Well moving
on from there it can only get better right? Bah fat chance. So this mare has been ridden for a LONG time in a Tom Thumb bit. It's what she is used to and it is what the first owners said she goes best in. So no big deal. The lady has one she can borrow until she makes it to the tack shop to get one. Please I can not stress this enough that if you are so damn stupid that you just float through life on a cloud of dumbness, then please PLEASE do not own a horse. So after being given explicit instructions to purchase a Tom Thumb Bit for this mare, guess what she comes home with. A D-Ring and this is what she says in front of ME, Her barn peers, God and everybody. "Hee h
ee I juat can't tell the difference between these bit thingy's so I'm sure this one is close enough." Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa? Yeah, because the last time I checked D-rings and Tom Thumbs worked IDENTICAL. Well what-the-fu*k-ever lady! Good luck to ya! And these are the DAMN people who are riding horses now?? Well if nothing else they at least make for some pretty good laughs!! *head shaking.*
28 comments:
*headdesk* You would think that conversation could wait until A) The horse was very sick; or B) the horse was on the verge of dying.
*headdesk* to the bit too.
Oh big Time!
Oh my word. I almost smucked our lesson kid the other day - we have five English bridles kept inside to keep the bits warm and she asked which one Justus was using. I told her it was the ONLY bit/bridle without a noseband and copper rollers on the mouthpiece. She brings out THREE bridles and goes "I didn't know which one you were talking about...". THEY'RE ALL SILVER SNAFFLES. Only ONE is a D-ring with copper on the mouthpiece. Silver and GOLD are two pretty easy colors to tell apart! Sometimes I just have to shake my head!
What ticks me off the ABSOLUTE most, is that people work at tack stores for a REASON. I was advised to bandage my mares leg with poultice if I felt it getting warm from an injury. I'll be honest, I've flat out never worked with bandages before. I can wrap a mean polo, but I've just never had to deal with pillow wraps and such. So what did I do? I ASKED the clerk to explain the difference between stall and standing wraps, which ones I would want, and the best size pillow wraps for my little Arab mare.
How can people not even think to ask? If I'm even 0.5% unsure about something, I immediately ask for assistance or choose to pass the buy until I can talk to some people.
Ok, now you have me all fuming and angry. LOL. I just hate ignorance. There is no excuse for it. Even on forums, I see people asking these questions and it's like, have you EVER heard of Google? I swear, 90% of my answers to people online come from searching the subject, scanning anywhere from 5-10 articles to gather a common consensus, and then passing on the info! Why on EARTH does nobody think to do that for themselves? Is it from being lazy or just being flat out stupid?
/end rant
And the death thing is creepy. Really creepy. I guess I was lucky growing up on a hobby farm that raised meat as well, I understood death from a young age. I mean, I knew when my 27 year old pony started getting to weak to ride due to a tumour that he was "going to die". But if someone had told me that when he was 20? Heck, I'd wake up every morning in a panic until I could check to make sure he was still alive!
What really freaks me out is - if at 8 years old, your child doesn't understand the concept of death, are you ACTUALLY buying her FIRST pet a HORSE? We had a cat, we had a dog, we had fish and hamsters. A horse is a pretty enormous first time death to put on a kid, not to mention a god awful first pet to teach responsibility about!
Trex said...
I know you are going to think I'm either Lying, nuts, or joking.
I've never thought you a liar, but NUTS and a JOKER? Yep!
Wow, what a great mom in the first story... WTF? How irresponsible. How cruel! Death happens, but what a GRAND way to deal with it...
And bits and bitting... It never fails to surprise me the HUGE number of people who have ridden for years, but don't understand a thing about bits. Shank, port, direct, indirect- all foreign. Take 5 minutes on the computer, it's amazing what you can learn in that short time. Anytime I had lesson kids, bits and bitting was the FIRST lesson before getting on, so they could understand what that thingy in the horses mouth was about.
Ugh.
Hey Trex- Take a look back at the comments on the yahoo video...
Which video?
The second to last comment on the post you did on the 14th.
LMAO! Post the link, I have no idea where it is!!!!
Are you talking about <3's comment?
