

^ and I've had a horse step on my head, smash my helmet and it dislocated my jaw. It also shifted the minor bones in the side of my skull. That feels lovely. Slightly painful, actually.

In lessons they're not going to put you on something like that. I was actually testing a school horse while that happened. Instructors have to make sure horses aren't going to do things like this with beginners.
For some of these things, what we call an 'emergency dismount' comes into play. XD.

man that must have hurt. How much did that horse weigh?
*pain!!!!* *cringe*

Not too much. Well, still a lot. My helmet took most of it.
He was a large pony. Worse behaved than my horse, and my boy is an off the track Thoroughbred. (who has recently taken to rearing at random moments)
I had him jumping 3' courses in a couple months. ;] The barn instructor ended up selling him anyway, though. :[
He still wasn't acting right with some of her 'better' students.
Nah, but I'm sure they'll put you on a good dependable old guy.

i hope so i never knew just how difficult horses can be

:[
Has it died in here?
I'd try and start a discussion, but I can't do that unless I know people still go on this thread. So if you want to talk horses, post.

Woah....derby's aren't really the kind of things I like It seems a little....I dunno....cruel maybe-to force a horse to race for money not to mention gambling

I know exacty what u mean Linda H i ain't been to a Derby before either

Okay...one, you can't force a horse to do something they don't want to do. Well, you can, but their heart isn't going to be in it, so they're most likely going to fail at it.

Second, people bet on everything. It's the gamblers that are cruel, not the horse people.

TBs are bred to run, and they love doing it. Most horses do. They aren't forced to do it. If a horses heart isn't in it they won't be fast enough to compete anyway, that's where the training comes in. So I don't think it's cruel. What I don't like however is the wastefulness of the industry if a horse trials and isn't fast enough.

As much as people may want to deny it, cruelty ultimately comes from humans, not a sport in itself.
It's the people who abuse the horses, not the sport.

I really want to ride! It's complicated though....

It is complicated.
That's what lessons are for.

Awww, Psycho, I'll try organise a riding lesson for you if when you come to my house sometime. Charlie Brown only throws stupid riders off(not me)! Was it Robin?

I still remember the time that Charlie kicked Gabby in the stomach cause he wanted to escape. Then she let him go and he gave me a hard time for the rest of the day

ShadowThestral-did you ever sort out that problem with your horse? Was that you?

at one point i had 17 horses to chose from, i got the biggest which was like 17 hands, i rode it, i fell, i got back up again, rode it, fell, quit, dad found out, and am ridding ever since...........

It might have been me with the problem with my horse. Was it that he was rearing? If that's the case, then yes, that was me.
As it turns out, when me and him both took a fall 2-3 years ago, he had gotten a hairline fracture in his pelvis. That had healed, and he was back and jumping about 3'3"-3'6". I stopped taking lessons when I ran out of money, then I wasn't able to ride every day because I started failing school. At the time he broke his hip, he was also afflicted with muscle damage. It does not pose a problem while his muscles are strong, but when they become weak it puts him in a bit of pain.
His rearing was at first a result of that pain, and then continued and was worsened when he realized he could get away with it.
We had the vet do a sort of 'triad' acupuncture in his hip so it wouldn't be so painful when he was working to become stronger again. He started getting better, then he relapsed because he's a spoiled brat- not because of pain.
My logic is now, if he's strong enough to rear straight up in the air, he's strong enough to do a strong trot in a frame.
Right now he's doing wonderful: