St. Paul Athens Saturday Schola: Five of Seven

Hey. It's me again. So, I'm back to talk about horses. Well, actually, my first REAL ride. Anyway, I will show you one picture, but not yet.

I was riding a horse named Fancy, and my mom was on a horse named Cheyenne. I loved Fancy. She was twenty six years old and, as you will see, a beautiful brown horse. When I was first riding, I was incredibly afraid of falling off. THANK GOODNESS FOR CONFIDENCE. I finally got used to it (after five minutes) and rode with no problem. Lucky for me, we are going again soon.

We rode the the woods, we road on a path, through fields, and we even saw a doe bounding through the fields. Fancy was obedient, and I really didn't have to do anything to tell her to go. Cheyenne was different. She actually had to be slapped hard to get her to go. I know because my mom told me. Fancy nearly bucked. Well, actually, she did buck. But she had one of those darn horse flies on her behind! She got about one inch off the ground, then she went back down. I only felt it a little bit. She also didn't like being in the back. She liked to catch up and get in the front. So did Cheyenne.

The teacher was riding Bruno, a horse that literally changes colors. At one point he was white, and the next, he was palomino! Okay, I sort of made that up. SORT OF. You see, he did change those colors, but it took a long time. We found that out by the website, and because the teacher told us. And, he also decided to "use the restroom" in the middle of the trail! Lucky for me, Fancy had moved off to the side (after I forced her to) and didn't step in the "stuff".

N ow, I changed my background color JUST FOR THE HECK OF IT. I liked riding Fancy. Next time we go there, which is very soon, I will ride Cheyenne.

By the way, I am disguised by my pony tail and helmet. And, the horse is Fancy. But, I have to end my post now. Because frankly, I can't think of anything else to say!

Bye.

Hello. I am Five of Seven. Well, to start the post, I will talk about horses (because one of my goals of life is to own one.)

Contrary to popular belief, horse books are not always correct. I have discovered this in my past reading. Usually people say that there are three types of horses:

1. Coldbloods

2.Warmbloods

3. Hotbloods

However this is incorrect. The Coldbloods, Warmbloods and Hotbloods aren't different types of horses. However you may see them acting as part of a horse, such as "German Warmbloods" and "American Warmbloods". It is not usual to see "Coldblood"or "Hotblood" in names. Supposedly Coldbloods are heavy workers and friendly. Warmbloods swift and mean. Hotbloods, wow, there is a LOT to say about them. Hotbloods are supposedly swift, quick, happy, sweet and athletic.... Sheesh, they are wrong; Hotbloods are slow. Coldbloods are mean most of the time, but if their owner treats them right, they may grow to like their owner. Warmbloods are naturally sweet, and they are good for riding. They are quick, too. Hotbloods are mean, creepy and scary no matter what you do. If the horse breed has hotblood in its name. Well, now that you know that, I am going to take this post to phase two.

It is said that prehistoric horses reached SM (mating, only in a tougher word) at the age of four.

However it is also said now that horses of two or three can mate....... W-R-O-N-G! Horses can't mate until they are age three or four. Now, they stop mating at age twenty-one. Ask me why. Well, just think. In horse years that's forty-five. Moving on to phase three.

Here is where it goes very, very, very wrong. People believe that horses never started as their own species, but that, "Tree dwelling monkey creatures grew hooves, and then long ears! Oh, then a big nose! IT'S GROWING! And soon after that, there were horses." Darwin, anyone? AHHHHHHH! It is so illogical. Just think. If that really was true, horses would have "developed" the same way we did, which means we are the same species. Take that, Darwin! Moving to phase four.

Ah, I have been waiting a long time to do this. Supposedly there are only one hundred horse breeds in the entire universe! SO WRONG. There are two hundred, but I can't name them all considering there are two hundred of them. However I do know that whenever people say unicorns are real, I'd like to see one. Better yet, if I saw a unicorn and a person crashed on the side of the road, I'd roll down my window and call, "Call me if you need anything!" and drive past. I am getting off topic. Back to horse breeds. I will name what I can, though, so you might be surprised. Ready? German Warmblood, American warmblood, American Buckskin, Canadian Mountain Pony (hope you like that one, TH2),Welsh Mountain Pony, Rocky Mountain Horse, Fresian, Shire, Waler, Oldenburg, Clydesdale (commonly seen hauling beer wagons -_-), Canadian Racking Horse, Yilli, Spotted Saddle Horse, Trakehner, Crabbet Arabian, Ardennais, Kladruber and many more I don't feel like naming because my mind is spinning. Moving to phase five.

It is believed that there are more than fifty horse colors. WRONG! There are the following:

1. Paint/Pinto

2. Piebald

3. Strawberry roan (not common)

4. Blue roan

5. Dapple Grey

6. Grey

7. Light gray

8. Black (My favorite. I may be a girl, but I like dark stuff. Don't ask why.)

9. Brown

10. Bay

11. Palomino

12. Buckskin

13. Sorrel

14. Chestnut

Now, those aren't all. Very rarely (because the horses themselves are rare), you see the following colors:

1. Wind ghost (they are VERY ghostly)

2. Palomino white (white mane and tail)

3. White roan(White hair, blue roan body)

Moving to phase six!

Paint/Pinto looks like this:

Piebald looks like this:

Strawberry Roan looks like this:

Blue roan looks like this:

Dapple grey looks like this:

Grey looks like this:

Light grey looks like this:

Black looks like this:

Brown looks like this:

Bay looks like this:

Palomino looks like this:

Buckskin looks like this:

Sorrel looks like this:

Chestnut looks like this:

Wind ghost looks like this:

Palomino White looks like this:

White roan looks like this:

Phase seven coming.

Now I will spot the bad things in these classic riding sports.

Dressage. It was very handy, back when they had wars and used horses instead of... modern vehicles. It could make the illusion that the whole army was moving. This is the problem with this picture. Do you see how she looks? She is grinning and looking off the the side. Her heels are pushed back, too. Now. The grin on her face and looking to the side confuses her horse. The reason is because you should not frown, laugh or smile while riding like this. You should sit straight up and look ahead with a straight face. Your heels should not be pushed back, because it shifts her weight forward.

Now this, this is perfect! She has a straight face and her heels aren't pushed back. She is sitting straight and is looking straight ahead.

Jumping, now. You see, the problem with this one is that his heels are not pushed back. He is leaning forward slightly, but not enough. His weight is shifted to the back of the horse, making it lag a little bit. He is not looking straight through his horse's ears where he should, but rather off to the side.

The bad Jumping Technique 101 (I captioned it)

Now her! Oh, what a great technique! She has her heels pushed back, is leaning forward and is looking straight through her horse's ears! Moving to phase eight.