How To Saddle Break Your Horse The 1st Time

July 21, 2012 By Leave a Comment

I wouldn’t venture to suggest that there is the standard formula to preparing a pony for riding. Each pony is an individual in its own right, and you have to work with each horse according to its nature. You also need to take into account regular changes in the current circumstances. Often, circumstances can change every day for a young horse.

Here are some steps that will help you ease your pony into its first ride. While these are steps that have worked habitually for me, I should remind you that every pony has his or her own quirks, and so you could need to do some modifying here and there.

Step 1: Let your pony get acquainted with a saddle pad. Be certain to do this in a circular pen after you’ve your pony on a halter and a lead rope. Introduce the pad casually to your horse. Let him nudge and smell it. The idea is to get him acquainted with it. Rub him gently all over his body with the pad, especially on the neck, the back and the hindquarters. Be sure to cover both sides of the horse with the same motions. Don’t go to the very next step till you have the distinct impression your pony is happy with the pad. Lay the pad on his back delicately without any abrupt motions and retreat. After a bit take away the pad. Lay it on your horse again. Take it off, keep repeating. When you are reasonably sure your horse is relatively used to the pad, walk him around a bit with the pad on. Take the pad off and rub him down a bit, before putting the pad back on. Be exceedingly patient, and repeat this as many times as necessary till you feel your horse has become just about uninterested in the pad. Remember, haste at all stages may destroy everything you have realized till then.

Step 2: You are ready to bring on the saddle now. Get your horse used to it just like you did with the pad: never hurrying, always persist. Use your right hand to hold the saddle, with the lead rope in the left hand. Once you are sure the saddle causes no further apprehension in your pony, it’s saddling time. With a swift but gentle motion, get the saddle onto your horse’s back. Take it off and retreat. Do this numerous times, with a rub down or two to keep your pony calm. When you think it is time, put on the saddle with the intention of cinching it. If your pony is in motion, yield the hindquarters to bring him to stillness. Be sure to knot the cinches tight so they don’t drop and spook him.

Step 3: Get round to your horse’s right. Let the cinches down easily. Get back to your horse’s left, Now with total confidence walk back on the left hand side of your horse and take hold of the cinch with your left hand without looking down. In easy motions, take hold of the latigo and tighten up the cinches. Don’t make them too tight, but sufficient so the saddle will not roll around to the base of the horse’s body. That would possibly be disastrous. If there’s another back cinch, tighten that too, again, not very tight, but satisfactory to guarantee the pony won’t snag his rear leg. Normally a back cinch functions to prevent jumping of the saddle. Never forget: keep your cool, and more important, make sure the horse keeps his cool. Back off temporarily at the slightest sign your horse is getting upset.

Step 4: When you’ve saddled and cinched the horse, stand loosely next to him and let him get use to the saddle. Don’t be in a hurry to move him or yourself. When you consider that he’s relaxed satisfactorily, walk him a touch, then come to a halt. If he starts bucking let him, just get out of the way. When he’s got the kinks worked out, return to him and give him a rub to soothe him.

You have just saddle-broken your pony.

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Why Be Aware Of Horse Show Rules

July 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Most riders find shows to be marvelously satisfying and inspiring experiences. However , participation in shows can bring along a lot of confusion and stress. Rather regretfully, a lot of novice riders begin showing even when they are not completely conversant with the rules and regulations that apply to show classes. Due to their over enthusiastic and under prepared approach, these new riders fail to grasp the reasons behind the allegedly illogical harshness of judgment of some show classes and similarly illogical easy-going judgment of others.

Basically, judging gives merits and demerits for 2 types of rider or horse action: doing something pertinent with true quality and doing something that’s taboo without or with quality. You might say that often the winner is the rider and pony pair that commits the least number of blunders. Some blunders are way more major than others: a rider’s heel rising and his leg shifting back while the pony is taking jumps could be a lesser sin than a rider who lags. Some of the deadliest sins concern dangerous riding, abusive riders or obstructive riders.

In equitation hunt seat divisions, judges give scores for rider control and position. Other considerations that count are leads, diagonals and the disgraceful rider’s crime of dropping the head to determine the correct diagonal or lead. In divisions related to equitation over fences, the punishable transgressions include break in gait, refusal and erroneous leads.

