eahotson
Well-Known Member
Love.
Tips and hacks for the older and/or creaky horse owner
- Thread starter Tiddlypom
- Start date
Pearlsacarolsinger
Up in the clouds
It's just a normal hosepipe accessory from the Garden Centre. The hosepipe is meant to be 'no kink', it's better than most but not perfect. We have an X-hose for freezing temperatures.
Fieldlife
Well-Known Member
Not much good if horses don’t live at home :-(best suggestion on the whole thread.
couple of bottles and you won't need the pills.
AdorableAlice
Well-Known Member
you don’t need to go home after a long ride with a flask of port and some pain relief. Just kip in the barn with the cat.
Jules111
Well-Known Member
It's taken me 40 years of horses to fully appreciate that the things that are important to us often mean very little to the horses. All the time i've wasted with "cosmetics", tidy beds, pretty tack, endless hours of grooming all mean bugger all to the horse 
. I'm now working on spending time on the things I enjoy and less on the stuff that adds little value to the quality of the horses life. Also always make sure I have a nice hot drink in a thermal cup... now i've read this thread may make sure it has a little tot of something very warming in . Always happy to take advice from horsey friends on this forum
. I'm now working on spending time on the things I enjoy and less on the stuff that adds little value to the quality of the horses life. Also always make sure I have a nice hot drink in a thermal cup... now i've read this thread may make sure it has a little tot of something very warming in . Always happy to take advice from horsey friends on this forum still standing
Well-Known Member
Ah yes, how could I forget about the (not so) little aches and pains?! I get serious leg cramps at night if I have had a very physical day riding or out competing (TREC) and by chance I found that drinking tonic water (cheapest, any brand) plus a couple of Ibuprofin before bedtime helps a lot. Apparently quinine and Ibuprofin are both anti-inflammatory. If you find the tonic water a bit boring, a dash of gin goes well with it.
Keith_Beef
Novice equestrian, accomplished equichetrian
When the weather is really bad, even the cheap stuff is welcome.
As they say: any port in a storm.
Keith_Beef
Novice equestrian, accomplished equichetrian
My grandmother used to get cramp in her calves during the night and her doctor also recommended drinking a glass of tonic water before bed.
Highmileagecob
Well-Known Member
Having been recently restricted with a broken arm, soaking and draining the grass chaff was proving difficult. A 40 litre trug bucket with a split side fits perfectly inside an empty Graze On bag. Fill with grass chaff, cover grass chaff with water and leave to soak. Roll the side of the bag down and leave to drain. So much easier than trying to stir water into the mix.
Several people on our yard use the trug bucket movers on wheels to move water or full buckets straight into the stable, without unloading them. The entire set up stays there.
A thin pair of full length nylon chaps, or a pair of waterproof over trousers worn over jods keep legs warm in winter without being too restricting.
Several people on our yard use the trug bucket movers on wheels to move water or full buckets straight into the stable, without unloading them. The entire set up stays there.
A thin pair of full length nylon chaps, or a pair of waterproof over trousers worn over jods keep legs warm in winter without being too restricting.
J&S
Well-Known Member
I have had to take quinine pills for bad cramp, one time was so bad I passed out, bashed my head and ended up in A &E. I have found magnesium body spray can help, electric blanket and even a hot water bottle as well!
Sealine
Well-Known Member
For the last few years I've taken pain killers before I do anything more than hack due to a dodgy back and knee. So if I'm hunting or doing a fun ride, long hack etc I take two ibuprofen before I get on and keep a stash in the car. Because of my knee I ride long and use Sprenger Bow Balance flexi stirrups.
Fieldlife
Well-Known Member
Why do you soak grass chaff?
scats
Well-Known Member
Wheelie garden trolleys that you can get from some garden centres, Homebase, occasionally B&M… they perfectly fit a trug bucket in them and means you can just wheel water rather than carry it.
Alibear
Well-Known Member
I've switched to smaller, calmer horses, a tack trolly is a must for western saddles anyway but I do have a really light saddle as well. Full livery is a definite help, I'm moving at the end of the month for a cheaper one so Amber will live out all summer which I can't see as anything but a bonus. I also use 2x traditional water buckets rather than trying to deal with tub trugs etc. Figured out how to take a wheelbarrow with me in the trailer for clinics and shows both for mucking out and to take kit/nets etc., around the site. Hay bags that I can fit 2 nets in for transporting helps for away days. Also 2 x small water containers for trips away rather than 1 big one.
