Young Writers Society

Uh, so sorry... totally forgot to explain.

girth - is the strap around the horse that secures the saddle in place.

bridle - the harness around the horses head.

Here is a glossary of horse terms from about.com http://horses.about.com/od/aglossaryofhorseterms/

Another drabble from me again...

Also about a horses' hooves (feet) and shoes. Horses can be shod, but on stone a shoed horses will have more trouble moving faster than unshod. Also a horse can go barefoot, my sister is a farrier (or horse shooer/blacksmith), and she believes that horses are best with just a trim and no shoes, unless the shoe is for medical reasons.

Horses move differently over different ground. Packed earth or pack sand is the easiest. Asphalt and cement are okay, but can be hard on a horses joints. Mud is tricker. Also I find when it is rocky or boggy it is best to let the horse chart its own path through it.

A person that hasn't ridden in a while or isn't used to it, or is a beginner will be sore in places they had not thought of, after a ride. Especially in the thigh muscles.

I don't know what kind of style of riding you all are talking about here. There are two main ones: western and english. Western is the large saddle with the horn, and the english is the smaller. Here is a picture of a western saddle: http://www.equusite.com/articles/basics/images/basicsWesternSaddle.jpg and this is of an english saddle: http://www.equusite.com/articles/basics/images/basicsWesternSaddle.jpg. There are many different kinds of those two, but I won't get into that unless you want the break-down of it.

With a Western Saddle you ride long in the leg, as we call it, or with a full lenght stirrup, which is what your foot goes into. With an english, you ride short. With your knees pressed into the knee roll.

The posture of riding can be tricky - with your back straight and your butt tucked underneath you, and always with your heels down. Always ride with your heels pressed downwards. That is a safety procaution, that if the horse runs off on you, your feet will easily slip out of the stirrups and not get caught up in them.

Also, about gaits -

Western: walk, trot, lope, canter, gallop, dead run
English: walk, trot, canter, gallop, dead run; but in english discipline there is a posting or english trot, which is where the rider rises out of the saddle on the upbeat of the horse and down on the down. This is not normally done in western, where most just sit the trot.

About leg-pressure and reigning...

To get a horse to go right, put pressure on the horse with your left leg and pull with your right rein. To get a horse to go left, put pressure on the horse with right leg and pull with left rein. And when directing a horse with the reins, I feel it is best and easiest to pull outward and not back.

So Kay, do you want colors and breeds? Any specifics?

There is, off the top of my head -

Bay
Chestnut
Liver Chestnut
Blood Bay
Black
Albino/Cremello
White
Brown
Grey
Fleabitten Grey
Sorrel
Dun
Palomino
Red Dun
Grulla or Agrulla
Buckskin
Dapple Grey
Overo - also in black over white
Tobiano - also in black over white
Red Roan
Blue Roan
Strawberry Roan

and then the Appaloosa markings -
Blanket
Leopard
Varnish roan
Snowflake

Those are just the ones off the top of my head. Hope those help.

I'd post breeds but that would go on forever, so ask me about anything about breeds and I'll answer, the horse freak that I am.

Kay, you mentioned about a horse stepping on your foot - painful indeed. Also establish spacial intelligence with your horse. If the horse is crowded, through your weight into your shoulder and press back into the horse's chest, and put pressure on until he/she backs off.

Also reward for good behavior. It's the good ol' operant conditioning. Which can work both ways, either with a reinforcer or a punisher.

Writing Tip: Also when using horses as a way of travel, put into your plot timeline accurate travelling days or you run the risk or seriously secrewing geographically your story up. And horses don't just get fed, watered, untacked by themselves. And when stopping if you horses are not in a stable or fenced in, they should be tied securely or hobbled (which is tying up a horse's leg to impair movement, usually a back leg).

So, anything specific, ask away, and I'll do my best to answer your questions.

Okay back to fishr -

tack is the proper name for the equipment that goes on the horse, saddle, stirrups, reins etc.

There are all different kinds of bridles, for different purposes, this is the most simplest one, a snaffle bridle: http://www.btinternet.com/~kingsmerecrafts/page64/sb.gif. There is also a bridle called a hackamore which has no bit (the metal that goes into the horses mouth), but a bar that comes out in front.

