It looks like it’s been a while since we’ve had one of these threads! I’m an adult beginner and I often wonder how to pronounce certain horsey words.
So to start…
Breeches: is it like beaches but with an R? Breeks? Britches?
Cavesson: ka-veh-sun?
Mattes: mat-ess?
Schleese: Sh-Lease?
Add your own if you are curious how others pronounce certain words!
We were taught to say”britches” in the 1950’s. Is it correct? I don’t know, but I still use it. Habit is strong.
britches or breeches is correct. Breeks was not popular in my area but is a thing.
Cavesson - correct.
In my area MATeez
shLAYzuh
Used to say “britches” but switched to “breaches” because that seems to be the norm now.
Mattes pad is “mats pad.” No idea if that’s correct.
Here’s a very dumb one: how do you guys say “equine?”
I’ve heard ee-quine, eh-quin, and eh-quine (all from equestrians I respect, no less!)
I usually say ee-quine, but sometimes eh-quine (they rhyme with wine).
I would never say eh-quin (rhymes with swim) and would think it strange if i heard it.
Same! I heard it from the seasoned head coach of my university’s equestrian team. I was a young lowly barn worker at the time, so it turned my head (but I assumed maybe I wasn’t cultured enough to know the proper pronunciation, ha!)
Regional accents in the English speaking world vary a lot in how they produce vowel sounds. British English has vowel sounds that don’t really exist in my Canadian English. Also words borrowed from other languages can get Anglicized out of recognition (especially French and Latin words borrowed centuries ago). And the perceived meanings can alter.
Like longe line, which is just French for long line. But when we pronounce it lunge line, or make a verb “to longe” pronounced “to lunge,” it gives a very different picture in our mind! Especially as longeing in reality is often trying to control a horse that wants to lunge!
Strongyle.
My vet pronounces it stron jile, with the “j” sound, and short “i”,
Trainer as stron gile, with a hard “g” sound and long “i”,
And on youtube I have heard stron gull, like the seashore bird.
And I just avoid the word, as I am confused about the correct pronunciation.
That is correct as Schlease is German
“Breeks” is a Scots word for what Brits might call trousers, Americans call pants, and Brits (regardless of which country of the United Kingdom they are from) definitely don’t call pants 'cause that means something different.
I rhyme “equine” with “wine.”
Strongyle as “strong-gile” with a hard G, rhyming with “bile.” No idea if that’s correct.
Lunge/longe is weird. I usually see it spelled the former way, and everyone certainly pronounces it that way. I think the French spelling, with the ‘o,’ is no doubt the original one, but language is fluid and evolving, int it no, so I think “lunge” has become so commonplace for English speaking horse people on both sides of the Atlantic that it’s correct as well.
How about Draught/Draft? That one is so fluid that I absentmindedly used both spellings in my horsey novel and had to fix it. I don’t think it matters which one you use, but you should be consistent.
I’m unclear on how to pronounce Uckele. I usually say “the ukulele stuff” which is purposely wrong to express that I don’t know how to say it.
You’re close!
Crupper. According to English pronunciation rules the paired “p” means the u should be “uh”, but no one I know recognizes it spoken unless it’s pronounced “croo-per”. How do drivers pronounce it?
“Eh-quine”. Rimes with wine. Plural is Equines, just FWIW.
I’ve been trying to get a definitive answer on this one for a long time:
My equine steering device is a length of 5/8in Yacht Rope, with a scissors snap on either end.
“Rein”, or still “Reins” ?
YOU-kuh-lee! Okay! Thanks!
FWIW, “breach” is a completely different word from the one meaning pants. Pants are breeches.
We pronounce it croo-per, but we harness race and also call hopples hobbles.
Everyone I know says cruh-per except my mom. She swears it’s croo-per. My DH calls it the “tail thing”.
I only learned hobbles are hopples are few years ago, Big Dee’s catalogue taught me that 
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