Ah, I envy you. I haven't had an opportunity to work with horses for many years. That's a good looking young man you have, and I'm sure you're going to have great fun working with him.

good looking horse. do you just ride for fun or use them for work or polo or fox hunting or...?

Ahh, that new horse smell....

Beautiful animal, enjoy!!!

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:
good looking horse. do you just ride for fun or use them for work or polo or fox hunting or...?

TBG (The Beautiful Girl) will train him to compete in the Hunter discipline.

When I ride him, it will be in western tack for fun, but this is really a project horse for her, and I have my own old boy.

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:

good looking horse. do you just ride for fun or use them for work or polo or fox hunting or...?

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting ArtieS, here are a couple of photos of him on horseback:

Well, I am a redhead of English decent...

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:

good looking horse. do you just ride for fun or use them for work or polo or fox hunting or...?

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of meeting ArtieS, here are a couple of photos of him on horseback:

Hey, we have some very cultured members here. Right? No? Yeah, nevermind.

I know little about horses. However, I do know when something looks good and that is one fine looking horse. Best wishes for a long future with the new steed.

Do you use the same horse for polo and fox hunting?

[insufferably stuffy English accent]Heavens, no.

Polo is played on polo ponies. One brings at least six ponies so that one always has a fresh pony for a chukker.

When one rides to hounds, a good jump is imperative to clear the hedges you know. A hunter of at least 16 hands is a bare minimum.

Silly philistine.[/insufferably stuffy English accent]

Edited to apologize and clarify.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ArtieS,

Feels odd to Congratulate a man on severely damaging his net worth

But I’m sure he’ll be fun

Feels odd to Congratulate a man on severely damaging his net worth

ArtieS, Please accept my apology for being an ignorant ,boorish, working class jerk! I thought I had asked a legitimate question that I did not know the answer. I do not appreciate the childish name calling. I would expect more from an educated,high class individual.

jgerge222, no apology necessary from you, and my reply was intended to be tongue in cheek.

I sincerely apologize for offending you, and regret that you did not find my reply in jest. I certainly only intended to keep the English Hunting and Polo joke going, and not cause offense. In fact, I intended the polo and hunt post to be read with an insufferably stuffy English accent, and probably should have been clearer about that.

V-Tail was pulling my chain with the hunting and polo stuff (the picture of the guy playing polo is Prince Harry, not me). We don't do any of that, and are ordinary, central Florida recreational horse riders, with a small barn.

Please accept my apology, and understand that I mean no harm.

To give you a serious answer, I know very little about polo, but polo is played on small, quick, maneuverable horses that run extremely hard during the match. A match is broken into 7 minute periods each called a "chukker" A short match is 4 chukkers and a full grass match is 6 chukkers. Typically, given the intensity of the movement a polo player will use a new pony for each chukker, because the horses get exhausted. Thus either 4 or 6 horses would be needed for a match. Professional players may use double that number and change horses in the middle of a period.

The Hunting picture that V-Tail posted is traditional horseback hunting, also known as riding to hounds, which is following a pack of hounds across the fields, streams and hedges as the hounds chase a fox. Often, the fox was caught before the ride, caged, and then released with a head start, then the dogs went, then the horses went. England has now outlawed fox hunting with dogs as being cruel to the fox. It is still done with a chemical sent trail for the dogs to follow, and clubs exist for people to practice that form of riding. The sport of "cross country riding" is a timed course that is meant to mimic this sport and is even an Olympic event.

The discipline that my partner competes in is called "Hunter" riding, but that is a competition conducted by riding a course in an arena and being judged by a professional judge. These events subjectively judged, they aren't timed. They involve non-jumping flat classes, jumping classes and what are called equitation classes. Equitation judges the rider; the other classes judge the horse.

Show Jumping, which is also an Olympic sport, looks a lot looks a bit like the Hunter discipline, in that there is a jump course set up in an arena, but unlike Hunters, it is a timed course, and time faults are awarded for knocking over rails on a jump, or exceeding a certain maximum time. There is no subjective component in Show Jumping.

Dressage is a subjectively judged event where the horse performs a series of stylized movements, and has two judging components; degree of difficulty, and execution of the movement. Certain movements are required, at different levels of competition. It's kind of the horse sport equivalent of figure skating, and is often performed to music.

Then there's the entire scope of "western" riding disciplines, which although I ride western style tack, I don't understand at all.

I hope this helps.

Thanks Artie, I shan't raise my hackles so quickly. No offense taken, I really do not have any horse knowledge or sense, but I always do enjoy your pictures of your beautiful horses.

Thank you, I appreciate your grace.

A