A Much Better Understanding Of Horse Saddles

May 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

The framework that you place on an animal’s back to secure the rider or any other types of weight is known as saddle. Whenever one speaks of saddles, it’s often related to horses. Horse saddles are important piece of gear for any person considering horse training.

There are two main types of saddles – the English saddle and Western saddle. These are the basic two types of saddle generally used in the equestrian world, although there are many types of horse saddles utilized worldwide. In several other nations, saddles of various styles are available. Saddles range significantly between numerous ethnic groups and nationalities. It could be exciting to discover how each one is implemented.

Typically, choosing what saddle to apply should be determined by the kind of riding you plan to do with your horse. And possibly narrowing it down to English or Western riding, saddles can still be broken up in lots of types such as for dressage and show, endurance, pleasure or general purpose. Several typical horse saddle terms you should learn are pommel, cantle, horn and cinch.

The English Horse Saddle

In Olympic horseback riding events, the English saddle is the primary type of saddle used. As the title suggests, this is the preferred type among the majority of English riders. But, the English saddle can still be categorized into several more distinct styles based on the kind of function that is required. Whether it’s for show jumping, hunter jumper, eventing, dressage, horse racing, saddle seat, or polo, a proper type of saddle is consequently utilized.

The Western Horse Saddle

The Stock saddle or Western saddle is regarded as the widely used variety in the United States. This is the type of saddle you will observe used by cowboys on cattle ranches. Presently, it is used in many different western riding activities. Specifically, western saddles don’t have as much padding underneath and should be utilized with saddle blankets or pads in order to be comfy for the horse. They actually do offer much more support for the rider.

Western saddles have stirrups that are stronger and can make use of numerous cinches based upon on what they are being used for. The horn found on the front is a main factor that differentiates this type of saddle from its English counterpart. The horn is primarily used to tie a lariat when roping cattle.

Getting the saddle that suits may require more work than it may seem. An ill-fitting saddle can result in traumas to both the horse and rider. Bruising and sores may result on your horse’s back muscles if you do not choose a saddle that fits appropriately. You should have a trial period prior to actually buying your saddle. Consider it as a piece of sports equipment for a human, it differs a lot from each individual horse. Be sure to always maintain your tack clean and well oiled in order to avoid breakage or pointless discomfort to your horse.

KW Saddlery offers top quality accessories. Check-out the various equine saddlecloths that are offered in our website.

Filed Under: Horse Racing Articles Tagged With: , , ,

Mastering The Sitting Trot

May 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Join the club, if you find you are having difficulty with sitting when your horse is on the trot. All too many riders who are getting trained in the sitting trot face problems maintaining their seat. Lots of these riders have learned the hard way that their seat bones often fail to be where they should be: on the saddle. In actual fact you can start to learn to sit the trot amazingly if you try out some simple tricks. The results are likely to be fast.

To start with, let’s redefine the word ‘sit’ in the context of the trot. Many riders presume this word indicates passivity. They’re wrong. You are not meant to sit like a brass Laughing Buddha while on the sitting trot. You can enhance your position a heap if you change your idea of the sitting trot: think of it as a process that actively involves you, too.

Poor sitting trots feed on themselves and degenerate further with time. The whole problem starts with the down movement. The ride fails to stay in rhythm with the horse; he begins to drop into the saddle as the saddle starts its journey back up. The result is a clashing reunion of rider seat and saddle. A pony subject to that sort of impact has a tendency to stiffen up. He will collapse his back, and when a pony does this, the trot becomes a gait that’s impossible to sit.

You can properly sit the trot just when you learn how to closely follow your saddle’s up and back down movements. This task is all the more challenging because you want to learn how to do it on your seat bones.

The positive side of the entire thing is that you don’t need to put your horse to any trouble while you get yourself tuned into sitting trots. Take it out on a tough chair of wood instead. Sit on the chair with your face to its back, and ensure that the chair is in contact with both of your seat bones. Tighten and loosen each of the seat bones alternatively, so that one seat bone is up when the other is down. If you find you’re not able to do this, you most likely have puny muscles in your butt; though it is also possible that your hips and your back could be too tight. You can bring this area of your anatomy to full strength and suppleness with some stretching, yoga or pilates.

