why stand up when horse pees?

[Dazednconfused]

[QUOTE=Beasmom;3490100]
Teaching a horse to “park” is hard on their backs. Maybe not so bad for driving, but definitely bad for the ridden horse. Note that lordosis is so prevalent among saddlebred horses…

When they’re “Parked”, whether for the purposes of mounting or peeing, the back is not in an efficient position to support weight. Stand up over their shoulders to aid the horse. Equus magazine be damned![/QUOTE]

I was under the impression that lordosis was a genetic condition. I’m sure parking out doesn’t help matters, but lots of morgans are trained to park out too, and I have not heard of it being a problem in that breed.

[ThreeFigs]

Point taken, Dazed, but Morgans (the ones who’ve been taught to Park) manifest other problems related to parking. Many years ago (like 20 or 25!) I attended a Linda Tellington Jones TTeam clinic. Never mind that the clinic was largely attended by the lunatic fringe of the horse world, people looking for a magic bullet for their sorry horsemanship. One of the horses was a Morgan who insisted on parking whenever he was halted. LTT pointed out the dangers of the parked position, among them stress on the back especially while mounted.

[Nezzy]

How do all you standers know you are helping the situation by standing? maybe you are making it more uncomfortable for your horse.

[Beverley]

@Nezzy;3491007

How do all you standers know you are helping the situation by standing? maybe you are making it more uncomfortable for your horse.

Well, you certainly can’t make it any more uncomfortable for a horse by adjusting your position so as to more closely align with the horse’s center of gravity- front end. As has been noted, jockeys and riders jumping horses used to sit down and yes, those horses won long races and jumped lots of fences. But- over time people figured out that getting up off your horse’s back for both racing and jumping produced better results- horses that ran faster and jumped higher. Makes sense that a horse made more comfy by an adjustment to the rider’s position can perform better.

When moving at speed out foxhunting, I am always up out of the saddle to save the horse’s back- since out hunting you never quite know for sure how many miles you have yet to travel. The horses seem to appreciate that- and they don’t get sore backed. They also seem more comfortable if I am up out of the saddle when negotiating steep hills.

[Nezzy]

But this is peeing. Not moving forward. I Remember the article in Equus that says it is unnecessary and i believe that. My horse will pee on every ride, if he finds grass, and I do not do anything but sit still and pat him on the neck. If i was causing him discomfort, i doubt he would want to go while on the trail.

[Miss-O]

I realize that a parked position isn’t the greatest in regards to a horses back. (however I don’t think it’s THAT terrible either unless your asking your horse to stand parked for extended periods of time).

My point was that if a horse can stand parked while someone is mounting then they can stand “parked out” to pee for 30 sec’s with a rider sitting still in the saddle.

[goeslikestink]

[QUOTE=Nezzy;3491416]
But this is peeing. Not moving forward. I Remember the article in Equus that says it is unnecessary and i believe that. My horse will pee on every ride, if he finds grass, and I do not do anything but sit still and pat him on the neck. If i was causing him discomfort, i doubt he would want to go while on the trail.[/QUOTE]

did you not read thomas 1 post

in uk its the norm to stand up in stirrups whilse a horse pee’s

[Nezzy]

Yes i read all the posts. What are you getting at?

[Beverley]

@Nezzy;3491416

But this is peeing. Not moving forward. I Remember the article in Equus that says it is unnecessary and i believe that. My horse will pee on every ride, if he finds grass, and I do not do anything but sit still and pat him on the neck. If i was causing him discomfort, i doubt he would want to go while on the trail.

You asked the question ‘how do you know you aren’t making the horse more uncomfortable by standing while he pees’ and I answered it. The point I was trying to make is that whether standing still to pee or moving at speed, in my experience the horses seem more comfortable (not more uncomfortable) when I take the trouble to balance myself over their center of gravity. So, since I like for my horses to be comfortable, I stand up when they pee. As Quin noted, it’s not necessary. I choose to do it anyway. Just try both ways on your horse and see what you think.

[BuddyRoo]

I’m just absolutely shocked so many of you have horses who WILL urinate while you’re riding!!!

I have never owned nor ridden a horse who would urinate while there was a rider aboard.

