Fun Raising and Training Your American Quarter Horse

By Vince Stead

You can have a lot of fun learning about taking care of your Quarter Horse, and making sure they are well taken care of and have a nice clean place to live and much more! 
 
1. The Characteristics of an American Quarter Horse 
 
2. How to Saddle a Horse 
 
3. How to Muck out a Horse Corral 
 
4. How to Raise a Pony 
 
5. How a Bit, Harness and Reins Work 
 
6. How to Use a Hoof Pick 
 
7. What Kind of Shelter does your Horse Need? 
 
8. How to Use a Round Pen 
 
9. The Best Ways to Keep Flies of your Horse 
 
10. The Different Kinds of Horse Saddles 
 
11. How a Cow Horse Performs 
 
12. How Horseshoeing is Done 
 
13. How to Enter your Horse in Shows and Rodeos 
 
14. Nice Safe Toys for Horses to Play With 
 
15. How to Break and Train your Horse 
 
16. How to Clean a Horse Stall 
 
17. What to Do When your Horse is going to have a Baby 
 
18. What to do if you’re Horse Breaks it's Leg 
 
19. How to Trailer your Horse 
 
20. How to Make Sure Your Horse Does Not Colic on You 
 
21. What to Feed your Horse 
 
22. How to prevent your Horse from going Barn Sour 
 
23. Mare, Gelding, or Stallion, and what is the Best Horse for your Needs? 
 
24. What to Do if your Horse Spooks at Something

• Language: English
• Publisher: Vince Stead
• Release date: Apr 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781516376292

Book preview

1.  The Characteristics of a American Quarter Horse

The American Quarter Horse is the very first horse breed native to the United States. Quarter Horses were bred to be able to do many things, like plowing, horse riding, pulling logs, and pulling carriages and more. Farmers usually took their horses to quarter mile races, which is how they got their name Quarter Horses. Quarter Horses also work well with cows, which got them the name perfect cow pony. The Quarter Horse started to become recognized in 1940 and the American Quarter Horse Association was created. The Quarter Horse today is most known as a race, ranch, show, and family horse.

The American Quarter Horse stands usually about 14 to 16 hands high.  Hands high, where the hand is primarily used to describe the height of horses, ponies, and other animals. One hand equals four inches, and the horse is measured from the ground to the top of the withers, but some can grow up to 17 hands tall.

The American Quarter Horse comes in almost all colors. The most common color is sorrel, which is brownish red. Other colors that it may come in are black, brown, red dun, palomino, gray, dun, bay, etc.

For the American Quarter Horse there are two main body types, which are: racing type and stock type. The Racing Type Quarter Horses are made to sprint short distances. They are lean and have long and powerful legs. They usually race against other Quarter Horses. The stock type quarter horse is usually shorter and very agile.

Some genetic diseases that are found among the American Quarter Horse breed are Hyperkalemic Periodic Paralysis, Glycogen Branching Enzyme Deficiency Hereditary Equine Regional Dermal Asthenia, Malignant Hyperthermia, , Equine Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy, and Lethal White Syndrome.

The American Quarter Horse lives about 25 to 35 years old on average.  The average weight for an American Quarter Horse is about 1,000 to 1,500 pounds, with males usually weighing more than the females.

2.  How to Saddle a Horse

Saddle making goes back thousands of years, but it has evolved over the years.  The methods have been modernized after realizing some flaws in the old ways of preparing a saddle.  It was unknown how a saddle can be a real pain for the horse until recently.  This pain was felt in the horse’s attitude and performance when the rider is riding.

Today good saddles are custom made to fit the horse and the rider.  It requires many layers of coating that makes cushioning and measurements precise for the horse.  The outer form of the saddle is made of leather which has at least two layers of cushion underneath.  The whole process is done with much precision so that weight is evenly distributed while the rider is sitting.

Today it is easy to purchase a branded saddle that works with a lot of horses.  You can also get it custom made with a special order and it is preferred to be done that way for your horse.  A custom made saddle has a certain amount of wool stuffing for each horse.  This is done by measuring the shape of the horse.  Each saddle takes about 20 to 25 hours to prepare before testing.

Before putting on the saddle some people prefer to place a pad before the saddle so that it is more comfortable.  When you are saddling up your horse, first inspect the body of the horse.  When the horse is left free for a long time, there is sand and gravel on the surface that needs to be brushed aside to bring enough friction between the horse and the pad.  Do the same with the pad if that has been left sitting for a long time.  This is an important measure because unclean saddles can slip, especially when the horse is sandy.

To make sure you don’t ruin the hair of the horse and make it comfortable for it, start by placing the pad in the very beginning of the surface.  Eventually push the pad to the middle of the body so that it is positions as you liked it.  Again check the saddle for any trash on the surface and place it on the pad.  A saddle laden with equipment is usually quite heavy.  The right way to bring it safely is to swing it with momentum so it reaches the top of the horse side to side.  Usually saddles are symmetrical so