Following on From The Senior Thread, Why Do You Have A Horse?

newforest

newforest

Well-Known Member
Mar 15, 2008
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My first horse was 23 and only a light hack, i did get odd looks that i'd taken on a elderly Tb with mild arthritus, and she ate like a horse due to supplements.
But in the short two years i owned her before nature came knocking-I went to Pontipool Camp and another camp, I galloped on the beach, i found out why she wore a martingale and i found out what being a handful was i wouldn't take her to a show. (I took her didn't I, and we ended up jumping into the next ring!)
She was what i wanted, i only wanted to ride sometimes, it was owning part i loved more, the mucking out, the grooming, the soft muzzle on the look out for a carrot.

At the moment i've gone totally the reverse and took on a spoilt 2.5yr old whose only lived with mum. She has quite a major injury, locking stifles and could kick like a mule (that's stopped now) On my yard people have now stopped asking when are you backing, when are you riding, because i will when i will, riding is not the main reason for owning. Call me a weirdo but i love groundwork, riding is the roof on my building that i've built the foundations of. Needless to say i'll fall off the roof as well:happy:

So Cream teas to those who have read the above, what does horse ownership mean to you? People's circumstances change we all would love to keep for life, but if everyone did, they'd be no horses for anyone to buy.
 
Always thought Star would be my horse for life but nothing is ever so simple! He could be a handful to ride at times but like you I love everything about ownership, not just having a horse to ride.

Taking a break from horses at the moment due to life getting in the way and I don't miss riding as much as I miss having a horse to play around with, groom, muck out etc!
 
I ask myself that question almost every day in the winter!:redcarded: But when I find myself out hacking on a lovely spring day tis all worth it.

I'm another one who loves just 'being' with them - the biggest gap in my life right now is having a big hairy lump to get in and groom to within an inch of its life and then turn straight back out again because it cant be ridden!

Suspect there will always be something mooching about in the field with the donkeys even when I can no longer ride - always had them so just seems a natural part of everyday life to me now.:happy:
 
I got a horse to go haring round the coutrydide on and as a family hobby. Rosie put paid to both of those within a couple of weeks of getting her.

I keep her because;
  • I love her
  • Having some time out without other people around every day is really important to me
  • I love spending time in the great outdoors even if it's just pottering and poo picking
  • I'm easily bored so having a horse means there is always something new to learn about or work on
  • I live their gentle natures, their tolerance of us, their capacity for patience, tolerance and all the stuff I have learnt about energy
  • I get loads of exercise
 
I love them!! They give me companionship, a break from home and work, they give me a sense of achievement, they make me laugh cry smile shake with anger (well ... That's jazz for u!) cheer me up and I couldn't image my life without them. I used to think horses was all about the riding - I now have 2 I can't ride, and that doesn't bother me at all. I love the stable management side!
 
Ive always had horses, they are my passion.

No other reason really ;) :happy:
 
I love to ride the whole put of me having a horse was to ride. That is what I enjoyed doing and thats why I spend all my money on.

Then

When we moved away from my last base and the horse I shared for 5 years I was bored and restless. OH agreed I should get another horse. I just wanted something to ride a bit of schooling and loads of fun hacking. OH got me Chanter he is mine and know one can take him away.

His dressage is amazing but now his atheristis is bad and he struggles with the high end moves I was gutted as this is what we did the reason for the trailer to compt. we now hack and hack and hack a little more.

1 1/2 years of hard work was worth every day of the struggle and the bond we have is unbreakable. So yes I love to ride everyday and we do but he means more to me than competeing now. When we have to slow the hacking down we will but he will never leave my company now.

All that side I love to ride and will when the time comes get another to ride so that Chanter can have the retirements that he rightly deserves.

love you chanter
 
I have loved horses since I could talk (the third word I said after Mummy and Daddy!). My intention was to get a horse to ride and learn to be a better rider on, but I find I enjoy just looking after Ziggy and Mattie as much as if not more than riding them. I am loving the riding (watch this space for New Forest holiday report) but the relationship with a horse is so fulfilling I don't think I would mind if I couldn't ride.
 
As a child I always yearned for a pony and as my dad took ill when I was very small we couldnt afford one of our own, I used to walk 3 miles to and from a riding stables to help muck out, lead hacks just so I could get a ride each weekend day even though it was only leading another group of hackers but I loved it. Then I got married and had my first daughter when I was pregnant with second daughter our company closed down and as I would have been leaving anyway I didnt think I was entitled to redundancy but I got a pay out my husband thought I would want a better car or something for the new baby but he was gobsmacked when I said I wanted a horse. But as the money was unexpected that is what I got a 14hh coloured I loved to care for him but couldnt ride till baby came, the week after she was born I went to a local show with him very silly really but was so excited. As the first year went on I realised how hard it was with a new baby and an active 6 year old we only had one car in the good old eighties and hubby used it for work so I really struggled and eventually common sense took over and I sold him. As my second daughter grew up she developed an interest in horses I was so glad an excuse to go to riding school for hacks with her and when she was 10 we bought her one of her own (mother and daughter share) but of course she wouldnt get off and I was always walking so I got my own who I adored for 18 years till she died of old age and I have had my own ever since when Emma got to 17 cars and boys got in the way and she sold hers but when she was 26 she wanted another and we have had 2 ever since.
 
