What's Your 'I'm Being An Idiot' Moment?

[Cloball]

The one that still makes me cringe with shame at my own stupidity …

I was backing a 3yo, didn’t have many facilities and was therefore using the 3yos grazing paddock which was the flattest and most contained.

Worked the 3yo in its kit and did some leaning over stuff then figured I’d just untack the 3yo there and leave it out.

Only for some unknown reason I left the saddle until last. And there was a 3yo loose in a paddock wearing just it’s saddle ?

Thankfully 3yo was angelic and did not take advantage of my Darwin moment

I did this with a Shetland before, the Shetland was not so kind ...
Went to view a horse for loan. Failed to put a body protector on properly, also failed to put my own cost on.... definitely look like a eejit.

 

[Alwaysmoretoknow]

Freshly returned to UK from USA, where at the time, they had a decidedly less risk adverse horsey culure (hats, saddles and boots were only for shows right?) I was bawled out by the DC of the local PC for cantering my 3yo pony along the wide verge jumping the little ditches hatless and bareback in a headcollar. With typical teenage stroppiness I did the horrid eyeroll and toothsuck thing and responded 'Gee, how do you expect me to ride her in a saddle and bridle as she's not broken in yet?' and cantered off. Unsuprisingly my PC career was not an unqualified success.

 

[cold_feet]

Mine is a ‘I’ve been an idiot’ moment. We used a baby burco boiler to heat water for washing down. It had a tap at the bottom, but it was slow to half fill a bucket. So I tipped it on edge to pour quicker - straight into my boot ?. I still have the scars.....

 

[Caol Ila]

Oh, yeah, you know how we always advise horse buyers to watch the seller/agent/whoever ride the horse before you ride it?

Well, Foinavon's previous owner told me that he'd been home from the pro trainer's for two weeks, and no one had been on him. She was even honest enough to tell me that things hadn't gone wonderfully with the pro. Did I get on him without seeing anyone else ride him first? Yes, yes I did. I bought him too!

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

Oh, yeah, you know how we always advise horse buyers to watch the seller/agent/whoever ride the horse before you ride it?

Well, Foinavon's previous owner told me that he'd been home from the pro trainer's for two weeks, and no one had been on him. She was even honest enough to tell me that things hadn't gone wonderfully with the pro. Did I get on him without seeing anyone else ride him first? Yes, yes I did. I bought him too!

I feel you on this one.. I bought a 17.2hh 6yo from a terrible Facebook Ad, hadn't been in work for a couple years, diagnosed with Wobblers as a 2yo but had been fine ever since according to owner, infected mud fever on both hinds - I just went into the field, whipped his rug off, made sure he had all four legs and loaded him on the road outside the field gate. He was one of the best horses I have ever owned, despite having to be PTS not many years later due to advanced Navicular.

 

[Caol Ila]

Haha. You're braver than me. My view was that he was 14hh Highland, and his owner was a friend of a friend. I took a punt that he wasn't a vertical rearer or blind bolter, and figured that I could handle most other mishegoss, or at least jump off if things got desperate.

 

[nikkimariet]

I mean I used to ride without a hat which is particularly twatty so…

 

[PurBee]

Loving all these ?

I have so many, being of an extremely impulsive nature, that I've lost count. Rasping feet without tying up is probably my most repeated sin. I mean, what could possibly go wrong?
.

This is interesting because my gelding would be fidgety tied while doing his feet. Also always putting his head down, looping leadrope over his poll, then pulling his head up, getting stuck by leadrope over his poll and freaking (us both) out. Tying him real close to the ring so he couldnt loop it over his head caused more fidgeting, so 1 day i thought, damn this, do him untied, see what happens. He stands like a gent!
He ties fine when not doing feet. ?