Judgments are made of the horse’s motions and perspective in hunter classes like hunter hack, hunters under the saddle and over fences. The hunter needs to give each impression of a participant who is enjoying himself, with apparent awareness, quietness, relaxed attitude, balance, contentment of expression and eagerness in process. It doesn’t need to be said that the pony should not be stiff, not to mention lame. He displays great balance. His back is soft and round and he travels on his bit; he shouldn’t be hollow backed, nor should he evade contact from the rider. Penalties are prescribed for swishing tails, pinned ears, spooking, kicking, bucking and failing to keep up a consistent gait full of rhythm. Over fences class players are penalised for dangerous or defective form like dangling legs. The best hunters over fences jump with great calmness and rhythm; they do not dash right to the base and scramble over. They tuck their legs up and maintain soft roundness in their necks and backs while going over fences. Bucking, refusals, knocking down of rails and lead change misses invoke penalties. Elimination is the result for horses showing potentially hazardous behaviour like lameness, rearing and kicking.

Riders must be fully conversant with the permitted/not permitted equipment lists for the classes they want to participate in. Simply by way of illustration, rules about bit use are harsh in dressage shows; riders are required to ensure that the bits they use are regulation types. In a fairly similar way, martingales are taboo in hunter under saddle classes. Boots are allowed for horses in equitation over fences and jumpers, but are banned in hunters. Some bits are acceptable in jumpers although not in hunters over fences.

Before you take part in any class in a show, save yourself tons of confusion, heart-ache, penalties and money waste by boning up on all applicable rules, regulations and guidelines. Remember that old saw about an ounce of prevention?

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Choosing A Horse Related Career That Suits You

July 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If you truly are a horse nut, then you could have heard about Robert Botine Cunningham-Graham, Scottish writer, adventurer and horseman extraordinaire. He first told the opinion that heaven cannot exist without horses. If you, too , are the type of horse person who lives for horses and wants to die on horseback, you should mull over taking up a career that has to do with horses. Certainly you can’t think about a better way of life?

Recent surveys indicate that the US has about 7 million horses. The North American Horse Council estimates the horse-related industry supports in excess of 1.4 million jobs. There are any quantity of support vocations that revolve around the horse hub, like vet services, farriers, feed supplies, gear supplies and so on. You can find jobs in a heap of horse-related fields: health, breeding, feeding, training, showing? The list is reasonably large, actually. Certainly you will find just what is ideal for you in one or two of these fields.

Just what is the thing that should be done to get into a horse-related career? Don’t jump to pumping out resumes left and right without doing some homework. Your first job is to ascertain just what part of the industry appeals to you the most. An accompaniment task is to figure out if you are suited for it. You have to work hard to get to where you want to be. If you would like to be a vet, you have to go thru the academic part and the tutelage part first, before it’s possible to get into the practicing part. There are no short cuts.

Are you all set to analyse yourself? Put yourself through an examination based mostly on the following questions:

What is it I desire?

Does my ideal career enable me to get into daily contact with horses, or will I be happy with support areas that wouldn’t involve daily contacts with horses? As with everything, you can disagree both sides of this issue. A direct role may satisfy your urge to be physically around horses all the time, while a supporting role of the more remote type could mean better revenue, stability and regular working hours. What suits your personality and interests better? The simplest way to approach it is to scribble down things.

What are my present qualifications, educational or alternatively?

Experience is a great qualification, but there are occasions when it’s no substitute for academic certificates. It is dependent on the type of job being sought, of course: for practical jobs like coaching and teaching or horse farm managing, intensive and close experience would potentially count for lots more than formal education. On the other hand, you cannot hope to become a veterinarian without going through a relevant formal education and a bit of proactive experience.

Am I happy to do… Am I Able To afford whatever is necessary to achieve my dream career?

If being a veterinarian is your goal, you want to budget time and money to go thru a proper academic course. You want to work out methods to get admission at a reputed establishment.

What type of financial ambitions do I have?

