Glossary of Horse Terms in lieu of an Arabian Horse....Never
While I'm waiting for a resolution to my problems loading the next videos up to YouTube, I thought I'd share this little piece of horse humor I found on my friend, Richard's journal. If I read correctly this piece was contributed by Chris. I hope to have the videos fixed and be back to posting about the Region 4 show soon. In the meantime enjoy another laugh at the horsey side of life.
Glossary of Horse Terms
. Hock: Financial condition of all horse owners.
. Stall: What your rig does at rush hour in an unfamiliar city on the way to a
big horse show
. A Bit: What you have left in your pocket after you've been to your favorite
tack shop.
. Fence: Decorative structure built to provide your horse with something to
chew on.
. Horse Auction: What you think of having after your horse bucks you off.
. Pinto: Green coat pattern found on freshly washed light colored horses
left unattended for 2 minutes.
. Well Mannered: Hasn't stepped on, bitten, or kicked anyone for a week.
. Rasp: Abrasive metal tool used to remove excess skin from ones
knuckles.
. Longing: Popular training method in which a horse exercises their owner
by spinning them in circles until dizzy.
. Gallop: Customary gait a horse chooses when returning back to the barn.
. Nicely Started: Longes, but not enough health insurance to even think
about riding him.
. Colic: Gastrointestinal result of eating at horse fair food stands.
. Colt: What your mare gives you when you want a filly.
. Easy to Load: Only takes 3 hours, 4 men, a 50lb bag of oats, and a
tractor with loader.
. Easy to Catch: In a 10x10 stall.
. Easy Rider: Rides good in a trailer; not to be confused with "ride-able".
. Endurance Ride: End result when your horse spooks and runs away with
you.
. Hives: What you get when receive the vet bill for your 6 horses,3 dogs, 4
cats, and 1 donkey.
. Hobbles: Walking gait of a horse owner after their foot has been stepped
on by their horse.
. Feed: Expensive substance used to manufacture manure.
. Dog House: What you are in when you spend too much money on
grooming supplies and pretty halters.
. Light Cribber: We can't afford to build anymore fencing or box stalls for
this buzz saw on four legs.
. Three Gaited Horse: A horse that. 1) trips, 2) stumbles, 3)falls.
Last night we had thunderstorms here unlike any I have experienced in most of my life in Washington state. The cracking flashes of light began at about 10:30 pm and lasted all night long and well into the morning. We even fed the horses late this morning because the distance from our house to the barns felt like tempting fate. 
I stayed home from the other barn today just in case there was a problem here caused by this weather. Lindsay does a great job helping with feeding and cleaning stalls but gets rattled when things out of the ordinary happen. It just seemed to make sense to stay close to home. Lindsay was relieved that I made that decision and that makes it worth it although I really missed riding today.
So instead of riding I spent my day out in the barn brushing mats out of manes. With all the long flowing manes on this farm, it's always an ugly job after shedding has finally ceased. Keeping up with it during shedding season is frankly impossible. The horses are itchy and rubbing the tangles back in as quickly as they're brushed out.
I spent the entire day working on witches knots and swirls and really wished my camera was working. You can't believe how ugly some of those manes were looking. There was a time there in the middle of one of the worst of the worst where I actually found myself thinking I can understand why some people pull manes and keep them short! I can't believe the lightning didn't strike me for even having that thought. These are God's horses afterall and those beautiful flowing manes and tails are a wonderful part of that gift. However, days like these, I wish I had a few less horses. I only got through 9 of them today and I still have another 12 to go!
Anyone out there have any good tricks on keeping tangles out of manes?
The pictures are weanling pictures of Rhythm, Chance, Chase and Hope.
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I love those! They are so true!
ReplyDeleteThose T-storms last night were awesome and a bit frightening at the same time. I had some pretty wild ponies here and I'm totally beat from keeping an eye on them.
As for the manes... I found coating them with show sheen once a week helps. Or I just keep them all braided for 24 hours, out for 24 hours, braided for 24 hours, out for 24... Nothing else seems to work. Good luck with that.
Lol, I got some good laughs out of that, especially 'Horse Auction'. How true! Thanks for sharing this it made my day!
ReplyDeleteI forgot to say I don't really know anything for keeping knots out of manes but Mr Sheen (I don't know if you have that over there) works really well for getting knots out of manes and tails, but don't get it on the horse's coat, your saddle will slip off quicker than you can dismount!! ;D
ReplyDeleteseveral things I've had work well for me to keep tails in good shape (I have stock horses so their manes are short).
