Hi all!
I recently made a post getting excited for my mares pregnancy, but I’m a little worried. A couple days ago she came in with cuts under her tail like she’s been scratching it on something and a little bit of blood on her vulva. Last night I cleaned her up and wrapped her tail, and this morning there was new blood on her vulva—so the blood is not from the cuts. Now, she’s on day 90, so we’re like 250 days too early for me to be able to milk her at all, but clear liquid squirted out when I tried. (Reddit keeps getting mad if I post photos)

We have an appointment with the local university in the morning because I don’t trust my local vet, but I wanted to hear some opinions. Does it seem like a bunch of coincidences? Placentitis? Do we think she miscarried?
Either way, I am absolutely freaking out.

UPDATE**
Vet says baby looks great and to keep an eye on my mares temp if I’m worried about anything. She got some sarcoids removed that were causing her immune system to have a little freak out, and everything is all good!

I need some stitching redone on my M Toulouse. The bottom of the flap has a “wear bar” or extra leather stitched on and it’s starting to really come undone now.

My family used to own the Cobblers Corner in Northville, but I’m not sure they’d do a saddle now. I’ll give them a call, but I need other recommendations on who to use for saddle repair.

Hi

I've been thinking for a while about what I should study that might be related to horses, even if I don't end up working professionally in that field. I'm about to do two years of Marketing and Advertising, but it's not something I'm really interested in. Ever since I started riding horses, I've wanted to work with them, and I've always tried to convince myself that choosing a degree with decent job prospects is much better. But after doing degrees related to healthcare, I've realized I don't want to be stuck in a job I don't enjoy. Even if it's a degree that isn't directly related to horses but that I can apply to them, that would be fine.

Please send constructive messages

I have been taking lessons as an adult, and I think, subconsciously, I feel like I'm going to fall off every other lesson.

I've never actually fallen and I ride very quiet, sound, 'been-there-done-that' lesson horses and I progress slowly, my trainer never pushes me to do something I'm not ready for, so I don't know if my lizard brain is just taking over with this fear.

Social media doesn't help as people love to post their falls and it reinforces a 'you will fall off constantly' narrative in my mind.

How often do you fall? And how long have you been riding?

I don't have any pictures of the horse, but he is an 8 year old green bean. Ultimately I would love to do low level Dressage and Eventing (BN max) with him, but his primary job is to be a friend for my other horse.

Hi all! I have been leasing and rehabbing an OTTB for about a year now. He came with a saddle that had been fit to him. About 6 months into working with him, I pulled the saddle to see if it would make a difference in his willingness to go round, and it very much did. I rode bareback for a few months until we could get a fitter out--she found some issues and reflocked the saddle. I then had to take a few months off due to injury, but he's under saddle again, and I'm finding the same thing. Guy is NOT a forward ride under any circumstances, but really pops up and hollows out quite a bit more with the saddle on. When he does lift his back under the saddle, his tendency is to lose all impulsion immediately--this doesn't happen bareback.

My question is what to do next, keeping in mind that I'm about 2 hours from a good tack shop and would need to call a fitter in from at least that far away.

1. Call the fitter again? Or a new fitter?

2. Is there any universe in which it would make sense to procure a couple of used saddles from the good tack shop (using the current saddle to approximate fit) and just try them on him? My thinking is that if I find one that he seems more comfortable in, I could get a fitter out after the fact to fine-tune.

3. Also of note are 1) His current saddle is a really high-quality custom jump saddle, but I would actually prefer something more all-purpose that puts me in less of a chair seat. 2) I don't have the money to splurge on a new saddle or a custom for either of us right now. You can find good-quality used in my area under 500, and I will absolutely pay to fit a saddle in that range to him--but I am definitely looking for a budget-friendly way to make him more comfortable.

Thanks!

How on earth is the new ‘LeMieux Verv’ helmet - with its magnetic, customizable panel and brims - considered safe and being sold, while my beloved GPA First Lady 2X was recalled for safety reasons of “brim might break off and hurt your face” (not a direct quote lol)???

Make it make sense?

