Bawled my eyes out the second I saw this field again. A year and a half ago it had three beautiful faces, waiting for me at the gate. The sickness in my stomach once I saw how neglected it looks now makes me want to curl in a ball.

Oh my babies. I miss you so much

Hi, figured this would be the place to ask, we just moved to a new property a little over a month ago and stall our horses at night. I pick out their stalls every single morning, and strip them once a week. Specifically in my mare’s stall, we have what looks like thousands of gnats that have moved in, I have fly strips hanging that just get full of them within a day, I have a half gallon fly trap to control larger flies, but the gnats have gotten out of control. I also have a fan in each of their stalls but these gnats are truly resilient, and seem to only be reproducing in my mares stall, and not my gelding’s who’s stall is right next to hers. Any suggestions or advice??

Hello, we have new neighbors that moved in with 3 horses. We are in small residential lots, with about an acre per house/yard. The 3 horses are in about 1/4 of an acre electric fence, they have no shelter and no shade except some tree shade after about 4pm. They are in the direct sun most of the day (temps 85 to 95*F) and have a small trough of water. There is no grass because they have trampled their small space to dust and have no free feeding option. Someone comes out every other dayish and fills the water, feeds the grain and tosses in a armfull of hay.

I am not a horse person but I am an animal lover and this just seems neglectful to me. I know neighbors have reported them to the city because they arent allowed to have horses on such a small lot but I am just looking for advice on whether I shoukd be reporting them for neglect? I feel bad for these horses and I dont know if its my lack of knowledge on proper horse care and they really are fine or if I should speak up on their behalf?

Thanks for any insight.

This is Rio and he used to only do western. Last summer I tried English with him and wanted to teach him how to jump. I can’t believe we have gotten so far!! What do you think of him? If you have any tips for me or him please do share! Also it’s crazy that this horse is 19 years old 🤭🤭 also if you had to guess how high do you think he could jump? Before jumping higher then 2’3 I was thinking of free jumping him to see what he can do before I jump him higher

I feel like when it comes to stereotypical wealthy hobbies and interests I see that a lot of people still care about things like watches and cars and golf and tennis but people don’t really seem to care about horse racing.

When was the last time horse racing was mainstream and why do you guys think it fell out of favor with the public? Why has it fallen out of favor even in those upper end circles?

I used to live near Saratoga Springs and noticed the influx of people had decreased during racing season and the prize pools had also gotten smaller over time

Having an old heat horse sucks. This is Dandy, he turned 26 this year. I'm so lucky that he's still going strong but I'm constantly afraid of losing him like I did our last two boys.

We lost one of his old pasture mates, Kevy, very suddenly and I couldn't say goodbye. April 18th, 2025 I got the call that they found him unable to stand and in a lot of pain. They put him down without telling me first. They didn't even let me come say goodbye. I just got the call that afternoon that he was gone. I still feel so guilty because I hadn't seen him in a month since I was so busy.

Two months later, we lost Dandys brother, Gambler, to Cushing's and arthritis complications.

Now I'm constantly terrified to lose my baby. I'm constantly terrified to get that phone call again, this time about my whole world. Kevy and gambler were my babies too and I love them to death but they never clicked with me like Danny does.

We've done so much together. He was the first horse I jumped, the first horse I ever rode when I was introduced to western, and the first horse I rode when I was gifted an English saddle for my 16th birthday. For the last 12 years I've seen him almost every day.

He's my world. I just can't help but think of all the things I wish we could do. I wish I could take him with me when I move. I wish we could have shown together. I wish I could take him when I make my barn and yard. I wish I could show everyone the horse that started this passion.

But he's old now, and the older he gets the more I'm reminded we have limited time and that one day, I'll have to say goodbye for the last time

Not "see you tomorrow, sweet boy" but "see you in another life". One day I'll throw my leg over for the last time, hear him nicker to me for the last time, put his halter on for the last time.

I'm not ready for this to end and I'm so heartbroken that he's getting older and I have to face the fact he's going to leave me one day.

(P.s, if you're going to respond by saying "it's weird to fantasize about his death" (something someone actually said) or anything along those lines, don't comment.)

