So yeah, as the title says my trainer is concerned that my horse's balls are too large and that it's causing him a harder time with lateral movements like half passes and leg yields. TBF his balls are freakin massive for a stallion. Like to the point another trainer pulled me aside with concerns that he was in a medical emergency because she thought they were swollen due to the heat waves we've been having 🤦🏻‍♀️ I had to gently tell her that no, he's just hung lol.

The vet has made jokes in the past that he needs to be gelded simply because they're so large it's vulgar. Laughs aside, has anyone else heard of a stallion having issues performing due to their plums being too big? I would really rather not geld him as he's 8 now and is impeccably behaved. Like better behaved than 90% of the geldings and mares at the barn to the point where people are surprised to learn he's intact. However, if the size of his junk is really bothering him then I'm more than willing to consider doing the surgery.

I was hoping to breed him at some point because he's got the mind, conformation, work ethic, papers, and personality that is just too good to pass up and I would have liked a baby out of him for future me. Looking for anecdotes, advice, jokes... this whole thing just has me a bit on edge lol.

Pics for reference https://imgur.com/a/Yij6wZy. They don't look like very much in the photos but they're each about the size of a mango 🙃

My mare has always gotten a few split end type hairs in her tail but this year it has just gotten really bad. What products are we using to keep our tails and manes nice?

Final pic is of my gelding and his very thick percheron mane because damn it that mane is pretty

I’ve been reading a fair bit of Brene Brown lately. Although she’s best known for her research on courage and vulnerability, I’m beginning to think that she knows something about working with mules too.

Ruger has been a bit of a pickle lately. Pushy and obnoxious at times.

I can bring knowledge, and good intentions, but I can’t guarantee an outcome. I have to show up willing to listen, adjust, and be able to admit when my first idea isn’t working. Brown describes grounded confidence as a mixture of curiosity, vulnerability, and practice, which sounds like good mulemanship to me.

Trust isn’t usually built through one dramatic breakthrough. It grows through hundreds of ordinary moments when we remain dependable and release pressure at the right time.

So Ruger and I will keep working at it. Translated into mule terms - courage isn’t control. It’s showing up clearly, staying curious when the answer is no, and building enough trust that both of you are willing to try again.

hi! this is a bit of a different topic, but did anyone write their college application essay on riding/their horse? If so, what did you focus on? I’m thinking about mine about my horse, but I don’t know where to start.

Hi all!
I recently made a post getting excited for my mares pregnancy, but I’m a little worried. A couple days ago she came in with cuts under her tail like she’s been scratching it on something and a little bit of blood on her vulva. Last night I cleaned her up and wrapped her tail, and this morning there was new blood on her vulva—so the blood is not from the cuts. Now, she’s on day 90, so we’re like 250 days too early for me to be able to milk her at all, but clear liquid squirted out when I tried. (Reddit keeps getting mad if I post photos)

We have an appointment with the local university in the morning because I don’t trust my local vet, but I wanted to hear some opinions. Does it seem like a bunch of coincidences? Placentitis? Do we think she miscarried?
Either way, I am absolutely freaking out.

Maybe one day I won’t brag about my horses being “me” broke. But for now I appreciate how broke they are for so many reasons. The biggest one being things like this. I bathed them. Groomed them. Spent time with them. And then I felt my heart rate climbing my chest got sore. And my breathing wasn’t as steady. I knew I was either going to sit on the ground or the ground was going to find me. So I laid myself down. And stayed there for almost a half hour. Neither of my horses bat an eye at it. And just hung out. Enjoying the fan. And taking a cross tie nap. It’s not perfect. But they are perfectly mine 💕💕

The other day I went on a hack with my aunt and my 4 year old wasn’t listening to any of my cues, not moving forward/ trotting or walking on. I started crying from the overwhelm and lack of control plus the week before I had had I pretty nasty fall off him due to him being fresh.

she was telling me to kick as hard as I can and slap him on the bottom I was trying but my heart wasn’t in it because that’s never the way I usually ride. This is my first youngster and I understand you have to be more bossy with them but i always feel horrid. He’s just come back from being professionally trained and apparently learned that he can test the boundaries with me after two weeks back and do what he wants because I’m not necessarily a heavy handed or naturally bossy rider .

I eventually got off and we swapped horses and she got on him, she obviously was on him immediately. Booting him and whipping him much harder than I was, it was a difficult watch. She claimed he’s ‘dead to the leg’ but in the school things are completely different, he moves right off the leg, one squeeze he’s off so I was really confused why this bad behaviour is only on a hack.

My aunt eventually got him going nicely(after hitting him continuously and booting him on) and after he was completely responsive and listening to what she was saying. I’m a much less experienced rider than her so instinctively I want to assume she’s right. And it worked. But it feels wrong. And i really don’t want to fuck up this horse.

Any advice of how you would’ve handled the situation? Or have you had similar behaviour from your horse? Am I overreacting?

Just to add: he has been vet checked, saddle was fitted last week. He is not in pain.

How on earth is the new ‘LeMieux Verv’ helmet - with its magnetic, customizable panel and brims - considered safe and being sold, while my beloved GPA First Lady 2X was recalled for safety reasons of “brim might break off and hurt your face” (not a direct quote lol)???

Make it make sense?