I know plenty of folks who love to be doing something around horses. They are less worried about what they earn than about being with horses. A lot of jobs offer low pay and benefits, and the only productive compensation might be the constant presence of horses. While salaries do improve with experience, that implies giving up years to gain the sort of experience needed. Support jobs often offer the best monetary returns. It is common sense that before you leap into a job, you ought to have a clear idea of what amount of money will allow you to live comfortably. You should then determine which jobs will permit you to make at least that amount.

What’s the best entry point which will take me to where I want to reach?

You should take care to get into a scenario where not only are you able to meet all responsibilities with your present level of abilities and knowledge, you may also work towards the ultimate career position you value.

Just remember: it is better to go in slow and easy than to bite off more than you can chew!

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Slow Equals Fast With Pony Training

July 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Ever had the privilege of watching a natural born horse person in total harmony with his pony do nonchalant tricks with it that you wouldn’t have imagined possible and cause them to look so ludicrously straightforward? And ever tried out the same tricks with your own pony and made a total hash of it? You must have been pretty frustrated.

If you did anything like that, you were guilty, as so many people have been, of forgetting that what looks like perfect harmony is the results of hard training repeated time and again until perfection was reached. We human beings are frequently guilty of needing too much too quickly without having to go through the due process. In the case of horses and their achievements, we forget that every accomplishment is the sum total of lots of tiny steps that have practically become 2nd nature as the result of repeated practice. When we suddenly try out something new to our horses, we’re going to puzzle the wits out of them and achieve nothing except total frustration for both.

Just look at easy scenarios involve horse coaching. Take an example when you are training your horse to back up between two parallel poles laid out on the ground. It may appear to be the simplest of tasks to you, but your horse will not agree. You might think that all you’ve got to do is get him aligned and moving, but he’s not going to be comfortable with the idea of moving through 2 poles of which only one is visible to each eye. This tends to distract the horse, and they will not even allow themselves to be aligned between the poles. If they are somehow aligned, they’ll try to work out what has happened by moving their rear ends to one direction. And if you come up with a way to get over that problem then the horse will keep barging into one pole or the other, rather than backing up in a straight line.

Unless you are knowledgeable on pony psychology, you will get frustrated. If you do know horses, you may appreciate that horses need to get comfortable with any new action before they can be made to do it. In this example, your pony needs to get used to a pole on each side. You can facilitate the process by breaking it up into tiny bite-size chunks and handling them one at a time.

First, get your pony to walk forward between the 2 poles a few times, so that he becomes used to seeing them there and to seeing one pole with each eye. Once he goes through like a shot, ramp up the coaching one notch. Get him to stop at random points while progressing between the poles. Get your pony to repeat this until it becomes second nature for him. Eventually, get him to take a single step backward. Let him take that step and ruminate on it. The stop after just one step is his reward for doing what you wanted him to. Take him through one or two one step forward and one back cycles at various points between the 2 poles. Then take him back thru more than one step, even with his body out of alignment with the poles. Once he is completely used to the idea of going forward and back a couple of steps (keep increasing the distance), you can walk him forward from one end of the poles to the other, and then get him to back right up. He may start dodgy, but he is going to pick up and soon he will be progressing thru the poles either way like he had been doing it all his life. Remember the old Chinese saying about a journey of a thousand miles starting with one easy step, it is especially applicable for horses.

You can begin by teaching your pony while you are on the ground, then when that stage has been successfully mastered; you take it to a higher level by getting your pony to do it while you are astride him. Start slow and simple and soon enough you’ll find that your pony is setting the pace, a faster one.

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What To Wear To Your 1st Horse Riding Lesson

July 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Getting all set to realise a long-held dream: ride a pony? This forthcoming first experience of yours probably has you otherwise nervous, anticipative, anxious, jubilant. You can get over a large amount of your nerves by simply ensuring you make all of the right preparations.

Start by guaranteeing you’ve got the right attire. Your attire should be selected only on consideration of comfort and safety. Leave the bling for later on the more advanced stages in your pony life.

One thing you just can’t do without is a helmet that is properly certificated. Most riding schools do let you use one of their helmets for the opening few learning sessions, in the expectation that after you make up your mind to keep on you’ll get your own helmet. You should bear in mind that a borrowed helmet will have been utilized by countess other hopeful riders, and even while they’re routinely disinfected and sprayed in front of you, you may still prefer to go along with your own helmet.

