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 Keep those crap slapping tails away!
Posts: 8871
     
Location: Around here somewhere... | In your opinion, how many riders MAXIMUM should one horse be expected to pack around at a gymkhana? (Say 5-6 events, several hours long, 80+ degree days, any age rider)IMO 2 is the max, I'd be HARD pressed to even allow that on one of my horses. (Plus my horses get ice water to drink, regular water to drink, and hosed down periodically.) There are a couple of people making their horses take on 8 or more riders for the full day, and not providing proper basic care (one even collapsed toward the end of one day)... But I'm the big meanie for telling them that they shouldn't be doing that to their horses. (Another woman told them, too, but they chased her off) I can't be chased off and I don't care if I'm liked, but it makes me wonder what the general consensus is on #of riders per horse.
Edited by Blaundee 2015-06-26 1:19 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 629
| When it's hot *I* don't even ride my horse that much at shows. I hand walk her around to loosen/warm up, get on about 5-10 riders before and flex, and maybe trot a circle and lope a circle in each direction. That's it. She's not quite seasoned, and I feel better if she gets a trot exhibition to get in the pen and see where everything is and feel the ground. But I unsaddle, and hose between exhibition and our run.
To me, 5-6 events x 2 kids is wayyyy too much in the kind of heat that we have here. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1182
Location: Do I hear Banjos? | 8??!!!! That's ridiculous even with the best care. The fact that they do the minimum shows either ignorance or just plain stupidity. Folks like that need an ATV not a living animal to ride.
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Meanest Teacher!!!
Posts: 8552
Location: sunny california | 1 fast rider and 1 leadline |
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Keep those crap slapping tails away!
Posts: 8871
Location: Around here somewhere... | We do lessons, so we do have a few horses that kids ride in gymkhanas- however, in the last 15+ years, we've only had a horse have 2 riders ONCE, and we paid extra close attention to him- it certainly wouldn't be a regular thing. He also only did 3 events with the second kid. I can't imagine having more than 2 riders! It ticks me off and I tell them how awful I think it is, the past few days I've been telling them EVERY day how cruel I think it is, but I'M THE BAD GUY! For the record, I do NOT attend these gymkhanas!!! I would be getting into some serious physical fights! These people are in cahoots with the authorities of the county and are in charge of the "animal welfare" group, so there's not much I can do besides what I AM doing- telling them plainly loudly and often what I think of it. They post about it on Facebook and tell me about it in person, and I tell them what I think. They just think I'm mean and snobby. |
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  Northern Chocolate Queen
Posts: 16576
Location: ND | lol there's people that won't do more than one barrel run on their horse a day so opinions will be all over the board on this!
I believe a horse should be able to work. When we're doing ranch work there's days my horses will be saddled all day long & ridden quite hard. When I was still going to open shows I'd only take 1 or 2 horses. If I only took 1 he did all 13 events english, western & speed events. Now with mounted shooting my good horse makes 6 runs on saturdays (main match & shotgun) and then 4 runs on sundays. My mom & brother share our best horse, on Saturdays he'll make 6 runs with my brother & 4 with my mom (she doesn't go fast).
That said, know your horse. Not all horses have the mind or physical ability to make those number of runs. I would never let a 2nd rider on my horse, physically he'd be fine but mentally it would be to much for him. And take care of them, EVERY time out horses come out of the arena their leg wraps are pulled & every 2 runs I offer water. At the end of the day they're all rubbed down with linament & their PHT products go on. They are used hard but they're also treated quite well.
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 Chicken Chick
Posts: 3562
Location: Texas | We did 2 at the most. Every now and then we would leadline a 3rd around barrels and that was maybe once a year.
When there were 2 riding my mom was adamant about making sure the horse had enough to drink, and we needed to let him rest. Granted she was with only 1 rider but with 2 it was every time we saw her she would go down the list of what we needed to do or give to the horse. Our shows would start at around 10 am and go until midnight.
When there were 2 riding it was my little sister who wouldn't get over a trot, and me making hard runs.
