abbih1

[abbih1]

a redemption poll from that last dog name one i did:

reblog for a larger sample <3

#Jack and Foxy for their registered names #23 was her hip number when I bought her #feather was because he came home in a trailer full of chickens #beth because her mommas a bitch and shes kinda a beth dutton herself #ice after the 2019 bomb cyclone in NE #hooey after the rope brand my brother uses #peacock because momma is fancy and dad is feather so he's a fancy feather #i probably need to quit letting team ropers name thing

[abbih1]

So I'm trying to get pictures of these halters I made and am selling. Needed some decent pictures to show how they fit. This was the best I could come up with. (I actually like the top 2)

But what's my camera roll filled with?

This

And this

This one could have been ok if he wouldn't have stuck his tongue out

Jack just gave me the whole "I don't get paid enough to be your barrel horse AND model"

#horse #horses #horseblr #my horse #barrel racing

[abbih1]

All of mine seem to love anything alfalfa flavored and I can hide stuff in alfalfa pellets pretty easily. Same with molasses. And TBH, alfalfa pellets work just as well as a treat as things marketed as treats. German horse muffins are about the only thing they like better (and that's mostly molasses and oats).

They seem to like salty stuff too (salt licks, electrolyte pastes, etc), but there is a differences between brands. Like general concensus is Redmond is their favorite salt, but electrolyte preferences vary.

Peppermint is hit or miss. They either love it or would prefer something else, haven't had any hate it though.

Apple flavoring is more of a miss. Some apple treats are good, but for the most part they don't care or or don't like it. But maybe 1/5th of my horses even eat actual apples.

Carrots are worse than apple. Never had one like carrot flavored things and most don't want real carrots.

CBD is actually a lot of mine's favorite. I have a few that are indifferent, but I have a few that might take a finger trying to get it. Kind of an acquired taste, though.

I need a favor. Could y’all reblog with: Your horse’s favorite flavors: Your horse’s most disliked flavors: I’m curious about a few trends I’ve seen.

[abbih1]

Jack❤

He's sure come a long ways this year. Can't wait for the 2023 season.

#horse #horses #horseblr #my horse #barrel racing #sugarbush #sugarbush draft

[abbih1]

Pictures, especially in motion, are almost never a good judge of how the horse is feeling. A picture is what happened for a millisecond. What could be a normal habit for one horse could be a stress response for another. And some horses naturally have a more stressed looking eye simply because of the shape.

But she has a bad habit of doing this and did the same thing with Junior Nogueira during the NFR (who she butcher the pronunciation of. Like it takes 5 seconds to figure out how to say it) and a bunch of barrel racers over bonnets. The Junior Nogueira thing was about how he lays down when he dallies on a good run. Could he be softer with his hands when he does it? Yeah. Is it as bad as the pictures make it out to be? No, the pictures make it look like he hangs on the horse for a long time. He goes down and back, the pull on that horses mouth doesn't last long, and he doesn't do it as much as he used to. His hands could be better, but its not this atrocity she makes it out to be.

And the whole bonnet thing was about how barrel racers are so abusive because they use this and it puts so much pressure on the head and the horses are in such pain. For one, iirc it originated in pleasure horses, moved to cutters, then to barrel horses, and some of the pleasure people will use ones that are actually abusive. Yeah, it put pressure on the top of their head because we want them to drop their head and it restricts less movement than a tie-down. And as for the "pain face", that's just the horses face. Half the reference pictures showed slack in the bonnet and the horse would make the same face running in a halter.

Whew. Why do influencers pick fights with real professionals? Very embarrassing tbh.

#at some point people have to catch on that she doesnt know all thag much #and im sure if someone took screenshots of her riding videos we could have unsavory pictures too

[abbih1]

Just to add to the horror. I tried to calculate Michigans Hart Breaker's Fx (coefficient of inbreeding, its the probability that both genes in a pair are from the same ancestral allele and is used as a measure of inbreeding).

Only looking at the first 5 generations, I calculated out that he was 34.7% inbred (his parents shared ancestors also being inbred is part of why its so high). Had I gone back farther, the number would probably be greater

Now, to put this in perspective, if you were to breed a pair of half siblings together and their shared parent was their only shared ancestor and that parent wasn't inbred at all, you'd only have an Fx of 12.5%.

