Commonly held beliefs and why you buck the trend?

Question

Trying to think of questions that are slightly more though provoking and entertaining than "horse slaughter" or "name my pony" - think Kicking Bear is doing a great job with some great questions - anyway
Aren't there just things that people hold so true and fast that you just disagree with. Things that are taken as the gosspel in the horse world and you buck the trend.
Here's a few of mine- not every horse needs it's saddle professionaly fitted. In polo, you have 5 saddles and over 10 ponies in your string and you swap saddles between chukkas - it's anyone's guess who is getting what saddle and I've never had a sore or bad back on any of my ponies. Same with racehorses - I have a full tree exercise saddle and it goes on everyone. Drives me mad when people cite - you need a professional to fit your saddle!
Another one is injecting penicillin into the neck - stick it in the leg, less likely to abscess and if it does, it will drain better from the horse walking around
And

another one is when you see pus, roll out the antibiotics especially for strangles or a foot abscess. If the abscess has broken and draining and is kept clean, antibiotics aren't usually required.
So what ideologies do you disagree with and why?

Did spell check and it said everything is fine and I'm quite aware of the fact that there are mistakes - sorry!

I always strip mares with mastitis - totally agree there. Must confess though I am extremely guilty of blanket obssession :-)

Maverick - Know just what you mean about the milk, the kids and the answer. When I've weaned a mare, I check the bag a couple of times per day and when they start getting hard, I just express a bit off to release some of that pressure and I've done that for up to a couple of weeks even getting some of that cheese curd stuff and hey guess what, they have dried up and no mastitis - I can only remember one ever getting it. I remember how I felt after a baby and you need to get rid of that hard, heavy feeling or you start feeling heat in them - same for mares too.

I'm not disputing that there are horses that need saddles fitted specifically for them such as horses with known back problems, very narrow with high withers etc but it does my head when people want to buy a saddle off Ebay for example and gets 10 answers saying "NOOOO, must be fitted!"

Answer 1

Let me some it up in one word "Pony Club Rules"! Example, you Must dismount before entering the barn. Your horses mane Must lay on the right side etc etc...
My horse has a abscess..... Call the vet! Ummm, first of all its your farriers field and cheaper. Have you ever seen a vet dig out a abscess, they really have no clue.
The mastitis is a good one. People ask about weaning and so many replies are, DON'T MILK THE MARE< SHE'LL NEVER DRY UP. What a bunch of unexperienced crap. You must check the bags! Feeling is fine and dandy but you know how many chunks I have shot out from bags feeling like they were drying up. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about Lisa if you had to do booby checks also after weaning. Chunks also do not mean mastitis but will lead to it if they arn't shot out. You must check to make sure the milk is clear and chunk free and you accomplish this by just milking each nipple twice 2xs a day. If I don't have any problems for the first 3 days then I got to checking once a day for a week. Still no problems thru the whole week, experience is, you won't have any problems from than on. If I have problems within that week, I will continue to check them for another week without any problems.
Hmmm, something tells me that I may have rambled...... OH Well. I don't visit that much on here cause I'm sick of the stupid questions and some of the dumbest answers. It gets so annoying. Seems like theres more kids on here than adults. Thanks for your interesting questions today! I actually enjoyed reading everybodys answers.

Answer 2

Here in the sticks we treat horses a little differently than some of you do.

First we never professionally fit anything except sometimes shoes. We often do that ourselves too.

Second we treat our horses like horses not like part of the family. Sorry but mine are out 24/7 and get fed only enough for treats, until the weather turns bad and the pasture is basically gone. Then I hay and grain them.

Third we shoot the penicillin ourselves in the neck and I have never known anyone to have an abscess from it. Of course we do break large shots up into two or three shots. That is just common practice here where there are more horses than people in this town (literally).

Fourth when we deal with injuries and diseases we first ask the old-timers. These are the people that have worked with horses their entire lives. (This town was supplied with a monthly wagon train until the Early 1960's so there are a LOT of those old timers still around)

Second we NEVER give any pain reliever until we are CERTAIN we know what the problem is. The last thing we want is to give a horse painkiller and then have the horse hurt itself worse or mask a symptom and have the horse die because we did not make certain there were not further complications.

Answer 3

I disagree with the commonly held beliefs that mares are emotional wrecks and also that mares and geldings must be in separate fields.

Over the past 28 years, I've always had a "main" horse that was a mare (three, and a couple of extra ones). Usually I couldn't tell when they were in heat, and I would never use that as an excuse for their bad behavior. During all that time, my mares have always been turned out with geldings and there have been no problems with that at all (except for when I brought home a young clydesdale colt who first tried to nurse then the next week tried to breed, but that was easily taken care of!). I think if you can bond with a mare they'll end up more loyal to you than most geldings.

I also have a saddle that has fit LOTS (but not all) horses very well.

Answer 4

I've worked for several different show horse trainers. They all had one saddle of a type (cut-back or western) which they used on all horses trained in the discipline. Some then had a second saddle for showing. Again, the same saddle was used on all horses in the barn.

