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So, I've decided to share a picture of me and my horse. We took this picture Sunday evening. The mare's name is Blossom. She is 16 years old. 15.2 hands. AQHA registered. Palomino Dun. She had a baby this April. Picture was taken out in the pen where he was. The pen is several acres. Since this post is all about her, I'll give you guys some background on her.
When Blossom was 2, she had 30 days put on her by a professional reining trainer. She was a good girl, but she had a hock that just wasn't quite solid enough for spinning, so before they could hurt her, they put her out with the broodmare band. She had a few foals, one of which is a solid reining horse and used as a donor mare. Blossom changed hands at some point, still being used as a broodmare. Then, we bought her in a registered sale. The people we got her from didn't know she was broke.
Fast forward 18 months after we got her in spring. She was 11.5. She had raised a foal for us and the foal was weaned. My mom googled her name and found that she had been advertised as a potential lesson horse when she was around 4 or 5. We go out there and saddle her up. She's not just broke. She be neck reins, stops nice, goes any speed you want. Rode perfect. Now, fast forward again.
In 2017, Blossom earned me High Point Senior at the county fair. In 2018, she got me 2nd High Point Senior. She was pregnant this last time and way slowed down, so she was given time off from that day in early September until this June. I've ridden her about 20 times for around 20 minutes, usually bareback, since June. I'm doing slow work, like that barely trot qh horses are expected to do in pleasure and trail classes. We are working on her steering. About 2 weeks ago, I decided to do a power steering check and got on her like we are in the picture. I had done this maybe once a month before her time off and it always went pretty well. Now, we're working on improving this. it's going pretty well. I can stop her and back her up like this. She stops mostly by voice, so that goes pretty smoothly. Working on voice command with backing. I think our latest practice for losing circles and figure 8s went really good. That was when the picture was taken. I decided I may as well share my western trained horse since she is so different from all the English ones people talk about.
https://scontent.fhhr1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/fr/cp0/e15/q65/66694550_1683229858487952_5811015022624636928_o.jpg?_nc_cat=107&efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&_nc_oc=AQnVcHxbxBVOe0sfoMMqQUVTB-G5q1lHfrV3t5I-ID6jGMR27P5WDTtgpdhwpa6PAjxUGMAoKh9sVvsBJQE12l74&_nc_ht=scontent.fhhr1-1.fna&tp=1&oh=bd9cd43c0bfbe7a7b17c6a0b18af9d37&oe=5DE92570 |
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Trivia Team |
There's nothing better than a pony like that!! |
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I ride my gelding the same way. If he will not stop/back on command then I work my legs up his shoulder. Then apply pressure with neck loop. After you try this and get no response then you may have to go back to a halter.
I also ride my horse with a cavason too. |
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Foxy Stable said:
I ride my gelding the same way. If he will not stop/back on command then I work my legs up his shoulder. Then apply pressure with neck loop. After you try this and get no response then you may have to go back to a halter.
I also ride my horse with a cavason too.
So far, if she isn't stopping fast enough, I just say her name in a condescending voice and that works. She rides in a hackamore with short or kind of long shanks and pretty much any bit with shanks under 4 inches and no curb. She rides better bridleless than she does with the halter or a snaffle bit. Blossom is a little picky like that. |
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Good for you! I am an avid reining rider, and have trained several of my boys to perform in it. Have you tried any sort of cow event, like boxing or sorting? Reiners (especially ones that don't slide or spin a lot due to injury/weakness) do really well in those events. It looks like you two have a great connection! Congrats on your awards. |
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Dimrill Dale said:
Good for you! I am an avid reining rider, and have trained several of my boys to perform in it. Have you tried any sort of cow event, like boxing or sorting? Reiners (especially ones that don't slide or spin a lot due to injury/weakness) do really well in those events. It looks like you two have a great connection! Congrats on your awards.
I haven't done anything with cows other than sorting ours and herding them home when they tried escaping last year. Sorting events aren't exactly advertised right now, so with the amount of time I put until the calves I show, I wouldn't have time to take Blossom to a show. I'm Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, I was showing 2 heifers at the biggest dairy show in my state. Dairy isn't popular around here and there was only around 150 year at the show, but there was a Quiz Bowl, which my team won, a Skillathon, which I placed 3rd in, and a judging contest, which I sucked at, plus taking care of the calves and shaving them. I got maybe 4 hours of sleep each night and managed to pull myself to get to take Blossom to the playday Saturday evening. I show more beer than dairy and decided that this year I'm finally going to show above the county level, so that has meant a ton of prep work, especially with the red angus heifers we bought. Blossom is enjoying being a stay at home mom for the most part, but she does pretty well in low level trail classes and the other slow classes at the county fair. This monster won the pole class as well. She does everything she can to not run into anything or touch things, so she works really well in that sort of thing. |
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I have a little paint×QH mare. She hasn't been bred ever that we know of but we intend to breed her. She was trained for cutting and is really good. She is only seven and we are retraining her as a barrel horse. She has quick turns and a fast, low to the ground run. She's a sweet mare. And your horse seems amazing too! |
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Vanrosalie Stables said:
I have a little paint×QH mare. She hasn't been bred ever that we know of but we intend to breed her. She was trained for cutting and is really good. She is only seven and we are retraining her as a barrel horse. She has quick turns and a fast, low to the ground run. She's a sweet mare. And your horse seems amazing too!
Thanks! Yours sounds great too. By the way, love the Highland cow on your stable set. I have a Highland/shorthorn cow that is an absolute pill, but kind of fun. My saddle fits her, so she's been saddled a couple of times and I sat on her once. I showed her a little as a calf and everyone remembers the hairy roan thing with horns. |
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