"Horsey people" that havent got a clue!

I'm on a large DIY livery yard and over the years have seen many liveries come and go. If I see someone struggling or doing something wrong that is dangerous I quietly and politely offer help. Most people welcome help, the odd person is a know-it-all and I just leave them to it.

I had to laugh at myself last weekend. I got home from a show jumping clinic, unloaded my horse and realised I'd put one front travel boot on his hind leg and one hind on his front :o I'd been chatting to the owner of the venue whilst putting his boots on and I hadn't even noticed. Hopefully she didn't notice or perhaps she thought I was a right numpty but was too polite to comment.
 
A boarder at my old barn in Colorado had two young quarter horses. She was free lunging one in the round pen and tied the other to an unsecured lightweight plastic bench just outside the round pen (that was intended to be used by people watching clinicians or whatever). The horse spooked at something and of course, found himself being chased by the bench. Horse bolted, went through a couple fences, and amazingly only had a few minor cuts and scrapes after the incident.

The other thing I remember -- at the same barn, but quite a few years later -- involved a trainer, of all people. I'd known trainer for years and when she was a full-time nurse and part-time trainer, she was sound. She was the person who advised me to look at the horse I have now had for 14 years when the horse was up for sale. Anyway, she quit her nursing job to become a full-time trainer and got weird. The following anecdote illustrates the last thing she ever did at that barn because they kicked her out afterwards for being a moron and dangerous. She was going to ride one of her student's horses, who was notoriously difficult to catch. Horsey, as expected, ran away from her. Now, the way this barn was set up, there were a number of paddocks with as few as four, but as many as a dozen horses living in them (depending on the size). This trainer went and got another student's horse from a *different* paddock, tacked it up, rode it into the paddock where the horse she couldn't catch lived, and proceeded to chase this horse. As you can imagine, all 12 horses in that paddock went nuts and it was chaos. Luckily no one got hurt. But trainer was booted out of the barn thereafter.

Her reasoning? She had been to a natural horsemanship clinic and had seen the trainer *in the controlled setting of a round pen riding his own, very well-schooled horse* free schooling one or two horses and getting them to join-up with his horse. So obviously this would work in a big paddock with about 12 horses. Right?
 
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Enfys said:
Quite so Mike. Good to see that not everyone is using this thread as an excuse for a bit of a bitch fest.

Think on you folk that laugh at others, were you born perfect? Never made a mistake?
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I agree with this . . . I've pulled some shockers of my own as a novice owner and have been lucky enough to have had a) a very forgiving horse; and b) the help and support of knowledgeable friends, fellow liveries and livery owners.

I remember having to ask my daughter (then 12) how to tie up a haynet when we took on the mares . . . I nearly cried when I ordered Kali a new bridle shortly after we had bought him and it arrived in pieces . . . and, in fact, when I was about 12 my (non-horsey) parents took me pony trekking in Wales and I "helped" by untacking my pony - which consisted of taking the bridle completely to pieces - I was NOT popular with the yard staff.

Just yesterday, I helped a fellow livery . . . her daughter keeps her very lovely cob gelding at our yard and Mum has been having lessons at a local riding school . . . yesterday was her first lesson on daughter's cob at our yard and she asked me if I would watch her tack up to make sure she was doing it right . . . she actually put his bridle on upside down so I politely pointed it out and we had a little giggle . . . point is, she simply didn't know. Honestly, I wouldn't have known when I first started out.

Yes, novice horse owners make mistakes . . . some of which are downright dangerous . . . but they deserve our help and encouragement rather than our ridicule.

P

P.S. Comments above are not directed at the OP who refers to the outlandish things apparent "experts" sometimes do or say.
 
PolarSkye said:
Yes, novice horse owners make mistakes . . . some of which are downright dangerous . . . but they deserve our help and encouragement rather than our ridicule.
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I think most of the posts here are just pure despair at some people who clearly have no idea what they're on about. Don't think they are intended to ridicule, just highlight that maybe some people should do a bit more research/ learning before getting a horse. Novices should definitely be educated and taught when they do something wrong but I do not agree that a horse's welfare should be put in danger for that to happen.
 
its like getting a high powered motorbike without any lessons except instead of being just potentially dangerous to self and others, the 'motorbike' suffers too.

I think the point is not taking pee out of those who take on a horse and ask for help or make understandable silly mistakes, its to express communal horror at those who should know better and those who have such a blasé attitude that they see these beautiful intelligent animals and think, 'I know I'll stick one in the garden shed, it can eat bread rolls' without any intention or plans to learn about them properly.
 
