Pet Peeves about the horse world.?

Question

This is ment to be fun, stereotypical peeves based on discipline, observations of other disciplines-or just general horse people.

For instance;

I really hate it when you're schooling your horse before your class and a trainer has 4-5 kids come trucking over a line one after the other on their ponies, a horse length away at max-not even taking into consideration the consequences of a refusal.

What's your pet peeves?

Answer 1

i kind of have an opposite answer to some of you people XD i'm 15, and once at school there was a teacher's assistant who said chincoteague ponies don't grow above 14.2 hands. the year before i went to see them swim across the channel and watch the auction, and some of them were definitely horse-sized. i read a book about them too; it was discussing the reason they usually don't reach a certain height, but with proper care and food they could. i really can't believe she was arguing with me over the height of ponies. i mean, what happened to adults being more mature than teenagers? i may be thirty years younger than her, but i'm not a liar. this was personal experience and a bit of research -.-

Answer 2

Shall I rant on about the arrogance, the big mouths, those who think they have a vet's degree and will try to convince you their knowlege is above and beyond anything taught at vet school, those who are apparently unconscious in the warm up pen making a nuisance of themselves and getting in everyones way, those who ask impossible favors of you at a horse show,  those who are clueless of "please and thank you"..., those who "fill the class" just to increase point factors for the potential winners,  those who try to change the "rules" to favor themselves at a horseshow....arrgh!!!!

Just thought of another..how about the kids who dump their show tack onto the ground or asphalt, the $8,000 dollar saddle (Blue Ribbon) and the matchingl headstall and parents say "nothing" to them about it.   Or, have seen this too many times to count, the kids who throw their ribbons in the trash barrel because it wasn't a first place ribbon...usually they're the ones that dump their show saddles on the ground.......

http://www.blueribbontack.com/saddlemain...

As BB said, the drugstore cowboys, the wanna be's...everywhere....spell buckaroo partner, in these here parts they are the for real deal and you're not!!  The pointy toe cowboy boot with silver tips....where's my barf bag; usually smelling to high heavens of a cheap cologne I would not wear to the dump.  Ever hear of Copenhagen, the cologne, my friend,  not the chew....great stuff.   Ever hear of Wrangler jeans or Cinch jeans..probably not.   Just some dumb designer jean.  

A lost cause!  The phony baloney so easy to spot.

Answer 3

kevin h i am with you on those,how about when you are pushing cattle and the greenhorn  keeps riding up onto the herd and spreading them all over heck.how about when the pick up men immediately rope a bull and they end up fighting it in the middle of the arena for ten minutes instead of letting the bullfighters push the bull to the gate.i think the biggest pet peeve i have is people who say that clydesdales arent a riding horse only a driving horse.you havent lived untill you have seen me roping off one of my 18+hand clydes with my ranch rope.

Answer 4

I really HATE trainers who READ but have no actual application on horse back!

Example:  We had a dressage trainer where I used to board who sat in her tackroom and read all day long, then went out and gave her "students", lessons.  Took her a week to figure out if she had a colt or a filly when her TB mare foaled.

Then finally sent her Swedish Warmblood out for training!

Answer 5

John R....SEND ME A PIC....PLEASE!!!!

Oh and a pet peeve would be,

People who think that sitting on a horse and going on a few trail rides or taking a few lessons is equivalent to knowing how to ride horses. EX,

Lady came to the barn where I keep my horse and told the owner she wanted to buy his 2 year old paint stud colt (she had NEVER SEEN HIM but he had an add in the paper).....He asked her what she was going to do with him and she replied "I'm going to compete in three day events"...He politely told her that the colt was not really suited to that kind of "work" and that she should look for another horse, She flat out told him that she wanted "that" horse and she would train him to do what she wanted!! (Angry barn owner) Asked if she had any experience with training horses....(hears the funny part)...She told him that she had taken 6 lessons and that her "trainer" had told her she was a natural!!! He told her that the colt was no longer for sale....You should have seen that lady's face!!!!

2. People that think Just because one or two people tell them that they are a natural, they know EVERYTHING about horses!!!!

Answer 6

Well where to start.

Ropers who line up in the arena along one side. Mostly at po-dunk roping. C'mon ya jerkfaces, you don't see bull riders sitting in the arena waiting thier bull(ofcourse bullriders are a bit smarter)

The "know-it-alls" at team pennings that have no idea what side is the front end of a cow. If you are going to get in my way I'm gonna run my horse through you. Its my safty over yours and I'll choose mine over yours.

ANYBODY WHO DRINKS WHEN RIDING A HORSE! For Gods sake. I like me a beer every now and then but no matter how bad I want one I WILL NOT DRINK when dealing with horses. Afterwards, on the other hand, is a different story.