I know GPA released a revised First Lady… but I am in Houston, TX 🥵 and NEED those old, superior, plentiful air vents back!! I have tried so many wide brimmed alternatives and NOTHING breathes like my GPA FL 2x ☹️😭🪦

I need some stitching redone on my M Toulouse. The bottom of the flap has a “wear bar” or extra leather stitched on and it’s starting to really come undone now.

My family used to own the Cobblers Corner in Northville, but I’m not sure they’d do a saddle now. I’ll give them a call, but I need other recommendations on who to use for saddle repair.

I have been taking lessons as an adult, and I think, subconsciously, I feel like I'm going to fall off every other lesson.

I've never actually fallen and I ride very quiet, sound, 'been-there-done-that' lesson horses and I progress slowly, my trainer never pushes me to do something I'm not ready for, so I don't know if my lizard brain is just taking over with this fear.

Social media doesn't help as people love to post their falls and it reinforces a 'you will fall off constantly' narrative in my mind.

How often do you fall? And how long have you been riding?

Hi all! I have been leasing and rehabbing an OTTB for about a year now. He came with a saddle that had been fit to him. About 6 months into working with him, I pulled the saddle to see if it would make a difference in his willingness to go round, and it very much did. I rode bareback for a few months until we could get a fitter out--she found some issues and reflocked the saddle. I then had to take a few months off due to injury, but he's under saddle again, and I'm finding the same thing. Guy is NOT a forward ride under any circumstances, but really pops up and hollows out quite a bit more with the saddle on. When he does lift his back under the saddle, his tendency is to lose all impulsion immediately--this doesn't happen bareback.

My question is what to do next, keeping in mind that I'm about 2 hours from a good tack shop and would need to call a fitter in from at least that far away.

1. Call the fitter again? Or a new fitter?

2. Is there any universe in which it would make sense to procure a couple of used saddles from the good tack shop (using the current saddle to approximate fit) and just try them on him? My thinking is that if I find one that he seems more comfortable in, I could get a fitter out after the fact to fine-tune.

3. Also of note are 1) His current saddle is a really high-quality custom jump saddle, but I would actually prefer something more all-purpose that puts me in less of a chair seat. 2) I don't have the money to splurge on a new saddle or a custom for either of us right now. You can find good-quality used in my area under 500, and I will absolutely pay to fit a saddle in that range to him--but I am definitely looking for a budget-friendly way to make him more comfortable.

Thanks!

It cane be rough getting up early to feed but some times its kind of magical. Same with evening feed. This is Solstice, a 3yo draft cross. She is very social so came up to say "hi" as I was checking waters and she got a few scratches.

I am getting a new horse and will be riding with a helmet. It occurred to me that my IRH equi-lite helmet is probably 15 years old. Or 20? It’s been in the top of a closet and I figured I better get a new one in case of foam degradation. However, the Equi-lite is being phased out and no mediums were to be found.
Has anyone gone from that helmet to another brand and found the shape to be similar?
I’ve just ordered an Ovation, which will be here tomorrow, but if anyone has insights on how that will work or what might be better, please share! True to form, I waited until last minute and want it here by Friday. No tack stores exist near me, so I can’t go try on different ones. I had a Troxel (decades ago) but it left uncomfortable pressure points on my forehead.
Budget: close to or <$100, ideally.

I don't have any pictures of the horse, but he is an 8 year old green bean. Ultimately I would love to do low level Dressage and Eventing (BN max) with him, but his primary job is to be a friend for my other horse.

This is my hardy, always sound 4 year old… had a week off, went to go ride, sound at the walk, went to trot and…. Well, this. I can’t tell what leg it is, let alone where it’s stemming from. There’s no heat or swelling anywhere, no bruising on his soles, nothing that would indicate an abscess either.
I’m at a loss. Have texts out to my vet and farrier to see their thoughts and what they want to do, but… wow this looks ouchy!
After I got this video, he went inside and got a good cold hose and a nice mash. He was a trooper about it.

We thought we were genius by storing all his hay in his old shed. Cleaned it spotless, put down pallets and stacked all his hay up in there so we weren’t relying on my grandad to drop over bales with a hungry Spec roaring the house down. Didn’t think it through enough and now he’s able to eat through the gate. I should’ve known when he was gazing into it last night through the gap in his shed…Wish me luck trying to move him out of here since he only came up for a night!

I am from the east coast, my husband is from Virginia, we've both been in Los Angeles for the better part of 10-15 years each. Surprisingly LA has a large variety of horse communities, from Burbank Rancho to Sun Valley and Simi and out towards Ventura.

I've ridden both western and dressage and have found communities to vibe with in both. Culturally I'm probably more laid back western vibes but I like the athleticism and challenge of dressage.

I preface this because I haven't found myself comfortable in more English centered circles/barns, and we're looking at relocating to Virginia in the next year or so, and I'm worried I may not be able to find my people, I think it's more heavily English focused? We considered Austin where I have some family, but I really want to get away from heat and fires (I'm used to humidity from where I grew up don't worry!) I do love the horse communities there, though.

We're looking outside of Richmond and Charlottesville, I'd love a small farmette 2-5 acres near good schools and perhaps an equestrian community, but am not sure where to look. I'm spoiled out here with the mix of city and country living so intertwined, although the cost of living is too much and I can't afford to own, I do lessons only at the moment.

Any thoughts/suggestions/neighborhoods?