Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with horse

The left side is the right side, and the right side is the wrong side.

anderjen — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:59:49 -0800

[Possible Pipe Dream Filter] I used to ride horses competitively, and recently am longing to hang out with horses again. I'm not looking to compete, nor do I want to take lessons or go on guided trail rides, since I already know how to ride. I just want to get back into riding for the fun of it. What are my options, if any? My mom and I used to own multiple horses and I competed in saddle seat equitation for several years. However, that was a dozen years ago (I'm now 28) and I'm out of touch with the riding community in my area. I don't know anyone who might let me ride theirs, and I don't have the means to purchase, lease, or board a horse of my own.

I know my way around stables, tack, grooming, etc. and am confident that I could ease back into it quickly, but I don't know how to make this happen. Would my best bet be to look for opportunites to work in a stable, in exchange for riding time? Other ideas?

I'm in the Twin Cities area—St. Paul, to be exact. Thanks!

What would happen if I did heroin just once?

Alaska Jack — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:58:02 -0800

Gimme an H! or, What Would Happen if I Did Heroin Just Once? I'm just really curious.

DISCLAIMER: Don't worry, there is absolutely zero chance of me doing heroin any time soon. I'm not depressed -- I actually tend to run along on a pretty even keel, and I think most people would describe me as calm and cheerful. Also I get random drug tests. Damn you Uncle Sam! Anyway, I've never even done pot.

ALSO, I definitely do not have a naturally addictive personality. I enjoy poker once a month, been to a casino once, drink moderately with no real urge to do it more often, etc. Just not an obsessive guy!

So, what would it be like? And would doing it just once change me into a different person, a person who WANTED to do it a lot?

Help me shoot up vicariously!

Horse riding event with car driving?

markturner — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 06:31:38 -0800

Some time ago I remember seeing an event on TV that involved horse riding and car driving in the same event. Does anyone know about this? The format was something like this:

There was a muddy sort of arena that formed a ring in an elongated circle (similar to an 800m athletics track, but much smaller), and the competitors had to ride a horse around, then dismount, get into a car and drive that around it as well.

I can't remember if this was a real sport or if it was some sort of crazy gameshow or something.

This would have been seen on UK TV, possibly on satellite channels, like sky sports or something, but I can't remember the channel.

Help me track down a quote from Martin Luther

relucent — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 10:05:42 -0800

Help me find a quote from Martin Luther about humanity being a drunk man who falls off his horse on one side, and then gets back on and falls off the other side. A quote from C. S. Lewis in "The World's Last Night":

"For my own part I hate and distrust reactions not only in religion but in everything. Luther surely spoke very good sense when he compared humanity to a drunkard who, after falling off his horse on the right, falls off it next time on the left. I am convinced that those who find in Christ's apocalyptic the whole of his message are mistaken. But a thing does not vanish—it is not even discredited—because someone has spoken of it with exaggeration. It remains exactly where it was. The only difference is that if it has recently been exaggerated, we must now take special care not to overlook it; for that is the side on which the drunk man is now most likely to fall off."

I would very much like to know where Martin Luther said this, and what the exact quote is. But Lewis doesn't cite it.

I did some heavy Googling and found another book that referenced Luther's horse analogy, called "Why Johnny Can't Tell Right from Wrong" by William Kilpatrick. He cites all of his sources very thoroughly, but Google Book Search decided to randomly leave out that page of the index from the book preview. So I bought the book (used), because I REALLY REALLY want to know where this came from – and of course... he doesn't cite that partular reference at all.

Can anyone track down this quote for me?

How can I travel in Europe on a horse?

snoogles — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 06:49:47 -0800

I want to spend a month in the summer either horseback riding or hiking/camping with a pack mule somewhere in Europe. How do I go about this? I'm a fairly experienced rider, but I'm also asking this question for a friend who doesn't really know how to ride, and who would be leaning more to the pack mule option. We have limited budgets. We don't want to join a week-long organized trek. We will go anywhere that's cheaply reachable from France.

- Are there companies that "rent" horses or pack animals for that long?
- Would I have to buy the animal and then try to resell it at the end of the trip? Is there any way to do this fairly cheaply that doesn't involved buying an old horse and then selling it to a glue factory?
- How easy is it to find places in the countryside (wherever in Europe) to pasture a horse for the night?
- Where would it be easiest (country/region)?
- How much would it cost for the horse + tack + feed, etc?

- Do you know of any forums/resources where there might be more answers available?

- And most importantly, is this even remotely feasible?

