# Genius moments in horsemanship



## SteadyOn (Mar 5, 2017)

Today, I visited a friend and went on a trail ride.

While tacking up, I first forgot to take the halter off before putting on the bridle. (But it was a western bridle with a snaffle bit, and the halter wasn't interfering, so I left it, no biggie.) Then, I tried to lead the horse away, and wondered why she was planting her feet and giving me a funny look. Oh, I forgot to unclip the halter from the tie rope. And had to be TOLD that's what I'd done, because her head was hiding the fact from the angle I was at.

:icon_rolleyes:

So. What brilliant move have YOU pulled that left you wondering why anyone ever lets you near a horse? :dance-smiley05:


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

When you put on the five-point harness, do not run the chain that goes across the stall door between it and the horse's chest. It will be very confused, and you must react quickly, or replace the clips for that chain.

I once noticed after a trail ride that I forgot to tighten the girth before getting on. Yay for balance!


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

I got distracted saddling my horse once, and rode for two miles before I realized that I still had the cinch up on the off side and hadn't put it around the horse... thank goodness for big-withered rope horses that barely need a cinch anyway.

My dad went out in the dark once to get my horse from his pasture, and didn't come back and didn't come back.... I was putting on my coat to go see what was wrong when I see him and the horse coming up the lane by the barn and both seem fine. He said he put the halter on and started walking and the horse stopped and refused to move. He tugs and cajoles and nothing. Without a light, he decides to leave the horse and go get a flashlight and see what the problem is when he turns and walks right into the side of my horse... he'd put the halter on a blaze-faced sorrel mare on the other side of the fence.


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## SteadyOn (Mar 5, 2017)

One night last summer, I had ridden in a lesson and my coach left me alone to put the horses to bed and close up the barn. I put the horse I had ridden in her stall and took her bridle off and turned her loose in there, when a pony across the aisle put her head over the door to look for some attention. So I went across, gave her a scratch, brushed some tangles out of her mane, and spent about ten minutes with her.

I put everything away and went to leave, before deciding to do just ONE last check of the horses, even though I was confident it was all done.

At which point I saw that the horse I had ridden was still wearing her saddle. 

That would have been an interesting conversation the next morning.....


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## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

Oh gods these are hilarious. I fortunately have yet to experience this with a horse but I cannot even tell you the amount of times I've been snake feeding on my floor (to separate them) sat down and for hours completely forgot that I'd taken them out. The momentary panic where you jump up and freeze as you try to figure out if this is a nightmare or not!


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## elkdog (Nov 28, 2016)

We went out to go camping one weekend. One of the guys showed up about an hour late to the trailhead. When he opened his trailer, he found out he'd forgot his horse! It was tied to another trailer and he just drove off and left her there.
So much for his weekend.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

(this is out riding, in a snaffle, direct reining . . . . )
On a ride, I was wondering why every time I pulled a bit on the right rein, my horse got very confused and went left. and when I pulled on the left rein, she went right. Come one! give me a break! I twisted around to look under her neck, and low and behold, I saw that my reins were crisscrossed under her jaw!


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

I once went back to the barn at 5am because I couldn’t remember if I removed her bridle. I couldn’t sleep thinking about it. It turned out I did but I was very worried.

I can just imagine what people with OCD feel like. Someone was telling me that a therapist advised a patient to carry their clothing iron with them in their car until medication kicked in and it worked.

Also, a couple of weeks ago I went on a trail ride. The owner asked me all about my riding and I came across as someone who could handle a well trained horse in rough terrain. We start mounting and my brain decides that the correct side to mount is right-hand side. The guys face was priceless.


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

tinyliny said:


> (this is out riding, in a snaffle, direct reining . . . . )
> On a ride, I was wondering why every time I pulled a bit on the right rein, my horse got very confused and went left. and when I pulled on the left rein, she went right. Come one! give me a break! I twisted around to look under her neck, and low and behold, I saw that my reins were crisscrossed under her jaw!


Oh, I thought that’s practically a must for everyone! I’m sure everyone has done that at least once. Right, guys?


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

SilverMaple said:


> My dad went out in the dark once to get my horse from his pasture, and didn't come back and didn't come back.... I was putting on my coat to go see what was wrong when I see him and the horse coming up the lane by the barn and both seem fine. He said he put the halter on and started walking and the horse stopped and refused to move. He tugs and cajoles and nothing. Without a light, he decides to leave the horse and go get a flashlight and see what the problem is when he turns and walks right into the side of my horse... he'd put the halter on a blaze-faced sorrel mare on the other side of the fence.


I think it was this forum where someone was talking about catching, saddling and bridling a wrong bay horse. An unbroken horse which never had a saddle on him or a bit in its mouth. The horse took it all in stride. Accidental horse trainer, that one.


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## ThatRoanHorse (Mar 2, 2017)

Once I had not only forgotten to take the halter off before putting on the bridle, but also had forgotten to untie the horse. There were a few seconds of mass confusion on both ends of the reins (the horse and I!)


