[Closed] Equestrians of STW

Ah the old What hoof size and geometry for eventing debate is about to start......

Mountain bikers arguing over wheel size are amateurs compared to the shod/barefoot debate..!

LOL!

A family member owns horses that Paul Tapner rides at the top level. If I thought cycling was an expensive hobby....

Wife has:
Warmblood mare (14) - has joint and conformation issues, so hardly ridden.
Dales gelding (5) - recently backed and still learning.
Dales foal (7 mths) - future project.
Coloured 'romany'cob mare (3) - not backed yet.
Donkeys,2 (9 & 11) - not worked.

Due to lack of time, and time-consuming maintenance, she hardly rides. Also not a lot of decent riding from home, need to box to local forests.

I used to ride, worked as trail leader in Wales and Scotland for a while, but have lost interest. Second tang on expense.

[i]If I thought cycling was an expensive hobby.... [/I]

tbh Always makes me laugh when folk think cycling is expensive, my OH has horses and she never makes a comment no matter what I buy as she's paying out +£150 per week even if she doesn't actually have a ride.

Most 'horsey' people I know never have any money, it makes biking look like bird watching (in your own garden) on the expense front.

Generalising massively here, but along with no money, my equestrian acquaintances normally have a clapped out old German estate car and a house that looks like a bomb has hit it, the bomb being packed with hay, straw, dog hair and shit.

But I can see the appeal, it's a good way to spend time in the countryside. I ride mtb's now in a wood that my grandad used to harvest timber from with horses, there's a slight romantic desire to get a hoss of my own and have a go at that, my other grandad actually has a steep, inaccessible patch of woodland where it'd be ideal.

clapped out old German estate car

I learned to ride, bought a horse and did a bit on it in the two years after meeting my wife. Unfortunately she was ill when pregnant so we had to sell him.
Great fun at the time though 🙂

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We seem to have ended up with four ponies now though!!!

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Freddie on a loaner called Maggie 🙂

That's not nice, she might be very sociable given the chance........

I share a house with a horsey girl and have concluded that I would never want to own a horse even though it looks good fun. They cost about the same as a small mortgage, seem to be constantly injured/lame and consume all your free time. Give me a lump of metal with two wheels and no emotional attachment any day of the week.

We have one with wheels too now 🙁 And one at school learning how to join it!

22yr old Irish Sportshorse, Chestnut Mare. We used to go Eventing with her. In semi-retirement...does a bit of jumping and still goes XC schooling when I want to join my wife. I did some showjumping on her but to be honest I'm quite happy just messing about rather than competing.

10yr old British Sporthorse, Tricolour (aka SportsCow). Had plenty of bad luck since we bought her with injuries, but last 12 months have been good. Should be an Eventer but playing it safe so doing boring dressage at the moment. (So that means paying both British Eventing AND British Dressage membership!)

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Personally I very rearly ride but my oh no longer asks about the cost of bikes since she went back to riding a few years ago.

And I get a lorry to tinker with as well

Mostly win win unless the vets out

Not me, but my wife does.

She just hacks out on her 16 yr old piebald cob. Although having bought a lorry last autumn, this year she is filling the calendar with endurance rides.

I don't know how to ride but have done some pretty awesome riding on holiday. Best trips gave been riding amongst Mayan ruins in jungles in Belize and multi day horse trekking along trailsb once used by Butch soft and Sundance in cochamo valley in the Chilean Andes. That was all western style thankfully.

Lol at the expense thing. My wife's purchase last year meant that my decision to buy a flare Max was cleared without a hitch. 😉

Supersessions, More details on the riding holidays please, wife wants to do a horseback safari but its ££££!!!

Ahh, hay burners .... money burners ... time burners.

We've had a few over the years, but currently only have 1 gipsy cob thing called Mollycoddle. To be fair, its so good with children that despite having had tendon injuries and can only be hacked, its worth its weight in gold. Our son loves it, and it loves children. Its really nice to see.

But by eck do they burn money and time. Here's me pondering over the extra money between £20 or £25 pound light for the bike when the horse burns through magnitudes more than the difference per day.

I don't begrudge it, but when the misses has a moan about things, I do bring up just how much gets put into the horse and the support around doing so.

I used to ride, just fix other people's horses these days

We've never owned horses but three of us ride (the fourth member of the team isn't yet two!) Before we got married wife suggested we do a horseback safari for honeymoon, which sounded like an awesome idea, so I had to learn how to ride. It was awesome! Expensive but worth every penny - I can't imagine doing a safari without being on horseback now, you get so much closer to the animals, as because you're on a horse they don't see you as a person.

Before the safari we went on a riding holiday in Wales with Free Rein, to get me used to hacking out rather than schooling. They have the most fantastic setup - a few dozen safe and enthusiastic Welsh ponies and cobs, they're based just north of the Brecon Beacons where there's the densest network of bridleways and byways and having checked you're competent you head off into the hills, unaccompanied with your maps and directions whilst your luggage gets moved to the pub or farm that you'll be staying overnight at.

Until the kids arrived we used to ride every other week, doing a mix of flat work and jumping and then we'd get the hacking out stuff compressed into a Free Rein holiday once a year. If you're not the sort of person who wants their life to revolve around horse ownership but likes riding I highly recommend this. It feels like you own a horse for a few days or a week odd of fun and then give it back. And their horses have such a good life, adventuring across Wales during the season and then living in herd during the winter.