He’s had experiences with a less than kind farrier in the past without me being there, who later went on to smack my mare while i was there - so think there’s a link in the geldings brain between that farrier and whatever he experienced, and being tied for foot work that still was a raw memory despite it being long past. Unsure if he’s got over it as i always do him untied…but he’s proven he’s trustworthy, wouldnt do an unknown horse untied!

 

[Lois Lame]

Not horse related but this morning while doing a job at home I sat on the coffee table. The top came out and fell to the floor and I ended up wedged in the frame in a very undignified position. Took me a bit to get myself out and I have some good bruises developing. I'm a liability.

Oh this reminds me of how I once sat on a little glass-topped coffee table -- one of a set of three that my partner had made. It now has a wooden top. Husband was very understanding at my utter twit moment.

 

[Peglo]

The second time I ever got on T, a new unknown pony I hadn’t tried before I bought and had no idea what she was like, I forgot to put my helmet on. ??‍

 

[laura_nash]

I have a nitwit horse who is so sensitive that you become hyper alert to doing anything that could be remotely risky or lead to him having a melt down. It's almost like having spidey senses lol!
The only good thing is that maybe you end up safer? or you just become a total nut job yourself by doing things in a certain way, i.e only put rugs on from the left hand side and always fold in half like the books used to tell you and never leaving leg straps undone as they could touch his delicate legs...

Has anyone seen the film Lemony Snickets a Series of Unfortunate events? - I am basically like Aunt Josephine.

I'm the total opposite, having only handled my own for years I have so many bad habits I'd have to concentrate hard if I was handling anything where I need to do stuff properly.

My old cob has trouble holding his back legs up which hurts my back so I always hold them the wrong way, if he ever kicked out I'd break my elbow. I also trim his hooves loose.

Getting in and out the field I can't be bothered fussing around the gate so just tell them to stand and leave the lead ropes over their necks whilst I sort the gate.

That's intentional though. Last being an idiot moment was letting a steer sneak past me when getting them in for TB testing. He hopped a fence and myself and OH had a fun 4 hrs chasing him around a bog, falling in ditches, getting caught on barbed wire etc. That fence is a lot higher now!

 

[scruffyponies]

Crouching in front of Foinavon to do up his hoof boots.

Rasping the 3-year old without tying her up.

However, nothing beats the people I saw the other week. Myself and my friend were riding in Mugdock Park, and as we came around the corner of the visitor's center, we saw a horse (no one we knew), fully tacked up, grazing on a patch of grass in front of the building. No human in sight. We wondered if we were going to have to start a search and rescue mission looking for a fallen rider. As we got a little further around the corner, we saw a second horse, fully tacked up, grazing beside the first one. Also, no accompanying human. Had two people fallen off, we wondered. We got around to the front of the building, and saw a third horse, this one with a human holding it. They were standing a good ten or so meters away from the unattended horses. Nowhere near close enough to control them. My friend and I pointed to the loose horses and said, "Is everyone alright?"

"Oh, yes," said the lady brightly. "They're just in the shop buying a coffee."

Riiight. One of the loose horses lifted its head and looked like it fancied following our horses, so we reined them in and waited for the owners to come out of the coffee shop. This is a busy country park just outside of Glasgow. Lots of kids, bikes, dogs, wheelchairs, other horses, you name it. And the visitor's center is the busiest part of the whole damned park! Near the road! My friend and I were pretty astounded. When I'm watching a TV show or movie and a character just drops the reins and lets their horse graze unattended while they engage in some intense drama, I will complain to OH, "That's so crazy. No one ever does that. You'd worry about it taking off or doing something stupid."

Turns out, I was wrong. People actually do that. In Mugdock, of all places!

I like mine to get used to being 'left' like this. Not sure I'd just dump them and swan off into a shop, but it's handy if you need to hop off to help someone, open a gate or run back to the car for something. Can't be doing with ponies that sod off as soon as you aren't holding them.

I pop the stirrup through the rein (stops it being stood on) and they know that means 'stay put'. Same with carriage horses... get them used to standing without being held. It's a life-saver.

