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| no peeves here, just adorable noses i'd love to pet! |
She asks:
What is your biggest horse related pet peeve? (Try and keep this one more about the horse itself. Things like spooking at nothing, dirty stoppers, refusing to load, etc.).
- Horses who are aggressive in their stalls and/or at the pasture gate when other horses are going through. Also horses that lunge over their stall doors to bite passers by (equine or otherwise). We have two such barbarians who live across the aisle from each other and sometimes it feels like running the gauntlet trying to pass through!
- Gate rushers. I *hate* dealing with horses who try to bolt into the pasture as soon as the gate is opened, regardless of whether I'm still attached or not.
- Picky eaters... esp if they're soooooo slowwwwww. Or if they like to trample their hay alllllll through their stall (which is itself uber messy, natch), making it a PITA to muck out. Tho I guess this is more a pet peeve as a barn worker, since this doesn't hugely matter from an owner's perspective... just annoying to feed and clean up after!
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| "pecan eaters?!? oh, wait, you said picky eaters? no i no know what that means." - isabel |
And secondly, what is your biggest equestrian related pet peeve? (This is less about the horse and more about the people in the industry. It can be anything from hating the aisleways in the barn not being swept, the wait times between classes, or even things like rollkur).
- Catty rail birds. #nuffsaid
- Not acknowledging a fallen rider. This is my biggie (probably from spending so many years working at lesson barns rife with young and beginner riders). I'm not saying everyone should halt and dismount immediately in the event of a fall (tho chances are I will)... but maybe stop cantering or jumping or whatever long enough to ascertain whether there's an emergency. And, ya know, maybe help corral the loose horse if trainer or whoever is busy attending to the rider. (And, god forbid, in the case of an emergency - just take the initiative to get the horse taken care of and put away. Don't interrupt those helping the rider, just make it happen. Unless of course you're the one administering immediate care to the rider, in which case, thank you!).
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| sometimes falls are opportunities for a couple giggles and nothing more (well, maybe bruised pride too) just. ya know. be ready to step in (or clear out!) when it gets less funny |
- Sharing space (arena, barn aisles, wash stalls, etc) is hard. I get it. Try not to be an asshole tho. Meaning pick up after yourself {don't leave equipment/shit on the floor!} and avoid blocking other people or workers from moving about.
- Groom your horse, yo. An occasional rush job is totally acceptable (happens to all of us), but shouldn't be the norm.
- Avoid wasting precious lesson time by chitchatting or not realizing it's your turn. And hush up while trainer is giving directions!
Picky eater, slow eater, walks hay around the stall sums up Stinker. I'm hoping with some changes the mess will decrease, but yeah there isn't much to be done about the rest...
ReplyDeleteyea in my experience it hasn't been a super fixable habit... some horses just care less about their hay! certain barn mgmt practices can help (like only giving them little bits of hay at a time) but that's not always feasible...
DeleteIs that an appaloosa mini!?! I think my day is officially made.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was debating what I'd say, I didn't even think of catty railbirds! But thinking of it now is angering my blood, so that would be pretty high up there.
Although I will admit I am the worst at grooming my horse :x I show up everywhere with a messy horse. Although one time at my lesson, someone else showed up with a gray that was completely covered with mud, so it made me feel better. My comrades with messy horses, we stick together. (you've shamed me though, I'll try harder)
that would be Cathryn's driving mini SPUD!!!! he is maybe the coolest, and if you don't follow Cathryn's blog (That Red Mare, the "pet peeve" hyperlink above the pic) you totally should!!
Deletebut yea, rail birds make me batty. esp at high level events where they nitpick profesh riders... and yesssss grooom your horrrssses!!! lol. i mean, yea dirty horses happen and we run out of time and and and, ya know, whatever. frankly tho, i discover some huge portion of injuries, dings, woes, etc during the grooming process so i see it as an important aspect of managing health
Man, you'd hate Penn. He's not so much a picky eater as the fact that he's slow and doesn't finish, but he's a severe stall walker and gets distracted from his grain. And churns his hay into the bedding, so he gets a hay net. Mikey was the same way, only he was a slower eater and didn't churn his hay in as much.