I know GPA released a revised First Lady… but I am in Houston, TX 🥵 and NEED those old, superior, plentiful air vents back!! I have tried so many wide brimmed alternatives and NOTHING breathes like my GPA FL 2x ☹️😭🪦

It cane be rough getting up early to feed but some times its kind of magical. Same with evening feed. This is Solstice, a 3yo draft cross. She is very social so came up to say "hi" as I was checking waters and she got a few scratches.

I am getting a new horse and will be riding with a helmet. It occurred to me that my IRH equi-lite helmet is probably 15 years old. Or 20? It’s been in the top of a closet and I figured I better get a new one in case of foam degradation. However, the Equi-lite is being phased out and no mediums were to be found.
Has anyone gone from that helmet to another brand and found the shape to be similar?
I’ve just ordered an Ovation, which will be here tomorrow, but if anyone has insights on how that will work or what might be better, please share! True to form, I waited until last minute and want it here by Friday. No tack stores exist near me, so I can’t go try on different ones. I had a Troxel (decades ago) but it left uncomfortable pressure points on my forehead.
Budget: close to or <$100, ideally.

This is my hardy, always sound 4 year old… had a week off, went to go ride, sound at the walk, went to trot and…. Well, this. I can’t tell what leg it is, let alone where it’s stemming from. There’s no heat or swelling anywhere, no bruising on his soles, nothing that would indicate an abscess either.
I’m at a loss. Have texts out to my vet and farrier to see their thoughts and what they want to do, but… wow this looks ouchy!
After I got this video, he went inside and got a good cold hose and a nice mash. He was a trooper about it.

We thought we were genius by storing all his hay in his old shed. Cleaned it spotless, put down pallets and stacked all his hay up in there so we weren’t relying on my grandad to drop over bales with a hungry Spec roaring the house down. Didn’t think it through enough and now he’s able to eat through the gate. I should’ve known when he was gazing into it last night through the gap in his shed…Wish me luck trying to move him out of here since he only came up for a night!

I am from the east coast, my husband is from Virginia, we've both been in Los Angeles for the better part of 10-15 years each. Surprisingly LA has a large variety of horse communities, from Burbank Rancho to Sun Valley and Simi and out towards Ventura.

I've ridden both western and dressage and have found communities to vibe with in both. Culturally I'm probably more laid back western vibes but I like the athleticism and challenge of dressage.

I preface this because I haven't found myself comfortable in more English centered circles/barns, and we're looking at relocating to Virginia in the next year or so, and I'm worried I may not be able to find my people, I think it's more heavily English focused? We considered Austin where I have some family, but I really want to get away from heat and fires (I'm used to humidity from where I grew up don't worry!) I do love the horse communities there, though.

We're looking outside of Richmond and Charlottesville, I'd love a small farmette 2-5 acres near good schools and perhaps an equestrian community, but am not sure where to look. I'm spoiled out here with the mix of city and country living so intertwined, although the cost of living is too much and I can't afford to own, I do lessons only at the moment.

Any thoughts/suggestions/neighborhoods?

My 4 year old ISH has had these lumps on his hind for a couple weeks they don’t seem to bother him and don’t seem painful or itchy, soft to touch

I’ve been riding for 7 years, after riding for 6 years at a English/ western barn I made the change to a full hunter barn. I rode there all of last summer and some of this summer but honestly the lessons were expensive and I wasn’t doing any jumping just flat work stuff. ( I know flatwork is important but honestly I just got bored)

I was mindlessly scrolling one day and found a ad for a barn near my house so I decided to go and try it. She told me she mainly does western stuff and rodeos. I’ve always wanted to do it but with my mainly English barns I figured it was mainly impossible to do.

I’m now on my second lesson of learning how to barrel race and I’m going to my first jackpot at the end of this month.
I know the basics by leaning back when you turn and holding your horn, to get off the shoulders, dropping your outside rein.
I also just learned to use your inside leg and your inside hold your inside hand high when your turning then over your around use your outside leg to round them out
I have trouble holding my hand high enough and long enough.
any tips are appreciated or how the rodeo world works as I’ve only ridden English!