The mother-in-law got a horse when she retired so wife and mini guru sr has been riding her - she's not yet sturdy enough to take my weight as she's only a New Forest pony. I gather we'll be inheriting her (aaarghhh!)

It's funny actually - I enjoy the ownership side as much as the actual riding, and with four to look after on DIY livery I/we only really get one or maybe two days a week away from the yard. They're as much a part of the family as the dogs are though, and we're lucky to have awesome sharers who lighten the (physical and financial!) load somewhat.

Am currently trying to get over my fear of hacking out having been unceremoniously dumped very early on in my riding days whilst out on the Ash Ranges - slow progress but I'm getting there.

9 year old welsh cob, and had a little 13 hands grey and a unknown aged rehomed Shetland last month for a few weeks, Hard work but I do enjoy spending time outside and the wife is happy, so be it .

Had a ride a few weeks ago, it was exciting

My wife rides every week. Currently got part loan because she travels for work. Thoroughbred/Irish draught. He's an old man (22?) but incredibly fit having raced internationally at endurance as well as hunting and eventing.

I ride a bit. I'd like the time to own a horse but it is a bit of a faff. Done a fair few holidays. Spent Xmas in spain galloping along beeches and through forests. Rode across some of Mongolia for 3 weeks last year. Spent some time in wadi rum on some incredibly fast horses. Rode across iceland.

There is a place in Northumberia I like where you can take their horses out to Holy Island and basically race up and down the miles of empty sand for a few hours. It has ruined all other beach rides in the world for me!

Has anybody else emailed strava to ask why there isn't a horse option! I know I have.

Trying to buy men's riding kit has also made me appreciate how women must feel about buying kit for any other sport!

a) quickest way to turn money into shit
b) please stop destroying every bridleway, can you not fit some massive shoes to your horses so you don't chop the surface up so badly

Given how many of us use cheeky trails on our bikes I don't see how we can complain about other groups useing there rights of way.

What we need to do is protect us , the horses and the byways from ramblers and reclassification

Men's riding kit is very poor unless you're trim

^ I don't want to ban anyone, was just making a suggestion for big boots 🙂

I'd like us [b]all[/b] to have more access really

My local woods/bridleways get ruined by horsehoofs in winter, but it just adds to the challenge,
It doesn't both me horses have been around long before the wheel , let alone the full suspension off-road bike

So admit it, what's your horse most fearful off. For Tullulah it's gotta be plastic bags in bushes :0)

I'm trim, it's still made of cotton and not designed for 8 hours endurance rides across the steppe.

If you ever want a holiday the inthesaddle are the best holiday company I've ever dealt with. My wife is trying to complete the brochure! She's even been involved in setting up o e of them in krgystan.

I can't remember the brand but both my pairs of jodhpurs are 100% nylon heavyweight fabric - they're a battle to get on and off compared to the usual stretch cotton ones but far better for long days in the saddle or bad weather.

Our safari was booked via inthesaddle. Need to save up so we can do some more of their holidays once the children are big enough!

I suppose it doesn't REALLY qualify, but I had my first horse ride earlier this year "off road" up and down some extreme gradients in the Spanish Sierra Nevada.

The difference between putting all my own energy into an inanimate bike as opposed to just inputting various instructions into a live beast with it's own power and motivation was extremely odd.

Found it pleasant, but strangely unfulfilling. Still prefer biking.

Carry on.

I suppose it doesn't REALLY qualify, but I had my first horse ride earlier this year "off road" up and down some extreme gradients in the Spanish Sierra Nevada.

The difference between putting all my own energy into an inanimate bike as opposed to just inputting various instructions into a live beast with it's own power and motivation was extremely odd.

Found it pleasant, but strangely unfulfilling. Still prefer biking.

That sort of beginner riding relates to real horse riding like driving one of these:

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relates to driving a real car.

😉

spooky - [url= http://www.campo-aventura.com/trips-adventures/horseback-programs/ ]This place in Chile[/url] was the best riding on holiday i've done.

I only rode two days with an overnight but their multiday trips look amazing.

You will not believe the terrain these horses can ride over, it's gnarcore 😉

Beautiful part of the world as well and very remote feeling.

My wife did a three day ride out of Banff which was also good but not sure who that was with.

Coincidentally, I was up delivering to a horsey-type place yesterday.
[url= http://www.throstlenestsaddlery.co.uk ]equestrian clothing[/url]
They offered me a go on one of their rides, but these ones had hooves and were a bit harder to control than a bike. Didn't fancy it.

Don't mention that bloody word. My daughter is on pony number 4 and is after another one. Seems pot luck as to whether you get a dud or not. Last one cost 4.5k and has been out of action with a buggered back joint for the last 18 months.

Cost's a fortune.

That sort of beginner riding relates to real horse riding like driving one of these:

That looks like it needs physical input from the driver, so I don't quite see your analogy but I suppose you know what you're talking about.

Carry on.

Supersessions - thanks for the link.

Flanagaj...done all the usual? Saddle fitter/Osteopath/Vet/scans. Ours have both had the the rubber hammer treatment on their spines and the sudden 'cracked neck' treatment to un-knot muscles etc. One of ours used to sometimes pull back and break the rope, once or twice it failed to break and she'd put her neck out after hanging off the stable on the end of the lead rope!