Alcohol in warm up ring (horse, not human)?

[mvp]

@wannabedvm

Again, it’s possible that it wasn’t painful. Some horses just don’t like being sprayed.

I find it odd that they would be spraying back legs to keep a hunter from hitting rails. 1) because hunters don’t normally hit rails, 2) because I think they hit more often in front, and 3) because they wouldn’t be making contact with the rail with their legs anyway unless something went very wrong. If the spray made the horse’s legs were so painful that it affected how the horse moved them in the air, it would seem like it would affect the horse’s movement in general, too?

I don’t think a show horse whose legs were clipped close is one who “just doesn’t like being sprayed”… to the point that the professional grooms have to hold a front leg up to get the job done. Nosirreebob, I think that horse was reacting out of pain.

I would bet on the hind leg treatment being done in order to make the horse “more careful” behind. Whether that means not touching a rail, or merely being tighter with his hind end, I think either applies and could apply to some hunter pro looking to optimize the horse’s form over fences.

[trubandloki]

@MHM

Rubbing alcohol is often used as a stain remover on white horses, or white markings.

@meupatdoes

Seriously, people.

Meup, are you not believing that alcohol is used as a stain remover or just not in this case? I am not sure how to take your answer.
It would surprise me that you do not know that rubbing alcohol is a common stain remover, so I am guessing you outrage at the suggestion that is what was going on here, but just want to clarify.

I clearly like the rock I was under when I did the hunters. No leg spraying to go clear happened in our world.
I did use alcohol to scrub the white knee clean, pretty much every day. But that was long before we went in the ring.

[Midge]

@Satin Filly

A hunter derby, fresh clipped legs, alcohol and horse that’s saying ouch stop spraying that on me. :rolleyes:
So if there’s ever another time you see this, definitely report it to the steward. The only thing these people were trying to prevent are rubs and dropped rails.

What are you going to report???

[gottagrey]

@wannabedvm

I guess I was thinking that since it was a derby it was probably a fairly good hunter. Guess that’s not necessarily the case.

Everyone - horse and rider has their bad days. Often you don’t hear the knocks quite as hard in outdoor shows but sometimes when a class in an indoor even the lightest rub can sound just awful.

[keatssu]

Rubbing alcohol evaporates very quickly and any pain caused by applying it to raw areas would be transient. I use it to take permanent marker off the dry erase board, works like a charm. Also, I have horses that act like they’re being sprayed with acid when I spray fly spray on them.

[Ghazzu]

@keatssu

Rubbing alcohol evaporates very quickly and any pain caused by applying it to raw areas would be transient. I use it to take permanent marker off the dry erase board, works like a charm. Also, I have horses that act like they’re being sprayed with acid when I spray fly spray on them.

Just wondering how often somebody uses permanent marker on white socks…

[Scribbler]

I repeat that on a recent thread someone reported that either a hunter jumper venue or organization in the USA had banned clipping legs on the showgrounds for exactly this reason. I can’t recall the thread it was on. So its clearly a thing though it may not be technically illegal everywhere yet.

Here it is. FEI banned clipping legs at the show.

https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/hunter-jumper/10338195-fei-rule-change-disallowing-clipping-saving-horses-legs

[AskMyAccountant.17]

My assumptionw ould be clean legs as well, It’s not uncommon in any discipline for a groom to carry a rag and a spray bottle. The horse gets dust on its legs while it warms up, you spray it down with some type of stringent to wipe them back clean. Water is only going to attract more dirt while alcohol will dry quicker and more used to wipe down legs before the horse goes in the ring.

[M_al]

FEI has banned clippers onsite.

Funny aside, right after the rule changed we were at a CVI and the groom was giving the coach a haircut with the horse clippers because his hair was very unprofessionally mop-like.

We figured it came out of the FEI jumper world where using clippers for soring is a real thing. We’re a little annoyed that a totally different sport (with us, misusing clippers is totally not a thing) has gone and ruined our ability to even give haircuts in the aisle. No clippers even allowed in the tack room.

(Other FEI restrictions include inside ear trimming, whisker trimming and no horses with docked tails born after a certain date. As well as age restrictions and, of course, the veterinary jog up to try to ensure sound to compete, as well as no masking drugs or performance enhancing drugs for horse or rider.)