The one I disagree with is to treat mastitis or other contained infection (puncture wound which healed over or strangles) with antibiotics, but don't do anything else. I think hot packing does two things. First, it brings the infection to a head faster so it can be lanced if necessary. Second, the horse is provided some temporary pain relief.

And, mastitis infection should be stripped out of the udder, even if you are trying to dry up the mare. Worry about drying her after the infection is gone.

Answer 5

Some horses need shoes because of the way their hooves are or for shows or something, but usually, they just cost more money and personally i think barefoot is better. I know a few horses that have gone lame because of shoes. Especially for endurance riding, you dont want shoes because you are usually riding over rough terrain and the horses need to be able to grip.

I disagree with the blanket thing, if you keep a blanket on your horse all the time, they wont get used to the normal weather and then when you take it off, it can result in a cold or losing weight. When horses shiver, it just is how they keep themselves warm. For humans, it means we're cold. Also, having a blanket prevents the horses winter coat from growing out.

Answer 6

Lisa I simply cannot add to what you have already said!!! everything you wrote rings so true it is not funny. I have 2 saddles and ride as many as 6 different horses. To have them pro fitted with a saddle per horse would cost me thousands that I don't have. When I am showing heavily I swap saddles according to how many horses I ride. When I sign up for a show I space my horses to where there are atleast 5 inbetween my runs. that way I can get back to the trailer , unsaddle the one i just ran , throw it on the 3rd horse lightly toghten it and grab the second horse who is already saddled. Been doing this since i was 15 and it works for me. Never had any problems with bad or hurt backs on my guys either! Also been injecting in the leg for a couple of years now. Ever since I saw a MASSIVE abcess caused by a injection given in the hip. Took my mare up to Dr. O'brien in KY to be xrayed and there was this guy there with his roping horse who had a HUGE knot on his hip, turns out the guys had given him a little penicillin for a cold and the site got infected, the abcess was opened up and drained while I was there and lordy it was awful. Later found out it took nearly 6 months for the thing to completely heal b/c of the degree it had gotten to!!! Another thing I buck the trend on is feeding lots of corn in winter. A lot of old timers swear corn will keep a horse warm. Well yeah it does to an extent. As I'm sure you know wroking with horses to the extent you do:) Corn provides a lot of fat which in turn converts to energy which will warm them up, but temporarily. The Equine Nutritonist I work closely with as the equine mgr at our feed and tack store has compared it to giving a 3 year old toddler a 20oz bottle of Mt. Dew or a king size chocolate bar. Give them a "high" which eventually wears down. Corn feeding during the winter does the excat same thing, yeah it's ok to mix in a little to help with added fat but to really keep a horse warm they should be given as much hay as they want. Or so i'm told by my equine nutrionist and I have been following her advice for 3 years now and see no ill effects from my horses not having added corn. In fact they seem to keep weight on during winter better now than when they were getting corn! there's more but i think my answer is long enough!!!lol

Answer 7

I agree with the polo ponies,almost any of the saddles fit them, and I was able to use the saddle of the pony from that chuckka coming in to the next pony going out if needed-with three minutes in between chuckkas you learned to tack fast(always braided and taped tails before leaving the barn for the game field-saved time) of course I was a lot younger than(now a old 29=lol)
like biscuit said Had a boarding barn that swore by corn in the winter for outside horses,it did nothing for them, except make them even harder to keep weight on because they thought with feeding more corn,they could feed less hay/roughage?
stallions can not be pastured together- I believe that has alot do do with the situation,because one of the places I worked,we were able to turn out three stallions together and they never tried to maul one another in fact they always played(can't say it did not scare a couple clients seeing them play and thought we were letting them fight-lol) after they got done playing around and working their energy off ,all 3 of them dropped their heads and grazed peacefully.
Good topic

Answer 8

I know, I do the same thing sometimes. When people say that it is a very good idea to put shoes on a horse, I don't agree most horses don't need shoes unless they are on hard, bumpy ground. Plus shoes on horses can fall off if not renewed or fitted properly, and lead to injuries. And how the whole blanket thing works for a horse, is beond me. I personally think horses do not need blankets at all, thats why there fur is there for. Nice question, makes ya think :)

Answer 9

My mare developed severe arthritis and has a couple slipped discs in her back. Yes, for most horses it's rediculous to get a saddle fitted professionally, but for my mare, it was the only way she could still barrel and not get sore and inflamed. If the horse has pain and still has heart to compete, sometimes a pro fitted saddle tree can add years to it's career.

Answer 10

great question. Any half competent person can fit their own darn saddle. And if you are using it on 5 horses of similar breed/body type of course it's going to be fine.

I don't blanket, OMG I'm so mean! ;) I will do it it the temp drops below a certain point, but my boy isn't clipped and he usually has a puff ball snow blanket so I know he's warm.

you must only ever mount from the left side. Oh please, teach your horse both and you'll spare his back and your chiropractor bill.

ponies are for children (*rolls eyes at that one*)

I'll add more if I think of it! Thanks Lisa!