Anyone have horses or ride??

[Beckmola24]

I've been reading through the "Horses for Dummies" book and have found it to be extremely helpful. The book lists pro's and con's to both boarding horses and having them at your house... It seems like this book is an advocate for boarding for the first year (or so) to gain experience with horse care and to have supervision, etc etc. Their PRO list for boarding totally outweighed the PRO list for keeping one on your property...(for first time owners)

Somehow through discussing the lists in this book, my husband and I came to the question of... What do you do with a horse when you go on vacation (My husband's family lives in spain )??? Since so many people here seem to be "horse savy", or own horses, what are the options when going out of town???

I'm looking for the future here... I'm not running out next week, moving, and buying a horse :lol:

 

[NaH2O]

I cared for my neighbor's horses when they were away. Basically, anyone that is 1. reliable 2. knows how to be safe around horses 3. knows what to do if an emergency arises 4. knows to only feed what is scheduled and not dump a bag of grain in the feed bucket because the horse looks hungry or is begging 5. did i mention reliable? If you are going to keep a horse on your property, chances are you'll be in an area where other horse owners live, so finding someone that knows horses will be the easy part....finding someone reliable that you trust will probably be more difficult. I suppose the same goes for finding a tank sitter....I use a couple of friends I trust, and also one happens to have a reef tank, too. If I use the one that doesn't know a thing about reeftanks as my tank sitter, I usually have my reef tank friend as a "in case of emergency" contact. Obviously, horses are a different thing all together.

I do not think keeping a horse at home is good for beginners either. I know you don't have freezing winters in Houston like we do here, but something else I would tell folks, is: horses still poop and eat on Christmas day, and when it is below zero outside, so you will have to go to the barn every day no matter what to clean, feed, let them out, bring them in, and check on them. Some people don't think about these things....or what to do if there is a hay shortage, and how to track it down....or how to know if a horse is sick or colicing......what to do if a horse gets cast in the stall, or breaks the fence down and is loose near the road or neighbor's yard......etc. etc. etc.

I'm glad to read your first lesson went well! Keep us updated on your progress.

 

[Beckmola24]

So to update everyone: I have been haning out at the stable like crazy and have been able to learn a LOT. I'm planning on either getting a job there to help fund my hobby or volunteering there so I'll be able to ride for free. Either way I love spending time with the horses. I'm completely comfortable with grooming now and hoof picking... and I can tack up the horses (Western saddles are a pain) without much effort. I'm falling for my lesson horse who is a 20 somthing year old white/grey Tennessee Walker (cross) gelding named McCloud (Cloudy). I gave him his first bath today and we had fun together. Although I ended up just as wet as he was. :lol:

In my lessons I'm learning to figure 8 and circle the horse. I'm now completely comfortable trotting and my posting is getting more and more effortless with each lesson. I've been having lessons like crazy and am making serious progress. This week I think I took 5 lessons or so I want to get the basics down so I will actually look like (and know) what I"m doing Thanks to all who gave advice! I will continue to keep everyone in tune with how the lessons are going. I think I might have a soft spot for Western riding. I am considering doing barrel racing. Texas is FULL of small rodeos where I'll be able to compete on a regular basis. I'm so excited about my new hobby! My husband is actually considering a horse in the future!

 

[Detri]

Oh man thats so awsome, congrats on your new found hobby! Barrel racing is so much fun. I did some riegning, not competatively, just wanted to learn a disapline. I must say though, there is nothing like the rush of jumping. I used to go to a friends farm where she would let me tack a horse and jump a bit. While I was taking riegning lessons.

Boarding is always a good plan when learning. The people that care for them really do care for your horse. (if they are reputable, there are some shadey people, like in all things in life) They will not hesitate to make sure your horse is taken care of, and usaully have staff to help out. Careing for one horse is expensive, but buying grain, hay and shavings for multiple horses reduces the cost in the long run. May even be cheaper for you in the long run to board a horse.

But, Yea, thats great that you have learned so much, you can even tell by the way you say things and talk about it.