Note that helmets to be used with bikes are inappropriate for horse riding because they are made to different standards of impact measures and safety. The better riding facilities will not allow you to use helmets without ASTM/SEI validation, so be sure not to let some silver tongued tack shop man charm you into getting a barely suitable helmet. Do some homework, learn all about the coolest brands, get a helmet with a correct label, your riding school will most likely be doing some inspection of its own on the 1st day you turn up.

Your next procurement should really be composed of a pair of boots with square heels and smooth soles. You can think about cowboy or jodhpur boots when you purchase them, but don’t splurge just yet on real riding boots. Just settle for a good pair of ankle boots with smooth soles and square heels. Preferably, your boots cover and support the ankles. Sneakers, military boots and dockers are absolutely not acceptable. Army boots come with very thick treads, and your foot could well get caught in the stirrup if you tumble, with the chance of bad injury ensuing. By the same rule, footwear without square heels let your feet slide right thru into the stirrup and again, this may be perilous. Remember: boots without treads, with smooth soles, with square heels.

Your next call is on suitable pants for riding. A lot of new riders find this choice a bit of a dilemma. Denim pants often fit loosely and have prominent seams, which can badly scrape your legs and knees and perhaps your calves, as well. Jeans also have a tendency to ride up the legs, exposing your calves and letting them get chafed by the stirrup leathers. Most leg wear for running is rather slick on the exterior, which may make you slip while you are in your saddle. All of this means you need pants that don’t have thick seams, don’t rub and do not ride up. You might try jeans with pantyhose beneath, don’t giggle, I’ve known masses of men to use this combination , or you need to use thick tights. Instead of panty hose, you could use long johns with jeans, but this will be workable only in winter. If you use long johns, ensure you tuck them into your socks, so they won’t ride up. In winter, thick tights usually work fine with leg warmers, which have recycled into fashion. Ultimately, you need breeches or riding tights. You could also try out jeans especially made for riding, which are made from stretch material and have no inner seams.

You are all set: you have got your certified helmet, correct shoes and approved attire. It’s time to get onto that horse and have some fun!

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Warming Up A Dressage Pony

July 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Horses have to be warmed up before they are worked hard, but I see a large amount of puzzlement in dressage riders about the way to set about warming their horses. If you are in this same boat, the 9 tips given below should help you to get things right when talking of warming up your pony.

Your target in putting your pony through a warm-up drill is to work the kinks out of his body. It might last for as little as 10 minutes, or it could go much beyond that, right into your actual ride.

1. Presumably you have just taken your pony out of his stall after a night’s rest, after mounting, use the 1st 5 to 10 minutes to leisurely walking him around.

2. After you are done with walking take up contact to start the warm-up.

3. Concentrate on the three 1st ingredients of the coaching scale, Rhythm, Suppleness, Connection. I usually begin working my horse out on these 3 factors in a sizeable circle. Once things are well under way, I’ll expand to a bigger area in the arena.

4. Rhythm: As you put your horse thru walks, trots and canters, make sure the rhythm is constant and regular and the tempo is not faster or slower than it should be.

5. Suppleness: Take equally as much time as you judge right, getting your horse supple and relaxed both physically and mentally. Effort accompanied by physical or psychological strain isn’t going to bear fruit. By suppling your horse, you get him physically relaxed. When he’s relaxed physically, he will also relax mentally.

Supple the pony by bending his neck about 7 inches to inside neutral (neutral occurs when the horse’s nose is lined up with the crease in the middle of his chest); as you do so you should additionally be closing your leg on this same side.

Do a 3-supple set, meaning you bend him and instantly straighten him out three times, smooth and fast. After about 8 strides are gone by, repeat the 3-supple set.

6. Connection: Utilise a connecting half halt and get the horse on the bit. This half halt is a version of the main half halt (briefly closing the seat and the legs and hands) that you use to put a horse on the bit.

