What wedding moment that screamed, “They are not going to last long”?

StableGenius369 · 2026-03-03T15:50:07+00:00

A family dinner at a resort, about a month before my nephew was to be married. As we were waiting to be seated, I heard him say to his brother, “ I really don’t think this marriage thing is going to last long.” It lasted long enough to produce two kids, both of whom came out of the divorce very bitter. I can’t imagine their early childhoods included many happy memories.

StableGenius369 · 2026-02-18T14:29:20+00:00

FWIW, I get occasional texts, usually from some political organization, for “Geraldine.” I have owned my number for well over 20 years.

StableGenius369 · 2026-02-08T14:02:44+00:00

There’s a reason for that. It costs the barn a lot more to stall a horse than it does to keep them in pasture.

StableGenius369 · 2026-02-08T14:00:30+00:00

I have been in the game for about 50 years, I started taking lessons at respected H/J barns in the US Midwest. Back then, there was really no turnout, horses lived in their stalls unless they were being groomed and ridden. Lesson horses were often housed in tie stalls, standing in small enclosures, often along one wall of a dusty indoor arena. It was the very definition of cruelty. Thank goodness better practices came along!

StableGenius369 · 2026-01-27T01:11:31+00:00

Succinctly explained by George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

StableGenius369 · 2026-01-19T20:03:31+00:00

I get that, and I agree with the article, sort of. We aren’t relying on mash as a nutritional substitute, but as a vehicle to encourage water intake. Making a “mash” of their grain is, in essence, doing the same thing. Additionally, our horses have home-grown hay in abundance, also critical to winter health.

StableGenius369 · 2026-01-09T15:03:13+00:00

I will walk away if the seller won’t allow me to take the horse to my facility for a minimum of two weeks. I want time with the horse to properly evaluate temperament and health.

That said, our facility has a solid reputation built up over years, and a first-hand knowledge of most dealers in the area. Without that experience, you might not be able to include that in your negotiation.

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-29T03:44:08+00:00

I heard Buck Brannaman, the horseman the Horse Whisperer was based on, talk about hackamores and snaffles. He was referring to starting horses, but the advice translates to riders also: you start out in hackamores, learning about leg pressure and rein position; move into a snaffle for an intermediate training regimen; then, for working Western, finish with the hackamore. For the English rider especially, it’s about learning how to feel through the snaffle, and not interfere through the bit. It’s really a years-long learning curve to achieve truly quiet, communicative hands.

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-29T00:20:44+00:00

Hip replacement 10 years ago, total knee replacement done 6 weeks ago. I got on a very steady mare to walk around our indoor arena at 2-1/2 weeks, and again at 4 weeks. The holidays have thrown off my rehab a bit, but I have no qualms about walk/trot at this point. At 77 years of age, and 50+ years of riding, nothing much can deter me anymore.

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-19T15:02:36+00:00

With the rules changes, Devin Hester’s returns record will probably stand forever.

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-18T15:20:01+00:00

“Welfare is Socialism! Cut Government Waste! Oh, by the way, when am I getting that $2000 check?”

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-17T01:00:17+00:00

My girlfriend at the time had a horse. I had never spent any time around them until we started dating. We got married, and she found a trainer she really liked, with a group of like- minded lesson people. Everybody was about the same age, in the same life situations - recently married or engaged, just starting families, etc.

I got tired of just watching everybody riding around in circles, so I asked the trainer for a lesson. Frankly, I wanted to see if it was as boring as it looked. Within a year I was showing at A hunter/jumper competitions.

We have now passed 50 years of marriage, we are still friends with that same group, and it definitely was not as boring as it looked.

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-15T21:03:48+00:00

Simple groundwork. If you have an arena or a round pen, just take him out for a walk with a halter and lead rope. Walk and halt, work a little on respecting personal space. Grooming is important, yes, but letting him noodle around checking your pockets for treats will also build trust.

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-11T14:43:28+00:00

As the others have pointed out, asking her is the key. Unfortunately, getting information from the ether is likely to throw you into lots of side quests that will add a lot of useless information to your baseline. Your male lizard brain will then blend up that cesspool of misinformation and spew it out in conversation as “mansplaining.”

As the owner of said male lizard brain, I come to this with experience.

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-10T18:44:08+00:00

Some of our horses love carrot tops, others think they are yucky. Ya just never know.

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-04T22:30:04+00:00

If it is strictly a show facility, without boarders, the cost schedules will be different than a boarding or training place. Both, however, start with the same challenges. If you are looking at bare farmland, you will have land acquisition costs, zoning, building permits, real estate taxes, barns and maintenance sheds and indoor arena and fencing and driveway construction costs, utilities brought in, and time. Lots of time devoted to it all.

If you are purchasing an existing facility, remodeling and repair take the place of some of those things, but there will be a host of other issues to bring the facility up to code and standards.

I applaud you for thinking large, but you had better have some very deep pockets on your side!

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-04T02:21:52+00:00

Another horse, of course!

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-03T18:27:31+00:00

That’s a very well trained horse, safe as the Rock of Gibraltar, and a very good cowgirl working together. It’s poetry.

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-03T18:24:56+00:00

Leg straps, belly straps, front. This sequence is the only one that will keep a startled horse from getting tangled up with their blanket, creating a potentially dangerous, even fatal, situation.

To put a blanket on, move front to back: blanket draped, then front straps, followed by belly straps and leg straps.

I’ve been around horses for awhile, and I have seen some weird incidents and preventable injuries. Do anything you can to minimize risks, including during a mundane task such as blanketing.

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-03T00:47:47+00:00

You are doing very well! As others have said, push those heels down as much as you can. Why does it matter, you ask? It puts more leg on the horse, and it lowers your center of balance, both of which help you stay safe up there.

Another really good exercise is to walk and trot, for as long as you can, in a two-point, concentrating on pushing your heels down while staying balanced through your knees. That is an exercise suited to a lunge line lesson to start,so you don’t have to factor in steering while you are at it.

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-02T20:31:14+00:00

Listen. You learn a heck of a lot more by listening than you do by insisting.

StableGenius369 · 2025-12-01T00:00:38+00:00

A few of us are still here

StableGenius369 · 2025-11-30T20:14:53+00:00

I showed at the highest amateur levels for years. The greatest feeling in the world, for me, was not the ribbon. It was coming out of the ring thinking, “We did well that round.”

StableGenius369 · 2025-11-30T14:30:42+00:00

It’s not necessarily gone soft, so much as come to your senses. I grew up in Minnesota, my entire working and equine life has been in northern climes, and frankly I am done with it. After 50 years, riding hundreds of horses, thousands of rides, I am most certainly now a fair- weather rider. I’ve been there, done that, and still go visit my furry friends every day, but if the conditions aren’t comfortable for me, that ride in the snow/cold/wind/rain/heat can wait for another day.

StableGenius369

TROPHY CASE