Oh, right, you did show me that. Well, hope it's still active by the time I learn to ride and then to fence. Aprella, Shandeh, that sounds awesome. Another skill that is probably very difficult to master is bow & arrow on horseback. How well is it possible to control a horse without using your hands anyway? Heh, I found an old photo from a time I visited KaTrian at the stables. Apparently my jacket was yummy.
Mounted archery is something I've wanted to try ever since I first knew it was a thing. Sadly unmounted archery is beyond me, and knowing me, I'd probably shoot my horse in the head. Yeah... not a good move!
Awww I love that pic! Horse are so much fun. To the OP I agree. I feel that way about any topic being horribly wrong in a book. haha My sister rode horses a lot back when we were younger. My back was too jacked up to ever ride them but I really enjoyed being around them. They really do spook very easily and I think people don't realize that. If you kick a horse with your heels it will probably freak out. I've seen a lot of movies and read books where they did some pretty crazy things with horses and all I could think was "that would kill that horse or break it's leg or it would freak out if someone did that irl" etc. Even the most docile of horses spook easily. Honestly it makes me cringe when people pull back on the reigns really hard. Especially after seeing some of the freaky looking bits people use. I never did understand that. So much of how a horse behaves and how well they perform is based on the rider. For example- there were two horses at the stable my sister rode at that were pretty temperamental. Saber was a big gelding I don't recall what type of horse he was I believe he was part Arabian and then Moondancer aka Moony who was a paint pony. My sister was able to ride both horses with no problems whatsoever. While two separate riders had horrible times with the same two horses. One girl even got thrown from Saber but she also was heavy handed in how she dealt with him and used a crop too much. The other girl had Moony run off to the highway with her. It was one of the funniest things I ever saw in my life. This girl was such an entitled brat. She was treating everyone like garbage and acting like she owned the place and here this ornery little pony just took off at a brisk trot to the highway refusing to listen to her. The instructors had to chase her down and the entire time she kept yelling "MOONY! MOONY!!!" It was the best.
That's Tatra. Not my own horse, I could never ever afford a dressage horse like that, but I'm her groom (alongside two others). It'd be great to own a horse some day though, albeit a big responsibility. Mwahhahhaa, horses rule! x) T and I use horses for comedic effect quite often in our stories in this type of manner. Not sure if anyone else thinks it's funny that a white knight's steed farts when it springs into canter, but whatevs, I think it is and I've seen so many horses do that x)
HAHAHAHAHA I used to have a pony that did that! We were always too busy laughing at him to care that he was trying to buck us off. [ornery, nasty, dirty little brat... hahaha] Used to say he was rocket powered. It wasn't a very powerful rocket but oh well. [MENTION=18047]TerraIncognita[/MENTION], I use what some consider to be a "freaky looking bit" on my gelding. He's an eventing horse with a habit of taking off, and I'm a fairly nervous rider in some ways [that especially!!], so I use a mullen mouth pelham, pictured below [the one I use now has a much longer shank, that one was borrowed], for situations where I expect him to get strong with me. I use double reins so that I can ride 99% of the time on the snaffle rein and then pick up the curb rein, which is much harsher, when I need it. Those of us who know what we're doing who use strong bits use them for a very good reason. That being said I've been told by two different instructors that if I have to use a strong bit, I should use a gag, because double reins are dangerous when you're jumping [they aren't, they just take a skilled hand to be able to use]... my horse HATES gags and runs straight through them! Coaches know a lot, but not everything, and far too many of them believe there's only one right way. There isn't, there are lots of "right ways", because the right way is the way that works for both horse and rider and most importantly IMPROVES the horse. I jump [at shows only], cross country, do pacework, and trail ride in this setup: I had it on at a hack show for this photo because my gelding gets really strong in groups and I didn't trust him not to try to take off on me. Usually we do flatwork in a snaffle. We also jump in a snaffle at home [not that you can actually see the setup here...]: And occasionally while out, because I -can- control him without his pelham, but he is much easier to get to a good takeoff spot with it on. In a snaffle he likes to take off quite long... as you can see from the photo [apologies for quality, it's a video still]. And my young horse is in a plain mullen mouth snaffle much like this one: I love the bit above ^ for young horses because it has a very simple action in the mouth, though the cues are somewhat unrefined because you have no independent motion of the sides. I've tried her in several different snaffles and this is by far the one she's happiest in. I guess what I'm saying is you use what works for the horse, and some horses genuinely DO just go better in something "freaky looking". Also, a horse that goes in a spade bit [or cathedral] is the epitome of a well-trained Western horse. A well-trained bit horse doesn't need the headstall at all and would actually hold the bit in its mouth without anything to hold it onto the head, and the rider of such a horse doesn't touch the reins at all. In other words a horse that goes in a spade or a cathedral will go equally well with no bridle, no bit, nothing at all on its head. The cathedral bit is for show.