Close both legs for 3 steady seconds like you would like a extending, then make a fist of the outside hand to capture the energy and recycle it back to your horse’s rear legs. Give him 3 or 4 little inside rein vibrations or squeezes to keep his neck straight. Your connecting half halt should stretch over 3 seconds approximately, during which period you ‘add, add and add’ the hind legs through the closed outer hand while keeping up poll flexion to the inside.

While warming up, I connect the pony. I ride him long and low, but if he seems heavy on the forehand, I ride the ‘horizontal balance’, when his topline parallels the ground.

7. If things should fail to work out right, simply go back right to the beginning of your coaching scale. Re-establish a regular rhythm to begin with and supple the pony next. Make a demand for connection eventually.

8. When you are doing the rhythm, suppleness, connection routine, you must get any pony at the initial training level to do elementary figures such as circles, shallow loops and serpentines.

Horses at the first or second levels can also do school figures, leg-yields as well as elastic workouts like soft lengthening before going back to working gait.

9. A lot of riders get their dressage horses to do gait to gait transitions while warming up. My very own opinion is that the horse must be well warmed up before you put him thru transitions. I thus save transition schooling for the second segment of the work out, when the warming up is done.

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How To Prevent Grief With A Pre-horseride Check

July 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Fairly often, a group trail ride can appear to be rather more like a melee in a rodeo. I have gone out on more such rides than I care to recollect. Some of the horses, of the excitable type, would be dancing around even as their riders tried to mount. Other horses would jar their riders fully awake with a dosage of bucking and rearing. On so many occasions, I had to take a flying jump into the saddle to avoid getting into a tussle with my pony. I’ve seen riders get so exasperated they almost gave up on the idea of going out on a ride. Even placid horses become infected with the mood of the moment and act up a bit. Most times, the horses keep acting up for quite some time even after the ride is under way.

Doesn’t exactly lead directly to a great impression of trail rides, does it? Doesn’t sound like the best way to get started on what really should be an enjoyable ride.

Actually , you can avoid situations like this by getting some previous ground coaching done and carrying out a simple check just before the ride. This bit of care will ensure a smooth ride.

The coaching should be built to give the pony handler full physical control of the pony. The handler should be able to get the horse to move any part of its body he asks it to. It should be possible to exercise independent control of the front and the rear ends, and the smallest of pressures should get the neck and the head to bend sideways. Gentle cues should suffice to get the horse to go forward or back , as well as to either side.

Without these basics set right, the rider is not going to be able to exercise proper control over the pony, which means that the pony will go a bit wild when excited. Going wild might go to the extent of bolting or bucking and rearing.

You also need to keep a constant watch on any injuries and other reasons behind discomfort. The horse is not going to be normal when he’s feeling pain. I can recollect a pal who had the ride of his life when he mounted his gelding and it literally copied a rollercoaster before he somehow managed to get off. It turned out the pony was afflicted by pain due to a pebble some kid had ‘gifted’ to the horse by placing it between the pommel and pad!

In this article, I am really not able to cover everything the rider has to get done to make certain his horse stays calm when setting out for rides, even in the middle of a lot of other horses. Horse riders can learn these skills from authorities like Pat Parelli and Clinton Anderson. Craig Cameron, Chris Cox and Dennis Reis are other names that come to mind. All these authorities can be found on RFD-TV; you can also buy their DVDs. Apart from these sources, you can resort to any number of clinicians and experts spread all around the country.

When you have trained your pony thoroughly and he responds the right way to the tiniest cues, you know what your pre-ride check list is going to be comprised of. You just be sure your horse still remembers his lessons. Like us, horses have their days off, and it’s helpful to get prior knowledge that your horse isn’t quite at peak. You don’t need to saddle up and ride an oblivious tornado!

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The Foundation Of Champion Horses Is Repetition And Repetition

July 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

If I had received a cent for every time I repeated something to a pony, I would have been a millionaire by this time. I begin by hammering it into a horse’s head I’m essentially making an attempt to communicate something to him. When he has finally got the idea that I am really attempting to tell him something, I need to let him know whatever it is that I needed to let him know such a lot of times I start sounding like a scratched LP record. This causes me to do foolish things on occasion. I train a few horses at assorted steps of training simultaneously. In itself, this is problematic, because I have track of where I am with each pony. If I’ve a particularly difficult time with any pony, then it takes me a while to remember where I was with the remainder of the horses? And frequently I don’t do a good job of recollection. The plus side is, when a pony finally begins to get an idea of what I’m on about, he frequently starts liking it, and then the teaching gets way easier.

