Several Certified Horsemanship Association instructors share their pet peeves.

Protect you and your horse from potential harm with day-to-day safety practices.

1. Letting Loose

Walking a horse through a gate and just turning him loose as he walks off is very unsafe and instills terrible manners in him. When turning horses out, this may lead to the horse taking off as soon as you go through the gate, and he may kick up his heels as he departs, kicking right toward the handler. Whenever a horse is led through a gate, he should be turned around toward the gate before letting him loose. This will prevent him from running off as soon as you enter the gate and also turns his rear-end away from you before he is let loose.

Ardith Turpin, CHA Instructor, Horsemanship
Director YMCA Camp Manitou-Lin, Middeville, MI

2. No Rubbing Read the rest of this entry »

Keeping the whole herd healthy sometimes means extra work.

If you have horses in quarantine, tend to them last, so that you don’t go back into your regular herd after you’ve fed and watered your quarantined horse.

By Larri Jo Starkey in The American Quarter Horse Journal

This is the last of a two-part series. Need to review Part 1?

When your horse returns home from a show, isolation is best for complete safety of your horses. However, it’s an expensive and labor-intensive solution, says Dr. Joe K. Noble, resident veterinarian at Oklahoma’s Lazy E Ranch.
Read the rest of this entry »

The May Facebook contest challenges you to act fast for your chance at winning a free pair of Wrangler jeans.

Think fast for your chance to win a pair of Wrangler jeans!

During the month of May, AQHA is giving away four pairs of Wrangler jeans to four fast-acting Facebook fans. Here’s how to win!

• Join AQHA’s Facebook fan page.
• Watch each weekday in May for a post from AQHA with the word “Wrangler” in it.
• Be one of the first 10 people to comment on the post, and you’ll be entered to win. (You can’t just “like” it; You gotta make a comment directly to the AQHA post containing the word “Wrangler.”)
• Each Friday in May, we’ll pick one winner from the names entered during that week.

It’s easy, but you have to pay attention!

Enter as many times as you can each week to increase your chances.

We’ll draw a winner each Friday in May, and the winner will receive his or her choice: a pair of women’s Ultimate Riding Jean Shiloh or men’s 20X Extreme Relaxed Fit Straight Leg.

Good luck, and we’ll see you on Facebook!

AQHA Corporate Partner Wrangler has been the official western jeans and shirts of AQHA since 1989. Find Wrangler on Facebook.

Show-clothing designers weigh in on making a great outfit.

Susan Lunenfeld takes inspiration from 1930s and '40s fashion to create show clothing at her studio in Philadelphia.

By Meghan Mackey in The American Quarter Horse Journal

This is the last of a two-part series. Need to review Part 1?

How is a trend set?

Susan Lunenfeld: I guess there could be different ways a trend becomes a trend. Somebody famous could start a trend. Like Sharon Stone at the Oscars could wear something and start a trend, and in the horse industry it can be the same: Somebody really well known can win something important in a certain style, and in a lot of ways, that starts trends. Read the rest of this entry »

Her daughter insisted she get back on, and she did.

Carolyn Merritt (left) shows Leavinem Speechless in over fences classes and her mother, Susan Magnabosco, shows him in AQHA equestrians with disabilities classes. (Journal photo) Scroll down for more Journal photos from the 2010 Region 10.

Fifteen years ago this past Mother’s Day, Susan Magnabosco got back on her American Quarter Horse.

It was no small feat at the time. The year before, in May 1994, Susan fell from her horse into a fence, and it literally tore her right elbow apart.

“You have to get back in the saddle,” her daughter, Carolyn (now Merritt), told her then; she was 15 at the time. “That’s what you’ve always told me.”

Read the rest of this entry »

In this installment of the Corporate Partner Spotlight series, let’s learn more about Members Plus.

One of the many discounted items included with your AQHA Membership!

What’s a ranch, or a farm for that matter, without a Deere in the barn? Actually, what is a suburban garden shed without one, too? Add a new laptop and an itch to paint something, and you have AQHA’s Members Plus Program. AQHA has teamed with John Deere, Sherwin Williams and Toshiba through the National Thoroughbred Racing Association to keep the discounts coming!

• John Deere — Eligible members receive as much as 23 percent off of select John Deere equipment.

• Sherwin Williams — Receive preferred pricing by opening your AQHA member account at Sherwin Williams!

