if someone is rude about your horse....?

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Horses for courses and all that.

If I paid zillions for a superstar, I suppose I would be a tad miffed if somebody said something horrible about it.

A plain horse is a plain horse, a pretty horse is a pretty horse, and a wonky horse is a wonky horse.

I have three wonky horses, but seeing as I am not about to attempt Badminton, I don't really give a sh*t what anybody say's about them.

Snowy is about as wonky as they come, but he was half starved and neglected when I had him, and is now happy, and the most gentle horse anyone could wish for, and people love him for his personality.

Therefore, if anybody said he was a knacker, I would have to agree, but I would be annoyed if somebody said he was nasty, because it's untrue.

We need to be honest with ourselves.
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A post about the adorable muddy faced cob got me thinking (always bad news on a Sunday evening after a glass or 2 of wine!).

Anyhow, has anyone ever been rude about your horse? What did you do about it, if anything? Did you forgive them or did you even agree?

Ill kick off...

The chestnut in my siggy who I competed as a show hack. I had her on a predominantly dressage yard and one of them commented to a new livery 'oh that's useless, just a pretty face'. I was so cross I trained for bl00dy weeks and even took a residential dressage course and then took the person on at a dressage competition, and beat them. Never did another Dressage comp ever again!



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LOL - try having an Arab if you want lots of 'just a pretty face' comments!

Actually I think I've been lucky with my Arab stally - the stud where he stands is an eventing/sport-horse training yard, not the sort of people who normally like Arabs, but the staff all love my boy, and I have had very few negative comments even from visitors.

One does inevitably get some predictable ones: "What on earth's that? His head looks like a seahorse!" "He's very beautiful but can he actually DO anything?"

And my favourite: "Does that bl**dy Arab EVER just stand still and shut up for 5 minutes?" (Perfectly fair comment - he is a bit of a noisy attention-seeker.)

I don't get upset about the negative stuff - there's no law that says everyone has to like my horse, and I accept that he's not everyone's cup of tea.

But anyway he mostly just seems to get admiring comments, so as I said, I'm lucky.
 
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We need to be honest with ourselves.
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I do agree and the wannabee Carl Hesters and John Whitakers (with zero ability but lots of ego) really annoy but sometimes people are rude because it makes them feel big or clever or they are jealous

I mean - gingers aren't everyones favourite but look at my horse in the sig - he can't jump or do dresssage
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no-one but me is allowed to be rude about my horses. i call them "muppet", "wally", "floozy", "heffalump" and anything else i choose, and i reserve for myself the right to say that they're annoying, ugly, or useless, depending on my mood and their behaviour! no-one else is allowed to criticise them at all though.
someone told me once that they were all rubbish and i'd never get anywhere with any of them and should have them all shot and start again. this was a 'friend' who i had helped out a LOT (she and her hubby were even living rent-free at my place at the time!), so i've heard it all before anyway! (of the horses i had then, 1 went Advanced, 1 went to 2-star... shows what she knew anyway, the old b***h!)
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My now ex-best friend had her then boyfriend buy herself a horse, said horse was for sale for £10k but as they knew seller bought it for £5k, horse is 7 and had been with a major showing family in UK since a youngster. Winning county level and so on. Once they had done what they wanted, horse was sent to Ireland to hunt, then came back and was sold to 'friend'. So horse has been professionally produced, won at county level and so on, she then takes it to all local shows and wins - judges know horse and allow them to pot hunt even though it has a huge splint. In my opinion and others, the horse is butt ugly!!! Wouldn't have spent £100 on it, but I have always been very supportive and complimentary to her.

However, my chestnut in my sig, who people have actually stopped me in the road to say how beautiful he is, plus how well behaved he is for a 5 year old - my 'friend' has never said a nice word about him. She always told me to get rid and to get myself a cob! Now I do love cobs and cob types, they are lovely, but I have my Trakehner, he is brilliant for his age and his height at nearly 18hh!! She always looks down her nose at him (or rather up her nose!!) and the last time she spoke about him she just commented on him as a dude as he looked after me. Now I find this offensive as her horse is ugly, mine is beautiful and I have never said anything but nice things about hers - I think she is jealous and I have now made a point to go out and beat her in the summer at shows!! Sorry but some people are so JEALOUS and it is time to show them up!!
 
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We need to be honest with ourselves.
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I do agree and the wannabee Carl Hesters and John Whitakers (with zero ability but lots of ego) really annoy but sometimes people are rude because it makes them feel big or clever or they are jealous

I mean - gingers aren't everyones favourite but look at my horse in the sig - he can't jump or do dresssage
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Yes, I have just read the thread which I presume started this debate, and have to say the comments of one user were extremely rude.
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I love gingers btw. The one in your sig is lovely!
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That's exactly the way I see it Dubs. There really is no getting away from the fact that some horses are beautiful and some are pug-ugly, some are very well put together and others look like the bits have been put on in the wrong places ... that's life, they can't all be amazingly talented and gorgeous to-boot!

