Thank you ^.=.^

That is so cool! :D Second is still pretty awesome!

Thank you, and yes it was. ^.=.^

Nice!

Quarter Horse is the best horse. Though I do love the personality of the TWH. Those guys are just so damn tolerant.... but not very fun to like... do ANYTHING with. I like being able to Dressage and whatnot. Can't do that on a Gaited Horse ;_;

Nice horse, very, very fit and healthy!

i believe QH to be the most versatile of the breeds. to be honest i havet done much with gated horses. i have rode a few, and even had a missouri fox trotter in for training. (had a raring problem) while many are smooth. but like you said there is only so much you can do with them. besides trail ride.

You ride dressage? in my opinion thats one of the highest levels of horsemanship. i would like to learn some just so i had better control of my own horse's feel placement. i have looked into some western and cowboy dressage (yes they are real classes)

And thank you, he is very much an easy keeper. and right now he is being used for riding lessons. his name is Double Eyed San Peppy.

Yeah, and I ride REAL Dressage. Not a cranked in head and dripping foam as the horse is forced into a position. Protip Dressage community, Collection isn't just about the head carriage. The head position is a side-effect to proper cadence and hind-end impulsion. The head should collect somewhat naturally if you get the rest of the body going right. Most disciplines practice the basic principles of Dressage and they don't even know it!

I agree, QH/Paint are the most versatile in all the breeds I've worked with. Their temperament can be all over the place though. I didn't really realize it until I worked with Walking Horses. They're just so humble and forgiving that it hurts. It's the first breed I really saw such consistency in when it comes to temperament. But yeah... I really do prefer to do more with my horses and I really don't like how difficult it is to train a TWH to go on a loose rein. Everyone I've met always rides them in a leverage bit with a taut rein to keep them "in gait" my TWH will go between a flat walk and a normal walk and a trot if I don't ride him in the bit. I haaaate having contact with the mouth if it's not necessary.

Text wall yay! I love talking horses xD

lol i dont mind the text wall. there is not many furries who can really talk horse and know what they are talking about.

I agree with you. most of the collection exercises i do is having them collect their body. a lot of time collecting them tso they learn to focus on their gait and where they step. or teaching them how to collect them selves as they circle a barrel for better footing. that and i some times have to teach them to rate them selves. i get those horses in that have no rate what so ever, they just fling their legs out there and they are going to where they want to go. i take those horses through some thick woods and make them cross over dead fall and other small ground obstacles. it helps to slow them down and think about their feet placement. you do enough hours of riding in the thick woods. they learn to take their time and think about were they are going, instead of just marching along.

i ride western style and with a very loose rein so i dont do much head collection. i will teach them to collect their head, and as soon as they do i give them release. with double eye if i put any pressure on the reins he drops his head to a level position similar to a western pleasure horse.

i also do a lot of flexing, trying to get them soft and supple. i will do a lot of work on the ground first flexing their head and teaching them to give to me on a soft rein. thank and when im in the saddle i work on flexing their side. getting them to almost roll around my foot.

and i agree there is a lot of dressage skills used in other horseman ship styles. just think about opening a gate. you have to have precise foot control to have your horse open and close a gate with one hand.

and yea. training a gated horse on a loose rein is a pain. the one i had in for training was bad about rearing and flipping over on their owner. and i fixed the horse but i had to train him on a loose rein. i then gave lessons to the owner telling them they could nor ride him on a tight rein. i spent 2 hours teaching the owner to reride his horse. 2 weeks later i see him riding and he was riding that horse with a tight rein again and having trouble again. a week after that if flips on him again...

like i said i do ride with a loose rein. but i will admit i do get heavy handed when im competing, or working, like team penning or team sorting, or even just playing horse soccer. but my horse know me well. i will admit my boy is quite forgiving. i am a good horseman. but i also know my faults and where i could work to be a better horseman. but me and Double eye have done a lot of learning together.

