Let's all point and laugh at a pic of Soup....!

[The_Fjord_Jockey]

And as if you couldn’t tell by the look of anguish, fear, and confusion on my face…this is only my second time trying to gallop a horse. Note I said: trying.

I could stand to go a little shorter on the irons, I suppose. My friend who took the picture is a show rider and was yelling, “Lengthen your irons! Keep your head up! LOOSEN YOUR REINS!” to which I would yell back, “NO! THATS NOT HOW RACEHORSES WORK!” to which she would respond, “Well she isn’t a racehorse anymore, she’s a SHOW HORSE! SHOOOOWWW HOOOOORRRSSEEE!”

Ahh, friends…

WHOA PONY!

[Albion]

Actually, it wasn’t the pressing into the neck I had problems with (I’m a bad girl & ride babies - any babies - with low hands). It took me about two weeks to get used to where my body was supposed to be & NOT doing anything that remotely resembled a half-halt to slow the little beasties down. The first time I ever galloped a horse was truly hysterical (in retrospect, of course ).

Nothing wrong with coming from a ‘show horse’ background - IF you’re willing to learn & do a lot of things differently. My friend Ali is a beautiful, beautiful rider - I love watching her on a horse. Any horse. A hunter, a racehorse, whatever. She was riding ‘show horse’ types long before she ever sat on a racehorse & switches back and forth with relative ease. Maybe she’s a total rarity, I don’t know.

Riding the TB babies really helped me add to my skill set - I’m VERY comfortable with the slow way of starting youngsters now, having done the ‘Ok, they’ve been shedrowing for three days! Time to take them down to the track & teach them to canter!’ thing.

[SeaOat]

I, as a former hurdler, noticed it may be Bo’s feet, as they gave me problems as well. Dr Scholls gel pads will not only give him lift but cushion the impact upon landing.

(whew, there’s more than one person around here that needs to get out more… !! I swear, I will not look at PD pictures for the rest of the day…but I will be dreaming about them as I sprawl out on the beach (if you see a patch of white on the satellite image of Francis, well that would be me) this weekend

[Alagirl]

Thought you pulled a picture out of my archives…does that ever take me back…(no, I am too bad to galopp for anybody worth a flip, but I had my own to get dumped by )

Put them hands down - it’s a weird feeling at first but it’ll grow on you (try a longish canter through the country side!)

Shorten stirrups, believe it or not, shorter is better when you encounter a runaway or one that pulls like an Ox! One of ours ran off with my dad once…can’t remember how many laps she did, but I think she easily equaled the distance of the Grand National! My dad was sore (stomack) for a week! (The horse, too, but hey, she could’ve stopped! )

You look OK!

[Racetb_Aefvue_Farm_B]

Close, Soup…especially the less exotic part! How I went from thoroughbreds to prairie dog rescue to pet armadillos is beyond me…I once heard a prospective boarder’s friend run up to her as they were leaving and say "You HAVE to put your horse here Millicent…even the f&%ing chicken has a fan!"…Good banner for a farm ad. Ride with Ripton Farm…even the f&%ing chicken has a fan…lol!!

[Racetb_Aefvue_Farm_B]

LOL! You were put on this earth to have prairie dogs! If there is any justice in this world…God will let me come back as one of my critters. Then I can lay around in front of a fan all day while THEY feed me treats and clean poops 24/7. My life revolves around poops. Give that bad crow a smooch. When people like us say our horses are bomb proof…we mean bomb proof.
P.S…Hey Texans! I need to replace my beloved pet Armadillo. Give some poor Texas roadkill a loving home! This is a highly illegal operation involving overnight UPS and boxes labeled “Live Plants”…if you have a sense of adventure, the wherewithall to catch a dillo, PT me

[Racetb_Aefvue_Farm_B]

Okay…last non horsey pic. This is Snowy the white prairie dog guarding the door. “No Treat?Go home! You won’t be tackin’ up your nag today!”

[SeaOat]

racetb: Seriously count me in on the PD adoption waiting list (PLEEEEAAAASE). I have no weiner-dog, or any dogs at all anymore (kids away, I’m pooch retired now). Just a couple of TV watching house cats that are too fat to bother much of anything and an old rooster and a couple of his gals. Old lonely woman needs someone to go “YAHOO” and do the wave…

(Yikes, this is a scary sounding plea for anyone not having read the thread! lol)

[The_Fjord_Jockey]

[SeaOat]

Oh, is a cavy like a guinea pig?? Seems the kids used to say their GPs were cavy relatives (cavys?cavies?). If so WOW, I had no idea they were that big!

[Racetb_Aefvue_Farm_B]

DeAr HeWMaNs,

Do noT FiLl mY HEwMan’s heAd WiTh DiET iDeaS. PDs NeEd cHoColAtE. iT iS An IMpoRtAnT dAilY rEqUiREment. nOT tHaT StiNKiN HaY AnD RodENt CubeS OuR sOon To bE RuBbeD OuT Vet Is CoNsTAnTlY SUggEsTinG.