ReplyDeleteWe had one of those nasty stall aggressive horses on stall rest last winter... since the stalls were completely enclosed (no hanging heads out), Mikey and this other horses were allowed to have stall guards and their doors would be open while people were at the barn all day. Except the other horse lost his head out privileges because he's got the nickname of "the gator" because he'd snap at anything that walked by.
awww no way, i could never hate Penn!! quite likely tho i'd dislike cleaning up after him haha (hay nets definitely help!). totally not the same thing tho! ;)
Deleteand i love the 'gator' nickname, might need to start using that one too lol. we have upper doors to all our stalls too, but boarders typically hang stuff from them and it can be annoying to have to open and close them all for just the brief periods that horses come in to eat. sometimes it's worth it tho...
Wait, there are people who just keep jumping if a rider has fallen off? Really?? How terrible.
ReplyDeletei sat on my ass in the arena horseless and minus one boot (it popped off from getting dragged) with a concussion while my (former) trainer rode over to me, told me what i did wrong, then rode away to continue schooling... meanwhile i just sat there waiting for a good samaritan to come scrape me up off the ground. turns out some people are assholes...
DeleteWoah. Now that is a bad time...
Deletetell me about it :(
DeleteThat is a new level of assholery! I've kept riding before but the person was being helped, the horse was being caught, and I was on a green bean that didn't need to figure out that something was happening. But if the person wasn't being helped or the horse wasn't being caught it would have been a different story...
Deletei mean, there's nothing wrong with not rushing to the scene - in reality there's only so many things one can do to help (esp if the rider is pretty much ok and the horse either doesn't get loose or is easily caught). it shouldn't turn into a 'too many cooks in the kitchen' scene either, ya know? but the fact that you were aware of the situation and prepared to act if needed - *that's* what i like to see in my fellow riders
DeleteHorse pet peeves (almost entirely related to feeding time)
ReplyDeleteBird: Do not use your nose to throw your feed the length of the trough. There is no crackerjack prize in there. Just eat it.
Nick: Put your head in the bucket and eat. There is no danger. Settle down and eat. Seriously, no danger here. Eat. Eat, damn it. Look, if you'd just stop checking for nonexistent dangers, you'd be done by now.
Tin: Please do not paw the ground. I won't let anyone steal your grain and I've located you well away from the other horses. You are not an excavator, son.
People: Teach your horse to load. Teach your horse to stand still for the farrier.
4-H kids: You can't find your bridle and you want me to help you look for it? Okay, but if I go in the tack shed and come out with your bridle in under a minute, I'm going to beat you with it. Oh, now you want to try looking by yourself again? Just to be sure? Cool. Let me know if you still need help after you've looked again. (The beating thing is an idle threat but it resolves about 95% of the "I can't find my bridle" complaints without me having to go look for bridles.)
ha i love the 4-H one! i'll let kids get off lightly for a long time for asking for help unnecessarily (bc i would *always* prefer that they are comfortable asking for help when they need it) - but some of those little goobers def know how to take advantage of that game haha
Deletelol Gina is kind of aggressive- she's always lunging at the bars between her & her neighbors' stalls, even when they aren't doing anything that affects her (she'll do this when Moe stops eating hay to turn around and get a drink). she doesn't lunge at people, though, thank god!
ReplyDeleteha damn Gina! oddly we only have maybe one or two mares that are like this at my farm, the worst offenders are the geldings by far. and i guess i should say that while yes, this behavior annoys me - it's by no means a deal breaker in liking or working with a horse (unless it seriously compromises my own safety...). it's just kinda a hassle sometimes haha
DeleteHorse pet peeve:
ReplyDelete1. Do not put your fecking muddy feet in the freshly cleaned and filled water trough.