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## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

elkdog said:


> We went out to go camping one weekend. One of the guys showed up about an hour late to the trailhead. When he opened his trailer, he found out he'd forgot his horse! It was tied to another trailer and he just drove off and left her there.
> So much for his weekend.


:O _bangs hand on table screaming!_ wut! LOL


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## ThatRoanHorse (Mar 2, 2017)

elkdog said:


> We went out to go camping one weekend. One of the guys showed up about an hour late to the trailhead. When he opened his trailer, he found out he'd forgot his horse! It was tied to another trailer and he just drove off and left her there.
> So much for his weekend.


For a moment I though you mean his horse was tied to _his_ trailer and he had driven off and left her there (at the trail?). I either need to get my eyes checked or go to bed... probably both.

On another note, I feel as if it would be really hard to "forget" your horse. Whenever I go to shows I do a mental checklist of the things I need to have to compete... "Horse... check... saddle & pad... check... bridle... check... we're all good!"


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

tinyliny said:


> (this is out riding, in a snaffle, direct reining . . . . )
> On a ride, I was wondering why every time I pulled a bit on the right rein, my horse got very confused and went left. and when I pulled on the left rein, she went right. Come one! give me a break! I twisted around to look under her neck, and low and behold, I saw that my reins were crisscrossed under her jaw!


My friend did that once, only problem was that the horse took off when she mounted and she was pulling with all her might to avoid the trees and pulled the horse right into them.

I've turned horses out with their boots on, watched them gallop off and realized I'd have to go catch them again.

A few times I've tried to back horses out of trailers after putting the lead rope on, but they were still attached to the tie ring. Such stubborn horses! 

I've put english stirrups on the stirrup bar but under the flap instead of over, and done a nice latigo knot on the near side of the horse but the cinch was only looped through the off side. Works fine until you trot around a corner. That time I tried to leap off as the saddle slid over, but took the saddle with me so landed with it between my legs.

One of my best moments was when I ducked under a hot wire while holding the end of a metal field fence in one hand, and forgetting the tall metal manure fork in the other which contacted the fence. Quite a buzz!


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

One of the ponies at the riding school pulled a shoe, she was due to go straight out on the next ride so another pony was called for. I rushed to tack him up and had a struggle to squeeze him into the girth. I grabbed his rein to lead him out and he didn't move. I pulled and slapped him on the backside, he just looked at me. 
In my rush I had thrown the girth over the rail separating him from another pony, no wonder I had a problem doing it up. 

When my nieces and nephew were with me I told them to tack up and go to the arena. When I got there my nephew (5) was riding around with his girth not attached. I told him that his girth wasn't done up, he bent over to look and ended up in a heap on the ground - with the saddle. 

I asked my eldest niece what she hadn't helped him and she said that he told her he could do it himself. That's siblings for you.


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## elkdog (Nov 28, 2016)

Horsef said:


> I think it was this forum where someone was talking about catching, saddling and bridling a wrong bay horse. An unbroken horse which never had a saddle on him or a bit in its mouth. The horse took it all in stride. Accidental horse trainer, that one.


That was me. We had been chasing cows in Hells Canyon for days. I went back to the cabin to get another horse and all of mine looked pretty tired. There was a mule (not mine) there that looked pretty good so I caught her and saddled her with no problem. Off we went to go chase cows. She was a miserable ride. Would hardly move with spurs sticking out both sides of her and had a miserable plow rein. We only went about a mile before I gave up and went back to get one of my horses.

That night we were sitting at the cabin eatin beans and passin gas when I told about the mule adventure. The owner about fell out of his chair from laughing so hard. The mule had never been ridden, she was a pack mule.

She did pretty good for her first ride.


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## mmshiro (May 3, 2017)

Horsef said:


> We start mounting and my brain decides that the correct side to mount is right-hand side. The guys face was priceless.


That's an easy one to get out of - in Iceland they told us to mount the horse from both sides (after each break on the trail ride), because they want their horses to be symmetric. It all depends on where you learn - unless you were carrying your sword on your belt...


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## mslady254 (May 21, 2013)

Where do I start.,......got my lesson horse from her stall and she was extra feisty, prancing in place etc. when we got up to the lesson barn as we approached the cross ties, three little girls all said at the same time “that’s NOT Lace”. I had brought up a Stallion instead of my lesson mare. I never did learn why their stalls had been switched but I did learn to never again assume u have the correct horse just because it’s the right color from the right stall. A friend who wasn’t a horse person was with me that day , so I was talking to her and a bit distracted on the wrong day.

At a saddling lesson using a riding simulator, I tossed the saddle not once but twice the wrong way and nearly knocked the instructor in the head with the flying western stirrups....ie on a real horse I would have been putting the saddle on backwards IF it had cleared his head. It wouldn’t have. My wires were really crossed that day.

We had two horses tied in the 3 horse slant load trailer and the ropes were run thru some bars...I inadvertently untied the horse nearest the front while trying to unload my horse who was near the back. Unfortunately, he WAS able to get his back feet out and on the ground before the still tied rope caught him. Thank goodness , he didn’t panic and I was able to get him to step back into the trailer to have enough slack to get HIM untied and also thankful that the other horse just kept standing where he was. 