Once you are finished with the chair, it is back to your pony. Sit straight, your back should be straight up over your hips and your seat. Follow your horse’s movement with one seat bone at a time. Don’t curve your back, and keep your hips soft and flexible to enable you to follow your horse’s movement closely. If you have correctly aligned your body, your legs should be well relaxed with the impact being cushioned by your in time motion.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about western apparel

Filed Under: Horse Racing Articles Tagged With: , ,

Ideal Nutrition For Your Barrel Pony

May 29, 2012 By 2 Comments

Because Barrel horses are athletes and put in lots of hard work at training and participation in events, their nutritional needs alter considerably from those of horses that lead less laborious lives, like horses living in pastures and getting ridden a couple of times every month. Here are some guidelines.

Hay: Regardless of breed or use, horses require fibre in their feed, whether hay or grass. Fibre should comprise a substantial portion of equine diet. Feed takes second pace, and serves to bring balance to the diet. A method to continually monitor your horse’s nutritive needs is to have your vet conduct blood tests yearly to test for nutritional inadequacies. Feed your pony hay which has been evaluated for nutrient content so that you know what you are feeding your horse. Rural extension offices will generally test your hay without cost. These tests offer a clear picture of the nutritive value of your hay. Together with the result of your veterinaria’s blood tests, these tests will give you an exact idea of what nutritional supplements your horse may require.

The best form of hay for your horse is top class grass hay. You can feed alfalfa to your horse in small quantities, as it is protein rich and in contrast to grass hay, isn’t suitable for feeding in enormous quantity. You should limit daily feeding of alfalfa to one or two flakes, compared with three or four flakes for grass hay. If you mix in alfalfa hay with grass hay, your grain needs will go down. Alfalfa can also be used to maintain the balance if your feed to your barrel pony has a lower nourishment share of say 10%.

Feed: Together with top class hay, feed forms another essential part of a barrel horse’s regular diet. A barrel pony is subjected to heavy work in training and in events, and desires extra staying power and energy to cope. Feeds comprising 10 to 12 percent of protein are acceptable for mature barrel horses. Younger barrel horses will require higher protein part, say 14 to 16 %. This is not to say that you want to get different feeds for different barrel horses; you just need to supplement them differently. I have recommendations on the best feeding formulae below; you would do well to stick to them. Always feed your horses by weight. The feed need for each pony depends on its weight and levels of work load.

Feed is available as grains or pellets. Define the composition before deciding on feeds for barrel horses. Most makers these days have a variety of feeds available as grain mix or as pellets. A barrel horse’s wants cannot be met adequately with plain oats, which will not offer him the level of nutrition required. You must go in for easily digested grains or pellets that have high protein content. Till some time ago, horses found it more complicated to digest pellets, but this difficulty has been resolved now. Pellets are made so they’re more easily broken down in the digestive process, reducing possibility of colic or other digestive conditions. Plenty of horses have a leaning for the taste of sweet grain mixes, but you can slowly bring them over to pellets if you find pellets work better.

Supplements: Supplements are used extensively with barrel horses. It is possible to get a supplement for nearly any specific requirement: hooves, coats, energy, weight building, you mention it. The right supplements can play an exceedingly important role in keeping your horse’s daily diet ideal.

You shouldn’t decide on supplements without consulting your vet. Don’t simply go blindly for the latest trend on the market just because some huge name racer endorsed it. While surplus supplements may not affect your horse’s health, they’ll definitely impact your financial health negatively. Almost invariably, claims that so and so supplement can boost your horse’s performance and win percentage are falsely made. You also have to give seriousness to the indisputable fact that supplements impact different horses in different ways.

