A few days ago, achieve1dream at Equestrian Journey asked: What will you NOT do?
Such a great question, and I really had to think about this for a few days, because honestly I've done more than a few stupid things with horses. In many cases, I know what I'm doing is technically not the safest way, but the tradeoff of saved time or convenience seems to be worth the risk. Other stuff, like basic care is common sense and things no one should mess with. Here's my list of potentially grey area things I've never done, or would never, ever do again:
(Items in red are the ones learned the hard way):
- Test ride someone's horse if I've never seen it ridden before.
- Teach tricks, rearing in particular
- Ride without a helmet
- Pull a trailer too heavy for my truck
- Ride in potentially icy conditions
- Discipline wise? Most rodeo events. also western pleasure. Sorry rodeo people and WP people, just not something I want to do, and not discplines really suited to the horses I tend to own anyways. Also I prefer not to wear spandex, sequins, or sparkles, so...yeah, I just cheer my friends on instead.
- Sign up for a clinic without auditing first or at least seeing online videos. Too much $ to potentially waste otherwise.
- Tie without a quick release or suitable object to tie to
- Take a horse sight unseen based on the seller's word. Even if that seller is a friend.
- Keep a horse without turnout. This one is just personal preference and I guess I feel pretty strongly about it. I know I can't ride/exercise every day so it seems doubly unfair.
This is a great list!!! I agree with all of them except teaching tricks. I love teaching tricks, but I won't teach rearing at all. If I teach bowing I will not do it while sitting on my horse... that just looks painful. I also probably won't teach laying down, but if I do once again I won't sit on my horse while asking him to do it. His smile trick is our favorite though. He loves it. :D Thanks for joining the blog hop!!
ReplyDeleteOh shoot, I worded that one wrong...smiling is of course awesome and I think I even documented teaching Bridget to step up onto things! I was more thinking rearing, bowing, laying down, 'counting' (pawing on cue). My ponies would find ways to use those against me!
DeleteYes!! Those are the ones I won't teach either, except bowing because I've just always wanted to teach a horse to bow since I was a kid LOL! It's hard to let go of some of those childish dreams. It can be used as a nice stretch for the horse too if done slowly and gently, not forcing them by tying up their leg,etc. :)
DeleteI am all about number 1, also learned the hard way from experience. ;-)
ReplyDeleteAlso agree about the clinic thing. I learned that from experience as well and definitely should have talked to my trainer before making any commitments as it was not really the best experience and was quite expensive. Great list!
DeleteThank you. It's sad we all have to learn that stuff, but at least it (hopefully) means we end up with great horses and great coaches!
DeleteI have learned some of the red items myself too. Especially taking a clinic and not auditing first....cringe.
ReplyDeleteIt's horrible. I just shelled out $120 for one in january and am crossing my fingers the clinician is as helpful as she seems from the videos!
DeleteGreat list! During a phase, we went through a lot of halters when she'd pull back...also taught me to be more selective about what I tie to!
ReplyDeleteThat's what happened to me as well - I still have all those nice halters and visions of somehow fixing them!
Deleteexcellent points here - more than a few that i didn't think about. the trailer/truck thing makes me think 'well duh, common sense' - but, of course isn't that what all of this boils down to? and it turns out everybody has a slightly different 'sense'...
ReplyDeleteYou wouldn't believe some of the trailer truck combos you see if you look carefully or check the specs. It's crazy, and so, so dangerous!
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