A CUSHION OF COMFORT: WESTERN SADDLE PADS

Owning and riding horses means devoting your all to keeping your horse comfortable and feeling ready to ride. With all of the weight—quite literally—on your horse’s back, it’s important to make sure you use a saddle pad that offers sufficient cushion, breathability, shock absorption, and weight distribution....

A PRIMER ON PRACTICAL LEG PROTECTION

“Not again!” you sigh as you pull your horse up and hop off to inspect the damage. Another thorn picked up on the trail, and the poor guy is three-legged. As a horseperson, you know that equine legs deserve special attention; after all, a lame horse is an unhappy horse—and an unhappy horse makes for a still unhappier would-be rider.....

PROTECTING AND SUPPORTING A TEAM ROPING HORSE’S LEGS

It goes without saying that repetitive stop and go wears on your horse’s tendons, ligaments and joints. How can you help safeguard your horse’s legs? When you’re working with a high-performance animal, good nutrition and careful management are just the beginning. If you want to keep those legs going, protection and support are key....

GEAR OF THE MONTH — AUGUST

Your performance horse’s legs carry you to accomplish all of your riding goals, from reining to cutting, working cow horse to roping. It makes sense that protecting your horse’s legs through every slide, spin and turn tops your list of concerns...

BIT BASICS WITH DENA KIRKPATRICK

Kirkpatrick uses specific bits in early stages of training to establish solid fundamentals.“When I start a horse [on the barrels], I put them in a ring snaffle. This happens as soon as I get them back from the colt starting guys. I want the horse to know how to back off the bit and move its shoulders...