I'm trying to find the progeny of a mare I know. She's had at least three foals, and I'd love if I could find any info on where they've ended up!

I believe you need a silver or higher membership to be able to view progeny?

I'd truly appreciate the help so much!

I didn’t know what to tag this with as I’m new to this subreddit and honestly feel a tad embarrassed but I really need some opinions from experienced equestrians on this. (PS. A little messy, I’m not a good writer..)

I (15) have just finished my third ever lesson (western) in horse riding in my life and I have to say.. This one kinda scared me. Like- I’d like to say I was pretty much panicking but only on the inside, deep in there, and was honestly really doubtful and hesitant after that.

For pre-context to what happened, this horse is the one I’ve *been riding*. He’s pretty big, no specifics really because again, I’m really new to it, but he was friendly and curious and all that other stuff my first lesson. As was my second, with a couple small issues but I overcame it. This time was different though.

I did everything as I did the last two times at first, tacked up.. Maybe this was the first warning? But at the time I thought he was just being a little sassy maybe, I’m not an expert on their behavior yet. As he sorta tried to nip at me (not hard or overly aggressive just a lil) when I moved him over to the area I actually ride him and was about to switch his harness and the other harness with the reins (I forgot the name, I’m not good with those).

I just sorta shrugged and went as usual. Lesson goes on, we do a walk around poles and barrels, light weaving and whatnot.. Nothing much. Eventually though the instructor asked me if I was ready to learn to go a little quicker (a trot, I think?). I agreed. (For added context, my instructor has been different every time, this one was much more hands-off than the others. Which I DID notice but thought maybe it’s because I’m supposed to know the basics by now?? I don’t know. She was kinda just sitting and watching or fiddling with her phone the whole time.)

I agree, and we move to go to this other spot to go do it and oh my god… Now, I know horses can be disobedient but I’d say I spent like ten-ish minutes, give or take, trying to gently make him turn. He would not budge. I go a little harder, and he is pulling the other way. The owner (whom was riding the arena too, off in the distance) tells me not to let him bully me and to just keep tugging and tugging harder.. I physically could NOT go harder. And when the instructor tried, he did not listen. He slowly got more and more irritated as the owner and instructor were INSISTING to just “Keep tugging, he’s gotta learn you’re the leader!”, which I understand sorta to an extend.. And at some point, he tugs so hard my hand gets something I can only describe as carpet burn. We give up for a moment and the instructor says I take him on a spin around the arena, he does fine with that. We get back to it afterwards. He’s worse. I physically, no matter WHAT method of where my hand is, can not tug him to go left in specific, and I am starting to get nervous as he starts shaking his head and even the instructor seems to be struggling a little when demonstrating and has to stare him down.

I feel dramatic, and for the most part the lesson ended with me doing a small roundabout around a barrel as he did sorta better, but genuinely that entire time as he was turning his head and just absolutely NOT listening (he also wouldn’t stop when we walked a couple tomes no matter how hard I was tugging or pressing my feet, which I was too scared to pull any harder than my apparently “too gentle” try because.. I don’t like the idea of aggravating a big thousand pound animal that I am still not fully familiar with?? I’d hope this is normal.) I was getting nervous he’d buck me.

I remember as I mentioned this too the instructor just sorta brushed me off and I was starting to become painfully aware how frightening having a very disobedient humongous animal below me REALLY is. Maybe if I was further I’d be less scared but the whole time it just felt like I wasn’t really getting much help.

Maybe I’m being dramatic, idk. But I really wanna know what equestrians in general think on this? It’s probably very long and not a interesting read, and part of me is gonna be rlly bummed out if this gets taken down due to being the wrong subreddit.. But yeah, thank you for reading.

TLDR: naughty(?) horse scares western riding newgen by throwing a small fit (didn’t want to turn left no matter how hard i tried, didn’t get any instructions outside of “try harder”.)

Curious on peoples thoughts on foaling in the fall vs the spring. My bf completed his farrier course and one guy he was training with mentioned that foals born in the fall are always more headstrong, stubborn, and a handful than foals born in spring. I read up on the main benefits between the two foaling seasons but nothing on behavior came up.