YrS. iN PeRFect FiTTneSS,
SnOWy

[Racetb_Aefvue_Farm_B]

Yeah! At the farm we have one [out of 17!] attack prairie dog that rushes out from under the tackroom and bites you…another that insists on building her prairie dog towns at the base of every jump in the ring, Greta the Armadillo who will bumble into your horse’s legs on the cross ties…and a huge disgusting old turkey who will kick your lights out if you look at him cross eyed…I have no idea why anyone pays good money to board here. And, yes, a Patagonian Cavy is the second largest rodent in the world and related to the guinea pig…but looks and acts more like a small jackalope…I mean deer.

[SeaOat]

Ah-HAAAAAAAAAAAAA LMAO!!! Green doggies!

OK Racetb, I’ve seen it happen before (I was once you). You are an outgoing, alive person that people know around town. They want to be seen with you. Your calander stays full. Your dresses aren’t off the rack. You’re the “Let’s do lunch” lady on the campaign trail.
Then you take in an animal “just till he gets better” because you’re charitable (and the cameras were rolling when that wildlife rescue person shoved it at you). Then another came along. Then another…now you are seeing things in these “animals” that you like. They’re smart, funny, entertaining and stay that way even after their second martini. So now you’re wondering what’s the big deal w/ the Three Tenors anyway? Never see them getting a YAHOO enchore. You gave away your season tickets, stopped returning calls and are recently seen alongside stretches of Tex. roads picking up littered beer bottles & crying. Your husband hasn’t seen your un-natural hair color in years and now he even has started calling PDs his children and mistook a dillo, more than once, as his briefcase (it’s from alligator, an easy slip).
Well, it’s NOT NORMAL. It’s just NOT NORMAL to dye your children green. Unless you’re Irish. Everything else is perfectly OK.

[Racetb_Aefvue_Farm_B]

OLYMPIC GOLD!!!

In an unprecedented athletic undertaking, United States swept the medals in the Athens PD-athalon. Snowy and Chubs scored a perfect 10 on the cage bars, and in the food-bowl-filled-with-Fruit-Loops-all-the-way-across-the-cage Sprint…Chubs hit the tape in World Record Time!! Their coach, Miss Andrea, was too overcome for comment. Here Chubs shows off the training physique that all our competitors strive for.

[beaujolais]

Now, Soup - Give yourself some credit !!

This is new to you. You look wonderful. Just be safe & be happy.

That is so cool !

I used to be a racehorse groom. They were the best years of my life. “Normal” jobs are often vastly overrated.

[Racetb_Aefvue_Farm_B]

LOL! Be advised there is a transport and sales ban on pups right now [due to 3 poor pups getting Monkey Pox from a pet store rat] and we’re all going to prison. I already have an “illegal imoportation of a porcupine” warrent proudly displayed on my fridge…delivered by armed wildlife officers!! They had a sense of humour at least, and made up a lovely arrest copy for display at my insistance. What’s a little Monkey Pox rash and some jail time to give these pups loving homes?? Yrs. in insanity,

[SeaOat]

DAISY, you Jackalope you! OMG, that is hysterical putting antlers on her!!
Boy would we love to lead her around backside, she’d sober a lot of people right up
She’s really cute

[Racetb_Aefvue_Farm_B]

LOL!!! Okay Soup, Sea Oat and PD fans too numerous to mention…I’ll start a new PD thread…so people coming to laugh at Soup’s picture don’t think you’ve grown fur and buck teeth…I’ll tie in TBs somehow so to assuage the moderators!!

[The_Fjord_Jockey]

Thank God I don’t come from a show background (no offense).

As a matter of fact, I don’t come from ANY riding background. I’m doing good if I stay on. That’s maybe like, the 5th time I’ve cantered. Not so much because I don’t like cantering…more because my fat Fjord refuses to go above a jiggly trot.

Mom made me learn to ride bareback and she rarely lets me use stirrups (not so much from wanting me to learn balance, but she has this paranoia of me getting my foot hung up in an iron).

And she says learning to gallop and galloping on a track is totally out of the question. NO FAIR!

[Racetb_Aefvue_Farm_B]

Yeah Hobie…I asked for that little doozie in Vanderbilt’s barn. God. Some other information to show riders debuting at the track:
That mean looking exercise rider IS going to purposely break off at your nag’s shoulder to breeze, so you can YET AGAIN be run off with.

When the groom informs you, in regard to the shoulder dropping, propping bitch of a filly he’s throwing you up on, "She be back through the tunnel [Belmont] without you in five
minutes…she will.

Your upper arms will soon resemble a Russian weight lifter’s, and you can kiss that favorite little sleeveless Givenchy number goodbye.

Nobody cares about your third place in the Medal Finals, that you rode with George, or even knows what the hell you are talking about.

It will be some of the most successful jocks and trainers, when you least expect it, that will be generous with their time and expertise. You will be lost in admiration and gratitude for these folks, and remember their advice to your dying day.

And finally, if you perservere, you’ll be happily galloping a nice set of horses, flying past Ruffian’s grave or such on a beautiful track… and lost in wonder that you’re being paid to to this thing.