I ride both with and without bit. My horse reacts good on both! But I don't ride often since my horse is stabled on a meadow and since I don't like rain And well Uni is keeping me from riding as well. This is my horse, he is 20 years old (which is a very respectable age for a horse). I don't do competitions and I actually bought him for trial rides but we don't do that either since he's too much fro me to handle outside. If he starts acting difficult I started to freak out which makes him freak out as well...
They sure do! Hahaha I actually think that's hilarious. That's great. haha Ornery animals are enertaining if you know how to handle them. If not then I guess you end up like the girl who was getting taken for a ride down the highway. lol We had a cat when I was younger that was nuts. He was super smart but he was a bit of a sadist. He enjoyed hiding and jumping out and grabbing people's ankles. He wouldn't do it to me often because I didn't scream I'd just laugh. My siblings screamed so he proceeded to terrorize them. haha He didn't put his claws out just wrapped his arms around your ankle/s. He also seemed to instinctively know if people hated animals and would go nuts over anyone that hated animals. He just adored my grandma on my dad's side and she hates animals. He'd jump up on her lap and purr like a motorboat whilst looking rather smug. It was great. She'd pretend she liked him and be like "oh nice kitty" and just sort of half heartedly pet him. That cat was one of the strangest and most amusing animals I've ever encountered. But he was nice to me for the most part and I also knew how to handle him so he never terrorized me. Btw your horse is beautiful! Yeah I see what you're saying one person's freaky is another person's normal. The ones I've seen that genuinely bothered me had these sharp looking spike things on them. They just looked really unpleasant and I kinda think if you're not willing to put in your mouth you shouldn't put it in your animal's mouth. I know horse's mouths are different and probably aren't as bothered by things or at least I guess they get used to them but things like that just look cruel to me. I think the majority of the time riders can learn to work with a horse well enough not to have to resort to bits that are super unpleasant. I know I've never ridden horses myself this is just from my own observation and seeing how my sister could easily handle some very high strung horses without resorting to using pain to control the horse while other riders could not work with the horse regardless of their methods. I think a lot of that is in attitude and how comfortable you are with a horse because I agree they are very sensitive to people's emotions and soak them up like a sponge. Which is why I think Moony decided he needed out ornery that bratty girl. haha
Well I have ridden horses my entire life, at the moment my mum and I own 19. It's sad that so many writers don't bother doing basic research on horses, I mean I understand the basic horse-as-vehicle model that you see in a lot of fantasy, but when it comes to a horsey story, whether it's YA or not, the lack of research I've regularly seen is frankly insulting. Horses as comic elements are under used, I like the horses farting thing and they do it all the time. I have never done jousting or mounted archery or sword fighting, although I belonged to a medieval club for years My husband wouldn't let me joust because it's too dangerous. He's right! I have been thinking of posting a question along these lines- I'm writing a fantasy with a lot of story focused on the training of young warriors on horse-back, and the training of their mounts, now how much detail can the non-horse mad person handle in my story? Easy to carry on when I find it interesting..