A friend failed to make sure the trailer door was secured and it swung open going up the driveway to get on the highway. It was the 3horse slant with no back butt bar. I was in my own vehicle behind her and was able to alert her to a problem before she got to the highway or the back horse was able to swing his rump out the door. We usually rode together. So fortunate that we didn’t that day.

Noticed that the throat latch strap of the bridle wasn’t tied half way thru a trail ride. Did the same thing another time at an event and he spit out the bit and the bridle slid off one ear while we were just standing outside of the arena. Someone on the ground rebridled him for me so I didn’t have to dismount. Since then, I have Instituted a habit of a few checks, duh Fay,,for the bridle before mounting.

After long lining with the western stirrups tied together with a strap under his belly to keep them from banging him in the sides, I undid the long lines but forgot about the stirrups strap and mounted. Things felt only a little odd but he didn’t want to move out. Then I remembered the stirrups. 

At a clinic with a lot of auditors, the instructor was helping me teach Sonny to come to me at the trot which involved me jogging backwards in an arc while adding a bit of driving pressure behind the driveline. I was making the arc too small, got dizzy and fell in the dirt with, of course, all the other students and auditors watching. Sonny was so embarrassed when I had to get on all fours to be able to get back up , still dizzy but trying to fake that I was ok. Lol.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

I have done most of these. My go to is the "why isn't the horse moving?!" one! Typically done at a job in full view of many people.

I will say horses are amazingly forgiving in instances like that, it's like they realize what happened.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

5 year old daughter of a horse dealer had a Shetland pony, Cinderella. (A gelding but what's a name?) She couldn't make him stand still for mounting and her little legs had trouble reaching the stirrup without him moving around. 
I went out to find her mounting and dismounting from both sides in the arena with Cindy standing stock still. When I got closer and the kick board weren't hiding his lower half I found she had tied all four legs together, he couldn't move.


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Foxhunter said:


> 5 year old daughter of a horse dealer had a Shetland pony, Cinderella. (A gelding but what's a name?) She couldn't make him stand still for mounting and her little legs had trouble reaching the stirrup without him moving around.
> I went out to find her mounting and dismounting from both sides in the arena with Cindy standing stock still. When I got closer and the kick board weren't hiding his lower half I found she had tied all four legs together, he couldn't move.


A horsewoman in the making!!


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

A friend of mine couldn’t stop girth rubbing her Arabian for love or money. She must have bought 10 different girths with no luck. Rested the horse for months, nothing worked. She tied two large kitchen sponges to the girth and that worked. The horse looked like it escaped from a distopian movie and the tack was most certainly not show legal, but it worked.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

ThatRoanHorse said:


> For a moment I though you mean his horse was tied to _his_ trailer and he had driven off and left her there (at the trail?). I either need to get my eyes checked or go to bed... probably both.
> 
> On another note, I feel as if it would be really hard to "forget" your horse. Whenever I go to shows I do a mental checklist of the things I need to have to compete... "Horse... check... saddle & pad... check... bridle... check... we're all good!"



A friend was just pulling in to the showgrounds when her husband called and asked if she was coming back for her horses.... they were tied to the hitch rail by the barn and she had left without them. She had just bought a larger pickup and said she was thinking how she didn't even know the horses were back there as she couldn't feel them shifting around at all behind her! That was why... It was hot and rather than load them, she tied them in the shade thinking she'd run a few things from the house, lock the house up, then put the horses on right before she pulled out. Well, she forgot.


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## NavigatorsMom (Jan 9, 2012)

I once went out to ride and since I was just in the arena and had my boyfriend there, I think I was a little lax about our tack up and forgot to check the girth. When it was time to canter, we took a fast and sharp turn and I realized, "my butt isn't in the saddle...?" before sliding off the side and landing on my feet (thankfully!). This was the end result:










Lesson learned - ALWAYS check the girth before cantering!


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I was riding my green gelding in the woods in tall grass, following a friend. My horse stopped and wouldn't go forward. Well, he does that sometimes. 

I asked him to go forward again and he starts to walk and then he stops. He's like "Nope, I can't move, sorry." So I look down and we are standing in a downed barbed wire fence! What a good boy. A lot of horses would have panicked. But my greenie took it all in stride. He's just "no, sorry, I have a problem here." 

I have a friend who comes to ride with me with her reins crossed fairly often. Her horse rides just fine that way so I guess he's used to it. :smile:

Another friend told me once that she cinched her horse to the tie rail.


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## JoBlueQuarter (Jan 20, 2017)

trailhorserider said:


> I was riding my green gelding in the woods in tall grass, following a friend. My horse stopped and wouldn't go forward. Well, he does that sometimes.
> 
> I asked him to go forward again and he starts to walk and then he stops. He's like "Nope, I can't move, sorry." *So I look down and we are standing in a downed barbed wire fence! What a good boy. A lot of horses would have panicked. But my greenie took it all in stride. He's just "no, sorry, I have a problem here."
> *
> ...


