COMPLETELY non-gun related...

[Airacuda]

I'm happy for you. I had a horse growing up....although I never was a good rider. My wife has a wall of trophy's from showing Western and barrel racing. I feel safer on a bike doing 150mph plus, that I control, over a Horse that may spook and hurl me to the ground when it wants........but again I'm not a good rider. A Horse can tell if your in control or he is.....and if I'm on his back and worried about my old arse ending up on the ground...he's in control. 

[Tanners Owner]

While not horse related, I had 2 rescue Brittanys over the past 2 decades and feel that I was blessed to have those dogs "adopt" me.

One was a stray who we determined was abused by a garden hose the other was too rambunctious for his first family.  Both were spectacular bird dogs who "taught" me how to bird hunt and more so were great family pets.

The first one, Tanner, was the special pal to my youngest daughter when I was assigned to Saudi Arabia for a year, the other, Dazzel, hunted for my oldest daughter, giving us great memories.

Both are gone now, but will always be in my heart & memories.

My hat is off to you two for taking the time to work with a rescue. You won't regret it. I certainly didnt

[Riptide439]

Mr and Mrs A. Congrats!
They really grow on you. Riptide was my first. We also rescued 2 more off the track. Although I don't ride, my wife has ridden  since she was 7. We are lucky enough to have a few local girls to ride and keep them in shape. They are very, very therapeutic.  Enjoy him....
Cheers!

[IDescribe]

For the record, it appears that the domain horseforums.us is not taken.   

[armoredman]

You think I gave awa y a good Christmas present today...I got mine a day late, too. First, these pics of today ; the Mrs doesn't like taking pictures, so we don't have any photos of me riding Dino today, but I got up to a trot - that took some fast getting used to! He felt like he didn't want to trot until I was ready, which was odd - it was almost like he was worried he might unseat me. But before that Mrs A got to practice leading Sadie, a 14 year old saddle mare, and a very beautiful horse. VERY loving animal, using the usual precautions, of course. She had a blast.

This is Sadie, behind her owner,



Sadie's not that big - her owner is that small. Small like a Compact CZ, I might say, lots of dynamite in a small package!

Mrs Armoredman leading her with instruction,



Mrs A with Sadie by herself.



She had a great time! But how does this translate to a late Christmas present to me? Remember this guy?



She gave him to me. Seriously. She keeps him on her property, and I don't have to pay board. But Dino is mine. Discovered he has purple highlights in his coat and tail!

Merry Christmas!!

[bang bang]

You think I gave awa y a good Christmas present today...I got mine a day late, too. First, these pics of today ; the Mrs doesn't like taking pictures, so we don't have any photos of me riding Dino today, but I got up to a trot - that took some fast getting used to! He felt like he didn't want to trot until I was ready, which was odd - it was almost like he was worried he might unseat me. But before that Mrs A got to practice leading Sadie, a 14 year old saddle mare, and a very beautiful horse. VERY loving animal, using the usual precautions, of course. She had a blast.

This is Sadie, behind her owner,




Sadie's not that big - her owner is that small. Small like a Compact CZ, I might say, lots of dynamite in a small package!

Mrs Armoredman leading her with instruction,



Mrs A with Sadie by herself.



She had a great time! But how does this translate to a late Christmas present to me? Remember this guy?



She gave him to me. Seriously. She keeps him on her property, and I don't have to pay board. But Dino is mine. Discovered he has purple highlights in his coat and tail!

Merry Christmas!!

At the first barn i road at there was an mare that was used teach all of the new students.  She knew when there was a 6 y/o kid or an adult on her and if they were a good rider.  She also knew voice commands so when the instructor asked the rider to "trot" or whatever, she would be doing it faster than the student could give the ques.  So the instructor ended up spelling what was wanted.  afaik, the horse didnt learn to spell, but i wouldnt have put it past her.  If any rider was about to fall off, she would stop dead in her tracks.  sometimes good or bad depending on where you were in the saddle but you didn't have to ask her to stop, she knew better.

i had rode her alot and she taught me alot.  She also taught me that she had limits.  I would have been airborne if it wasnt for the instructor telling me i was POing her and i was a few second from being tossed.  luckily everything worked out.

[painter]

Congrats Mr.A.

Enjoy your new steed!

[Wobbly]

Not the same as a dog or a cat by any means and I have a LOT to learn, but me and Mrs. Armoredman are having the time of our lives every time I go out for a lesson - she's next, BTW.

Does this mean your Forum alias will be changing to something like SpurMan, or Mr Ed, some some such foolishness ?

[Mrs Armoredman]

     No it's not going to change anything. We are sharing  this with everyone here for us being proud. No changing the name of the board at all.
 

[armoredman]

Many of my ancestors fought from horseback, and wore armor, so I think my name still works. Maybe I need to find some chain mail.

[painter]

Many of my ancestors fought from horseback, and wore armor, so I think my name still works. Maybe I need to find some chain mail.

Send me your email address and I'll work on that...

[armoredman]

That would be funny - sent wrong addy, too!

[vwpieces]

I'm hooked, I'm hooked already - probably gonna need to buy a football helmet for the times I fall off.

Just get back on again... 
Very cool. Had Horses in my family several times in my life. From Pony's as a child to Show Arabians. Awesome animals.
Been kicked in the chest & knocked on my ass, shocked by the electric fence, shoveled more Poo than I could make in my life time. Had a male pony named Hippy that liked to escape & was usually found on the Neighbors porch. Yeah... And the porch was just big enough for him alone. Memories....

Good luck!

[Joe L]

Developing a relationship with an animal is very therapeutic, I think.  When each of our sons left home, we got another dog.  Thankfully, we only had two sons, staggered 4 years, so the dogs were staggered, which worked out fine as each pet passed on and we took on another one.  Animals are unconditional, they know your feelings and react accordingly, good or bad. 

I got to study in detail how our 8 year old Labradoodle interracted with our 1 year old grandson over Christmas.  At first, each was cautious and tentative.  After one day of supervised but not overly constrained interraction, the 75 lb Labradoodle was bringing the 1 year old her toys and very gently touching the baby's face with them, just like she does with the adults, just much more carefully.  When the baby wasn't interested, he pushed the toy back towards the dog and the dog calmly walked off and waited for another opportunity.  When the baby was upset, the dog was concerned.  When the baby was asleep, the dog napped.  Very enjoyable to observe.  We are blessed.  God is good. 

Joe

[armoredman]

I was just told some of the expense I'm picking up...really not what I was expecting, not bad at all. The original owner has friends all over the state and nation in the horse community and is able to get some amazing deals. Still stoked, even though I know just enough that owning a horse is about 10% riding and 90% horse care.