Just this week I had the large animal vet out for spring shots. I said something about having a look at the nodule on the off side of the mare’s neck. The vet went “huh?” I said it again and then had to say “her right side.” He didn’t know the terms whatsoever.
Thinking about this, I tend to think near and off for unmounted use (lead from the near side, first connect your girth from the off side, etc.) and left and right/inside and outside for mounted directions.
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Some of us know and have used all the jargon and have preferred to move on with the times and use current colloquialisms. Doesn’t mean we don’t know it, just means we have moved on and embraced current terminology which does no harm to anyone and does not make us less knowledgeable.
That said, I do think that everyone should know all the jargon as it’s an important part of horsemanship history.
The things that drive me nuts and may make me a bit judge are “back hock” (as opposed to front hock? Lol) and the use of near and off in relation to where a person is standing and not as a substitute for left and right. Yes, this is a thing and has had me confused more than once.
Another that is confusing, but not detrimental in any way is seeing charts marked up in my absence with BR or FL instead or RH and LF respectively. Same legs, but it takes me a second to “translate” LoL o
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my daughter who was four at the time won her very first class she was in because she did just what the judge said… turn your horse to the right and return to the line up… problem was the judge meant to say my right as where she was standing daughter had to to turn her horse into the judge …so daughter did as she was told turning the horse into the judge who at first was shocked then realized just what she said then laughed saying daughter was the only one of the sixteen or so kids that did what they were told, so she won the class
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I used to groom for a woman with show hunters who insisted that her horses have at least 27 braids. She had one mare and two geldings and wanted that 27 on both. She told me that in appointment classes, if there was a tie, the judge would count the braids or check the type of sandwich in the case.
The things that drive me nuts and may make me a bit judge are “back hock” (as opposed to front hock? Lol)
I’ve heard people refer to the hock as the back knee.
I think perhaps near and off are useful because they refer to rge horse’s left and right, no matter where the person is standing. When you are riding, the horse and the rider share the same perspective. I don’t think any riding instructor ever said “turn off” for “turn left.”
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I have heard that and actually said, “It’s true that the stifle is the equivalent of our knee, but …” and then I get that they mean the hock and I die a little inside.
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The horse’s left/near is always its left/near, same as yours. I had a discussion with a cow person over this. He had marked the cow on her left leg and written it down as being the right side of her udder that was an issue. He said, when I’m facing her it’s on the right. I told him to show me his left hand and then turn away from me and show me his left hand. We laughed. He managed the exercise without even giving me the finger (of his left hand) LoL
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LOL I have never mounted my bike from the off side. I never even thought about it.
My instructor said something about it taking me some time to follow directions. I said it was because he was using left and right instead of inside and outside.
I was taught my left from my right when standing West. So in my mind I have to face west and then cone back to where I actually am. Say inside or outside hand and I can move it immediately
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I’ve been a cyclist my entire life, ever since I learned to ride a bike at about the age of five. I always mount from the left. I mount horses from the left, and mostly entered my pony cart from the left as well.
Rebecca
Near and off are equivalent to passenger and driver’s for a car. They refer to the sides of the animal/vehicle. Just as you wouldn’t say “turn passenger”, near and off are not used to give directions.
I can and regularly do mount from the off side, but I have practiced and remember very well how discombobulated I was when first doing it. It’s easier to start learning by using a mounting block.
I go back to my childhood home, imagine standing in the street facing the stop sign on the corner. My right hand is the closest to the sign. I still use this, although as I’ve aged my back regularly reminds me which side is left lol
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Somewhat related…I recently noticed that I am the only person at my barn who says “change the rein” when I am reversing direction while riding in the ring. I was definitely taught that this is the correct thing to say when I was a kid in the 70s.
Now, at my farm anyway, the instructors say some variation of “turn around” or “go the other direction/way”.
To me, changing the rein is also a specific movement–you do it via a diagonal line across the ring (short or long). If you just turn around on the rail or similar, that is reversing. The kids are taught to use the diagonal to change direction, but they do not call it changing the rein.
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I’m with the OP. My first experience with horses was my Girl Scout badge in 1959 when I was 11. Per Mrs. Cadley it was nearside and offside.
I’m really a sailor at heart. Shoulder surgery wiped out an entire summer of sailing so I volunteered at a barn across from my condo that had a therapeutic program. I bought a horse and sold the boat. I thought my horse was much less dangerous, being on the land rather than single-handing on the Gulf of Maine with strong winds and big waves. I spent quite a lot of time on a 90’ schooner, usually sleeping on a bunk in the number one hole on the port side. New owners invited me back to see the boat rebuilt. I couldn’t do it because they sleep in rooms with queen size beds and running water and go up and down stairs, not ladders. Ridiculous.
My horse had a cutaneous hemangiosarcoma (extremely rare lesion) removed last July and I still can’t figure out what to call the location. It’s at the turn of the bilge. You know, where the hull curves from the side to the bottom, on the starboard side towards the stern.
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I have been surprised that the near and off terms are not used more often on this board, especially in the discussions involving lameness. I suppose it is becoming an unknown term. Is anyone else reminded of the term, “Adam’s off ox”?
These days Vets and farrier refer to right and left in radiographs.
You might discuss an issue with the distal phalanx (coffin bone) on the RF hoof (right front).
No one is going to look at radiographs labeled RF and LF and translate back to off and near. So I think modern vet diagnostics influence how we talk about feet.
Perhaps the images are labled R and L so they aren’t read back to front?
Sigh… Count me among the Relics 
Bet the kids don’t know a what a Buttonhook turn is either.
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I am not alone.
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Near and off are universal.
My passenger side of the car is on the off side of the car. Your passenger side of the car is probably on the near side of the car.
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