Dumbest thing a supposedly clued-up horse person has told you?

When we were talking about someones horse who was prone to tying up, a fellow livery (who knew absolutely everything about horses of course) oh my horse ties up perfectly you can leave him there for hours....
 
I've just been informed that I should only groom my piebald mud magnet once a week during the spring moult - because doing it more often "only makes them itchy and makes them roll more"!!! WTF!
 
I was told I should hog my 4 yo piebald cob as that would instantly make him more valuable. If that were true I doubt that many young cobs would be sold with manes.
 
w1bbler said:
Ex yard owner, whilst trying to change the woefully inadequate worming policy " worms don't kill horses you know"
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Pah! On a couple of occasions Vet informed by Owner that horse has seemingly died 'for no reason', once the abdomen was opened up in the PM, I've seen intestines that look like they are still moving due to the severity of the worm burden! Seriously, it was like looking at a writhing snake pit, put me right off my sausage and egg McMuffin once......
 
JillA said:
No he isn't - protein for building soft tissue and immune system, carbs for energy
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And what exactly do you think the liver does with excess protein? It is de aminated and simple sugars produced which goes straight into the bloodstream. Sugars that are ingested in the feed are mostly converted to carboxylic acids before the horse can absorb them .
There is also the "feel good "factor that horses on higher protein diets tend to have a bit more fizz.
 
The visiting saddler (there for another livery) who waxed lyrical about how my mare was a lovely example of the Arab breed; such a refined look to her head, what a beautiful face to see over the stable door, etc. They insisted on leaving me their contact details as they had a saddle that would suit her perfectly. Apparently they knew at a glance what size she needed: Arabs were their favourite breed.

The horse in question was neither a mare nor an Arab, and hadn't yet turned three...
 
Mike007 said:
And what exactly do you think the liver does with excess protein? It is de aminated and simple sugars produced which goes straight into the bloodstream. Sugars that are ingested in the feed are mostly converted to carboxylic acids before the horse can absorb them .
There is also the "feel good "factor that horses on higher protein diets tend to have a bit more fizz.
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I feel slightly less stupid now for raising the question, there clearly is more than one view!
 
Kaimar said:
The visiting saddler (there for another livery) who waxed lyrical about how my mare was a lovely example of the Arab breed; such a refined look to her head, what a beautiful face to see over the stable door, etc. They insisted on leaving me their contact details as they had a saddle that would suit her perfectly. Apparently they knew at a glance what size she needed: Arabs were their favourite breed.

The horse in question was neither a mare nor an Arab, and hadn't yet turned three...
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Blimey! What an idiot.

Talking of saddlers; I had a livery horse here with very severe muscle wastage due to a too narrow saddle that had been fitted to him by a qualified saddler. He was a big strapping 19 year old gelding that I could tell was at least a medium wide had it not been for the saddle shaped wasting. New saddler walks in his stable and declares 'Oh a narrow horse!'. I despaired. I explained to him that the horse was actually quite a wide horse but that a narrow saddle had caused wasting. The saddler did take notice and fitted him with a wide treed saddle and then flocked it out. He then removed some of the flocking every few weeks. With correct work over his back and long and low, the horse measured an extra two inches on each side when his before and after templates were compared after 6 months and the wide saddle fitted him well without extra flocking.
 
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Mike007 said:
And what exactly do you think the liver does with excess protein? It is de aminated and simple sugars produced which goes straight into the bloodstream. Sugars that are ingested in the feed are mostly converted to carboxylic acids before the horse can absorb them .
There is also the "feel good "factor that horses on higher protein diets tend to have a bit more fizz.
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What is your source for that statement? I can't find anything which suggests that to be the case - yes, excess protein can result in acidic environment in the system, hence tying up etc, but to convert amino acids into sugars is a bit of a stretch. Not saying it isn't the case but I'd need to be convinced, so what is the evidence? Is this worth a new thread? http://www.vetpro.co.nz/Articles/Protein-+What-+Why-+How.html
 
Discussion with French riding school owners - bloopers too numerous to list them all! Here's a couple:
- The width of the gullet/width of the saddle isn't important, it's what it's made of that matters. :0 (Here they believe that a rider has his/her own saddle and puts it on every horse he/she rides. Fitting the saddle to the horse is completely unheard of.)
- Thoroughbred horses need worming more than other types.

In a discussion with several owners about giving ad lib hay, they said they'd been told by several vets that it was bad for horses to eat all the time.

-If you move the things such as the manger, or water, in a horses paddock around, he'll run into the in the night because he won't realise they've been moved. Said by riding school/livery yard owner.

- you can't put hay in his field shelter you have to put it just outside. You don't eat in your bed, do you?

It's depressing... it just goes on and on.
 
During winter, you don't have to put hay out in the winter paddocks. The horses can eat hay at night, but during day they should act as "horses in the wild" do and dig for roots. - as stated by a YO with more than 30 years of experience.
 
You should never feed tall horses from the ground as they will strain their back reaching for it. Only feed them from a hayrack above their head. (I was somewhat flabbergasted at this and the novice who had been told it by someone who didn't know a lot but really should know better than this thankfully listened to my point about them being grazing animals and stopped using the rack that the poor horse had to reach over the top of to pull her hay down to ground level.)
 
JillA said:
What is your source for that statement? I can't find anything which suggests that to be the case - yes, excess protein can result in acidic environment in the system, hence tying up etc, but to convert amino acids into sugars is a bit of a stretch. Not saying it isn't the case but I'd need to be convinced, so what is the evidence? Is this worth a new thread? http://www.vetpro.co.nz/Articles/Protein-+What-+Why-+How.html
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I hope this link will help. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK22475/
 
RI at a riding school I DIY liveried at, "I've noticed your horse puts it's head down before it bucks, if you bothered to use a martingale it would stop it doing that", me ermmmm what??!!
Same RI when faced with a "lazy fat cob" (turned out to be 9 months pregnant!) who wasn't keen on whips, "best thing to do is to ride her in a school full of whips to get her used to them", I advised against this but she apparently knew better, she then toddled off to scatter different whips around the school, thought I best stick around as this was going to end badly, she mounted, rode into the school in trot, horse stood on a schooling whip which flicked up at her, horse bronced, RI came off and got kicked in the head, I grabbed the horse and calmed her down whilst the RI sat there sobbing and complaining I was looking after the horse rather than her, told her if she can shout she's fine but the horse needed my help, I did ring 999 though, after I had untacked
 
Heard recently. "My horse has had to have back shoes put on because he is carrying his weight properly behind now". (well Lucinda McAlpine must have it all wrong then!)
 
She's convinced it helps because it makes him burp though. Not for digestion lol. He gets very little hay regardless of colicky or not so she's not doing it for recovery purposes ;) to be fair he looks well enough so maybe it's working!

Eta...that was supposed to quote whoever quoted me before! Hey ho.
 
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