Horse riders should pick up their horses poo.

[dodgy]

I understand that Wirral has the highest population of horses (for human headcount) of anywhere in the country, I stand to be corrected, but in any case we have a lot of horses here however you look at it.
They haven't caused me any problems, I don't know what the fuss is about. Horse droppings don't even smell, the horses go past our driveway and often drop a load and you can never smell it. About 2 days later it's dried up and blown away.

 

[peanut]

LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!
Makes me laugh too the way a horse can be frightened by, say, a plastic bag seen on his left hand side, so you spend ages reassuring and getting him ok to pass it and then on the way back he sees it out of the other eye and its like "Woooahhh, iv never seen THAT monster in my life before"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and the whole shenannigan starts again!!!!!!!!!!!

thats exactly what they do isn't it !

horses are about as dippy as dobys and they haven't a braincell in their body either

We had to attend a couple of hunt meets to get some sort of creditation or other in order to enter Miller in point to point races.

Mrs P hates blood sports but there was no other alternative in the time we had so she rolled up to the meet.

Something spooked Miller who promptly took a few hurried steps backwards and sat on the bonnet of a brand new Defender.

The gentleman was very understanding about it but I wonder how he explained the big dent in his bonnet to his wife

 

[Arch]

Horses, apparently have about the same intellectual level as a 3 year old human. Enough to know their own will, and want to act on it, but not enough to be able to rationalise everything around them, and therefore they can be afraid of seemingly simple things. I don't think anyone would call a 3 year old child stupid for being afraid of thunder, or the dark. When I was little, I was afraid of a pattern in our curtains, because it looked like a pair of staring eyes. Add in the fact that horses are prey, and therefore their default is to run away first, ask questions later, and their behaviour isn't daft.

I can think of a few grown up adult humans who seem unable to learn the simplest lessons....

 

[Joe24]

Joe, could you make mine the size of a Chihuahua please,, so I can carry him round in my handbag. Ta XX

No problem Lisa!
Ill get Bonj onto it for you when i come into power

 

[Joe24]

Miniature horses?! Cool! Can I have a miniature elephant done the same way?

Although, I hate to get all practical about it, but the breeding wouldn't work. The shrinkage would be an applied characteristic, like docking a dog's tail, or having your ears pierced, and wouldn't pass on to future generations, not being genetic. Instead, the mare would die trying to carry and give birth to, a full size foal.

Nooo you must lie

 

[Arch]

My youngest could ride on 2 wheels at three.

A donkey could do the same, but I doubt a horse could.

Ok, you find me a pic of a donkey riding a bike... a real photo, not a drawing!

Here's an elephant on a tricycle...


View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9rB6yn5DTU

 

[peanut]

Horses, apparently have about the same intellectual level as a 3 year old human. Enough to know their own will, and want to act on it, but not enough to be able to rationalise everything around them, and therefore they can be afraid of seemingly simple things. I don't think anyone would call a 3 year old child stupid for being afraid of thunder, or the dark. When I was little, I was afraid of a pattern in our curtains, because it looked like a pair of staring eyes. Add in the fact that horses are prey, and therefore their default is to run away first, ask questions later, and their behaviour isn't daft.

I can think of a few grown up adult humans who seem unable to learn the simplest lessons....

lisa and I were just sharing a few personal experiences about owning and working with horses Arch. We meant no offence

 

[Arch]

lisa and I were just sharing a few personal experiences about owning and working with horses Arch. We meant no offence

I know, but it just irks me a bit when people say horses are stupid or dim. They aren't, they are as clever as they need to be, for horses. Just because they can't appreciate Shakespeare or solve quadratic equations....

Of course, within the species, some specimens are brighter than others, just as for humans....

I loved most of the riding school nags I rode, but the very best was Puzzle, just the right size, with a nice steady trot and canter, not too lazy, but not too excitable. Although I did once manage to rear-hoof skid her on tarmac...

 

[Archie_tect]

Horses, apparently have about the same intellectual level as a 3 year old human.

We couldn't let a three year old child loose on the public roads with all the traffic, and with the best will in the world a rider can't control a spooked horse.

It's a testimony to the skill of people who train and ride horses that more people aren't involved in accidents every time they take a horse out of a field.

My daughter was put off riding following three consecutive accidents during lessons in an enclosed hall at a well run local stable. In 2 of the accidents each pony was being led and was recognised to be docile and suitable for a novice. One freaked out and took off when a lawnmower backfired outside. For the other 2 there was no obvious reason. It's a miracle my daughter wasn't severely injured.

 

[Arch]

We couldn't let a three year old child loose on the public roads with all the traffic, and with the best will in the world a rider can't control a spooked horse.

It's a testimony to the skill of people who train and ride horses that more people aren't involved in accidents every time they take a horse out of a field.