#MostImportantThingToTeachAHorse

What a good boy!


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

*!*



NavigatorsMom said:


> I once went out to ride and since I was just in the arena and had my boyfriend there, I think I was a little lax about our tack up and forgot to check the girth. When it was time to canter, we took a fast and sharp turn and I realized, "my butt isn't in the saddle...?" before sliding off the side and landing on my feet (thankfully!). This was the end result:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


That expression says it all! :rofl:

My greenie refused to go on the trail once. I finally figured out the giant boulder inches next to the trail was a REALLY big snapping turtle. Once I realized that and asked him to go again (in a detour) he was happy to, he just wanted to make sure I knew what was happening first. Smart horse!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Quote:
Originally Posted by *tinyliny* View Post 
_(this is out riding, in a snaffle, direct reining . . . . )
On a ride, I was wondering why every time I pulled a bit on the right rein, my horse got very confused and went left. and when I pulled on the left rein, she went right. Come one! give me a break! I twisted around to look under her neck, and low and behold, I saw that my reins were crisscrossed under her jaw!_




Horsef said:


> Oh, I thought that’s practically a must for everyone! I’m sure everyone has done that at least once. Right, guys?


Yeeees... :rofl:

And what still happens to me on not infrequent occasions is that I'm absent-mindedly doing up the throat latch and then picking up the reins to mount and then go, "Ooops, sorry, false alarm, your genius monkey managed to run a rein through the throat latch!"


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

gottatrot said:


> One of my best moments was when I ducked under a hot wire while holding the end of a metal field fence in one hand, and forgetting the tall metal manure fork in the other which contacted the fence. Quite a buzz!


Yes, that happens at least yearly here. Zaaaaappp! :shock::runpony:

The fence runs at 7.5kV because we also have cattle. It's sort of... innervating... and frazzly...


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Here's a vicarious genius moment. I grew up on a horse stud and helped out with all sorts of horse things. My father and I have vastly different takes on ground training - I like to cover all bases, he is always rush rush rush. I'm a rider interested in multiple areas of riding, he was a harness racing driver. I used to spend a lot of time and repeat sessions trailer training my horse from the time she was a yearling, he tried to rush them in and bang them up the week before he actually had to go somewhere, with much expostulating.

He had this one horse, Mirage, who could run backwards as fast as he could run forwards - and he was a heck of a fast horse. He could spin like a dervish and was really nervous. Had he had a total cool cucumber, Zen trainer, this horse would have done extremely well, but without a calming influence like that, no go. He and Mirage used to be the perfect example of a vicious circle, of amping and counteramping. It was the one horse he never even got to the racetrack.

So I was having lunch on a visit, when I was in my 20s, and my father turns up at the window and says, "You got a minute to drop in the bum bar?" I knew how this went with this horse and was unenthusiastic, but went out. Mirage had been walking in and running out all morning. I said, "You know, I'd try doing this differently!" and he said, "I don't have time, just drop in the bum bar would you, when he's in!" (Yup, there's a reason for the saying, _Make haste slowly_.)

So here I was beside the float, with an ancient two-pin bum bar with crooked pins, looking doubtful. He'd get three quarters of the way in and then rocket out backwards, throwing himself about. At one point he was actually in for a millisecond, and I got gingerly on the other side of the ramp from him, behind the empty partition, out of his firing line, and got one pin of the bar in before - wham - the horse bashed past, nearly falling over backwards in the process, and then ran off into the proverbial sunset, leaving behind a cloud of dust.

And my father said to me in an exasperated manner, "Why didn't you stay behind him and stop him doing that?"

My jaw dropped past my knees. _What?_ When I'd returned my jaw to its normal position, I explained to him that the horse weighed nearly 500kg and I did not, and terms like momentum, velocity, impact, death, and safe working practices. And that was the last time I've helped out in a situation that was clearly dangerous and needed a different approach.

I leave you with two questions about the English language: Why does the word commonsense have _common_ in it when it's not? And why is abbreviation such a long word?


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## phantomhorse13 (Feb 18, 2011)

mslady254 said:


> I never did learn why their stalls had been switched but I did learn to never again assume u have the correct horse just because it’s the right color from the right stall.


I have one similar to this!

I volunteered at a rescue and was told to go to the far paddock and bring back the lone chestnut horse. Seemed easy enough, and indeed I found a single chestnut horse at the far side of an enclosure. He was wearing a blanket, which I thought a bit odd as it was fairly warm and nobody else was, but went in to get him all the same. The horse was a bit skittish and it took me a few moments to convince him to let me catch him. Eventually, I did and up to the barn we went, with him behaving perfectly once the halter was on.

Upon arrival, there was much excitement. Apparently nobody had been able to get their hands on that horse since he came in, thus his still wearing the blanket. Since I didn't know any better, I was able to get him! [And I found out I had been meant to get the only chestnut horse in a paddock with several bays that was right beside the hard to catch one.]