A perfect balanced diet is the first step to making your horse the best barrel racer. Correct nutrition gives him just the edge he needs to raise his performance to maximum.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about simco saddles

Filed Under: Horse Racing Articles Tagged With: , , ,

Bringing A Dressage Horse On The Bit

May 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Are you prone to sawing side to side on your horse’s mouth at dressage, or to using both hands to wriggle the bit to get your horse ‘on the bit’?

‘Sawing’ on a dressage horse’s mouth means to alternatively squeeze and release with the hands, and you ride the pony front to back when you do this. To all appearances, your pony is on the bit with his head down and his nose vertical, but there is no true front to back connection.

Actually, the 1 piece of your horse that’s impacted by your sawing is his jaw. A moving bit leads him to chew, and when he does chew, his jaw flexes.

In essence, this suggests nothing less than this: when you saw you are basically manipulating a jaw that’s flexed. And you may still have no leverage over plenty more body that your pony will have left over.

Flexion might lead you to believe the horse remains on his bit, and you are rather surprised about his disposition to go off his bit when asked to do stuff like transitions.

The reality you might not realize till too late is that your horse wasn’t on the bit. And obviously flexed jaws are of no use at all.

Get your horse truly on the bit by using ‘connecting aids’ close both your legs so that power from behind is added. You need to act like you’re calling for lengthening. When the horse reaches your outer hand, make a fist of that hand so that you can capture and contain the power and recycle it back to your horse’s rear legs. Keep this up for roughly 3 full seconds.

Finally, you have two reasons to squeeze or vibrate the interior rein:

1. The first is to keep your horse’s neck straight. Your objective is to prevent him from twisting his neck outwards by way of response to your closed outer hand. This way, you in all probability won’t be requiring the interior rein when riding with his soft inside since your pony will not be making an attempt to look outside if you should close the outer hand.

2. You can move the bit by making him chew and flex in the jaw.

You need to remember that you ride a dressage horse front to back by wiggling the bit on both sides. What this implies is, don’t do with both hands when you can make do with one. Keep the second hand free for the essential task of power recycling to the horse’s hind legs.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about reinsman

Filed Under: Horse Racing Articles Tagged With: , , ,

How To Bend Your Pony

May 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I’ve seen considerable puzzlement among riders about the right aids for bending. You should know the simplest way to evenly bend your pony from his poll to his tail not just on corners, circles or schooling figures like serpentines, shallow loops and figure eights, but also on lateral exercises of the more advanced kind, like haunches-in, shoulder-in and half pass.

I give you a brief guide on these bending aids below.

When circling left:

– Your weight should be on the inside (left) seat bone, cueing the pony into engaging his inside rear leg;

– Your inner (left) leg should be on the girth; it should function as a pole for the pony to bend round and as a technique of sustaining his inside rear leg’s activity;

– Your outer (right) leg should be behind the girth to enable bending of the horse’s body round your inner leg and to prevent any swinging out of his hindquarters. The circle’s size establishes just how far behind the girth you ought to have your outer leg. On a circle of 20 m, for example, you should place your outer leg 1 or 2 inches to the rear the girth. It should be about 4 or 5 inches behind if you’re on a 10m circle;

– Your inner (left) rein demands a 1 flexion to the inside. You must just be able to see the horse’s nostril and inside eye;

– Your outer (right) rein should be steady and supportive. Consider it to be a side rein that controls the extent of bend in the horse’s neck, and as the turning rein that brings the horse’s shoulders round the curve. When the shoulders are turned, the rest of the body follows.

Think of making the perfect union between your outside and inside aids. You’ll require both aid sets to be able to bend the horse along a prescribed turn. The inside aid bends him and the outside aid turns him.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about horse fencing

Filed Under: Horse Racing Articles Tagged With: , , ,

Getting Your Pony Training Facts Right

May 26, 2012 By 1 Comment

In terms of what you could call organised disciplines, horse training is perhaps one of the very oldest. The homo sapien has been using horses for ages: for war, for work and for pleasure. You may call horse riding a science or an art; as far as I am concerned it has elements of both. Pony training has had its high crests and its low troughs. One of the highlight eras of horse training existed during the Baroque period, which stretched between the 17th and the 18th centuries. For most individuals, Baroque was a skilled art form.

