Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire The first horse you rode?

Funny thread.

When the off billet breaks, it's horse belly riding!

My dad's old cow horse Billy. Grandpa had a ex army horse that was a mean,sneaky sumbitch.

Now, I'm wishin' we still had that old army saddle.

Jennifer Connelly was hot in Career Opportunities wasn't she?

I was young, 5 or so. The bug never left me though
Sitting in the barn right now, graining 'em.
Still a thrill for me.

No Bronk busting for this kid.

Morgan mare when I was 7.

The first book I read, was Justin Morgan had a horse.

Had an old Belgian mare that was big as a house, we could get all 5 siblings on her. She loved to ride us around, Eddie Joe fell off forward and she stood there with her foot raised till he got out of the way. Heifer hated to plow but was a hell of a lot hauler...

When I was about four years old, my aunt worked for a large cattle ranch, so one day the family went for a visit. The rancher put me astride his palomino stud horse, handing me a bunch of mane and cautioning me to, "hold on", as he walked him around. That did it! After that I wanted to be a cowboy. Well, I never wound up as a cowboy, but I did work in the show horse business for over a decade, for a major horse operation owned by a shipping heiress. That job was like paradise for me, two large private estates, and horses galore, some so smart they were spooky. Ah, to be young again, earning all those scars and bruises that made life an adventure.

I think it cost me a dime. I only did it one time! My dad made me use my money; it helped me learn the value of a dollar. That was prolly sixty years ago.

My first horse, pop breaking em in.

A lot of kids are doomed to learn on a shetland. The problem is that they're so small that a good horse breaker can't ride them, Many are 'broken' by the young beginners who are barely hanging on.

Oh jeez, it was so long ago I don’t even remember the horse’s name.

I do recall it was out in the desert somewhere.

Great thread!

🤠

There's a photo around somewhere of me on the back of a pony being led by my grandfather when I was about 3. That is probably the first.

I had my own horse from when I was 8. Genie was a Waler, 16 hands high, but a very steady and laid back mare with a soft mouth. I used to have to get her up alongside a stump or fencepost to be able to reach the stirrup to mount, but once aboard I was good to go.

Earliest I remember was at the Ponderosa Ranch in Incline Village.

My sister had a pony like that. He wasn't a Shetland, but some sort of Welsh pony/mixed breed about 12h. She had a bugger of a time with him - he'd buck, and pigroot, and bite, and bolt, and carry on. She got me to ride him a couple of times, to try and get some sense into him, but he was incorrigible. Even my adult cousin, what they now call a horse whisperer, couldn't change him, so in the end he went down the road.

A Chestnut mare when I was 3, but that hardly counts as riding one. Later was big Jim, a Tennesee Walker. I was probably 10. Great horse and a gentle personality. I thought I had horses down pretty well until the put me on they back of a crazy palomino mare! I was wearing tennis shoes and got bucked off. My foot got caught in the stirrup and I had the pleasure of getting dragged around at high speed for a moment. I would have shot that horse if I could have. Was about 15 years before I climbed on another after that little adventure.

can;t remember for sure ,one of my unkles took my brothera d me to a dude ranch when i was about 10 or 11.

I owned 29 Appys at one time.

Norm