Do you swear at your horse?

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MizElz

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Please answer honestly - no rose tinted specs allowed
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There is a rather lengthy debate developing in Latest News, regarding Denis Lynch being caught on camera cursing his horse after he took a fall. Personally, I have no problem with people swearing - as has been said in LN, better to swear than to beat your horse in anger. But the way the debate is going, it seems like nobody here actually admits to swearing at their horse; it's almost as if swearing is considered by some HHOers to be another form of horse abuse
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Horsey people in general are among the worst in the world for swearing, I am sure of it. Every person I have worked with in an equestrian capacity intersperses every sentence with regular F words; one of my friends who works in racing came home after just two months with a 'mouth like a sewer'.
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Blimey, I'm always telling Ellie to 'fecking well stand up!' or 'get on, you little b*gger!' I know she doesnt understand a swear word from an endearment, but it's all in the tone of voice - and the addition of an F word adds so much more substance to a growl
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And she knows I love her really!
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So, who can honestly say they never swear or have sworn at their horse?

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Ok I'll go first. My name is Arwen and I am a horse-swearer.

Occasionally.
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When they have been really bad.
I actually find the words give extra emphasis to my tone of voice - which is what the horse understands. Can't see a problem with it.

I don't do it in public though. But then I don't tend to swear in public anyway - that's just bad manners!
 
I know nothing about the debate you mentioned, but yes, I do swear at my horse........he can be an angel, or he can be a stupid, lumbering git. Have to say though that said profanity is not accompanied by any form of violence, it's more an expression of my frustration than anything else.
 
I swear at Sparky the whole time
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I tell him 'get a f*cking move on' or 'stand the f*uck up' or say 'you little sh!t bag' and other various rude things
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Why is it so bad? I would not do it in public, might mumble it under my breath but wouldnt shout it or anything. I don't see how it is a form of abuse??
 
I don't know if it swearing 'at' the horse but I swear to myself a lot....usually under my breath, but it can escape to a wider audience....
My usual reaction to a tanking-off is to repeat the word 'shite!' until I have the situation under control.

Also like to insert a f*ck, bugger or sh!t when negotiating an obstacle - just to get me through.
That went down particularly well with the Baptist crowd when I competed against tiny kids in a barrel race in the States earlier this year..oops...
 
Nope, I swear at my horse quite a bit, just if he's being an arse. It depends on what he's doing as to what I say
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. If he bucks/messes the once it's "You little sh**" if he carries on bucking/being a prat, it's normally "You f***wit, f***ing get over yourself you tw**". It just relieves tension I think!
I also swear to myself, if he takes off, I get a jump wrong etc I'll usually go "Oh sh**" or "Oh f***". I try not to if I'm on a lesson with an instructor who I don't think would appreciate that though.
 
I very rarely swear at my horses - but then I very rarely swear at anything!!

When the oldie was younger I could often be heard shouting 'Will you walk/stop you b@st@rd' as he took off with me. Age has given us brakes
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I have sworn at them when I've been trodden on or bitten and when the cob was a baby and couldn't be caught (long story) and when I've hit the ground.

I certainly don't think of it as abuse and I'd far rather someone swore than lashed out uneccessarily. And yes, I have smacked them when I think it's needed.

I think what's important (to me anyway) is that I've never lost my temper with them.
 
Ooooh I swore at my horse yesterday! I was tempted to beat the living daylights out of him, but decided to settle for saying 'Canto, you are such a f****** t***! You horrible horse!' in a growly mean voice
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I think it was deserved though as he was being very naughty! Tbh, I'm not entirely sure he even realised I was swearing....
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I've never sworn at my horse, ever, but if you were to ask me the same question and replace the word "horse" with "husband" .................
 
I use mild swear words at my horse especially when he mistook by thumb for a carrot and bit it very very hard and I only use sweary words when I am alone.

I have called my horse a bggr and a bldy horse, but I never use the F word or anything similar.
 
IMHO (and I have a foul mouth) it's not so much the words you use as the way in which you say them. Try out on a dog the difference between "Come here you evil ugly brute I'm going to beat your brains in" said in a sweet and loving, come-to-me tone and "Who's a gorgeous doggie then" said in a furious voice.

I do use foul language to my horses along the lines of "Who's a silly bugger" at a spook, I rarely have cause to speak to them fiercely and if I do, because I know my voice will carry as I speak firmly I'm more likely to say "Will you stand still" fiercely than to curse.

Flynn is described as being an arse on occasion because he came to us on the understanding that if he hasn't been worked for a couple of days he "behaves like an arse". So that's known as his arsey behaviour.

I have told my daughter off severely for swearing in the ring. I was also mortified when she went to a joint PC session with a "good" trainer and one of the other mothers complained of her language. She was backed up on that occasion by a further couple of parents who said that had the trainer spoken to them like that they would have responded the same way.
 
Not too much at my new horse. Though he did get told yesterday to "Stop f*****g running" at his fences. My old horse used to think his name was T**t or S**tface. Haha. I do the same as sugarNspice as well, completely unprofessional and in pony club training sessions a little awkward, but if I cock something up can often be heard telling myself to get a f*****g grip. Haha. I think better to swear at the horse, get it off your chest, rather than to either bottle it all up or beat the living daylights out of them.
 
I think the point is that unless you swear so much that your horse recognises the actual words, it's the tone of voice and body language that horses understand.
Having said that, my old mare knows the differing levels of trouble she's in correspondent to the bad language I use.
My youngsters are oblivious....so far.
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S
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Whilst cantering along the edge of field, my horse suddenly spooked and threw himself sideways....after I had unleashed a (rather loud) string of expletives and set off again, I noticed a small grey haired old man walking his dog in the wood that borders the fields...obviously horse had noticed him first.....ooops
 
I quite often get the last pole down in a course and let out a sh**! And then get really embarrassed, especially if kids are around.

Other times when I need to shout I will often swear for extra 'oomph' in my voice!
 
I do swear at horses, but not when other people are around!!
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I used to swear badly whenever I had a bad stride into a fence, or the horse took a flier, but since changing instructors and now being taught by a very "proper" one who never swears, i've had to exchange my swear words for "Fudge" and "Sugar"
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I quite often get the last pole down in a course and let out a sh**!

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LOL! I've done things like that. I was in the ring once and he spooked and went shooting forward, I have a feeling there was a double coming up or something and I went "OH S***", realised that there were people around, so when I came cantering back around to where they were stood, shouted "Sorry for my language everyone", whilst going over a jump.
I impressed myself
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I swear quite a lot at mine. Doesn't hurt them, they obviously don't understand. It's not swearing but I often say "Get a move on you lazy arse", (especially at comps for some reason) and people always give me strange looks.
 
Yep, I ofeten call mine a little s*itbag, or f*ckface and often shout one sylable expletives if I meet a fence wrong. Bum!

HOWEVER, we are among stars. I was watching Mary King take one of her youngsters around the PN at Moreton a while back. She'd walked the intro course with her daughter beforehand and consequently jumped one of the intro fences - alas, I heard her (very audibly) shout "OH SH*T"!
 
i swore at my yearling the other day as she swung her backside at me so fast i spun round and fell in the water buckets.
so yes she got alot of them lol

i was not impressed
 
I frequently swear at my horse, and in fact did so just yesterday. Her field companion blundered into her and caused her to consequently blunder into me, knocking me over into three day's worth of nicely developed mud. You can only imagine the string of horrific expletives that ensued.
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