It’s my considered opinion that horse training is experiencing one of its low spells nowadays. There is too much importance on commerce and not enough on quality, and that has eroded both the science and the art parts of horse training.

That does not necessarily imply, though, that you won’t be well placed to scale extreme levels as a horse coach.

I think that pony training has suffered in quality due to lots of misconceptions. I have lost count of the amount of times I have come across people boasting about having trained their horses to lead. It is sensible to outline training or teaching as actions that enable students to procure information they did not have before and to do something they weren’t capable of before.

Built-in instinct has a foal following its mother blindly from the instant of its birth. To do otherwise could be to court death. The mare responds by pointing the foal towards the right things. Have you ever noticed that all foals are really capable of walking, trotting and cantering practically the first day of their lives? And that they also are moderately adept at stopping and backing up?

In terms of ordinary human use of horses, a new born foal may not be aware of just three aspects that it’ll have to be taught later: how to adjust to a halter; how to carry a bridle and how to tolerate a saddle or harness.

What do human beings generally teach horses?

We train horses to respond to commands and cues. We educate them to move at our command and to stop at our cue. The horse learns from us about responding to verbal and non-verbal commands and cues.

At this juncture, let’s get something straight: coaching can be conducted successfully just when the tutor is extremely clear in his mind as to what he is expecting to achieve. The usefulness of coaching can be judged not in the horse’s response to a command, but In the promptness and lack of resistance accompanying that response. If a horse takes its time to act on a command, and shows a great amount of unwillingness to respond, it has obviously not been trained well.

A trainer may be said to have achieved success in his task only when his charge is programmed to respond like a robot to commands and cues with an unquestioning response which has pretty much become 2nd nature.

Training can be done with a great deal of refinement , at the greatest heights of horse riding, an observer will see only the end results. He won’t see the cues given by the rider to the horse, because they are going to be so refined and practically invisible. That sort of height is reached only with the most perfect of coaching techniques.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about professional choice

Filed Under: Horse Racing Articles Tagged With: , , ,

Why Is Walk The Most Significant Gait For Horses?

May 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

How your horse brings himself (his frame) while he is being ridden has an effect on his both mental and physical condition. For him so as to achieve at his finest necessitates that he is flexible, balanced and has powerful back muscles to easily carry the saddle and rider without having anxiety or strain. Your horse would need to work in the correct posture or “frame” to be able to perform at his best.

A great riding frame begins with a good walk. A good walk is considered the most stressful gait to attain, the easiest to eliminate, has even, lively, rhythmical steps with impulsion, could only be practiced by using flexible muscles, a moving back and versatile joints. If your horse is distressed or has tight muscles, he cannot attain a good walk. To be able to create a good walk, you ought to motivate your horse to push onward energetically from his hindquarters to make sure that his hind legs step perfectly beneath him. It is necessary that you release any stress in your own body. Relax from your neck to your seat bones together with all your joints (shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, ankles & toes). Always keep your core involved. Your horse will mirror what he feels from you. Keep a flexible, subsequent contact on long reins.

If your horse won’t proceed into the contact, hollows his back, takes short “sewing machine” steps or rushes into trot, work him on a 20 metre circle. By doing this you can boost him to bend more around your inside leg. Feel and continue with the natural swing of your horse’s barrel. Always keep your legs gently contacting the barrel and give a more powerful push with your inside leg as you feel his barrel swing outward.

Be sure that your outside leg is soft to ensure that it follows and doesn’t block the movement. The bend helps your horse calm down and lower his neck which helps lift his back to level. While doing so, your seat requires your horse to step onward.As your horse develops a good, relaxed walk with impulsion, swing and suppleness on the circle in a single direction then work on the other direction. You could find your horse finds it less complicated going one way than the other. This is common since horse’s are left or right sided much like we are left or right handed. When you or your horse get frustrated or stressed going one way, return to the direction where the work was less complicated until you get calm again.

