Are your horses mardy & grumpy....................

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Toby_Zaphod

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when you haven't worked them. We have a couple of 16h2" horses, they are very fit, mainly show jump but do the occasional dressage test. When they have a day off they are a real pain in the ar$e the next day when rugging & turning out. They are a real handful. Normally their manners are good but the morning after a day off forget it they are 'orribble.

Are anyone elses horses like this? :)
 
I find if we've been working hard up to an event and i give my wb a few days off afterwards he seems to really appreciate it. But on a daily basis, yes he can get out of bed the wrong side and be grumpy for no apparent reason. I just treat him like a man and ignore him!
 
I never understood the term...'Better if worked everyday' ... Until i got my boy. He is ok for a day but having two days off is actually pushing it with him and he turns into a bit of a moron! (A lovely moron but still a moron!)
He isnt grumpy though, just a bit of bad manners!
 
My young cob mare is grumpy if she is not worked and the centre of attention. She has had no choice but to get over herself this summer because I am too ill to do much with her.

She did some work last week but had to be turned out again on Sunday and at this present moment is stood at the gate doing DIY on the fencing. Blooming creature is far too intelligent for her and my own
good ! She shouts and stamps at anyone she sees with an equine version of 'oi you, pay me some attention'.
 
nix123 said:
I find if we've been working hard up to an event and i give my wb a few days off afterwards he seems to really appreciate it. But on a daily basis, yes he can get out of bed the wrong side and be grumpy for no apparent reason. I just treat him like a man and ignore him!
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We appreciate it :)
 
Not mardy and grumpy but he can be a total PITA if not worked most days. I've found that after an event or similar he appreciates a couple of days off. Went to camp recently and he worked bl00dy hard, tried his little heart out for me. I was exhausted for two days after so I figured he probably was too. Gave him 3 or 4 days off after that.

In a normal week, he doesn't mind having time off as he's quite a sweetie. Due to work or other commitments he might sometimes get a couple of days off in a row. He isn't stroppy when he isn't worked but he will be a PITA when you get back on. Always v sharp, spooky and quite silly. If he hasn't been schooled for a few days he argues a lot too. But always fine the second day. He is definitely best kept in full, regular work and he likes variety in his work too. He isn't a "dressage horse" or "a showjumper" or "a hunter", he does like to do a bit of everything.
 
scheherazade said:
What is Mardy? I thought mardi was tuesday? How can a person or a horse be tuesday? Confused....
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Mardy is the same as nesh. [ie doesnt like-doesntwant-soft-cowardly] Both nesh and mardy are good northern england words, eg mard southerner was said a good deal in my childhood if an incommer from down south couldnt hack it .
Nesh also means feeling the cold as in starved. "Starved "where I come from means feeling the cold, being very hungry is "clemmed."
 
In a word... YES!! My horse is horrible when he isn't worked. He is off games at the mo with a sore back (under going physio etc) and he is a downright miserable knobber right now! To be honest he is a miserable knobber most of the time anyway, but far less when in work. I do love him though, knobbiness and all :D
 
Mine have always enjoyed time away from me.:D

They can get a bit flat after a while and a couple of days in the paddock puts the spring back in their step.

Little mare had 8 weeks off because of lameness. Hopped back on and rode her out on a stormy day and she was just her usual self. Nice girl.
 
Mine are all as happy as larry out in the field doing nothing. They squabble a bit amongst themselves, but are unfailingly lovely with human visitors!
 
Horsesforever1 said:
Mardy is the same as nesh. [ie doesnt like-doesntwant-soft-cowardly] Both nesh and mardy are good northern england words, eg mard southerner was said a good deal in my childhood if an incommer from down south couldnt hack it .
Nesh also means feeling the cold as in starved. "Starved "where I come from means feeling the cold, being very hungry is "clemmed."
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I use mardy as I'd use grumpy or stroppy. Nesh, to me, means cold and being a bit wimpy about it. I often tell my BF he is nesh (he didn't know what it meant) because even when it was hot, he wanted a blanket on the bed "because I'm cold" while I've got all the windows open, no PJs on and can't even get under a sheet as too hot. Used to live in Yorks so maybe I picked it up when I was there!
 
