Unnecessary stuff that people do on yards

but surely it is only unnecessary to you, the grizzly viewer... I find it totally necessary to put my bandages on in a certain order, trim my horse up weekly and wash his tail almost daily. To me, it is not unnecessary at all.
 
Don't ever come to my yard, you would be horrified! I always groom my horses before riding, they also have their hooves oiled. I would never ride or put my horses to bed with muddy feet.
They are ridden in either white boots and saddle cloths or bandages that match the saddle cloths.
I keep them trimmed up ( trim them every third day ) and they are groomed properly before bed.
My stables are mucked out properly everyday and I like my banks level and the beds swept back so that the edge is straight. I also scrub out my bowls and buckets daily and like the put in the stables straight- hate wonky buckets!
I clean my boots before I ride and fold and put away my rugs every night.
I always keep the area outside my stables swept and tidy.
I clean my tack every other day and put my tack away making sure my numnahs and girths are taken off, I always cross my bridles over to hang them up.
If I go to a show all tack and equipment is cleaned before leaving the show, everything is put away at home, the horses are groomed before leaving the show and the lorry is never put away dirty.
My tools are always hung up in the correct place and I always clean my boots before riding.
Thats how I like things done, if people think that its a waste of time, oh well, its my waste of time!
 
Mithras said:
I'm always a bit surprised at how long some people take to get their horses ready to ride. An hour or more seems a bit excessive for a horse thats already in the stable when they arrive. So in that vein, I would include excessively slow grooming removing every bit of mud and tangle and decoration of the horse in head to toe high viz including all round bandages when they are only going to ride in the school (decoration with bandages is one of my pet hates anyway) and exercise sheet. I don't think I would buy a horse for use by an amateur rider if it had such defective action that it required all four legs to be booted or bandaged every time it was ridden, often its simply a dressage fashion thats caught on.
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Hmmmm well I bandage all round for schooling, my horse is working at a level which includes piaffe, passage and lateral/collected movements. Common sense to bandage, it is most certainly not because she has a bad action, that is NOT what bandages are for :rolleyes:
 
Sameru said:
I cannot believe how judgemental everyone is over how other people care for their horses.
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You can actually learn quite a lot from watching other people deal with their horses, and trying to see if it causes any problems and avoiding their mistakes. For instance, there is one livery who alternates between shrieking at and mollycoddling her horse, and as a result, the horse is confused, switched off and has behavioural issues which didn't exist when she first got it. As a result, I've learned its a good idea not to be inconsistent, nor to shriek and shout around horses. Many other examples.

OYOH it can be very enlightning to watch professionals as generally everything they do with their horses will be quiet and without fuss, yet quite efficient.
 
there was a woman at my yard, thankfully she left after a while but she used to hose down her horse and his rug every time he came in from the field even when it was freezing poor thing. She didn't like him to be dirty :(
Now to me that is a waste of time, water and makes your horse cold!
 
Amaranta said:
Hmmmm well I bandage all round for schooling, my horse is working at a level which includes piaffe, passage and lateral/collected movements. Common sense to bandage, it is most certainly not because she has a bad action, that is NOT what bandages are for :rolleyes:
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What are they for?
P.S. It's a lighthearted thread I think. I don't have time to even know half of the people on the yard let alone what they do with their horses.
 
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Bandages support tendons and reduce the risk of the horse striking into himself when performing higher level movements, ESP.lateral work.
 
charlie76 said:
Don't ever come to my yard, you would be horrified! I always groom my horses before riding, they also have their hooves oiled. I would never ride or put my horses to bed with muddy feet.
They are ridden in either white boots and saddle cloths or bandages that match the saddle cloths.
I keep them trimmed up ( trim them every third day ) and they are groomed properly before bed.
My stables are mucked out properly everyday and I like my banks level and the beds swept back so that the edge is straight. I also scrub out my bowls and buckets daily and like the put in the stables straight- hate wonky buckets!
I clean my boots before I ride and fold and put away my rugs every night.
I always keep the area outside my stables swept and tidy.
I clean my tack every other day and put my tack away making sure my numnahs and girths are taken off, I always cross my bridles over to hang them up.
If I go to a show all tack and equipment is cleaned before leaving the show, everything is put away at home, the horses are groomed before leaving the show and the lorry is never put away dirty.
My tools are always hung up in the correct place and I always clean my boots before riding.
Thats how I like things done, if people think that its a waste of time, oh well, its my waste of time!
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Oooohhhh!!! Please feel free to come and stay with me at my yard anytime: I'm a bit of a slob and need sorting out!!! :) So if you fancy (not so sunny) Devon .....????
 
charlie76 said:
Bandages support tendons and reduce the risk of the horse striking into himself when performing higher level movements, ESP.lateral work.
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There's no evidence for tendon or any other support, but I can see the issue of striking at higher levels. Most people I see using them are doing so for the look, but that's up to them, their horse their way. :p
 
charlie76 said:
Bandages support tendons and reduce the risk of the horse striking into himself when performing higher level movements, ESP.lateral work.
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To think mine can jump 1.25, do flying changes, hunt, hack and travel with never a cut or graze. Must be something wrong with them. Maybe not collected enough.