Another stupid move was purely on me. When wearing slippery rain pants, it is not a good idea to really jump hard from the mounting block after throwing a leg over bareback.. because you just keep on going and land in a heap on the ground on the other side. Thank goodness for tolerant horses!!


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

I actually rembered my early training, and undid Fergies halter, fastened around her neck, put her headstall on, then tried to lead her away....Poor girl.

Coming home from a show, she had her show halter and number on still, we had just put another one over it with her head bumper on. Got home, turned her out, I THOUGHT. I had both halters loose, nope, just one. I had to wait until the herd had stopped running round being stupid before I could walk out and retrieve my nice halter.


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

This one is not so funny, (some of these are just hilarious! Thanks!!!) but interesting.

Every year I helped out for a week of riding when our 6th graders spent a week at camp. I had been doing this for many years, so was familiar with the head teacher, the horses, and the program. The day before we arrived at camp, the instructor broke her leg, but the camp manager said, "You know the drill, all the horses, and how we do things. You'll be fine."

So, the very first morning, I saw there were two very nice looking chestnut horses in the field with the trail horses that we used. I figured the camp had gotten two new horses, and my, they looked fine. So when we brought the horses in, we brought them in too, put saddles on them that appeared to fit, and used them for the trail rides. Everything went great, and I thought how lucky the camp was to get these two nice chestnuts. Since I didn't know the new horses, I put kids on them who seemed competent. I knew the kids pretty well, and it doesn't take long to figure out which kids would do best with which horses.

A few days later, the real instructor turned up on crutches, and I learned that the two new chestnuts that I had been putting kids on for trail rides for two days were actually privately owned horses that (1) could not be caught (2) were too hot and difficult for the owner to manage. Needless to say, we stopped using them, but they were great for the first two days!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

:rofl:, @knightrider!


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## Avna (Jul 11, 2015)

I think that image of the horse cinched to the tie rail is going to give me little fits of snorting every time I think about it.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

My friend rode her horse over to where I was cleaning a paddoc and hailed me with a friendly greeting from the other side of the fence. She was riding bareback on her lovely Arab mare. I reached over to 'love on' the mare, and contacted the fence with my coat, and the horse's nose , with me just wanting to offer a friendly pat. 



Guess who got bucked off?


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Avna said:


> I think that image of the horse cinched to the tie rail is going to give me little fits of snorting every time I think about it.


This sounds intriguing. Can you post a clip? ;-)


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

One of my hunter liveries was owned by a busy farmer who would call me to say if he could Hunt the next day. One Friday, he wasn't sure about being able to follow hounds and asked me to get the horse ready, if he couldn't Hunt he would go down and untack him, if he could he would be late and would trailer the horse to wherever the Hunt was. 
So Duke was plaited and tacked, I left for the Meet and about half an hour after we had moved off, Ron arrived with the trailer. He drove past us to park and as he did so I realised that he had totally forgotten to load the horse!


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

I've got an actual genius horsemanship moment for _y'all_. ;-) I know we're doing inverted genius here, but this actual genius thing is too good not to share.

And it's a genuine story I read about ten years back. There was this lady competing in Australian dressage who was in her 70s, and doing very well, but she was losing her eyesight to macular degeneration. When she was asked what she would do if she went completely blind, she said, "Then I can always be a judge!"


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## ChieTheRider (May 3, 2017)

Once I put a western saddle on my gelding and forgot the saddle pad. This was when I'd just gotten him and he had been ridden English his whole life and hadn't had a big ol' clunky western saddle on him for a very long time. And I realized later the saddle didn't fit anyhow, plus the horse has high withers. It took me about three seconds to figure out something was wrong after I mounted up, he took off out of the gate like a racehorse and bucked me clean off. You can bet I never forgot the saddle pad again. 



Thank goodness I was wearing a helmet.


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## gottatrot (Jan 9, 2011)

SueC said:


> When she was asked what she would do if she went completely blind, she said, "Then I can always be a judge!"


Hilarious!


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## Cordillera Cowboy (Jun 6, 2014)

My very first rodeo. I think I was 19. A coworker was a rodeo cowboy from Utah, and he offered to mentor me. Besides the coaching, he let me use his bareback rig and spurs. The arena had 4 bucking chutes. I was rider #5 or 6. they ran the first bunch of broncs into the chutes from right to left. My mentor looked at the way they were facing, and set the rig up so that I could safely tighten it up from the back side of the chutes, as is normal. The chinch hangs down on the arena side and is drawn up with a hook, to be tightened from the back side of the chutes. He handed it off to me and sent me off behind the chutes.


They ran the second set of broncs, that included mine in from right to left. Meaning they were facing the opposite direction from the way my rig was set up. 


When a new guy shows up at a competition, folks are often not sure what the guy is like. The other cowboys were polite, but terse in their interactions with me. I went about my business, and set my rig onto the horse with the chinch hanging on the arena side. Meaning it was setting on the bronc BACKWARDS. 


