Fugly Wank of the Day
One fine day in February, every angry equestrian's favorite blog, Fugly Horse of the Day, had an anonymous guest blogger post about the many irritations of being a horse trainer, particularly when beginning riders are involved. Said post is very, very angry indeed, earning a figurative "you go, girl!" from Fugly herself. Opinions in the comments, however, are divided on whether she's 100% correct, right on several points but kind of snotty and condescending about it, or right on a few points but mainly just a wannabe know-it-all with a god complex. And they all lived angrily (but very happy about it) ever after.

I'll expose my bias and admit that I think that most of the wank is coming from the article itself, but there are a few gems to be found in the comments as well. But enough of that, have some quotes.

From the article:
I hate all of your tack. I swear every time I go to a new job I find the exact same crappy tack, tack that I wouldn’t put on my horses even with a gun to my head. It is the tack that your “friends” gave you because surprise they realized that it sucked so they gave it to you. The saddles you have are dry rotted and synthetic (I don’t care what you paid for them, a saddle that is $300 or lower new is crap), they nose dive on the withers and swim all over the back, so you have to cut the horse in half to get them to sort of stay on and then you have to balance the saddle on the horse while trying to ride, because it slides all over the place. A good western saddle new is $800 up, and tolerable one will be $500- $800.
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Your way wasn’t working, that is why you called me, so just shut up and listen. I love it when I get a new client who regardless to what I say or accomplish with their horse still thinks that they know what they are doing or their way is better. You don’t. That is why you called me in the first place.

From the comments:
I used to burst screaming into The Vapors song, “I Think I’m Turning Japanese”, grab my hair and stomp around when I finally snapped.
I was mildly famous for it.
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Well, I’m glad some people are keeping horse ownership to be something only the rich can afford. I’m so glad that the multitude of reasons I have a synthetic (including health reasons that preclude me from having a heavy and expensive “real” saddle) cause someone who has nothing to do with me or my horse so much grief.
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Newsflash to people who use the “life happens” excuse: Unless your job involves riding horses, NONE of us have time to ride our horses! We do it anyway. I’d rather function on 4 hrs of sleep than function in a state of bitchiness because I didn’t get to ride my horse.

Edited to make it a little clearer which quotes come from which section. Sorry for the confusion!

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	beccastareyes 2010-02-23 04:20 pm UTC (link)
	Not to mention, I'd bet there are services that allow you to ride regularly if you can't afford a horse. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

jackandahat
2010-02-23 04:27 pm UTC (link)

In my experience, there are... but they're £20 an hour. At least. And you've got to stick with pre-defined trails etc. Not satisfying if you're used to having your own. But they're still a hell of a lot cheaper than buying your own! And you don't have to do the mucking out.

Which is the other option - I got to ride as a kid because I was willing to muck out for the prissy princess crowd who were too dainty to get their shoes dirty (I don't mean people who were busy, or couldn't - I mean the ones who were shocked that their horse shits.) - there's a lot of adverts for "horse sharing" which is a much cheapter option than sole-owning.

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white_tean
2010-02-23 06:30 pm UTC (link)

I'm lucky enough to have horses (thankyou Mom and Dad), and I have an arrangement with a friend who had to sell her horse , who is a very competent rider and rides my mare the one night a week when it's family dinner night. It's a good arrangement, because I trust her and we communicate with each-other and get on the same page (and my mare is the type to actually thrive with a seven day work week).

Since I started that, she rides another woman at the stable's horse once a week as well now, and the son of another rider also rides someone's very, very nice horse (and previously rode another) because she's too busy with work to at the moment, and currently our shared instructor is riding my Mom's horse a couple days a week. Anyway, just saying there are some opportunities where if you're still connected with people with horses at an agistment centre and demonstrate that you can school/exercise a horse with skill, you can find people who would like it if their horse was worked a bit more regularly than they can do. It's a lot dependent on the culture of the stables however unfortunately - it wouldn't work at most places I've been, but the owners at our place don't want to be nosy past making sure everyone who rides has signed an insurance waiver.

And in these cases at my stables, the riders don't have to do anything in return except possibly dump pre-made hays/dinner in. I've heard from people who had similar arrangements as your childhood one, and I know there are people who'd be happy with that, though more because if they're part board they'd like someone to take over a couple days a week of mucking out/feeding.

