Why can't/don't people fit tack correctly?

Ooooh, so many major WTF's!

Keep ranting peeps, get it all off your chest. :D

What is the point of any tack if you don't fit it properly. Don't then complain about your horse being 'difficult', the poor beggar is most likely bewildered as I am!

Where ARE standards nowadays? I almost feel like flouncing off my own thread....

*Pours more wine with the determination of self composure*
 
Deltaflyer said:
One I've been coming across a lot lately is throat lashes done up too tightly so if the poor horse tries to go in an outline it throttles itself.
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I've seen this so often that I had genuinely started to wonder if there was a new-fangled reason for it and almost posted a thread to ask just the other day!
 
Deltaflyer said:
LOL, me too. Can't wait until tomorrow to go get a new stock of shavings and sort my boy's bed out. Roll on April when I can get back on to DIY and I have complete control of my boy's bed :)
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I'm off to restock tomorrow too! My boys have lovely big white beds now that noone else touches them :D
 
i rode with a friend the other day and checked she had tacked up properly as i had never ridden with her before, saddle pad was so tight across the withers it would have rubbed and his cavesson was done up so tight i could practically see it cutting into his nose, when i went to loosen it she told me i was wrong and we had a right to do about it resulting in me telling her to piss off as he was my horse and he wasn't going anywhere with that sort of pressure on the bone, iv'e also ridden with really experienced riders who have no idea how things should fit because somebody else does it for them and they just get on and go, WTF, lazy beggers!
 
It's true about RS. Where I ride, horse is already tacked up and ready to go so you don't get the chance to do it. I have asked but told one has to book a stable management lesson (which usually occur on weekdays) when I'm at work, so not always the new riders fault.

Eta I have read up on a lot of things and watch vids. T'internet is a wonderful thing !
 
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went to a clinic today where the instructor put every noseband up and tightened every throat lash and girth til the ponies could barely breathe. Wasnt impressed to be honest. Cavesson should e fitted like a dogs collar with two fingers side by side between the nose bone and noseband. some of the nosebands today were tight and too high before the instrutor started
 
alainax said:
yeah but people do that thing with the saddle cloth pressed tight against the horses back, that does my head in!
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I don't mean to sound totally thick, but how would one cause the saddle cloth to be pressed tight? I just whack it on, put the saddle on and slide back.. never had a problem?
 
To play devils advocate; I was only a horsey child in theory, I would read the books and look at pictures but actually putting a real bridle together, putting it on etc; I had no idea! When I did get to ride as a child it was as an occasional treat at a riding school/ trekking centre and the pony would already be tacked up. Only as adult could I pay to be actually told/shown at an equestrian college in horse care evening classes; and not everyone has such a facility nearby. The other problem is not knowing what you don't know; If you think what you are doing is right, you don't question it. Or if you do ask; if the person you ask replies confidently enough and you think they know what they are doing, you trust its right! Admittedly the internet is a big help these days (and forums such as this), but actual hands on experience is hard to come by; people with privately owned horses don't want some novice numpty handling their horse; riding schools/livery yards want quick efficient staff; not someone who needs showing how to do everything. It was only after doing the college courses; which helped me meet other horsey people; which led to sharing a horse; then finally getting my own, that I actually started to know what I was doing - and then I got a horse whose face/body doesn't seem to fit off the peg tack sizes!
 
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Mrs G said:
To play devils advocate; I was only a horsey child in theory, I would read the books and look at pictures but actually putting a real bridle together, putting it on etc; I had no idea! When I did get to ride as a child it was as an occasional treat at a riding school/ trekking centre and the pony would already be tacked up. Only as adult could I pay to be actually told/shown the basics at an equestrian college in horse care evening classes; and not everyone has such a facility nearby. The other problem is not knowing what you don't know; If you think what you are doing is right, you don't question it. Or if you do ask; if the person you ask replies confidently enough and you think they know what they are doing, you trust its right! Admittedly the internet is a big help these days (and forums such as this), but actual hands on experience is hard to come by; people with privately owned horses don't want some novice numpty handling their horse; riding schools/livery yards want quick efficient staff; not someone who needs showing how to do everything. It was only after doing the college courses; which helped me meet other horsey people; which led to sharing a horse; then finally getting my own, that I actually started to know what I was doing - and then I got a horse whose face/body doesn't seem to fit off the peg tack sizes!
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I was lucky that when I was young it was easy to become a 'helper' at the local RS. That's where I learnt so much. I remember the first time I took a bridle apart to clean it and was totally flummoxed as to how to get it back together again LOL

Nowadays, the Riding Schools local to me actually charge kids to be 'helpers'.

I've yet to have a horse where an off the peg bridle fits in all aspects. The closest are the Shockemohle's but even then the cheek pieces are on the long side.
 
