At 5:30 this morning, Dobi lost his fight with a strangulating lipoma.

There are no words that I can write to explain how much he meant to me, and will always mean. We were supposed to have so many more years together, but his body betrayed him in the most evil way possible. 23 years old was not old enough.

Dobi, you made my life infinitely better, and I’m so sorry that you didn’t get the death you deserved. You should have gone at a grand old age, with the sun on your back surrounded by your friends after a long and happy retirement. Not in a hospital room in agony.

Always and forever my best and greatest friend.

Dobi (Sole Invader) 1st January 2003 - 15th October 2026

I'm already riding biteless.

Let's go max and remove everything

I’m genuinely not posting this to hate, but I’m honestly confused and curious what others think. I follow a nonprofit horse rescue called Freedom Reins, and it seems like almost every day there’s another horse colicing or having some kind of major medical emergency. Then I saw her recent post about the outstanding vet bill, and it just got me thinking.

At some point, I feel like we have to acknowledge that not every animal can or necessarily should be saved, especially when quality of life and finances come into play. Animals don’t have the same understanding or fear of death that humans do, and sometimes humane euthanasia is the kinder option.

I also feel for the veterinary practice that is carrying such a large unpaid balance. From what I can tell, it seems like she’s running most of this rescue on her own, which has to be incredibly overwhelming.

I genuinely appreciate her heart and the time and effort she puts into helping these horses. I’m not questioning her intentions at all. I’m just wondering, is this how most rescues operate? Is it normal to take on this many medical cases and accumulate significant veterinary debt? At what point does a rescue have to make difficult decisions about what is sustainable?

So I am HoH (hard of hearing) been taking western riding lessons and my trainer is very understanding for my hearing loss but I feel like it is hindering my ability to grow and learn as efficiently as I could be due to not being able to be communicated with and corrected while riding. I have to come back to her every single time we need the next command or correction.
I’ve seen the CeeCoach rider-trainer headsets and those seem dreamy but out of my budget.

I am not the first rider who is HoH so I would love to hear how other riders have overcome this hurdle or how you’ve seen disabled riders handle this in the equestrian community??

I do not currently have hearing aids as my insurance does not cover them or anything to do with them such as the audiologist appts etc infuriatingly enough so I haven’t had hearing aids since I was a minor and even then I struggled due to them picking all the sounds and not particularly the sounds I needed if this pertains at all.

Thanks for any suggestions!!!

Horse tax included.

I have never owned a horse and don’t have any experience with them but I love to see cute and funny videos of them on social media. Sometimes comments will say “oh stallions are so extra” or this breed is always like that or things like that.

The best thing I can compare it to is like the common stereotypes surrounding huskies (hyperactive, chatty, escape artists) or golden retrievers (just enjoying life, your gentle bestie, silly and goofy and curious) which are often very true tor those breeds.

Do horses have common stereotypes for their different breeds and if so, can you share some with me? Share a story if you have one!

I wanna know if there's any equestrians that start work at 9am or later. Are we all supposed to be morning people or is that just a stigma in the industry to start before sunrise?! I'm a big fan of not feeding until 10.
Not sure if the post flair is the right one for this discussion, apologies.

Not the best pic but honestly it’s almost impossible to make him stand still. 7 year old gelding. Breeding not recorded but on passport it says he is a warmblood

A lot can change but some things will always stay the same. My love for horses, geldings and those non destructible pants and boots apparently 🤣

Last November I purchased a sight unseen 4 year old OTTB by the recommendation of my trainer at the time. I had been riding for about 12 years and took a huge 5 year gap and came back to riding for about 4 months. Looking back this was not the best choice for me, although I am a good rider he is/was so green. I was trusting the judgement of my trainer and was so excited to be buying a horse I sort of ignored the red flags in the situation.

All that said, the horse arrived and while he really is a good boy he is incredibly green and was barely restarted/maybe only jumped a few fences. I lost basically all my confidence due to just being anxious mixed with my old trainer pushing both of us way too hard

Fast forward to June of this year I moved to a new barn and new trainer who told us we definitely need to step back to rebuild confidence in us both. It is going well and he’s made so much progress and his flat work is really coming along well. Jumping is hit or miss. He does well trotting jumps but rushes the canter jumps and can get crazy heavy on the forehand. So my trainer suggested I start riding an older horse at the barn to give me a chance to work on myself and figure out my jump position. The older horse is a lovely 16 year old OTTB who has really transformed my riding and I’m starting to have fun riding again.

My trainer had a conversation with me about what I want in riding and what training would look like with my now 5 year old horse. When I bought him I wasn’t as informed as I should have been with bringing along a young horse nor do I really have the skill to do it well, although this young horse is very sane and safe it’s going to take a while to really get him going. So she suggested maybe buying the older horse I’m riding (he’s for sale) and selling my younger horse.

