Mustang Horses

This Week I want to take the time to let everyone know about some of the prettiest, toughest, All American Hearted horses around. The Mustang. Mustang horses have roamed the hills, valleys, and mountains for years even before the settlers came. They are one with the land. But the truth be known, Mustangs are not considered wild horses, they are considered feral because they were brought over here by the Spanish and then Americans claimed them to quickly travel the terrain.

Mustangs have had a tough life, once settlers began settling the United States, Mustangs were pushed further and further west until really there wasn’t much room for them anymore. Landowners started shooting them because there wasn’t enough land for cattle and all the Mustangs to graze. Now in today time the population of true free Mustangs is very slim. There are only a handful of true free mustangs that roam the hills of the west. However, there are many Mustangs in captivity by people who have been rescued form slaughterhouses or had nowhere else to go.

Now that you understand and know the Mustang background a little better. Do your part, by researching the Save a Mustang Foundation today. They provide great services to these horses.

Trail Riding

Trail riding is an important factor in any working horse’s life. Trail riding allows the horse to relax and get exposed to many other factors and obstacles besides work. That’s right, barrel racing, jumping, roping and any other competitive riding is work for a horse. Allowing your horse to take a slow trail ride will let the horse know it doesn’t have to work every time you spend time together. You horse should love doing its job, but it should respect and appreciate you more. Getting a horses respect means respecting the horse’s needs.

Horses need a break from their jobs just like humans need a break from theirs. Trail riding will help the rider and horse build a better bond and further develop their communication skills together. There are many obstacles that may present them on the trails such as wild animals or rough terrain. A rider must work with the horse to keep the horse calm and collected through the trail. Learning how to communicate with your horse through the trails will allow you to work more efficiently and effectively with them at work.

Here is a picture of my barrel horse after a long trail ride! She’s not even tied just standing there looking at me sitting in a tree. She respects me and will wait for me in any situation.




Rachels Horse by Rachel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Horses offer much more than just enjoyment!

That’s right; horses are not just for riding they actually offer much more. Horses are used in a treatment program for disabled humans. It’s called therapeutic horseback riding; therapeutic horseback consists of using horses and equine-assisted activities to help disabled people improve their social, emotional, and physical skills. It also helps improve many other skills as well. It helps the person develop a relationship with the horse and allows them to work together as a team.

Therapeutic horseback rising benefits disabled people because “horses provide a unique neuromuscular stimulation when being ridden through their one of a kind movement.” The movement a horse allows the riders muscles and bones to be moved in the same way as if they were actually on the ground walking by themselves. This improves the riders balance, strength, coordination, flexibility, and even confidence.

Horses also offer championship for disabled people. Many disabled people are cared for by loved ones. In this case the disabled gets to care for a loved one. The disabled can feed, brush, bath and do much more for the horse that the horse can’t do on its own. Although the benefits of therapeutic horseback riding vary upon each person’s disability, motivation, and companionship with the horse, therapeutic horseback riding is way better than an exercise machine. It allows all the muscles to be moved at one time so it is an all in one work out. Whereas, an exercise machine only focus on one muscle group at a time making disabled people spend a lot more time at the gym than they want to.