Wait what? I’m pretty sure the tendons are still on the back of the leg in Europe.
@fordtraktor
Actually, I’m going to stand up for Latin here. It’s a huge life advantage. It got me to a perfect verbal SAT and national merit finalist; I’ve never seen a word I can’t figure out; I can get the gist of written Italian and Spanish with no formal training. It’s also the only class in high school that taught us what should be basic grammar, and sticking with it meant I got to avoid the language lab in college. Yay for Latin, every kid should learn it.
All I know is that I routinely saw grooms and riders wrapping counter-clockwise at one of the biggest and best known stallion station / sales operations in Germany. I once asked about it and was told, “That’s how we always do it.” I also saw counter-clockwise polo wraps at other barns as well as in the warm-up ring at a few German shows that I went to.
And I agree with you about Latin. I took it in high school, and it helped prepare me for a biology major in college. That knowledge still comes in handy at times as many professions and other walks of life can be rife with Latin terms, or English words derived form Latin, such as often found in biology, medicine, theology, law, music, art, literature. It helps me understand readings about those topics.
[Edited for clarity.]
Unless I am losing it I don’t think counter-clockwise is the right word… maybe backwards? Isn’t the left always counter-clockwise?
If you are wrapping so that the velcro tab points to the back of the leg, your wrapping direction is the same direction as a clock. If you are wrapping so the tab points to front of the leg, your direction is the opposite - hence counter-clockwise.
That said, I used to use polos A LOT both for my own horses and as a groom (dressage), and I always wrapped the other way - so the tab pointed to the back. I relied on a mnemonic - IF (short for “If only I could remember which way to wrap”). But IF also meant “inside front” - so if I was on the inside of the leg, I needed to be wrapping toward the front.
And FWIW “mnemonic” is based on a Latin term - mnemonica, which basically means “in the same sense.”
But the two front legs would be wrapped in opposite directions- one will be CW, one CCW. Whether you wrap front to back or back to front.
I’ve always wrapped front to back because that’s how I was taught so that’s my habit, but I’ve never understood why it would matter. The physics are exactly the same whichever direction you wrap.
I can’t find the actual study but it doesn’t matter what direction you wrap a horse’s legs… Old wives tale as noted since in europe they do it in different directions to the way us Americans are taught.
Sorry, I was thinking only of the right side of the horse. I shouldn’t be posting when I have 1000 other things on my mind and am in a hurry.
And that is why I relied on my IF mnemonic when I was doing polos.
I will have to add that the few times I helped get horses ready in Germany, another groom or the rider re-did my polos because I had wrapped them in what they considered to be the wrong direction.
Whatttt actually? Ok going to read this now but that’s wild if so after decades of thinking otherwise lol
I never understood why it mattered which direction you wrapped as long as the tension was applied appropriately.
I always wondered too! That article didn’t give any evidence though. I’ll need to do some googling lol
I was taught CCW on left legs and CW on right (or as may trainer long ago told me, “up and out toward the outside”—it’s not 100% logical but the image worked for my brain. The reason I was given is you can easily tighten the wrap on the turn toward the back of the leg and the pressure goes on the cannon bone instead of on the tendons.
Right or wrong, I’ve never bowed a horse wrapping this way.
I 100% felt a change when I reached about that salary. I had enough to cover my basics, was able to save more, and still have some disposable income. Happiness might not have been the way I described it, it was more relief for me. Horses make me happy though and after I surpassed that salary, I was able to afford to do horses comfortably so in some ways yes, it does buy happiness for me. As I have surpassed that $75K threshold, I wouldn’t say annual raises have made me happier per say, so I certainly agree more money doesn’t directly correlate to happiness.
With that all said, I never expected money to buy me happiness. I was always able to find happy even before I made more so I think it depends on individual life outlooks and expectations.
My mother never let me take advantage of the Latin classes in my High School, 4 years of them.
I was also not allowed to take Ancient Greek when it was offered as an after school class in my High School.
My mother thought that learning dead languages was a total waste of time.
Now that I am over 70 years old I think that Latin and Ancient Greek should be taught to all students, at every level of school. The subtleties of thought that these ancient peoples often showed in their surviving writings is way above what we modern people get to read in books by modern authors.
PLUS it would help so much in understanding science because so many names of organisms are in Latin or Ancient Greek, and a lot of the descriptive language is too.
The direction of the wrap was meant to follow the direction of the underlying tissues to reduce the likelihood of a bandage bow. I think this was based upon the position of the inferior check ligament attachment, the bandage would mimic the line of the ICL to the DDFT whereas wrapping in the opposite direction would pull the DDFT into the ICL. As was mentioned above the evidence does not support this theory.
I always learned this as the justification too… and I had NO CLUE they did it the opposite direction in other countries.
Way back when I was a horse crazed tadpole, I read that you wrap “tendons in” for polo wraps and “tendons out” for standing type wraps.
I wrapped this way for years without an issue. Then some one called me out, saying I was wrapping my standing wraps backwards.
So now I wrap “tendons in” for everything.
Interesting article! I didn’t see that it took into account location in which where you live. $75k in California isn’t going to get you very far. Of course, I’m in California so I am biased LOL. The COL in my area is just, so insane and I’m not even in a super expensive part of the state. A house down the street from me recently sold for $695k and my neighborhood / these houses are not particularly nice / fancy. As I type this I hear a helicopter and multiple sirens nearby and it’s 10:52AM (this is a common occurrence at all hours). They sold for about $300k new in 2001.
I totally understand what you mean about that sense of relief, though. Relief that the bills can be covered and you can have a little bit left over to buy something for yourself or take a little trip. I, too, never equated money directly to happiness. It’s more of I know what allows me to feel happy (horses and medication) and I need money to get those things, if that makes any sense. Also I might have a twisted view on “happiness”, because for me, not being miserable means I’m happy, I guess. Also if I’m going to be miserable, I’d rather be miserable with money (and the ability to have my basic needs met) than miserable sitting with a cardboard sign begging for change on the side of the road. I think now I am starting to over think this LOL.
I’m happy with my current salary (also above $75k, FWIW).
I heard that $75k figure prior to Covid, so I’m guessing even in LCOL areas, that number might be low/off these days. I’m also quite sure $75k in Ohio goes a lot further than California .
It seems like I’ve seen a lot of people chase happiness and I’ve always found that interesting. Overall in the big life picture, I am currently content/happy, but I would describe it as more of being content and I’m totally good with that!
I find my most moments of happiness spent with my horse and SO says I always look happy talking about horse stuff so I guess it seeps through. I also find happiness in gardening and watching the birds come to the feeders; spending time with my family, trying new food, things like that.
Material things don’t make me particularly happy so maybe that’s part of the difference.
I’ve been hearing that 75k number for quite a number of years, I would think that threshold would be somewhat higher now.
I read an interesting article about happiness several months ago. The premise was that it’s only very recently that happiness became an expectation of life, and that there was no legitimate reason for this elusive goal. The author went on to say that this unrealistic quest for “happiness” is probably driving many of today’s issues like overspending on luxuries, drug use and the high divorce rate.
I think aiming for contentment most of the time is a much healthier outlook.