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catchester
2010-02-26 12:12 am UTC (link)

And you can often come to arrangements with local riding schools. You get a reduction on livery fees (and a choice of either full or half livery) if they can use your horse for lessons. Plus, your horse is exercised for up to 3 hours a day, for free!

You have to trust the school isn't going to put bad riders on your horse, but hopefully you'll have a good relationship with them. And if your horse is on half livery, you should be up there a lot taking care of it anyway.

The riding school i went to as a child had a lot of these "loaned" horses and sometimes the stupidity of the owners amazed me. Some didn't have a clue how to actually take care of their horse. One gave his horse colic (much more serious than it sounds) because he fed it the wrong food when visiting for a lesson. It blew my mind that I, an 11 year old kid, knew more about taking care of his horse than he did. (and I could get more out of his horse in lessons than he could :P ).

As children, even though we were paying full fees, we had no choice but to pitch in for the day, mucking out, cleaning tack, learning about feeds, rugs, equipment etc, and IMHO, it's the only way. Learning to ride isn't enough, you also have to learn how to look after your horse, understand it and respect it. The idea of going there, looking all pristine, getting on my pre tacked up horse, having a lesson and handing him off at the end to someone else was and is just alien to me. Taking care of a horse is part of loving it, even the crappy bits like mucking it out.

On the tack issue, many of the saddles/bridled i used and cleaner were 30+ years old, but still in perfect condition. Yes, it's hella expensive, but it will last a lifetime if cared for.

But i guess we're in a disposable society these days. Buy cheap and get a new one when it wears out...

Wow, that was longer than I intended.

TL;DR, Word!

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beccastareyes
2010-02-26 12:32 am UTC (link)

As children, even though we were paying full fees, we had no choice but to pitch in for the day, mucking out, cleaning tack, learning about feeds, rugs, equipment etc, and IMHO, it's the only way. Learning to ride isn't enough, you also have to learn how to look after your horse, understand it and respect it. The idea of going there, looking all pristine, getting on my pre tacked up horse, having a lesson and handing him off at the end to someone else was and is just alien to me. Taking care of a horse is part of loving it, even the crappy bits like mucking it out.

I volunteered at the children's zoo when I was in high school, which was half 'learn about animals' and half 'do anything that doesn't need to be done by a paid person', which included the pony rides. And we did have to learn how to saddle and un-saddle the ponies, care for the tack and the ponies, and so on... because that was what we did on slow days and before the visitors got there (and usually after they left, and when we had to give the ponies a break).

It also taught me a lot about horses. You'd be surprised how much you learn about an animal by having to feed it and clean up after it.

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catchester
2010-02-26 01:10 am UTC (link)

So true.

I also saw in the blog post she talks about horses and owners having a bad relationship. And i dont know if you got to ride the ponies or not, but i found that having that other level to the relationship made me have a good relationship with all the horses.

Sure, there were some I preferred, like there are some people i like more than others, but that was usually more to do with their personality than their ride. One of my favourite horses was Frolic, who just loved to buck you off (or try at least). I never held it against him, just got back on and tried to stay there. And i loved him because he had real character. I cant imagine having an adversarial relationship with a horse.

The really sad thing is, i treat my cars the same way, tell him he's a good boy when he makes it up a slippery hill and pat the steering wheel, encourage him when he's struggling, that sort of thing. I do draw the line at giving him polo mints though!

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beccastareyes
2010-02-26 01:14 am UTC (link)

Sadly, we didn't -- a couple of the ponies were comfortable handling an adult, but most of them couldn't really deal with one or were too small to be comfortable with an adult on their back, so we just led them. You still learned a bit about their personalities, like which ones would get bored and go after the grass at the side of the trail, or which ones were more skittish and had to be watched.

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	catchester 2010-02-26 01:22 am UTC (link)
	Thats the great thing about horses, they're as unique as people. Grumpy, high strung, eager to please, soppy. I just love them. Even when i was too big to ride them (and some of the Shetlands i was never small enough to ride) I regularly went to the pony block to help. I'd have gone there just to be with the horses if they'd let me, the riding was just a bonus. (Reply to this)(Parent)

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