Yeah, sorry wasn't trying to be confusing >.< Have a 1 year that is having a fit because I not holding him and he wants me to. *headdesk*
*Bangs head against desk* I love these situations. Alright, I'm just a measily stable hand so I couldn't possibly know the different types of bits, right? Wrong. If someone asks me what type of bit they have and if it's good for their level of riding. I tell them the straight truth. Yea don't want to listen to me, fine. Don't blame me when I tell you not to use a certain bit on a certain horse, and you still do it, and you end up in the next county. I told you so. So I don't feel one ounce of sorry for you. Just the horse. Because said horse had to deal with your stupidity.
The 'Death talk' would only be appropiate was very ill for one reason or another and could possibly be dying. That horse is young! I've met older horses than that. And how brainless could you be, for not being able to tell a tomb thumb (which has shanks), to a Dee ring snaffle,(that doesn't have shanks)? I could see if the mare rode in a regular snaffle, and the lady did pick out a regular snaffle, but not the right joining mouth peice. Geeze someone tells me to grab a kimberwick, I don't go and grab a grazing curb *bangs head against desk*. I highly recommend you keep on eye on this lady. She just speaks volumes of what she doesn't know. Than again you probably are. *Sigh* Lady should really read a non fiction horse book. That's not going to happen is it?
LMAO OK Gotcha now! HAHAHAHA
LMFAO
Amazing how my Arab mare knew what a saddle and bridle were by six months old, and yet somehow, I STILL found a TON of things to do with her before backing her for the first time at THREE. And when I say backing, I literally mean backing - I led my sister around on her. She didn't actually start being "ridden" (walk/jog) until late in her 3 year old year - her trail riding days began as a 4 year old.
I just don't get it. If it risks your horse at ALL - why do it? My Arab mare is out right now with a bum leg - apparently sustained some damage to the tendon sheath. The vet told me that in perspective, if she told a racehorse owner about this injury, they'd continue racing the horse. But she advised I give her the winter off, maybe just some walk rides to keep her from going nuts.
Well, whaddya know? That was in September. It's now JANUARY and I think I've hopped on that mare a total of three times, bareback, to walk around the yard.
I just don't get whats so hard to about putting your beloved companions best interests first.
/end second rant.
(LMAO, I love your blog, it gets me so fired up).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjDsNnA02IY&feature=related
I'm sorry this Video is damn funny to me!!!! LMFAO!!!!
Mikolaj~~ LOL! Thanks I get that a lot ;)
Mikolaj I want to go to your tack store, most of the ones around here the people wouldn't know a tail flap from a neck rug!
It seems as everything gets more and more complex people want to know less and less and just want to be TOLD what to do, rather than learning the hows and whys. It makes me want to snap peoples necks when they just can't be bothered - there is nothing worse.
Stupid people shouldn't own horses, it's simple.
I can't believe the mother was having the "death talk" either with an 8yo..... wow. Just wow.
slavetothehorse.blogspot.com
I have to say that if they're that inexperienced I'd rather see them ride the horse with a non shanked bit than one that will multiply every wrong yank and pull. Yeesh.
Tricky - isn't that the WORST? I don't get it so much from tack stores, we have a decent sized equine community and it's typically always experienced riders and owners working behind the counter (quite a few I know on a personal basis).
But PET SHOPS. Seriously, I cannot count how many times I've applied for jobs at pet stores because I think I would be PERFECT. Do I ever get hired? Nope. Do they EVER have ANYTHING but completely incompetent and inept 16 year olds working behind the counter who don't know cat food from dog food? NOPE. It infuriates me to no end. I bought a hamster from Petcetera once and not only did they not have a clue what wet tail was, they didn't even sell the medication!! How can you be unaware of one of the biggest killers of hamsters during transport? I will never shop there again.
Trainer X - in a good way or bad way? I thought that chick was a DAMN fine rider. She gets her reins a little short when he goes up, but manages to correct it before disaster strikes.
She is an OK rider, she needed to get out of his face a bit... but just a funny video in general!!! We've all been there!!!
