Favourite sound?
- Thread starter Cortrasna
- Start date
Favourite sound is probably the in season whispered nicker. You have to be standing beside her to here it. It's very faint but means ' any chance then'
I recently heard for the first time what I assume is the male equivalent when Raf was greeting a mare that he really likes. It's funny because he generally doesn't like other horses much but for some reason he loves this mare. When we hack together he will kiss her when he can and even nibble her gently. When we met bringing them in from their respective fields at the weekend we stopped to let them say hello and Raf put his nostril right over hers and did that really low little whicker. I think he really fancies her
Back on topic I think it's the clip clop of hooves that really stirs the senses for me, but tbh it's smells that get me the most, ones that remind me of the excitement of being round ponies when I was a child, like old fashioned saddle soap, and the smell of furry ponies on a winters day ...
Fall in New England is nice.
Forgot this going into a small quaint tack store and the lovely smell of leather.
Sometimes that smell is lost in really big tack shops.
Forgot this going into a small quaint tack store and the lovely smell of leather.
Sometimes that smell is lost in really big tack shops.
Just back from the yard where back in the tack room, I experimented pulling down the stirrups . Lovely crack Cortrasna! But I fear it is a heritage sound and one that I have never heard in my 15 years of riding and sharing. Women like me being slow and gentle with their horses perhaps.
But since most traditional culture has some underlying reason for it, I guess that a sharp pull down on each stirrup will give some sign if the girth is too lose for mounting?
That is, if you havent got a patient private groom gripping the stirrup on the off side of your horse.
I used to test with my share by giving a tug - but I like the thought of doing this instead.
But since most traditional culture has some underlying reason for it, I guess that a sharp pull down on each stirrup will give some sign if the girth is too lose for mounting?
That is, if you havent got a patient private groom gripping the stirrup on the off side of your horse.
I used to test with my share by giving a tug - but I like the thought of doing this instead.
I've never done the stirrup leather smack either. But I know the sound you mean. I've never heard of pulling them down hard to check the girth though, putting your hand beneath it is by far the easiest way to feel how tight it is.
Forgive me Joosie. I pulled on the stirrup from the ground when I shared and used to mount on my own, to make sure that if I put the weight of my foot in it, the saddle wouldnt slip. I had spent a long time teaching that mare to stand and let me mount with no one there to hold her.
No one showed me that or told me to do it. I did it because it made sense to me as a new rider. I was taught after mounting to check with my fingers and to tighten the girth from the saddle, as the weight of a rider would compress it.
And for the same reason to loosen the girth immediately after dismounting tho people these days dont seem to do this.
My share had an elasticated girth and I really dont know even now how to feel with my fingers whether a girth is tight enough.
I am currently waited on by RS staff. But in the old days on Maisie who had no shoulders and was narrow chested I was always in trouble for riding with my girth too loose. I was once pulled up mid canter.
But the fact is that riding Western (it seems to me) one is responsible for riding so one's saddle doesnt slip and riding English it will depend on the horse. I currently ride a mare on which it does slip and a gelding on which it never does. Thus when riding the gelding, I appear to be a well balanced rider but on the mare I look rubbish.
No one showed me that or told me to do it. I did it because it made sense to me as a new rider. I was taught after mounting to check with my fingers and to tighten the girth from the saddle, as the weight of a rider would compress it.
And for the same reason to loosen the girth immediately after dismounting tho people these days dont seem to do this.
My share had an elasticated girth and I really dont know even now how to feel with my fingers whether a girth is tight enough.
I am currently waited on by RS staff. But in the old days on Maisie who had no shoulders and was narrow chested I was always in trouble for riding with my girth too loose. I was once pulled up mid canter.
But the fact is that riding Western (it seems to me) one is responsible for riding so one's saddle doesnt slip and riding English it will depend on the horse. I currently ride a mare on which it does slip and a gelding on which it never does. Thus when riding the gelding, I appear to be a well balanced rider but on the mare I look rubbish.
