Horses for sale at My Horse For Sale

By Terri Folks

During my trail riding adventures, I have been fortunate enough to go on several organized rides. By this I mean, a ride that was sponsored and organized by an organization of some sorts. Guided rides were available at different lengths and skill levels. I am a researcher and therefore, I heavily researched and read and asked about what types of things I should bring and what to expect. For those of you who are just venturing out into the world of organized rides, I hope this will shed some light for you. For those of you seasoned trail riders, I welcome your tips and suggestions to share with others!

Green Horse + Green Rider = Black & Blue
This is one of my favorite mathematical equations. OK, so math isn’t my best subject. Seriously though, if you are new to riding and have a new horse, maybe an organized ride isn’t the best place to start. Some of the rides literally have hundreds of participants and all of the activity surrounding the ride can be pretty intimidating to a horse. I have witnessed people getting hurt on rides because of the “equation.” Stick to your local trail haunts until you feel confident together as a team.

Organizational skills
Organized rides generally offer different lengths of rides for different skill levels. Each ride will have a trail boss (the lead rider) and a drag rider (the end). You must stay behind the lead rider at all times. That person will guide the way and is always looking out for your safety. The drag rider must stay in the back of the group. If you have a problem, you won’t be left behind. With those handy dandy radios available now, they allow the trail boss and drag rider to communicate with others and the base camp if there is a problem.

While participating on a guided ride, please be courteous, no whopping or hollering (can frighten horses and riders), don’t pass on the trail without asking first (especially at a fast-pace), no littering and no smoking unless your trail boss authorizes it at a rest stop.
Please leave your stallions at home. Most rides don’t allow stallions anyway, but this is no place for one.
Conditioning
Don’t expect to jump on your horse that has been a pasture pet for the last few months and go on a six-hour trail ride. Especially when temperatures are high, this can result in your horse colicing or some other type of dangerous health risk. Don’t risk it. BEFORE you go on the ride, start riding your horse regularly to get in shape or do some type of exercise. Or, go on one of the short rides!

Tack
The nice thing about being a pleasure trail rider, any type of riding equipment is acceptable! You don’t have to worry about being immaculately groomed, using matching horse/person attire or showing lots of silver. However, you should use a clean blanket (dirty horse blankets grind the dirt into your horse’s back). Use a breast collar of some sorts (most trails have ups and downs and you don’t want your saddle to slip sideways). You might want to consider purchasing saddle bags, a cantle bag or a horn bag to carry your “stuff.” That stuff might include: a hoof pick; a rain poncho for those unexpected downpours; halter and lead rope to tie up your horse with; snacks; water bottle and some pieces of leather in case you need to do a quick repair job. This is probably not the best place to try out a brand new saddle either. An ill-fitting saddle can make a horse very unhappy and give the horse a sore back. Try out your tack before you go on a long trail ride.

Halter/Bridles
If you want to do a lot of trail riding, you might want to consider purchasing a halter/bridle combination. These are available in many types of materials for a wide range of prices. The bit simply snaps off the halter when not needed so you don’t have to carry a halter with you when you ride.

Camping with your horse
Camping with your horse is a little different than your ordinary camping trip. It’s a little like packing a diaper bag except that the baby weighs 1,000 pounds. Some trails offer corrals but most don’t. You will need to train your horse to stand tied for long periods of time.
A picket line is a long length of rope to go between objects (such as a tree or picket pole) and secured to the tree with tree-saver nylon straps (or some people use mohair girths) on both ends for tree-tying. This protects the tree from being damaged. Don’t tie your horse to close to the tree because the horse might damage the bark. The line should be 25-100 foot nylon, cotton, hemp or polypropylene rope and is tied high. Then your horse is secured using lead rope tied to the picket line. You can also purchase a knot eliminator to make sure your horse doesn’t wind itself into a knot on the line.
You will also need a hay net; water and grain buckets and a water hose (or a small bucket to carry the water back and forth). You can also use the hose to rinse off your horse. For removing hay and manure, you will need a shovel, rake, a muck bucket and large trash bags. Most parks require that you pick up after your horse. Please do!

