yard experts (just for fun!)

[Little_Miss_1]

Years ago when I was on a livery yard that seperated mares and geldings the YO said to me that she wants me to move my gelding into the mares becuase she thinks he's GAY!! There was no mounting activity, but he was 'following Major (another horse) around inappropriatley' and 'wouldnt leave his side'. She thought it was disturbing Major....

We never did move him because shortly after we got our own place... very strange!

 

[BobbyMondeo]

I have been told to "whack him untill he moves" talking about my nervous horse when he is napping not wanted to leave the yard and his friends

Been told that raising my voice slightly at my horse and pushing him back into the stable when he used to try and barge out was making him agressive and it would be safer to just let him run out onto the yard....errmmm no!! You might want a rude horse but i dont.

 

[lindsayH]

Some of these are fab!

My favourite was not long after I bought my cremello and moved him to a new yard. I was told by a yard know-it-all that the person I'd bought him off had lied about his age and he was actually really old as only old horses can be that white! He was a 4 year old and registered with a breed society from birth! Priceless...

 

[PucciNPoni]

one of my friends told me that this shampoo dies a grey horse blue!!!

Errm, that can happen! LOL

I've heard a few people say this actually. I think perhaps what happens is that color enhancing shampoos, particularly if used in conjunction with conditioner, can set the color in. I've heard of people washing their bichons (white dogs) and not rinsing all the way out -adding conditioner and voila! a purple dog! A friend told me that some young girls helped wash a highland pony for a show and allowed the shampoo to set for ages and it then had a purple mane for it's driving class the following day. I've not seen it happen myself, and I've *tried* getting bichons purple!!!

 

[PucciNPoni]

I've not heard too many whacky stories by yard experts - or maybe I just don't remember them. But I can remember one thing that struck me as odd...I know a girl that removes the stem from apples before chopping feeding them because they get caught in the horse's throat. Guess she should maybe go remove the trees and twigs that it chews on in the field, too?

 

[Serephin]

livery told me that our horses having been turned out on a lush field of grass (against my wishes but was bullied into it) would be sensible about not eating too much grass so i shouldn't worry about laminitis or colic!

I left yesterday.

 

[TallyHo123]

If your horse isn't constantly on an outline it will get kissing spine

Oh and you stand up and lean forwards when you trot if your horse is 'slow'

hahaha!

 

[pairciban]

All hay needs to be soaked before feeding it! If you feed it dry you are lazy!

 

[hackedoff]

Well , where do I start!

some gems from past yards I have been on

' horses jump high as they see everything 10x life size (how do they graze then I wondered!)'

'Your horse will not be able to go more than 20 miles a day' - he became advanced level endurance!

'Your horse's confirmation means he will be unridable in a few years (he was 5 and is still going strong at 20!)

'its okay for me to turn my 2 year old tb out with the livery mares as he hasnt covered yet but I do worry that some of the gelding might be rigs and get the mares in foal'( this was from yard manager who owned the 2 year old colt...)

Oh and like the cremello story 'your horse is obviously over 7 cos I say so (well they added some other bits to justify comment) he was 5 at the time ! i also had some years later
your horse cant do veterans as he is 12, I pointed out that I had owned him for 13 years when the comment was made and was told 'that proves nothing!'

 

[applecart14]

When someones father on the livery yard I used to be at told his daughter on the Thursday to "take **** over the fields for a gallop and get him muscled up for the fun ride on Saturday" .

Think he was a bit shocked when horse in question didn't come back looking like Arnold Schwarwzenegger!

Another classic one was when the livery yard owner told me I responsible for the deaths of my previous four horses, one who had been put down as a result of injury three weeks later, one who'd broken a leg in the field (when I was at work) one who dropped down dead of a heart attack (when I was on the way to work) and one who was put down for Wobblers. None were my fault. A devastating, totally unnecessary and cruel comment.

 

[skint1]

You should be able to see ribs on a TB

If it's the time of year when it's nippy at night but warm during day don't worry if you can't be arsed to get out bed in the morning and change your horse's rug -it can cool itself off by drinking lots of water

Mud fever comes from the horse into the ground and is highly contagious

Ponies should be fat

 

[Seahorse]

My old employer (an olympic dressage rider) had some very funny stable management ideas, If a horse rolls in its stable it can put its back out, so when we put new shavings in we had to mix them so it didn't look like they had a new bed and therefore didn't roll!
If her horse was in the field and he looked up from eating the grass I had to run and get him in because it meant he was going to gallop round. One day he was walking to the trough to get a drink and she made me go and get him in.
Horses only got colic 2 hours after being fed so if we fed at 5pm then we did a late check at 7pm and if they didn't have colic then they were ok for the rest of the night.

The best one was days off on a monday, we all had the day off and the yard was closed, we weren't allowed onto the yard at all and the horses were left in their stables, didn't get any hard feed and were just thrown hay over the doors by her husband. You can imagine the state of the beds on a tuesday morning lol!!

 

[Hippona]

Some of these are just corkers......have to say, my old YM was pretty sane in general, it was the other liveries that were mentalists....

I've got my own place now- guess that makes me the yard expert....please people monitor me.......if I start to make statements similar to any of these feel free to pop round and give me a slapping

 

[Dubsie]

My daughter (10) was told by her friend she was cruel for not rugging her (unclipped, lives out 24/7) New Forest in the winter/snow. She had the presence of mind to ask who went out and rugged all the ponies in the NF when it snowed!