No of course I am never slow and gentle with my horses....... Priceless! I just love to tug hard down on the leathers and frighten the bejaysus out of my horses as I do so. Just to clarify - it must be just me and my particular leathers I have used over the years, but this delightful sound does not need any brute strength or harsh and clumsy actions around my horses to replicate the sound. I guess it is all just part of the rough and ignorant old timer's habits I have picked up over the years! And no - it is not part of some deep and meaningful lost heritage with a deep and meaningful purpose behind it other than to pull the damn irons down ready to mount!
Truthfully I really don't know why I ever started posting on here again!
Priceless! I just love to tug hard down on the leathers and frighten the bejaysus out of my horses as I do so. Just to clarify - it must be just me and my particular leathers I have used over the years, but this delightful sound does not need any brute strength or harsh and clumsy actions around my horses to replicate the sound. I guess it is all just part of the rough and ignorant old timer's habits I have picked up over the years! And no - it is not part of some deep and meaningful lost heritage with a deep and meaningful purpose behind it other than to pull the damn irons down ready to mount! Truthfully I really don't know why I ever started posting on here again!
If you have ever watched colt starring with most of the known western clinicians...
After saddling -its a western saddle -
You don't pull stirrups down due to staddle
BUT
They do flap them around and snap them
To make a similar sound and also bump them a little on the horses sides to
De sensatize them.
On English saddles stirrups get run up
But on western they hang down all
The time so longing with a saddle on
They can flop and make noises.
After saddling -its a western saddle -
You don't pull stirrups down due to staddle
BUT
They do flap them around and snap them
To make a similar sound and also bump them a little on the horses sides to
De sensatize them.
On English saddles stirrups get run up
But on western they hang down all
The time so longing with a saddle on
They can flop and make noises.
I did similar before backing mine. Though I think the English teaching is to tie the stirrups under the girth so they can hang but not flap too much. I do recall doing this and mine went crazy. So I undid that and she was fine.
You can pop yours over the horn can't you or is that not how they are stored?
Mine hang down because they don't sit flush and if using t bars you have nothing to run up either.
No of course I am never slow and gentle with my horses.......
Truthfully I really don't know why I ever started posting on here again!
I must not be slow and gentle either!lol nor were the riding school instructors that gave me my first adult lessons
(please keep posting, it's too quiet without you for long)
You can bend the fender up over and hook on the horn to secure the girth or get fender/stirrup out of the way on the off
side when putting the saddle on. Then you immediately take It off.
You cant store it that way - first both stirrups would not get a grip on the horn and when you bend fender up and hook
on the horn it bends up the seat jockey.
Some times you see old not so kept up western saddles with the seat jockey bent up sticking out.
If your going to ground drive with a western and are not using a surcingle over it sometimes the stirrups are tied under.
But... sometimes they are left free and flopping. I've seen it done both ways with different clinicians.
NO one clinician has the magic bullet that everything they do is right and true for every horse.
(although some think they do)
I pick and choose from all of them what works for me and my horse.
I must not be slow and gentle either!lol nor were the riding school instructors that gave me my first adult lessons
Thinking back as a kid first taking lessons it seems my instructors pulled them down with a snap too.
I have not ridden English for quite a while-- I have to do it and just not actively think about pulling stirrups to see
how I do it...
But I am thinking I pull down quick with a smack too.
Since I like to play with all sorts of things that flip and flap and flop I would think my horses to not be concerned with it.
Totally agree with that comment and thanks for telling me about the horn. I think I would be naughty and hang things off it, myself probably included here.
I do love the western saddles though. You have both from memory?
I like the sound of stirrup leathers too!
I particularly like Pete's squeels, which are simultaneous with his little ears pointing together to touch at the top . They normally equate to having to sit a bit tight but he always does it when he's about to do something joyfully silly - usually a canter or gallop out hacking
I particularly like Pete's squeels, which are simultaneous with his little ears pointing together to touch at the top . They normally equate to having to sit a bit tight but he always does it when he's about to do something joyfully silly - usually a canter or gallop out hacking
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