I'm being faceitious. I think if I had a GP level dressage horse I would bandage and boot too. I often jump mine unbooted so they feel it if they knock a fence, so they can learn to think about what they are doing with their legs. Ditto working on a variety of surfaces to relieve strain on tendons and strengthen legs. But I don't see the point in your average lower level rider booting and/or bandaging every single time they ride, unless of course the horse has such a defect of action that it requires it.
 
xxMozlarxx said:
There's no evidence for tendon or any other support, but I can see the issue of striking at higher levels. Most people I see using them are doing so for the look, but that's up to them, their horse their way. :p
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More of a mental support for the rider I think, but useful against striking into at higher levels.
 
charlie76 said:
Don't ever come to my yard, you would be horrified! I always groom my horses before riding, they also have their hooves oiled. I would never ride or put my horses to bed with muddy feet.
They are ridden in either white boots and saddle cloths or bandages that match the saddle cloths.
I keep them trimmed up ( trim them every third day ) and they are groomed properly before bed.
My stables are mucked out properly everyday and I like my banks level and the beds swept back so that the edge is straight. I also scrub out my bowls and buckets daily and like the put in the stables straight- hate wonky buckets!
I clean my boots before I ride and fold and put away my rugs every night.
I always keep the area outside my stables swept and tidy.
I clean my tack every other day and put my tack away making sure my numnahs and girths are taken off, I always cross my bridles over to hang them up.
If I go to a show all tack and equipment is cleaned before leaving the show, everything is put away at home, the horses are groomed before leaving the show and the lorry is never put away dirty.
My tools are always hung up in the correct place and I always clean my boots before riding.
Thats how I like things done, if people think that its a waste of time, oh well, its my waste of time!
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HA! That's all very good, but when was the last time you cleaned your house? :D

I like my beds done just so and water buckets neatly in the corner, I like my school harrowed and my horses tidy, but I have far too many to work to spend much time grooming/bandaging/trimming etc.
 
I feel boots often cause more harm than good, you can't support ligaments and tendons and the heating effect isn't a good one.
Oh...and I travel my horses unbooted too!
 
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LouS said:
Do you mean things that others do that you wouldn't sort of thing?

In which case I can't understand why people spend hours mucking out their stables until they are spotless, just to do it all again the next day!
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That's me too!!

My mare is spotless, spoilt and sleeps in infinate luxury!!

Believe you me, she expects her life to be just like that too:D
 
This has turned into rather a judgemental thread...so what if someone else chooses to turn out their horse in a certain way, or put their bed differently from you...doesn't mean your way is right and theirs is wrong. I AM of the fully clipped trimmed and cleaned brigade. Even semi retired mare gets tidied up but my horses my choice! I don't think less of someone who chooses their horse to look more au natural...
 
Perhaps all this judgemental stuff exemplifies how people behave on their yards - some people "keep themselves to themselves" some people bitch, contradict, whatever - as I said, it was supposed to be a bit of fun.....


Hang on though - I thought in advanced dressage you aren't allowed to use boots..... mind you, I've never hosed my horses' legs down, ever, so what would I know;)
 
xxMozlarxx said:
I feel boots often cause more harm than good, you can't support ligaments and tendons and the heating effect isn't a good one.
Oh...and I travel my horses unbooted too!
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Same here. I actually think working for too long on artificial surfaces without a variety of work that would stretch out the tendons causes more harm. A horse should be capable of doing medium levels of work without needing tendon support.

I also travel my horses unbooted, since my horses all seem to kick when wearing travel boots/bandages but travel perfectly happy without them. Also because the leading horse transporter specifies no travel boots...
 
Waffles said:
Perhaps all this judgemental stuff exemplifies how people behave on their yards - some people "keep themselves to themselves" some people bitch, contradict, whatever - as I said, it was supposed to be a bit of fun.....


Hang on though - I thought in advanced dressage you aren't allowed to use boots..... mind you, I've never hosed my horses' legs down, ever, so what would I know;)
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When you compete, at any level, your horse does not wear bandages or boots. There is whole new line of thought about overheating the legs with said bandages and boots now which has seen the rise of air cooled boots. Yes I have sold the dream and have some as it did make sense though sure someone will say how can you tell how much a boot will raise the temp of a tendon!
 
Luci07 said:
When you compete, at any level, your horse does not wear bandages or boots.
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thanks - probably, as I'm writing, someone will be saying "there's this woman at our yard who doesn't even know whether you are allowed to wear boots doing dressage!!! What's a piaffe by the way? (only joking:D)
 
Waffles said:
thanks - probably, as I'm writing, someone will be saying "there's this woman at our yard who doesn't even know whether you are allowed to wear boots doing dressage!!! What's a piaffe by the way? (only joking:D)
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And your answer would be.... Why on earth would I be interested?! You tend to know about the areas you are interested in only? As an eg, I collared an unsuspecting rider in traditionial Spanish costume on a stunning iberian and got her to talk through his tack, turnout, feet... The LOT!! feet looked odd to me, bits looked odd..so I appreciated her explanations. Horse was simply stunning ..
 
Waffles said:
thanks - probably, as I'm writing, someone will be saying "there's this woman at our yard who doesn't even know whether you are allowed to wear boots doing dressage!!! What's a piaffe by the way? (only joking:D)
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I actually overheard someone ask wether horses are allowed to wear boots for dressage once. The reply came, the asked thought for a second and said "so what level can they start wearing boots then?"
In fairness to her, I didn't know until a couple of years ago, either.
 
Sweeping up every leaf in the yard every morning and every evening during autumn...we are in a windy yard at the top of a hill...might as well wait till the trees have finished shedding! Then hopefully a gale will remove the lot. Maybe I am just lazy.
 
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