Unfortunately, I can't take ibuprofen or anything similar due to stomach ulcers, so any tips for dealing with post-show aches etc, would be great. I do try and take a day off to recover now, but there are only so many holiday days in a year.
I'm getting tempted to switch from a trailer to a lorry as the bench bed in my equitrek is not nice; no room to safely roll over! Plus it's freezing in there and still not enough storage for horse gear and my gear.
I'm definitely in the take your time, slowly work your way through everything and don't sweat the small stuff camp. But I do need lists now as my memory is not quite what it was.
The upside is I'm finally at that age where I'm running warmer than most I've also learned to drink gin!
Unfortunately, I can't take ibuprofen or anything similar due to stomach ulcers, so any tips for dealing with post-show aches etc, would be great. I do try and take a day off to recover now, but there are only so many holiday days in a year.
I'm getting tempted to switch from a trailer to a lorry as the bench bed in my equitrek is not nice; no room to safely roll over! Plus it's freezing in there and still not enough storage for horse gear and my gear.
I'm definitely in the take your time, slowly work your way through everything and don't sweat the small stuff camp. But I do need lists now as my memory is not quite what it was.
The upside is I'm finally at that age where I'm running warmer than most
I've also learned to drink gin!
ycbm
Einstein would be proud of my Insanity...
It's taken me 40 years of horses to fully appreciate that the things that are important to us often mean very little to the horses. All the time i've wasted with "cosmetics", tidy beds, pretty tack, endless hours of grooming all mean bugger all to the horse
Ah yes, you've reminded me of another top tip. Buy a patchy shit colour horse. I had to laugh the other day when someone told me I'd left a big poo stain on the side of my horse's face. It's his coat colour!
Mind you, if it had been a poo stain i still wouldn't have done anything about it
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Alibear
Well-Known Member
Oh, I forgot, tail bags. Very common in western, you leave them on for riding etc. No grotty winter tails to deal with
poiuytrewq
Well-Known Member
I’m not really older (I don’t class myself as old just yet anyway!) but I am seriously creaky and ache pretty much constantly so I’m living some of theses tips and ideas.
I have this year swapped my routine a little due to my stiff back! I used to do my horses as in I’d muck out all at once, then do waters then haynets and so on. Now I do them one at a time so there’s not a load of bucket carrying or bending for haynets at once and am finding that better.
A leaf blower instead of busting a gut sweeping is brilliant.
Im going to buy coloured buckets as suggested
nothing to do with being stiff but reading that it’s occurred to me where the constant lost black buckets all go!
I may go for pink!
I have this year swapped my routine a little due to my stiff back! I used to do my horses as in I’d muck out all at once, then do waters then haynets and so on. Now I do them one at a time so there’s not a load of bucket carrying or bending for haynets at once and am finding that better.
A leaf blower instead of busting a gut sweeping is brilliant.
Im going to buy coloured buckets as suggested
nothing to do with being stiff but reading that it’s occurred to me where the constant lost black buckets all go! I may go for pink!
Nasicus
Well-Known Member
Just having essentials that just work and aren't finicky makes a hell of a difference.
Like mentioned, gates that work and don't have to be dragged about or tied up with some convoluted baler twine/leadrope setup. A hosepipe that doesn't leak, and ideally reaches all the places you need it to go (like inside your stable to refill your buckets!). A wheelbarrow that doesn't have a hole, or a flat tyre, or handles that slip off etc. All that kind of stuff just makes everything so much easier!
Like mentioned, gates that work and don't have to be dragged about or tied up with some convoluted baler twine/leadrope setup. A hosepipe that doesn't leak, and ideally reaches all the places you need it to go (like inside your stable to refill your buckets!). A wheelbarrow that doesn't have a hole, or a flat tyre, or handles that slip off etc. All that kind of stuff just makes everything so much easier!
paddy555
Well-Known Member
I tried your tip today. Absolutely no idea how you do it but you must be either very very supple or a total contortionist. I couldn't get anywhere near being able to do this.
ycbm
Einstein would be proud of my Insanity...
I tried your tip today. Absolutely no idea how you do it but you must be either very very supple or a total contortionist. I couldn't get anywhere near being able to do this.