So for training a horse, to get it ready to ride. You'd want to spend a lot of time just with the horse; near it. Then you would do halter training. Here is a picture of a halter - horse with halter. A leadrope clips on to the end. A horse then would be taught to be lead around by this. There is also alot of round pen work which nickle talked about. There is also clicker training - teaching a horse thing by classical conditioning with the sound of a clicker. After getting a horse halter-broke. That leads to put a saddle on the horse, letting it get used to the weight of the saddle. More roundpen work then. Always with constant bonding with the horse. I'd say, a lot of work would go into just halter-breaking the horse and getting it use to the weight of the saddle. And to following directions. Ergg...words allude me, I'd could explain this so much better if I could show you in person. I'll type something better up later.

Another note, you can tell where a horse's concetration is by the direction their ears are pointing. Horses have very sensitive ears. But when a horse has it's ears flat against it's head, that is a sign that either the horse is very uncomfortable with it's surroundings or its about to kick out. Usually at another horse.

Also, always let the horse know where you are around him.

About falling off. This is my mantra about falling off: you fall off, you get back on. The horse is probably as scared as you are. In my opinion, not getting back on only teaches the horse that - 'hey if I do this, they won't ride me any more' and can become a problem. When I was little I was taught to fall off a horse or the technical term 'emergency dismount', I have fallen over twenty times and yet to hurt anything. But accendents happen, my niece was thrown from her horse and broke her collar bone. Riding is really a 'at your own risk' sport. But it's more than worth it.

That's all from me.

Ta, CL.

Hope you received my note, but I can't tell you enough how much you've helped me.

I'm very apperietive of putting the time, effort and carefully explaining everything. I mean, wow! Right down to some of the breeds of horses, the different styles of riding, saddles; everything.

If we were in the eighteenth century, what type of riding style do you think Americans would be riding? Western or English? I'm thinking, maybe, Western?

Writing Tip: Also when using horses as a way of travel, put into your plot timeline accurate travelling days or you run the risk or seriously secrewing geographically your story up

This would be the first time for me that I've used horses in a story so how exactly not including traveling days could mess up the geographic up? For example, what if the rider is just riding from point A to point B in a single day, within the same town? Is it still manditory to include how long its taken the horse to ride that distance?

I apologize if that's a lot of questions, much lesss if they're confusing - lack of caffiene.

Other than that, thank you!
fishr

Yay caffeine! It's a glorious thang.

Eighteenth century America, western would be the way to go. Also, note, ladies would not be riding in a western saddle, but sidesaddle - diagram here and pictured here. Also the dress that ladies wore during that time period to ride was called a habit (riding habit)

Here is also a picture of a lady riding sidesaddle: http://www.krogagre.dk/images/sidesaddle-2.jpg. See how her right leg is on the same side as her left. It fits between the hunting and leaping heads.

Big notice: In the early nineteenth century the western saddle was referred to as The Spanish Saddle by Americans. Here is a very interesting article on the history of that: http://www.nmhcpl.com/chap6.html. Also english saddles in that time period would be used for the higher class and their leisure riding, as well as in the army ranks.

The classic style of riding western involves holding the reins in just one hand. In western there are two styles of reins. Split reins are two separate reins, one held in each hand; the romel is two reins attached to each side of the bit and then wrapped together so you only hold one thick rein in one hand. Split reins are used mostly for training.

Proper classic western rein handling here and here.

The reasons for the reins in one hand instead of two is so you can rope (a cow, or goat, or other herd animal) or tie a lariat (tieing the rope to the saddle horn).

Also some more on tack that I forgot. A saddle blanket sits on the horse's back between the saddle and the horse.

But since you gave me time period and place I can go more into breeds of horses that were popular.

There are two distinctions in horse breeds - warmblooded (hotblooded) or coldblooded. In 1492, men gathered from all over Europe to drive the Moors out of Spain. There is no biological difference between a warm or coldblooded horse. Horses descended from the smaller Arabian or Barb are considered warmblooded. All other horses are cold blooded, mainly including draft horses. While the added weight of the knight's mount provided extra leverage for his lance, the Arabian horse was good for quick turns and endurance, and often allowed the Moor to out maneuver the Knight's slower horse.

So, onto the actual breeds.

Thoroughbred - these are your race horses, and show horses. In America, they would be considered the cream of the crop of breeds. They are of the hotblooded line of horses, and are high mantenence horses.

