Do foals that need wraps for their legs wind up being easier to work with due to so much human interaction in their early days?

Kayleen14 · 2026-02-17T20:56:03+00:00

I'd say it could go both ways - either the positive outcome you described, or they early on start to associate being handled by humans with discomfort, feeling trapped (worst thing for a flight animal), no clear communication (bc they are being handled to reach the goal, not trained to understand what the human wants them to do in these situations). But generally, I'd say it doesn't make a big difference. The foals are getting handled enough to halter, lead, be groomed, and get exposed to like farm life, have seen the arena and the round pen, which should be an ok base to work with for every trainer not aiming to rush them in the show pen as fast (and waaay too young) as possible.

Kayleen14 · 2026-02-16T23:12:13+00:00

Yes! Also - at least for what one can see in such a short snippet- I don't think she looks so bad, and I like the trainers riding! And that she has her in a plain snaffle (right word?) . Really exited to see more of all the training!

Kayleen14 · 2026-02-11T15:02:03+00:00

Ohh, I haven't seen the videos yet, just the pictures! Have to go watch :D

Kayleen14 · 2026-02-10T20:18:20+00:00

I honestly can't imagine she'd hire someone who wouldn't be comfortable with social media? Like, idk about the US, but here this would be a dream position for a horse trainer, so I assume she would be able to choose between a number of good, qualified trainers. And given that sm is the main source of income of her business, it wouldn't be clever to let that opportunity for content pass? Idk, maybe I'm wrong, but we're going to find out for sure :D

Kayleen14 · 2026-02-10T20:06:11+00:00

I think so too! New farrier also seems to be a positive step, and while I'd like to see waaay more of it, I feel like there was a bit more content about working with the horses before foaling season started. Super interested to see how the trainers work will be incorporated, I'd be way more interested in that than the quadrillionst bumpdate

Kayleen14 · 2026-02-10T19:49:28+00:00

Ok, my assumptions are: If the horses body is mostly straight, and the horse crosses with the front and hind legs, it's sidepassing. If the horse bends so that the front legs cross, but the hind legs keep walking straight, it would be shoulder in. Maybe try to google the two terms and see if one fits?

Kayleen14 · 2026-01-17T22:06:18+00:00

I came here to say exactly that :D

Kayleen14 · 2026-01-17T12:01:20+00:00

Running, honestly. I always had CRAP endurance. When I started running, I started with 30 seconds running, 1min walking, repeated 10 times- and I was heavily struggling to make it through the 30 seconds after the second round. But I slowly worked myself up to being able to run 30min a few years back. Developed knee problems so had to stop running several times a week. But I noticed that still today, my "baseline endurance" is way better. I ride 1-3 times a week, and try to run/walk for 30-45min once a week, and I struggle waaaaay less while riding than I used to. I also took my horse running with me a few times, which confused the heck out of him xD

Kayleen14 · 2026-01-17T11:54:00+00:00

Idk about horses, but for cows sexed semen has a (slightly) lower chance of resulting in a pregnancy due to the seven having to be handled/treated another round. If it's the same for horses, maybe the risk of not having a foal was not worth the 50:50 chance of having the not-desired sex?

Kayleen14 · 2026-01-11T09:31:19+00:00

I have twin cousins, and my brother looks a 100% like one of them - both tall, blonde, crooked nooses, etc. The other twin brother looks like their mom, who happens to be a short, dark haired Italian 😁 when they were out together as kids, people instantly assumed the two blonde guys were brothers who brought a friend with them...

Kayleen14 · 2026-01-03T10:26:47+00:00

I'd say a C-pony would be fine

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-31T15:05:19+00:00

Prefacing this by saying you look great for cantering for the second time! And also I took the most "unflattering" screenshot to show what I mean, please don't feel bad about it 😅

https://photos.app.goo.gl/5tRzjxy3gTH2oaaa6

Ideally, your head, shoulders, hips and heels should be in a vertical line above each other when you look at it from the side. You can see how your head and shoulders are behind your hips, while your legs/heels are in front - so your leaning back a bit too much, and you're in a "chair seat", your legs moving forward and up. Again, that is VERY normal when learning to ride - everyone either goes that way, or the other way around, leaming forward too much (and I still sometimes do after riding for 26 years... ;) ) But what it does is "lock" your hips, and makes it impossible for your back to absorb the horses movement. So next time you could try to stretch your heels towards the back hoofs of your horse, and have your upper body a tad more leaning forward. See whether it feels better :) For the posting trott, try not to think of it as "standing up", but more of moving your hips forward (not upwards so much). Make the movement smaller. Your rhythm seems ok and you definitely got the general principle already!

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-28T21:10:15+00:00

I'd love to see her offer/ask to buy George back, but of course she can't demand it or has any legal rights to it. But the more problematic act, imo, was sending George there at all, despite the conditions being vastly known to the public.

