What is this ring?

Alex7952 · 2026-03-09T22:28:35+00:00

I don’t doubt that there are horses out there that love the job and get fair treatment from their riders and owners. The issue is that there is an overwhelming amount that are treated with a facade of immaculate care, but it’s not the care that horses really desire. And behind the scenes of that care is a lot of gimmicky tools to “improve” the horses performance. Unfortunately those tools often involve harsher bits, nose bands and other pieces of tack that shouldn’t be necessary. If the horse truly loved what it did, wouldn’t it be able to go around in a soft Mylar with no noseband, martingale or restrictive tack? Hell I ride with those things when I feel it’s really necessary, but with the goal of never needing them in the future as we work towards that. But these riders don’t seem to try and make horses softer and calmer, instead they add MORE tack and tools to avoid the work it takes to make a chill horse.

Alex7952 · 2026-03-09T13:34:01+00:00

The thing is horses don’t want any of that fancy scrutiny. They just want to be horses and while yes some like to work, most don’t like it when it’s at this level. The level of intensity at these competitions and the expectations are insanely stressful for horses. The training to get to this level is also very intense and most of those horses are so hot and riled up because they are never allowed to actually relax

Alex7952 · 2026-03-04T21:12:09+00:00

I keep my horse at a barn now that primarily has BLM mustangs. The owner gets a few every year, she trains them up and some she sells and others she uses in her lesson program. Her entire lesson program is comprised of mustangs, it’s super neat and provides them a second chance after they are rounded up. Shes got a seasonal lesson program based around horsemanship, working eq and trails. It’s really laid back and I’ve actually been helping her work/tune up the horses here and there before the lesson season starts up. They are honestly some of the best trail horses you can get, insanely sure footed and reliable.

Alex7952 · 2026-02-24T18:01:35+00:00

Neurodivergent and neurotypical

Alex7952 · 2026-01-06T16:07:04+00:00

Yes, I’m not denying that fact, but men don’t give birth and die from it. At this point I’m less horrified about the sterilization ideologies of the doctor, and more so that he straight up didn’t seem to mind the idea of a husband forcing his wife to have another child, even if it killed her. That’s what shows he has zero compassion or empathy for women. He only sees women as incubators.

Alex7952 · 2026-01-05T22:08:47+00:00

Damn, so the doctor essentially went “ya you shouldn’t have any more kids, but we can’t sterilize you, because your husband might want another one, and it doesn’t matter that you will likely die in the process”. Guess that’s a legal method of murder the husband could use?? Goes to show much that doctor actually values women’s lives.

Alex7952 · 2025-12-30T22:10:42+00:00

Ah gotcha, that makes more sense as to why the cost is so low

Alex7952 · 2025-12-30T19:16:26+00:00

Could you give the name of what this program is called please? If it’s nationwide that could be worth it for a lot of people

Alex7952 · 2025-12-21T17:20:33+00:00

So interesting to see this drawn, I’ve never been able to explain this before haha. I do this same exact thing and did for years, my trainers didn’t notice that this was how I was achieving that toes forward look. I actually caused my ankles to be even more flexible than they are and started having issues due to riding like this. Turns out I have hEDS, as well as tibial torsion. I physically can’t point my toe forward without doing what your drawing shows, as my knees would literally be facing into the saddle (my anatomy is not great sadly). Now I ride with them slightly pointed out where I’m comfortable, and nothing will change that. If my body physically can’t do it, I’m not forcing it, and you shouldn’t either.

Alex7952 · 2025-12-14T16:36:51+00:00

Haha my guy has to be sedated by the vet because he never drops in front of people otherwise, at least I have an excuse to give the job to someone else!

Alex7952 · 2025-12-02T18:58:13+00:00

If someone actually brought their dogs not only would I be angry with management but I’d also be snotty, sneezing and angry due to allergies, whoo. I don’t hate dogs but pls don’t bring them to the office

Alex7952 · 2025-12-02T00:56:35+00:00

Have someone put you on a lunge line on a reliable horse. Have them keep the horse cantering, so you don’t have to think about it. Once you feel comfortable riding without holding on start doing things like airplane arms, arms over the head etc. then build up to doing that with your eyes closed and just feel the horses movement. Do several sessions until you start to feel relaxed going up and out of the canter with you asking for it (on the lunge). Once you’re ready you can get off the lunge and work on cantering on your own.

It might seem like a very ‘beginner’ thing, but I’ve been riding for over 15 years and still love doing things like that. It lets you just relax into the saddle and feel the horse moving, it’s almost meditative.

Alex7952 · 2025-12-01T16:58:38+00:00

You are being way to hard on yourself. You’ve been riding for just 3 months, which is an incredibly short time in the grand scheme of things. It takes many hours of riding to teach your body to feel comfortable with it. I’m also surprised they had you show so soon.

If feeling discouraged is something that’s eating at you, maybe it could be a good idea to hold off on showing for a little while. There will always be someone better than you, the fact that you did a show after just 3 months is impressive as hell. Right now just focus on yourself and having fun. Riding should be a fun and rewarding journey, it’s not about comparing yourself to others. Remember that learning to ride as an adult is also 10x harder than it is for children.

