Things that make you cringe...

[triple]

I’m in a grump today, (the January grinch has given up smoking and is quite easily rattled as a result) so I felt like a bit of a rant.Hence, below a few of those things riders do/say that leave your jaw drop to the floor or make you physically cringe.

I cannot count the number of times I have seen relatively inexperienced riders changing a snaffle mouthed horse into a three/four ring gag and riding solely on the bottom ring for “control”, particularly on ride-outs/trails- and then wondering why the horse begins to react by going up when they cannot go forward.

People having a chat at the arena gate/wall with their horse across the track, blocking everyone else from riding on the track. :mad:

Anyone else got any?

[ManyDogs]

Horses ambling out of the open gate as I get back in my car.
Most “horse for sale” ads on Craigslist.

It’s sunny, the wind isn’t blowing, and I have coffee, so I’m not too grumpy…yet.

Good luck with quitting smoking. Years ago DH quit smoking, coffee, and red meat all at once. Yeah, that worked. :-). He did quit smoking so it can be done!

[triple]

[QUOTE=ManyDogs;7949851]
Yeah, that worked. :-). He did quit smoking so it can be done![/QUOTE]

Always good to hear it can be done… on the upside, I haven’t murdered anyone for looking at me crooked and I’ve been off them a week, so I consider that a bonus. :winkgrin:

[2DogsFarm]

Right now listening to the eternally cheerful weather forecasters (what are they smoking?) as they report current temps & wind chill.
So far today is in the positive numbers, we could even reach double digits!
Sun is out & wind is calm.
My coffee is perking, so my outlook is good… For now.

[OveroHunter]

When people leave rope halters on their horses in the stall or when they’re turned out. Bonus points if the halter is super loose around the nose/chin area.

[ShotenStar]

People who feed their horses what amounts to a ‘bread and water’ diet (poor quality hay and/or no/poor quality commercial feed), then complain about the poor quality of the critter’s feet and coat and the constant vet bills for repeat colics.

Star

[shakeytails]

I’m far from a safety nazi, but the thing that makes me cringe is when someone wraps a lead lead around their hand.

[msj]

I have so many things that make me cringe, I’d be here forever but the most recent thing was someone who supposedly worked with horses saying how tall the one horse was - 17.4! :eek: :rolleyes:

triple, good luck with quiting. I did it after 40 yrs of heavy smoking (2 pack/day) so it is possible. But, I’ll be honest, I don’t own a gun cause I’d also have to own a backhoe to bury to the bodies of the people that pissed me off! :yes:

[danceronice]

[QUOTE=2DogsFarm;7949864]
Right now listening to the eternally cheerful weather forecasters (what are they smoking?) as they report current temps & wind chill.
So far today is in the positive numbers, we could even reach double digits!
Sun is out & wind is calm.
My coffee is perking, so my outlook is good… For now.[/QUOTE]

I don’t know, around here I think the cheerful edge to the weather reports are the meteorologists trying desperately not to have a hysterical fit…It’s sunny, anyway, so while it’s still stupidly cold, the snow has finally stopped.

[triple]

[QUOTE=msj;7949927]
But, I’ll be honest, I don’t own a gun cause I’d also have to own a backhoe to bury to the bodies of the people that pissed me off! :yes:[/QUOTE]

Ha! Right there with you!!

ShotenStar - agreed; also people not feeding blood horses in work hard feed because they are “fizzy” and wondering why they’re a spindle cage of ribs and legs in two weeks.

I have known a few throughbred-type owners very guilty of this - do not buy a hot horse and try to calm it by effectively starving it!?!!

[DJohn]

I have many…

Main ones:

-When people clip a chain lead back to itself instead of just clipping it to the ring or (for it’s intended purpose) over the nose. SO MANY accidents happen due to this, and it drives me crazy.

• Baker blankets. Why does anyone like them? They pull at the withers/shoulders, collect dirt and shavings like mad and slide off one side every time!

• People who let their horses paw. Stop this.

• People who let their horses assault the farrier (and let them get away with it!)

• People who don’t pass left to left when riding.

[TheBrownHorse]

[QUOTE=shakeytails;7949920]
I’m far from a safety nazi, but the thing that makes me cringe is when someone wraps a lead lead around their hand.[/QUOTE]

This. This right here sends my blood pressure through the roof. Probably largely out of fear!