At what point do you say this isn’t what I thought I signed up for and find your horse a home he needs? I’m really emotionally attached to him he’s so sweet and such a good boy but in reality I’m quite inadequate for him. He also has a track injury that will limit him on how high he can jump. I feel like such a bad person for wanting to sell him and buy the older horse that is helping me so much and I’m having fun on. There’s so much shame and guilt around selling horses and I’m feeling that. Advice?

I’m looking to get a new pair of gloves, and I have always had and used the Roeckl gloves and never have really tried to branch out and try other brands and styles. I’ve seen some of the horse girlies in Samshields which I didn’t really find to be anything special and also the Kunkle brand but haven’t seen those in person myself.
does anyone have any recommendations they really like?

(show jumper) TYIA 🦄

This poor baby had to go to the clinic yesterday because it was moving strange and almost falling a lot. They found some issues with its cervical spine and spinal cord. Now time and medication have to show if this horse will be able to live a healthy life. So sad - it is such a pretty and friendyl baby!

Hi there, I’ve noticed my horse sometimes opens his mouth when I try to do a simple change or half halt in a line. He is currently in D ring double jointed snaffle with a peanut link.
A friend of mine suggested a Mullen mouth because all the movement might be upsetting him, so I’m going to try that but I was curious if everyone’s thoughts on how we could make him more comfy.
He is an ex-barrel horse and still can sometimes be a little strong so I still need some sort of brakes, also we show hunters so it would have to be legal for that!
I added a video as an example of when he opens his mouth in the line, when I do a simple change, and he opens his mouth a little toward the last jump as well.
I do keep his noseband loose and I’m not really interested in using a flash on him.

She is a Lourens X Paradiesvogel mare, one of the best horses to ride in. Her outstanding willingness to work and quick trainability is out of this world. I loved to work w her...

Looking for fun ideas! This will be his official first horse .

I am a lifelong horse person. I started dating my now husband when we were 18 and broke. He’d never even met a horse before me. In college I volunteered at barns and did anything with the possibility just to ride. My husband sacrificed his own hobby (soccer), to surprise me with my first part lease on a horse I loved when we were 20. When we were 24 and freshly married, he was fully supportive of our first ever horse. My horse dreams would have never been possible without him. And then about 2 years ago he surprised me again by informing me he’d been secretly taking riding lessons so we could go on an equestrian vacation (which was super fun by the way and he did amazing). Basically, I am so incredibly lucky to have such a supportive spouse.

Fast forward a few years, we are financially stable and own 2-3 horses at a time. I have a personal horse and then usually have 1-2 project horses that I get (usually) out of awful situations, keep for around 9 months to a year to recover, build back up, get vet care, and put some buttons on them before finding them homes. He’s so supportive and loves to come along but this is definitely my hobby. He has always talked about maybe eventually us finding him a horse so we can each have our own horse, but then backs down saying concerns about how he knows project horses are a hobby of mine and another permanent horse would decrease the horses I can have as projects at a time. Until, beginning of this year, the horse we got in, my husband adores. Oscar is this man’s whole world. he’s at the barn with me multiple times a week just to see and love on this horse. I’ll look up and he’s just bareback riding this horse all over the property, totally smitten. He got a little choked up a few weeks ago when he asked me when we were selling Oscar and that he respects that rehabbing horses and finding them forever horses is my passion, but this one (in his words) “is really going to hurt”.

On reflecting on it, I’ve decided to keep Oscar. We financially support 3 horses at a time generally, and going from 2 project horses to 1 at a given time is fine by me. I also enjoy Oscar, but I see just how much he and my husband have bonded. So, I want to do something cute to give him Oscar. Oscar is papered, so maybe signing over papers? A name plaque? A silly giant bow? We are taking Oscar and my horse trail riding to the river with friends next week, maybe something there? Any ideas I’d love! I know he’s going to be so tickled about the whole thing. This is his first horse and a hobby he’s supported me so much through and I want to make a big deal about this :)

I got my horse a year ago and do launging 2x a week, with her doing a deep stretch and besides that we do 2x hacking and 1 schooling.

Still she looks the same.

I started doing poles 2 months ago from the ground cause i read that would do the trick but she is still not improving.

Is there anything that jumps out about this mares breeding?

She’s older now and had a lot of careers in her life but is absolutely killing is as a dressage horse. I am already dreading the day she will need to retire as it’s the first time I have found dressage fun.

I was just curious if anything in her breeding made her dressage inclined (and so I can look for it again in a next horse) or if it just happen to be the result of the sum of her life experience.

