My horse doesnt get grain at the exact time every day!
She always has pasture or hay but sometimes her grain (about 2lbs ) is at 3pm sometimes it’s at 9pm who knows?
Makes her super easy to catch because hey who knows it might be time for supper :lol:
I have a face rubbing deal with all my horses after they’re ridden. I find horses using people as scratching posts just as annoying as everyone else and it is NOT allowed. However, after I take off the bridle and they are standing quietly waiting, I’ll present my two hands on either side of their face and let them rub on my offered hands only. It makes them really happy. One of them nickers while rubbing. They all know it’s coming and none of them ever try to rub on my body or before I say it’s okay.
I do the same thing- but I hold out a brush instead of my hands. They all go to town brushing their own heads lol
He is green and really tight so he gets bent constantly to try to limber him up.
I hook the crossties to break away at the wall instead of at the face. I do this bc it gives me something to catch him with. It also prevents the breakaway latch from snapping him in or near the face.
I was always taught that was the right way. The breakaway goes on the wall not the face so you can stay clear of the horse and have something to hold on to.
Everything is trained to pony behind the quad, often in multiples of 2,4,6, more?
Studs are treated like geldings. Housed next to mares. Trailered next to mares. Walked to the arena with multiple horses by one person etc.
I don’t do a lot of handling on weanlings and yearlings. Just trim, vaccinate and deworm. Otherwise they live like mustangs.
People always look at me weird when I thread the lunge line under the chin rather than over the poll (in a bridle). It was first taught to me by a GP dressage rider and then I discovered that my horse liked it much better too. He hated the poll pressure from the lunge.
After I read something from Ingrid Klimke about how over the poll should be used sparingly because it’s severe (it was in her cavaletti book), I also go under the chin.
I also allow a small amount of self-rubbing when the bridle comes off. The old guy prefers his knee to rub on though.
Recently I started not attaching the top billet straps on my saddle pad, since I have wandering hands sometimes I use them as an anchor! (Tried a grap strap on the D-rings but I didn’t like how it put my hand over the withers, the billet strap in my opinion puts it in a better position)
The same horse also loved it when I rubbed the edges of his mouth after the bridle came off. He’d rub the rest of his face on his knee (or me. Yes, I know that was bad, but he understood the boundaries).
My mare is very respectful and not particularly demonstrative. When she DOES want to do some mutual grooming if I have found her Itchy Spot, I let her. It is never more than her upper lip in my hair, no teeth, and it is nice to have that connection. That said, I have owned her 10 years and can trust her not to escalate.
Do some things with my mare loose in her paddock – like putting on her “tick stuff” every 10 days.
I hold my reins in my right hand incorrectly – thread between middle and ring finger rather than ring and pinkie – because that hand is half-crippled and the area between the ring and pinkie fingers is extremely sensitive to touch. I do ride one-handed at times but I am SO right handed that I always end up using both reins.
Used to trail ride in a $$$ dressage saddle.
Use treats. A lot. (Am trying to slow this down as she never nips but can just be annoying trying to figure out how to get to the treats or what she needs to do to get a reward.)
Use a rope halter in a dressage barn (only for schooling… I will not hard-tie in a rope halter.)
Have a horse who sometimes stays dirty in a dressage barn, though I always clean off the relevant areas before tacking up. And has shavings in her tail a lot of the time. I just don’t care anymore.
Trail ride alone most of the time. I’d barely get out at all if I had to get others to come with me. This does mean I avoid some things that might be OK if she was with another horse, like cows.
Pick my battles with my mini. He is tough. Very opinionated. I have learned that sometimes a minor infraction warrants absolutely no response and that “no response” in fact IS a response when the little booger is looking to engage. Some people would think this is wrong, but it works very well with his particular issues.
Lead from both sides, lead 2-3 horses at one time.
I pick my geldings feet from one side, but my moms old guy still doesn’t understand that one so I have to walk around. Haven’t tried it yet with the 3yo.
Horses all tack from either side (called the “near” side and the “off” side, not right or wrong) and dismount from the “off” side to help balance muscling. Lead from either side, can pick feet from one side - old trick from the track - not wrong, just quick.
You didn’t ask me, but I also spend a fair amount of time on counter-bend as an excellent suppling and balance exercise. Bend and counter bend at walk and trot has always been part of my warm up to loosen the body and start shifting the horse’s balance, and serves as a lead-in for displacing exercises (shoulder-in, haunches-in, half-pass.) If it’s wrong, I don’t want to be right. 
Oh, gosh, me too. Once the bridle is off I turn my shoulder to my horse and he rubs his upper jaw and poll against my shoulder. Repeat on the other side. Then I rub the corners of his lips and under his jaw. He knows to wait until the bridle is off. Manners mean behaving with consistent courtesy and respect to others, and when you have them, you can be trusted to go off-book on some things. See also: when you’re a 25-year-old saint, you can pretty much do whatever you want.
I also did a 2 day Extreme Cowboy Race clinic in my expensive German dressage saddle last summer- we had a blast!
I use the first and second billet on my jump saddle instead of the traditional first and third. My horse has a forward girth area but hates anatomical girths. Using the second billet keeps it a hair more forward.
I do stupid stuff with my horses that isn’t PC (pony club in this instance. 
). Stuff like ducking under my horses necks, standing behind them, working with them loose in the stall/pasture, dropping the lead rope and ground tying, letting them step on the rope, turning them loose at their stall door and letting walk in on their own, etc. Partly out of convenience, but partly because I expect my horses to behave if myself or anyone handles them in a manner they aren’t used to. I don’t want them to see it as an opportunity to panic or misbehave.
Well, I never thought I did anything wrong per se, but according to this thread, I lead my horses from wherever left, right, preferrably behind me. I tack up from the right because it’s closer to where the tack is from where I tack up. I counterbend all the time (didn’t know that was wrong, seriously?). My mare starts every dressage session with bend in/bend out stretching and almost all the horses I ride do this at some point to help limber them up. I practice mounting/dismounting from the off side on my mare just in case, and other horses that may face that in the near future.
Um, I duck under horses’ necks ALL THE TIME! Like, how do you get to the other side?
I do not pick all feet from the same side, but ALL racehorse people do that.
Working with them loose in pasture or stall…is this not appropriate?
I do spoil my horse and let her drag me to grass, though sometimes I get annoyed enough to yell at her but I also realize she’s so bad because I let her be.
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