Even a sire to daughter breeding (or dam to son, no other shared ancestor and parent is not inbred) only results in an Fx of 25% (full sibling matings also result in 25% assuming parents weren't inbred as well)

This is almost the equivalent of breeding a stud and mare (totally unrelated, neither is inbred), getting a filly, breeding that filly back to her sire, getting another filly, and breeding her to her sire/grandsire. This hypothetical foal would be 37.5% inbred.

who doesn't love a family twig

[abbih1]

Mares usually get along just fine in mixed herds as long as the person making the herd knows how to match personalities. I can almost guarantee that if a mare's having a problem, its a gelding causing her to be that way because some geldings cannot live with mares. Saying that mares are bad in herds is just a big ol red flag that that person has no idea how to create drama free herds.

Tbh, I'm not really surprised by the inspection thing. I dont know jackshit about warmbloods, but look at some of the studs popular on social media. Even not knowing warmbloods i can tell that many aren't as good/special as everyone seems to think. But oh, warmblood registries are better because the horse has to be inspected to be a stud 🙄. Like at least aqha is honest about how as long as a horse has 2 qh parents and isn't HYPP/HYPP, it can be registered

Yeah, no, I’m not taking equine welfare advice (or any advice) from a person who only keeps a mare around long enough to breed her regardless of her aptitude or health or wellbeing

[abbih1]

I think people just assume that because you have horses, you'd be willing to take on others. My parents used to get asked that all the time, especially since we had an indoor and outdoor arena and at one point took in outside horses for training.

And we wanted absolutely nothing to do with boarding. We had stalls but rarely used them. We didn't want to have to go out 2x a day to hay and grain and clean stalls at night. Our horses usually lived on round bales and maybe got grain 1x a day. And we didn't blanket unless it was a sale horse. And we didn't want the liability, especially with as many dogs as we had.

Haven't had that issue since we've moved and no longer have an arena, but now we get a lot of questions about taking on outside horses for training, and we haven't done that in years.

It think there's a want for it from people that don't ride a lot and want cheap boarding.

So I’m hoping to have everything set up to have ponies at home in the next few years, and every time I mention this to friends to ask about things I might be forgetting or need to consider, they ask me if I plan to board, or assume that I will (saying, “then you can take on 1-2 boarders.”). I have zero intentions of taking on boarders, but I’m curious if this is super normal? Does everyone with a backyard set up have boarders as well? Is there such a huge demand that people want to board in a super basic backyard barn?

[abbih1]

Someone might wanna tell baby that no one appreciates grooming with teeth. But she's cute, so I guess she gets a pass for now.

#horse #horses #horseblr #my horse #barrel racing

[abbih1]

I've been seeing it everywhere and it's ridiculous. Why is everyone upset about someone attempting to control a bad situation (and doing it pretty well)? The bigger question should be why that horse was behaving like that in the first place. Race horses get such a pass on poor behavior because "they're young" "they're a stud" "they're hopped up on adrenaline." And then people want to turn around and say race horses have great manners. And from what I've seen in comments, the outrider had been warned of that horse, so it sounds like its a known issue.

The issue shouldn't be that the outrider corrected the horse to try to keep himself and his horse safe, the issue should be that Rich Strike was acting that way in the first place.

Yeah, he raced and is excited, that's understandable. The biting isn't.

Okay show of hands out of all the ppl complaining abt the outrider handling Rich Strike’s attitude who has actually 1. ponied a horse taller than the one you’re on, 2. Ponied an extremely excitable extremely powerful horse going thru an adrenaline high 3. Had said horse grab at your reins and bite you and the pony horse. I’m betting it’s not even numbers lmao.

[abbih1]

The way I try to explain why a horse that "can do everything in a snaffle and has never been ridden in a curb" isn't as broke as a horse that does everything in a curb is its like language. Snaffles and halters (and some other bitless options) are like elementary level comprehension. Sure you can get the point across, but it might not be as clear as it could be and it might take more words to get them to understand. But everyone can partake in the conversation. The spade is like phd level comprehension. Its super concise and clear as long as both parties are at that level. Most people shouldn't use more that like an upper middleschool/early high school level (short shank and purchase, little to no gag, mild mouth).

Could I instruct someone how to do a highschool level task with 1st grader words? Yeah, but its going to be more difficult and more likely to have misunderstandings

i love the anti spade ‘gotcha’ arguments people have ‘well if the horse is so well broke it doesnt actually need a spade then why do you use one’ well i can type on my laptop with my eyes closed but i still use my eyes most of the time. also they fucking LIKE to hold it its easier to hold onto than a regular bit and you can stay out of their way in it more than a hack or a snaffle. literally have to beg some horses to let go of a spade. something people would know if they knew even an iota of what they’re talking about…

[abbih1]

It really depends on what you want to do. Some jobs need a degree, and a degree really won't help you with others. And there's some where having some education is helpful, but actually having the degree is unnecessary.