 

[Chippers1]

Loading Buzz into my horsebox (without a hat...) as I duck under the partition and stand to then close it at the exact moment he swings his bum into it so it smacks me on the side of the head...not my brightest moment! Had a nice lump and still went to xc schooling I now always wear a hat, not for the horse but for the dangerous partitions!

 

[Winters100]

I rarely tie my schoolmistress up when on the yard as she always stands and waits for me. I have done this for years with no problem. I adore this pony and never miss an opportunity to tell people what an angel she is, so when a new owner came to the yard and commented on this I told them how good she is, how this pony never puts a foot wrong etc. Clearly she felt this was too much as she took the opportunity to leave us standing as she merrily trotted off to sample the grass on YO's lawn. Luckily the only thing damaged was my pride!

 

[Tarragon]

I tacked up my Exmoor pony before loading him and driving to a posh dressage rider's place as I had won a training session with them in a raffle. Opened the jockey door when I arrived to find the pony standing there with the saddle under his belly! Luckily, I was able to rectify the situation unobserved and not make a complete fool of myself before I had even got on!

 

[nagblagger]

I was given an ex travellers horse that had been passed around due to 'rodeoing' until it got the rider off, after being a field ornament for a few months i plucked up courage to ride him, he was very sensitive and terrified of his sides being touched so I rode purely on voice, we then had a couple of years of fun, doing rides etc, then one day i was riding up the road from the yard felt my stirrup not quite right so lent slightly, took foot out of stirrup without thinking....the rodeo commenced until he painfully planted me onto the road!
i love reading this thread..please keep the stories coming

 

[Parksmum3]

Back in my teenage years I was riding a friends pony for her while her and her family were on holiday, very sharp sensitive type of pony, spook at just about anything, I had ridden him loads of times before so was more than happy to exercise him. Anyway it was a really hot day, I tacked him up and lead him to the school and hopped on. I left my drink on the gatepost as I always had done before. After I had been riding for a little while I was thirsty so I rode over to the gatepost and reached for my drink. Now I had done this 100 times before with my own pony but didn’t think about the sharp sensitive pony I was on not my near enough bombproof little pony.....I had a bottle of fizzy ....... as you can probably imagine the moment I undone the lid and it fizzed and hissed we went bombing around the school at 100mph, I fell off and lost my entire bottle of coke into the schools surface. Lessoned learned that day.

 

[Hepsibah]

Taking a small bag of fibre nuts in to a field with four ponies in the hope of quietly administering a prascend pill in a handful to the pony lowest in the pecking order. I'm clearly an optimist. And an idiot.

 

[Cob Life]

I put my cobs head collar on, tied the lead rope to the wall.

rode the other horse (I can see the yard from the arena) and untacked her, went to turn out only to realise I had t actually attached him to the rope and he’d just stood there fred for over an hour ? think he was more stupid then as there was a nice little square of grass next to him he could have munched on

Luckily he’s very tolerant as I am fairly lazy and he just deals with having rugs launched over his back, brushes balanced along his back, wheelbarrows pushed while he’s being led etc.

 

[scats]

About 16 years ago I was cutting through some tape wrapped around a post, with a rusty knife, downwards towards my thumb. I even thought to myself, whilst doing it, that this was a risky manoeuvre…
Needless to say a bloodbath followed and I spent a couple of hours in A&E and needed an emergency tetanus.

 

[laura_nash]

I put my cobs head collar on, tied the lead rope to the wall.

rode the other horse (I can see the yard from the arena) and untacked her, went to turn out only to realise I had t actually attached him to the rope and he’d just stood there fred for over an hour ? think he was more stupid then as there was a nice little square of grass next to him he could have munched on.

My poor cob had to put up with a lot of that type of thing when I was pregnant. Including doing a similar thing when I led him some distance up and into the arena to do some in hand work before I realised the lead rope wasn't actually attached to the headcollar just sitting on/in his mane.

