Strange facts and experiences

[JosephJmc]

Hey. Just bored and wanted to ask what are some lesser known things beginners should know about horses/ riding? Sort of odd things that are usually encountered.

 

[Kirstineridesagain]

The horses are usually fine, it's the people around them you should be wary of.

 

[Gloi]

There is an awfully large number of ways for them to injure you and over time they will try them all.

 

[Sleipnir]

It is actually safer to be right next to a horses' behind than to stand within the kicking range to avoid being kicked.

A thicker bit doesn't mean that it's kinder if the horses' mouth anatomy prevents it to be worn comfortably.

Beware of the Shetlands.

 

[D66]

You can’t bull sh!t a horse, they can read your body language and possibly your smell. When you ride, you can feel the horse think - and they can feel you think too.

 

[Goldie's mum]

A horse can feel your heartbeat when you are sat on it.
If you are nervous the horse can tell your heart is fast.
If you sing, it regulates your breathing & that regulates your heart rate.
Therefore singing calms down you and the horse you are riding.
People have their favourite doing something scarey song.

 

[ycbm]

A horse's front leg bones aren't attached to the rest of their skeleton by any joints.

A horse's neck bones are mostly in the bottom of their neck, not the top.

Horses teeth never stop growing.

 

[skint.spotty]

A horse can feel your heartbeat when you are sat on it.
If you are nervous the horse can tell your heart is fast.
If you sing, it regulates your breathing & that regulates your heart rate.
Therefore singing calms down you and the horse you are riding.
People have their favourite doing something scarey song.

they can feel human heartbeats from 4ft away

 

[Goldie's mum]

A lot of sayings and phrases come from old working/carriage driving horses.

For example do you know why you call the back luggage area of your car "the boot" ?
You could get a very cheap seat on a carriage if you sat outside facing backwards with your feet (boots) in the luggage box. It ended up being called the boot box. Then just the boot. The first cars were just horseless carriages in design & kept the name.

 

[AmyMay]

A lot of sayings and phrases come from old working/carriage driving horses.

For example do you know why you call the back luggage area of your car "the boot" ?
You could get a very cheap seat on a carriage if you sat outside facing backwards with your feet (boots) in the luggage box. It ended up being called the boot box. Then just the boot. The first cars were just horseless carriages in design & kept the name.

That’s brilliant

 

[Goldie's mum]

There's a nursery rhyme "Ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross".

But do you know what a cock horse is?

 

[ycbm]

Horses can only breath in as the leading foreleg comes forwards in canter/gallop and out as it goes back, so their breathing is directly linked to how fast their legs are moving. You can use that to tell whether the horse is making a noise as it breathes out (no problem) or in (problem).

 

[Surbie]

Horses can only breath in as the leading foreleg comes forwards in canter/gallop and out as it goes back, so their breathing is directly linked to how fast their legs are moving. You can use that to tell whether the horse is making a noise as it breathes out (no problem) or in (problem).

That's a very cool fact!

 

[Goldie's mum]

So, when everything moved in carts (goods) and carriages (people), the cart horses had regular routes and regular problems with certain hills. When you got to the nearest crossroads to one of those hills you picked up an extra horse & harnessed it to the front by a rope that went between the two existing horses. The three horses took the load of coal or whatever up the hill then you took the extra horse off, paid its handler and went on your way. The horse was then ridden back to wait at the crossroads for the next customer. This extra horse was called the cock horse.
Hence you would ride a cock horse to a crossroads (presumably there's a steep hill at Banbury is there?).

 

[Meredith]

So, when everything moved in carts (goods) and carriages (people), the cart horses had regular routes and regular problems with certain hills. When you got to the nearest crossroads to one of those hills you picked up an extra horse & harnessed it to the front by a rope that went between the two existing horses. The three horses took the load of coal or whatever up the hill then you took the extra horse off, paid its handler and went on your way. The horse was then ridden back to wait at the crossroads for the next customer. This extra horse was called the cock horse.
Hence you would ride a cock horse to a crossroads (presumably there's a steep hill at Banbury is there?).

Various stories on the web about Banbury hill and a white stallion that was the extra horse.

 

[Goldie's mum]

Wasn't there something about a woman with bells on her toes?

I need to look it up.

 

[Meredith]

2 sayings

Horses with big ears are genuine
Horses that high-blow are genuine

My best horse had big ears and was a high-blower.

 

[smolmaus]

I still sometimes forget they can't really see right in front of them.

Reminded also yesterday that they don't really look up, when I tried to explain to a field of mares that the terrifying mystery noise was a low flying propellor plane.

 

[Meredith]

Wasn't there something about a woman with bells on her toes?

I need to look it up.

Long toed shoes of the Middle Ages often had bells on the toes

 

[OlderNotWiser]

I remember the rhyme:

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
And she shall have music wherever she goes

But I don’t know what a cock horse is

Edited to add - have just seen the explanation above!

 

[ycbm]

I still sometimes forget they can't really see right in front of them. View attachment 121313

Reminded also yesterday that they don't really look up, when I tried to explain to a field of mares that the terrifying mystery noise was a low flying propellor plane.

And at the moment that they take off for a jump, they can't actually see it as it's then in a blind spot.

 

[Spotherisk]

The ‘fine lady’ was Celia Fiennes who rode through the UK, maybe in the 1700’s, can’t quite remember it all.

 

[Surbie]

When learning walk to canter, I was taught to ask for canter as you feel the inside fore has just touched down. The next leg to lift in the walk sequence is the outside hind so you will always be on the correct lead in canter.

Also a horse's strongest sense is smell (similar to dogs) and horses' hearing range is set to a higher octave than humans, so a spooky horse might be reacting to things it can hear and/or smell that we can't.

 

[Goldie's mum]

I've always thought that explains why Devon Loch belly flopped in the Grand National

And at the moment that they take off for a jump, they can't actually see it as it's then in a blind spot.

There's no jump in front of him but there's one coming up at the side, to his left, and he's used to looking to the side to see where the next jump is, so he thinks there's one more to jump & then realises at the last moment that he's jumping nothing.
Watch it again thinking that - to a horse it makes perfect sense.