People using incorrect terms that drive you nuts?

Question

I have some pet peeves when it comes to what certain items are called and wish people would refer to things correctly. For example, tie down surgery for a roarer is actually a Hobday, a surcingle goes over the saddle and girth as in polo or racing as a back up if the girth snaps whereas a roller is used when breaking or to keep old fashioned jute rugs in place. My biggest peeve is when people call those yellow, black and red striped rugs "Newmarket" blankets. They are used extensively in Newmarket but their correct name is a Whitney blanket because original ones are hand made in pure wool in the town of Whitney, Oxfordshire.
ps - don't stick them in the machine or they won't even fit a mini - been there, done that!
What terms or names do people use for items, tack or procedures that you wish to correct them on?

Scream - you are a perfect example of what I'm talking about, don't have a clue but still open your mouth.

Ms Kitty - that did make me laugh and very true!

Me - couldn't have said it better and totally agree. I too wondered where they all suddenly came from too!

I love Haflingers - it's when people use them daily or live in England where the blankets are made and still can't call them by the right name. Trivial - yes, annoying - very.

Barn Brat/Cowgirl - it's like when I had a dog called Poppy and everyone refered to her as him - couldn't get a more obviously female name or so I thought!

Lorena - how is it snobbery? If you are using certain items in connection with an animal or doing certain procedures, don't you have an obligation to the animal to know what the thing is? If you can even be bothered to know the name of items and what their correct use is, then what are people doing owning them in the first place? And because I take personal issue in the fact that things should be called by the correct name, that doesn't make me a snob.

Thanks Cowgirl - that's exactly it. I'm am bored stiff with some of the questions and while I will willingly help anyone that I can, I'm done as far as "Name the pony" or "My pony's leg just fell off but don't tell me to call a vet!". Didn't anticipate this question being quite so volatile!

Lorena - I'm not attacking people that don't know because they are either young or inexperienced. I'm talking about people that throw terms out that as if they know when they don't. Also it's my job as a manager to make sure staff learn the correct terms and ways of doing things firstly for the horses sake and secondly so we don't look like idiots in front of clients.

A Hobday is tie down surgery so called after the vet that "invented" the procedure.

Lorena - not a problem. That's the one problem with this medium, you write it, read it back etc and then other people read it and tone, expression and inflection are obviously missing and it either becomes misunderstood or taken the wrong way when that wasn't the intention. No hard feelings on my part and it spiced the night up! Have a good one!

Amanda - I worked for Rood and Riddle plus have many friends at Hagyards and people still refer to it as a Hobday and I'm sure that the 2 biggest clinics in this country aren't "old school".

Luistano - I understand where you are coming from with the translations but when I work over here, I make sure I call a headcollar a halter otherwise no one has a clue what I'm talking about. It's the same with pronouncing "aluminum" - as they say "when in Rome". :-)

Answer 1

I feel that this horse group is total snobbery. I have been watching and observing how the more experienced bash the inexperienced. I for one have been riding and training for 30 years. However, I once was a very uninformed person about horses. I learned through life's experiences, none of this came overnight. I see people getting upset over small things that are trivial. I could get irritated because people don't spell correct. example: pronounce In the big scheme of things I feel like belittling someone for not being an expert on a subject is rude

My brother is a grandfather his grand babies call him poppy

I am saying that none of us knew the correct terms when we started out with horses, mistakes are going to be made. making kids feel dumb for not knowing the correct language is so wrong. We all got into horses for the same reason "they make us happy" it is our jobs as adults to teach not criticize.

I agree 100% that there ought to be an adult site and a child site
but there isn't so all that any of us can do is be kind to others be patient remember that we were all just as uninformed let the big things bother you,cause life is way to short,to sweat the small stuff

Lisa, please forgive, the question sounded like to me like you were referring to people on this web site. after going back and reading your question i realize that you were not referring to this web site but to people in general. I am sorry for assuming, I hope my expressing myself hasn't pissed off to many people today. I'll try to sit back and observe my mouth tends to get me in trouble

ps, i must admit the what shall i name my pony question
gets on my nerves too

Answer 2

My #1 pet peeve is SPELLING!! It's rude and immature to expect us to take a question seriously that has every simple word spelled wrong and half the horsey terms. Right above this answer I'm typing is a magic button that says "check spelling"! Holy crud, even a 3rd grader can figure that one out! Some words like longe (also spelled lunge) and caveson aren't there, OK. Otherwise, get a clue! :-(

Lisa, a lot of horse terms used vary from different countries, disciplines, and regions. For example:
Lunge line- longe line
I looked up my American racing catalog, normal one, and German one:
Surcingle is US is for lunging (even in my racing catalog), in German it translates to longe girth. US racing and otherwise I've heard my life has an Overgirth for the girth over the top of the saddle.
Blame the blankets on the catalogs and horse books! My German catalog says "Newmarket blanket" as does my US one and old Horse book. LOL
noseband and caveson are both correct. One more western and one more English. I use noseband when simplifying for beginners. Germans call it ride halter. LOL
US western lope, US English canter, German gallop (no such thing as canter!)
I keep seeing some person on this site saying a Passage is an extended trot. Not that is not true in any country!