My clients have all heard from me that a homo sapien breaks a set habit only after 2,000 repetitions of the ?drop the habit? Tune have been drummed into his head. A human being also need nothing less than 2,000 repetitions to pick up a new habit, and eventually, he makes a habit a unconscious uncontrolled response just when it has been drilled into him 10,000 times. When I explain this to my clients, they get it; they know what can be predicted when they give me a pony to coach. You’ve got to have a look at the other side of the coin, the horse’s perspective. When he first is brought to me, he hasn’t any idea he is preparing to attend school. He really doesn’t even know what a school is. He would be astonished if he were informed that he is going to be taught lessons, and that he is expected to learn them well. When you look at it from this viewpoint, you become more understanding of horses.

The repetitions may change with each horse: each has his own learning curve, just like human scholars.

You might make bar charts out of a horse’s learning curve. A horse can be bafflingly inconsistent: he is going to do good, bad, good or bad with each repetition of the same lesson. Obviously, when you initiate the lesson, he will be at his worst. Just assume that your horse’s response to repetition number 121 has been enjoyable. Just when you are feeling like giving him a pat, he absolutely muffs repetition 122. Your urge to pat him with your hand all of a sudden becomes a yearning to pat him with a sledgehammer. But you cannot afford to show your frustration, so you swallow the bile and go on to repetition 123. He will probably surprise you once again. When you have reached repetition 307, say, you will find that all of a sudden he has had an ‘Eureka!’ moment. He’s got the concept, you’re teaching him something. Though the odd glitch may continue to surface, you will pretty much have smooth sailing with him after that.

You’ll get a lot of variations due to individual pony characteristics, but the general pattern will be the same. When you’ve got past the great wall around the horse’s brain, you’ll be able to see faster progress. The more time you spend with the pony, the better he learns. He may even surprise you by behaving like he enjoys the lessons.

When does a pony become a good learner? 2 factors establish this point: your teaching methods and the horse’s nature. My general experience with the more difficult horses has been that it takes 5 days a week of classes over three months to succeed, but I must advise you that it is best you don’t work to fixed schedules with horses. Don’t also push your pony too far or too fast. Think repetition, and then think more repetition. Your horse at the initial stages could be wondering why you are trying to show him things he just can’t do. Persistence is going to win that battle for you.

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Transporting Your Horses

July 10, 2012 By Leave a Comment

One of the most exasperating experiences a horse owner can have is to get into a scenario where he or she wants to transport their pony somewhere far, but can’t do that because of the absence of a trailer or horsebox. For pony owners who have never owned a trailer, getting one can seem just like a hopeless dream.

I have news for you if you’re one of these frustrated horse owners. You can move your pony around without a trailer, but it calls for an inventive approach. You have to also be ready to make some compromises.

If it’s a question of transporting your horse to the vet, a frequently unavoidable need, you may get an offer of help from someone in your yard. If nobody offers help, you need to ask for it, assuming that there are people with trailers, because without asking you may not get, and without getting you aren’t going to be able to take your pony to the vet. It’s always possible to show your good intentions by offering to pay for the fuel consumed and the use. If you are intimate with someone who owns a trailer, you can try and fit your competition dates with theirs for the same events, so your pony can hitch rides. Obviously, this implies that you will have to sacrifice your own preferred events for the events your benefactor favors. If you’re really very fortunate, you could even convince your benefactor to take your pony to your own preferred events once in a while. Who knows, you could actually open your benefactor’s eyes to the charms of events he hasn’t participated in so far. That would indeed work to your advantage.

You need to also take part in events in your own immediate vicinity. The possibility is high that there might not be enough variety or quality of performance in your immediately area. Your options would be very limited because you would have to ride your horse to the events and still keep him fresh enough to participate. Essentially, you can just ‘warm up’ your pony before the event. You also have to consider that after the event he has to be ridden back home, and that would further restrain the events you might participate in.

