Where to start? Horse lovers??

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banjosmom
banjosmom Posts: 2
in Motivation and Support
I am lost here. There are so many posts. Should I start a new, newbie thread? I will gladly.

I am used to itty bitty forums (mostly horse related). I even have a fat horse people blog.
Unfortunately it is all about me and not much feedback there. Boy ti keeps you honest though, knowing people are reading about you.

My stats. Have lost 8 of the 50 pounds I want to lose (although I could lose more and not be gaunt)
I am (gasp) 56. I don't know what happened. One day I was 30 and kerpow!! I am 56. Shoot.

This weight is retred weight. I tend to lose and then gain most of it back.

Last time, I dropped 16 pounds, my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer - so there went that diet. The surgeon who diagnosed her was wrong according to her cancer doc. Mom had a tumor that was new (luckily discovered by accident and that usually happened to nonsmoking women)
so she has a much better chance than 5% survival - whoohoo.

Anyway, I am ready to try again.
Any tips which of you to join?
Are there any fat horsepeople here??

Thanks, Kathy:flowerforyou:
«134

Replies

  • savvystephy
    savvystephy Posts: 4,151 Member
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    Well, keep logging your food and you will see results. The food diary keeps you honest with yourself and keeps you on target for your weight loss.

    Oh, and I am a horse lover. :tongue: I own an APHA paint horse which I adopted from a horse rescue. :happy:
  • equinegirl200
    equinegirl200 Posts: 35 Member
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    Im a horse person:)
  • cwvanek
    cwvanek Posts: 111
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    I am a horsey person! I don't own any at the moment but I have before.

    Riding is GREAT exercise :)
  • savvystephy
    savvystephy Posts: 4,151 Member
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    Riding is GREAT exercise :)

    Hehe, I wish it were for me! I have trained my horse to be vocal cue command. So trotting I cluck at him, and to canter, I kiss at him. :laugh: So, i still have to work out the day I go riding. :tongue:
  • HeatherMN
    HeatherMN Posts: 3,821 Member
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    First of all, congrats on making the decision to lose the weight.

    I am also a fat horse person who is working on losing about 50 lbs. myself. I have a Mustang/Percheron cross who frustrates me to no end because she hates being caught in the pasture....though, once caught she's a doll. Go figure. I also coach a Special Olympics equestrian team and am currently working on becoming a certified therapeutic riding instructor; I've been volunteering with therapeutic riding for 13 years. With as active as I am, I would think I'd be skinny, but apparently the 8 hours a day at a desk job undo everything I do outside of work!

    If you ever need someone to chat with, feel free to message me!

    Heather
  • cwvanek
    cwvanek Posts: 111
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    Riding is GREAT exercise :)

    Hehe, I wish it were for me! I have trained my horse to be vocal cue command. So trotting I cluck at him, and to canter, I kiss at him. :laugh: So, i still have to work out the day I go riding. :tongue:

    hehe must be nice! I had on OTT Thoroughbred that I retrained for hunter/jumper... lets just say I felt it when I got off ;)

    Apparently yellow jump posts eat horses and you must avoid them at all costs and flower boxes have teeth and need to be given an extra few feet than necessary to get over. haha.
  • savvystephy
    savvystephy Posts: 4,151 Member
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    Riding is GREAT exercise :)

    Hehe, I wish it were for me! I have trained my horse to be vocal cue command. So trotting I cluck at him, and to canter, I kiss at him. :laugh: So, i still have to work out the day I go riding. :tongue:

    hehe must be nice! I had on OTT Thoroughbred that I retrained for hunter/jumper... lets just say I felt it when I got off ;)

    Apparently yellow jump posts eat horses and you must avoid them at all costs and flower boxes have teeth and need to be given an extra few feet than necessary to get over. haha.

    Aw, I have worked with horses like that.

    My horse wasn't always done by vocal cues - that's something I trained him to do. :tongue: He doesn't like orange construction signs on the road. Or puddles / pot holes. Walks as far as he can get from them. I need to work on that with him. (Get a shiny tarp and get him to walk over it when I ask him to). :tongue:
  • cwvanek
    cwvanek Posts: 111
    Options
    Riding is GREAT exercise :)

    Hehe, I wish it were for me! I have trained my horse to be vocal cue command. So trotting I cluck at him, and to canter, I kiss at him. :laugh: So, i still have to work out the day I go riding. :tongue:

    hehe must be nice! I had on OTT Thoroughbred that I retrained for hunter/jumper... lets just say I felt it when I got off ;)

    Apparently yellow jump posts eat horses and you must avoid them at all costs and flower boxes have teeth and need to be given an extra few feet than necessary to get over. haha.

    Aw, I have worked with horses like that.

    My horse wasn't always done by vocal cues - that's something I trained him to do. :tongue: He doesn't like orange construction signs on the road. Or puddles / pot holes. Walks as far as he can get from them. I need to work on that with him. (Get a shiny tarp and get him to walk over it when I ask him to). :tongue:
    Haha. Good job on training him with vocal cues! :smile:
  • HeatherMN
    HeatherMN Posts: 3,821 Member
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    When I can catch my horse, she's trained to ride with verbal cues. Luckily, she's not afraid of much, especially when trail riding. Must be the mustang in her.
  • tabbydog
    tabbydog Posts: 4,925 Member
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    Yay horses! My horses are my mental therapy! I have a Belgian TB cross, who has the size of the Belgian and the nit-wittedness of the TB (bad combination sometimes). Actually, the horse prior to him was an off the track TB and was much more reasonable than he is. Anyway, I ride him mostly in the dressage ring, and on the trail when I am feeling suicidal.

