Awwww...that poor, poor horse. I couldn't even watch the whole thing. That's just plain abusive...does no one else in that arena see that!!!

Thanks guys!!! I would love NOT to have to tie her head at all, but I wasn't sure if that was safe or not. I think (for now) I'll try the rope halter with the short trailer tie on a piece of hay string. Thanks Solaris!!! I think when I get ready to purchase my own trailer, I'll look for one that I can divide like "stalls". I like that idea. Thanks again.

Long time no talk. Good to be back... So I've been doing a lot of groundwork with my mare in her new rope halter...from Sunset Halters of course. She's not very good with trailering so that's our next training goal. Anyway, I was wondering what halters everyone uses when they trailer. When I have trailered her, she has always been in a nylon halter with a leather break-away crown piece. I would imagine that using a rope halter to trailer would be very unsafe since it won't break.

Thanks Solaris. I was wondering if there was some sort of leg protectors of some sort, but have never come across them. I'll have to look for them in some of my magazines. I left her out last night and low and behold....no edema this morning. Not to mention her attitude was much better...not pushy or flighty. I hope we don't get thunderstorms tonight so I can leave her out again.

The other day I came home from work and noticed Gypsy stomping, swishing her tail and shaking her head a lot. I went out and sprayed her again (did it before I left in the morning) and noticed her right hind leg had some pitting edema. I chalked it up to her excessive stomping. I walked her a bit and rubbed down her legs before stalling her for the night just to move some of edema out. The next morning she was pretty stocked up right up to the hocks, especially around the fetlocks (bilateral) and

Thank you so much for the response. I was hoping it would be a simple fix of just keeping her out at night and exercising her more. I'll look into a nice fly sheet. And you're right, the first time I noticed it was on that REALLY hot and humid day when the wind was still and the bugs were NOT!! I've been passing up the urge to spray her lately since she seems to have had a reaction to all of it. She's happier without it, it seems. I also bought EquiSpot (2 week topical application

Mmmm, I absolutely adore those animals. One of the teams will be at our county fair this year (Monroe, MI). I saw them about 6 years ago at our parade & fair and am really looking forward to seeing them again...but they're not in our parade this year...just on the grounds. Beautiful!!! Absolutely Beautiful!!!

Oh, good. I'm glad you all think it's acceptable. She really seems to have a good time with it (so do I) and she hasn't shown any sign of disrespect. She comes to me when I call her (probably cuz she knows I have goodies or that we're going out to graze in a special part of the property...but still, she comes), shoves her head in her halter and works nice for me when asked. So, I guess the playing will continue. Thanks everyone for your input. I'll get some video one of these

[quote user="Odhinn'sMom"]I strongly disagree that schoolmasters are pushbutton, and therefore have less to teach than the green horses.[/quote] I completely agree with this statement. Gypsy was 'supposedly' a schoolmaster. When I first started lessons about 4-5 years ago, I had to push her buttons JUST RIGHT to get her to do what I wanted. She was horrible at steering...she would lean into the center of the ring and stop as if to say, "ok, lesson's over". And

Since the weather has broke and everyone is outside, my neighbor's 4 year old granddaughter can't get enough of Gypsy. I see them walking over every day (sometimes twice a day) to see her. She'll ask my husband, "Mr. Chris...do you have any peppermints??" (she has learned to call us Mr. Chris and Miss Nicole LOL) So Chris will ask her if she wants to feed them to her and she says, "No, I just want to look at her feets" (and feet are always plural with an added "s"