Anyone ride horses?

We've got two fox trotters (A.J., 4; Philly, 9; Annie, 6)... and btw, if you're picking your horse based on smoothness of ride, go with fox trotters! :) I grew up with quarter horses, but when I first rode Annie, I couldn't believe it- it was like going from a Pinto to a Caddy. :)

I think everyone that spends a lot of time around horses has at least a couple of bruises. ;) My mom did take a nasty bite on the shoulder- horses are very social- there's always one that takes control and usually won't let the others eat until they do, etc... mom got between her and the food and turned her back as she was trying to control the other 2. To A.J. it was just a nip to say "Hey, that's MY food!", but mom ended up with scar tissue so bad they had to cut some of it out.

I've been kicked before (not by the ones we have now), but most horses are fine... you just have to remember that a 1200 pound animal can get very physical with you- not kicking, but they kind of bump you and push on you with their heads; they don't mean anything by it, but it can be intimidating if you're not used to it.

A good thing to do if you go behind them is to start up around their neck and keep your hand on them as you go behind them and keep talking to them... as long as they know you're there they shouldn't do anything. Some horses are just jerks, though. :)

One thing that I swear by; horses should only come into a human's body space if invited. If my mare is getting pushy, I do anything to get her out of my space; jumping jacks, a quick shriek with a jump.. she backs up. Then I bring her over under my circumstances, by petting her and grabbing her halter; all drive and no welcoming petting will just scare them off. Especialyl at feeding time; I fill their grain bowl and then make them step back a few times and pay attention to me instead of just plunging their nose into the food before I can pour it into the bowl! Moving them around without a leadrope, with your body language, is the key to gaining their respect. But anytime that anyone goes out into a pasture with even one horse, they should bring either leadrope, a dressage whip; anything with which to act with in case a horse rushes you.

You know, I know owners of Missouri Fox Trotters, Pasos, and Rocky Mountain Horses and everyone says their horse is the smoothest ride. Personally I have loved the Rocky's that I've ridden.

I rode a retrained Standardbred.. bumpiest trot on earth! :)

My old neighbors bred standardbreds. Sweet sweet horses, but butt ugly heads. I've thought of sometime adopting one from a standardbred rescue for Ryan. Something tall and fun enough to trail ride for him.

We used to train all of our horses following Monty Roberts. Awesome guy, and he got a lot of what he did from Native Americans and how they trained their horses. He deals with getting respect from the horse, but never physically hurting it. It works amazingly well...after working with my pig-headed boy a few times, he would follow me around the pasture, past food and whatnot, until I allowed him to do his own thing. Basically, the training makes you the head of the heard, then you don't have any problem getting the horses to stay in line when you are around them. ^_^

As for the bitting, Lucky used to bit me on the hip when I was combing his mane. The pinching works really well, and it doesn't take too many times for them to get what you want them to stop doing! :P

I remember Monty Roberts, I liked the guy for awhile but after all the poo hit the fan with him I just couldn't bring myself to care for him. I never used his methods though, I combined a bit of Lyons with Clinton Anderson and Dennis Reis

Last horse my family had was a sneaky little mustang off the range of nv.. He was given to us after the poeple who bought him didnt' know what to do with his biting and sucking air when saddled.... Sadly to say he died after sniffing a rattler.....

I haven't kept up with it so much since I haven't been able to ride, and I've all this school stuff going on, so I don't know anything about anything bad happening with Monty Roberts. I don't know that I ever really kept up with what he was doing now, but just used his training methods, which worked really well for me. ^_^

I've been riding for 11 years..

I currently have a 20 y/o off track thoroughbred. He's 16.3hh and was quite a jumper in his day (could do 6.6' fences) I used to show him in jumper and equitation.. haven't shown in years though.

What I really like best though is dressage.. especially classical dressage. My dream horse is an andalusian.. though I'm a big fan of icelandic horses and gypsy cobs too.