14.5 Hands, and Other Creative Takes on Horsey Reality

Browsing the farm classifieds this morning, I came across a phenomenon I see on a regular basis:   A horse described as being some number .5 hands.  Clearly, either the owner doesn't understand the system of measuring by hands (each hand is just four inches, so a 14.5 hand horse is really 15.1), or that person is stubbornly clinging to his/her own version of reality.  Knowing horsepeople, either explanation is possible.

Not that I haven't been stubborn and made my own share of gaffes.  For example, I recall the time I was thrown up my horse's neck at my very first event.  Instead of just allowing myself to fall so that I could get back on and begin to recover, I rode around for a moment struggling to get back in the saddle.  Now that looked silly; fortunately for me, that happened in another state and none of my current horsey friends saw it!

I'm sure you can think of times when you, or someone you know, has made a horse-related mistake out of stubbornness.  I recall when someone I know put a young horse in a stall next to some turkeys, on the principle that he ought to get over his fear of their clatter.   Sure, you can see the logic to the argument, but perhaps the execution was a little too abrupt.  The horse got over something, all right:  He came right over the top of the dutch door.

One time, I purchased vinyl fencing because I was convinced by an article I had read that it combined that best features of many kinds of fencing: It is durable, and there are no boards to splinter and no wires that cut.  What I didn't anticipate was that my mare's first foal, an inquisitive little colt, would pop in and out of the paddock like a child slipping between the bars of a jungle gym.  I had to put up a strand of electric fence in a hurry!

I have no doubt that, while I may avoid repeating some of the mistakes I have made in the past, I will continue to learn some things the hard way in the horse world.  However, I no longer worry as much about my pride, which after all might get in the way of me actually learning from the experience.  When I was at a clinic several years back with one of the finest horsemen ever to swing a leg over a saddle, Ray Hunt, I heard him say "I don't ever make the same mistake twice; I'm too busy making new ones!"


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