For example, I'm in a pre-vet program and I absolutely have to have a degree to become a vet. But my brother wants to pro-rodeo and train and sell horses. A degree is pretty much useless to him. And then there's my barn managers from my summer internship, one had no college and the other had an ag business (?) degree, the one with the degree had taken management courses and she was a way better person to work under. So in that case, you dont need a degree, but some courses can make you better at your job.

Honestly, if I'm looking for a trainer, I dont care if the trainer has or doesn't have a degree. And tbh, I'd probably be more likely to go with someone without the degree because I sometime see the "I have a degree so I know what I'm talking about" but they don't actually have any experience outside of school and can be a little close minded. I care way more about experience and accomplishments than I do about a degree, and most people looking for trainer will feel the same.

But there are a lot of classes that can be beneficial without actually having the degree. Finance, business, and management courses can make it easier to run a business and manage people. Equine specific nutrition courses can be very helpful in making educated feed decisions and recognizing and correcting vitamin and mineral issues. Breeding courses can teach the fundamentals of best breeding practices, but real experience is really whats going to teach you. And a genetics course can teach how genes are inherited and how they work together (you can learn all of this online, but sometimes it doesn't click for people until they're in a class), and by this I mean not being surprised when breeding to palominos together produces a sorrel or cremello and understanding which genetic diseases only affect horses if they have 2 copies and which diseases only need 1 copy to affect the horse.

It really just depend on what you're wanting to do

Hi horseblr, I have a question. Do you guys feel like it’s worth it to get an equine science degree? I’m almost 2 years into mine and I’m considering dropping out, I would be making more progress in my career if I just started working.

[abbih1]

I've been in both situations where its pain, and where its training. It is way easier to tell when the horse has more training because you won't mistake it for the horse not understanding what you're asking. And the best rule of thumb I've heard with a broke horse is to start by trying to correct it with training, if it isn't an easy fix and/or takes more than a week (and thats even a stretch) then the horse needs to be vetted. If that's clean, go back to training. If a significant amount of training has been done and still no improvement, start really digging in deep to the vet stuff because it might be something super unusual/unlikely. With young ones its a little tougher, I assume training first, but if a new behavior pops up or we stagnate, I consider pain and give them the benefit of the doubt.

What I'll say with Lola (who was my big pain issue) it was a few things going on, but it created some bad behaviors that we had to train out and the symptoms weren't super noticeable because I was still new to her and a lot of the symptoms were personality changes. But fixing the pain didn't automatically fix the behavior and we still had to retrain that out.

Now with Gunner (purely training) I knew when I bought him that it was his rider and he had been fully vetted multiple times with no improvement. It took almost 2 years to fix him and he acted like he was in pain. But he wasn't, he had learned pain behavior to get away from a heavy handed rider, but it had become such an ingrained habit after having that rider for over a year, that it took even longer to fix. He had still been checked for pain because that's what his behavior indicated, but that was never the cause.

Sometimes "training issues" are pain, but sometimes they're just training issues. Pain should be ruled out early on, but sometimes bad behavior is just bad behavior and needs to be corrected.

I see people that allow their horse to be very ill mannered because "the issue is always pain" but they've fully vetted their horse and it hasn't fixed anything. That's certainly a case where your horse is just a dick.

Would love it if people would stop brushing off clear signs of pain and discomfort as a horse "being a mare" or "just being a jerk", it's doing my fucking head in.

[abbih1]

I think one of my biggest pet peeves as a barrel racer is hearing people that have never actually rode a real barrel horse (not the horse that wins at play days, the horse that is at the bare minimum a 3D horse at super shows) say that "barrel horses aren't broke" "barrel racing is easy compared to XYZ" (usually xyz=dressage) "its super easy to train a barrel horse" "barrel horses aren't worth much." "Barrel racers are catty/bitchy" Really?

