Newcomer

Daniel E. Hofford (dhofford@pacbell.net)
Tue, 25 Nov 1997 21:56:11 -0600

As a newcomer to this I have a couple of questions.

1. I bought an Arab who is 3 yrs 8 months old and was told that his
knees had not closed yet whereupon my sister-in-law scolded me for
riding a horse whose knees had not closed. What does the empirical
evidence say about this?

2. I bought an Australian stock saddle and was told that the billet(?)
that goes over the saddle would cause too much compression and ruin my
horses back. Does anyone have any empirical evidence of this? It's a
Ringer/MK from the Australian Stock Saddle Co and I found it very
comfortable but don't want to hurt my horse.

3. His feet, Caliente's, are hard and sound and unshod. What is the
trigger to have them shod? I'd like to leave them unshod and trimmed
until he has to have shoes.

Thanks,

Daniel E. Hofford