Equestrians???

My name is Elana. I'm 35 and live in Alberta, Canada. (20K outside of Legal if anyone happens to be from the area.) I live on an acreage and currently have 3 horses: Zoe an 8 year old AQHA/APHA grey mare, Gracie (The one in my Avatar) a 4 year old APHA mare, and Khloe a 2 year old full sister to Gracie. I ride english and western at open and breed shows. I do all my own training and haven't had nearly as much time to ride as I would like since buying my acreage 5 years ago. Gracie is about a year behind in her under saddle training but I'm vowing to step that up in the very near future. A few friends and I have decided to make the trek to Tulsa, OK in 2012 for the Pinto World Show, so it's time to get serious. Need to drop some weight so I can get back into my chaps!!

Wow Jsecret - your paint looks like my Jack! I have a 6 y/o gelding APHA, and a 21 y/o Appendix mare. I am training jack right now since he's pretty green - and Safire is my fun horse. She is kind of hot and wild.

I get out to the barn as many times a week as I can. I've noticed that after a reasonable visit with grooming, lunging, some ring patterns, etc - it looks like I'm burning TONS of calories.

I think there's something wrong with the calorie burning tracker.

I'm glad we have our own board !!

Equestrians Rock!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=5679007&l=5a51bafe05&id=659742969

Welcome to the new "horsey" people!

The barn manager decides when the horses go out - usually if it's raining or below 10 degrees F they are kept in. We have an indoor arena (not standard size) that is just big enough to run around and get some steam off.

No I volunteered, right now I am just pleasure riding, I have to go through a riding test to be certified so I am going through all the basics again.

I'm in Australia but on the other side of the country to the floods... well we have floods in the north of our state at the moment. The problem we are facing is that we haven't had enough rain this winter. So there is a hay shortage and the paddocks are starting to die off ( where I keep my horse they water the grass twice a day over summer so that it stays green)

So we are battling major fires about once a week at the moment.

Wow, I didn't realize there were so many horse lovers on here. I'm in Tennessee and have 4 Arabians and my husband's old grade mare. I don't ride near as much as I should but more riding one of my New Year's resolutions. Here's a photo of me and my colt, Sterling from a couple of years ago. He looks like crap right now with all the hair and mud. I have a website at www.sweetwaterarabians.com if you want to see pictures of mine.

No I volunteered, right now I am just pleasure riding, I have to go through a riding test to be certified so I am going through all the basics again.

Best of luck! It was a stressful process, but worth it.

I'm in NW Indiana. I've had horses for 13 years. My current horses are Kobe (<--- my pic) - Appendix QH mare, 21 yrs old, and Raja - Arabian gelding, 23 yrs old. I've had Kobe for 10 years and Raja for 4. I rode Raja years before that though. Long story, but he fell into bad hands and found his way back to me. His last owner (not the one who abused him) was scared of him and sold him to me for 1 month's board.

I used to ride 3-4 horses a day in college (h/j and dressage). I have a degree in Equine Studies, but am a SAHM now. I haven't ridden in 3 years due to trying for, and having my son. I wanted to ride this past summer, but it never seemed to work out. They are both ex-race horses and still have a LOT of get up and go. I'm not comfortable riding when no one is home (my horses are in my backyard basically!). They are enjoying their lives as pasture pets though I worked at two breeding farms and just loved the babies.

How are you guys all handling the winter months? (or the flooding for those of you in Australia?)

Ugh, I hate winter. This year, we are trying to avoid the tank heater because it adds at least $200 a month on to the heating bill. Since we're a one income household, that really takes a chunk out of the budget. We're doing an insulated box around the tank. It's working well so far, but I still had a bucket or two of hot water from the house daily.

I have a 25 year old Thoroughbred (named Dancerten :happy: ) that thinks he's 12. We still do local schooling shows (mostly dressage, but in the summer there's a hunter show near us with an obstacle course that we do now and then), but not as many since he has moderate heaves... He's a big ol' teddy bear!!