Jamie-lee said:
I may be wrong but I am guessing the sandy/pebbly beachy stable was some sort of " barefoot conditioning" !!!
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Yeah probably was. I know they like pea gravel as I think it supports the hooves well but also wears them correctly or something. Its meant to be really comfy for the horse to lie on etc. so maybe it would make good bedding!
 
This threads making me wonder what on earth im going to do once i get my first horse :rolleyes:

I agree though, slightly uncomfortable reading some of these stories as some could have been potentially very dangerous.
 
I think it is easy to forget what a hugely intimidating place the horse world can be and how much we all use unintelligible jargon a lot (and there was a hilarious thread recently about some of the common things we say that don't translate well outside of the horse world). Some of the examples cited here could be down to novices just not wanting to admit they have got something wrong because they feel stupid for not knowing. There is a tendency for many (although obviously not all) horse people to be patronising and "talk down" to more novice owners and I think that is part of the problem, making people reluctant to admit they don't know or to ask for advice. I can think of one person who is a good rider and looks after her horse very well who always starts a sentence with "Can you tell me how to... because I haven't been riding all my life like the rest of you" - she shouldn't feel the need to!
That said, going back to the original post, experienced horse owners who haven't got a clue drive me nuts! One YO who hadn't ridden for ten years and never hacked out with liveries used to hand out extensive advice on what to do if someone's horse had tanked, spooked at a tractor, tripped over a daisy, without having a clue what was really going on...
 
I remember when I first started going to my current yard, I was asked to get in a really large horse (I was 9, she was close to 17hh). She was docile as anything, but liked to use her height as an advantage, so I couldn't get her headcollar on.
YO found me holding the headcollar as high as I could saying "Please Bon! Just put your face in here!!"

I also didn't know until a year or two ago that you had to soak sugarbeet (sp?)!! However, I never would have fed anything to a horse without knowing what it was and what you had to do with it first!!

I think it's ok to laugh at these stories, so long as you can laugh at yourself too!

I Will try and think to more of mine ;)
 
The people in my two anecdotes weren't novices at all. They were experience horsepeople, who should know better, just doing really dumb sh786t.
 
I went to see a horse a few years ago. It was a pure Andalusian so I thought it was worth a look as I like Iberians. I had seen a very sketchy video beforehand in which the horse was being pelted with a lunge whip the entire time... so I thought I'd go see it as a project and to maybe save the poor thing! Although it was priced at £3,500.

We pulled up to a tiny house with the horse wondering about in their garden! The garden wasn't overly big, I'd say size-wise it would have been vaguely acceptable for an obese 12.2hh... NOT a skinny 15.2hh Iberian. They'd "made" a stable for it out of strips of wood and said it lived in it all winter :( When asked if it had a proper field, the girl pointed to a small paddock with 6ft high fencing which was in pieces, she said the horse jumped out of it too many times so the farmer they'd rented it from told them no more! Anyway, things got no better. The horse was covered in old scars all over it, as if it had been stuck in a barbed wire fence. The tail had been cut just below the tail bone - when asked why, it was "because it annoyed me getting dirty". She proceeded to throw on horrifically fitting tack, jumped on (in the garden of course) and attempted to "ride" the horse. Oh wow, it was like watching a complete novice who had NEVER sat on a horse ride! The poor horse had absolutely no clue what it was meant to do. She'd boot it in the ribs but be yanking it in the mouth at the same time and had no idea how to turn! On asking if it hacked, the girl said it did but it had bolted several times with her so she tended to not hack very often anymore! Quite a few replies to things were "thats how they do it in Spain" (they'd had the horse there for a few years). Honestly, you wouldn't have believed the comments and actions she came out with - I thought at one point I was being filmed!! But no, she seemed perfectly genuine! Afterwards, I offered her £500 out of pity for the horse, which IMO was a very decent offer for this poor horse who would have needed total restarting. Never heard back... wonder how the poor horse is now :( I'd say it was an amusing experience, but actually it was just sad, the horse had such a miserable look in its eyes.
 
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Okay I will admit to knowing nothing about keeping a horse when I bought my horse - I made a few mistakes along the way but I was sensible enough to know I needed help, a good full-time livery yard with a YO I could trust & lots & lots & lots of reading. Still do the same to this day. Everyone has to start somewhere - my horse has never suffered at the hands of my ignorance & I know its important to seek help & advice when you need it. Or if there is something you dont know, learn it!

The odd things I have come across is people thinking that horses & ponies should automatically behave!! Like it should be built into them - no matter how you treat them or how many things you dont teach them! I've been know you say 'well you kids didnt just know how to behave, do they?? You had to teach them!'