After you have developed a good walk with a few uniformity on the circles then you can start to do some work on the straight line coming back to the circle to re-establish relaxation anytime needed.

KW Saddlery offers top quality horse accessories and equipment. Also, check-out various horse supplement to keep horses healthy and in good shape.

Filed Under: Horse Racing Articles Tagged With: , , ,

The Complete Set Of Equestrian Wardrobe

May 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Horse riding isn’t only all about adopting a steed and training on riding it in such a way that are both imaginative and secure. Horseback riding mandates expertise plus the right way of dressing up. You have to figure out how to take care of a horse and also to secure the fundamental equestrian apparel essential for horseback riding.

Boots Made for Riding

Horseback riding demands a particular set of boots which are suitable for riding. One can’t just take out boots from any store since he/she feels that it’ll function just similar to the boots that equestrians make use of. Riding boots are specially made for horseback riding contests if you’re going to participate in this type of past-time or sports activity. There are two sorts of riding boots – Jodhpur boots and long boots. The Jodhpur boots are especially meant to be combined with jodhpurs and gaiters or chaps to avoid rubbing or pinching of your legs. Long boots on the other hand, are intended for pairing with breeches.

Breeches

While these pair of pants happen to be found in fashion exhibits donned by runway models, breeches are typically intended for horseback riding. Breeches allow one to move unrestricted when situated on the saddle and improve one’s overall performance while riding and it then terminates inches above ankle level. Breeches, as mentioned previously, are specifically which is designed to wear with long riding footwear.

Riding Helmets or Hats

It is paramount for somebody who participates in horse riding to buy a riding hat in order to safeguard his/her head in the less fortunate incident of an accident. Unpredicted falls or sudden slips could happen during riding and it is required to have the riding hat worn all the time while on the saddle.

Jodhpur Boots

Jodhpurs quite resemble similarly with that of the breeches. The minimal difference is that they end at the ankle level rather than inches above the ankle and are made to be used with short jodhpur boots.

Gloves for Horseback RidingWearing the appropriate and efficient riding gloves will increase your grip on the horse and lets you have optimum control over the horse. It stops your hands from slipping and also shelters them from cold temperatures – which are the cause of skin blisters and scratches.

Reflective Apparel

Reflective clothing works much like what traffic policemen wear- it will make you visible to other road users so that they will be able to move around to avoid you and prevent an accident from happening.

Now that you know the basics of equestrian clothing, it is important to be fashionable when wearing such apparel. The colour theme must match and complement each other. Coats, jackets, breeches, riding gloves, breeches, pants, upper wear, and shirts must be colour coordinated.

KW Saddlery offers quality horse accessories and equipment. Also, check-out various tips on horse care and how it affects the efficiency of the horse.

Filed Under: Horse Racing Articles Tagged With: , , ,

What Do You Mean By Only A Trail Pony

May 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Do you wish that you could do more with your pony than simply trail riding? You shouldn’t, especially if you like trail riding. Thousands of people play baseball, basketball and soccer, but only a select few become pros. Think about all of the folk out there who haven’t ever been close to a pony in their lives, and you will realize just how lucky you are to have a pony to ride trail with. Trail riding is a fabulous activity that allows you to see more country side than you might otherwise. It’s an activity that can be plenty of delightful fun for both horse and rider.

Don’t make the frequent mistake of presuming that trail riding is a simple activity, that a pony does not need to be especially trained for it, I beg to differ For more years than I care to recollect , I have been around horses of all kinds, horses that were used for every purpose conceivable. I can confirm that a horse utilised for trail riding needs as much training as horses used for any other activity. Take a breath and give it a thought. When you are out trail riding, you are covering a lot of country. Dependent on where you reside and where you ride, you might be covering any sort of terrain, friendly and hostile, in any kind of weather. You could be passing through country with deadly fauna like snakes or bears or mountain lions. There are one hundred and more factors that you may not expect, that may crop up to trouble you. You’ve got only yourself and your pony to get out of tricky scenarios and make it back safe.

