Does 'Experienced' Equal 'Knowledgeable?

MrsMozartletoe

MrsMozartletoe

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One hears of 'knowledgeable home needed', one hears of 'she/he is very knowledgeable'; the same for 'experienced'.

The question is: are they the same thing? If someone is experienced, i.e. has been keeping horses for fifty years, thereby having the 'experience', would you consider that the same as 'knowledgeable'?

I know my view on it, but am interested in others :)



*please excuse the slight meanderings of the sleep deprived MrsM... :) *
 
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I think there is a difference between having a lot of "experience" mucking out, cleaning tack, grooming, doing haynets, riding and "knowledgeable".

To have that experience you could have been doing it for 10 years but still not recognise the symptoms of seamoiditis or be able to judge if a horse has ideal conformation at 30ft away!

Yes, more knowledge comes from experience, but I personally believe there is a difference between the two!
 
IMHO no - or I wouldn't currently have a mare that is in foal - but we don't know yet whether the stally was a Welsh D or a donkey.
 
Hmmmmmm.......

I do understand what you are getting at;)

I do have a local (ish) neighbour who has kept horses & ponies at the same place (about 2 or 3 max at a time) for over 30 years......... however:
I would not ever place her in charge of mine at any time or recco her to others for caring - as I do not consider her to have enough knowledge or common sense (based on my visual day to day experiences)

Others I know are vastly more experienced having been 'about' etc.......:)
 
I think to be knowledgeable you need to know what you don't know.

If somebody thinks they know everything, they never will :).

Experienced?
I think there is a great deal of difference in having experience of one horse and having experience of many horses.

Not an easy question to answer!!
 
I also think experience and knowledge are two different things. Someone may have been keeping horses for 20 years but that doesn't mean that they have any more knowledge than they did when they first started! I do think people use the term 'experienced' in different ways though as often it is implying that someone has experience of lots of different horses which (you would hope!) is going to teach you more than just looking after the one. Knowledge can also be divided IMO - into theoretical and practical aspects - and obviously, whilst theoretical knowledge is fine, it's the person with practical knowledge that I would be more likely to trust my horse to! :)
 
IMO you can have knowledge without experience.....I'm thinking theoretical knowledge learnt from a book and with no/little EXPERIENCE of applying that knowledge.
 
Good question. I would say that after 40 years of owning ( and currently working with ) horses of all shapes and sizes, looking after them entirely myself and competed in most disciplines. I would consider my self both experienced and knowledable, BUT at the level I have set myself at, send me to work with fit, young thoroughbreds or top class eventers then I would have the experience to do the basics and handle the horses, the rest I would have to gain knowledge in.

I think when you see some adverts that require certain homes, they are intended to stop people ending up with a horse they can't cope with.

In answer to you original question, no I don't think one equal's the other.
 
quirky said:
I think to be knowledgeable you need to know what you don't know.

If somebody thinks they know everything, they never will :).

Experienced?
I think there is a great deal of difference in having experience of one horse and having experience of many horses.

Not an easy question to answer!!
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You have answered it very well! Knowing what you dont know, is knowledge isnt it, and having an open and inquiring mind. There can be an instinctiveness too though which can come with common sense and down to earth atitude, 'horsey people' I always think of. I think I am experienced and knowledgeable but only about what I have experience and knowledge of!!! If I havent experienced it I dont pretend I have knowledge, is that the difference??
 
quirky said:
I think to be knowledgeable you need to know what you don't know.
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This.

So, in answer to the question, No, I do not think 'experienced' equals knowledge.

One can have a great deal of experience within a certain 'field' and yet be floundering in another.

Experience, to me is something gained from hands on situations.

Knowledge can be gained from a book etc, but isn't always of any use at all without experience.
 
Hmm - I can think of a woman at our old yard, had horses for over 40 years & did have a good eye for conformation BUT I wouldn't trust her top look after mine. About the time this pictur was taken shewas constantly giving me grief about how thin HP was & that if I didn't start feeding him more he would become seriously ill!
Needless to say her small herd was rife with laminitis - which of course because they had had an abcess/ trodden on something/ had a injury & not because they were covered in blubber!

picture.php
 
The way I see it, someone can go to uni and study for three years to get a degree in horses, in doing so they will gain a lot of knowledge but not nessecarily experience.

Someone else could work with horses for three years, learn by doing things but never really question why things are done therefore they would end up with experience but not nessecarily knowledge.