I'd say in the majority of cases, people who only have 1 or 2 horses probably become a little "precious" about them - odd if they can't see the irregularities on these precious creatures, but I guess it's a bit of the "can't see the wood for the trees" syndrome.

About my own horses; well I have a fair bunch here. My usual business is dealing with registered QHs and I definitely have ones who are way nicer put together than the others; most of these ones are pleasing on the eye but if someone didn't like them, that would be perfectly okay with me as I know someone else will love them. I generally only get nice comments for these horses though but that's because I sell in the QH market so am not trying to convert those already converted. Mine are all nice specimens which is why I don't have any trouble selling them.
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I also have a small rabble of uncared for horses who have come to me as their last hope. Now some of these are unattractive, have things in the wrong places, are undernourished, have physical issues etc etc. Most people who have met this bunch don't even bother to look at their conformation as they are generally so taken aback at the state some of them come here and then once they put on weight and start to look better, that's all I hear; how amazing they all look, so folk do tend to not notice the imperfections. If they did, and mentioned it, I'd agree ... because it's true. I can see it, so I'd expect every other good horse person to see it too as I am a realist.
 
Well yeah, but there's honest and there's downright rude. I can see my horses flaws, particularly the big capital L freezemarked on her side, it doesn't mean I need people coming up to me and telling me my horse is a useless write off. One of the horses at my yard is an absolute train wreck when it comes to conformation but she is an angel and just perfect for her teenage owner who adores her and I certainly wouldn't feel the need to point out her mares' downsides to her.

My mum used to openly say to people how ugly their kids were - she used to call me ugly as a child all the time and it always stuck with me. Yes, I am ugly and I know it, but it doesn't mean it doesn't hurt to be told! Of course the horses don't understand and the owners probably don't take it quite as personally as they would if the comments were directed at them or their children but a little tact never did anyone any harm.
 
i knew this bloody awful women(on so many levels) was at an old yard i was on , she use to say how much she disliked coloureds ( I had a coloured at the time) and how if she were a dressage judge she would always mark solids higher
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( i know like i said awful woman)!!! i just looked at her smiled and thought chuffing idiot!!! (like i did most of the time, some of the stuff she use to come out with was priceless
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As long as i like my horse i really couldnt care less what anyone else thought they dont pay my horsey bills i do!!! As has been said is bad manners and i would always find something positive to say even if the horse wasnt my cup of tea!!
 

A few years ago, a new woman came to my old yard and made some derogatory comments about the YO's little old pony, that I rode for years. It was something along the lines of "that scruffy pony is a disgrace to the yard and should be got rid of!" Bearing in mind this woman had 2 fat hairy welsh ponies, not some high class TB's! I was fuming, as was the yard owner, and I will quite happily admit that years later I haven't forgiven her. Yes, he is scruffy, but he is old and has had a hard life and is my baby, and he has been on that yard longer than any of the others. So there!

I am allowed to be rude about my horses, but it p***** me off when other people are. Luckily, my 2 usually attract compliments. I'm sure people must look at Murph and think he's a useless hairy beast, but by the time he's kicked everyone's arses jumping they usually shut up! The farrier / vets are frequently rude about them, but they have all been flattened by a spinning Savannah at one point, so I don't mind so much!
 
i bought Shadow knowing that she was a seasoned crib biter, so did the yard owner who had known her as long as i had, and had no problem accommodating her as long i bought a crib collar - which i did happily.

it had been a struggle to get her. i had been in love with her for about 8.5 years and she'd bee through hell at the riding school, and was intermittently lame (i blame inappropriate management personally) and constantly lived in fear of her being sent to the knackers without me being able to offer her a home. i had been messed around for months, and when i finally got her i was beyond and ecstatic!!

i had worked at the yard for about a year and a half before i bought Shadow, and every livery knew the story and was probably just as excited as i was
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the lady who was opposite Shadows new stable had a neurotic TB, and the only thing she could say when she say Shadow test her crib collar (unsuccessfully) on the door she said "well Solo better not pick up that habit", and sauntered out of the barn like she owned the place

fair enough, not an ideal habit, but clearly i had made steps to stop it. it was such a buzz kill, i just felt awful :s it was such a special occasion for me that my whole family came up to see her settle in, as did about 80% of the liveries
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it was just such an unnecessary thing to say out loud within half an hour of me getting her there. i mean this was THE day that my dreams had finally come true. everything in my life was perfect and i was flying so high.

she soon learnt to eat her words though because she fell head over heels in love with Shadow and her attitude completely changed
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oh and her nutty TB never picked up the habit! what a surprise...
 
2 that I remember

"Your horse can't jump" - how do you work that one out, he had done 100 steeplechases! She peed me off so I went in the arena and jumped the top of the wings :-)
That was a really stupid comment because it seriously would jump anything

and going into a handy horse class "A TB in this class?" I shouted back that it was an ex racer too. He behaved perfectly and we came 2nd
 
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