My comment was polite. Not sure why you are flipping out.
There’s no rule here that if you think something is strange, you are not permitted to express an opinion.
By the way
“You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger.” Buddha
[QUOTE=egontoast;3132824]
My comment was polite. Not sure why you are flipping out.
There’s no rule here that if you think something is strange, you are not permitted to express an opinion.
By the way[/QUOTE]
Flipping out:lol::lol::lol::lol::no::no::eek:
[QUOTE=canticle;3132542]
http://www.naturalhoof.co.nz/covers.html[/QUOTE]
So…do earings make my ears colder? :lol: (Of course referencing the hypothesis that the metal nails in the hoof make the hooves cold).
FWIW, my horses aren’t any colder without their wiskers. AND, they are noticibly toasty and comfortable in their rugs. When they fluff their fur, the are notibly cold and uncomfortable and get much happier when I toss on a sheet.
Actually, the one time my horse was truly miserable was when he was turned out 24/7 for a winter and wasn’t blanketed. He was out with a herd, on pasture, with a 3 sided shelter, supplemented with hay and grain and alfalfa pellets, AND was barefoot. Go figure. :rolleyes: (I ended up blanketing him and he was more comfortable, but living out just wasn’t his thing. He’s more of a 1/2 and 1/2 guy).
Off Topic, but I just couldn’t resist…
As to the topic at hand, I trim whiskers, goat hair, bridlepath, and I clean up the ears only if showing but don’t trim inside them. Leave the eye whiskers. My friend and I call those long fuzzies that stick out of their ears “Einsteins.” I hate to shave them, really. They’re so cute.
I shave their legs up to the knees as here horses tend to get scratches and fungus and this helps easily wash and dry the lower legs. I bodyclip horses that are in active work in the winter, but I avoid doing so to horses that tend to be more sensitive to the cold or tend to be tight horses.
I bang tails as this aids growth and keeps them tidier.
I’m pretty meticulous about turnout.
[QUOTE=Kareen;3130881]
I’m not quite sure where this ‘Europe doesn’t turnout’ idea comes from. Must be from foreigners spending too much time in freak dressage barns vs. the normal horseworld.
Yeah, I wonder too. I guess it’s sort of like all the Europeans feeling sorry for the horses going off to America to spend their life worked only in an arena.
I find it quite amussing all the assumptions I’ve found about my fellow country folk whilst living here.
But having lived in both places, both sides make stupid assumptions about one another.
Terri
egon - every time I want to read something strange, I visit the dressage forum! It never fails to satisfy!:lol:
Never seen so many people arguing over how many angles can dance on the head of a pin. Quite entertaining. :winkgrin:
To clip, or not to clip. Who gives a crap.
I don’t show anymore, but even so my horses all have clipped muzzles, bridlepaths, jaws and the edges of ears. I do eyes if I’m going to be in public and inside of ears if for some reason I would show and it’s not winter. I do not do fetlocks because it rains a lot here and if I do, I am just asking for a case of scratches. I refuse, however, to bang a tail or pull a mane ( I think both look ridiculous). BTW, my horses are out 24/7 and I’ve never seen a one of them have a problem because their muzzle is shaved. I always think when I am at dressage shows, that most of the horses look untidy compared to my trail horses.
That goes for pretty much ANY show horse. Every day I drive past a western pleasure and hunter show barn. I was curious about taking some lessons there so I stopped in one day. There are around 120 stalls. No acreage, no pastures, not even a SINGLE turnout paddock. NOT ONE. Some of the horses at that barn barely get out of their stalls all winter The trainer said it’s a real shame but some people only show up once a month all winter and then as show season starts, they hire her to work the horse 6 days a week to prep it. I asked if the horses go bezerk with zero turnout and zero work. She said no, not really. They do the “normal” stuff like crib and weave but they’re all easy to handle when you clean stalls and stuff. Well, sorry but that’s not “normal” to me. :eek:
When I lived in TN I drove past many walking horse barns that didn’t have a single turnout paddock one.
All show disciplines have a healthy dose of members on the lunatic fringe.
I wouldn’t keep my own horses locked up 24/7 but as long as it’s not ilegal, people will keep locking them up for years wondering why they suffer navicular, colic, cribbing, chronic thrush, weaving, anxiety, ulcers, etc.
When I took lessons at that show barn, almost half the horses wore cribbing collars. Some had trenches dug in their stalls from weaving. One horse had his stall covered in sheet metal because he’d chewed through all the wood. Something is REALLY wrong here, but as long as there’s a 23 cent blue ribbon in the pot, come hell or high water, that horse ain’t going outside.
I trim long, unruly hairs but I don’t shave ears, whiskers, or eyebrows. The only thing I’ve ever shaved is mane and forelock (roach.) I used to keep fetlock hair trimmed pretty short but I quit that. I do cut tails straight across the bottom and keep manes and bridlepaths trimmed and upkept.
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