Fitbit got me thinking about a weird americanism

[case895]

I recently took over my wife's Fitbit Flex and thought I would manually add riding as an activity on the phone app. You select the activity from a dropdown list, start time and duration. Riding was listed as "horseback riding", a common americanism.

It got me thinking what an odd phrase this is. Where else would you ride a horse? Hanging underneath? It does not list cycling as "bikeseat riding".

 

[solstince]

American here- not much to add, other than that when I first moved here almost 5 years ago, it really threw me that it was called 'horse riding!'. Another one that took a long time for me to get used to was calling where you keep horses the 'yard'. In the states,

barn/stable = general place where horses are kept (yard here)
board = what you pay for keeping a horse somewhere (livery here)
stall = place where an individual horse is kept (seems to be called stable or box here)
yard = the outdoor area of your personal house (ie, what you would call garden here)
garden = fancy places with maintained flowers that are open to the public
trailer = thing that you carry horse with (lorry or horsebox here, never heard either of these terms until I moved!)

Also, we don't have the term 'napping' or 'nappy'. That'll get a blank look for sure on average American equestrian. Same with 'fizzy', not used, we would say 'hot' or 'spooky' or 'looky'!

 

[skint1]

I think the English also call a trailer a trailer, the lorry or horsebox is a vehicle that horses are transported in rather than a thing your car pulls. I think in Aus/NZ they call a trailer a "float" though

 

[Micropony]

And don't we have "stalls" here too? I thought they were those sort of half stables where riding school ponies are tied up with a haynet between lessons. Am I making this up?

 

[nato]

We say horsebox in place of trailer in Ireland, and Lorry in place of horsebox

 

[Meredith]

My first riding school didn't have individual loose boxes or stables. The whole block was the called the stables. Each pony had a stall in which there was a manger, like a raised trough which had spaces for water and feed. Hay was in a high wooden or metal rack. The ponies were tethered there during the working day and turned out most nights.

 

[skint1]

I think you're right, stalls seem to be something like that over here but I think solstince is also right that the place where your individual horse lives is a stable here, and a stall there.

 

[poiuytrewq]

It is different your right! My daughter works on a yard for an American lady and announced to me when she got on her horse the other day she had her phone in her "fanny pack" Que me - What the hell did you just say????!!!!!
Bum bag, it was in her bum bag- apparently that's an English fanny pack

 

[NZJenny]

I think the English also call a trailer a trailer, the lorry or horsebox is a vehicle that horses are transported in rather than a thing your car pulls. I think in Aus/NZ they call a trailer a "float" though

Horse trucks and horse floats.

We also have paddocks, not fields.

No one has a yard or a barn, but will have grazing and may have stables or yards.

No one describes a horse as sharp, it can be hot, spooky or sensitive (depending on how you are feeling about it!).

 

[criso]

And don't we have "stalls" here too? I thought they were those sort of half stables where riding school ponies are tied up with a haynet between lessons. Am I making this up?

Yes it used to be that in the stables you had stalls (where you tie up) or loose boxes where they are loose. Now you don't see stalls much so we just have boxes.