Help finding a horse poem

Chairboy — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:42:33 -0800

I'm trying to find a quietly apocalyptic poem that featured horses - can anyone help? I also seem to remember that it mentioned a ship passing by, and then perhaps a plane on different days, and after so many days had passed some horses arrived and I think that may have been how it ended. It was in an anthology (perhaps one of the Touchstones series?) which I studied at school in the UK in the early 80's but my google-fu has deserted me on this one. Can any literary mefites help?

Is this agreement legally binding?

OolooKitty — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 23:30:01 -0800

I am about to lease a horse, with a 6-month option to buy. I am leasing him through a trainer who is acting as a go-between to another trainer who is representing the owner. Does this seem convoluted to anybody else...? My trainer, who's not involved in the deal, is afraid that the lease might not be legal because we're going through so many layers to get to the owner. I feel that if the owner and I both sign the lease, this shouldn't be a problem. Am I wrong?

Another potential problem is that the trainer wants to list the horse's current asking price in the lease. If the lease says, for instance "asking price of $5,000", does that mean I'm bound to that price if I decide to buy? What if my trainer and I decide that the horse is only worth, say, $3000? Would it be better if the language said "asking price not to exceed $5,000" so that I would have some leeway?

I do not have a sharp legal mind. Any advice is appreciated.

Really awesome Kentucky Derby/Horse Races themed gift for my dad's 50th birthday?

saucy — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:10:45 -0800

Gift Filter: Really awesome Kentucky Derby/Horse Races themed gift for my dad's 50th birthday? My dad is big into the horse races, and to celebrate turning the big 5-0 next month, he's doing a Kentucky Derby trip, complete with tours of the stables, etc.

I want to get him a gift that will possibly come in handy during his trip, or at least will be related to the Kentucky Derby (though I don't want to get a trinket solely because it is related to the Derby.)

He's already got the trip agenda planned out (and crammed full of activity,) so tickets or anything that would throw off his schedule are kind of out.

Dad loves to read--the downside of that is he probably already has any Kentucky Derby related books you might recommend.

I'll admit, I'm pretty uninformed as far as horse races go, (closest I've gotten is watching Sea Biscuit) so I have no idea where to even start.

Any suggestions? My dad is a great guy and always gives really thoughtful gifts, and I want to show him that I really have put some thought into his special day.

What's this website? Sarcastic tone and toy horse included.

913 — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:00:17 -0800

There's a website where a guy posts videos that feature a toy horse. I think his site is a video blog about cats but I might be wrong. I first saw him on YouTube reading out the lyrics to, I think, My Humps. Help me find his website, my Google-fu has failed me.

Riding through the snow...

renderthis — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 10:31:20 -0800

I want to take my sweetheart on a romantic horse drawn sleigh ride somewhere snowy near Toronto this weekend. The snowy part should be easy, but everything else is coming up dry. The only ones I can find are at cut your own christmas tree farms, which I want to avoid. Kids are great, but tons of hyper kids running around are not romantic. Has anyone done this here before? Web searches turn up dozens of options in Quebec and Ottawa, which would be wonderful as part of a larger trip, but both are a bit far for a day.

Me upon my pony on my boat

MsMolly — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 06:23:48 -0800

Help me track down this poem by (I think) Derek Walcott. It's Stump-AskMe poetry time. I've been thinking about this one on and off for the last 10 years or so. When I was in college I read a poem that I think was one of Walcott's that reminded me strongly of Lyle Lovett's If I Had a Boat. I wondered if it might have been an inspiration for the song. Now whether this is because it actually was really similar, or just because it mentioned something about a horse on a boat, I can no longer remember. I have the book that I probably would have read this in back then, but it's a huge bunch of Walcott's collected poems, and I've never been successful in tracking down the one I want. Some day maybe I'll just give in and read the whole thing, but before I make the time investment required to read several hundred pages of poetry, I thought I'd check with you guys. Does this ring a bell with anyone?

Learning to ride horses

procrastination — Wed, 27 Dec 2006 11:29:32 -0800

How do I learn to ride horses as an adult? What to look for in an instructor, school, and horse? I am in the DC area. Over the last six months, I rode horses for the first time as an adult. All the rides were basically adult pony rides that are given to tourists (like me). They had super gentle horses that walked the same trails every day, so about all I had to do was sit and enjoy it. Most recently, another person on a trip gave me some hints so that I was able to enjoy riding at a trot and canter (the horse stopped galloping after a few steps because I think it figured out I had no idea what I was doing there).

Those rides, combined with the fact that the new Mrs. Procrastination comes from a family that has horses, make me want to learn to ride so I can join them. Their horses, however, are not ridden often so cannot be counted on to be kindly and gentle. I would like to learn to ride well enough so that I can go on basic trail rides with the relatively less-gentle horses.