Off the peg is a no here too pony cheek pieces, full size browband and noseband with extra holes in the length bit and cob size head piece is the norm round here
 
Mrs G said:
To play devils advocate; I was only a horsey child in theory, I would read the books and look at pictures but actually putting a real bridle together, putting it on etc; I had no idea! When I did get to ride as a child it was as an occasional treat at a riding school/ trekking centre and the pony would already be tacked up. Only as adult could I pay to be actually told/shown at an equestrian college in horse care evening classes; and not everyone has such a facility nearby. The other problem is not knowing what you don't know; If you think what you are doing is right, you don't question it. Or if you do ask; if the person you ask replies confidently enough and you think they know what they are doing, you trust its right! Admittedly the internet is a big help these days (and forums such as this), but actual hands on experience is hard to come by; people with privately owned horses don't want some novice numpty handling their horse; riding schools/livery yards want quick efficient staff; not someone who needs showing how to do everything. It was only after doing the college courses; which helped me meet other horsey people; which led to sharing a horse; then finally getting my own, that I actually started to know what I was doing - and then I got a horse whose face/body doesn't seem to fit off the peg tack sizes!
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Meh, don't worry about it, we all wing it from time to time!

Ahem, erm, I mean we most certainly don't! :p
 
AShetlandBitMeOnce said:
I don't mean to sound totally thick, but how would one cause the saddle cloth to be pressed tight? I just whack it on, put the saddle on and slide back.. never had a problem?
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It's because people put the saddle cloth on first then the saddle, don't do up the straps or pull the saddle cloth up into the gullet, just do the girth up and leave the saddle cloth pressed on the spine. Or it happens with those who pick up the whole lot, dumping it onto the horses back without any care as to how or where they've put it and just do the girth up.

On the subject of girths: why can nobody do the girth up whilst mounted any more? Never mind with the horse walking along. Instead it's cranked up so tight before they mount the poor thing can't be comfortable :mad3: I see some of them almost putting their knee into the horse's barrel, leaning back whilst stood on tip toes and heaving the girth up in their efforts to get it as tight as possible. All because the saddle might slip whilst they half climb, half haul themselves up into it...why can't anybody mount properly any more? Not the old and creaky, that's understandable and what mounting blocks were invented for :tongue3: but even the young and supposedly athletic can't mount well from the ground. Maybe it's because everyone over 5'2" feels the need to ride a 17hh warmblood these days :confused3:

To answer somebody's question of when was all this knowledge lost? When it became socially acceptable to gob off to anybody trying to kindly educate you, unless it's your parents (and sometimes even then!) and that assumes the parents are both horsey and care. When health and safety and employment laws stopped riding schools teaching free helpers on weekends, in exchange for a ride after the days work, and when children stopped thinking that was a fair deal. When purchasing and owning horses became cheaper than having riding/stable management lessons. Combined with when attending pony club rallies (where you'd find plenty of skint kids on borrowed/shared ponies, in my branch anyway) started to involve owning or hiring transport, instead of hacking along the too-busy/dangerous-now roads for 1 1/2hrs to get there.
 
millikins said:
It might help if tack or equipment came with fitting instructions, not a lot to ask.
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wills_91 said:
surely of its needed then you will have researched it enough to know how to fit and use it?!
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Actually, I think in the absence of the old shared knowledge, instructions would be a very good starting point and I also feel it would be more responsible of manufacturers to provide instructions with tack, given the harm which could be caused by improper fitting and use.

Sugar_and_Spice is right, in that it is now cheaper to own a horse than purchase the relevant lessons. On the other hand, I actually chose to purchase a cob for my family so that they would have the opportunity to learn horse care and stable management first hand, what it is to create a bond with a horse and develop good handling abilities, along with riding.

At the local riding school, their equine education would have been severely limited. My rule is that they learn how to care for a horse, then how to ride one. Two months in, they still haven't ridden but can dismantle, clean and then put a bridle back together, take good daily care of their pony (grooming, mucking out, feed and watering) and have an understanding of farriery and basic equine health care and first aid. They're earning the right to learn to ride her.

Believe it or not, they're loving every minute :)
 
Stockers said:
Devil's Advocate but maybe people are afraid to ask lest they be mocked? ��
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Yep. I've seen that both online (especially this forum..) and in life. I've seen quite a few on here tear strips off novices who committed the "ghastly" crime of asking a question. I can remember one young girl, this was when I used to post on the forum in its early days, who asked a fairly innocuous question about feeding and, my God, the replies she got from members on here was completely OTT. Poor kid didn't even own a horse nor did she post on the forum again, which I can't say I blame her for, tbh.