 

[starsnrunes]

I was talkin to our yard 'expert' about why i wasn't plannin on jumpin my new hunter til the end of the summer at least (i only jump for fun, so no big deal or owt), he isn't too very well schooled so he's a bit unbalenced and doesn't use his back end properly and i didn't want to risk him hurting himself (or me) by jumpin him til he was going better. Her suggestion was to get someone to list the pole as we were going over to teach him to lift higher....errrr no love, thats called rapping, i'll stick to schooling.

The same 'expert' turned around to the owner of the welsh stud at our yard the other day and told her that the new show saddle she was tryin on her mare didn't 'look right', couldn't say why, it just didn't look right, and she'd be better with a gp or working hunter for showing anyway....the owner of the welsh stud shows at a national level, so she knows what to do....

Mind you i'm now taking bets on how long this girl is going to last after turning around to one of the other liveries and saying that the welsh cobs were nothing special (trust me...they are amazing) and the livery told the stud owner.

This so called expert is a girl that 'pulls' her horses main and tail by cutting them.

 

[DellaMoon]

I used to ride for a girl that once rode Tamarillo for Mark Todd!!!

 

[Dirtymare]

Excellent thread. Some of these post had me laughing. Some had me cringing!!
I have been around a while (age wise) and have heard some corkers in my time, but I think the best one I have heard was recently when somebody tried to tell me that dapples on a horse is a sign of health!!!

 

[Squeak]

Some of these are so funny! There have been so many of these in my time but the only ones I can think of at the moment is someone who said to me that they could walk, trot canter, gallop and double gallop!!! Another person also said to me that their horse used to jump 8ft fences when it was 4 which was why it didn't understand how to jump a 2'6 fence....

 

[Spudlet]

Cobs can't get laminitis **goes to find brick wall to bounce head off at memory**

 

[Dirtymare]

they could walk, trot canter, gallop and double gallop!!!

Did you ask what "double gallop" actually was???

 

[steph21]

Well this wasnt exactly advise but more that I was trying to advise a girl that used to be on my yard the best way to deal with mud fever, however ignored my advice and used this method instead........................

Bring horse in, wash off legs with just water as hibiscrub would hurt her!! Dont pick scabs off as this will also be to much pain for the horse to cope with!!

Then the best bit ..... "proceed to the tack room, get extention lead out ( this is all in the hight of winter) tie horse up outside stable, get HAIR DRYER and dry horses legs before then putting mud fever powder on, this was done every night for about 4 months!!

Needless to say the horse, had mub fever for all the 4 months!!

 

[R2R]

Excellent thread. Some of these post had me laughing. Some had me cringing!!
I have been around a while (age wise) and have heard some corkers in my time, but I think the best one I have heard was recently when somebody tried to tell me that dapples on a horse is a sign of health!!!

Last year my horse looked rubbish after major surgery and had no dapples...this year he is covered in them and his coat looks fantastic. I have no clue but a couple have people have said it to me too?!! He is also a completely different colour, last year he was more of a peroxide blonde and this year he is golden pally, covered in dapples.

One of my liveries was told by the vet to give her horse 2 bute twice a day as it was lame. She stood on my yard and argued with the vet as she said the bute would "send her mad" and "hype her up" and she wanted to give her half a sachet a day! I have learnt to shrug my shoulders

 

[DellaMoon]

Oh and a FARRIER said most 2 year olds get stringhalt but they grow out of it by the time they are 3!!

 

[Thelwell_Girl]

Another classic one was when the livery yard owner told me I responsible for the deaths of my previous four horses, one who had been put down as a result of injury three weeks later, one who'd broken a leg in the field (when I was at work) one who dropped down dead of a heart attack (when I was on the way to work) and one who was put down for Wobblers. None were my fault. A devastating, totally unnecessary and cruel comment.

Thats awful, applecart, I hope they got thumped for that!! xx

 

[Chestnuttymare]

Excellent thread. Some of these post had me laughing. Some had me cringing!!
I have been around a while (age wise) and have heard some corkers in my time, but I think the best one I have heard was recently when somebody tried to tell me that dapples on a horse is a sign of health!!!

This is actually quite a common belief, not meaning dapple greys but other colours that sometimes get some dappling through their coats at certain times. They are also called hammers or hammer blows. It is supposed to be a sign of good health if a bay or chestnut etc has them. It doesn't mean that if your horse doesn't have them that it means it is unhealthy.
one of those old wives tales probably.

 

[Seahorse]

just thought of another one, a lad I worked with had a pony that was 14.8 hh oh yeah he was an AI too apparently.......

 

[LadyRascasse]

I had one once, i brought my lad one of them 30 day licks for his stable as he was in on box rest. he had had it for about 3 or 4 days and been fine only consuming what he should. i came down one morning to find it outside my stable. i went round asking who had done it, so one livery pips up "i did, because he was licking it and he shouldn't lick it, its bad for him" erm ok then its called a lick for a reason. needless to say i put it back in his stable and it lasted more than 30 days and caused him no harm.

 

[Rowreach]

Does nobody but me see the irony in this thread?

 

[Squeak]

Lol Rowreach definatley!!

 

[Dirtymare]

Last year my horse looked rubbish after major surgery and had no dapples...this year he is covered in them and his coat looks fantastic. I have no clue but a couple have people have said it to me too?!! He is also a completely different colour, last year he was more of a peroxide blonde and this year he is golden pally, covered in dapples.

Glad your horse is looking so well now after his surgery.
I think the thing about the dapples no being seen on poorly horses is that when they are very poorly, their coat is dull and staring. However, I do think that the sun bleaching the coat has alot to do with it and not to do with its health - just my humble opinion, I'm no expert.