I have googled and found some places around DC that offer lessons, but I don't know the difference between the styles they offer (english, western, and dressage). Any recommendations for specific places or styles? What do I need to know about horse body language? Is there anything I should be asking that I am not?

Thanks.

Can a horse do a horsepower?

rongorongo — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 15:49:01 -0800

Is it true that a horse is not capable of doing a horsepower worth of work? (And since horses are supposed to have such a high power to weight ratio are there any other animals that can do so?) I school I heard the story that James Watt asked some pony managers at a coal mine how much their charges could do and that - perhaps sensing imminent redundancy - they exagerated somewhat. Any evidence for or against this story?

I also read (I think in New Scientist a few years ago) that horses have somewhat freaky physiology that allows them to deliver way more sustained power than any other animal of a similar body weight. Is this true?

We are talking about 33,000 foot pounds per minute (in whatever combination of weight and speed of movement) or about 746 watts I believe.

My boxers are in a bunch!

tdreyer1 — Thu, 17 Aug 2006 13:13:56 -0800

A question for all equestrian owners and riders... Ok. I've been horse riding for a while, and every time we get up to a canter, my boxers get all scrunched up (my blue jeans too but not as much). This is very uncomfortable, and more than a little embarrassing as I try to unscrunch them after the ride. So after all of that, any suggestions on how to fix this problem? Will getting white-y tight-ies help? I really don't want to wear them, but if they'll help... *sigh* ...I will. Any suggestions? Thanks y'all.

Horses for Juniors?

Eater — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 15:15:30 -0800

A friend is trying to track down a magazine whose title she recalls as Horses for Juniors. "It was a horse magazine for kids, and they had articles and stuff, and also you could submit drawings of your favorite horse and they'd publish the best of the bunch." This would have been in California circa 1981. Any leads on what it might have been and/or how to find copies?

Is that horse a hobby or an investment?

OmieWise — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 06:17:42 -0800

What do you know about the economics of the Grand Prix horse jumping circuit? I spent Sunday at the Upperville Colt & Horse Show where I watched the $100k Grand Prix Jumping event. The top prize was $30,000. There were horses and riders there from all over the Eastern seaboard, some had come from quite far away. The whole experience prompted several questions about the economics of the event as the costs associated with fielding a horse seemed to so far outweigh the possiblity of adequate recompense.

I think the overarching question is: Is this a business or a hobby?

There seemed to be several different types of horses entered (out of 20 entrants this year):
1) Horses owned by their riders (a distinct minority, maybe 2 out of the 20). These folks could make some money by winning with their horse.
2) Horses owned by a farm but ridden by professional jumpers. ( A couple of farms had multiple horses in the competition. This seemed like straightforward marketing.)
3) Horses owned by one person but ridden by a professional jumper.
4) There seemed to be a couple of horses owned by businesses ("The Sarton Group"--I made the name up, I can't remember the names). I thought they were groups of investors that had invested in the horse, others in our group speculated that they were businesses of some kind (although there was no identifying information about what they did or where they were located) that were sponsoring the horse for advertising and raising their profile in the horsey set.

The first three categories all seem like they (possibly) take care of themselves: owner-riders actually riding for the prize money, the farms advertising their bloodlines and various services, the single owners hobbyists (like dog fanciers) who pay someone to ride for them in order to participate in the milieu. The fourth group seemed to open up the possiblity that there was money to be made beyond the (relatively) meagre 30k first prize. There was absolutely no discussion of horse bloodlines (as one would expect were the money on the *ahem* backend of breeding), and the announcing was very focussed on the riders.

Does anyone have any more information?

Looking for a photo

sharksandwich — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:01:21 -0800

I went to the Arlington Racetrack in Illinois last year (my first time at the races). One of the items on sale at the gift shop was a black and white photo of a horse racing along a long length of track. It measured something like 6" x 72" (yes, about 6 feet wide) and was priced at about $250. I assume it was made of photos seamlessly "stitched" together. Where can I find a similar photo (framed or not) online? I'm not concerned about the horse or the location it was shot, I just think it would look great hanging in my living room

Catching eels with horse head in what movie?

buriednexttoyou — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 20:18:13 -0800

What movie has a scene in which a man fishes for eels using a horse head for bait? It may be foreign.

How fast is a horse?

bonecrusher — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 12:04:05 -0800

How fast is a horse? According to this review of a book on bicycling, one of the original motivations for the development of the bicycle was to find a cheaper, faster, more reliable human-powered alternative to the horse. Did we succeed? I average around 12-15mph on my 10 mile daily bicycle commute - can a horse compete with that?

Can horses (or other animals) throw up?

longbaugh — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 05:49:07 -0800

Someone at work has just asked me a bizarre question that I can't find an answer to - can horses (and in fact any other animal) actually throw up? (+)