To have both you'd need to be around alot of different horses in different situations to gain experience and at the same time study things in your spare time (if you had any!) so you could improve your knowledge of things you might not nessecarily come across (or not have come across yet). I think I have explained that how I wanted to; in my opinion it is best to have both.
 
gunnergundog said:
IMO you can have knowledge without experience.....I'm thinking theoretical knowledge learnt from a book and with no/little EXPERIENCE of applying that knowledge.
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking. There's a girl at my riding school who has read every horse care manual she can get her hands on from cover to cover - she can identify loads of obscure bits of tack and tell you their function, knows all the different types of feeds, poisonous plants, physiology of the horse, can rattle off the answers to almost any BHS stable management question and tell you exactly how everything should be done by the book, almost word-for-word. However, she has never owned or had responsibility for caring for a horse, has only been riding for a few years and only ever on riding school horses, so even though she has a vast amount of knowledge, she doesn't have the experience to cope with a lot of situations. No matter how many facts you can recite, if you haven't actually had any hands-on experience you're going to come up against situations where you don't know what to do - unfortunately with horses you just can't learn everything from books.

A combination of both knowledge and experience is what makes a good horse owner, I think. The girl I mentioned is always gaining experience by helping out around the yard, so by the time she does get her own horse she will be really well-prepared and I think she'll make a great owner.
 
What is considered correct can change over the years ie changes in the way we worm our horses as we have to consider that the worms are becoming resistant to wormers ,new types of saddles made in materials that never uaed to be available, more exchange of ideas from horsemen in other countries, how can we ever stop learning.
 
Stonking question MrsM... I do honestly think you should catch some z's soon though or you'll have us all scratching our chins and we'll come out in a rash of zits!!! :D:D:D:D
 
I don't think either knowledge or experience covers it all.
I am new to horse care, I don't have much knowledge (other than what i glean fom here and from reading the manual of horsemanship).
I have even less experience.
However - I like to think I am sensible, empathic and logical.
I might not know the name of a condition a horse has but I would like think I could spot that something was up and take an educated guess as to what to do (of course I would always refer to someone more knowledgeable to confirm my suspicions).
I think some people are better at 'getting a feel' for horses than others.
 
I think knowledge and experience are totally different things. An example of the difference is that I am good at diagnosing illnesses and injuries. My boy currently has an abcess in his hoof. I knew it was an abcess from the symptoms, however because none of my horses has EVER had one before, I didn't have a clue how to do the hoof poultice properly and one of my friends had to show me how. However she will ask me if any of her horses have symptoms and she wants my opinion.
Because my horses have had fractures and seemingly most other injuries/illnesses, I can do fracture bandages and more technical stuff fine, but a hoof poultice I had no idea about!

I also don't jump very often (and not very high, either), yet if a friend who does jumping asks for help, I know of different exercises which might help her! So I would say that I am knowledgeable, but not as experienced. I like reschooling ex-racers, but I wouldn't really know how to break a horse in from scratch......
I think it's sometimes academic. I can read and absorb endless information, but don't necessarily have the experience to put the knowledge into practice. But I love learning new things and build up as much experience as I can along the way...
 
I have, over the years, read tens of books on dressage training. I am very knowledgable about the whole remit of techniques but it wasn't til I experienced riding a Grand Prix Horse that I *UNDERSTOOD* what it all meant. Knowledge is useful but experience is essential.
 
Experience comes with time, knoweldge comes with application of thought. You can gain experience without gaining any knoweldge, and gain knowledge without any experience.

If I had to chose one over the other I'd go for knowledge over experience: to gain knowledge you need to be open minded and willing to learn, and to understand and assimilate what you've learnt. To be experienced you just need to have done something (no nessisarily correctly!) for a long time ;)

One usually comes with the other but I know of a couple of people who have had horses for 40yrs and learnt nothing new in that time!
 
I have had horses for 10years and I have decided I have done it all wrong lol.

Not shod, no work for weeks, get on go for a hack and have a canter and pop a log etc.
No real routine I finish work when I do ( have no set times) and go up the horses.
I dont poo pick everyday (well I havent for the last year) and I very rarely worm on time but some how my worm counts are <50 and my horses always have gleaming coats.

I dont boot to travel (use brushing boots and overreach if shod although shoes now off), or put on a poll guard, do put on a bandage tho :D I havent hard fed since December and they are still fat!! Hay is no longer ab lib either.

I will mount a horse from either side, I will rug a horse from either side.

I never brush or wash muddy legs in the winter and wont when Samba is on livery.

I very rarely put boots on, but always hi viz. And I clean my tack once in a blue moon.

However the bond I have with my girls is amazing, which shone through the other day and bought a tear to my eye.

And I think that the day that I tell some one that this is the way it should be done and there is no other way round it is the day I should give up horses.
 
I dont think they equate. You can have one without the other. Most of us have a bit of both. I have experience and knowledge but my experience is deep rather than wide so my knowledge is limited to my experience. And my experience is limited by my knowledge!:)

My knowledge would allow me to take on a difficult horse. My experience would tell me not to go there as I could die!:D
 
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