Equestrian kiwis - ShowSheen by the bucket

[The Jewel of the Nile]

I've seen many Kiwis mention riding and owning horses, so it's time to start a horse thread!

Show off your horse (or a loaner, or a school favorite), share tips, complain about not being able to fully clean their white socks, and feel free to show off your talent!

As for me I ride western style (which is quite unusual in my corner of Europe), particularly reining. I'm considering buying an AQHA mare sometime soon. The one I'm eyeing is a beautiful paint horse with a good head. She's great under the saddle, but she's even better at in-hand halter exercises.

 

[honse]

ayo I'm not doxing my horses but I've been in the industry for 20+ years.

I do mostly English adjacent stuff but I've dabbled in endurance and I'm interested in trying western.

I'm planning on adopting a mustang in 2027 through the BLM, might make a move sooner if the rumors about the US government purging the Devils Garden horses are true.

 

[The Jewel of the Nile]

I do mostly English adjacent stuff but I've dabbled in endurance

How do you even start in endurance? I sometimes organize trail rides that span ~25-30 hours, in normal western saddles; the horses are fine after those distances. But surely there's more to this discipline, right?

 

[honse]

How do you even start in endurance? I sometimes organize trail rides that span ~25-30 hours, in normal western saddles; the horses are fine after those distances. But surely there's more to this discipline, right?

Usually there's a committee/association branch near you and you get points for sanctioned rides, and points go towards your yearly total. Each ride is structured a little differently in terms of trail marking but they function the same. Frequent vet checks, checkpoints where you can take a break and get water, etc.

You have to vet clean at the start and vet clean at any checkpoints or they'll pull you, and then they do a final vet check at the end. Horse's vitals have to be within an acceptable range and you've got to make it within the time allowed to redeem points and "win." Some rides will give prizes to the first to finish but it's more about completion than it is about winning.

 

[W00K #17]

I have never met a horse person who had even a passing semblance of sanity.

 

[The Jewel of the Nile]

Usually there's a committee/association branch near you

Thank you for the extensive write up! But how do you even start training for it? What is worth keeping in mind (and on your person) during a training session?

 

[Paper Machete]

I've never really shown but I have an interest in endurance or competitive trail. I'd also like to try out something like mounted orienteering. I really hate being in an arena too much. I mostly just pleasure/trail ride and do my own thing.

I think this thread could also be used to link/archive resources available online. There is a lot out there if you know where to look. Even just a lot of webinars posted to YT or articles buried in various associations old ass websites. I love trying to find stuff like that.

 

[Greedy Fly]

Ah man, I was never a Horse Girl but my mom kept them when I was a kid so I still grew up going to riding lessons, mucking stalls, sleeping in those gooseneck trailers, and of course all my friends were Horse Girls or fellow children of Horse Women.

Mom was big on endurance rides, and while I often did volunteer work at races, my own experience begins and ends with doing two mini, 12 mi Ride-and-Ties in middle school. Us kids got sent to classes for a little bit of everything, I think my mom envisioned each of us having a "specialty," so she kept trying us out on jumping, dressage, vaulting, etc. The highlight of all that was one summer camp all about techniques they use for movies where I got to fire a gun while on horseback