How are we educating ourselves these days?

[Obsidian_Fire]

I was thinking yesterday about horse care. How so much of what I’ve learned came from magazines. Some ‘sport focused’ but others more care-focused, such as Equus and The Horse.
I’ve always been a reader; reading magazines or books in bed, absorbing the information, then asking more experienced folks for help understanding/applying it (such as my vet or more experienced friend).

Now, much of this is gone. Oh, they come out quarterly, but they are nothing like they used to be. Maybe all this has gone digital, but frankly, I don’t “read” on the computer or my phone.

It occurred to me yesterday that I don’t feel as up to date as I’d like to be. I visit COTH frequently, and I learn a lot from all of you, but that’s not quite the same.

So, where and how is everyone learning these days?

[Texarkana]

I agree and I don’t have an answer. I used to be such a voracious consumer of all things horse. Magazines, books, even catalogs I’d read cover to cover.

When I pick up one of the few remaining horse magazines these days, I find them underwhelming. I don’t know if that’s because I’m older and more experienced, or because they are putting out lesser quality content.

Blogs, Vlogs, and Internet forums like this one had a moment, but that moment seems to have passed. I’m still active here because I like the community, not because it’s a great educational resource.

Now social media content is mostly Facebook pages/groups, IG accounts, and TikToks. And I really hate the echo chambers those create. It’s a lot less education and more of herding behavior and hero worship of people you “like.”

Even IRL, people don’t seem to hang out at the barn and chat, watch, and observe like they used to. Everyone is hyper-focused on themselves.

ETA: podcasts have really come in clutch to fill the void! I completely forgot about those but they are definitely where I’m being exposed to new ideas.

[Phean]

Im in the same boat as you especially since you can find all kinds of craziness on the internet! Ive been out of horses for about 25 years so lots of changes. Some are gadgets and some are genuine improvements. To sus out in terms of equipment what is what I follow some of the top riders in my field and see what they use for similar my issues. For vet knowledge I follow this FB page. It’s easy to read because ONLY vets can respond to someone’s post. It’s a great learning tool. Horse Vet Corner℠ (ONLY APPROVED VETERINARIANS COMMENT). Im curious to see what other suggestions you get. Always so much to learn!

[Jackie_Cochran]

Nowadays I am studying Horse Anatomy.

This is really clarifying to me as I try to be the best rider I can be while riding the horse humanely, in accordance to the conformation of the particular horse.

This is taking me a long time. I discuss the stuff I learn with my riding teachers and we get into good discussions.

When I finally get a good, mostly accurate mental model of a horse in my mind then I will add a deeper study of horse movement, then I will integrate all this knowledge when I read books on equitation, to see if what the author proposes adds to the comfort of the ridden horse.

So far my lesson horse and my riding teachers have reacted positively to what I have learned.

When I started riding seriously over 50 years ago it was so terribly DIFFICULT to find books on horse anatomy. This made learning more challenging for me, much less integrating knowledge into riding horses effectively. Now, thanks to the internet, I can find the books on horse anatomy and buy them and my knowledge has increased immensely. I have found some sites on the internet to be helpful also as far as filling in many details.

I also have bought so many books on equitation through the internet, books that had been referred to in the books I read oh so long ago, but which were not available. Now I can buy these books, read them, think about them, and discuss them with my riding teachers and the lesson horses. The horses in particular often have definite opinions about what I’ve read!

I sort of miss reading the magazines but I can get so much more information from the books, when I can find the books and buy them.

[Alterration]

For farrier care I subscribe to the American Farriers Journal. I am not a farrier, but I like to know what innovations are out there so I can ask intelligent questions of my farrier who thankfully tolerates my billion inquiries.

I read loads of equine medical studies on the various journal sites to try to understand the latest in veterinary research. I haven’t found a great laymen’s resource that isn’t aimed at beginners. Equus used to be awesome for that, but either the content has gotten poorer or I’ve outgrown it, not sure which.

For training, I go back to old books and new books plus a sprinkle of equine studies. That one is a bit harder as I’m constantly reading new studies, evaluating whether I think the study was done well (some of the set ups in the equine behavior studies seem solid as a scientific study but IMO do not have a large enough sample size), seeing how it maps to historical knowledge, plus my past learning and new lessons, and then integrating it.

And I still learn from discussions on COTH which sometimes alert me to things I hadn’t seen or read about yet and then I go investigate them.