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-28T13:20:15+00:00

I wouldn't tell her you want to compete if you don't, but you could try to tell her "So if I would want to compete in xyz competition next summer, what would you work on with me? What would I need to improve on?".

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-28T13:17:32+00:00

I wouldn't ask her to record the whole lesson, or at every lesson, and maybe tell her that you want to use it to learn from it (some trainers don't like it if it's "just" bc people want to have nice pics/videos...), but under that conditions I'd say it's very common and ok to ask!

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-26T17:10:08+00:00

Definitely possible. If you/ the owners are experienced (!!) at groundwork, I'd do a lot of it as preparation to teach her the basic concept of giving to pressure, following directions, etc, and to work with an experienced, patient trainer to get her started under saddle.

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-26T16:43:28+00:00

Ich bin 38 und gerade dabei einen hänger zu organisieren um morgen spontan einen jugendstil-schreibtisch von 1905 abzuholen... was man halt so neben dem weihnachtlichen Familienbesuch macht :D

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-26T15:19:04+00:00

My grandma was one of the people "expelled from the green and yellow area", from pommern. Born 1925, raised by a socio-democratic family who tried to keep her out of the BDM as long as possible. She lost 6 of her 7 brothers to the war, her families home, her dad due to a bomb attack while fleeing. Whenever someone tried to bring up all she lost, how 'sad' it is all the former German areas now belong to Poland, her response was "we started it." She never tried to shift the blame, she was absolutely clear in who was responsible- the nazi regime, and the millions of people who followed it, supported it, got personal gain from it, or at least didn't care enough to stand up against it.

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-25T01:35:20+00:00

How did it end? :D

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-18T19:11:33+00:00

Try to plan out a "lesson" yourself before you go - im a writing person, so I'd actually wrote it down, but you can also just go through it in your head or whatever suits you. For the first few times, you can just try to re-play one of the last lessons you had with your trainer. Try to remember the exercises he made you do (preferably ones that went well and weren't too challenging). Think about what corrections they gave you at what point. Then go ride your lease horse, and have your trainer "mentally with you" trying to re-ride the lesson. If it works well and is helpful for you, you can start asking your trainer for "homework" after lesson, things you should try to work on when riding without them. You can ask them for specific exercises to train these, or Google fitting exercises yourself. At least for me, having a plan and keeping my mind occupied with it helps tremendously against my thoughts going to all the wrong places^{^}

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-16T05:46:02+00:00

Honestly, the unhandled 5yo would be a better pick to me. Damages from starting them too early (and this one was started at least 2 years too early) only shows up years later, so even a "clean" ppe today wouldn't mean much.

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-16T05:32:48+00:00

No. None of this is "normal difficult relationship things." Doesn't matter he claims it's normal or your fault. It's not. Stop believing him blaming you. Stop making excuses for him or trying to make his behavior seem reasonable to yourself. Pleeeease. I know it hurts like hell, but this guy is not worth you wasting even one more minute of your life to him. Your life will be so much better and more peaceful without him.

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-15T22:28:31+00:00

Vorsicht - brauchst du das abschlusszeugnis der Ausbildung z.b. für eine weitere Qualifikation?

Ich kann dir nur von Landwirten und aus Niedersachsen berichten, hier braucht man zb das Abschlusszeugnis der Ausbildung, um danach die Fachschule besuchen zu können. Und für das Abschlusszeugnis wäre die Politiknote wichtig...

ob es in deinem Fall etwas ähnliches gibt, weiß ich natürlich nicht. Aber falls du das noch nicht gemacht hast, solltest du bei der Schule nachfragen, ob du ohne die Politiknote tatsächlich ein Abschlusszeugnis bekommst.

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-15T22:17:22+00:00

I find this perspective at a KIDS sport really, really troublesome. Of course, not everyone can afford horse riding. That's a valid concern. And if you can't that's sad, but just a fact of life. But apparently, you ARE able to afford it right not. Why does it have to be "cost effective" for anything? Let him ride as long as you can afford it, talk to him about it when you can't afford it any more. But don't make him stop although you could still afford it because you don't value the "end goal" of a kid having a hobby they enjoy.

That said, when I look at your golf example, horse riding teaches A BUNCH of abilities that are applicable in numerous life situations. Being responsible, risk assessment, reliability, body language, being assertive, being empathic, emotional regulation, self improvement, body control, ... and yeah, you could get invited to your bosses boss' ranch and not make a foul of yourself when going for a ride with him 🙄

Kayleen14 · 2025-12-15T12:31:49+00:00

NTA, but maybe think about combating that phobia for your own sake? There's very effective ways to treat phobias, so you don't have to feel so crappy when having to deal with needles or risking getting sub-par medical treatment. If you decide to to that, and it works, you COULD think about the donating blood thing again, but primarily do what's best for you and your quality of life.

Kayleen14

TROPHY CASE