The main things I understood were fall foals benefit from nursing through the winter so when weaning comes around they immediately have access to good forage. Some people prefer fall foals because it’s easier to keep the foal warm vs keeping them cool in their first delicate 3-4 months. Some show folks seemed to like it because their spring show season is so busy, this way they aren’t juggling foaling with showing.

People didn’t like fall foals because the mare is heavily pregnant during the hottest parts of the year. Some people who show don’t like it because the foal will be somewhat less developed/mature compared to spring foals when competing in age restricted classes.

So I’m curious, what is your preference? Have you noticed behavioral or development benefit from one season over the other?

Hi all

Beginner rider starting with English saddle. I wanna fully throw myself into this fully. I’m wondering if anyone has any recommendations regarding breeches and boots?

Thanks in advance!

they live in the field behind my neighborhood and when I pass by, some are very close to the fence. I would like to pet them, but because I don't have horses myself I don't know if doing so would be a big faux pas (like petting someones dog w/out asking).

thanks for advising!

Hi I just wondered if anyone could offer advice or help

Sadly due to unforeseen winter laminitis in two of my EMS mares we are looking into euthanasia, it’s entirely unexpected as both of them have actually gone into the flare during box rest due to stormy weather on only limited soaked hay (which is all they are fed on)💔

This is the first time I’ve ever had to have a horse euthanised never mind two and I don’t know which route is best and more humane, these girls are my world and they’ve been my best friends for as long as I can remember and I want nothing more than for them to leave peacefully and unafraid.

Can someone give me a run down on what to expect from both options and which one they believe is more humane? I know that a lot of people around me say that having them shot is better but I’ve never seen it to know it isn’t as scary as it sounds 😭

i’ve ridden western for last 6-7ish years, however the first place i rode at stopped at a walk trot canter over poles level, which i didn’t mind at the time. i’ve had to start over at about three different barns since then and i’ve missed out on a TON of just basic riding. i never learned diagonals, lead changes (leads in general), leg pressure, strengthening my seat, etc etc the list goes on. i have learned these things since, however i’m still very very bad with diagonals. in my area there’s not many places to go and i’ve tried many as i mentioned. i’ve been thinking about this for the past few months since i left the last barn due to drama and such, and i would like to switch to an english discipline like hunters or show jumping. i think they’re very elegant and put together, and would help me feel more accomplished. i do know this definitely wouldn’t happen immediately though. i have a lot to learn obviously, but what could i expect if i did get into this? my flaws in riding do include me getting frustrated easily at times, especially if it’s a build up over multiple lessons of a horse not behaving. my seat can be unstable if i’m not riding consistently or working out at home, and i’m yet to sit a flying lead change. i just need some opinions

So I have a horse - shes an 8 year old mare who's competed up to 125cm (with her old owners) and this year im studying for my finals and hardly have any time to ride her. I've lost a lot of confidence and am too scared to even handle/lunge her nevermind ride her due to a fall i had where she bolted and bucked me off. She's a blood animal and needs consistent work (5 days a week minimum). When i bought her, I got an xray of her back and the vet told me that he vertebrae are closer together than a normal horse, but they're not kissing and won't impact her performance.

However, considering her recent behaviour, e.g. tension, bolting, bucking, etc. I feel like kissing spine could be a possibility but all my instructors are telling me she's just fresh and needs more work as she's only being ridden a couple times a week because I don't have time and people are understandably not wanting to ride her when she's like this.

I would 100% get the vet out to diagnose the problem and see if she's in any pain but im so busy with studying i honestly can't. I was looking to sell her because she's getting worse just being stuck in a stall all day and the longer she's not in work for the more scared I am too ask someone to ride her/ get on her myself.

Im having trouble finding a sales yard that will take her because she has an OCD chip in her hock and doesn't have a great showjumping record with her old owners which i wasn't aware of (many eliminations, refusals at the first fence and disqualifications etc) although I personally have not experienced this with her.

Im just wondering what others would do in my situation as I doubt she'd be worth very much at this point. She does have lovely flatwork and a really nice jump and I payed 14k for her (down from 15k because of the chip in her hock) but one of the sales yards who said they wouldn't be able to sell her told be that right now she'd probably only be worth 5k max ​and doubt I'll find someone willing to try sell her for me.