You lean forwards and put your left arm down the right side of the horse. Then put your right hand on the pommel/wither and hold up your weight so that you can swing your right leg over the cantle. At that point, if the horse is tall enough, you'll be hanging by your left armpit and can control your drop to the floor.
Which reminds me of another tip, change any saddle with a high cantle for one with a lower one.
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paddy555
Well-Known Member
thanks, will try again but I suspect it won,t work because the cantle is too high. Normally I just jump off to clear the cantle.
cauda equina
Well-Known Member
I lean forward up the neck, swing my right leg over so I'm lying across the withers, and then slide down
Red-1
I used to be decisive, now I'm not so sure...
I hook my arm over, but it is my right arm, not my left. I think if I tried with my left, I would fall-a-smack on my head
PinkvSantaboots
Well-Known Member
You could stand on something when you put it on it just might be enough height so you don't feel like it's a struggle.
ycbm
Einstein would be proud of my Insanity...
I nearly went head first off the other side on a nervous horse I was getting off when i did that, so I changed my technique
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PinkvSantaboots
Well-Known Member
I'm currently in a state of acute sciatica at the moment and can't even straighten up so even making a cup of tea is a challenge I'm only 52 as well
So this is of a great help at the moment and I will be using many of your hacks to prevent any further back issues, although this flare up was caused by me lazing about last week as I didn't feel well.
So this is of a great help at the moment and I will be using many of your hacks to prevent any further back issues, although this flare up was caused by me lazing about last week as I didn't feel well.
ycbm
Einstein would be proud of my Insanity...
I've got WOWs, they're very heavy! I sling them on right up the wither then slide the saddle and cloth back into place. I have big saddle cloths so I don't have to be too minutely accurate about where the saddle is on the cloth. And well shaped collared wool pads that the saddle seems to slide naturally into place on without fiddling with it. Cloth and pad go on the horse first, right up over the wither.
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Winters100
Well-Known Member
If you have a nice safe horse suitable for children find a pony mad child and let them ride it. I recently decided that my old schoolmistress will no longer carry adults and have given her to a little girl who has no pony of her own (when I say given I don't mean given away, pony is in my care, but she can ride her). Since then my tack has never been so clean, including for the 2 that I ride, the field is poo-picked to perfection on weekends and non-school days, water buckets scrubbed, rugs folded and organised, and at weekends all 3 are inside, groomed and with hooves picked out by the time I arrive. If she sees me carrying anything across the yard she is there in a flash with offers of help. None of these jobs were a condition of the arrangement, but they are certainly a welcome bonus, and I see that she loves being around the horses as well as the riding.
jnb
Well-Known Member
I bought my mum (78) a self reeling hosepipe when she had her second shoulder replacement last year (for Mother's Day, lol) to save her reeling in the ba$tard hosepipe she had, which kinked and twisted and used to cause her such pain bending down reeling it in.
One is on my list (I'm 55 going on 95) as reeling mine in kills my back
Other tip: old hosepipe reels for all your electric fencing, keeps them off the ground/avoid shorting and moving fencing is therefore a breeze! I once moved 3 x small electric fencing paddocks, all with 3 strands of tape (on separate reels for each strand) in my lunch hour including 10 min drive both ways.
It's beyond me why people don't use reels, the spaghetti tangled up electric tape thing gives me the heebie-jeebies it literally makes me feel ill. Oh, and proper gate handles and the eye thingies you hook them into. I was once on a yard where they'd made handles using metal wrapped in insulation tape (for a Mains fence). Err no. I replaced mine with proper ones!!
One is on my list (I'm 55 going on 95) as reeling mine in kills my back
Other tip: old hosepipe reels for all your electric fencing, keeps them off the ground/avoid shorting and moving fencing is therefore a breeze! I once moved 3 x small electric fencing paddocks, all with 3 strands of tape (on separate reels for each strand) in my lunch hour including 10 min drive both ways.
It's beyond me why people don't use reels, the spaghetti tangled up electric tape thing gives me the heebie-jeebies it literally makes me feel ill. Oh, and proper gate handles and the eye thingies you hook them into. I was once on a yard where they'd made handles using metal wrapped in insulation tape (for a Mains fence). Err no. I replaced mine with proper ones!!
eahotson
Well-Known Member
Wow lucky little girl,lucky you and lucky horses.