Are you not contradicting yourself a bit there?

My daughter was put off riding following three consecutive accidents during lessons in an enclosed hall at a well run local stable. In 2 of the accidents each pony was being led and was recognised to be docile and suitable for a novice. One freaked out and took off when a lawnmower backfired outside. For the other 2 there was no obvious reason. It's a miracle my daughter wasn't severely injured.

...to a human. Human senses are pretty dull.

Stats are great, you can use them to say anything. In the 3 or 4 years I was riding regularly we had a handful of involuntary dismounts, only one of which caused injury - my friend was riding her own pony, who slipped while cantering on a corner and fell down, my friend coming off and breaking a collarbone. There was the odd buck or shy from the riding school horses, but never enough to have anyone off - the falls were all generally down to the rider loosing balance, most often when jumping.

Riding a bike is terribly dangerous you know. Well, that's the reason so many people give for not doing it. And yet, mostly, we do it, and live to tell the tale....

 

[Archie_tect]

Are you not contradicting yourself a bit there?

I see your point but I intended the two statements to be read independently.
Perhaps to try and clarify:

"A rider can't control a spooked horse..." but few public rides will create the situation where a horse will be truly spooked.

Horses require constant and skillful guidance to enable people to ride them on public roads- "it's a testament to the skill of the horse's trainer and rider that there aren't more accidents controlling a horse", day to day, which may become excitable or scared [but not necessarily spooked- ie adenalin spiked 'flight']. That was meant as a compliment.

 

[peanut]

I know, but it just irks me a bit when people say horses are stupid or dim. They aren't, they are as clever as they need to be, for horses. Just because they can't appreciate Shakespeare or solve quadratic equations....

Of course, within the species, some specimens are brighter than others, just as for humans....

I loved most of the riding school nags I rode, but the very best was Puzzle, just the right size, with a nice steady trot and canter, not too lazy, but not too excitable. Although I did once manage to rear-hoof skid her on tarmac...

They are all characters arn't they. I'll never forget Peggy a pony i rode as a kid. She only had one lung and so i felt sorry for her. I used to spoil her rotten.

Mrs P has been working with horses all her life and was the first lady jockey to ride at Ascot. Some of the stories she can tell about the horses she has known could fill a book .

Her favorite at the moment is Flo who is as big as a house, looks like a Thelwell pony and is a greedy little wottsit.Very smart and nicks all the other horses food if you're not watchfull. Flo is usually used for western riding events but is currently on a diet.

 

[Lisa21]

Well Iv known lots of horses and a few 3 year olds and I can tell you that horses are by far the most intelligent of the two!!!
Yes they are prey animals, and their deep rooted flight response to percieved danger is always at the forefront of their minds, but they are very intelligent and sensitive creatures and no two personalities are the same,some are fantastic characters and can teach us humans a thing or two
No disrespect to anyone but most riding school horses, in my experience, do not enable people to truly appreciate the real animal. Hacking or riding lessons on horses which in my experience are usually quite "dead to the leg" and arena or bridleway conditioned,which may throw an occasional mild spook but generally know their job so well you could sit on them and read a book while they trotted round or popped over a crosspole, is nothing near sharing a true bond with a "real" horse, a bolshy, opinionated, powerful animal, going against the grain in trusting a human-a predator to their prey status-who may drive you to tears and the point of madness most of the time but then go and do something to make everything worthwhile.

 

[Lisa21]

Peanut, I love your stories btw.....very funny, especially the car bonnet
Have you seen the pics of mine on my profile page??theres quite a few on there but you must excuse him-he looks a cross between a Thelwell pony and an overstuffed sofa and you should see him when his winter coat grows back!!!!!

 

[Arch]

No disrespect to anyone but most riding school horses, in my experience, do not enable people to truly appreciate the real animal. Hacking or riding lessons on horses which in my experience are usually quite "dead to the leg" and arena or bridleway conditioned,

Ah you see, that's what I liked - a quiet life. I had to give up the riding when I ran out of money, but I'd also reached the limit of my nerve. I wasn't even keen on hacking, because the horses were more lively then. I liked being in a nice confined ring. Still, I did learn to trot and canter, and do little jumps, which fulfilled a childhood ambition.

They started me off on Bryn, who would approach a small jump at a walk, and step over one leg at a time. Then there was Coco, a great lumbering gypsy type piebald horse with a blue eye, and huge feet that clumped loudly. Seamus, he was a one, he had a look in his eye that just said "well then, will I take any notice of you today, or not?". Alfie had a very pointy withers, I hacked on him once and felt I was bouncing off the whole time. Gwyn, I had no hope with, she would just go and stand in a corner, no matter what I did. Lysander was a big grey, with a nice steady canter, but oh! the vertigo, he was so tall.

But Puzzle, I loved. She was just right. I miss her.