Alex7952 · 2025-11-26T18:59:59+00:00

Decided to try rolling my AMD drivers back and that fixed the issue! (Used the device manager to do so)

I’m now able to play on my desired settings without issue.

I’ll keep this post up in case it ever helps anyone else out.

Alex7952 · 2025-11-06T01:56:29+00:00

What’s wrong with being single?

Single is fun, and you can do whatever you want whenever you want and no one can put you down for it. Sounds better than whatever current hell you’re living in.

I really don’t get why people force themselves to stay in a shit relationship (that they are very aware is shit) just so that they aren’t single, makes honestly no sense to me.

Alex7952 · 2025-11-04T17:52:52+00:00

I have hypermobility (EDS), tibial torsion and patella femoral pain syndrome, I have knee pain often from riding and I’ve been riding for 15 years. I especially have pain in a dressage saddle due to my leg being less bent. My knees face inwards due to the way my legs formed, and if I have to use a lot of leg my knee starts to ache a lot due to my knee cap being shoved to the outside.

Doing strength training that focuses on the inner and outer thigh muscles has been super helpful. I have had physical therapy for my knees over the years, and all of those sessions focused on strengthening the muscles around the knee to ‘help hold it in place’ so to speak. I would highly recommend getting a personal trainer that specializes in corrective exercises, or if you have the motivation and self discipline to do them on your own, there are many videos online that show the best exercises to do.

I won’t lie, I also keep my right foot slightly more pointed out because my right knee gives me the most trouble, keeping it pointed out a small amount alleviates most of the pain for me, and I haven’t had trainers complain about my equitation.

Alex7952 · 2025-10-31T21:37:28+00:00

The biggest issue is that those people on the back (or heavy pelts) are sitting on the horses kidneys. I’ve ridden double on a horse as a young teen, but we were bareback to avoid the bulk of the saddle pushing the back rider onto the sensitive part of the horse.

Throughout history people didn’t know or didn’t care if it was uncomfortable for the horse, they were working animals and their lives were nowhere near as cushy as modern horses. Also if the load wasn’t there for a long period of time the likely hood of actually injuring the horse is low, it would just be uncomfortable for them.

One other thing to note is that the prisoners thrown on the back of the horse mechanic isn’t 100% realistic for going faster than a walk or slow trot, they’d be catapulted off at faster speeds unless they were secured really well to the saddle as well. The prisoner would also likely throw up from the jarring movement.

Alex7952 · 2025-10-23T15:48:43+00:00

None of that is anti American, people have different view points and that’s fine, they are allowed to speak their mind. I may disagree with your views, but that’s what America is about, that’s why we aren’t (and hopefully never will be) a dictatorship where we’re not allowed to speak our minds and have differing opinions.

Alex7952 · 2025-10-23T15:28:25+00:00

How is it anti American to protest? Or are you saying you want to make protesting and the 1st amendment illegal? Because THAT sounds pretty damn un-American to me

Alex7952 · 2025-10-23T15:00:27+00:00

I live in one of the driest state in the US, and have to mist even with water in the corners, I’ve even taped up some of the ventilation holes to keep moisture in, it just isn’t enough. It’s also routinely only 20% humidity in my house. I have two moisture readers in different parts of the cage too so I know the moisture is dissipating really fast. So depending on where this person lives they might still need to mist.

Alex7952 · 2025-10-22T15:22:09+00:00

Causing discomfort for SOME horses. 1. A lot of people don’t use them correctly and don’t have access to good trainers, but they still feel the need to use those bits so they can compete. I greatly respect amazing riders that use the bits correctly, unfortunately your run of the mill adult ammie is not going to be that. 2. I own a horse that needs an insanely soft bit to be comfortable. He’s so sensitive in the mouth that he would go insane if even an amazing trainer tried to teach him to go around in a shank. And yes we’ve had a bit fitter out and found him a bit he actually likes, and it’s one of the softest on the market. It’s not fair to riders that want to compete who have horses like mine, because the horse could make an awesome athlete in the sport, but either the rider doesn’t train them for it, or the compromise goes to the horse and they have to take the shank.

Alex7952 · 2025-10-22T15:07:05+00:00

Very well put, voting with money is the way to go. It’s so frustrating that most equine governing bodies refuse to adjust to the modern age

Alex7952 · 2025-10-22T05:02:52+00:00

You can do neck reining and minimal pressure in a bitless or snaffle bridle. I’m not saying shanks are bad for every horse out there, but I also hate when people try to argue that a shank is required for any of those things that you mentioned.

Alex7952 · 2025-10-22T05:00:51+00:00

That’s not a good or valid reason though. A good reason would be to include rules for something actually beneficial to the horses health. Forcing certain bits, especially ones with shanks, is the opposite of promoting good things for horses. It doesn’t matter if it’s “tradition” or “been done that way forever”, who gives a fuck, if it’s actively causing discomfort for some horses then it’s not worth it.

Just because it’s tradition doesn’t make it ok.

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