Weird "horsey" things that you do when not around horses?

[ImmortalSynn]

Okay, confession time!

The question's self explanatory, and every rider does it-- what are some of the weird/crazy/odd horse-related actions/habits that you have, when not around horses?



I have two:
1) I'm always clucking at things.
My mom's cat in particular; whenever I'm over there, especially when I want it to move off of my seat or come to her feed bowl, I inadvertently cluck at her. She just sorta looks at me like I'm crazy, but eventually gets the point. My sisters find it both amusing and annoying. I've also found myself clucking at random other things ranging from dogs, to little kids who don't get out of the way, to even once this old lady in line at the grocery store who was too absorbed in reading tabloids to notice she was holding up the line. Had to catch myself on that one, lol.

2) Getting in semi-twopoint over a speedbump.
There's this one enorrrrrmous speedbump at my university, and I (and by admission, just about everyone I know who rides!) will admit to amusingly tilting up and forward outta my seat almost each and every time my jeep goes over it. It's funny how essentially every one of my rider friends who go to the same school, have at some point or other said they've done the same thing, and we all know exactly which speedbump it is. lol.


What's some of yours'?

[AppendixQHLover]

I cluck at my dog all the time. I have even clucked my hubby. He is like..I am not the horse, clucking doesn't make me go faster.

I practice whatever the lesson was while walking. Last week it was leaning a bit foward and widen hands to go faster, and sitting back and narrowing hands to go slower. It is real slight movements..not perching.

[Saidapal]

At Thanksgiving last year I elbowed my sister and told her to "move" in the same tone I use on my horses so I could peek in the oven. We both cracked up and she said I've been around horses too long.

[rizzodm]

I occasionally gallop around the house(to my family's amusement):D
I can even jump well!

Dawn

[lovemyoldguy]

I cluck at everything. Doesn't usually work, but I keep doing it!

I will occasionally forget and tell people to "whoa". My family is used to it (they even respond!) but my firends often think that I'm calling them, um, a lady of the night. Some nasty responses there. :-)

I also leg-yield my car and motorcycle if I'm drifting in my lane or going around a corner...it sounds stupid (esp. in the car), but it totally works.

[TheHorseProblem]

My husband looks at me funny when I pat him.


LOL on the speedbumps!

[indygirl2560]

haha I do the two point speed bump thing too!
I also count strides between things!

[dmalbone]

I count strides. I find myself doing it all of the time... distances to doors, between lines in a parking lot/garage, etc. I just do it subconsciously.

[goeslikestink]

i muck out my house lol

[Chardavej]

The other day I was riding the lawnmower and for some reason it kept doing something weird, it would suddenly REV up real high and I would have to pull the throttle all the way down then it would about cut off and I would have to move the throttle back up to where it was. It kept doing this and once rev'd up while turning so suddenly I found myself about at the point of flipping when it did this, I straigtened it up, throttled it down and back up, slapped it upside it's "neck" (hood) and yelled at it "Act RIGHT!!!" in a firm, loud voice and then found myself blushing profusely and extremely glad no one was watching, LOL!

And my late little blind Min-Pin when she would be about to walk into something I would yell "WHOA!" instead of stop! She soon learned quickly what I meant, good dog! I sure miss her...

[pony89]

My DH teases me because I will sometimes absentmindedly give him a hearty scratch on the back. It is apparently rather painful without a fur coat.

[Curb Appeal]

I don't cluck at him, but I have been known to tell my 5 year old son to, "walk on" if I need to get him moving.

[charismaryllis]

driving: back when i jumped more i would find myself closing my hip over speed bumps; now i just find myself weighting my seat bones going around corners. :D

[sparky6]

i cluck and count strides too...and tell my car (or other cars that might be pulling out in front of me) to whoa

i also got a piggy back ride from my dad several years ago and he decided to start "bucking" so i kicked him....didn't even realize i did it until he got upset and reminded me that he wasn't a horse....i tried to explain to him that i didn't mean to and that it was instinct but i'm pretty sure i was laughing to hard to get the point across

[tikihorse2]

I cluck to my cats all the time... and they understand what I mean! I also do the "Hoooo, hoooo, easy" thing to them when they're squirming during a procedure such as having their nails trimmed.

I caught myself about to poke a car someone parked too close to mine and tell it to "Get over!" at the grocery store yesterday! :D

I also squeezed with my calves because a webpage wasn't loading fast enough once...

Kim

[TheHorseProblem]

The other day I was riding the lawnmower and for some reason it kept doing something weird, it would suddenly REV up real high and I would have to pull the throttle all the way down then it would about cut off and I would have to move the throttle back up to where it was.

Did you remember to release after that half halt?

[Chardavej]

Did you remember to release after that half halt?

LOL!! Actually I think I did!!

