January 5, 2009
Dennis demonstrates breaking in your leather reins.
By expert tack maker Dennis Moreland
When you’re riding, many of your signals to your horse go through the bridle reins.
You want that to be a clear channel of communication.
If the bridle reins are so lightweight that they feel like a dish rag, your horse may have trouble knowing what you want.
January 2, 2009
Holly Clanahan
Walking through Wal-Mart on January 1, you could tell what the marketing gurus had in mind. Fitness DVDs were front and center on the main aisle, as was a device that counted your push-ups. There was something that promised six-pack abs and something else branded to the “Biggest Loser” TV show. Hello, New Year’s resolutions!
I was amused to see that the get-fit gadgets were immediately adjacent to the candy aisle. That’s a resolution I think I could stick to: Eat more Reese’s in 2009. Read the rest of this entry »
January 2, 2009
View the full ad!
By AQHA Executive Director of Registration Gary Griffith
The first thing professional tie-down roper Stran Smith asks when purchasing a horse is if the horse has AQHA papers.
“The papers help me verify the bloodlines because a horse’s pedigree is one of the things I value,” he says. “I have American Quarter Horses, and I have the papers to prove it!”
That testimonial was part of a promotion that we ran a few years ago to encourage horse owners to transfer a horse’s registration into the new owner’s name when the horse is sold. Read the rest of this entry »
January 1, 2009
After the area has been shaved and cleaned and the freeze-branding iron placed into liquid nitrogen, the iron is pressed firmly onto the horse for about 10 seconds.
A horse owner posed the following question to the American Association of Equine Practitioners, an AQHA alliance partner.
I am interested in freeze branding my horses. What is involved in the process? Can I do this myself, or do I need help?
Freeze branding is a method of permanently identifying your horse. It is aesthetically appealing and is less painful than hot-iron branding. Horses generally tolerate it with minimal restraint. We recommend you contact someone who frequently does this procedure to ensure good results. Inexperience can lead to an inadequate amount of white hair in an indistinct pattern or an unsightly hairless scar. Read the rest of this entry »