[raff]

Yesterday, after a lame mare, so painful she was lying down, had the shoe that had been twisted up and under her sole reset. They didn’t soak it or wrap it, just led her, limping out into the mud
In general, people chasing horses to see their movement. Crowding or even bumping into me in the arena. Standing across the track, walking on the track when people are trying to work. Claiming left to left isn’t a thing for a reason then cutting me off. High headed sweating nervous horses ridden once a week, sometimes double, with big hardwear by novice riders. Any claim that what is simply easier for the staff is actually done because it is better for the horses (never the other way round!)
But mostly, awfully, blaming the horse by claiming it is capable of cognition it is NOT CAPABLE OF aaarrrrhhggg!!!
Ah, that feels better

[Abbie.S]

“…because my trainer/barn owner/barn manager/best friend/the President told me so.”

The first part of that sentence being anything from bit choice to shoeing decisions to training methods.

In short, people not doing their due diligence as horse owners and researching for themselves.

[Bluey]

A big one for me, people that start a horse under saddle, do everything so carefully and well, then, once the horse is saddled, they don’t keep working with the horse and easing it out and letting it feel the cinch, etc. … but turn it loose and shoo it off!
Then wonder why the horse takes off bucking and keeps on bucking.

If you want bucking stock, fine, if you want quiet, mannerly riding horses, teach them to be just that, not bucking stock!

Don’t teach what you don’t want the horse to do, there practice so well the motor memory of bucking when something sets them off.

Keep the horse under control and keep teaching him to move with the new, strange feeling, smoothly and easily forward.

No fireworks for the gallery, that may think it is fun and games to watch them buck, because you won’t think it is funny when some just keep on using what you just taught them when something else sets them off.

Didn’t I say that is something that gets me on my soap box?

[Foxtrot_s]

Ha! and because it is winter, grey and cold:

People who chase horses to see them move - yup.
People who lunge a horse madly round and round to tire them out, but not to educate them.
People who admit to wearing thongs (on their feet!) and crocs in the barn - there are threads about that.
People who offer Come To Jesus meetings with their horses.
The rope around the hand - seen it with an unwilling loader - broke her fingers.
Helmetless riders, especially on the roads.
People who have to go out and “Parelli” their horses.
People who have been around horses for - say - a year and are the instant expert.
Rude people on COTH just because they can.

…ahh - feel better now.

[mht]

[QUOTE=Foxtrot’s;7950279]

People who have been around horses for - say - a year and are the instant expert.

.[/QUOTE]

This would be 3/4 of the people on OTTB Connect on facebook. This is what makes me cringe.

[rhymeswithfizz]

People who tie horses to things they shouldn’t…

• cars (really??)
• metal panels (picture a horse galloping down a driveway still tied to the panel, with the panel bouncing and clanging off horse’s back and legs)
• trailers without a breakaway (horse panics, pulls back, halter breaks, horse goes over backwards)
• the aluminum bars of my stall (my boarder did that in my barn and broke the bar, impossible to fix without disassembling the entire stall wall)

Use a little piece of twine, peeps! It’s not hard, it’s not rocket science.

[Frostbitten]

People who tie horses by their reins. Polar fleece blankets - I get static just thinking about it. People who put a winter blanket on in November and don’t remove it until April. People who feed other people’s horses treats without asking.

[Angelico]

“Rescues” currently seem to be making me cringe the most.

There is a “rescue” type place the next state over from me that “specializes” in OTTB’s. I was recently looking at their FB page and saw that these people go out to auctions several times a month and “rescue” every OTTB they find. Every time they attend an auction they post on FB asking for donations so that they can have the $ to buy any horses they may find there, the purchase prices are usually $300-400.

Their posts usually read “hurry and donate, we’ll need $X amount to outbid the kill buyer!”

And

“Okay guys, we’ve got $X dollars in donations in, that should be enough to save two, but there are three horses here and we really don’t want to see one go to the kill buyer!”

I was shocked at how many people fall for it and donate, this group almost always gets the $ to buy the horses they want. I’m all for taking in a horse that’s fallen on hard times, but how stupid are these people? You are telling me you don’t even have the couple hundred bucks to buy these animals but you are going to “rescue” them?

I’ve been spending too much time on the computer this week. The daytime high is 20 degrees and the races are cancelled.