Horses! and pets/animals other than cats and dogs

[RTH10260]

Wally the Walrus takes a nap in St Mary’s Harbour, Isles of Scilly, his latest stop on a tour that has taken in Wales, Cornwall, France and Spain and turned him into something of a celebrity. He returned to British waters this month

[RTH10260]

[tek]

We got to meet the new "grandson" today...

Getting big. Gorgeous horse, lousy pix because pouring rain so stuck in the barn.

He's a real sweetheart, loves to give hugs

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[AndyinPA]

[Azastan]

Beautiful! Do you know breed, age, discipline?

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

Handsome fella!

[tek]

He's three years old, Hanoverian

[RVInit]

He is gorgeous.

[Azastan]

He's three years old, Hanoverian

So not started under saddle yet I would assume? Dressage or eventing?

[tek]

Dressage I think..
she's gonna do the whole training deal.. well, she and her trainer..

He already has the "roll around in the turnout and get covered in mud" part down.

[RVInit]

Dressage I think..
she's gonna do the whole training deal.. well, she and her trainer..

He already has the "roll around in the turnout and get covered in mud" part down.

I don't know the meaning of dressage or eventing, but rolling around and getting covered in mud, I think I get that one.

[RTH10260]

[Azastan]

I don't know the meaning of dressage or eventing, but rolling around and getting covered in mud, I think I get that one.

Just as a reminder, I have FIVE, that's FIVE grey horses and I live in western Washington state. We are experts in rolling around and getting covered in mud here.

[Uninformed]

Just as a reminder, I have FIVE, that's FIVE grey/brown horses and I live in western Washington state. We are experts in rolling around and getting covered in mud here.

[Azastan]

Just as a reminder, I have FIVE, that's FIVE grey/brown horses and I live in western Washington state. We are experts in rolling around and getting covered in mud here.

They do tend to look like pintos during the winter, that's true.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

I admire and love octopuses. Can I watch the John Oliver clip without crying? I cannot watch animals being hurt.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

From RV:

I don't know the meaning of dressage or eventing, but rolling around and getting covered in mud, I think I get that one.

https://www.merriam-webster.com

Definition of dressage
: the execution by a trained horse of precision movements in response to barely perceptible signals from its rider

This is a sport involving the execution of precise movements by a trained horse in response to barely perceptible signals from its rider. The word dressage means “training” in French. Particularly important are the animal’s pace and bearing in performing walks, trots, canters, and more specialized maneuvers. Training is divided into the elementary campagne and the advanced haute école. Dressage competitions have been included in the Olympic Games since 1912. Riders compete as individuals and in teams.

eventing noun

: an equestrian competition that typically takes place over 3 days and includes the events of dressage, cross-country, and show jumping
Eventing is essentially a triathlon for horses, including a dressage test of mandatory figures, an endurance phase of cross-country galloping and jumping and show jumping.
— Ellen Filmer, The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon), 18 Dec. 2009
Despite having the most off-putting name in sport, three-day eventing is always a whale of a show.
— Newsweek, 5 Aug. 1996
An Olympic sport since 1912, eventing originated as a way to test the ability and endurance of military horses.
— Katie Thomas, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2008

[MN-Skeptic]

I have a niece who's a groom at a dressage horse farm. It seems like she always has bruises from being bitten or kicked by the horses.

[RTH10260]

I admire and love octopuses. Can I watch the John Oliver clip without crying? I cannot watch animals being hurt.

No octopussies were hurt in the making of said clip

[Azastan]

I have a niece who's a groom at a dressage horse farm. It seems like she always has bruises from being bitten or kicked by the horses.

Bad owners who aren't really in touch with their horses, sadly. A lot of the really upper end dressage barns have owners who ride, but don't clean stalls, don't feed, don't groom, don't tack up their own horses. Those horses probably have ulcers from stress .

[MN-Skeptic]

I think the horses where my niece works are uber-pampered.

Leatherdale Farms

[Gene Kooper]

I've been alternating with my brother to care for my 99 year-old father the last couple of months. For some inexplicable reason he decided to go down into his unfinished basement, tripped and "bounced" off of the concrete floor. Miraculously, he managed to get up and walk back up the steps. Other than massive bruising (he takes Eliquiis), contusions, and a broken collarbone (he also did that when he was young and he said it wasn't a big deal then either) he came out of it okay.

My Dad is a retired cattle rancher so he still gets up every day at 6:00 am and is in bed by 7:30 to 8:00 p.m. (depends on whether he wants to watch a second episode of The Andy Griffith Show). With lots of spare time in the evenings, I had oodles of time on my hands to look through several drawers of family photos.

On the old site, I outed myself and mentioned that I was named after an uncle who was a WWII fighter pilot. He was shot down in the South China Sea in March 1945. My family never talked much about my uncle Gene, esp. when I would ask questions about my namesake. Well, I got lucky and found a picture of him when he was about 20 (circa 1940) standing next to his saddle horse.

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Wish it was in color so you could see it is a sorrel.

Surprisingly, I found another photo taken 26 years later of me with my "brand new" 2 year-old sorrel filly. I say "brand new" in quotes because it was the later part of August and haying season was done for the year. My Grandfather had decided that my working six, 10-hour days for the last seven weeks deserved some compensation. Being a frugal and pragmatic rancher, instead of paying me wages for my work in the hay field for the last two year, my Grandfather decided it was time for me to have my own horse instead of "borrowing" his horse to work cattle. Anyway, this is me with my new filly, Boots in the newly manicured hay meadow to the east of the house. I was all of 13 and we both looked very skinny, young and green in the photo.

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After looking at the photos together that evening, I came up with the romantic notion that my Grandfather had chosen to buy his grandson a sorrel horse just like he had previously done for his son, Gene. I was told that Boots was part thoroughbred and part quarterhorse. All I know is that she was faster than the wind. I rode her for ranch duties (like riding the summer pastures to check the cattle) until I left for college.

A side note: My Grandfather was a good judge of cattle, but often fell short with his picks of horses. My plans to ride Boots were put off a couple of weeks while my Dad treated her for shin splints. Hard to believe nearly 55 years have passed since receiving my haying wages. Anyway, I hope the horse lovers here enjoy my tale of becoming the owner of a "working" horse!

[RVInit]

Thank you for the explanation of dressage and eventing. So, I actually have seen dressage then, I just didn't know that's what it was called. So amazing. Horses are so beautiful and I so admire people who can communicate with them with such subtlety.

[Fiascoist]

An old eventer here for about 35 years. And the John Oliver clip was fun. I, too, am enamored of Octopuses.

[MN-Skeptic]

Thank you for the explanation of dressage and eventing. So, I actually have seen dressage then, I just didn't know that's what it was called. So amazing. Horses are so beautiful and I so admire people who can communicate with them with such subtlety.

Until I heard my niece pronounce it, I didn't realize that dressage is pronounced druh·saazh.