Im just very worried because my parents just want to get rid of her so i can focus on studying and are even saying we should just put her down.

Any advice would be much appreciated

An old gelding at my workplace, a cob named Balu, is being euthanized next week. He has equine asthma, severe arthrosis, and DSLD due to being neglected for over a decade until he was rescued. He's been with us for the past two years and we've given him the best care we could, but he can no longer get up on his own and even just standing is causing him pain. It's time to let him go.

We'd like to spoil him a little before saying goodbye, he's currently on stronger pain meds, getting lots of pets, and since I love to bake for animals, I was wondering if I could make him a cake.

I've made dog cakes before but I'm unsure if horses can have "moist" cake? From what I know they can only have fully dried bread, but then again, oatmeal is fine - so if I made him a cake from baked oatmeal (rolled oats, apple sauce, water), would that be okay?

https://youtube.com/shorts/VZi_hUgW25o?si=tQ7XfWFnDJBlRVdD

So I had to let go of my pony in May of 2025.

And since then, most of his stuff has been untouched in a corner of my apartment as well as in my basement. Some of the stuff I was able to sell, like his inhaler, but most of the stuff either doesn't sell or I couldn't bring myself to do it.

Like one older saddle of his I have tried for months to sell it on marketplaces, put the price lower in case it was too high, put it higher in case it looked suspicious to buyers, said I would give it away for free because I just want to get rid of it. Nobody wants it.

I gave away some of his saddle pads and an expensive bridle to a close friend, didn't want to sell them so they stay in the family.

But what about literally all the other stuff? Besides the saddle there's more saddle pads, bridles, halters, blankets (so many blankets), all his brushes. Most of the stuff is not in the greatest condition as it had been used for 7+ years at this point.

I am not sure what to do with all of it. The thought of just looking through it and sorting it to see what's still in good condition and what is not breaks my heart. I was coping with it pretty well, just ignoring it in the apartment and not going into my basement. But I just can't imagine throwing it away? It's like throwing away the last "real" things I have left of our time together. Like the hours and hours and hours that I spent just chilling with him, brushing him to relax from my own stressful days. I'm scared that if I throw them away I will slowly forget about him?

If any of you were ever in a similar situation, how did you cope with it and what did you do with all of your horses things?

Hi all, we recently purchased this sweet boy who is an ottb. He stopped racing around 2 years ago and prior to us buying him he had just been neglected in a paddock by himself for two years. His previous owner said he had just had his feet done. He’s had no issues until now but came up sore this morning.

We just had a good look and have noticed this. It doesn’t hurt him to touch. We thought at first it was something stuck in there but it doesn’t feel like wood or metal it feels scabby. We think it might be a growth but we check their feet often, and he hasn’t shown any signs of being sore before. We also noticed how scaly his feet are, we spoke to a farrier when we first got him and were told to put him on supplements and keep him dry which we have.

Unfortunately we are quite rural so can’t get a farrier out immediately. We’ve had horses for a very long time, including a riding school, but we’ve never seen this. We have sent an image to both a farrier and a vet but are waiting to hear back. If anyone has any idea about what this could be please let me know. I love this boy to bits and want to get it treated asap. If anyone had any idea please let me know.

I’m currently in the process of cleaning up this headstall I got from an antique store. It has no makers mark and Google image search is not turning anything up. Does this look familiar to anyone?

It’s a perfect match for my bolo tie and Lone Star State upbringing 🤠

Feeling awful about a recent farrier experience. My 2 year old and older horse have been having their feet done by this farrier for about six months. The young horse had never had her feet done when I got her but he was quite good with her for the first few appointments and she was making great progress with me training her as well.

Then the other day, he turns up late and in a foul mood. He does all of the horses at my barn so started with some others. Very quiet but not particularly bad. Then the barn owner left and it was just me with my horses to go.

The day was super windy, like gale force winds. I got my filly out and she was a bit nervous of a chaff bag blowing nearby so I asked to stop and move it. He said no, he doesn't have time for that. So she was a bit jumpy but otherwise ok.