ReplyDelete1. shampoo. Cheap $1 per bottle human shampoo and conditioner is your friend. I use a small squirt of shampoo, a smaller squirt of conditioner in the bottom of a medium to large bucket (depending on how many horses I am doing). I use a cheap plastic measuring cup to pour onto manes and tails, work in by hand and then sometimes I rinse, sometimes I don't. When you use just a tiny bit of soap, it tends not to irritate the way more does. Less soap is your friend. If I have a badly matted tail, I rinse, but then make up another bucket of just conditioner/water and let the conditioner sit on the hair for an hour or so while I do other horse. Then try to work it out by hand. If I have a tail that has either ice balls or mud caked into the bottom I may wash and rinse it several times before I try to untangle it. If I do this every day or every other day, the hair stays clean and becomes "slippery" so it doesn't mat or knot up. I also don't waste as much because the spout on the measuring cup gets it exactly where I want it.
If you do rinse, use a splash of white vinegar in the water. It will help to cut the soap waayyyyy better than just plain water.
then if I am not going to ride I might add a .very. light coating of show sheen or other hair coating product. But I've found that clean hair tends not to need it much and after just 2 or 3 "baths" the hair is so clean it's slippery without the addtional hair products.
I tend to be very very careful when un-tangeling hair in either a long mane or tail. I generally start at the bottom and work up the hair. Horse hair is so coarse that once you have it untangled mostly, you can usually work it out without breakage. It takes some time and patience, but it's worth it to me to have a thick full tail rather than a thick one at the top and thin at the bottom.
When I have the tail clean, and am trying to maintain it, I use a human plastic hair pic rather than a horse tail comb. I found the pic seems to be able to work the tangles out without breaking the hair for some reason. The horses find it more comfortable too, the rounded tips don't scrape into the skin and the teeth are wide enough apart to not cause more trauma to the hair.
One thing I have not tried, but will this week, is the "no more tangles" stuff for kids. I used that on the baby fine hair of my youngest when she was little as her hair would get terribly tangled and it hurt to comb it out. If it worked well on fine hair, I can't imagine it would not work well on coarse hair too.
For our horses with longer manes and tangles, we usually wash them and put in conditioner, if we need to get out tangles without a wash we just spray a detangler into the hair, like Show Sheen. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteWay too funny but way too true!!!
ReplyDeletelady of chaos, they made me giggle just a bit. lol
ReplyDeleteI've tried braiding and it didn't work for me. There aren't enough hours in the day to braid all the manes I'm trying to protect.
gecko, we have a product named Show Sheen that is probably the same thing you're talking about. If you spray it on where the saddle goes you can find yourself on the ground. lol
holly, I am not having problems with tails at all only manes. But I do wash tails in a bucket as you describe after a mare has foaled to clean all that gunk out of her tail. It works really well.
One of the breed characteristics of Arabian horses is fine hair including in the mane and tail. While there are those with medium and some with coarse hair, I actually have several horses with very fine hair. Those horses manes are the most difficult to deal with. I think I spent over an hour on each of those horses yesterday. I hadn't thought about a children's detangler. I will have to give that a try and see if it helps.
grey horse, when I have the time or the weather co-operates or both, I usually wash the mane and then spray in lots of Show Sheen into the mats and let it dry before I comb out. That works pretty well.
Yesterday I used Cowboy Magic to loosen up the really tight tangles and loops etc and it is a godsend. I sure was hoping for some ideas that might help provent this much tangling in the first place but I'm probably just dreaming. It sure would be nice if one existed though.
linda, I sure could relate to "hock" and from there it just got better and better.
No suggestions on help with mane tangles (I'm in the evil crowd that pulls the mane short!), but, what about Andy? Did I miss an update on him?
ReplyDeleteAnn
Those were great! Especially the longing one- I always feel like the one getting exercise!
ReplyDeleteAs for the mane, I was going to suggest spraying or coating on a leave-in conditioner for a few minutes, then try working them out.
Or maybe braiding the mane in the standard 3-strand braid- or does that cause more breakage? At least it would prevent each fine hair from becoming knotted. I would avoid conditioner near the base of the mane, as it can cause more itchies and make the problem worse.
I am trying to grow my gelding's mane out, he always had it pulled QH style. It's a slow go and now that it's gotten longer, it's also gotten thinner because there is more to rub and pull out. So it's looking rattier and less polished than it did when pulled (actually, I never "pulled" it the traditional way, I just used scissors.)
Too funny and very true LOL.
ReplyDeleteI also have the matted mane problem and some of my horses get very antsy when I want to try to detangle them because they dont like the pulling. Dosie and BB won't let you near their manes unless you tie them up because they have had them pulled rather than cut to shorten and thin them out and I feel so sorry for those horses that get their manes pulled, it must hurt like hell.
Glad you survived the storm, we have been fortunate to hae missed the flooding which is all around us. Lightening and wind scare me the most.
Good luck with the next round of manes and tails, I will think of you while I am doing mine!
very funny definitions! LOL!
ReplyDeleteShow sheen is my best friend. On really tough tangles (dreadlocks)I have rubbed in oil, although you'll have to wash that out afterwards.
funny but so true .. thanx
ReplyDeletewe just use the Mane De-tangler (yellow navy and white bottle).. works like a charm
happy trails
gp and gazi in montana