What are your biggest red flags that you notice in horsepeople?

[dungrulla]

@Chall

People, under stress who raise the volume of their voice as they explain in English to the horse what they want it to do.
Why does it bother me? I’ve done it. It was the mark of my inability to handle the situation.

Tbh this is a bad habit I have. it’s not so much inability to handle the situation since the horse I ride is old and a saint–if I can’t handle it he almost certainly will get us through. But I am a very strong verbal processor and my spatial skills are lacking due to a learning disability, so usually when I’m explaining to my horse what we’re doing I am actually explaining it to myself so I’m not confused. Sometimes my voice gets louder because I’m concentrating. I understand the horse doesn’t understand English…I’m not actually talking to the horse though.

I’m sure this looks hilarious to all the people watching me talk to my horse about not posting on the wrong diagonal or having my ass come flying out of the saddle…you know…stuff he’s not actually in control of :lol: One day I will be able to ride my way out of a paper bag.

Anyway for red flags…I try to stay away from anyone who insists about talking politics at the barn, particularly with people they don’t know well or who have already displayed disinterest. This is usually a symptom that someone is a drama-llama, and very rarely does ANYTHING good come from talking about politics. At my last barn one person in particular actually had to be talked to several times as she would not stop doing this…it was right up around the election and people were getting pissy that their quiet place was being co-oped by the stuff they were trying to get away from.

[Frostbitten]

People who borrow your stuff, especially things like lineaments, topical etc without asking. When confronted, one woman laughed and said " I knew you wouldn’t mind, You can say your stuff was used on an upper level horse". How many layers of arrogance can be piled into two short sentences?

[sophie]

Reading through this thread made me laugh.
A lot of the things mentioned are very annoying to me as well, and I just do my best to avoid / ignore them, but a true Red Flag for me would be someone who 1) gossips about, and bad mouths other riders/boarders, 2) does not care / does not want to learn about the horse’s welfare/health, 3) is dishonest.

[OverandOnward]

@trubandloki

Sincere question - why is this a bad thing as long as the horse is properly taken care of?

And that is very likely what she writes that she doesn’t like about COTH. Nitty and picky about someone’s opinion in an opinion thread, putting them needlessly on the defensive, and possibly degenerating into a pointless, personal derail. Speaking of red flags. Oh well, COTH: love it or leave it.

[OverandOnward]

The one who has many concerns about everything in the barn but the welfare of her own horse. Constantly sniping and gossiping, but ignores her horse’s obvious need for improved nutrition and much better training.

Another flavor of “blame the horse” - “I keep putting training rides on him, but he doesn’t learn anything.” Another short-term employee, I’m speculating. :lol:

And the super-cheerful self-introduction “Hi! I’m Jane, I’m the new boarder! Can I borrow ___ ?” Love the look on their face when I say “Oh I’m running out, but there is a stable supply store just 10 minutes up the road!” From the crestfallen look it seems they never planned on getting their own! Time to start locking the tack trunk.

@Magicboy

Folks who develop elaborate reasons NOT to ride. I was just out a schooling show where someone brought a horse, not to compete but just to school around the showgrounds and supposedly forgot her saddle. That kind of thing bothers me

It’s kind of fun to collect all the reasons given for not riding, from “brought the wrong pants” to “I need to get a different sized cheekpiece for this bridle” (it has everything it was purchased with) to “I should wait a couple of hours after he eats” (he’s always eating, he’s a horse) to the always-handy “I’ll ride tomorrow” (or later this week, or next week, or just: later). Oh well, I figure their horse is leading an easy life and is running the show, so it’s ok in the end.

@pAin't_Misbehavin'

People who will believe any kind of veterinary advice so long as it doesn’t come from the veterinarian.

Oh lord yes. Seems as if I’m frequently stalled next to that one. They want to deliver a seminar on all of their theories every time I see them, and get me to dump my highly-successful widely-experienced DVM for someone with little education other than what they read on the internet about healing with herbs. I learned to smile and nod while continuing to move fast to tack up and escape.

[TWH_Girl]

@trubandloki

Sincere question - why is this a bad thing as long as the horse is properly taken care of?

Well when you ride drunk and drive home 40 miles drunk, it’s a problem.

The thread asked for what others think is a red flag. This is for me. I don’t mind a glass of wine here or there but not to the point of being drunk and never getting around do riding because now you’re too tipsy. We’ve had a few doozies at the barn. Drinking is BIG theme there, and yeah, I sometimes think it’s a red flag.

[ParadoxFarm]

People who love to use the word “never”. Oh, my horse NEVER trips (why they won’t wear a helmet), or I NEVER fall off (right before the horse trips for the first time), or my horse NEVER needs shoes, etc. There is no such thing as “never” when dealing with horses!

[ParadoxFarm]

@TWH Girl

Well when you ride drunk and drive home 40 miles drunk, it’s a problem.

I can see the social aspect for folks, though. I keep my horses at home so this doesn’t pertain to me now, but when I used to board plenty of women used to go ride at the same time every week and then spend a good amount of time socializing, going to lunch (not involving alcohol) and enjoying both their horse time and social hour. I don’t have a problem with that. Maybe some folks only get to be with other like-minded people when at the barn. To each our own, right?