Yeah, training a backyard bred POS that just beats all your buddies at the local playday/shodeo/gymkhana is easy. But training a horse that is actually competitive is pretty tough. Its not just "run fast and turn" they have to be able to turn correctly and quickly. Ask them to turn too tight for how in shape they are or their confo? They have no choice but to shift their weight to their front end, disengaging their hip, and lose all power. I've ridden horses that were taught to turn incorrectly and its one of the hardest problems to fix. Id rather deal with a gate sour horse because the first thing you have to do is teach them to how to carry themselves correctly on a straight line and in a giant circle. Once you get that done, you have to work on making the circle smaller. Once they can make a barrel sized circle correctly, you can go back to the barrel, but then you're going to have a huge fight because the horse will want to use old habits. Then you have to work on adding speed and making the right size turn. This process can easily take a year or more depending on how long the horse was allowed to turn incorrectly. Training a barrel horse correctly is difficult and it takes a lot of time and work.

"They aren't broke" thats a load of BS. They aren't broke by a dressage horses standards, but a dressage horse isn't broke by a western horses standards either. A competitive well trained barrel horse should be able to : pivot off the forehand, pivot off the hip, sidepass, back, arc into a turn without over arching, counter-arc (arc away from a turn), have good lead changes on a run, carry themselves well, be responsive to leg and sear cues, and should be able to make a run somewhat independently. They are very broke, many just tend to be hot headed and we often don't teach things they don't need. They aren't hard mouthed runaways.

"They aren't worth much." Uh, JL Dash Ta Heaven sold for like 1.75 million, he was a barrel horse that then stood at stud and has produced many great offspring. A yearling just sold at the pink buckle for 250k, her dam's offspring have won over 1.2million and her sire is Tres Seis. In 2020, a yearling son of Epic Leader sold for 170k at the BFA sale. Hell, I paid 10k 7 years ago for my mare and she's only a 1/2D local jackpot, 2/3D supershow horse (kinda depends on arena size what D she falls in) and she was the cheapest I could afford that still fit my needs. And she's a tough ride.

"Barrel racers are bitchy" yeah, without a doubt some are. But the same is true for every discipline. How many people say that English riders are stuck up? Proportionally, barrel racers really aren't any bitchier than any other event, but there are a lot more of us than other events, so it seems like more. I've been around so many that are the most down to earth, give you the shirt off their back kinda people.

So where do all these stereotypes come from? Well, barrel racing is the second largest event (at least of the rodeo events). Team roping is the largest, and they both tend to have the same issues for the same reason.

They have pretty low enty barriers. You can turn about any horse into a low level barrel/rope horse. There's also a lot of opportunities for beginners to start competing and have success (ex. 5d races and the USTRC number system). And more people can physically do them (ex. You can be paralyzed and still do it). Because its so easy to get into these events, we see a lot of beginners or people with poor horsemanship doing it. And usually, they never rise up the ranks until they learn good horsemanship skills and training methods. Its both a blessing and a curse for these events. Because its so easy for people to get involved, it helps the industry stay alive, there's more events, and the payout is usually pretty good. But it also means that there's a ton of bad horseman that can do it and have a small amount of success (enough to stay hooked) which inevitably paints a bad picture for the industry and spreads a lot of misinformation and stereotypes.

#anyone want to take a guess at who said barrel racing is easy #or that the horses arent worth much and are easy to train? #i'll give you a hint #she's on youtube #horse #horseblr #horses #barrel racing

[abbih1]

Horses that ground tie >> horses that don't

#horse #horses #horseblr #my horse #barrel racing

[abbih1]

They're talking about embryo transfer. Imo, its become a great thing for performance mares since they can continue to compete instead of the owner having to choose between competing or breeding. It's allowed mares to get proper recognition as performance horses and producers and it can safely extend their production years. It's also less risky for them (yes, pregnancy usually goes well for most mares, but shit happens and it sucks to lose a great mare foaling when a recip could have carried the foal). It can also be a way of getting a foal out of a mare that doesn't have a great temperament for a broodmare but is a great competitor.

Embryo sales have also become a thing and its often a relatively cheaper way for someone to get a hold of better bred horses. (Embryos usually bring less than weanlings or yearlings)

Woah the FEI commentator just mentioned top mares having multiple foals a year these days due to “modern means” - can somebody explain that? That brings up some red flags but I wanna know it’s not like. Purposeful twinning or anything

[abbih1]

Terrible picture, but its a perfect example of one of many reasons why I hobble break all my horses. This is one of the least important reasons. Hobbling them let me safely allow them to graze while I unsaddled them and packed everything away to go home without having to worry about them going for a run about and potentially getting onto the road (that was super close) in the dark.

And there's many other reasons I do it, but this is a prime example of how its applicable in every day life.

#horse #horses #horseblr #barrel racing #my horse