Some of the equine Facebook groups become so cult-like and don’t allow varying opinions so though I read many, I take a lot of it with a HUGE grain of salt.

[sherian]

agree the magazines are now mostly pretty pictures and very little actual information. Fb and instagram type platforms are hit and miss - some are good information presented by qualified people but a lot of them are just self proclaimed gurus and their rabid followers. I have found that some vet universities and ag offices have been doing good webinaires on health care and farm management, and I do have a NF masterclass subscription which has had some good courses by a variety of well known trainers.

[LCDR]

My personal learning preference is visual. That’s how I learned anatomy, from cadavers, and surgery, from observing my teachers in the operating room. I was not around then, but groups of observers used to sit in galleries in operating rooms to watch procedures. I have no idea how they really saw anything, though.

Videos, as grainy as they used to be, and observation of other riders, played a significant part in my riding education. God only knows how many times I watched the same George Morris video trying to understand the mechanics of jumping. Pictures as well. I recall back when George Morris critiqued the styles of three different rider’s photos in a magazine (name not recalled) among the many horse magazines I subscribed to decades ago. When that magazine arrived, those analyses were the first thing I would turn to.

Today I do not receive any horse magazines other than COTH, though I do randomly surf on-line versions to read some articles. I have found that even COTHtoday is hard to read for me. I think they are using less ink and smaller fonts. It couldn’t really be my vision getting worse,could it? But I am glad Coth puts these articles on line so I can increase the screen size and enjoy them.

So my current learning of physical things, from riding to repairing a tractor or a vacuum cleaner, is based on videos, thanks to the folks who spend the time and effort to produce them. And thanks to You Tube. If I were still an active scientist, I suppose suppose there are still professional journals, but I have been retired so many years I have no idea whether they are now on line or still in a paper format.

[FjordBCRF]

I have done a multitude of webinars from different universities or extension services; FWS, Hay analysis…things like that. I paid for a few online certificate courses through UMN recently that I thought were great; Horse nutrition, Easy keepers and Growing hay. One of our local vet clinics has been doing seminars on some Saturday at Big Dee’s which Ive been to; ulcers and vaccines + EHV-1. We also have seminars through our local chapter of the Ohio Horsemans Council that another one of the vet clinics has participated in, that one was for Lyme.

Lots of good stuff like that in my area!

Oh! And Podcasts. I like The Humble Hoof Podcast, Feed Room Chemist, and Standlees Beyond the Barn are all really interesting and seemingly up to date with current science. Platinum has one called It Starts Within too that I have on my list but haven’t listened to yet.

[Obsidian_Fire]

I’m glad I’m not the only person who feels this way! @Texarkana I’m with you on the magazine content - I let my subscriptions lapse when they ran out because there was just nothing of substance there, like there used to be.
I loved reading Equus and the Deb Bennett historical articles on breeds and such. The case reports.

It seems to me the print mags are more “lifestyle” publications these days with their glossy pages and shallow writing.

@Phean I do follow HVC. It is interesting for sure. I do also get Farriers Journal. I get Eclectic Horseman also.

My vets office has recently begun hosting several different seminars on horsekeeping topics. They’ve had ones on Basic First Aid, Breeding, Farrier cases, etc.

@LCDR that was Practical Horseman. I did that too, lol. It’s one way I learned to teach my eye to see good jumping form.

I know there’s lots of stuff digitally. I just hate it. Call me an old fuddy duddy, but I want to hold a magazine or book in my hand and take my time absorbing it.
I follow a lot of different FB groups, but I really hate the pile-on of commenters, it’s almost impossible to wade thru and find actual information as opposed to all the know-it-alls who obviously don’t know. It turns me off in a really big hurry.
Sigh.

[Alterration]

@Obsidian_Fire

I get Eclectic Horseman also.

Ahhh I forgot this one - I actually really like Eclectic Horseman.

I think the Case Reports were my favorite part of Equus. When I was a kid I’d get older copies from the library and I read them so often the covers would fall off. One particular article that stuck out was the Horse with the Tooth in it’s Ear, which later became very relevant as I had a dermoid cyst in my body and I will admit I was excited for a moment that it was just like that horse (I am SUCH a nerd).

Horse of Course used to be pretty good (no idea whether that one actually still exists at all) as were the old practical horseman’s. I loved the jumping clinic (even though it was GM, who we all now despise). I haven’t picked up one in awhile, but I didn’t find much useful the last time I did.