TIP:
Purchase one of those large multipurpose tubs with handles from your local discount department store. You can use that for a muck bucket or a water bucket—one that your horse can’t turn over.
The night winds can be pretty cold for your four-legged friend. You might want to bring a blanket to keep your horse warm. Also during peak fly season, bring a fly sheet and a fly mask to protect your horse.
Don’t forget your regular camping essentials such as a flashlight with extra batteries, extra pair of riding shoes in case of rain (I also learned this lesson the hard way after my riding sneakers were soaked at Robbers Cave) and layers of clothes. Trails snacks for you and your horse that are easily transported in your saddle will come in handy. Bring your camera!

Sleeping Accommodations
Many campers now have gooseneck trailers with living quarters. For the rest of us, you can take a tent, travel trailer or even sleep in your truck or horse trailer. If you sleep in your horse trailer, bring some tarps to cover up the flooring and the sides and a broom to sweep out the manure.
Camping with your horse can be a blast! There is nothing better than spending the day on the trail with your horse and then sitting around the campfire with your horse buddies. Don’t forget the marshmallows and most importantly HAVE FUN!!!
Looking for places to trail ride in Oklahoma and other states? Visit American Trail Horse Association (ATHA) or www.oklahomahorseonline.com – Trail Riding section

By Terri Folks, publisher, www.oklahomahorseonline.com

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Special people working hard for us to enjoy our horses.

I remember when I started MyHorseForSale.com and remember thinking how great it would be to partner with equine associations, horse show organizations and clubs. However, I really never thought about how hard each of these associations work until I started providing our Internet Cafe at horse shows. The people that work at and run these associations work hundreds of hours to insure that we have horse shows to attend, websites, literature, and magazines to gather information from about our horses (pedigrees, history, scholarships, incentive funds, trail rides, identification programs) and much, much more.

Well several years have passed, and we have partnered with the Appaloosa Horse Club, American Morgan Horse Association, American Trail Horse Association, Reichert Celebration and the Pinto Horse Association of America, Inc to provide members a way to list, buy or sell horses and promote their stallions at stud as well as providing the Internet Cafe’.

I personally enjoy and appreciate the hard work that each of these associations do for their members. I have watched the folks that work for these associations start their day at 4:00 or 5:00 am and finish the day around 2:00 or 3:00 am the next morning. These folks always have a smile on their faces, are always ready to help and answer questions for members and non-members. They spend countless hours paid and not paid getting ready for shows, trail rides, educational programs and promoting their breed or association.

These folks “pay it forward” every day. They work behind the scene with out recognition or even a “Thank You” from most of us. Not to say we wouldn’t tell them “Thank You” it’s just that life gets in the way sometimes. So… the next time you wonder about the history of your horse, the shows, how each breed got started or any of the whys, hows, when, and wheres of each breed- Remember that each association provides this information to anyone that wants to know more about the breed.

If you get a chance and you think about it, send your association, club, or individual that helped you a card or e-mail that says “Thank You”. Let’s all “pay it forward” and help pass the word that folks in the equine industry are the best.

As you know I enjoy passing along great information and referring sites that have educational information to help the equine consumer make informed decisions. Please check out Morgan Colors and AMHA to learn more about the colors and versatility of the Morgan Horse.

Your Information Station for Color in the Morgan Breed

Welcome to the Morgan Colors website! Founded in September of 2001 by Nancy Castle, Morgan Colors is an email discussion list with more than 500 members, united by our interest in colorful Morgans. We’ve seen a lot of “color history” being made on our group over the years, and this website is a way to share that information.

Although most people are aware that the Morgan Horse can be bay, brown, chestnut and black, they may not know that Morgans can be more colorful! On these pages you will see that there are silver dapple, roan, palomino, buckskin, dun, grulla, cremello, perlino, smoky cream, gray, flaxen, sabino, splashed white, and other rare colorful Morgans!

In the menu to the left are links to pages of pictures of Morgans in each of the various colors and modifiers present in our breed. Educational information about the genetics of each color, as well as a list of bloodline sources for them, can also be found on each page. Inspired by the Morgan Horse Historical Photo Archive, we present a “colorful” version here for those who wish to trace the color lines in their horse’s pedigrees. The core of this information was taken from my 2005 AMHA Convention presentation on Morgan Color and History. I had many requests to put this information on a CD, book or website, so here it is! Be sure and check the links page for websites of colorful Morgan breeders as well as other educational sites about Morgans and the colors they come in.

I hope you find Morgan Colors useful as a reference and research tool. Suggestions are welcome. Check back for regular updates! -Laura Behning

Join the yahoo group for Morgan Colors by clicking here.