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

Some folk on here may agree (I now understand it is a topic of scientific research...) but following Cheltenham Festival, a guy I know from the racing (who owns a racehorse and repeatedly tells me how his grandfather taught him all there was to know about horses) posted on Facebook that it was awful to see the jockeys smacking the horses when they won races as it makes them think they've done something wrong. He likened it to horse cruelty.

A few people commented on it asking if he was mad, although I suspect he was full of the drink myself, and I made representations against his statement. This led to him bombarding me online with articles suggesting that he was correct, plus he pulled the 'I learnt from my grandfather' (read: I've been around longer than you, kid) card on me again. In the end I told him we'd need to agree to disagree, as we do on many other topics.

I've clearly been giving my genuine, 100%-trying-every-time, would-run-through-a-brick-wall, horses mixed messages all these years.
 
And another one that I remembered when I read the 'horses grey out in the sun'...someone was looking for a grey stallion to serve his mare, and one of the responses was to look for a bay son of a prominent grey stallion to use on the bay mare as this would throw the grey.

Having tried to explain basic colour genetics to those who seek to breed for certain (un)desirable colourings, I was tearing my hair out at that one. OH found it hilarious and still says we could expect a grey foal out of our bay mare seeing as she's by a grey stallion herself...STOP IT.
 
HeresHoping said:
Am sitting on my fingers because someone piped up on FB this morning, 'Have you checked for ulcers? Because my horse often has a sore back when his ulcers are playing up.'
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That's not completely ridiculous really, ulcers often go hand in hand with back issues because a horse in discomfort with ulcers spends a lot of time tense/not working correctly and then does other damage.

_GG_ said:
Me too! :)

Auslander, that's hilarious!

My favourite from this week..."I chopped his ergots off, they were so big they were rubbing together". I said that I hoped she meant chestnuts and that you don't have to chop them off, they will peel off quite easily if you keep on top of them.
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keeping on top of Frank's still seem to make no difference, and removal always makes him uncomfortable so I usually attack them with the hoof nippers these days :eek3: does that make me bad?
 
My horses would die if I took them to Spain with me, and I would be better off selling them and buying a new horse out here..... 13 years later the horses are still ticking :D

''I cant canter my horse until March'' .. no idea why this person came out with this one every year

You will have to keep him stabled if you don't geld him ... said stallion is now 9 years old and never been stabled and lives in the paddock next to his mum and my other mare with no problems
 
On a old yard when I told a livery her horse ran out of hay by 6:30 after her leaving him at 5pm..... "well he should learn not to eat so fast then"
He was a 16:2 tbx with previous ulcer issues and even the vet said he needs ad-lib hay.


Oh and apparently draw reins stop rearing......
 
Slightlyconfused said:
On a old yard when I told a livery her horse ran out of hay by 6:30 after her leaving him at 5pm..... "well he should learn not to eat so fast then"
He was a 16:2 tbx with previous ulcer issues and even the vet said he needs ad-lib hay.


Oh and apparently draw reins stop rearing......
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they often do - if a horse can't get it's head up
 
freckles22uk said:
My horses would die if I took them to Spain with me, and I would be better off selling them and buying a new horse out here..... 13 years later the horses are still ticking :D

''I cant canter my horse until March'' .. no idea why this person came out with this one every year
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Did the horse have a winter holiday or just an aversion to mud?
 
Crosshill Pacers said:
And another one that I remembered when I read the 'horses grey out in the sun'...someone was looking for a grey stallion to serve his mare, and one of the responses was to look for a bay son of a prominent grey stallion to use on the bay mare as this would throw the grey.

Having tried to explain basic colour genetics to those who seek to breed for certain (un)desirable colourings, I was tearing my hair out at that one. OH found it hilarious and still says we could expect a grey foal out of our bay mare seeing as she's by a grey stallion herself...STOP IT.
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Actually colours can skip a generation. Not to be relied on though
 
Auslander said:
"If you hold the neckstrap - you wont fall off" (WFP's mother - watching me ride a very naughty baby racehorse)
I did hold the neckstrap - the whole time the horse was bucking it's brains out. And as I flew through the air, and straight out through the fence of the indoor school. I still had it in my hand as I peeled myself off the floor and clambered back through the fence...
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Sorry made me laugh. Bet she made you get back on too!