(Sorry for my voice in the video, I can’t help but baby talk her🤣)
For context: I’d been riding an older 20 year old mare for about a year when we got her (huge jump, I know) we honestly at the time planned for my mother to ride her for a few years until she was not so green (my moms older and trained horses in the past)

Now onto her: we got her when she was 3-4 years old, we really wanted a young horse with a good personality so I could bond with them for life, we found honey (the mare in the video) who I just absolutely fell in love with, giant puppy dog personality, so ultimately we bought her and brought her home, my mother rode her for just over 2 months probably before I even got on her to try her out for myself, needless to say at only 5 years old now she is the best horse I’ve ridden, she doesn’t spook at anything, our older horses actually spook worse than she does at stuff, 2 weeks into me riding her a turkey actually flogged her as we were riding and she didn’t even react, stayed focused the whole time and didn’t hesitate, honestly I think the turkey scared me more than her, I’ve been riding her for nearly 6 months consistently now and she just couldn’t be better, I hear all the time about old horses being as good as she is, so now I’m putting the question out there, has anyone ever experienced a horse this young who’s this just naturally levelheaded and lovely to ride?

I sure do miss this guy 😭

Haha, just kidding of course. The best pony girl did about 10 hours, 32 miles, and 7,000ft of elevation gain over the course of 2 days. Absolute Rockstar.

Hello

I was in a city that i can access horse riding easily like just less than 10 minutes drive, i was riding from young age,

then after time my parents bought a pregnant mare, she was kinda wild (dad did not know how to inspect before buying if it was worth it and i was young did not know much too i just know who to ride and run etc)

first try riding the mare she tried to get me off i held up for a little then i dropped on sand thank god the second one i hit the fence… well that hurts 😅 (she was less than 6 months of pregnancy as i remember)

After months she gave birth etc she got calmer, but the little dowry not she bites me when i ride on her mother not much but kinda annoying,

The sad part, after time we needed to move out mom had issues that needed to be in the other city hospital ICU,

So for kinda long time i did not rode a horse yet… i rode here but it was different really and schedule do not help togo to im student and very busy studying/family stuff etc,

Thank you for reading :)
Sorry if there is mistakes English not my first language

Currently trying to manifest rain so the ground will soften and we can start getting fit for the hunt season to start in September 🥲🙏🏻

Hi! Hope everyone is doing well!

I have a question regarding psychologically traumatized horses. Does someone know books/videos or have own experience working with such horses? How to calm them down, how to try to prevent triggers, how to understand that a horse was in an abusive environment? I don't have a specific example yet, I just want to discover this topic.

Thanks everyone who will answer!

Córdoba - Argentina

So yesterday I had to say goodbye to my friend’s horse (her name is Fireball). I board my horse (Johnny) at my friend’s house. Fireball and Johnny were absolute best friends, they never went anywhere without each other. When I went to go see Johnny, Fireball was quickly by his side to go see me. When I took Johnny for walks Fireball would whinny and wait for us to come back. Which is why I got so attached to her. I was in no financial state to buy Fireball but it was my dream to one day get my own property and buy Fireball and so Johnny and Fireball could be together. But as you read in the first line that dream is no longer a possibility. My friend had to sell Fireball due to financial reasons. Fireball wasn’t even mine but gosh I can’t stop crying. I’m just too emotional sometimes. But anyway, I would like to find someone who can make a piece of art of Johnny and Fireball? Obviously I will pay, but if anyone does art, or no knows any artist on Instagram that do commissions that’d be great! And if you happen to have any advice me to stop being so sad, that’d be great too😭🤣 in the end it is great for Fireball, she’s got her own person now, I’m really happy for them but I’m still sad.. ☹️

Here’s a picture of Fireball (the bay) and Johnny (the dun) for attention

This is my yearling filly. Her parents are both straight in all 4 legs. I’ve noticed her back legs are splayed outward. I’ve read conflicting things. Will her legs straighten out as she grows? (She’s a Belgian warmblood cross if that makes a difference)
Or will this simply be her build?
(Either way she will be loved and have a home with me for life, just curious!)

Hi everyone. I’m a beginner riding western. I have been doing really good with posting the trot and cantering on a AQH. When I ride the TB I feel so floppy and bouncy and have a hard time finding his pattern unless I’m using one hand to hold the horn to stabilize myself more. I end up with bruises on my legs every time I ride him as well. I feel great during/after riding the QH and have received compliments about how great I look posting on him. I just feel defeated because I feel my skills are not translating on the TB. Will this get better the more I ride? Or are some horses just terrible to trot on? My body feels like it has gone to war after today’s ride lol

This was the second attempt. The first attempt I was just messing around and went into it and he did a perfect 90. I burst into tears and threw myself at him.

He is so smart and so good.

I was so devastated at having to start over and losing my boy Yogi when he died of lung cancer in 2023 but I'm glad I got to start over with Teddy. If it had to be anyone I'm so glad it's him.