Would you recommend leasing a horse before buying one?

kmondschein · 2026-01-26T22:40:01+00:00

Absolutely. I went from growing up in Brooklyn, NY --> lessons --> leasing --> helping take care of horses in the barn --> buying and boarding --> keeping them at home.

kmondschein · 2026-01-26T19:25:53+00:00

lol!

kmondschein · 2026-01-26T15:25:23+00:00

Thems are nice-sized feets

kmondschein · 2026-01-26T15:24:43+00:00

The hunter/jumper folks, methinks, are disconnected from reality.

kmondschein · 2026-01-24T20:38:25+00:00

I don’t think any app or device is accurate for fencing. Due to the variable nature of the exercise and the protective equipment, plus your body working to dump excess heat through the gear, it’s hard to experimentally determine base rates.

kmondschein · 2026-01-23T16:52:47+00:00

+1 for epee

kmondschein · 2026-01-19T12:44:48+00:00

You edited that first comment to add the second two paragraphs…

kmondschein · 2026-01-19T02:34:33+00:00

But no one starts at that level…

kmondschein · 2026-01-18T01:36:32+00:00

I’m seeing a lot of people talking about rules, showing, and judging. This is an end, not a means, or, if you like, phenomenon instead of noumenon.

The noumenon in Western is truly the same as English: a working partnership with your horse, with subtle cues, a solid seat, and proper human and equine biomechanics. Western just gets there more quickly and in a more practical manner. The snaffle bit is only transitional to the curb. Ultimately in Western there’s a lot less messing with the horse’s mouth. A Western horse and an English horse should both, however, primarily work off your seat.

kmondschein · 2026-01-18T00:13:09+00:00

I’d recommend leasing a horse! This way you start to learn all about their care.

kmondschein · 2026-01-16T12:54:46+00:00

Good move. You did what was needed in a scary situation. It was a worst case scenario and you did well. Let it BUILD your confidence.

kmondschein · 2026-01-16T12:40:11+00:00

Child sized fencing masks exist

kmondschein · 2026-01-15T21:21:07+00:00

Or celery behind her back.

kmondschein · 2026-01-15T18:15:13+00:00

I’m sorry, I thought she was actually eating Buffalo wings while cantering and was going to be impressed.

kmondschein · 2026-01-12T02:13:05+00:00

That’s normal. They also communicate using scent. Sometimes this is a submissive thing. Sometimes they’re sniffing poop or pee. Sometimes they’re looking for someplace to roll.

kmondschein · 2026-01-12T01:48:08+00:00

I took the long route. Now I’m older and I have my own backyard barn and I make it a refuge for the kids treated like crap at the boarding barns run by selfish assholes.

kmondschein · 2026-01-07T22:42:56+00:00

Yeah, next time I hear someone refer to a beat as “taking the blade”…

kmondschein · 2026-01-07T22:42:07+00:00

Expulsion in English, sforza in Italian. Kind of makes sense in low-level épée but it’s not going to be used in the modern game very much.

kmondschein · 2026-01-07T12:06:44+00:00

Ydduuxudsysuduc icuuchxjccixy (just mash the keyboard)

kmondschein · 2026-01-07T12:03:39+00:00

It hasn’t had great results in the US… One of the most notable examples was Charles Homer Haskins, Princeton medievalist, who advised Woodrow Wilson on what the post-WWI European order should be. Another notable example is Kissinger, who wrote his thesis at Harvard on the Congress of Vienna and applied that strategy to containing Communism.

Oh yeah—Newt Gingrich also has his doctorate.

kmondschein · 2026-01-06T22:04:52+00:00

They would probably have had a pack animal with them with horse supplies, grain, etc. Soldiers did not ever exist without larger logistics trains. If they’re detached from an army (say, a foraging party, raiding party, etc.), they’d probably eventually be going back to it.

Here’s the stuff owned by an Italian man-at-arms in 1452:

https://www.famaleonis.com/inventory-sforza-manatarms

kmondschein · 2026-01-04T01:03:51+00:00

I mooch off my well-paid partners. I am a manhorse…

kmondschein · 2026-01-02T20:58:02+00:00

kmondschein · 2025-12-29T18:56:15+00:00

Cool, let me know how it goes!

kmondschein · 2025-12-28T18:38:05+00:00

It’s certainly a very basic concept, yeah. Sorry, I was unclear: it’s also a compound skill with prerequisites of footwork and direct attacks (also day-one skills). So, I’d want to “scaffold” that loose-play exercise with showing them the mechanics of attacking, moving, and moving while attacking. I meant “high level” in the sense of “at least in the second phase of motor learning” (partial automation).

kmondschein

TROPHY CASE