    I also have a little QH type grade mare who is a doll. When I first got her she didn't like to be caught, but when she wouldn't let me catch her I would make her run more and not let her stop. Now she lets me catch her. The first time was awful, and I thought it was going to kill us both, but now when she thinks about going away from me, I just growl "don't you dare," and she decides to stay. It helps that when she gives me no hassles about catching her I give her a treat. It is a double incentive! I mostly trail ride her, but I try to persuade her that dressage is fun. She is not convinced.

    The horse in my profile pic is my mom's Belgian who I am training for dressage. She is built more like a warmblood than a draft, and has gaits to die for.

    Steph, I adore your paint. I love brightly colored horses. My current ones are all one shade or another of brown!
  • Ressia
    Ressia Posts: 5
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    I have 2 horses no special breed but gentle as can be can't ride much because of an accident that I had but when I walk over to the fence they come running. I have to have someone saddle them, then I have to have help getting on and off the horse. But hope to be able to be able to this for myself one day.
  • Iwkido
    Iwkido Posts: 53 Member
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    Hi ! I have a horse too : he's a half arabian and very, very kind. But he's just 3 years, so I don't ride him for the moment. ;)
  • banjosmom
    banjosmom Posts: 2
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    Oh this is cool /kewl?
    Anyway, I am glad to see so many horse folk on here.
    I have 2 horses, ride neither - fear issues. A bowling ball body on a horse is not well balanced Once I get on I can ride - but getting on is a chore.
    I am short too which helps quite a lot - haha.
    Anyway, my 2. Belle is a Kentucky Mountain mare with a nontypical atitude. Usually these horses are sensible. She is a big baby on the ground, but in the saddle she wants to be the boss.
    Hubby is working with her and a trainer. but I don't know if I will ever be able to ride her. She hates ring work, but loves going out on the trail with other horses.
    2nd horse is the one in the photo. He is Banjo and I raised him from 5 weeks after his mamma died. He is almost 3 and will go to a trainer in February. I have saved a year for him to get a good trainer.
    He is a lot more sensible than Belle so far. We will see how the trainer makes out with him.
    Right now I feel I am too heavy for him since he is a short stocky boy (he takes after me).
    I have lost 8 1/2 pounds in 16 days by counting calories and limiting carbs. Would love to lose 50 pounds by next year at this time. Have failed many times before - sigh. I need to take it one day at a time.

    Nice to meet you all!:blushing:
    Kathy
  • Ressia
    Ressia Posts: 5
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    some are showing there horses so thought I would show mine This is Gray
  • Ressia
    Ressia Posts: 5
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    trying again
  • savvystephy
    savvystephy Posts: 4,151 Member
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    Yay horses! My horses are my mental therapy! I have a Belgian TB cross, who has the size of the Belgian and the nit-wittedness of the TB (bad combination sometimes). Actually, the horse prior to him was an off the track TB and was much more reasonable than he is. Anyway, I ride him mostly in the dressage ring, and on the trail when I am feeling suicidal.

    I also have a little QH type grade mare who is a doll. When I first got her she didn't like to be caught, but when she wouldn't let me catch her I would make her run more and not let her stop. Now she lets me catch her. The first time was awful, and I thought it was going to kill us both, but now when she thinks about going away from me, I just growl "don't you dare," and she decides to stay. It helps that when she gives me no hassles about catching her I give her a treat. It is a double incentive! I mostly trail ride her, but I try to persuade her that dressage is fun. She is not convinced.

    The horse in my profile pic is my mom's Belgian who I am training for dressage. She is built more like a warmblood than a draft, and has gaits to die for.

    Steph, I adore your paint. I love brightly colored horses. My current ones are all one shade or another of brown!

    Thanks Tabby! I love flashy horses. :tongue:

    Great job on training your QH! That is definitely the way to do it. If they need to work more then they will quit the behavior because horses are lazy. :laugh:
  • savvystephy
    savvystephy Posts: 4,151 Member
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    Kathy - You can do this girl! Just stick with this community and it will help. Keep tracking your food and exercise and you will lose weight. I never thought I could and I am down 17 lbs! So now there is no reason for me to not be able to make it down to my goal weight. :)

    Ressia - Your horse is beautiful!
  • HeatherMN
    HeatherMN Posts: 3,821 Member
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    Good morning!

    Looks like I need to get a pic of my Sadie on here, too! She's also a gray.

    This weekend I'll be doing some more training in the pasture with her in hopes of gaining back her trust, which I lost by moving her to a different boarding stable. She had to leave her friends and the home she was at for four years...when she was there I could catch her 98% of the time and the other 2% I could cheat and offer grain to get her to come to me. With six horses in the pasture with her, I can't do that right now, so I'm doing the training I should have done when I bought her five years ago. Talk about teaching me a lesson! I have faith that we'll eventually get there, though.

    It's so nice that there are so many horse people on here...I'm also glad I'm not the only horsey gal that struggles with weight, especially seeing all of those stick thin barrel racers out there!

    Keep up the great work, everyone!
    Heather
  • tabbydog
    tabbydog Posts: 4,925 Member
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    My childhood horse was a grey arabian. She was awesome! I put a lot of miles on that girl! When I went away to college she taught another girl to ride, and then another one after that. She died in her sleep one night at the age of 26. She was the best!
  • eponya
    eponya Posts: 7
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    Just dropping in to see if anyone is around? I am new here.

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