In fact…even when we were on long rides–out getting cattle or long trail rides–we always too pee breaks ourselves and that’s when the horses did it.

Even now in more of a show/lesson/brief ride scenario, I know horses who MUST have the opportunity to urinate in a stall first or will urinate directly following a ride…again, in the stall, tied to a trailer, IN the trailer or while in hand…but I can honestly say that in 30 years, I’ve never been on a horse while they urinated. This is intriguing to me. LOL

[rcloisonne]

I must not ride enough because I’ve never had a single horse try to pee while I was riding it nor have I ever seen one try it with other riders. And I’ve never heard of standing in two point should it happen. Get off their kidneys indeed! :lol:

[gabz]

@Freebird!;3488142

I personally think it’s an old wives tale about getting off their kidneys, BUT…I will lean forward to help them balance - especially my two, who both insist of standing on their hind tippy toes.

I’ve heard the old wives tale too, but my gelding stretches out to pee - so hopefully, tipping forward takes weight off his back end to allow him to pee in comfort.

Some mares get into strange positions, but I can’t think of any that stretch out like a gelding (or stallion) would… do they?

[rabicon]

I do it also, always have, just did it this weekend at the show :winkgrin: Pooping on the other hand he keeps moving :yes:

[CHorseFarm]

Dunno - but I was trained to stand up while my horse peed - and pooped. An, yes, I say poopoed vs poo.

[ThreeBarPocoGal]

Um no I’m not a little girl…

When the horse stretches out to pee the kidneys come up, you stand up to take some of the pressure off of them. A mare does not have to park out as much, but geldings and stallions physically have to. A mare can run and pee at the same time, a male horse cannot.

[SuperSTB]

[QUOTE=BuddyRoo;3491865]
I’m just absolutely shocked so many of you have horses who WILL urinate while you’re riding!!!

I have never owned nor ridden a horse who would urinate while there was a rider aboard.

In fact…even when we were on long rides–out getting cattle or long trail rides–we always too pee breaks ourselves and that’s when the horses did it.

Even now in more of a show/lesson/brief ride scenario, I know horses who MUST have the opportunity to urinate in a stall first or will urinate directly following a ride…again, in the stall, tied to a trailer, IN the trailer or while in hand…but I can honestly say that in 30 years, I’ve never been on a horse while they urinated. This is intriguing to me. LOL[/QUOTE]

Same with my girls- they would never ‘pee in public’ Oh how totally uncivilized! They will gladly wait for some nice shavings in the stall or trailer.

But on the other hand… shit happens… anywhere. (including the slightly sloppy kind- in harness- at the trot )

[Dazednconfused]

[QUOTE=ThreeBarPocoGal;3491978]
Um no I’m not a little girl…

When the horse stretches out to pee the kidneys come up, you stand up to take some of the pressure off of them. A mare does not have to park out as much, but geldings and stallions physically have to. A mare can run and pee at the same time, a male horse cannot.[/QUOTE]

As people have already wisely pointed out, urine is stored in the bladder, not the kidneys. Stand or don’t stand, I don’t think it matters a great deal - but it is certainly not going to change the biological fact that urine isn’t in the kidneys:lol:

[Nezzy]

[QUOTE=Dazednconfused;3492060]
As people have already wisely pointed out, urine is stored in the bladder, not the kidneys. Stand or don’t stand, I don’t think it matters a great deal - but it is certainly not going to change the biological fact that urine isn’t in the kidneys:lol:[/QUOTE]

Thank you.

[ThreeBarPocoGal]

[QUOTE=Dazednconfused;3492060]
As people have already wisely pointed out, urine is stored in the bladder, not the kidneys. Stand or don’t stand, I don’t think it matters a great deal - but it is certainly not going to change the biological fact that urine isn’t in the kidneys:lol:[/QUOTE]

Not the point…when the horse parks the kidneys move up and it’s uncomfortable for the horse to have your weight there when that happens so you stand up and lean over the shoulders.

[Quin]

And where else but on CoTH can we spend an entire holiday weekend arguing about whether it our horses are happier if we get up out of the saddle when they pee?

:winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin::winkgrin:

Love you guys!