Things They Don’t Tell You in Stable Management Books – Part 1

-The quickest way to get a horse to roll is to wash him

-There is no easy way to wash a horse’s mane without ending up with more water and shampoo on yourself than on the horse

-In buying a grey horse you are committing to spending half your life trying to keep it clean and the other half covering it in chalk

-The likelihood of your horse breaking something is directly proportional to the amount it cost you to buy

– No one actually takes their tack apart once a week to thoroughly clean it unless they have OCD, too much time on their hands or really expensive tack

– Ponies with pink muzzles like having sun cream applied about as much as a cranky toddlers do

– Chalk powder sticks much better to items such as leather boots and clothing than it ever does to a grey horse’s legs

– Fur lined tendon boots and outdoor arena’s are a bad mix

-Baby wipes are the holy grail and the perfect way to clean anything including tack in an emergency (i.e. when you didn’t bother the night before) or wipe dust and loose hair off a horses coat. Not that any of us would admit to cleaning tack with baby wipes….

-There is no limit to the amount of food a greedy riding school pony can consume without any ill effect

-Horses have an in built timer which detects when you are in a rush and creates bad behaviour, refusal to load, the ability to get dirty even though stable bandages and several rugs and an inability to co operate with basic instructions.