Suddenly, my chute was like an anthill of friendly cowboys. Realizing I was no threat to them in the competition, the other guys hustled to help me out. They sorted out my cinch, gave me some last minute pointers and wished me luck on my first ride.


Of course, I was popped out of the seat in one or two bucks. The fellows all met me as I climbed out of the arena and went to the derigging chute . They dusted off my hat and handed it back to me. I received many hearty slaps on the back and words of encouragement. I was hooked.


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## Cordillera Cowboy (Jun 6, 2014)

Aargh. I said right to left twice. One set of broncs went in right to left, the other set left to right.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Hilarious. For some reason, whenever I ride in a different place, I have to think about which side to get on. At home, it's automatic, but for some reason, that goes out the window in a different environment.

When I was a teen, a friend of mine wanted to try riding my horse, but was a bit afraid, so asked if she could get on behind me. I said sure. I rode bareback a lot, because lugging a Western saddle when you're 12, and weigh about 90 lbs, is a PITA. So I got on my horse, and my friends, who was a little more on the plump side, and was quite a bit taller than me, got on the stool, and proceeded to try to pull herself up by holding onto me. Needless to say we both plopped down giggling at my horse's feet while he looked down in utter disgust.


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## 4horses (Nov 26, 2012)

I once went to clean out the trailer after a ride and forgot I had left the butt bar up. I was wearing a hat and since I am short, i didn't see it until I walked into it head first. Ouch! 

Yesterday I added a new section of electric fence to the old one. Minutes earlier my mother had told me she had changed the extension cord to the electric fence. For some reason I assumed the fence was off and put my hand directly on the wire by the box. Zap! 

One day, my mom went out to water her plants. She picked up an empty feed bucket- to fill with water- right at feeding time. The horses rushed over. I have these big tub horse feeders that sit on the ground. Harmony somehow stomped her back foot through the corner of the tub and was dragging it along with her. Meanwhile Paris is trying to check out the empty feed bucket my mom is holding. Harmony comes up and suddenly realizes she is dragging the feed tub. She takes off bucking and chucks the entire feed tub 10 feet in the air right at Paris. Both take off running. My mom was fine. Harmony was fine too. Not a scratch. Feed tub, demolished.


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

I'm still giggling about the horse cinched to the tie rail, although I can totally see how that would happen.

We had one friend who would come over every now and then to ride with a new horse. They were dealers, so he'd ride everything they bought for a few weeks and see what they knew and what they didn't and what issues might pop up that needed to be addressed before the horse would be a safe ride for someone when sold. One day, he shows up with this big, pretty roan gelding. "I got him cheap, can't figure out what's wrong with him, but it has to be something for such a good-looking horse to have been for sale so cheap." He'd ridden this horse several times, and couldn't find anything wrong with him. He was broke, you could rope off him, work cattle, drag a log or tire, work a gate, he crossed water, traffic safe, etc.

So, we decide to run to town to grab lunch and he ties that big roan up to a post, saddled, and off we go. It's only going to take us 25 minutes or so. We get back, and Ol' Roany is still standing there nice as you please, but the saddle is hanging off the lead rope, still double-cinched and the breastcollar fastened. He thinks someone is playing a joke, so he resaddles the horse, tightens the cinch up a bit more, and we go sit in the shade to eat. See some dust around the corner of the shed and wouldn't you know, that big roan is bucking in place so hard his heels are up near the roof and he bucks that saddle off right over his head, then proceeds to stand there and cock a leg and go to sleep. Friend goes over, resaddles him, tightens both cinches up about as tight as he can get them. Horse dumps the saddle over his head within minutes.

That was apparently the problem. You couldn't tie him saddled. He tried everything-- tighter cinches, breeching, crupper, everything, and that horse had so much power and was snaky as heck and got rid of the saddle every.single.time. Thankfully, Ol' Roany was a sweet horse otherwise and liked working and never offered to buck when ridden, because if he had, nobody could have stayed on him. My friend ended up keeping him as he was such a good rope horse, but he did say how much of a pain it was to always have to unsaddle him every time he wanted to tie him somewhere....


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## JoBlueQuarter (Jan 20, 2017)

^^I love that story!! What an awesome horse! I would have bought him in a heartbeat mainly because of that ability! :lol:


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

^^ I would have loved that horse! Around here it is a cardinal sin leaving a tacked up horse tied. I would never have found his flaw. (We don’t even leave “naked” horses tied unsupervised)


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## mslady254 (May 21, 2013)

Pulled into the boarding barn late, returning from a 5 day clinic, so , good and tired as well. Unloaded Sonny in the dark,,took him to the pasture and turned him out. He went at a trot toward the herd at the back. Before I got back to the trailer to park it, unhook and unload I heard a horse coming toward the gate at a good clip so I looked to see who it was. In the moonlight I recognized Sonny hightailing it back. Wha??? I had to go into the pasture to solve the puzzle. As I got near enough to the herd to see individual horses I realized that it wasn’t his herd of geldings. It was the mares and the lead mare was a meany. Unbeknownst to me, the BO had switched the herds/pastures that weekend and no one thought to let me know about the change. Poor Sonny was very thankful that I didn’t leave him completely and was able to get him out of there and into the geldings pasture. Not my fault, that time, and funny after the fact ,esp since lead mare didn’t have time to get after him. I swear I could almost hear him saying “Human, come back and get me outta here....quick!”