EDIT: ok, i give up trying to make my other picture fit... i've cropped, resized, reloaded and it still comes out wayyy to jumbo :grumble:

I don't ride (I prefer motorbikes...it's a lot shorter distance to the ground if you fall off) but I'm co-owner of two horses.

The horse in my profile picture is one of them. Natural Storm - a 13 year old gelding. The jockey in the picture is also the guy who co-owns both horses with me. Natural Storm had a number of wins on the track (about 20% finishes in the money -1st to 3rd place). We've been racing him in Point-to-Point races since he was retired from the track. However, he's having a nice rest at the moment after injuring a leg just before Christmas.

The second one is a 6 year old gelding. We haven't given him a name yet. The trainer has a lot of work to do with him. His previous owner did nothing with him and he got very overweight and un-fit....a bit like me actually

Natural Storm will probably be back fit in March and the other lad will propably be fit for racing in March or April.

I started riding when I was 6, maybe 6 and a half. I've never had the money to own or lease a horse, which kind of stinks because I never got to ride whenever I want/bond with my own horse. Though, I suppose the plus side to that is that I've ridden a million and one horses in my long career of lessons.

I rode english- over fences most of the time. When I was little, I wanted to be an Olympic show jumper SO BAD. I used to announce myself in the ring, and jump ridiculous obstacles whenever my trainer wasn't paying attention. I also regularly braided my grumpy lesson ponies manes with flowers I yanked from the yard because I was convinced that's what Team USA did, and how was anyone supposed to know I was in the Olympics IF MY HORSE HAD NO FLOWERS?!?!?!?!?!

Anyway, I stopped riding all together soon after I went away to college. Not because I stopped loving horses and everything that comes with them, but because I gained so much weight. I was riding at a pretty cut-throat barn at the time and there were quite a few girls my age who were light, fit, and better riders. My new coach was pretty unconcerned with me when he had these great riders with athletic horses to worry about. Plus, I was really embarassed that my breeches and long boots no longer fit, and the schooling saddles were barely containing my butt. The whole thing made me really insecure about my skills and body, and that plus being out of shape was affecting my seat. I suffered some gnarly falls, lost all my confidence, and just stopped.

I'm slowly losing weight and regaining confidence, and as soon as I feel I'm ready, I'm going to get back into horseback riding (though, this time at a more supportive barn, I think ). I'm looking forward to it whole-heartedly! I'm glad to see so many equestrians here on MFP-- I think we can all do this together. GO TEAM USA (or whatever your home country is)!!!

You stole my idea Jsecret! LOL I was gonna try this sometime! So glad you did! I ride both English and Western and have jumped, done rail classes, and speed events. I have Cinco (of course) my AQHA Appendix gelding and two grade paints who my dad claims as his now. Anyone who wants to talk horses can "friend" me!

I am very tired of schleping hot water to the barn from my house. And sick of snow! And rain! And mud! And below zero temps! All of which we have had in the last month! My horses live out with a shelter, so they are blanketed and I am getting tired of changing blankets. The temps have been fluctuating wildly here. Today we are getting snow, sleet and freezing rain. I worry about the ice. I have to shut the guys in if it gets icy.

Ditto on the mud and the blanket changing!! My horse thinks he's a pig!! His favorite pastime is wallowing in the mud, and right now we've got a ton of it :grumble:

:laugh:

I am very tired of schleping hot water to the barn from my house. And sick of snow! And rain! And mud! And below zero temps! All of which we have had in the last month! My horses live out with a shelter, so they are blanketed and I am getting tired of changing blankets. The temps have been fluctuating wildly here. Today we are getting snow, sleet and freezing rain. I worry about the ice. I have to shut the guys in if it gets icy.

Ditto on the mud and the blanket changing!! My horse thinks he's a pig!! His favorite pastime is wallowing in the mud, and right now we've got a ton of it :grumble:

i hear ya on the pig analogy! angel thinks shes one too and shes not easy to keep clean...(all pure white)...in the winter, i dont even bother....i brush her off and thats it :laugh: