Clueless Liverys??

HowenEdward

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So,
Eveyone must have a story to tell about a clueless livery who has a horse/pony and yet says or does the stupidest things and makes you wonder how they have the experience to look after the poor thing :)

I actually dont but would love to hear all of yours xx
 

ihatework

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The most shocking I saw was a livery who's pony had a big flare of laminitis. The pony was obviously on box rest.

Because it was bored she decided to put in a stable lick - the kind that is one solid block of molassess.
 

Trot_On_Dressage

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One of the liveries at our yard was ranting last night on how a fellow livery was cruel for riding their horse in the rain! I pointed out that the Olympics wouldn't stop for rain and the horse wouldn't melt!

Funny enough, the complainer is one of those liveries who only rides her horse once in a blue moon. Did make me chuckle tho!
 

zaminda

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The one who says, 'oh isn't she hard on that pony, but isn't he well behaved!'
And the one that gets cross hen you tell your horse off for nearly running you over, but stands there oblivious when the guy who does western kicks the c*** out of his horse for looking at him funny. Grrr
The 'why is it lame' Er its got a crack the size of my fist in its heal. (that was from a YM though)
 

Sophstar

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1 livery who got told by the vet her pony was allergic to dry hay and to soak it...she continues to hang dry hay up in big haynets.

1 livery who never ever comes to check her horse or ride it and then argues she can't lead it through 2 gates because he is rude, bolshy and rears. this being the same horse my friend and i coaxed under electric tape he had broken through.

1 livery who calls me mean because my ponies (a fat cob and very woolly welsh) were left unrugged till the -5 nights began. the same livery who left her ponies in their rugs through the glorious sunshine a couple of days ago so they were melting.

1 livery who refuses to let her horse scratch it's leg when being ridden because 'it's rude.' (my pony would have a tantrum not being able to sort out an itch!)

1 livery who has a diabetic and more susceptible to laminitis pony who thought it was better to bring him in and then turn him out in the morning on the frosty grass with the sun blazing. i quickly illustrated please don't do this!

1 livery whose horse has been very unwell with cushings and was being fed alot to put weight on his skeleton body only to be left out at night with not even a sheet to keep the frost off his back.

shall i continue...?
 

Littlelegs

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I don't mind inexperience. I just don't like people at any level who don't think there's anything to learn. I'm pretty sure if I went to work on a racing or polo yard I'd ask some stupid questions as I've had no experience with them.
 

Tilda

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I can't quote as on phone but I am struggling to see how your example of the livery ' who refuses to let her horse scratch its leg whilst being ridden' is clueless Sophstar? My last horse was a nightmare when I bought her as on the way home from hacks (never at any other time) she would constantly be trying to stop and scratch her head on her leg simply out of habit because her last owner had let her. I'm afraid I had to stop it because it would literally be one step, stop and scratch, one step, stop and so on. Whilst I am not the most knowledgeable horse owner in the world I would hardly describe that as clueless!
 

Ibblebibble

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oh we have a totally clueless twit on the farm at the moment, his horse care is fine just the way he conducts himself while riding/driving has caused more than a couple of us to watch in disbelief!! i have mentioned him before as he was the one who was riding or driving flat out on one horse while the other 'followed' behind (he can't seem to go slower than flat out:confused: ) , not on a line just loose so that if it spotted something more interesting than twit it was free to go investigate, great if you happen to be riding the same time as him and get tangled up with his loose horse:mad: he was told to refrain from doing that so had taken to driving one out on the road and leading the other, all good until one day he was getting ready but didn't seem to have either horse tied to anything, one in cart decides to take off and so the arab follows, cue a few heart in mouth moments as the pair of them careered around the main farm field around which we are all based:eek: sickening moment when horse and cart took a corner too fast and the cart looked like it was about to go over:eek: thankfully he has had something done to the cart so that the back wheels and seat separate from the front wheels and shafts , instead of going over it separated and horse was left pulling just the front chassis. apparently the very same thing had happened earlier in the week:eek: he just doesn't seem to learn from his mistakes or see how he affects others, :( a 3rd horse has appeared in his field over the weekend so we're all hoping that he's got it for company so that he doesn't have to take both horses out together all the time. sometimes i feel sorry for him as i don't think he's quite the full ticket but when he's putting people at risk my sympathy disappears and i want to batter him:eek:
 

4faults

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I agree with Tilda, very dangerous to let a horse stop to scratch when ridden, I never let mine do it till I have dismounted. I have seen someone ejected over their horses head when it went from trot to dead stop in order to itch
 

Sophstar

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I can't quote as on phone but I am struggling to see how your example of the livery ' who refuses to let her horse scratch its leg whilst being ridden' is clueless Sophstar? My last horse was a nightmare when I bought her as on the way home from hacks (never at any other time) she would constantly be trying to stop and scratch her head on her leg simply out of habit because her last owner had let her. I'm afraid I had to stop it because it would literally be one step, stop and scratch, one step, stop and so on. Whilst I am not the most knowledgeable horse owner in the world I would hardly describe that as clueless!

i don't let my horse either stop to itch every step of the way but the pony in question ended up getting very agitated and started stomping its leg out on a hack to try and relieve said itch. this was all with his very nervous rider on top and the mum who kept pulling his head around to keep his attention. relieving 1 itch is acceptable! not clueless in the sense that its not wrong to not let your horse have a scratch but letting it getting worked up with a nervous rider on top is!:eek:
 

Blitzen

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Not the other livery, but her dim witted husband - he was generally just hang around being a pain in the ar$e pretending he knew better than every one. Thankfully I found my own private yard so I only had to put up with him for 4 months!
He would try to tell me what to feed my mare - fat little cob - and he suggested a competition mix, to give her more energy to run about and lose weight, then threatened to report me to the RSPCA because she was too fat - she was chunky, but not obese, unlike their fat old nag that constantly got Lami! When I came home from a hunter trial, having come 3rd and grinning ear to ear, all he could muster was to say "well there's no wonder it doesn't win, look at it".
He would tell me I was tacking her up wrong, that I was grooming her with the 'wrong brush', and told me I should use a body brush make her shiny, despite the fact she lives out naked most of the year.
He would brag about money, and how he was buying the newest of everything as soon as it came out, and he would constantly shout about how he was going to buy his wife a 'Win-TECKKK' saddle cos they're amazing and really expensive (??!) and how I should get one too because Stubben and Thorowgood (or Throo-god as he called it) like mine were rubbish. He told me he had been just been offered £3500 for his wifes 30 year old section B x with cushings!
And worst of all I bumped into them recently at a horsey car boot and he shouted - and I mean SHOUTED -
"AY, OI, do you still do cu'in'?"
Me - "what? Cutting? What do you mean?"
Him - "YA KNOWwww, cu'in' (*frantic arm waving*), wiv them cutter fings".
Me - "oh, you mean clipping? No." (I clip a few friends horses for them in exchange for a yard favour, or a lift to a show)
And I walked off'; everyone was staring and I was mortified! Couldn't stand it that everyone thought I was friends with this imbecile! AND how bad does it sound, shouting "do you still do cutting?" at someone - makes it sound like I self-harm! Oh dear!
They don't last very long at yards, they've moved this poor old pony 6 times in 2 years, because no one can stand him, and he makes everyones life a misery at the yard - people leave just because of him, its like musical yards. He even had the cheek to ask to come to my yard, despite the fact he'd been utterly foul to me the whole time I was at the same yard as them! Its a shame because his wife seems quite nice, if a bit down-trodden by her loud mouth stupid husband!
 

Littlelegs

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Laura c- by any chance was the pony liver chestnut & the wifes name started with L? Knew a couple who matched your description years ago. One spring we found him using scissors to trim of its winter coat as it was apparently quicker than grooming. We did try & convince him otherwise but pony was left with a layered ledge effect over its body.
 

dumpling

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Oft, a few twits at the last yard but this one was classic. The twits went on holiday do got their other twit friend in to muck out and feed etc. Twit friend couldn't even go into the field and catch the horses ?! I went up with her to help and she put the head collar on back to front :s god knows how, but the lead rope was at the horse's throat!

Walked into the barn and she was grooming one of them, taking tufts of tail out as she used a fine toothed mane comb!! Haha.

Gosh. There's so many scenarios I can't think of them all just now. Needless to say the horses were extremely bad mannered!
 

DressageCob

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Unfortunately I tend to be the clueless one :eek: I ask a lot of stupid questions all the time (although because I ask so many questions I tend not to do so many stupid things!)

I knew a woman at the riding school near my university who bought a 3* event horse because she "fancied having a go at eventing" and she had the money. It seemed a bit bizarre since she didn't really jump anything bigger than 2ft, and her previous horse had been a new forest pony, aged 28. Several falls and one particularly nasty one and the horse was sold at a massive loss. Not surprising.
 

Blitzen

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LL - no, pony is grey and wife is called D.

Lol @ the scissors! This is the kind of thing he would do, and talk to you like you're stupid for asking what he was doing!
Another thing, the yard owner had a huge nervous warmblood that hadn't been ridden for about a year, and we were in the process of slowly re-backing him as he has a few issues, was cold backed and head shy. Idiot came over and tutted at us, saying "just get on it. Why are you so scared?" So I turned round and suggested he come over and do it, as he had so much more knowlege and experience than us. He went bright red, and stuttered about not having a riding hat with him, so I took mine off, handed it to him and shoved him towards the horse who rolled its eyes, flattened its ears, snorted and snaked his neck like a cobra about to strike! I offered idiot a leg up, and he visibly shook, mumbled that he didn't like to ride in jeans, and scarpered! (He can't ride btw, his wife told us he's never been on a horse!)
He went a bit quiet for a week or so, but was soon back to his obnoxious lying self, back to telling us how he wanted to go hunting (on what you heffer?! Wifes 13hh elderly poorly pony, or would you care to take YOs huge spooky WB?!), cos "oooh aye, I can jump all sorts, big ditches an' that"!
God, GIVE ME STRENGTH!!!
 

Littlelegs

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Laura, that all sounds so familiar, guy must have a clone. One woman had an ex-racer that she'd spent a lot of time turning into a fab dressage horse, he used to constantly comment on how crap they were as medium dressage meant average & if they were good they'd spend more time going fast like proper race horses.
I was helping a nervous, novice 13 yr old with her jumping after a fall. After lots of work, I had her at the point she was flying around a short 3' course on my pony grinning like a cheshire cat. Granted it was pony doing most of the work, but the girl was jumping in a lovely position & using her seat & legs to direct pony towards next jump. He stood at the side making snide comments then started raising the jumps to about 5' & told the kid to jump them & if she was any good she wouldn't need a neck strap. Told him he could get on to demonstrate at which point he was suddenly busy.
 

Cop-Pop

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Over the years Ive encountered too many to mention. Luckily most of them are well meaning in their cluelessness and with the right prompting everything is fine :)

Theres currently a lady who keeps her horse in the village but not at the yard. She came round to say hi and ask about hiring the school and since then I can't get rid of her :rolleyes: We've had tears because her pony doesn't love her, tears because she's too scared to do anything with her horse's tail, tears because her horse moves when she gets on it, tears because her horse is too fat (then a week later too thin), tears because there is a confirmed case of strangles 25 miles away - her horse doesn't leave the field and no paths run near it, tears because he won't pick his feet up..... This is a woman who has been around horses longer than I've been alive :eek: and her horse is a little dobbin style 14.2 pony who spends 95% of his time sleeping :rolleyes:
 

Mince Pie

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1 livery who refuses to let her horse scratch it's leg when being ridden because 'it's rude.' (my pony would have a tantrum not being able to sort out an itch!)
Sorry but I agree with this :eek:

I think that I have been lucky that the yards I have been on are full of people with common sense :)
 

Enfys

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So,
Eveyone must have a story to tell about a clueless livery who has a horse/pony and yet says or does the stupidest things and makes you wonder how they have the experience to look after the poor thing :)

I actually dont but would love to hear all of yours xx

You learn by your mistakes, and by example, isn't that what they say?

The lucky ones are those who have people around them they feel they can approach and say "Ummm, bit of advice here please" or "Help!" without being pilloried or made to feel an absolute twit.

I think everyone has to start somewhere and I can bet we've all made some blunders somewhere along the line. I frequently have "Duh :eek:, God I am so stupid! Why didn't I think of that?" moments.

The biggest mistakes are those that come hand in hand with complacency, or just plain lack of common sense or forethought, with the first you should know better and deserve to get kicked, bitten or trodden on, the latter leads to experience.
 
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Spiritedly

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I'm the only one at my yard which is handy as I'm normally the clueless one as well :eek:. I find there are often days when I realise I don't know how to do something, or I've not done it the way the 'experts' would, luckily I can normally find someone non-judgmental who is willing to help me out :rolleyes:
 
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