[emipou]

victim talk. Person has too many tales of woe.
Anyone who criticizes or talks badly about another person’s riding.
Anyone who says horses/animals are dumb

[Sansena]

I’ve said many times how dumb horses are.
I’ve also said countless times how frighteningly intelligent there are. Depends upon the horse & situation

[OneGrayPony]

I hate hate hate hate name dropping. Years and years ago I met a woman who claimed to have “trained with Lynn Palm” and brought it up routinely, however, when pressed she had actually just met her at a show. Made me crazy. I met Joe Fargis, and I think we said “hello, how are you” and “nice day for a course walk”. This does not mean I trained with him.

I call my horse all kinds of names. Usually dork, goober, brat, and goofball, depending on what his particular issue is that day. I mean them all with love. I hope that isn’t taken as blaming him. But he is a dork, goober, brat, and goofball.

I dislike unsolicited advice and rail birds.

[sorrelfilly721]

I know this shouldn’t bother me, but it does. Someone asks for my opinion of what to do in a situation or how to do it, and I spend some time trying to educate them and then they do something else.

– Parelli/Anderson/Whomever “graduates”
– New to horses, had 2 lessons, and suddenly an expert
– Needy people. I just met you and now you want to friend me on Facebook and know every time I’m riding so you can tag along. No.

[511]

@Foxtrot's

Ha! Those who have been riding for a very short while and have read a book or two, and are suddenly the expert on everything from round penning to half passes. They can sit in the stands and criticise every round.

Oh I board at a place where just that person, who has not boarded a horse there for a couple of years but is still hovering around - She rides her friends horses in exchange for turning them out I believe.
The first is an annoyance that you need to put up with, the irritation of second type of persons comments are compounded by the knowledge that I am paying for the privilege of being there and the other person who feels they have the right to comment, is not.

[blitzkrieg]

People that set up Go Fund Me’s for personal horse expenses…even more bothersome when the horse dies anyways and they turn around and purchase another horse a month or two later.

[OverandOnward]

The owner with a long, involved story of some great traumatic event with their horse that explains why they can’t canter with this horse, or ride outside the arena, or ride inside the arena, or pick their horse’s feet, or give a vet-recommended treatment, or load their horse in a trailer, or put their horse on cross-ties, or what the heck ever is the big bug-a-boo. It turns out this one. huge. thing. happened years ago. Hearing the story, it isn’t clear why it was such a big deal. And the horse forgot it about 30 minutes after it happened. But the story is told to everyone the owner meets in a horse setting, multiple times. And also to many other people in the owner’s life who have nothing to do with horses at all. The owner has recruited trainer after trainer to “work through it”, but terminated all efforts as being futile, within the first three sessions. The story will be kept alive and direct the owner’s actions until either the owner or the horse dies, whichever comes first. :o

[oldernewbie]

The talker. Talks non stop from the moment you walk in the barn until they finally leave. Blah blah blah blah blah! No one is safe! Can be a nice person but will not shut up! I love to talk but I believe in 2 way conversation. There’s been at least one of these in every barn I’ve boarded at.

The person who has no first aid supplies for their horse - not even a clean rag.

The pot stirrer. Tries to turn clients against the trainer. We had an awful one this summer - so bad the trainer finally ditched her. Her red flag comment to me was “he treats you differently than me” well yeah, we’ve known each other since he was in high school, I pay my bills on time, I at least try to do what he suggests. I stayed far far away from that one!

[Obsidian_Fire]

I’ll add one more: (so called) trainers who are happy to take your money, and your horse sits until the day before you show up to “see the progress”.
Doesn’t really show up as an immediate reg flag but I wish people who put their horse in training would make a point of coming out more often to check on them.

[Another-Bay]

@eqsiu

My pet peeve is people who assume horse people they don’t know are idiots.

Me, stopping into old barn to visit: “Damn, where did all the tiny blankets come from?” (apparently there had been a storage cleanout and mass washing of pony blankets)

Random boarder: “Those are for ponies. Ponies need small blankets because they are smaller than horses.”

Also, people who worship a particular professional/brand/etc who can’t see the faults as well as the positives.

THIS. There is a certain self-righteousness and know-it-all ness that I have encountered in my boarding experiences.

[Another-Bay]

This is great stuff, everyone. I feel like we all had a good rant stewing within us

To turn the tides a bit, I know a green flag of mine is when a horse seller is honest about the right fit for a horse. At the end of a “successful” trial where the would-be buyer gets off ready to make a deal, I’ve seen trainers who will speak candidly about a mismatch. Sometimes the buyers leave in a bit of a huff, but it takes cajones.

I have mad respect for trainers that will turn down a sale in the better interest of a horse that will not even be in their barn in the near future.

[Off_Course]

For me, it’s all the different flavors of lying - dishonestly, misrepresentation, cons, exaggeration, and total disregard for the facts.

Though, a close second would be - being accused of something you flat didn’t do.