Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi~ My name is Jess, I live in Central New York with my husband, 2 kids, 2 dogs, 3 cats, and 5 fish. I have 1 horse, an Arabian mare, 11 years old that I use for trail riding. I'd like to find someplace around here that does some competitive trails, mounted orienteering(kinda like a poker run) or something that gets people together like that w/their horses to have fun. A friend and I are also trying to find someone to help us get into team penning, as we have no cows, large pens, or anything. No luck so far, but our farrier is into it big time, he travels around the state, I guess. I'll have to take a picture of Raliya,that's my mare's name- forgot to mention it earlier, of course I think she's beautiful!

**ElusiveKimmaby-I've read a bunch of your posts about Pistol, they remind me of when I first got Raliya, I though she had a bad case of rainrot too. Turned out she just hadn't been handled or even brushed out in over a year, also left outside with no shelter. The issue with the saddle/tack posts You might want to make sure that the saddle that you're using on him 1)fits correctly, make sure there are NO dry spots on his back after riding-this indicates that the saddle is pinching, 2) maybe the saddle tree is broken, I just read something the other day about a horse that was doing the same kinds of things as Pistol-turns out the saddle tree was broken, the horse was freaking out beacuse it didn't feel right.
Hope everything is going well with those neighbors that are helping you out! Good neighbors are the best!
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'Horses are my valium~ They make me happy.'

Hi Jess, I'm Annette from Southern NY, just outside NYC. Why dont you look into joining the New York State Horse Council, and then get involved with your local chapter. The extra insurance itself is worth joining for. www.nyshc.org. I'm a member of our local chapter, its a great way to network with other horse people. They have info on the website about competative trail rides, clinics, etc. Maybe some are local to you, I know most are way north of me!

Hi there!
I'm glad you found our stories so interesting! Nah, there's nothing wrong with the saddle, just with his sanity. He's had 4 different saddles on him and reacts the same way to each one... "IT'S A MOOOOOOOONSTER!!!!" To this day he's very jumpy about everything, but recently has undergone a bit of training, and I'm working with him daily. He's starting to let me handle him again and pet him, but he's still the biggest pain in the world to catch and deal with otherwise. I personally cannot ride him, he's just too much now, but the guy who's been working with him is trying to get him under control. He has the most trouble with mounting and dismounting, which actually is what made me believe the rainrot was hurting him in the first place! But, now I know, it's not. He doesn't have a sore anything, nothing's rubbing him, and there's no infection of any sort. He's just strange. We're actually suspecting now that someone's beaten the daylights out of him, because he has this mystery scar on his back right hip, and that is the only foot and part of his body that he will actually fight over. He's never kicked at another horse or a person until I found a farrier that could actually handle his feet (boy, did the horses like him too!!!), but it did take a long time(a little under an hour), and he even kicked at Mike when he tried to handle his back right foot. We think it was probably someone attempting cowboy shoeing, or just some jerk of a farrier.
Either way, VERY slowly but surely, he's coming around...

Hi yourself. I had an arabian years ago. He was a beautiful boy named Arab. No comment please, I didn't name him. He was supposed to be a jumper and he loved to jump but he hated shows cause he hated crowds so that didn't work for long. But he was fun to ride and we did a lot of that. Have not had a horse for years now but I have 17 cats, 1 dog and a hamster. They don't ride well, but they are fun

Wow! 17 cats~and my husband thinks 3 is too many, ha ha!