Sunshine, naked horses, big achievement and a token picture!

ImmyS

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Well today we had a little yellow thing pop out called what I believe to be the sun! :D although it had to be ruined by the gale force winds! Typical English whether can ever just be right :rolleyes:

Anyway we managed to get out for a good two hour hack today, with... Our first EVER proper canters out hacking, in company, in her bitless bridle and I cannot tell you how proud I am of her, the most steady beautiful canter stopping just by asking with my seat. She really has come on leaps and bounds and her willing attitude never fails to surprise me I must admit I believed the whole ex race horses are crazy stereotype before her however she couldn't be doing more to change my mind. Just a shameless 'I love my horse to bits thread!'. And afterwards the horses got turned out naked for a well deserved roll and sunbathe.

Please feel free to share any achievements with your horses you have had recently, no matter how small I would love to hear them :)

Token picture of the girl looking proud of herself in the sun -

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Thank you :) .. She came to me ridden in a snaffle, she was never terrible in a bit but if she got stressy any contact through a bit would always escalate her tantrums making her quite difficult. I was actually working on getting her to hack alone and so was leading her out tacked up and getting on near the end of a hack. The other livery at my yard does a lot of western and rides in rope halters and so I just decided to give riding her in a rope halter a go whilst hacking and she responded really well. The other girl had a matrix bridle for me to try which can be side pull or dr cooks style and I found she went best in the dr cooks style so I bought a leather version and we haven't looked back since. She never has tantrums any more and her just general attitide has improved dramatically and I have never had issues with control, if anything I have more control :) I would really recommend it!
 
Glad you had a really good ride!
My horse looks and sounds just like yours! I also ride in a bitless bridle, as a sidepull and my ex racehorse goes fab in it :)
 
Glad you had a really good ride!
My horse looks and sounds just like yours! I also ride in a bitless bridle, as a sidepull and my ex racehorse goes fab in it :)

Thank you, lovely to feel like we are finally getting somewhere, its our 1 year horsiversary tomorrow! :P

Would love to see a picture of yours for comparison, see how similar they are!

Fab to hear another ex racer doing well bitless, I think if they agree with the horse then they are a great piece of kit :)
 
Shes lovely, just my type of ex racer!!
Suppose my achievement recently would be starting jumping again and actually enjoying it. I fell off last November and dislocated my elbow jumping. It made me feel sick watching other people jump and shows and thought I would never do anything more than a trotting pole again. But with my friends help we are now happily jumping around 90cm at home. Now we just need to be brave enough to go to a show!!!
 
Shes lovely, just my type of ex racer!!
Suppose my achievement recently would be starting jumping again and actually enjoying it. I fell off last November and dislocated my elbow jumping. It made me feel sick watching other people jump and shows and thought I would never do anything more than a trotting pole again. But with my friends help we are now happily jumping around 90cm at home. Now we just need to be brave enough to go to a show!!!

Ouch sounds like a nasty accident! Well done to you and your friend for building your confidence back up! I haven't jumped in years either due to various reasons but hope to do some with this girlie as supposedly she's got quite a talent for it!

Good luck for that show I know you'll get to with a little more confidence! :)
 
Would love to see a picture of yours for comparison, see how similar they are!

Fab to hear another ex racer doing well bitless, I think if they agree with the horse then they are a great piece of kit :)

Although I can't see your horse's full face, looks like she has similar markings to mine.. Bright bay with a star and stripe? I know they aren't identical but I see a similarity :) (These were last summer, when he was lacking muscle!)
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And in his magic sidepull - excuse the mud and the fact it's close to his eye, I hadn't moved it to where it should be when I took this!
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Although I can't see your horse's full face, looks like she has similar markings to mine.. Bright bay with a star and stripe? I know they aren't identical but I see a similarity :) (These were last summer, when he was lacking muscle!)
IMG-20120915-02192_zps94618932.jpg

21800_4631562502639_1173837385_n_zps72f2979e.jpg

He is absolutely lovely, very similar markings, my girl just doesn't have quite so much white on the lower half of her face and her stripe is wonky! :p he is lovely though, and don't they go such a beautiful colour in the summer? my girl goes almost dun! What are your plans for him the summer? :)
 
They are both so lovely. It makes me really happy to see ex-racers being looked after - they deserve it so :o

Thank you. I know, I wish I had endless money, endless time and endless land so I could collect and keep all the unwanted ex racers! they are brilliant intelligent animals and I wish people would give them more credit
 
He is absolutely lovely, very similar markings, my girl just doesn't have quite so much white on the lower half of her face and her stripe is wonky! :p he is lovely though, and don't they go such a beautiful colour in the summer? my girl goes almost dun! What are your plans for him the summer? :)

Thank you - like yours, he doesn't live up to the ex racer stereotype! Aw, she sounds very pretty!
I can't wait for his summer coat to come through - looks super smart.. Right now he's extremely scruffy! :D
This summer we're going to give trec a go! Schooling bores both of us and I'm a nervous jumper, plus he's never done much jumping so I think trec will suit us as we both enjoy hacking :) He raced once as a 4yo but ran out then spent 9 years in a paddock on the city suburbs doing very little so I'm hoping he'll have fun and enjoy getting out and about with me :) What are your plans?
 
Thank you - like yours, he doesn't live up to the ex racer stereotype! Aw, she sounds very pretty!
I can't wait for his summer coat to come through - looks super smart.. Right now he's extremely scruffy! :D
This summer we're going to give trec a go! Schooling bores both of us and I'm a nervous jumper, plus he's never done much jumping so I think trec will suit us as we both enjoy hacking :) He raced once as a 4yo but ran out then spent 9 years in a paddock on the city suburbs doing very little so I'm hoping he'll have fun and enjoy getting out and about with me :) What are your plans?

Do you know his breeding? Would be interesting to see if they have any matching lines :) .. Trec sounds perfect for you both, sounds like a lot of fun too! My girl also only raced a handful of times, coming last mostly bless her! I bought her last April as a 5 year old, spent all summer getting her healthy and now have spent all winter only hacking but hoping with some work she'll make a decent all rounder ... She's bold so hoping to do some cross country, hunter trials and some fun rides, may also give some trec a go!
 
Yes - He's out of Gone Fishin'. I put him on this website and it goes back 27 generations! (if I counted correctly)
http://www.sporthorse-data.com/d?0=dummy&i=10858572&ad_session=As9zON
Did you reschool her yourself? Sounds like you're going to have lots of fun together :)

Oh right will have a look later and see if they have any relation :) my girls ou of Beat Hollow, has Sadlers Wells and Pivotal lines.

Well her history was unknown when we bough her but I did some digging and found that she was bought at doncaster sales as a 3 year old, retrained as a Showjumper, did some affiliated shows but 3 months own the road was diagnosed with mild kissing spines and so was passed on and left in a field where she was apparently kicked suffering broken ribs, she was passed on a few more times before coming to us looking like a hat rack :rolleyes: terrible what some of these horses have to endure.
 
Thanks immy. I've done a lot of pressure work with my lad and hes not backed but when I've lunged him etc in a bridle with a bit he seems pretty sensitive in it.
 
Thanks immy. I've done a lot of pressure work with my lad and hes not backed but when I've lunged him etc in a bridle with a bit he seems pretty sensitive in it.

No problem - if you think bitless may be the way to go with your horse then would 100% recommend it, I would never go back now, my girl is so happy :)
 
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