[cgray0983]

I click at my dog to hurry up and poop. I do not do this with my horse - haha.

[hellerkm]

My dogs are "cluck" trained! they move when I cluck they come when I cluck and my friends think its really funny! my kids also cluck , we sound like a bunch of chickens some days!

I use the expression "get up" all the time, if the dogs are around my feet, if the kids walk in front of me , if the car in front of me is too slow.
These horsey things seem to invade most of my everyday life LOL!

[Guin]

I've actually found that a good relief for my minor carpal tunnel syndrome is to take a break from the keyboard and pretend I'm holding reins for a minute - squeezing and releasing.

[greysandbays]

In my family, "Whoa!" is the universally accepted means of saying Stop NOW! -- Whether it's spotting for backing a vehicle in tight quarters or or pouring someone's beverage, or anything else.

And once in the car, it saved all our lives when we came within a gnat's whisker of being wiped out by a semi truck. My dad (driving) was trying to make a left hand turn in blowing snow and waning daylight. He was looking for the turn, the semi came flying around the curve behind us (way too fast for either the speed limit or the road conditions) and was going to pass on our left (in spite of a perfectly good by pass lane on the right!). I (in the front passenger seat) happened to turn my head just barely enough to see the semi -- in the left lane and almost even with our back bumper. Literally not even one second before my dad was about to start the turn that would have put us right smack in front of the semi, I yelled WHOA!!!!. Upon which, my dad (being a life-long horseman) slammed on the brakes without even looking for the reason for my "Whoa!".

[flea]

I told the doctor the other day I had a problem with my cannon bone. It just came out that way.

[colormecrosscountry]

Haha. I love these. I do the speed bump thing and my dog is cluck trained also!

I cluck at people when I get really frustrated at them not moving. And sometimes I jump over fences. Without a horse :P

[Beethoven]

I definatly lean forward over speed bumps. I cluck at things espically my cats and they respond. I am sure I do other things and do not even realize it as they seem normal!

[Linny]

I see distances in my car that I cannot see on my horse.
I cluck to and pat my son.
I canter.
I am cute with my knees (knee) when I jump things.
When I first learned to drive I tried to slow down by pulling the wheel.

[Traum]

cannon bone!!!!! :D

I go into automatic two point on my bike over any kind of bump. I always thought that was weird because I haven't really jumped in years.

At work I recently noticed I have a wierd habit. I work in a nursing home at night and some of the residents are pretty non-verbal or hard of hearing. So for those, I realized we'd worked out a system of touching them on the side of the hip to cue them to turn on their side away from me :D I only noticed it because I DID kiss to someone (fortunately deaf) when they didn't respond :eek: :lol:

[Trevelyan96]

I cluck at everything to make it move faster, and have to restrain myself from using my knuckles and say "over" when someone gets in my space.

And I have the soothing 'good boy' thing so ingrained that DH and DD have given up reminding me that they're NOT horses.

[vacation1]

I also leg-yield my car and motorcycle if I'm drifting in my lane or going around a corner...it sounds stupid (esp. in the car), but it totally works.

It DOES. My car totally responds to leg aids.:lol:

[caradino]

oh these make me laugh every time someone brings them up!

i cluck and whoa to my car... and also to the boyfriend when he's driving...

in a fit of youthful energy i also sometimes 'canter' about and practice flying changes. it is at this point that DBF pretends not to know me, or grabs my arm to prevent any wayward cantering.

[janedoe726]

Last year, one of my (non-horsey) coworkers was out for the day. Someone else asked me where he was, and I told him he had to take the day off to take his daughter to the vet. :eek: Oops!!

[RolyPolyPony]

I half-halt my car's steering wheel. It never seems to do much....

[Ambrey]

I've started using the same "wrong answer" sound with my kids that I do with my horses when thye are considering doing something undesirable.

But it's not as bad as when I had babies- I used to rock back and forth and push my shopping cart back and forth in a soothing motion even when they weren't with me- you can always tell a person who has teeny babies from that sort of thing!

[rhymeswithfizz]

I cluck at my children. What is hysterical about that is that my one year old (who isn't talking yet) has started clucking at the rest of us when she wants us to move out of HER way. She also clucks anytime she sees a horse, whether the real ones, or on TV, or even in pictures.

I also growl at other cars in traffic if they move too close into my personal space. (That rarely works unfortunately!)

When I was riding more dressage, I used to try to "bend" my car around the turns.

[beesknees]

haha I do the two point speed bump thing too!
I also count strides between things!

I do that as well. I use my "eye for a distance" when walking so I get to a curb perfectly and also miss cracks in the side walk haah!

