Phrases that get up your nose?

Ménage!!! It makes me flinch every time I hear it and that's many times a day. I can't bring myself to say it so have to say "school." I realise "ménage" will eventually become the correct usage through acceptance but in the meantime sorry, I just can't get over it.
 
I think more people would get it right if they knew one of the uses for 'ménage' ;)

I just thought of one, the use of 'Fulmer' as a synonym for 'full cheek'. Aside from being incorrect (and I suspect used to sound pretentious) and confusing, it makes me a bit sad. The Fulmer School is such an important part of British riding history it's a shame so few people here seem to know about it.
 
TarrSteps said:
I think more people would get it right if they knew one of the uses for 'ménage' ;)

I just thought of one, the use of 'Fulmer' as a synonym for 'full cheek'. Aside from being incorrect (and I suspect used to sound pretentious) and confusing, it makes me a bit sad. The Fulmer School is such an important part of British riding history it's a shame so few people here seem to know about it.
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It doesn't help that I very often see Fulmers and full cheeks mislabelled in tack catalogues or in on-line descriptions. If the people selling the things don't know or use the correct names I'm not surprised the general public get them mixed up. Often you're just buying from sales-people with no real knowledge of what they're selling, and not knowledgeable horse-people.
 
treacle_beastie said:
I know my pelvis is out of alignment..you can see one hip is a good inch or so higher than the otger side and if I go to physio they badically do that ramming shoulder into buttock type movement and I walk away level...it takes a few sessions for my muscles tendons and ligamenrs to maintain the new and correct position but it always becomes wonky over time. I really should get it realigned as it gives me sciatica and makes my ankle hurt as it affects my fait.This is what I understand it means but I dont understand how so many horses pelvises end up like this. Mine was because I sledged into a watertrough!
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They slip and fall in the paddock, twice now I've witnessed my Clydesdale deck herself after doing an enormous buck, and shoot off around the paddock only to crash on a corner, one time hitting the ground with a hind leg stretched out behind her. One horse I owned took a year of fortnightly chiro work to realign his neck, he nosedived over a jump. Another was manipulated under anaesthetic - he got cast in his yard, legs either side of a post and a rail over the top. We had to pull his tail and head, see sawing him out from under the fence.

My most hated saying - my pony/horse is allergic to grass!
 
Capriole said:
It doesn't help that I very often see Fulmers and full cheeks mislabelled in tack catalogues or in on-line descriptions. If the people selling the things don't know or use the correct names I'm not surprised the general public get them mixed up. Often you're just buying from sales-people with no real knowledge of what they're selling, and not knowledgeable horse-people.
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That's true of a lot of things! I quite often see items mislabeled or with questionable blurbs. Makes me wonder how reliable the information is about stuff i don't know enough about to judge.

I once had a comedy conversation with someone selling an expensive and popular piece of kit, about its effects on 'the muscles of the lower leg'. I listened incredulously for a bit before I pointed out that horses don't have muscles below the knee/hock!! Didn't faze her at all.
 
AengusOg said:
'I'd like to see you try that with MY horse'
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Haha oh yes!!
I often tell people they should try Ned. Not because he's bad or I think I'm a better rider, but honestly...he's an experience! A girl from the yard rode and jumped him yesterday and she was giggling the whole way around! He's such a funny chap :P
 
TarrSteps said:
I think more people would get it right if they knew one of the uses for 'ménage' ;)

I just thought of one, the use of 'Fulmer' as a synonym for 'full cheek'. Aside from being incorrect (and I suspect used to sound pretentious) and confusing, it makes me a bit sad. The Fulmer School is such an important part of British riding history it's a shame so few people here seem to know about it.
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TarrrSteps, it's awesome that someone else knows the history of the Fulmer Snaffle.

For those that don't know its history. Robert Hall, once proprietor of The Fulmer Equitation Centre, Fulmer, Bucks brought the bit back from The Spanish Riding School when he returned from his time working and training there. He then asked a Loriner to make the bit for general sale, it was named The Fulmer Snaffle and is traditionally used with a drop noseband.

