It looks like it is going to be a fun and interesting winter

[robinson46176]

Farmer is a draft horse different than a Clydesdale or is the classification of draft horse just a grouping of all draft horses?
Bet her jumping that ditch was a site to be seen huh.

Here is a pretty good page on draft horses:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft_horse

Here is a pic of Rosie and I taken this fall. I'm 5' 10" The white horse with all of the rust holes behind her is a fairly large and beefy quarter-horse (Cherokee the wonder horse)
BTW, They really love rolling in the dirt especially if they have recently been brushed out...
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Here she is with Diana.
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Did I mention that she likes to know what everything smells like.
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[baysidebob]

You said that Rosie likes to smell things. When we were raising our kids we always had horses around. One of the horses would follow my son around and actually take his peanut butter sandwich away from him and eat it....

[skou]

Farmer is a draft horse different than a Clydesdale or is the classification of draft horse just a grouping of all draft horses?
Bet her jumping that ditch was a site to be seen huh.

Beeg, there are numerous breeds of draft horse. Clydesdale happens to be one of them. Percheron is also a draft horse breed.

Kinda like dog breeds and the dog groups. The Basenji is a member of the hound group, as are a WHOLE bunch of other hounds.

Hope this makes sense. Francis, did I encroach on your thread?

steve

[skou]

Francis, what is it about that last picture, that makes me want to rub her nose?

Rosie is a pretty "little" girl!

steve

[robinson46176]

Beeg, there are numerous breeds of draft horse. Clydesdale happens to be one of them. Percheron is also a draft horse breed.

Kinda like dog breeds and the dog groups. The Basenji is a member of the hound group, as are a WHOLE bunch of other hounds.

Hope this makes sense. Francis, did I encroach on your thread?

steve

It isn't my thread... I just started it... It doesn't even become a "thread" until others join in the discussion.


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[robinson46176]

Francis, what is it about that last picture, that makes me want to rub her nose?

Rosie is a pretty "little" girl!

steve

I have been really lucky as a horse hugger to have (so far) always had a good relationship with all of the horses I come in contact with. One of the "rules of thumb" with horses is said to be that if you work with horses any time at all that:
You will get kicked
You will get bitten
And you will get stepped on.
So far I have only been stepped on (Rosie Belle maybe a year ago) but I was wearing steel toe work shoes and they worked. I just said "that is my foot that you are standing on" and gave her a nudge and she stepped back.
Horses are at times a little like a table saw... Get sloppy and don't pay attention and you can pay the price.
I have acquired a bit of a reputation locally as a horse whisperer just because I can walk out in a lot and get horses others are trying to catch to come to me instead of me chasing them. I'm pretty good at getting stubborn horses on and off of trailers and horses will come trotting to see me that have a bad relationship with their owner or owner's family members.
I love to talk horses (can you tell?) and am asked now and then to talk to small groups like some local scouts etc. I always explain the dangers first (like a table saw) then about the importance of constantly communicating with the horse. Things like never walking up on a horse from any direction without speaking to it first. You can startle the crap out of a horse just by walking up toward the front of one that is just quietly standing there. Just because it is standing there with its eyes open does not mean that it is still on the same planet that you are.
One of the things I keep telling people is "keep" talking to the horse constantly. It usually won't care where you are or what you are doing as long as it knows where you are and what you are doing... Kids in particular can be bad at speaking once then working all around the horse without talking to it. Luckily a great number of horses will kind of make a lot of allowances for kids and kind of shift gears when a kid is involved, especially older horses.
Few people understand how badly a horse can hurt them when making an automatic reaction to something like a sudden fly bite. There is a lot of weight and muscle in that head and neck and it can move with lightning speed. Rubbing a horse's nose is usually a good experience but a law enforcement friend of mine lost a friend when she was killed while kissing a horse on the nose and a bee stung it in the butt.
Just like with a table saw I have always been very careful but I could be a victim tomorrow... I have always made it very clear to my grown kids that if something does happen someday that they are to not blame the horse involved ever. I just probably did something stupid. I do that sometimes.


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[dgale]

Wow, you're really making me miss having a horse I grew up around horses in Colorado and also on a ranch my Dad had up in Mendocino County (it was a 400 acre ranch that was part of the old Sea Biscuit ranch - beautiful place he sadly sold about 20 years ago despite my pleadings not to do so).

One of the hard things for me about growing older is realizing and accepting all the things I love in the world that I may never find the time to do...in my younger years, life seemed eternal and there was always going to be time down the road to do everything. Sadly that included all the things I still wanted to do with my Dad...I had to learn that lesson the hard way ~6 years ago when he passed away rather suddenly. He had a huge love for horses and despite being an Architect by trade, he was a Cowboy by heart.