tallyho!
Following a strict mediterranean diet...
Oh Alan... Always showing your age... Tsk
psssttt.... Orls... bloody hell!!!!!
I have nothing to say on this matter, and am simply, shamelessly, bookmarking this thread.
Although, someone please define the difference between, "crude", and "Rude".
Yeah .... We had a bit of a communication breakdown that day
Ummm... One is spelled with a "c".
Don't you speak Flemish?
He was imported five years ago, he should really have made the effort to learn English by now!
Oh Alan... Always showing your age... Tsk
Interesting! Go on, what was considered rude back then? I'm terrible with peppering my language with profanity at every opportunity... My favourite is "bloody" which probably isn't all that rude but I say it too oft.
Tbh, profanity doesn't bother me because it's bandied around so much now it has become meaningless, for *****s sake.
I do believe there is a way to conduct oneself but on a forum (hiding behind a screen) people just seem to think it's acceptable to be mean and twatty*******ish and hide behind the 'upfront and forthright' label.
So for instance, you'll get the odd:
'Do you think I'm too heavy for my horse?' question and you can be be upfront and forthright (imo) and say 'yes, you appear to be too heavy - think about the strain you are submitting him to and lose weight, you'll both be better for it' - or (imo) rude 'I'll say it OP if nobody else will you are too fat for your horse'.
Maybe: 'Here is my cob I think he is georgous what does everyone else think - upfront and forthright (imo) 'Well I prefer a lighter type and cobs don't do it for me so as you are asking he wouldn't be my cup of tea - no offence' - or (imo) rude ' I'll say it OP if nobody else will, that's one ugly horse'.
They just came to mind, yes we all have off days - but do we really have do be so nasty to strangers? Excuse me while I go kick the OH ....
A few recent comments by friends/acquaintances had me thinking - some examples:
Ran into long time friend who was fence judging at a local ODE - she was telling me about the new 17.2hh grey mare she had just found for her son to event and when I exclaimed that grey is a lovely colour said (with a rather sour face) "I HATE greys, they never look shiney or impressive . . . HATE geldings too - they are always boring and predictable and always the same" . . . she knows full well I have a grey gelding . . and I defy anyone to describe him as boring
A group of us were chatting on the yard and one livery asked another who she thought was the best rider on the yard . . response was "for dressage, I would say S - she has a lovely, correct position (currently competing at Elementary) and for eventing/as an all rounder I would say Z (has competed at BE novice, brings on young horses) . . response was "oh not Z, she is just a passenger" . .
. she knows Z is Kal's current jockey . . . my mouth just fell open.
P
So what's the problem with a cob at a posh dressage yard? We unloaded our Fjord at Imke Schelleken-Bartels yard for a dressage week and no-one laughed at us. Quite the opposite. They all loved him, including Imke & Tinneke. Imke even rode him and we have video footage to prove it. Norman successfully competed to medium and was training for advanced dressage when a DDFT injury put a premature end to his career. We used to love it at competitions when he used to make people eat their words when he won 9 times out of the 10. Cobs can do dressage, stop being so narrow minded.
Sorry, I have to say that I think you are over-reacting a tad here. The lady is entitled to her opinion on greys and geldings - I personally love greys but some people hate them. Some people absolutely despise mares, I was one of them until I found my beautiful girl and that was more by force than judgement because my YO did not have room for another gelding! As for the second para - if you don't want a response from a question ... don't ask it in the first place! Anyway, the comment wasn't directed towards your horse it was directed towards the rider purely being a passenger ie the horse is so push button the rider just sits there and steers. Actually sounds like a complement towards your horse!
My best friend had her beloved horse PTS last year after suffering with acute laminitis to the point where the pedal bone had dropped through.. She left after he was gone and I stayed with him until the lorry came to collect his body.. Our yard owner at the time came out whilst I was sat crying over him and said 'Jessie will be next then' with a big grin on his face. Jessie is my first pony which I've owned for 11 years, she's retired to sidebone, ringbone and arthritis but is sound and very happy out in the field. Couldn't believe what I had heard and sat there in shock afterwards.. It wasn't the first time he had mentioned it either!
I was listening to an interesting programme on Radio 4 the other week - I forget what it was called but it really got me thinking.
It was about the modern obsession with 'telling the truth' and 'I don't say things behind people's backs, I say it to their face' which is a rather bizarre moral code, and that ACTUALLY a little politeness, tact and diplomacy is probably more socially intelligent than just 'telling the truth' and is very lacking in today's society.
I admit I've had a few unintentional foot in mouth moments myself, but I would never say something rude and uncalled for on purpose!