[BlueEyedSorrel]

I once freaked out a non-horsey coworker by correctly identifying on which foot he was "off." He had been gone on vacation, boating and waterskiing for a week, and returned with a subtle but definite (to my horseperson eyes, anyway) limp from a skiing accident. I said "So John, what'd you do to your right foot?" and he was very surprised that 1) I noticed anything was wrong and 2) I could tell which foot it was. I mean, really, it's so much easier when you only have 2 feet to worry about instead of 4.

BES

[ImmortalSynn]

The greatest thing about this thread is that I now don't feel like a freak for doing 99% of the things other horse people have admitted that they do too here, lol :D

[Princess Lauren]

Hehe, I cluck all the time. Especially if I'm getting a piggyback ride from my boyfriend. (Which he hates doing because I can't stop myself from clamping on with my killer rider thighs.)

I cluck at him, and others, and also growl the occasional "git!"

I also count strides when I'm driving: the underpass is 7 strides away... and I clench my jaw each stride!

An above poster said that she leg yields her car; I do the same thing. Sometimes it takes me a while to merge because I'm slowly moving my 'hind-end' over! I don't want to just turn with my front end, lol.

[TheHorseProblem]

I'm bragging here, but what the heck.

Today for the first time I waited for the speed bump to lift me out of the seat instead of jumping ahead of my car!!!

[LittleblackMorgan]

well, my trucks tire has been making a weird thumpy noise. I came THISCLOSE to telling my mechanic it was the "left fore"

[fargaloo]

I unconsciously hold my dog's leash like a rein. For some reason, I always say "Ho!" instead of "Whoa!"; when I say this to the dog in public, I'm sure some people think I have Tourette's syndrome.

I half halt my car and I do downward transitions at stop lights. (The funny thing is, my daughter is just learning to drive and I noticed that she does the same thing!)

[caradino]

Hehe, I cluck all the time. Especially if I'm getting a piggyback ride from my boyfriend. (Which he hates doing because I can't stop myself from clamping on with my killer rider thighs.)


ahhh hahaha this happens to me too! i get the "OH MY WORD YOU'RE CRUSHING MY HIPS! PLEASE LET GO! you could KILL SOMEONE with your thighs!! aughh!!" but he piggybacks me anyway (and puts upwith the horsey insanity) 'cuz he loffs me. :)

[Two Black Cats]

Many thanks to you all for normalizing my behavior for the past 20 years.

I count distances to everything, even making myself add up then "do the right numbers" in between the sidewalk cracks when walking to work here in the city. I secretly think to myself "ooh that was a long one" or "hmph, a little deep to the curb" as I evaluate my performance. I cluck at traffic on the way to and from the barn. I scratch and pat my husband. I leg yield my car.

Glad I'm not alone

[minnie]

Whenever someone's doing something wrong that I want them to cease and desist IMMEDIATELY a very loud AHHHHHTTTTT comes out of my throat!

[thatmoody]

Today I was surfing rather than riding, and as I was trying to make a section of the wave, I was clicking to the wave like crazy trying to make it go faster! The weird thing was that it worked - I knew that the section would be speeding up anyway, of course, but it did make me start my walk to the nose of the board a bit sooner :).

[SprinklerBandit]

I count strides between sidewalk cracks and up and down curbs. On my usual route to school, I even know which cracks take what strides.

Also, my old mare had a nervous habit of backing up. I do that too. >.>

[COTHergrl]

My DH teases me because I will sometimes absentmindedly give him a hearty scratch on the back. It is apparently rather painful without a fur coat.

:lol::lol: Told my SO once, "Goodnight, -insert horse's name-." Accompanied by a scratch on the head. :eek::lol::lol: I SWEAR I didn't mean to (in my defense I'd just come in from a long day at the barn), and he got SO mad. :winkgrin: I have made sure to never ever call him by my horse's or dog's name, and definitely avoid scratching him. He's gotten used to the clucking, the 'shove' (you know the bump with the shoulder/elbow you use sometimes on the wash rack, etc.), and the various other things I do that I probably couldn't even identify.

PS-Idk about you all, but I do everything with my pinky out like I'm riding; leashes are held like reins, grocery cart bar, any strap I'm holding...I eventually find myself holding it between my fingers like a rein. :confused: Guess that feels comfortable?

[COTHergrl]

I told the doctor the other day I had a problem with my cannon bone. It just came out that way.

What's sad is I had to read this a couple times before realizing WHY this was an issue. :lol::lol::lol: That's bad. :no:;)

[COTHergrl]

I do that as well. I use my "eye for a distance" when walking so I get to a curb perfectly and also miss cracks in the side walk haah!

Okay. Now that's just weird. I do the same thing! And I didn't even realize it! I always am counting/eying the distance to curbs so I don't 'chip in'. I never realized this until reading your post. :lol:

[Eventaholic]

I love that you guys do these things too!


I think the most embarrassing thing I've done as of late was to call "Door" before walking through non-arena/non-farm doors. I think the worst was at the mall... got a few strange looks.