Next to spelling and using wrong terms that are wrong in every part of the world... I'd say ridiculous questions are second on my list. 'how is my posture" What's a pretty name for a TB", "what level am I", Questions that just say "Horse??????" "Help!!!" or some other vague term that gives no clue unless you open it up (I seldom bother), "what color foal do I get", "what size horse will it be", "should I ride western or English", "which is harder", "is my horse pretty?", and I could go on and on... Arrrrrgghhh!!! Then there is things that are easily found on the internet.

My net pet Peeve is people who don't read the entire ******* question!!!!! I hate asking questions just for this reason. Or maybe a beginner wants to know if she should get saddle A or B. She cant afford or need saddled C,D,E,and F that people tell her about. Then there is people that state their way is the ONLY way and you're a complete idiot if you do this any other way. Or this bit IS the ONLY bit, etc.... Or you MUST do this or that. BLACK and WHITE. ugh Or someone says they are buying a certain breed of horse. Others get on and say that breed sucks, don't get one...

I'm tired of typing! LOL

Answer 3

one that drives me completely insane is what an old timer that lives dow the road from me says whenever I have a new foal. When my mare gave birth to her 3 rd filly 8 years ago he came over and looked at it and was commenting on how nice she looked. his parting words were "Yupp Heather you sure have a nice filly colt there" What the heck is a filly colt? it's a girl there for it's a filly. It wasn't a hermaphrodite dude come on. then a few years later when she threw a colt he kept calling it a lil stallion colt. Once again I felt like smacking him. Yeah it's a lil stallion b/c he hadn't had his bits chopped off yet but he was under the age of 5 so he's a colt!!! AGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Answer 4

Life's just full of complaint's isn't it? We can't all be perfect all the time. And every horse person has their own manners of calling thing. I was an equine anesthestist & vet tech for nearly 10 years. I performed anesthesia on dozens of tie down surgeries, and where I come from, calling it a Hobday is "old school". No one refers to it as a Hobday. Maybe your area of life doesn't call it a tie down surgery, but that doesn't make you right and the rest of us ignorant.


I guess my pet peeve is people who think their way is best all the time.

Answer 5

I'm sorry, but I have never heard the term "hobday" But one thing we have to remeber is that people are from different places. I mean, I walked into a store and asked for paddock boots and the laddy was like What the heck are those???? We are reaised with different terms, especially, on here, with very diverse backgrounds.

Answer 6

It's gelding, not guilding. Or gelting. A colt is a male and a filly is female, otherwise say foal. Dang it!

Unless your horse is also Catholic, it is conformation, not confirmation.

But I will confess...I've never heard of a roarer or a Newmarket blanket. These are regional terms, perhaps?

What's a "woofty" colored horse? Is that a common colloquial term in AU, or did Bazzy make it up?

Hacking for trail riding (I assume) and float for horse trailer are another couple of differences I've noticed. Also a rig is what we call a crypt or cryptorchid in the US.

Answer 7

I totally agree! I also don't like when people just started to ride and think they know everything and even try to teach you. Misused terms for newbies at my barn: "Fuzzy halter cover"- sheepskin slip for a halter, "noseband"- caveson (sp.), "top rein"- cnaffle rein, "bottom rein"- curb rein....I just hate it when people are trying to tell you something and they are trying to sound smart but they aren't

I also hate it when people refer to foals as baby 'horsys' or saying "is it a boy or girl" instead of filly or colt. People also don't know what the term 'gelding means' or what the 4 man made gaits are. I also hate it when people say that horseback riding takes no skill or anything because the horse does all of the work. I say to them: Ok. if that's how you think, why dont you some over here and ride my showhorse, and when your butt lands in the dirt, then we'll talk

Answer 8

LOl lisa looks like some people were offended-lol
horse terms my biggest is when somebody refers baby horses(foals) all as colts even the filly's.
example like when my mare who has a very girly name-Flirt, was a yearling a couple people at the old barn kept insisting on calling her my colt-ugh, it's like when you tote your newborn in public with either a pink or blue blanket and outfits and people still ask if the child is a girl or boy-lol!
good topic:)
**lorena* - no offense but lisa was just posting a diffrent topic because sometimes it gets tiring talking about " how pretty my horse is" " Am I a good rider?" "Howrse questions" Take a chill pill no body is trying to be snobby-just having fun......

Answer 9

This isn't fully in relation to what you are asking, but similar. Do you remember the commercial where a group of young kids are wanting to try "Life" cereal, but kids being kids, are afraid to try it? This commercial is one of the biggest misquoted commercials ever and for some reason, it always annoys me when someone misquotes it! The commercial goes like this: First kid says "I'm not going to try it, you try " and the second kid says "I'm not gonna try it! Hey, let's give it to Mikey." The first kid then replies "He won't eat it, he hates everything!" Then the kids look really surprised because Mikey eats the cereal and really enjoys it. Then one of the kids says "Hey, He likes it!!!" The whole POINT of the commercial is that Mikey is a kid that is a finicky eater and he loves this cereal...so therefore it must be good! But most people misquote the line "He won't eat it, he hates everything!" and they quote it as being "He'll eat it, he eats anything!" which is ridiculous because it doesn't make sense when quoted that way!

Answer 10

On Howrse ( which is influencing new horse people's "knowledge" ) they refer to the girth as a "strap around the horses belly" and canter as a "stride that is jumped", oh I could go on and on. Oh and when people refer to foals as ponies! What also bothers me is the people who no absolutley nothing about horses and answer the questions...

edit: There goes that person that gives EVERYONE a thumbs down! What does OP stand for?