Quarter Horse - this would be one of the main breeds in America. It is one of the first breeds distinctly native to the US. They are compact horses, heavily muscled, and perfect for short-distance racing. Hence the name Quarter horse, fastest horse over a quarter mile. Known for it's cow-sense and calm dispostion it was the ideal horse of the West. These horses were used on the Pony Express and for courier services.

Mustangs - the wild horses of the Americas. Because of their mixed bloodlines, they were considered inferior as horses. They were brought to the new world by the Spanish Conquistadors. Indians of that era had never seen horses and thought riders to be the godlike creatures. The Spanish prohibited Indians to own and ride the horses. But with the spread of the Spanish and introduction of breeding animals the natives acquired this "Big Dog" as they called them. The word Mustang is derived from Spanish word mesteno meaning ownerless or stray. For more info go here, it's a nice page on them: History of the Mustang.

I highly recommend seeing Hidalgo, if you haven't, as a research tool especially on endurance riding and mustangs.

Clydesdale - a coldblooded/draft horse were introduced into America in the 1850s by Scottish immigrants were the first big draft horses to make it in States. Primarily used to farming, and pulling carts. Now, the breed is most known for being the Budweiser horses.

Draft horses powered mass transit systems allowed the cities to expand. In 1880, horse-car lines were operating in every city in America with a population of 50,000. By 1886, over 100,000 horses were in use on more than 500 street railways in more than 300 American cities.


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About breeding in the Americas. Before Kentuckey, the hubbub of breeding was Rhode Island, and it was the only New England colony that allowed horse racing. The first horses breed there were called Narragansett Pacers, George Washington owned a few, as did Paul Revere and Edmund Burke. But these pacers were extinct by the 1880s.

Quote from The Legecy of the Horse: "Until the mid-19th century, horse racing was the principal form of organized sport in America. Modern towns have athletic rivalries on the football field. In colonial America, town rivalry was centered around horse racing. It was not unusual for the competitors and spectators to travel far to these early quarter-race tracks in the woods and to place considerable wagers on their town's horse. Typical wagers included money, tobacco, slaves, and property. Tempers frequently ran high if a start was questioned or if one rider allegedly interfered with another. Thus, the official who started the race was selected as much for his brawn and his ability to defend himself as for his honesty. The race was generally started by firing a pistol, sounding a trumpet, or hitting a drum. Even after land became available for long circular tracks, the sport of quarter racing remained a popular American institution."

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You also mentioned something about carriages. I'm not an expert on them but I do know when describing a carriage and the horses used the terminology goes something like this. 'A coach and four' = a carriage and four horses.

In early america there were two main pleasure vechicles used.

The Pleasure Wagon - "When roads became worn between town and farm, a lighter wagon became practical. The "pleasure wagon" had a cantilevered seat on two hickory "springs" while other wagons had none at all. Even so, riding in the pleasure wagon would have been far from a pleasure. For farmers , who could afford to have such a vehicle and a pair of horses, the pleasure wagon hauled the crop to town and took the family to church on Sunday in good weather." - from The Legacy of the Horse

The Shay - "Some folks drove a one-horse shay on local errands. It was called a "shay" or a "cheer," after the Yankee rendering of the French word "chaise" meaning chair. It had two wheels, a fixed top, and its body hung on straps. The chaise had two very large strong wheels that could absorb some of the roughness of a corduroy road or span the holes, ruts, and bumps of most other roads. It could be pulled by one strong horse." - from The Legecy of the Horse

There was also the Stage Wagon which was pulled by up to 8 horses. Nine - twelve passengers sat three abreast on backless board seats. The wagon had roll-down curtains in case of rain, but had no springs to soften the ride.

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For my thing about traveling days. Well it's more for long trips like if you were to ride from Sacramento to Eureka, that would take time, and some people forget that it does, and say forget to add the time in. It is not mandatory, just make sure your time line fits with the geography. I hope that makes some more sense. This I think is more a problem when writing high fantasy and such, and you have something take one day when it should take four.

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And that's all for now folks.

Ciao, CL.

CL:: Thanks you soooooooo much for the colours. That really is so useful.

I know I am sorta late posting here but if anyone still has questions PM me asap! I know alot about horses and I love to talk about them! Also if someone just wants to talk about them..... PM me!