Equestrian Court of Grammatical Peeves

[Mondo]

I do this from time to time with regular everyday speech. This one is horse terms specific.

Under saddle is two words, not undersaddle
Skittish is not spelled skiddish
Lunge or longe, not lounge
If you have a gelding, he is not “gilded,” or “guilded” (Unless he is gilded with gold. I might buy him then.)
Your horse wears a bridle, your intended has a bridal shower

I’m sure there are dozens more, but these are the ones I see on the forums and in ads most often. I realize that there are poor spellers in the world, and they do the best they can. But as a professional writer and editor, I need to occasionally get these peeves off my chest without shaming individuals. Court is adjourned.

[wsmoak]

Your bridle has reins, while a monarch reigns.

cavalry and calvary are not the same thing.

[showy]

The Conformation Hunters are not the same as the confirmation hunters

[Groom_amp_Taxi]

The horse has gaits, the farm has gates.

[Jaegermonster]

It is NOT “woah”
It is and always has been “whoa”

[horsepoor]

Ferrier

[Old_Mac_Donald]

Now in all due respect, I think the original spelling was ferrier. The French term is ferrier if referring to a blacksmith.

[Texarkana]

Barn aisle!

[MunchingonHay]

@wsmoak

Your bridle has reins, while a monarch reigns.

But the monarch does not go out when it rains.

[ltmac]

Jump chute, not shoot

[eponacelt]

@Groom_amp_Taxi

The horse has gaits, the farm has gates.

OMG THIS.

[Jealoushe]

RIDING not RIDDING!!! From coaches!!

[strangewings]

BY the stallion
OUT OF the mare

Easy to remember if you treat it as the literal description it is.

[erinmeri]

I cannot for the life of me spell temperament correctly. And when I read it, it looks wrong. So, apologies if I spell it “temperment”!

[Larksmom]

One I see around here a lot is Lose for Loose

[S1969]

@Jealoushe

RIDING not RIDDING!!! From coaches!!

This spelling error makes me insane. What native English speaker can make this mistake? This is 1st grade phonics. Even if you’re a poor speller - this should never occur.

Nor should LOOSE v. LOSE. I don’t get it. It just looks wrong doesn’t it? “Spell correctly or I will loose my mind.” (I will set my mind loose on you??) I don’t get it.

[Bluey]

If horse is itching, it scratches itself, is not “itching” itself.

It is a filly, not philly.

[Bluey]

[Libby2563]

This is timely. Not horse-related, but today I finally lost my patience and had to give my co-workers another lecture on the difference between lying and laying. I once drew a chicken laying an egg on one of their reports I was editing, but apparently the lesson has worn off. Thankfully I finally seem to have won the battle on compose vs comprise, which admittedly is a tough one!

[equinelibrium]

@wsmoak

cavalry and calvary are not the same thing.

I had to explain this to someone a while back. They were so confused by all the churches with “calvary” in the name and wondered why they would name a church after a branch of the military.

Some of these get a free pass because autocorrect thinks it’s smarter than we are. I’ve had it change words on me before. It’s even swapped conformation with confirmation on me. So while it does bug me, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt when they use the wrong word! Things like saying a horse is “out of” a stallion is a bit harder to blame technology for, though…