• Toshiba — With the newest addition to the Members Plus program, you’ll receive as much as 25 percent off when you purchase from Toshiba Direct with promo code EPQH. Access Toshiba Direct’s Web site or call (800) 405-3704 to purchase.

Questions? Leave a comment!

Kayla Randall
AQHA Assistant Internet Production Manager

You might be surprised how some basic English training can enhance your western performance.

If you want to improve your leg and balance in your western riding, some English schooling just might be the thing for you.

By Christine Hamilton in The American Quarter Horse Journal

This is the second in a two-part series. Need to review Part 1?

An Exercise in Balance

English riding offers the benefit of traditions rooted in old European schools devoted to the discipline of riding, such as the famed Spanish Riding School of Vienna, Austria. Read the rest of this entry »

Details about lactation and how to help your mare produce plenty of good-quality milk.

Question:

I’m worried my mare won’t produce enough milk for her foal when it arrives. What can I do to ensure a good, healthy milk supply?

Answer:

Lactation is a very important function in a mare. So important, in fact, those two lives depend on it. The horse owner should always remember that a mare would sacrifice her foal’s health to save her own life … both during gestation and also after foaling. In other words, mares must be fed adequately to maintain their own body condition and have a surplus caloric intake to feed the placenta during gestation and then (after foaling) to make milk to fill the udder. Many nutritionists believe that pregnant mares should be fed the same amount as nonpregnant mares until the last third of gestation, where the nutrient intake may increase to 1.3 times the level of the nonpregnant horse. Read the rest of this entry »

Hall of Famer Bill Collins rode the back of a horse to higher education.

Hall of Famer Bill Collins is a scholar who has made the horse his lifelong study.

By Larri Jo Starkey in The American Quarter Horse Journal

This is Part 2 of a three-part series. Need to review Part 1?

The same family friend who hired a 10-year-old Bill Collins to gather cattle helped turn Bill – inadvertently – into a roper. Read the rest of this entry »

Mark Britt gives his son, Christian, some last-minute advice at the Region 10 Championship. It was Christian's first time to show. (Scroll down for more Journal photos.)

A Regional Championship is a great place to show a horse for the first time.

Every year, the Regional Championships attract people either new to showing or new to AQHA shows. Eight-year-old Christian Britt came this year to show with his family, and it was his first time to show.

Christian forgot his boots so he and his sister, Taylor, shared boots, trading shoes in the alley in between their halter classes. Taylor showed RPL Hill Of A CK in youth mares 3 and over and won.

As Christian lined up for his class, his dad, Mark, gave him some last-minute coaching on setting up the big bay gelding, El Bees Legacy. Christian marched out of youth geldings 3 and over with the silver buckle and a smile on his face.

Read the rest of this entry »

Horses from the AQHA Region 10 Championship visted John Deere's corporate offices in Carey, North Carolina. Scroll down for more Journal photos.

To represent the equestrian world, English and western.

Two American Quarter Horses headed to John Deere’s corporate offices in Cary, North Carolina, to represent the equestrian world at large, on May 14, 2010.

In nearby Raleigh for the 2010 AQHA Region 10 Championship, Shock After Shock and No Big Detail were asked to make the visit to help John Deere’s Cary employees kick off John Deere’s sponsorship of the 2010 Alltech World Equestrian Games in Lexington, Kentucky.

After a building-wide meeting highlighting the 2010 WEG and John Deere’s involvement, employees flocked outside to pet the registered AQHA bay geldings and get their photos taken with the horses.

Randy Ratliff, Region 10 committee chairman, brought his western pleasure horse, Shock After Shock, a 1998 bay Read the rest of this entry »

Cleaning tack is super important!

I absolutely love this time of year! It’s getting warmer, and I’m losing my shaggy winter coat. Maybe I can convince my dam to let me have a mohawk this summer, from my withers to my poll! I doubt it, though.

I’m super pumped about this summer! Lot of camps going on at AQHA in Amarillo, Camp It Up! Is always a blast.  This year we’ll have Horseology 101, Horseology 102 and Junior Master Horseman camp! You can email Ande about information on any of those if you’re in the area.

Of course now that we’re nearly to summer I just hope you have your spring cleaning about wrapped up! If not, never fear, Two Bits is here!

Read the rest of this entry »