Menu

Stay in Touch
Sign up for ENews
Subscribe Now

Unlimited access >

Menu

Things you should know but are ashamed to admit you don't...

Archives Favorites
#181

Yep, I have always subscribed to the “velcro always points to the back” line of thought. But usually I don’t know I am wrong until I have wrapped already. Sometimes its because I roll the wraps the wrong way after washing them.

Heck, I have usually just used tendon boots (velcro to the back), and hopefully won’t have to use standing bandages much!

I had a trainer once tell me to start from the OUTSIDE of the leg, and not start on the inside.

I have always started on the inside… any thoughts on that?

#182

wrapping? Forward, outside, then back- works on all 4 legs- altho my vet ALWAYS wraps the left hind wrong- and she grew up on a standardbred farm where they wrapped all the time!:wink: She says as long as the pressure is even, its all good!

#183

"I also can’t “feel” the wrong diagonal. I have to look down. Anyone else have this problem? "

This isn’t so hard to learn. Trot your horse somewhere safe on a straight line, sitting trot, and close your eyes. Try to hear and feel which shoulder is going back and front hoof is hitting the ground, then when you think you’ve got it, look down to check. Keep doing this until you seldom miss. Then try the same thing and start posting while your eyes are shut, then look down to check.

#184

Question - “I don’t know what it means (or what it feels like) to have my horse “in front of my leg”. Um, about half of him is in front of my leg and the other half is in back of my leg, and I thought that was kinda the goal.”

My H-J trainer’s sister substitutes for lessons sometimes. She has the best explaination:

“It is like pushing a wheelbarrow.” Up and in front of you. While your arms lift and drive forward to push the wheelbarrow, your legs and seat work to lift and drive forward the horse’s BALANCE up and in front of you.

I personally invision sucking the horse’s back up into my lap. Works for me.

#185

Okay, here goes…

What the heck does “riding on the buckle” mean???

:o

#186

For me it literally means that I’m riding on the buckle–my hands are holding the buckle part of my reins, or close to it. IOW, I’m riding on a very loose rein, and not asking the horse for any contact.

#187

[QUOTE=Need4speed;2005083]
Okay, here goes…

What the heck does “riding on the buckle” mean???

:o

[/QUOTE]

Riding on the buckle is when you ride with your reins as long as they can be and you hold them where they buckle together, on the buckle.:yes:

#188

Thank you :slight_smile:

#189

Oh, I forgot to mention, I can not french braid.

If you are good at finding the right spot for digital pulses, you can often feel a pulse on a perfectly normal, healthy horse. IMO, it takes a while to get a feel for what’s a normal digital pulse and what’s an excessively strong one, and each horse differs – what’s “elevated” (strong) for one horse may be normal for another. Furthermore, the pulse may be stronger in one leg or another all of the time, and the pulses tend to be stronger after a workout. Finally, I knew a horse who was eventually euthanized due to the horrific pain of acute laminitis without having bounding pulses. You have to evaluate digital pulses in the context of what else is going on with the horse. The correlation between pulse strength and hoof pathology is far from perfect.

To look for a digital pulse on the fetlock, feel the end of the cannon bone, then look for the sesamoids in the back. In between these two hard spots, there will be a squishy spot, which is where your blood vessels run.

#190

what I don’t know

  1. I can’t figure out the difference between good contact and pulling on his mouth.
  2. I can’t see a distance to save my life. When I’m 1 away I can tell if it will be good but am always surprised when it is bad.
    3)Unless I’m huffing and puffing to get my horse to go forward I can’t tell if he’s in front of my leg.
  3. I have no feel and don’t know how to get any.
  4. I have no concept of where my body actually is on my horse. When I think I’m leaning back , my trainer says I’m straight. When I think I’m straight, she says I’m ahead. When I think I’m ahead, we’re all in trouble!
  5. I have no idea how to feel what is going on with my horse behind the saddle (where his haunches are). I can only tell where his shoulders are by looking at them.

Tennis, anyone?

I can determine lamenesses by look and feel and am right about which leg it is almost all of the time, no matter how subtle!

#191

I can’t braid

I hate riding bareback

I hate trail riding

#192

In my mind, I would like to continue riding. In my body, something is telling me…watch out!!! You are not going to bounce this time!!!

#193

[QUOTE=flogarty;2005259]
I can’t braid

I hate riding bareback

I hate trail riding[/QUOTE]
:eek: Sounds like you had a bad day…

#194

I cannot ever remember the difference between a half turn and a half turn in reverse. :cool:

#195

[QUOTE=Linny;2005624]
I cannot ever remember the difference between a half turn and a half turn in reverse. :cool:[/QUOTE]

A half turn is a U. A half turn in reverse is an S. That help? :lol:

We used to call them “jumper reverse” and “hunter reverse”.

I know there is so much I dont’ know… but I"m such a geek that I have to look anything up when I don’t know.

When I did my coaching exam, the examininer asked me what a ‘curb’ was. As in, where you would find a curb injury on a horse. I had NO idea. Told her that. “I have NO idea!!” Then almost started laughing, cos I aced the rest of the test.
I looked it up with a vet, who laughed. Turns out it’s a very archaic english draught/driving horse type term for an injury you’d really never see on a typical riding or H/J horse :lol:

#196

I have questions:

  1. Why is it called a “vertical” when clearly the rails are all “horizontal”?
  2. I cannot body clip to save my life.
  3. confounded by farriers and their reasonings.

But I can:

  1. discern a pending colic from 500 paces away
  2. detect the slightest lameness
  3. clean a stall with the best of them

Swagger tabs do not make me swagger either :winkgrin:

#197
  1. Why is it called a “vertical” when clearly the rails are all “horizontal”?
    If you look at the fence from the side, it is all in one vertical plane. Other fences, when viewed from the side, have more than one vertical plane :slight_smile:
#198

I just learned thanks to DD’s horsemanship class in college that-
The gallop is in fact a fourth gait with four beats as opposed to the canter with three.
That backing a horse is actually the trot backwards. Legs move on the diagonal. Left front right hind. Right front left hind.
And to think all those years that I heard “walk backwards” about the cadence.
Sheesh so many years so much to learn. :eek:

#199

Turns out it’s a very archaic english draught/driving horse type term for an injury you’d really never see on a typical riding or H/J horse

My Gotta-friend had a curb. He was not typical in any description, but he was a hunter. :slight_smile:

#200

Standard for reins is that the more used, or more necessary, one goes on the inside; less used goes on the outside. Goes for pelhams, gags, draw reins, etc. Basically, you don’t want to be cranking on the pelham rein when you just need a little “woah” from your snaffle rein. You can always switch 'em. Doesn’t really matter.

Thank you for this! I’ve been having a problem regulating the length of my curb rein - when I switched the curb to the outside rein it totally solved the problem. Thanks!

Get your Digital Subscription here - only $21.95 / year

Subscribe here
See gift options

Sign up to our monthly newsletter!

By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.

Copyright © 2023 The Chronicle of the Horse