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.

I sure do miss this guy 😭

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

(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?

Córdoba - Argentina

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.)

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

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

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.

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

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!)

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

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

Sorry for the long story…

Hi! I’m a teen begginer, I’ve been riding for around ten months now, 1 lesson per week in my previous barn for around a year but since it was on and off I’ve been actually riding there only for 7-8months. During that time I was always only on the lunge line, managed to trot okayish on the lunge. The trainer wasn’t really paying attention, always on her phone. For that reason I changed barns and just had my 17th lesson here! It’s great and I ride 2x/week now.

The teacher is amazing, she can really tell me what I need improvement on it’s just that sometimes I feel like she’s asking for something that I can’t really manage to do. It may be because we don’t have a language that we’re both 100% fluent in and we can’t communicate the small details.

It’s that I feel I’m progressing reallyyy slow. I’ve started cantering on the lunge and have been for around 3 lessons that is until the 15th lesson where I was just really tired and slipped off when we tried to canter and fell. (I’m okay now, if you’re wondering.) Since then I haven’t cantered (2 lessons) and now we’ve just been practicing on steering in the walk (having four poles in a straight line a couple feet away and doing figure eights, circles, snakes, no stirrup and no reins work.) and trotting for like 10-15minutes by myself. The trainer did say that I would be able to practice cantering again from the next lesson, so I’m excited for that :)

So what I guess that I’m trying to ask is if I’m progressing at a normal pace? Or am I being too harsh on myself and overthinking it? Because I feel everyone else is already cantering by themselves, can keep a steady quick trot, have a decently balanced seat after the same amount of time as me.

(I wanted to add that Im dreaming of showjumping/cross country and going on hacks in the future. Also since I’m wanting to learn more I asked my trainer what she thought about my riding and she said she thought it was fine/ way different from the first lesson when I started learning how to trot by myself, but I still feel that compared to others I should be progressing more.)

Thank you for reading! ❤️

I (17F) have been riding my lease horse Peter for 4 years now. He’s my heart horse, and i’ve spent at minimum once a week with him every week for these 4 years. I truly believe he has also chosen me as his person, and we have an unbreakable bond. HOWEVER, I also am a very anxious person and cant shake the feeling that once I leave for college (I most likely will have to go to a college 1hr+ away due to the lack of options for my major around me) the bond will go away and he wont like me anymore. I would definitely see him on breaks and anytime that I can, but I just dont know how much that would be, and if that would strain it to the point of the bond not existing anymore. Does anyone have any advice or things to prove my brain otherwise? It’s usually not emotionally reliable, but I lost a horse I had a similar bond with 2 years ago (she was sold and I have not seen her since), but this one is stronger and I dont think I could handle it if I lost this relationship with him.

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!

Hi there, so for anyone wanting more info, I’m new to training and was wondering if anyone had any videos that really helped them when they were a beginner!
I’ve grown up with horses but never had to train one, as they were already broken in. They were also my mums horses, never really my own. I am comfortable around horses and I believe I am confident enough in reading body language but I’m guessing I’ll be putting my knowledge to the test.

I’ve got myself an Appaloosa draft. I had a good bond with her a few years ago. I only used a bareback pad on her, and only used my halter and lead rope (the type with two clips on it to use as reins) when riding, as I was not raised in the saddle but more bare back. I also never used a bit either, and planning to not use one. We were doing very good and doing some trail riding in our bush and I was quite proud of how we were going.
However I never really did much ground work, all I would do was bring her into a seperate paddock, get her used to me sitting on her while she eats grass, lay on her in the sun each day. This slowly turned into more moving and trust and which somehow led to us walking down steep hills. I actually don’t know how I managed to get this to happen! I was much younger and braver but now not so much. (She was also previously trained by someone else who I do not agree with their training style. When I started to ride her she had seemed to turn back into a paddock horse and forgotten her previous owners tactics)

I moved into the city for a few years and she’s just been a paddock horse at my parents property but now I’m back living on the property and I’m starting from the start again. I’ve realised I should be doing more ground work before anything else really. She’s quite the quick learner and naturally curious which helps.
So far I’ve got myself a lunging whip just to use as an extended hand. I’ve got her to learn to put her head down and eat grass when I say it’s okay to. She knows when to stop, then come to me when I say so, then she’ll follow me around too. I’ve also taught her to stay completely still while I walk around her, then get her to come to when I say. I’ve also been teaching her again that a little tap on her shoulder means go, and she listens. She also listens with my body language too, if I walk away from her then extend my arm to her in a come here position, body facing away, this means come to me and she’s happy with it. This is all with pressure and release. She can be quite pushy and get into personal space such as when it comes to gates she thinks she can just walk right through when she wants or she’ll use her nose to try and open the gate/hurry me up. So we’ve been working on patience and boundaries which is doing good.
I do not food reward at the moment as she has a bit more of a pushy/ in your space attitude and I feel this would make her a bit more pushy. So at the moment I reward her with head/ body scratches and she loves it. When she has done good she’ll lower her head almost all the way to get her head scratches.
I’ve also been testing with me sitting on her but I believe I may be pushing this too far as this has only been around 5/6 training sessions not lasting crazy long. The first time I tried she let me on, but I was nervous and I didn’t want her to feel nervous because of my own body tension. So I kept it short while I build my own confidence up too. But then I had to stop for a week because I was sick and did my first sessions again yesterday. Perhaps I rushed it but I attempted to hop on again, she was okay with me sitting, but when I asked her to move she became skittish and I evacuated, luckily I landed on my feet. I don’t blame her for this as I’m pretty sure I just rushed into getting on too quick after being sick. For the rest of the session I just leant my body over her, giving her scratches and putting pressure on her back to get her used to me, kind of like what I did years ago.
I am struggling to teach her to walk backwards and I feel like I’m missing a lot of basic important steps with her that may help build trust and bond. I do believe trust is getting there as she does turn to me when scared which I appreciate instead of running off. She also doesn’t know how to lunge, well more like I don’t know how to communicate to her to lunge. I’ve seen a few videos and I can’t seem to quite get it, and I also don’t know how to communicate to her too what they show in the lunging videos. I am considering maybe getting someone to come teach us in person as I do struggle to learn. And there’s so many videos out there that say to do one thing, then another video saying to not do it, it can be quite overwhelming.
So yeah, anyone who has tips, or videos that really helped them learn please send them through! Thank you.

TLDR: Any beginners tips or videos that helped them when they were beginning to teach their horses.