Yes, bareback through a dam.
Forgive my ignorance but I’m totally clueless on what this means?
19 Likes
Actually, most deaths I’ve heard of in triathlons aren’t during the later phases (running or biking) but during the swimming phase, because some people ONLY train in a pool versus open water (plus the additional difficulty of having so many flailing bodies around you in a strong current).
Re: owning…I’ve met some people who have owned horses for many years who had trouble even handling what even wimpy me would consider not-difficult horses on the ground, and, of course, there are some people who have never owned but thanks to having to make do with many mounts, can ride seemingly anything.
7 Likes
Riding a horse bareback means riding with no saddle.
A dam here is a hole cut out of the land to fill with water from the rain. Usually for livestock to drink from. They can be small or very large. Much smaller than a lake.
2 Likes
Yep.
On a good day my fire breathing spook fest red headed tb could be trusted to allow a beginner rider to experience riding a leg yield.
A cool breezy fall day? Nope.
Even the very same horse can offer different results.
But those who haven’t been around much don’t understand that.
7 Likes
My husband thought because my young mustang could jump the 4’ pasture fence, that she had enough scope for the Olympics. If Teddy O’Connor could do it, then by god, so could Zephyr.
10 Likes
Sounds like what some people call a “tank” here. “Cow tank”, often. Same thing, hole dredged out where drainage and rain will help it fill and provide water for grazing animals.
“Zephyr” sounds like the perfect name for a young mustang out there jumping 4’ fences, all on his own. Would have sounded great over the loudspeaker system at the Olympics. 
5 Likes
Elsewhere known as a pond. I love colloquialisms. 
5 Likes
A dam here is something built to stop the flow of a river. We have huge dams. Both to capture fresh drinking water in a reservoir and to generate hydro electric power from mountain rivers.
5 Likes
A dam is much bigger than a pond here.
We are not allowed to build anything that will affect the flow of a river or stream. Dams are usually in the middle of a paddock.
The council has huge dams for drinking water. They are not the same thing. They take over people’s houses and land and you have to move and they create a huge dam that can hold water sports, boating and fishing.
When I worked at a dude ranch, several of us employees were on our way to visit a fellow employee who had a cabin nearby. Our directions included “turn at the third reservoir.” We didn’t see any big lakes for drinking water, and eventually figured out that a “reservoir” was a small pond, created by building an earthen dam to keep rainwater from flowing downhill.
And I believe SuzieQNutter’s paddock would be a pasture here in the US of A.
ETA: A dam here is a wall, made of dirt in this instance, to keep water from running downhill. So, SuzieQNutter’s “dam in the paddock” to water livestock is a pond in the pasture. Go figure…
4 Likes
LOL a paddock is much larger than a yard.
SuzieANutters dam is a reservoir here and we have pastures or pens. lol
LOL chooks are kept in pens here. (Chickens)
That is an ‘artificial lake’ where I live. Or ‘reservoir’.
‘Artificial lakes’ have been created for all of the purposes you mention. By use of a ‘dam’ wall to stop the water from a stream & rivers to fill a lake area. So that is at least one difference, they do affect the natural flow of water.
I live about 50 miles from one and vividly remember when it was first created. As described, property was bought by the gov’t and people had to abandon their houses which eventually ended up in the bottom of the artificial lake. Which is today indistinguishable from any other lake, except to the people who know where the farmhouses are located on the bottom of the lake. This lake if popular for recreation and is probably the reason for the continued survival of some tiny towns that are now catering to the tourists.
The name of that one includes the word Lake. But today perhaps it would be named a Reservoir.
1 Like
I think the use of “lake” continues to be common though I don’t know of any new ones to support my point. But the famous ones are all “lake” — Lake Powell, Lake Mead. Formed by the Glen Canyon and Hoover Dams which are concrete, not water, and would be hard to ride through! 
Hence the confusion.
3 Likes
Adding to the horse rentals stories: we were on the Oregon coast during a college reunion trip. We went to a horse rental place to ride on the beach (so fun!) and during the horse assignments, the guy gets to me, the only real rider in the group. I tell him we have horses at home and I ride regularly.
“Oh, so you want to race and go real fast?” he says.
“No, of course not!” I tell him.
He cracks into a grin and gives me an appropriate mount. He said he asked that question of anyone who said they had experience. He said that the only people who answer “Of course not” to his question are the people who actually have the abilities they say they do.
I thought it was a pretty clever question to get accurate information.
25 Likes
I did the rental trail ride once, and as an experienced rider I was given the horse that kicked other horses, with the expectation that I would discipline him. Not fun.
2 Likes
What they are thinking if not saying: “Oh good you can ride … put a training ride on this horse, please. Who is in revolt against being a nose-to-tail trail ride horse.” 
On the rare occasions in such situations I frame my riding experience to get an easy horse. I’m not really interested in spending my ‘fun’ trail ride on a naughty one.
When people ask “don’t you want a spirited horse?” I ask them what they mean by “spirited”. Naughty? Bucks? Runs away? Not really, no. I’m here to enjoy being with the people I came with, and the scenery. I’ll do a real ride at home.
It’s a chance to just sit there and enjoy the view from a horse.
10 Likes
A friend got a really talented mare out of a trail string this way. Lots of riding under the supervision of a trainer really made that mare shine.
She never quite got over the kicking. When she and my mare were in adjacent paddocks, a new barn worker thought it would be easier to stop once and throw hay on each side of the shared fence, rather than be sure the hay piles were well apart. Both mares were very protective of their hay, so a kick-fest ensued; my mare broke a fence board and injured the other mare badly enough that I paid half the resulting vet bill. Oops.
2 Likes
When I was in college, I took a bf to a trail ride concession in the state park. He insisted he knew how to ride and was surprised that I wouldn’t take him to the barn where I leased a horse and taught lessons.
Trail ride place was kinda grubby. Wrangler asked us to pick horses. I picked the one she had ridden in on, one that was better cared for than the rest of the lot.
BF looks at the rest of the tired looking trail string dismissively and utters THAT sentence: “I just want one with a little spirit.”
I think y’all know how that worked out.
15 Likes