Also someone thinking that ponies arent the same animals are horses - they dont respond to things like Physio treatments cause they arent built the same - WTF??!!

And the worst is people who jump a horse over 1.20 fences the day it has came sound after months & months of being off because thats what horses are meant to do & if it cant do that - what use is it. Sad.
 
I agree with the people that say that you have to start somewhere. And I think the majority will happily explain something or help out a novice if the novice is willing to accept the help, or actually listen to the advice.
What I find irritating is the type who think that because they've been riding at a riding school for 6 months, and now have a horse, that they obviously know everything. And no matter what you say or do, you will just get screamed at by them for trying to help. That's the annoying type of ''horsey'' people. :)
 
PingPongPony said:
I agree with the people that say that you have to start somewhere. And I think the majority will happily explain something or help out a novice if the novice is willing to accept the help, or actually listen to the advice.
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Of course, the problem just gets perpetuated when the novice is getting advice from the wrong person...

I'm a novice, and had a woman tell me that I should be riding a particular mare in a running martingale - when the problem is that the mare tucks her head into her chest and opens her mouth/crosses her jaw. (This is probably the point where the combined knowledge of HHO tells me the woman in question is absolutely right and I'm a muppet! :D)
 
Oh! I forgot about the woman at my old job who was bored of her yacht, so bought an expensive WB! Thankfully she had a lot of money to throw around, so hopefully she paid someone to look after it. She was a nice woman, I doubt she would be the type to let an animal suffer. Hopefully it worked out well for her, I never found out!
 
Nah said:
I also didn't know until a year or two ago that you had to soak sugarbeet (sp?)!! However, I never would have fed anything to a horse without knowing what it was and what you had to do with it first!!
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I don't think it's uncommon to not know about soaking sugarbeet, tbh I don't really see it used that often anymore :). The woman I knew who made the comment about the sugarbeet didn't use it herself but was arguing the toss with someone who did :rolleyes: (she had 'owned horses for years')
 
Pippity said:
Of course, the problem just gets perpetuated when the novice is getting advice from the wrong person...

I'm a novice, and had a woman tell me that I should be riding a particular mare in a running martingale - when the problem is that the mare tucks her head into her chest and opens her mouth/crosses her jaw. (This is probably the point where the combined knowledge of HHO tells me the woman in question is absolutely right and I'm a muppet! :D)
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That's true too, but I meant more of obvious 'you are wrong' situations. Like the one I described, where the girl put a 4ft9 rug on her horse who was 15.2 and took 6ft-6ft3 rugs, and then she proceeded to scream at me when I told her that I took it off as the horse was being rubbed raw by the rug, and she was telling me how i'm going to pay vet bills for skin cancer caused by sunburn because her dark bay horse didn't have a miniature fly rug on. That's the sort of situations I was talking about :)
 
Most of the "horsey" people described in here are not horsey, they are just idiots who have bought a horse, and taken them to a DIY yard...
 
I used to work in a tack shop, and one day a lady came in with a piece of paper, saying 'I want this rug' (it was a Weatherbeeta Jasper rug in 5'6). So went and got it for her, she paid and went away happy.

A few days later she came marching back into the shop in a complete fury, dumped the rug (soaked through and plastered in mud) on the counter, shouting 'This rug isn't waterproof! It's completely useless as a turnout rug!' and was getting really angry.

Tried explaining to her that the reason it wasn't waterproof was because she'd bought a stable rug, but no she was adamant that she'd bought a turnout. We apologised but couldn't refund her as we'd sold her the specific rug she'd asked for. She was determined that the 'Weatherbeeta Jasper' was a turnout rug, and was equally determined that we were wrong when we told her that Weatherbeeta don't make a turnout rug called Jasper.

It got so bad that we had to ring our Weatherbeeta rep while she was there, and pass them the phone, so that Weatherbeeta themselves could tell her for certain that THEY DID NOT MAKE A WEATHERBEETA JASPER TURNOUT RUG!!

It brightened up an otherwise dull day I have to say :eek::cool:
 
The thread has mentioned a few novice person tales, but I don't think they are bitchy- everyone who has posted seems to have been helpful to the person or just making light of a situation they found themselves in ! Mistakes are the most 'effective' way to learn, and we all make plenty of them. Just scary when people do ridiculous things, completely aware of what they are doing, and have full confidence that it is correct (and then usually preach it to someone who IS novice and THAT is dangerous!)

This thread jinxed me :( I posted earlier about how i'd NEVER crossed my reins to ride... Well I had 4 horses to ride today and wasn't looking what I was doing, so jumped on my new pony and thought "Oh no, his schooling has gone really downhill :( he'd been doing so well" Only to realised I'd crossed my reins :o
 
This one is pretty harmless...

