Riding Technique

So here in the office us gals were discussing whether riding is more about balance or movement. One opinion is it’s more about balance because if you’re not balanced you can’t stay on the horse and go with him. The other opinion is riding is more about movement because you have to be able to move with your horse to stay on…not to mention how uncoordinated we are on the ground until we get on a horse so it couldn’t possibly be only balance. To me, both of these concepts are valid. It seems like one would have to be balanced to stay on the horse no matter what your riding tasks might be. But, is it movement that keeps you on the horse when a deer pops out of the brush and your horse jumps sideways? What about when you are trotting or loping your horse, then movement really seems to be priority because you want to move with your horse’s rhythm. Or the third option is you can’t have one without the other. Who actually knows the answer to this Wednesday lunch hour horse discussion?

Getting Fixed

I have recently have been given an opportunity to get a horse that is a 14-year-old Quarter horse stallion. I am planning on gelding him immediately if I decide to take him, and hopefully he will mellow out fairly quickly. He is a great horse and has been used extensively for cattle work and some trail riding and not been allowed to be “studdy”. In fact, if he was a gelding he would have been in my pasture yesterday! He has been socialized with other horses in his younger years but has been by himself for the last four or five and has not had a real breeding career. I don’t have any experience handling a stud, and am not looking to start. If he will remain acting like he is a stallion but more mellow, I’m not thinking that is something I would like to take on. I do have a gelding already so he would have a buddy. I want to be able to relax and enjoy my ride, not be on the lookout for fellow mares. Does anyone have an input on gelding an older stallion? How did it work out?

Horses for Sale

My husband and I went to an estate horse auction a few weeks ago looking for a well broke ranch gelding. It was not what I was expecting, although I have never been to a sale like this. There were a lot of brood mares, most with babies at their side and bred back, a few studs and 3 riding horses. The catch with the mares is they were all turned out together with the stallions, so you didn't know what stud bred the mare. That's a real genius way of being in the horse business. One of the studs was a real pretty Hancock bred blue roan with a gorgeous, wavy black mane. I guess he hadn't been handled that much because he was pretty wild in the auction pen. Some of the broodmares sold for $200 with weanlings going for $75. We could've bought the entire herd for $2000. We came home with an empty trailer, but I can't get those images of the horses out of my mind and wondering what happened to them. It's a real pity in these kinds of situations; I wish I could've brought them all home. It seems like "horse breeders" would stop breeding these kinds of herds seeing they have no real goals in mind. I understand if you have a champion and you are in the real biz of competing or raising calm, well rounded riding horses. There's a real need for that, but this guy totally seemed to miss the mark. How do you stop people from breeding horses just for the sake of breeding a horse? Foals are cute for awhile until they nail you in the stomach with one of their sweet little hoofies and leave a bruise the size of a grapefruit. Now there's talk of reopening slaughter plants or creating new ones in the U.S. to help ease the horse population. The thought of horse slaughter makes me absolutely nauseous, and I don't feel there's one easy answer. I do think we must stop horses from going to Mexico regardless of what's done in the U.S. No matter what solution you think is the best, I think one thing we can do is write our Congress representatives and senators with a particular viewpoint. The squeaky wheel gets the grease...

Tour Guide

Last Friday the 13th we had the privilege of hosting a tour for the Texas A&M Chapter of the National Block & Bridle Club. Block & Bridle is a club that's dedicated to the promotion of agriculture on campus, encouraging higher scholastic standards among ag students, and enhancing professionalism of students who will one day be leaders in the ag industry. These students were part of over 650 undergrads that attended the National Convention for Block & Bridle in San Antonio. Students could choose from different tours and we were honored that over 80 students chose to come see Circle Y. We showed them all of our operation: tree making, leather cutting, saddle and tack assembly, and the shipping department.

The group seemed to be diversified with horse people and cattle people. Even some of the students with cattle backgrounds thought the tour was interesting so that was neat. The horsemen of the group asked some tough questions which was great because that meant they were actually thinking about what we were saying. There's so much that goes into making a saddle that I guess it really can't be appreciated until you've seen it first hand. Just because more than one person builds your saddle here and not one person from start to finish, it's still our daily pursuit for perfection to create the best saddles in the world for a variety of disciplines, riders, and horses. Photo: Mark Jemelka-General Manager of Circle Y, Texas A&M student hosts, and Yoakum mayor Annie Rodriguez.

Riding my gelding has steadily stayed on the back burner but with the days already getting longer, it will soon be time for the spring tune up. I am beginning to feel spring fever and ready to spend some time in the outdoors with my fuzzy, attention-deprived gelding. (I know for some of you this is still a long way off seeing most of the country is still covered up in snow!) I have set my riding goals high this season with having a much more broke trail horse by the end of summer. I plan to use a lot of Julie Goodnight’s DVDs to help me get a willing partner and become the leader with ‘ole Copper. We will continue to have our lessons with Anne, who works here and is my gaited horse instructor, who will continue to teach me and Copper the proper gaits of a good Walking horse. There are only a few more weeks until daylight savings time. I groan at the thought of losing an hour but at the same time, it’s more riding time in the evening. At that thought, the daylight will be a welcomed time to really ride and build a better relationship with my horse. Happy Trails.

The new Circle Y catalogs have arrived from the printer and we will begin mailing the end of this week. The catalog is being added to the Web site under BROWSE THE CATALOG. Please be patient with the site as we are correcting links and getting it all up for download. We hope you love what you see with the new designs. It seems a lot of the country is frozen and buried in snow and ice. Be safe and feed those horses some extra hay for warmth!

A Busy Start to the Year

It has been a very busy first few weeks of the new year! We have been getting ready for the Denver Market this weekend which is a huge event we work all year to prepare for. There have been some late nights trying to finish the last of projects and tying up the loose ends. We don't settle for less than perfection! This is where we unveil all the new saddle and tack designs for the year. We also have the annual sales meeting with all the salespeople who are able to attend. A lot of our major competitors are there as well so it's always interesting. I have finished the new 2009 Catalog and it's on the way from the printer. It will be available next week so be sure to request a catalog. We hope you'll find your perfect saddle! We will be updating the Web site soon too with some new features and of course with the new catalog. Be safe on the trails and stay warm!