 

[Dave's Mam]

Wondering why Dave wouldn't step out of his stable.

(Headcollar was still round his neck)

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Not me but....
About 30 years ago I went back to yard for a late check as a newish livery had been hunting that day and wasnt back by the time I left the yard at 6. Her mother had phoned my home answerphone to let me know that all went well and horsey was tucked up in bed by 6.30pm. I still felt I needed to check tho as wasn't that familiar with this one as only been on the yard a month.

I was rather astounded to find horsey cheerfully nibbling on hay, rugged up, but had a rather odd shape under the rug. Stripping rug off, to my horror I found the saddle still on and still girthed up!
Yes, I've travelled back in saddle but wash off at home and swap rugs etc.
New livery was mortified on being told. I've always ensured since that I returned when anyone had been out!
These days its just me I need to check up on ☺

 

[Cob Life]

My poor cob had to put up with a lot of that type of thing when I was pregnant. Including doing a similar thing when I led him some distance up and into the arena to do some in hand work before I realised the lead rope wasn't actually attached to the headcollar just sitting on/in his mane.

I don’t even have the baby brain excuse!

I frequently forget his size as he’s just an over grown pony really until he decides he wants to go to bed before work or wants that piece of grass and it’s like I’m a little fly On the end of the rope that’s more bothersome than anything, you’d think after 3 years I’d learn I can’t just pull his head up like I can a 12.2 pony but it’s still My go to every time ? (maybe one day I’ll remember to attach the stud chain I brought to his head collar)

 

[Gloi]

Not horse related but this morning while doing a job at home I sat on the coffee table. The top came out and fell to the floor and I ended up wedged in the frame in a very undignified position. Took me a bit to get myself out and I have some good bruises developing. I'm a liability.

Owie.

 

[Fluffypiglet]

...
Luckilyhe’s very tolerant as I am fairly lazy and he just deals with having rugs launched over his back, brushes balanced along his back, wheelbarrows pushed while he’s being led etc.

i use mine as somewhere to put stuff!! He quite often is used as a shelf whilst I'm faffing about! ?. And the wheelbarrow thing as well, why make two journeys? ?

 

[Durhamchance]

We have a new Houdini at the moment, so we've been leaving the electric fence on while doing yard jobs. I refuse to duck under the fence while pushing the wheel barrow (I've been zapped on the backside previously pulling that sort of manoeuvre). So I open the fence, push the barrow through and shut the fence. Every single time I do this I leave the fence touching the metal wheelbarrow. Ouch

 

[samleigh]

Mine was, steaming hay, using just a couple of kettles & a feed bag, pouring boiling water in, decided to move hay about with opposite hand, without the right hand getting the message to stop pouring! apparently my hands are not connected to my brain, so had a very sore scolded hand for a few weeks ! & I forget how often I think, that's not Health & safety per week as I do jobs around the yard ?..!

 

[Red-1]

Am I the only one to rug up in the field, next to the fence, only to find that I have inadvertently rugged the horse TO the fence?

Happily mine do a fair bit of spook busting as a matter of course!

 

[LaurenBay]

When I had my first share Horse as a teen, I had been up and done the Pony, and was in my mums car on the way home. When I suddenly realised I hadn't put the pony back in the stable, I rang a friend who was luckily still there. I was so embarrassed to ask her to put the pony back in the stable.

When I had my own Horse, my non Horsey dad came with us to Newmarket for her operation. We went to the stables to load. She had a rug on and had obviously laid down as was covered in shavings. I went off to make some hay nets for the journey and could hear a weird noise, popped my head round the corner and my dad was cleaning the shavings off her rug using a long broom, luckily she wasn't bothered and dad just said he wanted to help but wasn't sure what to do.

I have also done the no hat, I don't often wear hats, but one cold day I had a bobble hat on, I went for a hack and then came home, went to take my hat off and put back in tack room, only then did I realise I didn't even put my hat on! opps