The people who run thier horse right up your horses butt with no regard for you or your horse. And, have absolutly no controle over the animal, and think its cute. Then look at you with shock when you kick them out of thier saddle, I have only had to do that once, and it felt good(20 years ago some one who got kicked out of thier saddle might have a horse ridden over them, things have gotten soft).

I could go on for days, I have seen some idiots that should not even look at a horse let alone own one.

Edit- Back in the day if you wernt kicked out your saddle for doing something dumb you where roped out of you saddle. Makes the dumb one learn faster, and the realy dumb ones quit.

Edit- Add what Rosi and show mom said to my list too. I've been around rodeo too much. Not a lot of BS goes on there cuz of above mentioned disciplinary actions. Its mean but if it means my or my horses safety. You figure it out.

Edit- John, again A-FREAKING-MEN. I wanted a clyde when I was little and my pops took me to look at him, he tossed me on it back and I felt like Yosimite Sam on the elephant. But that could have been cuz I as 5. I have always loved clydes though, it good to see thier influence in the saddle bronc and bareback horses.

Answer 7

i was in a lesson, nd this little girls horse stared peeing, so i told her to stand up in the saddle, and this other girl was like 'dont listen to her' and it was the first time for each of them riding, and then i was riding for a few years.i hate when little kids think they know everyhting, nd try to show of, but really they are looking stupid.and when little little kids jut beat their horses kicking them.i feel bad for the horse.dont worry, i switched from that ranch!

Answer 8

Inexperinced riders blaming everything on the horse. Like just because they cant ride they think its the poor horses fault. i was watching a video on youtube. This girl had her horse right next to the fence. Trying to get it to go foward. As if she was trying to tell the horse go through the fence. Then she got all mad at the horse. she was giving the poor thing mixed signals too. all she had to do was back up a few feet, and turn her horse to the right.

so thats my pet peeve

Answer 9

people who had a pony when they were kids and think that makes them an expert on all things horse.

a girl friend of mine bought a greenbroke horse with the intent of training it on her own--with her mom's help (you guessed it, mom had a pony when she was a kid).

to make a long story short, my friend ended up with a broken leg and a skull fracture.

there's a huge difference between bouncing around bareback on a pony and trying saddle a "greenbroke" horse who had never been tacked.

Answer 10

People who think they can ride or can ride but have no clue about basic horse care and want to act like a know it all.

Even with my experience there's always something new to learn.

Answer 11

I have two or maybe three major pet peeves that I always see at shows regardless of breed, open or fun shows.  

1.)  Western Pleasure riders spurring and yanking their horses to get their heads down.  I call it the "Yank Yank Kick Kick" syndrome.  It makes me just want to YANK them off the horse and let the HORSE kick them.  I train and show western pleasure and I get very ticked any time I see it.

2.) Trainers riding the horse in the warm up arenas until the student gets on to go in their class.  

3.) Kids sitting in the isle of the barn in front of their horses stall while their parents do everything to the horse.  And I mean EVERYTHING from feeding and bathing to tacking up and primping the horse for the kid's classes.  I know of a young girl who is about 13 years old that will not join 4-H because her parents couldn't touch the horse at the shows.  Then later saw her at a fun show riding her horse in a halter and lead rope around the grounds.  She was in shorts and totally barefooted.  I realize this is a parental issue and not with the girl so my irritation is at both for this.  I could go on and on and on...

Answer 12

I lived on a working ranch growing up.  We didn't have trainers unless you wanted to call the old wrinkled up cowboys one. You learned to ride and learned from your mistakes. I was like a sponge I soaked up as much as I could as a child. Now days I have my horses and they are just for pleasure. But I have seen some nasty things happen. I went on the annual 100 mile trail ride for years until one of these so called cowboys was running his beautiful pure black QH at night thru the camp. Now when I say camp I am talking about 200 to 300 horses tied out in a 10 acre camp ground. Well anyways this guy was just gettin it thru there and everyone was hollerin, he made it about 25 feet past our camp and slammed into a gooseneck. It thru him off and the horse went down. The horse died about 10 minutes later with his chest torn open and gasping for breath. The man was sent to the hospital. To this day I only go there for a day ride with just my family and friends. I wont go back for those until some rules are put down.

Answer 13

One of my biggest is riding the p**s out of your horse, then when he hot and blowing tying him in his stall to just sit............Hello......I used to know a "old school" trainer that did this and it just drove me crazy, what is this accomplishing??? the other is riders who blame their horses for bad performances at shows, yelling, screaming and hitting their horses I actually got whipped from some lady when i stepped in and took her horse away from her because she was whipping him in the front legs after a class.