His paperwork says sorrel but I thought he was chestnut, what color is he?? (One pic on a cloudy day and inside with lights)

Has anyone had any experience with their leasing program? I saw on their American website about it being 600 a month.

I have a gaited horse who won't canter. I can get a bit of gallop but its not clean at all an really heavy to keep. Just looking for training tips and or possible reasons why we struggle.

I have a 14yr old Haflinger that I’ve had for about a year, with hopes to show low level hunters/jumpers and do drag hunting (second-third flight no jumping) but ever since he went lame during the summer (from being cut too short) my trainer said I should never jump or even do ground poles with him ever again, because he’ll apparently never do good since he does not have the perfect jumper physique. She believes he’ll instantly Disintegrate if he ever does so, is he really that bad that he can’t even do poles anymore?

Hi everyone! I have a question about how to handle certain situations when half-leasing a horse, particularly when it comes to the saddle.

I’ve been half-leasing a mare since May, and things have been going really well with her. I’ve also generally gotten along well with her owners, although there are a couple of things that feel a little strange to me.
The mare was bought by the father of the girl who technically owns her. From what I can tell, the daughter doesn’t seem particularly interested in the mare, whereas her father absolutely adores her and treats her like his own daughter. Which is lovely, of course, but he can also be a bit of a control freak.

Just to give you an idea, I ride the mare on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings, always at 10 AM, and we only do relaxed flatwork. He is pretty much always there. I never really thought he was keeping an eye on me specifically, because there’s usually a lot going on in the mornings: he prepares feed, brings his horses in from the paddock, and so on. And yes, they have another horse as well, not just this mare.
Then one day, I told him that for personal reasons I couldn’t come in the morning but would come at 2 PM instead. He replied that we wouldn’t run into each other that day.
I arrived, parked my car, and TWO MINUTES later I heard a car pulling in. It was him. He actually said, “Hi! What a coincidence!”

Honestly, I really felt like I was being watched. I didn’t say anything because we generally get along well, and I don’t want to damage our relationship.
But I can’t help wondering: I never complain, I always pay on the exact day I’m supposed to, without ever being a cent short, and he’s been seeing me ride his mare since May. Does he really still need to keep tabs on me?
I should also mention that while I’m there, he occasionally talks to me, but he always waits until I’m finished riding. In the meantime, he sits on his phone waiting for me to finish so he can start chatting and get on with his own tasks, like applying hoof tar to the mare’s hooves. And I can’t help thinking, “I could easily do that myself, too.”
Whenever I’ve noticed something wrong with the mare, I’ve always let him know. Meanwhile, the other half-leaser didn’t even notice one day that the mare was missing a horseshoe!

Anyway, part of this is honestly just me needing to vent, but here’s the actual issue I’d like advice on.
As I mentioned, they have two horses. They’ve now found someone to half-lease their other horse, and the new girl starts tomorrow.
The problem is that they only have one saddle for both horses, so they’ve asked me to use someone else’s saddle when I ride my mare, so the new girl can use the saddle they own.
I had a look at the saddle they want me to use. It belongs to an acquaintance of theirs, but it doesn’t even have safety stirrups, and it’s a men’s saddle that’s much too big for me.

At first, he told me I could keep using their saddle because the new girl and I probably wouldn’t ride at the same time. A couple of days later, he said we might end up overlapping, so I could use the other saddle instead. I explained that I’d prefer to keep using the one I’m used to, but he brought it up again a couple more times, saying I could use the other saddle even if we weren’t there at the same time.
I could buy my own stirrups and stirrup leathers, but I’d have to swap them over every time I ride, which sounds like a huge hassle. I’m also worried about accidentally damaging someone else’s equipment.

I’ve even considered buying my own saddle at this point, but I’m worried about that too. I wouldn’t necessarily be able to afford a really good, high-end saddle, and I might have to look at cheaper options, possibly not even leather. But I’m scared of accidentally getting a saddle that doesn’t fit her properly and causing problems with her back. The last thing I want is to hurt her or cause any damage just because I bought the wrong saddle.

I honestly don’t know how to handle this situation. Would you agree to use the other saddle, or would you bring it up with the owners? Am I being unreasonable for feeling uncomfortable about this? I’d really appreciate your advice!

Hello! I just moved to the Netherlands recently and I want to get back to horse riding.

I'm an adult with 10 years of riding experience. I haven't ridden in 5 years but I have been looking forward to going back to it.

Now that im in the Netherlands, id like to search for a place where I can get lessons. But, problem is, I dont speak dutch and since im new here it'll take me a few years to be able to hold a conversation properly. Thus, Im worried it wont be possible for me to easily get lessons in English.

Does anyone know how English friendly Dutch barn lessons can be?