I now that a lot of you would HATE to think about not doing dressage, but what would you do?
I would be in the Quarter Horse Circuit and do pleasure and equatation riding!
I couldn’t agree with you more, but…
If he’s swilling Coors LIGHT, he ain’t a real cowboy.
re-read brookes’ post the message icon is a 
Is your tiara smudged today?
http://communities.msn.ca/KristinSaunders/PhotoAlbums
Jen West, going out on a limb here! Dad Potter versus ODG’s. hmmmm I may have to think on this awhile. As for the bud, I’m glad you moved to a more amenable location (beer wise) I have to confess though, it’s corona for me!! If you’re ever in a fix I’ll send ya a six o’ bud!
Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!!
[This message was edited by Brookes on Oct. 08, 2001 at 06:00 PM.]
Brookes, please tell your trainer that I’m going to plagiarize her! 
I’d get a really comfy QH that’s relatively bombproof, buy a really comfy western saddle, and hang out on the trails.
Oh yea, I like the idea that you can carry a canteen around filled with the beverage of choice and a saddlebag filled with Hostess Twinkies. What more could anyone want.
With dressage horses, we WANT big, expressive, FLYING changes; not the flat, daisy cutting changes. This is the difference between the flying changes used for western and hunters as opposed to dressage.
I don’t know about western, but with hunters, you want a smooth, flat, clean change – your main objective is to get the lead change. In dressage, we want to show off our horse’s power, jump and expressiveness – we really want to see the flying part of the flying change.
um, neighsayer, it was MY (yes, mine, mine, mine) tiara that Velvet was wearing when her head hit the wall, so it’s more than a bit smudged. She has freaking ruined it and is refusing to have it repaired. I didn’t see the wink. Sorry Brookes, my bad for sure. 
with the ODGs who are fighting modern dressage tooth and nail- I hate to admit it-
Hardihar, and I am a Trader Joe’s Cheap merlot “ho di temps”- hehe. IF there were a beer of the times, well, there I would be, but COORS LIGHT? OMG! Thank-you ever-so-much for the oh-so-civilized offer of Bud, though, and I will HAPPILY send you all of the seeds and water-saving info that may help you and yours in these Taliban-screwed trouble-laden times.
I WILL STAND UP AND DIE for the RIGHT that we have to ride as poorly as we may wish. And I hope that I don’t have to. s
I especially like your Feiner Still colt!!! 
P.S. Yowza! My friend, Kathy, bought your gorgeous Pilar filly. Hrmph! Stomp foot! Darn her for getting their first.
[This message was edited by suzy on Oct. 09, 2001 at 01:58 PM.]
I’d get myself a couple of Fresians and a cart then terrorize my neighborhood driving it around!!
By the way I rode the reining horse again! Had a blast . . . except for the part where I almost fell off!! I somehow asked for spin at light speed and well she did, I went flying off the side! Didn’t hit the dirt though, did a lovely flying dismount onto my two feet while trying to scramble out of the way of her butt coming at me ninety miles an hour! Yes friend was laughing her self stupid. You know the kind with tears pouring down her face. yeah, hah, hah, hah. Horse stopped dead in her tracks and looks at me like. . well you asked for it dummy!! I think I’ll stick to dressage.
Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!!
Suzy, I admire your tenacity.
Jen West,
Here is a little Oregon trivia for you…
Ken Kesey
Jack Nicholson
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Filmed at Salem State Hospital
Have we gone a little light on our medication?.. 
Take a breath of that great clean air for goodness sake! 
“The older I get, the better I used to be, but who the heck cares!”
Brookes…the western horses are a blast aren’t they? I rode a real western pleasure mare a few months ago and coulnd’t believe how well trained she was. Put her in gear and she was like a well tuned car on cruise control. As Jen West and you said, the lead changes were simple and easy for her, and were done without any effort from me (which is what I aim for when working with a hunter). I have found some of the best hunters come from horses who started out in the western discipline.
Behind every good woman lies a trail of men
I rode an Arab reiner about a year ago and totally loved it. I show my horse in western pleasure, so the saddle didn’t bother me (hehe), but I love reining as a sport.
It’s amazing to watch the horses move, and to ride a well-trained horse is the best. The Arab gelding I rode was world-class, the trainer was awesome (and I was totally greatful for getting to ride him!), and WOW! I love how they are so quick to respond to your weight shifts and hand movements.
Totally fun! If only my horse could do that!
Future Endurance Rider…if I can ever ride my horse longer than 20 minutes at a time.
That’s what you mean by tenacity. LOL.
Thanks for the apol Suzy! No hard feelings I really honestly was tryin’ to be funny! Honest!
Now as to your Tiara, what ever possesed you to lend it to Velvet??? You had to know she would just trash it! We will all chip in and save up for a new one for you! In the mean time polish up your halo! We know you’ll never lend that out! (please see winking face to left!!)
Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my!!
What? That Ken Kesey is “all good” because he is from Oregon? Didya know that he was a wrestler and that his son, also a wrestler, died in an accident on the “wrestling bus.?” Or??? I cannot breathe because I am in Oregon, therefor I do not understand dressage?
I personally understand dressage. There is not a dam thing called for in dressage, at any level, that I cannot train a horse to do, except- I probably, even if I so desired, would have trouble training a horse to flip his butt doing a flying change- sorry- thirty years of habit die hard- and I may well fail at training a horse to hit the ground with a hind in between each forefoot beat.
I can, however, teach a horse to “dwell” at any and all gaits, and I can teach a horse to suck behind the bit and to “cheat” at all of the gaits- that is from my western pleasure experience, however useful it may be in GP dressage. s All you have to do is ride front to back. Just watch any World Cup class on OLN. You’ll see how it’s done.
“Behind every good woman…” LOVE it. s