Scary woman - she judges the dressage at Chilham BE and it's binos on the judges cars to see if she's the judge in your arena as she is harsh (but fair). Doesn't mince her words in the comments.
 
I'm fairly sure people could quote me but recently I was told that the noseband on my horses bridle should be tighter so as to encourage her to keep her mouth closed.
 
That because soaking hay removes the sugar, you should add a mug of sugar to the water.

Honestly. I despair at times.
 
That a previous horse of mine had cracked her horses ribs by mounting it and squeezing it with his hooves either side of its ribs. Amazing confirmation!
 
Friend of mine with many, many decades of experience in horses, told me (in my learning phase when I was genuinely asking, with no agenda, his reasons for shoeing)
'no hoof, no horse', In addition to needing protection from wearing down the hoof wall, it is very important that the frog does not contact the ground, and this is why they need shoes, to elevate the frog off the ground.
 
That if I carried on doing lots of ground work and repeated the getting on and off my weird, bolting mare, in about 10 days to a couple of weeks she'd be safe to get on in an outdoor school un-held. Thankfully I didn't trust him, carried on only getting on her with a large, strong bloke at her head as on about week 3 she did her gasp, plunge and go to set off manoeuvre. She was never safe to get on without a big wall in front of her, and not entirely safe even then!

ETA Paid £400 for that potential dice with death too!
 
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The fellow livery that we all love to hate - knows everything,been everywhere.... lecturing me on how cruel I was keeping my mini in for 12 hours a day ( in a large very comfy yard I might add) as surely I knew that Laminitis was airborne and nothing to do with grass...Sigh Silly me.....
 
There were many things that my old yard owner said

School was deep and boggy and i came out after 2 mins of walking because it was awful "oh that would be because he hasn't got shoes on he finds it difficult to grip!" Ok then!!! :o

We had the "ragwort isn't poisonous to horses" too!
 
One girl at my yard still insists (despite me sending her about a dozen articles on the subject) that sweet itch is a creature that lives in her horse's coat, causing him to scratch. Apparently, they lay their eggs (bot eggs) the previous autumn, hatch in the spring and then live in the coat. She can't understand how he keeps getting it, considering she hogs and clips him all year round so he shouldn't really have a coat for them to live in.

Love the neck strap Auslander - I ended up with an entire bridle in my hand once. The devil pony (so called as he'd buck me off as soon as look at me) cantered round the field for about 10 minutes before we could grab him.
 
Biglets Mummy said:
The fellow livery that we all love to hate - knows everything,been everywhere.... lecturing me on how cruel I was keeping my mini in for 12 hours a day ( in a large very comfy yard I might add) as surely I knew that Laminitis was airborne and nothing to do with grass...Sigh Silly me.....
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Blimey, that's one I've never heard before!
 
annagain said:
One girl at my yard still insists (despite me sending her about a dozen articles on the subject) that sweet itch is a creature that lives in her horse's coat, causing him to scratch. Apparently, they lay their eggs (bot eggs) the previous autumn, hatch in the spring and then live in the coat. She can't understand how he keeps getting it, considering she hogs and clips him all year round so he shouldn't really have a coat for them to live in.

Love the neck strap Auslander - I ended up with an entire bridle in my hand once. The devil pony (so called as he'd buck me off as soon as look at me) cantered round the field for about 10 minutes before we could grab him.
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Quite often sweet itch is caused by lice
 
Here are some of my favourites: Talking about a young expensive dressage stallion 'well at least being a stallion if he ends up being no good at dressage they can always use him for breeding'

'I'll have to put him in a starvation paddock as his mum had laminitis'

'She's ridden in a 3 ring as it works on the pommel'

'He's not so good on the left rein as I'm right handed'.
 
Someone I know, who has forgotten more about horses than I will ever learn, is emphatic that it's high levels of protein in feed that makes horses fizzy, rather than sugar or starch. Is that a thing?
 
You only have to worm horses once a year, this was years ago before any worm counts etc were on the go.

It's normal for horses to colic every few months (see above advice).

Your horse won't ever put weight on, it's just his type (said horse is now as fat as a barrel despite having no front teeth to speak of!).
 
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