The posters remarking about horse owners who didn't "do" Pony Club amuse me. Not all of us were born into horsey families/affluent families so didn't have the opportunity to even go to Pony Club. I didn't. Would have loved to, but didn't. Does that mean I'm a lousy horse keeper or couldn't be bothered to do my research? My knowledge was, initially, acquired from books back in the days before the internet where I would cycle several miles, most days, to the library or save birthdays/Christmas money to buy them.

How about this for sad, poor desperate kid? I used to look forward to the Robinsons' catalogue where I would make lists of all the things I would need to buy for my non-existent horse..I used to keep the catalogues too. Double tragic.

My first actual taste of practical horse keeping/experience was when I did a work experience in a riding school, aged fourteen. It was supposed to be for three weeks, but they let me work through the entire summer holidays. I wasn't taught or shown anything. I was asked to muck out, groom, tack up, turn out etc., from day one and I did based purely from what I had read in books. The worst criticism I got was that I was a bit slow (that was the first week). Not bad, I thought at the time, considering I was doing things I had only ever read about in books.

I did a youth training scheme in a horse sanctuary which, unfortunately, didn't pan out for me due to the illegal activities that was going on there and the fact that I, a mere novice, knew they were lousy at horse keeping. I have an excellent anecdote about this particular sanctuary where they managed to infect a considerable number of their horses with lice through not disposing lice ridden bedding properly. Needless to say, I quit.

I also worked at a livery yard where my "boss" was teaching lessons, even though she wasn't qualified (she is now and, by all accounts, well known in Essex). I don't think her livery business was strictly above board either and then there was the small matter of her paying me £30 a week as well as giving me a "free" riding lesson (which never materialised) in return for me working a 14-16 hour day, six days a week..then she started docking a tenner out of my wages to pay for a pair of boots she coerced me into buying (I later found out they were stolen). Interestingly enough, she continued docking a tenner out of my wages right up until I left (nearly a year later), even though she sold them to me for £40...Now I was desperate to learn everything about horses, but working 14-16 hour days, six days a week for £20 just wasn't doable. Oh, I forget, she was going to start docking another tenner for petrol money because it was costing her a "fortune" in petrol driving me to her yard every day...even though I lived five mins from her house and she would still have driven the same route whether I was in the car or not. So my wages would have been £10 had I stuck it out another year.

I also did a brief stint of mucking out a rather affluent lady's stables while her daughters had riding lessons before school. They were quite spoiled and nasty children with no appreciation for what they had, but given their father was in prison I bit my tongue. Think of "Birds of a Feather" and you're on the right track.

Oh, I have lots more stories, but I've waffled on as it is. Regardless, some of us struggled to get into horses. It's a specialised hobby; it's an expensive hobby. My point is, yes it is annoying when people don't fit tack properly/don't make the effort etc., but not everyone who didn't "do" pony club etc., is someone who couldn't be bothered to learn about proper horse keeping et al.

Apologies for the wall of death (i.e., HUGE post).
 
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I do kind of think it is the attitude of some people that puts others off asking questions too.

Yes there are a lot of experienced people on here but it doesn't excuse rudeness. Its not nice coming on here asking a genuine question because you are concerned about your horses welfare and getting told off about it. I haven't asked a lot of questions because the reaction is obvious even though the cause of the issue wasn't my fault. Still pissed off with my old livery yard for it.

His tack probably would annoy people anyway I leave the noseband one hole loose because he hates it being too tight (and correct is too tight to him apparently) so rather than piss him off I leave it loose. Had someone randomly adjust the cheekpieces too once because apparently they were too loose. He didn't like that either so I loosened them again. Not having my horse be uncomfortable. And no he isnt in pain.
 
muckypony said:
Another reason to go with the others...

Because knowledgeable people are too afraid to tell the novices, or can't be dealing with the back chat they'd get if they did.

When I was a kid, if you went out to a show with your pony's noseband too low, an older acquaintance who you maybe saw once a year would notice and come marching over to correct it and give you a good telling off! Nowadays though you just wouldn't get that... For a start, the new generation of pony club mums wouldn't dare let you tell little princess something was incorrect!
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Agree there may be a combo of people not knowing and not asking, and knowledgeable folks not offering advice for whatever reason. People can get v sensitive to perceived criticism but fortunately the instructors I know will often check tack at the start of the lesson especially with a new client and give tips on tack fit. I'm still sporting an elastic band thingy that an instructor attached to my martingale years ago as it didn't have a stopper! I suspect I'm sporting some terrible Bandages at the moment as have never really used them before, so I've googled how to put them on. Please don't berate me haha. Lessons are in the dark so ins possibly can't see properly but she's not picked me up on em yet!
 
I've recently started lessons with a new instructor. We had a quick catch up at the end of the first lesson. She seemed quite happy with where I am now " quiet hands, good seat, appropriate tack" etc

I must say that the "appropriate tack" comment quite suprised me. It made me wonder how many people she teaches who do not have appropriate tack!
 
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