Zelda is athletic!

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in equestrian, Rider Safety, trail riding and tagged with ,
Zelda

Here we are ready to go on our trail ride. Doesn’t Zelda look pleased with herself?

I’ve taken it easy on Zelda the past few days. She hadn’t been ridden for five or six weeks and she spent 13 hours on the trailer to get here. She has impressed me with her laid back attitude and good humor.

Today she gave me a glimpse of how athletic she is. I took her on a trail ride with two barn mates. I had her in back since I’m not sure about her tolerance for horses coming up behind her and her hind feet are the size of dinner plates.

Everything was going fine. We were meandering along . . . until the horses in front started to trot. Zelda let out a squeal and proceeded to buck. Fourteen hundred or so pounds of buck. And let me tell you, when you’re riding her, you feel very far from the ground.

I don’t ride mares that often and I’ve never had a gelding that squealed like that. Freedom wouldn’t be caught dead making a girlie sound like that. It really made me laugh. Come to think of it, Freedom doesn’t buck like that either. He’s more of bounce in place kind of guy. Zelda likes to shake her head and neck then let fly with a buck or two.

So I reset her back on her butt and we tried again. Sure enough, she squealed and bucked again. I think that spurs are in her future.

I moved her up front and she was in her element. This horse is a leader! She was trotting merrily along until we came to a tiny stream. That stopped her dead in her tracks and made her reconsider the wisdom of following her friends.

It also made me reconsider the wisdom of taking her on a hunt trail ride tomorrow. I think we need some wet saddle blanket therapy and a few more miles under our respective belts before I turn her loose in a crowd. Did I mention it’s a long way to the ground? She’s obviously athletic — I just need to channel that ability toward something more productive.

 

 

 

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Where does your horse roll?

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, horse health, horse ownership, horses and tagged with ,

Where does your horse rollOur horses have several “rolling” spots in their pasture. Generally they eschew the clean, dry grass for a mud pit or at least a lot of dirt.

Freedom rolls several times a day, as far as I can tell — immediately before I want to ride (that’s in the muddy spot), immediately after I’ve hosed him down (that’s in the dry spot) and any other time he thinks that it would be better to be dirty!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Freedom Rolling

What we can learn about helmet designs and safety

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Equestrian equipment, equestrian helmet, Rider Safety and tagged with , , ,

Equestrian helmet after a bad fall

Thanks to organizations like riders4helmets.com more and more people are wearing helmets every time they ride. You only need to see a photo like this one once to understand how wearing a helmet can help save your life.

Thanks to organizations like riders4helmets.com more and more people are wearing helmets every time they ride. You only need to see a photo like this one once to understand how wearing a helmet can help save your life.

As the medical community learns more about the long term effects of concussion on the brain, there has been more focus creating better helmets.

One of the problems with the helmet industry (and we’re not just talking about equestrian helmets here) is that helmets work on a pass/fail system. They are certified or they’re not. There is no way to evaluate incremental improvements in safety, to point to one helmet and say it protects you better than another helmet. There was, briefly, a comparative report that was issued by an organization that evaluated helmet safety (it was in the UK) but helmet manufactures squelched it pretty quickly.

This is an interesting article about the current development of bicycle helmets. Definitely worth reading as it talks about how helmets are evolving for other sports that may help reduce concussions.

 

What was your favorite horse book growing up?

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Equine Fiction and tagged with
A Horse Named Joe

A Horse Named Joe was one of my favorite horse books when I was a kid. It had all the key elements — a one-person horse that tried his heart out for “his” rider, an evil villain who tried to cheat his way to winning a race, and of course, the right ending!

I will admit that I read anything and everything that mentioned a horse. Most of them more than once. Of course I read all of the Black Stallion and Island Stallion books — who could resist the thought of riding your own black stallion in a race after being rescued from a shipwreck . . . or crossing the Sahara desert to retrieve your horse . . . or living on an island and taming the local stallion so he was just yours.

And then there were the Marguerite Henry books, Misty of Chincoteague of course, but I also loved the White Stallion of Lipizza.

Black Beauty, of course. And My Friend Flicka.

There were the Blaze books when I was younger . . .

I graduated to Dick Francis books when I was about 12 and have read all of them at least twice.

What about all of you? Which books fueled your horse fantasies?

Thundering Hooves! Shire Racing in England

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, Horse breeds, horse racing and tagged with

Who says draft horses can’t run? Check out this race — and it’s exciting finish — of Shire horses in England. Certainly the thundering of the hooves coming down to the finish line must have been impressive in person as these horses stood between 17.3 and 18.2 hands and weighed about a ton.

Welcome Zelda!

Posted by Liz Goldsmith in Commentary, horses and tagged with ,
Zelda

Zelda has settled into her new home. New England? No problem!

Zelda thinks she might want to be a foxhunter when she grows up so she has come to stay with me for the summer and fall to test the theory. For me, it was like Christmas in June! How lucky am I to get a beautiful horse to ride while Freedom is in recovery?

She arrived this morning from North Carolina and settled right into her new abode.  I’m very excited to ride her — she’s a beautiful horse who seems very level headed. After 13 hours on the trailer, though, I thought she’d enjoy a day off!

So far Zelda has been the epitome of laid back. She trotted around her paddock a few times, had a roll and then proceeded to eat. She touched noses with Curly and

Zelda meets Curly

Zelda and Curly meet.

likes to know that Curly and Fortune are close by, but has not shown any anxiety. I’ve checked on her a few times throughout the day and she acts like she’s lived here for months. Nice to see her settle in so quickly.

“So where’s Sheldon?” you might ask. Sheldon is summering on Cape Cod where he has his own working student to focus just on him. He is still available for adoption through CANTER NE.

Freedom continues to recover nicely. My greatest challenge now is keeping him calm. I’m trotting him for up six minutes during a ride (a minute at a time) but we’ve had some impromptu cantering in place and a few spectacular spooks. I can’t wait until I can take him out and just let him roll . . . but that’s a ways off still.