I too hate seeing bits incorrectly named and labelled in stores, the biggest hate is the 'slotted Kimblewick' or to be correct it should be called an Uxeter.
 
TarrSteps said:
That's true of a lot of things! I quite often see items mislabeled or with questionable blurbs. Makes me wonder how reliable the information is about stuff i don't know enough about to judge.

I once had a comedy conversation with someone selling an expensive and popular piece of kit, about its effects on 'the muscles of the lower leg'. I listened incredulously for a bit before I pointed out that horses don't have muscles below the knee/hock!! Didn't faze her at all.
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That's brilliant. Scary but brilliant :d How did she get past that in the conversation?


Re: Salespeople. There are a couple of really good knowledgeable girls work at our main local saddlery, and they're really excellent, but the other two my OH calls the 'till-monkeys' which isn't very nice perhaps but it's quite apt, ask them any sort of question about the stock and you get a blank look. No idea what they are selling.
 
dogatemysalad said:
Any short whip is a crop and a long whip is a ..whip.
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Noooooo!!!! You wouldn't say "lunge crop" or "dressage crop" so why is a normal one a crop?

Oh yes, and the whole "dressage whip" is annoying too. Unless you're actually doing dressage, it's a schooling whip. That said though, is a dressage whip a special type for competition use or is it just a longer one than usual? Like a schooling whip in fact?!

If "whip" offends your sensibilities, call it a stick. Oh wait...

Just thought I'd point out this thread is about what phrases annoy us, not what's right or wrong!
 
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TarrSteps said:
The footfall sequence should be the same although they are often less concerned with the purity of the sequence. But they are different to ride and look at. Western horses do often have a 'trot' and even a 'long trot', performed rising or even standing. I genuinely thought that horses were taught to jog and lope by shutting down what i think of as the natural gaits of trot and canter until I worked with purpose bred QHs and saw the the foals moved.

That said, I wouldn't call a passage a variation of trot, so I'm being likely being pedantic. :) I just don't see why you would describe a horse with anything other than the vernacular of its discipline? FEI horses 'jog' for the vet because that's what it's called in context, even though they trot. Western Pleasure horses jog because that's what they do. :)
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On the contrary, I'm being pedantic about the use of the word 'gait' which is a word which refers to the pattern of limb movement. Jog can only be a different gait to trot if the pattern of limb movement is different, which it isn't . So it's not actually a different gait. Extended trot, collected trot, piaffe and passage all feel different to working trot, but they're all types of trot. And so is jog.

But yes, totally agree that when in Rome one should describe a western trained horse performing a western trot as jogging, since jogging is a very particular style of trotting.
 
The phrase that grates on me is
'it's common sense'
used by people who have low tolerance/empathy for others who have gaps in their horse knowledge. Making the person who used the phrase feel superior!
 
Goldenstar said:
Jumps like a stag , I mean have you seen a stag jump , why on earth would you want a horse like that.
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Because stags can jump very high - I worked on a big estate many years ago and the whole herd of deer used to leap over an enormous hedge across our path as we rode down the lanes. I has nothing to do with technique but with their ability to jump very high.
 
"He's such an actor/He's just faking to get out of work." - about a lame horse.

"I know the saddle doesn't fit, but I keep our rides short, so he can suck it up and tolerate it." - Yes, somebody actually said that.
 
Capriole said:
That's brilliant. Scary but brilliant :d How did she get past that in the conversation?


Re: Salespeople. There are a couple of really good knowledgeable girls work at our main local saddlery, and they're really excellent, but the other two my OH calls the 'till-monkeys' which isn't very nice perhaps but it's quite apt, ask them any sort of question about the stock and you get a blank look. No idea what they are selling.
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She didn't really, she just laughed. The scary part was she was a rep on the trade stand! I think the product is great, although I'm not convinced it isn't just mutton dressed as lamb. But it's worrying if the people advising on its use don't have basic anatomical knowledge.
 