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## SteadyOn (Mar 5, 2017)

My best friend (before we really knew each other) accidentally tacked up my horse one night instead of her lesson horse. In her defense, they were both chestnut Quarab mares of a similar size, kept in nearby stalls, although mine had this long blond Fabio mane and a lot of white, while the other was mostly solid. 

She didn't notice the problem until she mounted and the instructor came out for the lesson... and sent her back in for the fastest horse-and-tack swap ever. That was the only time she ever "rode" my horse.


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## Cordillera Cowboy (Jun 6, 2014)

More recently, I was putting wet saddle blankets onto a big black horse for the parents of a special needs kid. Nothing wrong with the horse, but the kids old horse was being retired and the parents wanted to make sure of the behavior of the new horse before they let the kid ride it. 


The kid had named the horse Piggy for its habit of rolling in the mud and staying caked in mud or dust. One morning, I went to fetch Piggy. It was cold and misty, and I was the only one there. I went out and caught a big, muddy, black horse, cleaned it up, tacked up, and rode out. 


I was pleased at how much better and smoother the horse rode than before, and commented on it when I got back to the barn. The BO said, "No wonder. That's not Piggy."


The one day that Piggy had decided to not roll in the mud. It's been almost 2 years. They still laugh about that at the barn.


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## Horsef (May 1, 2014)

^^I just had one: “Why are they putting wet stuff on horses? Is that a new training technique?”. I imagined someone dunking saddle pads in water buckets and slinging them onto their horse. I should go get some coffee…


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Foxhunter said:


> One of my hunter liveries was owned by a busy farmer who would call me to say if he could Hunt the next day. One Friday, he wasn't sure about being able to follow hounds and asked me to get the horse ready, if he couldn't Hunt he would go down and untack him, if he could he would be late and would trailer the horse to wherever the Hunt was.
> So Duke was plaited and tacked, I left for the Meet and about half an hour after we had moved off, Ron arrived with the trailer. He drove past us to park and as he did so I realised that he had totally forgotten to load the horse!


I think watching that and realizing before he even noticed would be pretty hysterical!


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## SilverMaple (Jun 24, 2017)

Horsef said:


> ^^I just had one: “Why are they putting wet stuff on horses? Is that a new training technique?”. I imagined someone dunking saddle pads in water buckets and slinging them onto their horse. I should go get some coffee…


One gal in my 4H group when I was a kid perplexed us all by dunking her saddle blankets in a water tank before she saddled her horse one day at camp. Then she did it again the next day, and one of the instructors asked her what that was about, and that it was a good way to ruin her saddle with a soggy blanket against it, not to mention the horse....

Someone had told her that her gelding 'needed more wet saddle blankets' so that's what she had been doing...


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## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

@Horsef I just did the same thing, something about the wording.


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## JoBlueQuarter (Jan 20, 2017)

Horsef said:


> ^^I just had one: “Why are they putting wet stuff on horses? Is that a new training technique?”. I imagined someone dunking saddle pads in water buckets and slinging them onto their horse. I should go get some coffee…


OMG, same!! I got that exact same image in my head, lol


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## Golden Horse (Feb 20, 2010)

Lol, odd one out here, I got that one straight off.


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## SteadyOn (Mar 5, 2017)

This morning I rode the wrong horse. I tacked up the one my coach had told me, last night, that I should ride this morning. Completely missed her giant, very obvious note in the barn telling me to ride a different horse instead. A different horse that she had kept inside just for me so I wouldn't have to go out and catch her from the back of the field... like I did with the one I DID ride. 

Sigh.

It was a nice ride, anyhow!


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

We had a load of three and four year old horses arrive from the big National Hunt slurs in Eire. I am fairly sure there were sixteen of them from different trainers. 

They were all 16 hands + and apart from the sales catalog we knew nothing about them. They all lunged, as they had to for vetting prior to the sales. What was written in the catalog was always taken with a pinch of salt as often it wou,d say, "Will be quietly ridden about the farm until the time of sales," and when you tacked it up it exploded and had obviously never had a saddle on before! Some had obviously been ridden. 

A card was put up by their stable door saying their breeding and the (race) trainer they came from. 

As with the norm there were several horses by the same sire, and one in particular, stamped his stock well. 

I had been home for a wedding and on my return Mary, my boss, and another girl helping us with the breaking, had ridden two of the bunch out over e weekend. They went out on those two horses and I worked one of the others in the arena. 

I finished working him and decided to rode one of the others that had been broken before arriving. I tacked him up, took him to the mounting block and mounted. His back went up a bit, then a bit more then an explosion, all the way down the drive onto the lane. This was encouraged by horses in the paddocks either some of the drive. 

