Western... to... English

[dia]

Figured I’d post some pics....

This is my gelding Dakota... (I’ll wait to post pics of my mare... for now, my gelding will do.). He’s three and a half years old... purebred TWH, and stands at 15.2 hands (He doesn’t look it, does he?)... I did all of his training.

Western (lunging with tack as a two year old)


Western (as a three year old... note, the boy riding is a complete beginner)




English (as a three year old, me riding... note, in English, I’m a complete beginner... I mainly ride western... in fact, this is the first time I’ve ridden English in about six months and I can count the number of times I’ve ridden English on one hand...)





Other (lunging at a trot and canter as a three year old and standing up at the barn, waiting to be fed after a ride)




Well, there ya have it... my boy. (Sorry for the pic overload... Also sorry for the not so good quality... photobucket doesn't really like me...)... I can’t really figure out which he looks better doing... Western or English... His sire is 15 hands and a blue/black color (a true black) who looks great in Aussie/English tack and his dam (my mare) is 15.1 hands and a bay who, once you see her, there is absolutely no denying that she’s a Western horse...

Also sorry that two of the pictures are so big... for some reason they're absolutely refusing to resize.

[clairabelle]

aw man, he's adorable. adorable face . Lucky Ducky...

[.Rissa.]

I am a western rider, but personally, he looks like he is lanky in a western saddle, but the English suits him much better =] Maybe he has filled out more in the English pictures, but he really narrow chested. I just think the English saddle looks way better on him.

Of course, it is totally up to you, what you do =]

[dia]

Thanks!

I still don't know what I want to do wth him... He's only three and a half. Both his sire and dam are built bulkier... not much, but they are. His dam looks just like a 'bulldog'quarterhorse when she's been worked regularly and has a lot of muscle, and his sire is thick... nothing at all like the 'breed standard' for TWH's.

I'venever seen his grandsire/dam on his dam's side, so I'm not sure how they looked... but his grandsire on his sire's side is almost 17 hands and really looks like the steriotypical TWH... tall, long, and slim. His granddam on his sires side was about 15.3 hands, if I remember correctly, and somewhere in between... not bulky, not slim. (she's dead now, died years ago, which is why I don't really remember her).

I think he's taking after Mack (his grandsire on his sire's side) because he's always been slimmer... but he's stil got some years to grow so maybe he'll bulk up some more. If he doesn't, I don't mind. I love him anyway, he's my baby. My uncle bred my mare for me when I was 15 so Dakota would be born around my sixteenth birthday as my present from him. He always wanted to see me train Dakota and was always bragging that Dakota would make me the best horse ever... but he died a day before Dakota's first birthday. That's why my boy is never going to be up for sale and that's why he's my 'baby'.

[.Rissa.]

Im so sorry to hear that Diaz =[ I've never been close to any of my uncles, glad you were though. =]

I can see why he is your baby =] he is a very handsome one at that

[dia]

Yeah, my uncle pretty much raised me with my grandma (since my mum lives in the city and doesn't like animals and my biological dad isn't around, though we do correspond). He was literally my 'dad' all my life and was always there for me. After he died, I spent a little over a year in a depression and was seeing a phsyciatrist, taking meds, and everything... it was rough. I still haven't quite come to terms with his death, but his memory stays alive through Dakota.


Thanks... I like to think he's handsome and smart (lol... he really is intelligent... teaches himself things that sometimes end up with him in trouble). He knows how to open two of the pasture gates, knows how to untie knots (which is why I had to start using crossties), and, if I'm not careful and tie him next to other horses, if he can't untie himself, he'll untie the other horses... Lol.

[.Rissa.]

That's neat about your Uncle and grandma. No one else in my family has anything to do with horses. My mom likes to ride and pet them. That's it. Like, she doesn't know how to tack up or anything. My lil' bro is into 4 wheelers and paint balls. I ride his dirt bike and 4 wheeler sometimes when I'm home. My dad bets on racehorses, and owns a few of them. he is just in that for the money. My papa and nana (on my dad's side) encourage me, and compliment me the most.

Then I have my horse friends =] but there are some horse people around here that are so stuck up!

I kind of know how you feel about your dad, my parents divorced, so, my dad still sees me, but, he gives me material things instead of mental support :/

I am glad you are making a slow but sturdy recovery =] you will have to keep us updated on Dakota =] We love pics, and videos =]

[dia]

Not many in my family like horses either... well, like them as much as me. One of my other uncles and his son like to 'own' horses just to say that they have one... and aren't that nice to them. My three younger cousins love horses, but don't get to ride often (but they're great riders/gonna be great riders, even for their ages os 12, 10, and 3). A lot of my baby cousins like to be led around a bit, but aren't interested in anything besides that. My mum dislikes horses (that's putting it lightly).

My dad may not be around, but we write and out of everyone in my family, and even though I didn't kow him until just a few years ago and didn't meet him until earlier this year, we're very close. He supports me, even though he doesn't really know much about horses.

I have 4 close friends who live within 1-3 miles from me (within reasonable riding distance). Three of those four have their own horses that they can ride... the last one has a horse, but he's way too much for her (extremely high strung... even I'm hesitant to ride him and I have a'rep' out here for not being afraid to ride any horse), so she sometimes rides one of my two.

I'll def. keep you guys updated on Dakota... I love taking pictures... though videos and me don't mix when it comes to uploading them... lol.

[.Rissa.]

I'm happy your dad decided to contact you and stuff, that is really cool =]

You are so lucky! My friend's live trailering distance away. My closest friend, is six miles from my house. Here at college, one of my freind's lives like 40 minutes away (we just talk about riding, we never get too as she only has one horse and is always SO busy). Another one lives locally, but she is pregnant and can't ride due to complications, and Bo is boarded 10 minutes from my apartment, and he is the only horse boarded (the man owns the rest) so I usually ride by myself, or tomorrow i will ride with him. But that's about it.

I have some friends that know nothing about horses, but like them, so I get to lead them around on Bo. I also take a (joke of) a riding class, and the people there, the nice ones don't own a horse, the stuck up ones do :/

lol i used to have so may problems with videos on YouTube, well, i still do if the dumb song is 'copyrighted' or whatever. ugh. But the college here has awesome WiFi internet =] but yes, you better keep us posted

[dia]

I like youtube, but my computer doesn't have the right software for it. I also have some friends who aren't that horse-savvy... once they understand that if they just sit there and do nothing, the horse is gonna ignore them... well, they figure it out when we ride sometimes. Most of my riding buddies have been riding most/half of their life...

I'm glad that I don't have to board any of my horses... they're just sitting in our pasture... lol.


I'm not in college yet... but I hope to be next Spring. Trying to find a job out here is horrible... (and yea, that was completely off topic, wasn't it?)

[.Rissa.]

aww! bummer! I love YouTube, lol.

Yeah, this is my first expirence with boarding. xD it sucks, becuase in high school, the horses were always in my backyard. My mom has 14 acres that we live on. My dad lives in Houston but has 120 acres about 20 minutes from my mom's house. It has corrals, chutes, and stuff, so I plan to live there after graduating. If I do, I am thinking on taking a Vet Assistant online class that skips the whole 'history, math, english' thing and just gets you certified as a vet assistant. But good luck going to college =]

I know what you mean! Here too! Well, if you are a college student that is. There are lot's of full time jobs available, but, a lot of places say you 'must be able to work all shifts' so.... yeah... Good luck to you there too =]