Blurr said:
On the contrary, I'm being pedantic about the use of the word 'gait' which is a word which refers to the pattern of limb movement. Jog can only be a different gait to trot if the pattern of limb movement is different, which it isn't . So it's not actually a different gait. Extended trot, collected trot, piaffe and passage all feel different to working trot, but they're all types of trot. And so is jog.

But yes, totally agree that when in Rome one should describe a western trained horse performing a western trot as jogging, since jogging is a very particular style of trotting.
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Fair enough. :)

From a practical point of view though, in discussion or instruction, it's important to differentiate as western horses both trot and jog. It would confuse the heck out of a western rider if you used the terms interchangeably.
 
diamonddogs said:
Just thought I'd point out this thread is about what phrases annoy us, not what's right or wrong!
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But incorrect usage annoys me. ;) Horse lingo is already confusing and vague enough, especially in English - it doesn't help anyone to willfully use incorrect terms.
 
Tnavas said:
TarrrSteps, it's awesome that someone else knows the history of the Fulmer Snaffle.

For those that don't know its history. Robert Hall, once proprietor of The Fulmer Equitation Centre, Fulmer, Bucks brought the bit back from The Spanish Riding School when he returned from his time working and training there. He then asked a Loriner to make the bit for general sale, it was named The Fulmer Snaffle and is traditionally used with a drop noseband.

I too hate seeing bits incorrectly named and labelled in stores, the biggest hate is the 'slotted Kimblewick' or to be correct it should be called an Uxeter.
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Uttoxeter? ;-)
 
"Riding School know it alls" or anything that is snobbish and derogatory about people who for whatever reason do not own their own horse and visit a riding school, there's plenty of it on here!
 
RutlandH2O said:
There are actually quite a few thousand feral donkeys on the Big Island, as well, at least when I lived in Hawaii prior to 1994.

The Hawaiian climate is another example of the mainland in miniature. Except for the freezing temperatures typical of the continental US (and which are possible at altitude on Hawaii's volcanic mountains), Hawaii's climate varies depending on which part of the islands one inhabits. Generally, the north and east coasts of the islands are green and lush. Conversely, the west and south coasts tend to be arid and brown. Just as I would find it difficult to live in California with my horses because water is in short supply and hay must be provided 12 months of the year due to a lack of grass, I would have the same problems living on the south or west coasts of the Hawaiian Islands with horses. Go to the north and one comes to towns like Kamuela where you could be forgiven for thinking you were somewhere in the UK. Not that far from Honolulu and Waikiki on O'ahu, take the coast road to the south near Hawaii Kai and there are prickly pear cacti growing along the roadside. The islands are a melting pot of cultures and climates on tiny dots of land in the Central Pacific ocean.
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Really fascinating to read thanks :)
 
diamonddogs said:
Noooooo!!!! You wouldn't say "lunge crop" or "dressage crop" so why is a normal one a crop?

Oh yes, and the whole "dressage whip" is annoying too. Unless you're actually doing dressage, it's a schooling whip. That said though, is a dressage whip a special type for competition use or is it just a longer one than usual? Like a schooling whip in fact?!

If "whip" offends your sensibilities, call it a stick. Oh wait...

Just thought I'd point out this thread is about what phrases annoy us, not what's right or wrong!
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A long whip is only used for dressage - you rarely ever see anyone use it for jumping. When you school your horse you are doing dressage. Dressage is just a French word for training.

A schooling whip is often much longer than a schooling whip - A dressage whip for competition may not be longer than 1.20m.
 
Really? I'd always assmed it was named after the place like say a Cheltenham gag. Googled your spelling, but the pages using 'Uxeter' also use 'Kimberwick' rather than 'Kimblewick'. Perhaps one or the other is a bastardisation which has developed over the years.
 
'Not a nasty bone in his body' - I just don't get it.

'First to see will buy' - normally stated by sellers that have already had 15 viewings, so they've change the ad and the pictures and reduced the price dramatically.

'On the bit' - just makes me think of a fight, or force.

'Kick On' - I don't know why, but it just really irritates me!!

Lastly, 'Ride it like you stole it' - heard it a lot on the hunting field and it annoys me whilst making me smile.
 
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