Answer 14

Just like everyone else, I hate people who are know it alls and don't have the background, or 'just because' something worked for them and their horse its a universal. God forbid it doesn't work for you and your horse though, because then that means you didn't do it right or there's a bigger problem than they had.....

Name droppers. I hate name droppers too. There is this "horse show mom" at my barn who knows squat, seriously. She hasn't owned her daughter's horse for more than a year- nothing before that-. But she knows all the names of people in the area...regardless of whether she truly knows them or not. She talks out her a**, educating us all about horse behavior, recommends tack without knowing the actual mechanics of it, and so on. All you can do is sigh.

I think we learn paitence from our horses, and then being around people who annoy us at the barn or other horsey places makes us put that patience into practice ;-)

Answer 15

The riding school "experts",  the "white jodhpur brigade" who flap their manicured hands and wait for the horse to be held for them so they can get on and go for their weekly lesson. The people who look down on the ones who are sweating their way through the stalls to make everything run smoothly.

The people who have horses on full livery and turn up once a month if the moon is in the right phase to do a little Parelli because the trainer "doesn't understand him".

People with no idea how to pass safely on the trails.

Drivers with signs in their windows that say "slow down for horses" who shoot past at high speed while you're waiting at the junction.

People who don't put their dogs on a lead and smile and say "he's fine with horses" as FiFi or whatever is wandering aimlessly around legs and your horse is breakdancing in the middle of the trail.

Answer 16

Dress up wanna bees...

"Cowboys" who buy the clothes, boots, spurs, etc...and have never worked off a horse.  The boots have never walked through c**p or mud.

Their jeans and shirts have never had blood wiped on them...theirs or the horses...or cow or whatever....

Wear their chaps for everyday 'clothes'...but I dare you to find a scratch on them!  *fashion statement*

Big jingly bob spurs that they have no clue how to use...but use them as a fashion statement.

Doesn't own one single hat with a sweatstain...cowboy or baseball cap.

Oh geez...carrying around a piggin string in the back pocket, again as a fashion statement.  *What are ya gonna tie???  A grocery cart??*

Let's not forget the heeler, rope, and truck to complete this picture.  *dog herds beer cans out of desperation, rope has never been uncoiled...because the first time he did it, he twisted it and ended up with figure 8's and couldn't get it recoiled, and the truck has never seen a dirt road, pasture, or had hay or fence tools in the back*  

*Getting wound up here!!*

Oh...another one!!  They try to talk with a drawl!  PLEASE...I was raised in the south...they sound like a moron!!

Really, really irritates me to see 'fake' people like that.  Hollow is all they are...but they call themselves a cowboy.  Soon as they open their mouths, there is no doubt.  When I was younger...I had no qualms about calling them a wanna be.  Now that I'm older...I find derisive laughter works alot better.

Even as a 40 year old...I can beat the pants off them.  I've got scars from actually DOING the things they TALK about.

It's been a long day...I'm tired and gotta be up in 5 hours.  I get to go look at some of these 'wanna bees' tomorrow and will have to listen to their drivel.  And look at them.  Laughing at them, and feeling sorry for the horses that are yanked, jabbed, and hauled on.  Maybe I should take photos and post one of them.......so you can see what I'm talking about....

Can't stand them, and gotta be around them tomorrow.  This question was PERFECT for getting that out of my system!!

Does the english discipline have the same problem???

Answer 17

I can't stand people that think they know a lot about horses but don't, either when it comes to riding or when it comes to care, and then won't listen.  Unfortunately that is SO common.

Example: I have a neighbor I have ridden with who has been around horses her whole life, but she's never had a day of formal instruction.  But she thinks her "time in" makes her a pro, and is now "training" a horse for her sister, even though she has no idea how to make a horse do anything but go.  And then she gets mad at it and just puts a harsher bit in his mouth as her attempt to get him to stop and to set his head.  Awesome.  Or the other neighbor who has 5 horses and claims to have a professional career involving horses yet buys his horses "cow quality round bales" and has no idea what banamine is.  Grr.

And I totally agree with Rosi...with all those horse training shows on RFDTV now, everyone thinks they can just watch TV and become a trainer.  YIKES.

Answer 18

people who look down at you when your working.

i (used) to work at a pretty high scale barn to pay for my lessons and board, i have an old OT TB and i don't have fancy new stuff so some of the riders assume i stink... or that my horse can't do anything, or that i ride wrong...

i always got dirty looks mucking stalls or dumping my bucket or -god forbid- sweating while riding my horse because we were working on second level dressage movements!

and the little kids who get $1000+ brand new pessoa saddles that they're gunna grow out of in a year..

such a waste of money =/

Answer 19

People that think they can boss me around because they learned something about horses. Or people that think they are all that because they go to a fancier barn than my pastures I work at.