Double Eyed...any connection to the Two Eyed Jack lines? I've never had a Peppy San-lined horse, too hot for my tastes...I will freely admit I'm a Foundation fellow, lol!!! But I've known a few descendants of Peppy San and they were quite decent working animals!!!

I'd have to disagree about the lack of utility for gaited breeds; I'll consider myself lucky if I can get a racking Saddlebred, for example! I find horses to be of whatever utility they are trained for...if you never bother to teach them, of course they aren't as useful. I'll take a clever Walker who knows what he's doing over an inexperienced Paint any day, for example!

Of course, I also anticipate the usual "well Foundation-bred suck for anything anyway" argument, lol. But I wouldn't have a stock horse any other way!

There sure is ^.=.^ Two Eyed Jack is 5 generations back on his papers. so he has some racing blood in him. im surprised you caught that. San Peppy and Two Eyes Jack are old lines now. but yes a lot of working horses have come from the peppy line, many of the big names in the AQHA still have peppy blood. but yes double eye, he is the very first horse i have ever broke to ride, i was 10 and my parents had me and my sister break our own horses for a 4h project. i have had him ever since.

and i didnt mean to lessen the gaited breeds, but for most of the event i have rode my horses in. gaited horses are at a disadvantage. like tight turns and spins in tight spaces like in the gate way during feedlot sorting. now if is was going to do equine gymnastics and such i would want nothing more than a gaited horse. it depends on the event or task, for the horse i would want to use.

i have no problem with foundation. we have had foundation lines on our ranch before, but i havent owned any personally.

Oh hell, if they're old lines now I'm way behind the times, LOL!!!! They're still "buzzwords" for me when I think of stock breeds, as well as a few others of which I'm sure are old now, too. Damn but time does just march on.

LOL well, I'll take a nice fat an' sassy Missouri Fox Trotter over one of these new-style AQHAs...the ones that look like glorified Thoroughbreds and stand 16 hh or more and weigh less than a thousand pounds. They can't turn for shit either...and I hate how much TB has been allowed into the lines of both AQHA and APHA. No athleticism, no ability to get low and tight, no ability to turn, though admittedly they CAN jump. I just don't CARE...if someone wants a jumping Thoroughbred, let them have a damn Thoroughbred, leave the stock horses alone! Even my beloved Foundation horses have better utility than some of these lanky, long, light beasts.

Of course hard to tell conformation on a running horse but looks like your Double Eyed is pretty much the kind of stock horse I like to see...legs don't go on for ten miles and he's got the haunches to back up that threat of athleticism. Good lookin' critter!!! Again hard to tell much from a single photo but looks like he doesn't have a lazy stride, either...if there's one thing I can't stand, it's laziness in reach or stride. Some'a these long, lanky Thoroughbreddy things...it's like they've never even HEARD of reaching, and they sure don't drive from the hindquarters either. Your boy looks like he's got plenty of drive!!!

I'm used to the ridicule and hate some people throw around about foundation stock horses...I all but expect it these days. Makes me sad but I'm used to it. Should see the hate I've had aimed at me when I admit I'm fond of the Impressive bloodline!!! I in no way support or approve of breeding HYPP positive horses, but there's a simple test to determine if a horse is positive for it. In other words, in a single generation, the disorder could be gone!!!! My own Impressive-bred horse was a great-grandson of Impressive himself...and he was N/N for HYPP. He was built like a brick shithouse, 1,200 pounds and just barely 15 hh. All muscle, dear soul; he was excellent for Halter and Showmanship, and very decent for Western Pleasure. I miss him so much...had to sell him to attend college the first go-around. But I got real used to having people hate me for even owning an Impressive-bred horse. People can be so sadly shortsighted.

Mr. San Peppy's hay day was in the 60s. and thats why he is referred to as a stock breed. just like king, wimpy, and leo.

i like Missouri Fox Trotters. we have owned quite a few over the years. but for our working ranch and cattle horses i prefer our QHs. i think every Breed has its place. thoroughbreds are in track racing, and polo and such. i like tennessee walkers. and missouri fox trotters are great for distance trail riding.