Even if you are riding a horse that hardly knows it’s whoa from its go, you are pretty dependent on the pony to carry you safely through the ride and bring you back in one piece. When you have a pony that is not schooled to handle itself in adverse conditions, what happens if the situation calls for more than just a whoa or a go? You could find yourself in any amount of difficult situations; such as where your horse needs to back up, get around an obstacle, negotiate a tight enclosed turn or side pass. Under such circumstances, the rider tells the pony what to do and the pony obeys, if he is trained to obey. If he is not, and he caves in to his inbuilt instinct, he might take you out of the frying pan into the fire.

Even trail horses must be trained: they have to be taught first and foremost to obey their riders regardless of what the circumstances. They have to be taught to react coolly if their feet get snagged up in brush or in vines. They must be perfectly attuned to even subtle cues from their riders: a small movement that may get the rider’s knees and head out of the way of an oncoming tree, clear obstacles like fallen trees, ignore branches that slap at them and their riders. They have got to be fine on rocks, in water and when going downhill or uphill. They must control their natural tendency to bolt when they come across threats. Even if you are riding in a group, your pony needs to be individually controlled and respond individually, without blind aping the pony in front.

Left to themselves, most horses will follow their own instincts. Even the untrained pony will do what he feels best in any situation, but there’s no way of telling whether his call will protect his rider or further endanger the rider. Most horses do need rider guidance out of tough situations.

Hopefully, that should persuade you that the pony you are riding on the trails is just as highly trained as any other horse used for any other discipline.

When a person asks you what you utilise your pony for, you don’t say “Nothing much, only trail riding” in a hangdog fashion. You puff out your chest and declare in a proud voice, “We go for some beautiful trail riding all of the time”.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about stable rugs

Filed Under: Horse Racing Articles Tagged With: , , ,

The Importance Of Utilizing The Correct Equestrian Gear

May 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Horse riding is and always has been increasingly popular, but it’s genuinely mandatory that when taking part in this activity that you put on the right equestrian apparel. Even though nobody sets out to fall off their horse, it is really not an unusual event and that means you should be ready by having the appropriate equipment. Probably the most important items of gear you will need is a helmet. Take great attention in finding the best one and never be convinced to purchase second hand. A second hand helmet may have been subjected to unseen damage and may not ensure that you get sufficient protection in case of a fall. You must be sure that the helmet is an excellent fit and will not move if you nod or even shake your head. Don’t be misled into thinking that a helmet meant for another sport will do – it will not!

Whatever you intend to use will inevitably count on the level of horse riding that you do. When you’re show jumping for example then you’ll definitely want to wear the suitable equestrian clothing for it. If you are merely riding around the paddock you will probably already have suited clothing. Once you begin going on public paths and byways, nonetheless, you should select a high visibility vest.

Although many people choose to use normal denim jeans or simply sweat pants for riding, it is really essential that you wear something that is going to be cozy and not wrinkle up and become uneasy. There is not much point really in getting involved in an activity that makes you feel physically horrible therefore it may be worth your while to get garments designed specifically for horse riding. They don’t certainly have to be jodhpurs but, if you’re planning to show your horse, it may be really worth purchasing a pair.

It was brought up earlier that you should certainly not compromise on your riding helmet. Well the same goes for your footwear. Even though it is not necessary to equip yourself with right riding boots, except if you are showing your horse of course, it is best to make sure that the footwear you use does not have too heavy a tread on them, just like you might find on walking or hiking boots. These could likely get stuck in the stirrups should you take a fall with unwanted consequences. If possible the tread should be quite low profile and the heel of the shoe or boot ought to be roughly one to one and a half inches deep.

When choosing equestrian apparel it is best to take basic safety into mind and your riding experience will be a much happier one for it.

KW Saddlery offers quality horse accessories and equipment. Also, check-out various tips on horse care and how it affects the efficiency of the horse.

Filed Under: Horse Racing Articles Tagged With: , , ,