I do LIKE digital things also, but I loved the feeling of being able to have a stack of magazines in a basket and reading them over and over again until the covers fell off. I still have a stack of 20 year old PH (not the originals that I had which were from the 70s and 80s) that I cannot bring myself to throw away and periodically pick up. I’m really sentimental about old horse books as they got me through much of my youth.

[sherian]

I will age myself with this one but there used to be a book club that was all horse books - one of those 6 books for a 5$ or whatever than the rest at regular price. That was heavenly!

[Djones]

I follow a couple of vet practices on FB for interesting cases they post.

I watch training videos I find interesting. There are a few trainers I enjoy watching work through quirky horses. Those are on YT.

For the rest, it’s really these forums and crowd-sourcing. Some books, but I’m at a stage in my horse life that there’s nothing I’m super fascinated or into right-now. I’ve plateaued LOL

Magazines are going the way of the Dodo bird. Too expensive to print and ship and can’t compete with online advertising and online ease of updating/running.

[randomequine]

I’m going to have to check out the podcasts…I never thought to look for horse related ones!

University of Minnesota Equine Extension puts out a ton of great information, webinars, and has actual certificate courses - I took one in Jan/Feb on managing overweight horses and it was really in depth with downloadable content, book recommendations, videos, and discussion posts for $75!

[RhythmNCruise]

Honestly, COTH is my first destination when I have a question about something. I have come to rely on a few members here who are pretty reliable in certain areas (like @JB in nutrition).

Or I’ll just Google whatever it is I want to know more about and go down the rabbit hole. Youtube videos, like everything else in life, can also be educational in the realm of horses.

I feel like I know quite a bit about equine nutrition now and all of that has come from just looking things up and reading various online articles as well as forum discussions about advances in the field.

One of the things I like about a forum like this one is hearing other people’s experiences. There is always something to learn from what others have experienced, IMO. Just today I was reading a thread totally unrelated to respiratory issues that kind of swerved onto that topic (because…okay it COULD be related). My gelding has respiratory issues and exhibits some of the behaviors various posters were mentioning and it was so enlightening to just read their experiences and discoveries. It really made me think about my gelding and some of his quirks that I don’t think of as being related to his respiratory issues…but now it makes me wonder if they could be.

I like stuff like that. Always opens my eyes to new possibilities.

But yeah…magazines are pretty worthless now. It’s easier to find a hundred articles online in a matter of seconds than find anything helpful in an issue of a magazine these days. I did love them back in the day though…especially Practical Horseman. I always loved the Conformation Clinic. I learned a lot about correct conformation from those.

And I guess…I learned MOST of my basic horse husbandry from taking lessons and being in lesson/training/competition programs as a teenager. I didn’t just learn how to ride. I learned how to groom (from brushing to bathing to clipping to braiding), take care of tack, feed, clean a stall, wrap legs, do light veterinary/wound care, administer medication, rub a horse down, poultice legs, etc, etc, etc. because that was part of what I had to do as a rider, competitor, and horse owner.

[colorfan]

I listen to podcasts but: it is hard to find good ones, and as good as some of them are they get repetitive. They seem to be all one flavour focus, which can be great but some of the magazines were more like a buffet. I miss them.

[Flyaways]

• Podcasts, especially because my commute can be long. I like Straight from the Horse Doctor’s Mouth, the Humble Hoof, and Sport Horse Podcast. The “Ask the Horse” podcast isn’t bad either.
  For riding - I’ve listened to a few of the Equestrian Performance Mindset podcast, some are more helpful than others.
• I have a lot of old PH magazines an old trainer gave me, so I like to flip through those (a few years back I actually took them all apart and sorted the articles by topic in hopes that I would read them more. But it’s hard to find time). New magazines I can borrow from my library through Libby… as others have said the articles can be hit or miss.
• USEF Network used to have a lot of good full-length clinic videos. Not sure how many of those have made their way over to the new clipmyhorse site.
• Youtube has a surprising number of full-length clinic videos: Pawsandrewind, Ride On Video, Dodson & Horrell are good sources. Red Showjumping has a lot of show jumping videos sorted by rider, including in the warm-up ring.
• I’ve done the USHJA Adult Horsemanship Quiz challenge for a few years now. They have a study guide you can download as a PDF

[FjordBCRF]

I was in that course too!!