TtrexX
Your last vid, you're right, she's making some point, but not very well. I bet his mouth & back are sore. See her doing that lovely hand-fixing, wall hands? Where is the horse to go? Up? Down. Sideways, hey, he tried all that, no release. Not once, except when he almost "had" her.
Um, go forward, girl. He would much appreciate it. That's the biggest stupidity about it, that you can force a horse, CleveWellsNot certainement do. Horse looked stuck. as in WTF?
She stuck to him well, but he'd have gotten her if he Really wanted to. He had her, at one point. Nicehorse. Trying to explain.
sorry I'm late.
They all look like bits to the interest impaired.
yeah, nice, stupid MOM. (read it wrong this first time)
Gawd, that makes it so worse. Let the kid enjoy her life for one frickin' second!! Gah. Jeesh, wait a week. The day your kid gets her perfect divine, creature, jeeeez, Mom. What a party-pooper. sickoid.
Wow.
Sick.
How old is the kid?
Don't tell me, I'll explode.
When I had the kids' pony put down, SURE, I could have said, Well, kiddos, pull up a chair. I had your pony killed today because she had chronic laminitis that left her unrideable and in pain for the rest of her natural life. So, I had the vet administer a drug that killed her, then I had to actually leave her in the horse trailer where she was euth'ed for a few weeks until the ground thawed enough so Grandpa could bury her. But DON'T YOU WORRY, SHE'S IN A BETTER PLACE NOW, several feet under the ground and all wrapped up in a big piece of plastic. But I won't go into details with you, you probably won't understand.
OR, I could have said, Remember how BB's feet hurt her so much? Well, I took her to the horse doctor and he made it so her feet don't hurt any more, but she's not going to come back to our house.
Call me crazy, option 2 was the route I took. Aren't you supposed to P R O T E C T your children, as much as reasonably possible, and LET THEM BE CHILDREN?
Trex, that called for a high five in the face, followed by, What the HELL are you thinking????
I worked at two tack stores while in college... scariest job I ever had! The utter ignorance out there just boggles my mind. I was more than happy to get them set with everything they'd need for that new horse, and share my knowledge of why they needed it, how to tell if it fit, and how the item worked. But if they needed it all explained just to buy it, who the hell was going to tell them how to use it??? I gave training advice only to the extent of "Um... you REALLY shouldn't allow your horse to do that... have you thought of looking for a trainer?" Usually I just had to sit and listen to them tell about their "training" methods... flipping horses on concrete to teach them not to rear was one of them. One of my co-workers thought she'd try profiting from the ignorance and offering some training services on the side. She ended up calling in hospitalized... nothing big, just a broken rib, internal bleeding and some organ damage!
Bits were particularly frustrating! If they came in and asked for a kimberwick because their trainer suggested they ride in one, great! They have a reason, and they have supervision. But the ones that didn't have either made me sad for the horses. We had a rodeo guy come in when they were in town, and he bought the nastiest twisted wire gag bit in the shop. Apparently his horse took off out the arena, just decided he was done, to hell with the job at hand. Of course his solution was more severity instead of more training... so sad.
http://talldarkandspotty.blogspot.com/
Yikes. Maybe someone knowledgable at the barn could offer Mom a bitting clinic, complete with a good lecture on how the wrong bit could be really really bad! How unfortunate for the poor mare that this woman can't admit her ignorance and just ask questions!
You know, I always thought that the people that work in tack stores know what they are talking about but I've found out time and time again that is just not the case. Over and over again I find myself going to the smaller tack shops even though they might have higher prices because I get more individualized attention and the people actually know their stuff!
i think i'd have to go somewhere in between 2toads scenarios, probably letting the kid know that the pony is dead ( i was never sheltered from death as a child) in a way they could understand, but not the details!
At least the bit she got was milder, not something like a spade or anything crazy.
Can't tell the difference. Whatever. What got me was the "bit thingies". Really?
As for the kid - it's her kid. If she wants to traumatize it and ensure that she never bonds with the horse, that's her deal.
Jackass.
TreX-
I thought the video was funny too. I almost thought she was going to pull him over the first up, but she did pretty good. Been there, can laugh.
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