Thank you. he is getting to be an old man. :P he is fifteen now. heck, i still cant believe he is that old. i broke him as a 2 year old (a 4h project i had to do my self when i was 10) and he had some speed to him. i cant and wont say he was the fastest. but he could hold his own. at those chuckwagon races was one of the fastest horses i had ever seen and hands down the best horse rider i had ever seen. it was a small white arabian who could not turn at all. it was a half oval track and the horse would miss the turn, heck it would run behind the grand stands and still win the race it was so fast. and the guy riding it always rode shirtless and had the biggest grin all the time. and he was an amazing rider. one race his saddle came loose, so mid gallop he jumps up on the neck of the horse and reaches back and unfastens the saddle. throws the saddle off and rides the rest of the race bareback and wins that race too. that guy is at the top of my list of greatest horse riders.

peaze... i dont have a problem with the impressive bloodline, those horses cant help that some of them can carry a genetic gene. we use to own a son of Kid Clu, and a son of Perpetualism. i have learned long ago not to judge a horse by color, breed, or breeding. but by how it acts and what it can do.

Wow. That looks like a wonderful place to ride at. I have done a good deal of riding but I can never have enough. I wish I could do so more often. I think I have ridden 3-5 times in the past year. When I am on the back of a horse, or even just around them, is when I most often feel the deepest joy. I bet racing is one heck of a thrill eh? :3

oh i love competing and racing on my horse. now he is getting older, im not racing him much, he dosent have the speed he use too. but he can still do anything i ask. i use to ride everyday for years when i was training horses. but in the last 2 years i haven't rode horses much since i moved. i miss my boy.

Aws, I envy those that are able to ride with regularity like that. I try not to but its hard when I wish it so badly for myself heh. We just can't afford it. But hopefully we will in years to come :3

i was blessed to grow up on a horse ranch. and my parents had me and my sister in 4H and went on many horse riding trips. and i turned my skills into a business training horses for clients. honestly i cant currently afford to have my horse with me right now, i live in san antonio and it kills me not to have brought him with me. but i couldn't afford to keep him here.

Dang. Better to have love and lost then not loved at all, eh?
I wish you the best. I want to learn more about horses before I own one of my own. Curious though, what do you do for a living now?

i am currently a scuba diver at seaworld. and i haven't lost per say, my parent are taking care of my horse and using him for riding lessons.

*nods* Well, having had that life, and then not having it. Getting to ride often, and then not, I mean. But a diver at sea world? Sounds like a new thrilling line of work. Bit of a trade off :3 That line of work sounds like a wonder of its own too.

I saw this on EquestrianFurs submissions. This shows great form and a great gait. I used to train with Quarter Horses and various other horses. Always loved a challenge especially training green horses. I have tried a mockup version of pony express, it was a fun. I can only imagine what a real course is like.

Hmm, going back to one of your earlier comments, training a gated horse on a loose rein can be a pain depending on the breed of horse and its personality. However, that being said I find horses to be versatile when you train them for. I worked with an ex-race horse named Jasper, who was a Thoroughbred. He excelled at maiden equitation, fun to jump and now trained for barrel racing. Another equine I worked with was a Lipizzaner, who was a descendent of Pluto. He excelled in dressage and his owner and I taught him to jump. Like any horse learning a new skill/mode of riding, he was awkward, but later he got into the swing of things.

your reply below. XP

Thank you very much. i have rode and worked with a lot of horses, and he is my boy, having proven him self time and time again, i wouldn't trade him for any other horse that i have ridden.

you might would have liked this pony express race. it was a 3, half mile lap relay. and the third person (me) of the relay had a paintball pistol. and there was an outlaw with a paintball pistol, if your teams rider got shot by the outlaw your team DQed for that day. my team was the only one the outlaw wasnt able to DQ at all. it was 3 consequitive days of racing.

any horse can be versatile, but most breeds are attuned to do events/ riding styles better than other breeds. now i have no experience on training a horse to gait, and i would be at a lost with dressage. but thats on my end of training knowledge, not the horse or the breeds fault.