We did have one family kill their horse. They just ran the snot out of all of their horses, and the mare couldn't take it. After that they eased up on their horses. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| That's hard to answer. Growing up on a working ranch, horses were saddled in the morning and not Unsaddled until dark thirty! 90-100 degree weather, cattle had to be moved, calves gathered, fences checked. The key was that they were used to it. Now if you went and got my pudgy mules out of the pasture right now and asked them to work like we did back home, they'd fall over within an hour. If those horses are accustomed to it then they may be ok. Would my horses be able to handle that many riders in a day right now, no and I wouldn't allow it right now either. |
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 Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | IMO keep your sanity and keep your mouth shut, people suck..... |
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Keep those crap slapping tails away!
Posts: 8871
Location: Around here somewhere... | Well, I certainly am not going to keep my mouth shut, especially when the morons post it on Facebook and tell it to me directly. If they don't want to hear it, they shouldn't let me see it. As for horses working- I have no problem with horses working- I use mine hard, too, as well as the rest of my ranching family, but working cows is mostly walking and trotting, and I've NEVER EVER seen a horse collapse while working on a ranch or tough mountain work, etc. I've also never seen a cowboy hand his horse off to a whole bunch of other people to run around on the same day he's using the horse- in fact, most of the cowboys I know won't let anyone else EVER ride their good horses. |
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Meanest Teacher!!!
Posts: 8552
Location: sunny california | maybe talk to the producer? animal control? running horses literally into the ground is against the law. |
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Keep those crap slapping tails away!
Posts: 8871
Location: Around here somewhere... | By "cowboy", I'm not referring to rodeo cowboys. I'm referring to guys who spend all day in the saddle checking and moving cows. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| If horses are collapsing and not given the necessities ie water, and feed during the day, I would consider placing a phone call to the livestock investigator about the individual and SPCA about the organization allowing this |
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 Peecans
| Some horses at our play day club honistly shouldent be ridden in all events by one person they are so fat.
I think 8 sounds really excessive (and diffently not my choice lol) but fitness is key in deciding what your horse can handle. My horse could handle a hard long day, my neibours would have a heartack during warmup. |
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Keep those crap slapping tails away!
Posts: 8871
Location: Around here somewhere... | I just wanted to make sure I wasn't just way off base in thinking that what they are doing is wrong. |
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 Firecracker Dog Lover
Posts: 3175
| Wow - 8 people riding the same horse in 5-6 events in the same day. My personal opinion is this is a whole different can of worms compared to a "ranch" horse. Eight people is too much. Was at a gymkhana in April for the first time in probably 5-6 years and it reminded me of why I quit going to them. There was one horse that a mom and daughter shared - 6 events so that horse got run HARD 12 times. I felt sorry for the horse - it had a HUGE gate issue - and the mom and daughter couldn't figure out why. SMH. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1131
| I have a hard enough time keeping my mare sound with just me running her. One fast run, then maybe a leadline/slow runner.
TBH, I read this originally as all at once, and I was wondering how the heck they got 8 kids on one horse....opps. hahahahaha
ETA: Now it is not uncommon at open shows for me to take my good mare, and put her through every class from halter at 8am to Dash for Cash at midnight, but she is a literal all around horse, and she has done this for 5 years and will continue to do it. Of course, That's only be ran in like 5 events.
Edited by FlyingHigh1454 2015-06-26 10:36 PM
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | Blaundee - 2015-06-26 1:52 PM
We do lessons, so we do have a few horses that kids ride in gymkhanas- however, in the last 15+ years, we've only had a horse have 2 riders ONCE, and we paid extra close attention to him- it certainly wouldn't be a regular thing. He also only did 3 events with the second kid. I can't imagine having more than 2 riders! It ticks me off and I tell them how awful I think it is, the past few days I've been telling them EVERY day how cruel I think it is, but I'M THE BAD GUY! For the record, I do NOT attend these gymkhanas!!! I would be getting into some serious physical fights! These people are in cahoots with the authorities of the county and are in charge of the "animal welfare" group, so there's not much I can do besides what I AM doing- telling them plainly loudly and often what I think of it. They post about it on Facebook and tell me about it in person, and I tell them what I think. They just think I'm mean and snobby.
I say keep up the good work and never let them shut you up!! |
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How much is too much?