It was a tad 'hairy' but we both survived. When I got back Mary was laughing, un beknown to me she had swapped two horses over, I was on one that had only been lunged and not even driven out and about. 

Didn't do him any harm, he was named Esther Ness, won several races including the Grand National that wasn't. (The race was stopped by the starter three times though some of the jockeys didn't realise the second time and continued.)


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## RedDunPaint (Aug 23, 2015)

Haha very funny thread. I laughed out loud more than once (pro tip: don't read this while drinking a latte or else you might choke on it like I did). When I first opened this thread I had many embarrassing stories on my mind to share, but after reading through all 6 pages of this I have forgotten most of them. Ah well. I'll include what I do remember at the moment...


I remember one of my very first lesson horses was named Si. One day when I went to go get him, he was in a different stall. I asked the owner if he was in a new stall. I had meant to ask _why_ he was in a new stall but the question came out wrong. I was given a very weird look at my apparent unobservant ness. 

Ha. This one was from a few days ago. I'm giving lessons to an autistic boy at my stable and was teaching him how to water the arena. Our sprinklers are broken so we water our huge indoor arena by hand. Anyways, his mother was watching too and I was telling them how you have to be careful not to spray yourself with the hose. Well, right after the words left my mouth, I pointed the hose up to see if I needed to open the nozzle any further or if it was just the water pressure and sprayed myself in the face. Go me.

Sometimes I've been so concerned with making sure all my tack is on perfectly before getting on that I'll get one and feel like I'm forgetting something...then spot my helmet hanging on the fence.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I was in the Pony Club horse trials team representing our branch. The transporter arrived - it was a 4.30 start as we had to catch the ferry. 

I was in the luton (the piece over the drivers cab) stacking tack whilst the horses were loaded. 

We arrived at the event, unloaded the horses and went to get changed only to find that my breeches had been left behind. Panic stations. 

This was a long time ago way before there were trade vehicles at shows like this so no hope of buying a new pair. A younger girl there to assist, was wearing her new jobs, they were nylon,new on the scene, we took them off her and poured me into them. (Think Olivia Newton John's pants in Grease!) 

Once on Faro I could hardly move and circulation was compromised. I went in for my dressage test hardly breathing, did the best test ever in him getting three 9s and lots of 8s. 

There was no way I could ride CC in those jodhpurs, so got permission to ride in jeans.


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## BzooZu (Jan 12, 2014)

I had a genius horsemanship moment not so long ago. 
I take lessons with a trainer but they are mostly casual trail rides in summer as thats what I like to do. We were returning from one of those trail rides, started unpacking as always in the barn isle. I took the saddle away, brushed my lesson horse (mare) on the sweaty spots so she would dry faster. Took down the bridle as usually, stepped out of her way and motioned for her to go to her box. 
And this is the horse that stands like she is glued to the ground always. If you opened the pasture and left her to it, she would go back to her box herself. Well, not this time. As I motioned for her to go to her box (which she was right in front of) she turned and ran out of the barn. Happy as can be, no tack on her at all. Me and my trainer just watched surprised. 
Thankfully the horse didnt go far and my trainer fetched her easily (I was too stunned to go after her right away) but this taught me to keep at least some tack on if the horse is not secured any other way....even if the horse is the most predictable and calm being ever.


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## vonlora (Mar 28, 2011)

trailhorserider said:


> I was riding my green gelding in the woods in tall grass, following a friend. My horse stopped and wouldn't go forward. Well, he does that sometimes.
> 
> I asked him to go forward again and he starts to walk and then he stops. He's like "Nope, I can't move, sorry." So I look down and we are standing in a downed barbed wire fence! What a good boy. A lot of horses would have panicked. But my greenie took it all in stride. He's just "no, sorry, I have a problem here."
> 
> ...



Yes, was out riding and decided to take a short cut. Cut around a tree and onto the path going back. Just as we rounded the tree she came to an abrupt stop. She is not one to stop without being asked, especially going home. Looked down and her feet were tangled in the barb wire. I have some back issues, so have to mount and dismount with a mounting block. So I sat there for a moment, she stood quietly waiting for me to rescue her. Was finally able to slide off her rump, untangle her and them lead her down the trail until I found a stump to get back on. Back was sore for a couple of days, but she was fine.


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## SteadyOn (Mar 5, 2017)

Okay, so this one is more of a "genius moments in humanity" entry but it's related. It's also a bit... risqué so I hope I'm allowed to share this.

This winter I was doing a LOT of no-stirrups and sitting trot work. I was on a quest to find the most comfortable underwear to, shall we say, improve my quality of life.

I went into a La Senza (Canadian underwear, bra, and lingerie chain) and asked the clerk at the counter "Do you have any underwear with no crotch seams? I need them for horseback riding."

She thought hard for a minute. The wheels in her brain were turning. "Not that I know of... Wait a minute..."

Left to grab something. Came back and proudly held out some miniscule contraption of straps and pink lace. "We have these crotchless panties. Would those work?"

No, no they would NOT.

I somehow kept a straight face. 

True story.


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