Those of you who know me via my COTH humor columns may not know that I am also a graphic artist who has done marketing and branding work in many industries. From this work was born one of my biggest peeves: Products that are poorly named.

Quite a few items I use at the barn fall in to this category. So this month I’m airing my personal grievances about horse-related things that I think need more accurate, or at least more descriptive, names. 

It’s officially “the holidays”—a time when people expect each other to clean up, go out, and socialize. That can make it a tough time of year for horse owners, as those three things are difficult for us to accomplish individually, let alone all on the same day.

After a day that begins at 5:30 a.m. and includes barn chores, working, barn chores, and riding followed by more barn chores, all we want to do is go home and stay there. Because of that, horse people can come of as being anti—or at least non—social. But really, we’re not unfriendly. We’re just tired.

Have you ever looked at the judge’s scorecard after the horse show?

It’s filled with little symbols, notations and abbreviations that describe the action with a form of visual shorthand (yes, the first emojis!).

Wouldn’t you love to know what all of them (or even some of them) mean? Wonder no more. Here’s a handy key to get you started ;-)