It is extremely costly to hire a horsebox, nonetheless it will probably be worthwhile if the event you are attending is very prestigious or if your pony has exceptional possibilities of winning something. You could also see whether there are other pony owners in the vicinity with whom you could split costs, assuming they are going to be at the same event you are. Before you finalize a contract for hiring a horsebox, confirm that a driver is included in the contract. If no driver is included, and you have got to do the driving yourself, you’ve got to have the correct driving qualification and satisfactory insurance.

Another choice is to purchase a horsebox jointly with some others. This isn’t going to be easy, as you are going to need to be wonderfully coordinated on who uses the horsebox. If all your events coincide, there will be no problems, but that is a distinctly doubtful possibility. You can only enter into this sort of arrangement with somebody you are really intimate with, and with whom you enjoy complete mutual trust. Even then, you must execute an all-inclusive contract on who pays how much for shared use, individual use, damages, repair jobs and so on. A small disagreement can destroy a close relationship, so you really have to exercise the greatest of care.

Whatever way out of your horse-box-less worries you find, it should hopefully give you the chances you’ve been wanting for your pony. Even partial mobility is far preferable to no mobility. Every event you can attend without your own horsebox is an additional bonus. Just make absolutely sure that absence of your own pony transport does not become an insurmountable wall for both you and your pony.

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Transporting Your Horses

July 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

One of the most exasperating experiences a horse owner can have is to get into a scenario where he or she wants to transport their pony somewhere far, but can’t do that because of the absence of a trailer or horsebox. For pony owners who have never owned a trailer, getting one can seem just like a hopeless dream.

I have news for you if you’re one of these frustrated horse owners. You can move your pony around without a trailer, but it calls for an inventive approach. You have to also be ready to make some compromises.

If it’s a question of transporting your horse to the vet, a frequently unavoidable need, you may get an offer of help from someone in your yard. If nobody offers help, you need to ask for it, assuming that there are people with trailers, because without asking you may not get, and without getting you aren’t going to be able to take your pony to the vet. It’s always possible to show your good intentions by offering to pay for the fuel consumed and the use. If you are intimate with someone who owns a trailer, you can try and fit your competition dates with theirs for the same events, so your pony can hitch rides. Obviously, this implies that you will have to sacrifice your own preferred events for the events your benefactor favors. If you’re really very fortunate, you could even convince your benefactor to take your pony to your own preferred events once in a while. Who knows, you could actually open your benefactor’s eyes to the charms of events he hasn’t participated in so far. That would indeed work to your advantage.

You need to also take part in events in your own immediate vicinity. The possibility is high that there might not be enough variety or quality of performance in your immediately area. Your options would be very limited because you would have to ride your horse to the events and still keep him fresh enough to participate. Essentially, you can just ‘warm up’ your pony before the event. You also have to consider that after the event he has to be ridden back home, and that would further restrain the events you might participate in.

It is extremely costly to hire a horsebox, nonetheless it will probably be worthwhile if the event you are attending is very prestigious or if your pony has exceptional possibilities of winning something. You could also see whether there are other pony owners in the vicinity with whom you could split costs, assuming they are going to be at the same event you are. Before you finalize a contract for hiring a horsebox, confirm that a driver is included in the contract. If no driver is included, and you have got to do the driving yourself, you’ve got to have the correct driving qualification and satisfactory insurance.

Another choice is to purchase a horsebox jointly with some others. This isn’t going to be easy, as you are going to need to be wonderfully coordinated on who uses the horsebox when. If all your events coincide, there will be no problems, but that is a distinctly doubtful possibility. You can only enter into this sort of arrangement with somebody you are really intimate with, and with whom you enjoy complete mutual trust. Even then, you must execute an all-inclusive contract on who pays how much for shared use, individual use, damages, repair jobs and so on. A small disagreement can destroy a close relationship, so you really have to exercise the greatest of care.

Whatever way out of your horse-box-less worries you find, it should hopefully give you the chances you’ve been wanting for your pony. Even partial mobility is far preferable to no mobility. Every event you can attend without your own horsebox is an additional bonus. Just make absolutely sure that absence of your own pony transport does not become an insurmountable wall for both you and your pony.

Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers go here

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