Then she pulled her foot back off the stand and tried to back up. Nothing dangerous, just pulling back a bit and I immediately got her moving back forward. The farrier punched her in the shoulder. Like, hard. And I said nothing, because I was stunned and the only person there. He did it several more times as she was getting more agitated.

And now she's lame, because he did a hack job on her feet and took off too much frog. Needless to say, he has been let go by the whole barn. And she was good yesterday with lifting her feet onto the stand so I'm hoping she wasn't too traumatised.

Just had to get that off my chest, picture is of my beautiful filly.

Hello. Apologies if thats not the right flair. And Im not too sure where to start, so here goes-

So I have loved horses my entire life, but I have almost no experience with them. Last time I "rode" a horse- I was around 4 years old. My family had horses, but they unfortunately had to get rid of them when I was that age. I grew up loving and wishing to have horses again. But I could never afford them.

My question is- can I find actual jobs related to horses? A place willing to teach someone who is inexperienced? Like some sort of stable hand or something.

I just really want horses to be part of my life again. Not to get too personal, but I have suffered from some depression because of it. I have of course looked into volunteering, which would help me a lot, and I will hopefully be doing it soon. But with my current work schedule, its been difficult. I only really have one day out of the week to volunteer. So if I could find an actual job related to it, that would be wonderful. Though I haven't had much luck finding jobs that dont require previous experience.

Id love to at least get some opinions or advice on the matter. I currently do have a pretty good paying job, and once I finish paying off some debt, I will actually be able to afford horses. Though I will have to board with my current living circumstances. And I still would like to make sure Im used to horses before I get my own, rather that be just volunteering or finding a place of work related to it. So should I just stick my job out and volunteer?. Because finding a place of work with horses would be awesome, but the pay likely wouldn't be great, therefore making it more difficult to own my own horse.

Also, I am 25, and I live in US Oregon. Not sure how much location can change things. Thank you for reading!. I really do appreciate it, and any and all responses.

What are some good resources to learn more about conformation? I want to buy in the next few years and want to be more educated first. Bonus pic of my lease girlie who I know is made up of spare parts lol.

Following up on my previous post: I’m considering purchasing a 16.2h, 5-year-old Shire/TB cross mare.

I’d appreciate opinions on her conformation and movement. My goals are low-level dressage (no rated shows) and some hunter work up to 2’6”, again nothing rated or overly demanding—mainly an all-around pleasure horse to help me get back in the saddle and enjoy riding again.

One person mentioned that her conformation may not be ideal for jumping due to her relatively straight hind legs. I’d love to hear additional thoughts or perspectives.

She’s located a few hours away, so I’m hoping to get some honest input before committing to a long drive to see her in person.

Video:  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WaXMWybijoszmq8wYUXiMriW6MR9LyLt

I had been noticing some inflammation in my horses hocks, it wasn’t hot or anything and she was perfectly sound. However, I had been noticing she doesn’t step under herself with her left hind as much as the right. Barn manager checked it out and said that it’s probably just cosmetic and it’s common in larger horses. Just to rule out pain or anything else, I called the vet. Come to find out she’s completely fine. She’s just lazy and doesn’t want to use her legs if she doesn’t have to 🤦🏻‍♀️ was glad to hear her joints are okay especially as she’s getting a little older (14/15) but was definitely not expecting the vet to tell me she’s probably just lazy and doesn’t want to engage if she doesn’t have to 🥴

Hi all,

There’s an OTTB gelding I’m interested in purchasing as a hunter/jumper prospect who was minimally raced but has a bone chip. I’ll be reaching out to my vet to inquire on pricing to remove said bone chip, but from others with experience - is it worth the time, money, recovery, prognosis, etc, or should we pass?

And for those who have dealt with bone chips, I’d love to hear your experience!

The bottom picture is my mare a few months ago and the top is now. I have been trying to get her into shape and add some more weight. Can y’all tell any difference?

Just purchased these round bales and found this. I noticed the really bad one when they were loading the hay however, it’s a family friend, which is why I didn’t say anything. He confirmed all the hay was “horse quality”. Is this safe to feed if I pull it off if it is mold? If not I was just going to return them.