A few years ago I got to the yard to find my sharer had done this to my horse:
Pinto12Mar2009003.jpg

:eek:

Apparently she was concerned he couldn't see from behind his long forelock. It took ages to grow to a length I could pull it properly into a more natural shape, and then it took months to grow to anywhere near as long as it had been :/
 
Aw Casey76 your horse does not look impressed does he!

Reading this thread I realise how lucky I am that I was taught about horse care pretty thoroughly in the 1970s when I spent every weekend helping out at the riding school. And also that the people on my yard are really friendly and helpful to ask. However, I am all thumbs where tack is concerned. Pelham on upside down first time (changed before I got on!), martingale with no stop so I had to keep hanging under my horse's neck to sort out the dangly bit between his legs, also every time i put on my loose ring snaffle with biscuits the far one disappears in to horsy's mouth. And luckily he is not ear-shy as there is a LOT of fumbling going on with the crown piece. The only way I can get a bridle back together properly is to hang it from the crown piece on my own head. (anyone else own up to that?!)
 
When I was a very young child my mum had a friend who always told me that her dad had bred and trained 'race horses' as I got older I always wondered why she never referred to them as thoroughbreds. When I bred from my welsh D mare to a thoroughbred stallion and I was telling her about it she asked "a thoroughbred what?" She thought thoroughbred meant purebred. It turned out the only horse her dad ever had was a heavy horse that pulled his cart and he had kept it in the back garden. Bless her, she is dead now and always insisted her dad had bred 'race horses'.
 
These have made me laugh. But it is very true that you have to start somewhere.

I've always gone by the rule that unless I know something for sure, I just ask. My fellow livery is always more than happy to answer any questions I have-- it always saves me from potential dangerous/embarrassing moments.

Luckily I did have lessons at RS's for year, shared and rode various horses at various yards so when I bought my own I knew a fair amount, or at least the right sort of information so I knew how to keep my pony safe, well fed, exercised and watered.

But as I had never owned before, when his wormer was due I had no problems in explaining that I've never had to administer a wormer before and so asked if I could be shown. :cool:
 
I've done loads of stupid things! I rode my horse for about a week in a new happy mouth loose ring snaffle and wondered why she was being really fussy until someone pointed out I had put it on backwards :o I'd never noticed the slight curve so thought it didn't matter what way it went!

I was once tacking up a horse at my old job, I had everything on apart from his bridle and when I untied him to put it on and pull out I realised I hadn't done his feet. Thinking he'd be fine just stood with the door wide open I started to pick out his feet, got to the last one and he wouldn't pick it up. I gave him a shove and little smack on the bum which normally worked and expected him to pick it up as normal but this day he shot out of his stable and went for a canter around the yard :o I went after him with his bridle and pretended he'd pushed me out of his way when I was trying to get it it on!
 
One I won't forget...
The look on a very sweet horse's face as her owner left the stable with an empty worming syringe in her hand. The owner knew it was to be administered internally, just hadn't realised it went in the front end!
 
Bobella said:
One I won't forget...
The look on a very sweet horse's face as her owner left the stable with an empty worming syringe in her hand. The owner knew it was to be administered internally, just hadn't realised it went in the front end!
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:eek:
oh dear !
 
Bobella said:
One I won't forget...
The look on a very sweet horse's face as her owner left the stable with an empty worming syringe in her hand. The owner knew it was to be administered internally, just hadn't realised it went in the front end!
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:D:D:D:D She didn't read the instruction leaflet then!!
 
Some of these are really funny and some quite sad, but everyne had to learn somewhere.
What has concerned me recently are some fairly novicey friends with their first horses, kept at livery at the yard they used to have lessons at.
The owners/managers of the yard have perpetuated a whole new kind of horse care which specifically suits their own ends...
- Horses shouldn't be fed too much haylage (its included in livery price) a small net morning and night is enough for any size/type/condition of horse (and they ahd been seen going around making nets smaller when owners had filled them)
- Horses shouldn't be overworked (more than a half hour or so, no sweat except saddle patch)- this is more to do with too many liveries and not enough space/time for them to ride around scheduled lesson times, and a surface seriously in need of replacing...
- hard feed wasn't included in price so therefore could be fed as much as the novice owners wanted (and because of haylage myth some needed a bit to keep weight on)

Result of all of above- novice owners with super fresh over fed and underworked horses, blaming the horses for behaving badly (they should all actually act like saints all the time apparently, with no input or consistent handling or training at all)...

This kind of thing makes me really annoyed as it is the horses and the probably keen but green owners who suffer
 
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