2. Stop peeing on your hay pile and then wondering what your going to eat until next meal time.
People pet peeve:
1. If you think you know it all, get away from me.
2. If you think my horse is too dirty, own a white horse for a week and get back to me! (Love to groom, love a clean horse, so sad I can't bath in winter!) :)
ha it's like once a horse learns about the joys of playing in the trough, they never stop ever again...
Deleteand good point about the gray horse dilemma... i definitely do not envy that haha (and should remember to be grateful that princess isabel is so prissy about mud)... still tho, it's not about being dirty, per se. nothing beats checking a horse over for issues (wounds, soreness, etc) like a thorough grooming session and i hate seeing people (esp young riders who are still developing their horse care habits) cut corners there
Re: acknowledging a fallen rider... I teach all of my students to halt when someone comes off, it's just basic safety! It's a lot harder to catch a loose horse if all his friends are still moving around. I had a student fall maybe two weeks ago and landed with her thigh against a standard - totally a nasty bruising fall but no long lasting damage. I made sure she was okay, walked around the arena with her for a while, helped her get back on, and was very careful to make sure I didn't let her back off until she was breathing okay and seemed like her confidence had come back.
ReplyDeleteA few days later, her dad told me that she'd never had a trainer treat her so kindly in a fall, and joked that I had a fan for life. Which was super nice to hear, don't get me wrong, but also... what the hell were your OTHER trainers doing?!
halting is definitely a wise choice imo. sure there are times when it's pretty obvious everything is ok (like the rider pops right back up and laughs it off or whatever), but i always prefer safe to sorry. plus i've seen plenty of people discount the numbing effect of adrenaline and get up too quickly... only to fall right back down again. aint nobody want to see that!
Deleteglad your student is ok - it's always worth taking those extra few moments to make sure a rider feels safe!
Having just gotten kicked in the stomach from this scenario, I'm going to add horses that crowd the gate when you're trying to bring in/turn out other horses as a serious pet peeve. Good gate manners in general are really a win situation for me. :P
ReplyDeleteoh no, i hope you're ok :( we have a new horse who crowds and guards the gate, and has zero hesitation in letting his hind hooves fly. nvm that he's nearly 17hh. oh and also nvm that lesson horses live in that field, which equates to lesson students trying to retrieve them. it's, uh, not a great situation...
DeleteOne of my pet peeves for horses is what TC does with his grain- he gets so excited about grain that he flings his bucket, paws his bucket, and generally spreads his grain all over the ground. Then he stands on it, smashes it into powder which then mixes with the dirt or mud, then refuses to eat it. He is not on any expensive supplements because of that sort of behavior!
ReplyDeleteYah I don't get continuing to ride when someone has fallen off- what about the loose horse? So crazy, people need to be careful.
ha somehow that doesn't surprise me about TC being so overly enthusiastic about his grain! we have a couple like that, but they all have zero problems siphoning all the spilled grain up off the floor so... it's nbd (just sloowwwwww omg).
DeleteRamone is the SLOWEST eater. I'm okay with that though because it means he's less prone to ulcers :P
ReplyDeletehuh i never thought about it that way, but can see how eating slowly might help. it's also better for horses prone to colic... i just get a little bananas about time management when i'm feeding the barn and like to have a general sense of how long each horse eats so that i can be ready to turn them out as soon as they're finished (thus minimizing the mess they make in the stall). but for some reason, all of our slowest eaters are also lowest in their herd hierarchies and also come in last to eat.... annoying lol
DeletePreach! Some people are the worst!
ReplyDeletethat's the truth. luckily more are just mildly annoying rather than actually terrible... but still. c'mon people! lol
DeletePreach on!
ReplyDeleteLuckily, I ride alone or with one or two people so I don't have to deal with rail hogs!
i honestly really like riding with friends and being part of a lively barn. there are occasionally disadvantages tho..
DeleteLol I know what you mean about cleaning up after a horse that tromps through his hay!
ReplyDeletelol it's super annoying! and so wasteful haha... silly horses, hay is for eating!
Delete