Im in Staffordshire and nesh as in to feel the cold and mardy as in to be wimpy / moany are terms you hear alot.

My mare is much more calm and even tempered when in regular work. Xx
 
Horsesforever1 said:
Mardy is the same as nesh. [ie doesnt like-doesntwant-soft-cowardly] Both nesh and mardy are good northern england words, eg mard southerner was said a good deal in my childhood if an incommer from down south couldnt hack it .
Nesh also means feeling the cold as in starved. "Starved "where I come from means feeling the cold, being very hungry is "clemmed."
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Thank you, I must be one of those mardy southerners! :) And now you know you can refer to any of us as mardy and we won't have a clue what you're talking about (except me - and only cos you just told me!!)

S :) x
 
two of mine, stood in the field for nearly a year last year, due to weather, work and my ill health, we still had sheet ice at Easter, recently had a TB gifted back to me, he needs to work, which was why we sold him in the first place, we found a lovely rider for the TB, she now rides all my horses, but the mare and my lad get tacked up and never put a foot wrong, I think it's because they are still handled every day just not ridden
 
Mine is awful when he has a day off, try to avoid this but after a competition or a lot of work, I give him a day and I can't get anything out of him for most of the session, I dread when he's been lame in the past and getting back on him (only joking, I love him really! :p) He's also pretty grumpy, won't do anything but just prefers to be left alone instead of fussed!
 
My horse isn't mardy but can be nesh, despite being a so called hardy breed (Highland) :p She obviously feels starved now it's coming up to Autumn.

Loving all these dialect words. At last, someone who speaks my language. I live in Yorkshire now but my roots are Leicestershire/S Derbyshire and I hardly ever hear these words any longer so it's nice to know they are still in use :D
 
Snowy Celandine said:
My horse isn't mardy but can be nesh, despite being a so called hardy breed (Highland) :p She obviously feels starved now it's coming up to Autumn.

Loving all these dialect words. At last, someone who speaks my language. I live in Yorkshire now but my roots are Leicestershire/S Derbyshire and I hardly ever hear these words any longer so it's nice to know they are still in use :D
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Nesh is quite common still at this side of Yorks but you won't hear mardy until you get into Derbyshire.

My Westphalian Draft is the neshest animal I've ever met, she was brought up in Europe and despite a good layer of blubber and an extremely thick coat, she says she prefers to be inside in bad weather. If I ride in the rain, she puts her ears sideways, like a hat, to stop the rain getting in.
Mind you, I used to have an ID who grumbled audibly if ridden in the rain , you'd have thought getting wet would have been in her genes!
 
Pearl, you need to come and see me more often if you are going to use some of my favourite dialect words - lol :p

My pony does get mardy if it starts raining on a hack and she does the ear thing too as well as pulling faces :rolleyes: I always thought she should be used to rain since I bought her off a lush Scottish hillside? Mind you my whippet is even worse in rain and will do anything to avoid getting wet, including trying to walk in between my legs as we go along :eek:
 
Mine are happy whether I drag them out of the field twice a day or twice a year. However, a couple of them appear most put out if we catch others and not them several rides in a row, and will pull sad faces over the gate at us as we tack up their friends. Sometimes they will try to barge/sneak out of the gate to come with us. :)
They're never mardy.

Something that I'm really happy about is that my ponies always WANT to be caught and ridden. They're not expecting food, but they like the attention and an outing.
 
My mare loves being worked and is a complete nightmare to handle if she isn't exercised everyday - if she has a day off she gets very rude, bargy, full of herself, she spends ages zooming about, goes everywhere on two legs and is just generally difficult to handle and be around! I usually give her a day off in the week but she doesn't thank me for it. Never met anything quite like her before!
The others aren't at all bothered and remain the same to handle etc, just are a bit fresher to ride after a break.
 
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