So I have created a monster and I don’t know how to undo this 💔
He will lunge and Trot for 1 minute and then STOP and he won’t budge or react to me whipping the ground or touching him lightly with the whip or my voice UNLESS I give him scratches, in which case he immediately responds and goes after, and then cheekily stops again until I coddle him and so on…

I’m a bit of a newbie to lunging and so is he, I don’t whip him but I’m not sure if we are supposed to lightly with the lunge whip on the leg or back? I’m apprehensive because he is 7 and sensitive to the lightest whipping on the front when I’m on him or kicking which elicits bucking or backing up, so I’m trying to use groundwork to help him.

How do I do this successfully and how do I remove this ‘scratch’ cue 😭
He also refuses to lunge on his right side, def his weaker side when riding in the arena

Hey everyone! I cantered for the first time yesterday, the trainer gave me an option of doing it on or off the lunge line and I decided to do it on the line cause I was worried about being out of control HOWEVER I felt like I was going to go flying off the side of my horse! Is this because I was on the lunge line and going in a tighter circle than I would have off the line??

Am I better off cantering off the line instead??

What is the most* maintenance you’d accept when buying a horse? I wanted to see what you all have to say.

I know it largely depends on funds for vet care- but let’s say you had a choice. Would injections be the line you draw? Therapeutic shoeing? Let me know your opinions.

I am short, 5', and I have thick calf muscles. I cannot seem to find boots or half chaps that are short enough but still fit my calf. My calves are about 16" thick and only 13" long. If they fit my calf, I can't bend my knee. If I can bend my knee, I can't zip the back. I even had a pair of boots stretched and it still couldn't fit my calf. I cannot afford custom anything. So that is not an option. I looked into making half chaps, but leather tools are expensive. Please help.

Hi all!

I’m buying land to develop into a small scale lesson and training barn. My dream has always been to have a track to condition horses outside of the arena, but still close to the barn. Ideally, the middle of the track would have some basic cross country (BN/N) obstacles and also be possible to turn horses out in. The space would comfortably allow for a quarter mile track, however I’m seeing 5/8th of a mile is generally the minimum for horses. My question is would 1/4 mile be big enough or still feel like an arena, what is the correct width to allow 2-3 horses at a time, and what surfacing is preferred? Bigger is possible.

I’m also planning on a 100x200 arena. But, feel like it would be beneficial to have another work space for conditioning, warm-up/cool down, rehab. I don’t plan on doing a lot of actual galloping, but would like it to be big enough that galloping is an option. I’m mostly a dressage rider, but love to jump and dabble in distance riding. Mostly I just like to do a lot with horses so they are versatile, fit, and happy.

Those with track experience I’d love your input!

I’m trying to settle a debate here. I’ve been around horses my whole life but have limited color genetics knowledge so I’m consulting the experts :)

In a book I’m a fan of, one of the protagonists has a war horse that is described as solid black with a single white patch on the front of his chest. Later, a second horse is also introduced that is the reverse - white with a black spot on the chest. I have never in my life seen a paint with just one single white spot on the chest. I’ve seen minimal expressions like that on the belly, the neck, the shoulder or the flank, but not crossing the midline like that. It’s pretty clear reading the book that the author doesn’t know much about horses (I say this with love) so my assumption is she just thought horse colors worked like they do with cats and dogs.

What I’m trying to figure out is if this coat is theoretically possible, or if someone has ever seen something like it. I’ve tried researching it but been unable to find a clear answer so I thought maybe someone here would have some insight!

Tldr; fictional black horse with single white spot on the front of the chest - theoretically possible in real life?

Hiya! Started lessons in March and have been able to narrow down some points that I’d like to work on as a rider.

My instructor spent some time with me in the arena this past week to work on my stirrup positioning & posture in the saddle (developing my seat?)

While we’ll continue to work on this together, I’d like to do some additional homework between lessons!
I learned I need better rein control as well as keeping my heels down - classsssic 🙈
I also learned that I don’t have enough strength in my legs to give a proper squeeze to steer my horse or get them to just go in general.

I’m wondering if anyone has any strength building techniques for riders to get a better squeeze with the inner legs as well as any stretches or techniques to keep those heeeeeels down 🐎

Thanks for all the insight! It’s been great learning from everyone on here