[Midge]

@Scribbler

I repeat that on a recent thread someone reported that either a hunter jumper venue or organization in the USA had banned clipping legs on the showgrounds for exactly this reason. I can’t recall the thread it was on. So its clearly a thing though it may not be technically illegal everywhere yet.

Here it is. FEI banned clipping legs at the show.

https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/hunter-jumper/10338195-fei-rule-change-disallowing-clipping-saving-horses-legs

Hunters are not an FEI sport.

[Midge]

@mmeqcenter

Seriously 🙄. No one would treat for scratches in warm up, you do that at the barn/in the stall. It’s pretty obvious what they were doing.

She didn’t say they were treating scratches.

I think if someone sat up at the ingate and made a note of hunters getting their legs sprayed with alcohol, the vast majority of them would be white legged horses. So, maybe white legged horses are more prone to hitting the jumps.

[meupatdoes]

@trubandloki

Meup, are you not believing that alcohol is used as a stain remover or just not in this case? I am not sure how to take your answer.
It would surprise me that you do not know that rubbing alcohol is a common stain remover, so I am guessing you outrage at the suggestion that is what was going on here, but just want to clarify.

I clearly like the rock I was under when I did the hunters. No leg spraying to go clear happened in our world.
I did use alcohol to scrub the white knee clean, pretty much every day. But that was long before we went in the ring.

I am agreeing with an emphasizing that alcohol is used as a stain remover.

My “seriously people” is directed at people who have apparently never been responsible for keeping the whites white in a show program.

Also, you got “outrage” from that post?
Okey dokey…but, by all means, feel free to continue your multi paragraph dissection of a two word post

[jonem004]

This post was gonna be a lot more fun before the parentheses.

[snark]

Rubbing alcohol to make a horse more careful behind? That’s a stretch.
Maybe an act of desperation. They’d have been better off spending more time poling at home…
Bet the white socks looked great.

[Mac123]

Under the right circumstances, it could make them more careful (or more apt to have a painful rub).

But plenty of horses don’t like to be sprayed and rubbing alcohol is commonly used for grooming, removing sweat marks, and cooling out.

Our old totally broke roping horse (so broke you can hop on him from a fence post with no tack whatsoever and ride him around) HATES being sprayed with anything. He yanks his hind legs up like we’re spraying him with pepper spray or something instead of fly spray. Even with non-clipped, winter-hairy legs. So I think it’s tough to assume anything in this case.

[mmeqcenter]

@Midge

She didn’t say they were treating scratches.

I think if someone sat up at the ingate and made a note of hunters getting their legs sprayed with alcohol, the vast majority of them would be white legged horses. So, maybe white legged horses are more prone to hitting the jumps.

The response was in regards to atl_hunter stating maybe they were treating scratches.

[Scribbler]

@Midge

Hunters are not an FEI sport.

Yes I know. I couldn’t remember the context of the thread. I clarified it by finding the thread. I am aware that hunters have a different culture than FEI jumpers and prep their horses differently.

[ynl063w]

@Mac123

Under the right circumstances, it could make them more careful (or more apt to have a painful rub).

I’m curious - which circumstances are those?

[enjoytheride]

@mvp

I don’t think a show horse whose legs were clipped close is one who “just doesn’t like being sprayed”… to the point that the professional grooms have to hold a front leg up to get the job done. Nosirreebob, I think that horse was reacting out of pain.

I would bet on the hind leg treatment being done in order to make the horse “more careful” behind. Whether that means not touching a rail, or merely being tighter with his hind end, I think either applies and could apply to some hunter pro looking to optimize the horse’s form over fences.

It’s entirely possible the horse is drugged to be clipped every time. Also, my pony still thinks fly spray is going to murder him despite being sprayed daily all summer.

[Scribbler]

I just think that if the FEI saw fit to ban clipping legs on show grounds then there must be some known form of cheating associated with it. Yes, alcohol has many uses with horses. But you would never be applying an ouchy topical right in warmup unless it had some perceived benefit to performance because otherwise you’d want horse happy.

Some trainers also school at home by rapping the horse on the hind legs with the jump pole. So there clearly is a desire to get back end clearance.