I have a horse because I like horses, I don't really mind if I don't ride, but sometimes the horses do like getting out and about and having some fun.
 
The whole idea that if no one sold horses then there would be none to buy isn't quite right - what about breeders? we've only ever bought youngsters. Bonnie was 3, imported from ireland from a breeder by a dealer. Toby, also 3, was the same. Kezzie bought as a 2 year old direct from breeder.

For me, it's the relationship with them and seeing them grow up. I know toby inside out and it is like we can read each others minds. With kezzie it's getting there. He's my mum's boy but as i do all the riding he's learning to trust me more. After a rubbish day there is nothing better than saddling up and wandering off for a nice long hack.

I'd live in a tent in their field before i'd give them up. Both boys will never be sold.
 
I've always loved horses, and wanted a pony before I even really knew what one was (must be genetic, my granddad was in the cavalry and both my parents grew up on farms) ...

I didn't get to start riding till I was 12 or 13, and a riding school opened within walking distance of our house (my parents were 100% opposed to the idea of me riding or having a pony) and I used to spend my pocket money on riding lessons, as well as nagging for a pony every birthday/Christmas.

I had a savings account thing that "matured" when I was 16, and I started saving every penny I had, until I had enough money to buy a pony - which I duly did.

I got no real joy from it as my mother spent all her time bitching at me to "sell the bloody thing", and my dad went from casual indifference to outright contempt in his attitude towards me. Thankfully pony was a good doer and never ailed at any time, and I spent so much time at the yard helping out that my livery bill was reduced ...

I had to sell that pony about 2 years later when I was offered a job as a live-in groom (job fell through, so there I was horse-less and job-less and I'd spent most of the money I'd gotten on new gear I'd need when I left home. Mother laughed in my face and said it'd been time I'd sold that damn animal anyways, and dad went back to treating me with casual indifference...

25 years later dad, now crippled and in very poor health gave me part of the proceeds from the sale of their old house, and I used the money to buy myself a horse.

At the time I was caring for both parents, single handed. I got no respite, they wouldn't go to day care [once a week], and mother wouldn't allow a home help. Dad was slowly going senile, as well as being incapacitated physically, and mother was a nightmare to live with. But every afternoon between lunchtime and dinner, dad would fall asleep and mother would amuse herself watching TV, leaving me a few hours to myself, which was when I'd go to the yard to see horse/ride. And he became my respite from the daily grind of my duties.

Mother caught on that I was "playing truant" every afternoon (I'd not told them I bought a horse, but that I was going up to the yard to help out) and she started waking dad up when he fell asleep - which meant I couldn't go out...

Dad has since passed away, and mother has developed sudden onset dementia (probably had a mini stroke) so my horse time is restricted to the day she goes to Day Care (she started going after dad died), and her name is on the waiting list for respite.

To be overly mawkish and sentimental, my horse has been my solace and saved my sanity - the time I spend with him, even if it's just grooming him, is the time when I can forget my daily life and get some relief from the grind.

I love him to bits and he's got a home for life.
 
Mum took me to learn to ride when I was 8. She needed to socialise me as we lived miles from anywhere & the only kids I had to play with were at school! That started a lifelong passion. I helped out at riding stables weekends & holidays & then ran a small yard after leaving uni - but had to get a proper job (well below the poverty line!). Kept working at my friends stables on the weekends. Didn't own my own horse till my mid 30s - but I was the only one mad enough to ride him for many years - he could only ever be hacked out - totally unpredictable.

He was my best friend & my sanity through an awful marriage & the years recovering afterwards. Sadly & funnily enough, he had to be PTS (shattered leg) at 29, 6 months after I met my fabulous OH. He (horse:giggle:) was mad & bad to the end! A few months later, I took on the horse (Josh) that had caused the damage (just an accident). He ties up & has a horn tumour.... , is 22 & has hunted & one day evented all his life. We do so much together, my horsey life is very different now & I love him just as much in a different way.

I can't immagine my life without my own horse/ pony now. Been taking with OH about what happens when Josh goes... pehaps a fell/highland pony like the Queen, or a small rescue lawnmower or two.......or both!

Well done everybody for getting so far - chocolate croissants & coffee! Sorry to take over this thread. Think I should put this in the Intro's thread as well, but don't know how - any ideas? Mods help:smile:?
 
I've always loved horses, I love riding but I also love just chilling with them and looking after them just as much. Work has reduced the amount of time I have to do this at the moment, but with any luck we'll have moved in a couple of months and I'll have them at home.

The biggest things that always make me smile is working with them to get somewhere, whether it be teaching Puz to do lateral movement (crikey - that took years) or bringing on Inca's confidence out on the roads. I love doing those little things that bring them on in one way or another, I've never had an uncomplicated horse to ride. I love persevering where others (or at least the majority) maybe wouldn't
 
I love watching my ponies just being ponies together and then coming and being ponies with me. It's the look in their eye, how they are as people that attracts me. Such facinating creatures. They are pets with the added bonus of being able to do other things.

I have the little man who is just a companion whose job is to have good manners.

I have Joy who is my ridden pony. I don't get to ride that much because life gets in the way but am obsessive about not being able to as much as I'd like to. This is because she needs it for her health and well being as do I! If I couldn't ride her ever again it wouldn't worry me as she has a home for life and owes me nothing.

I like bimbling about the countryside though so suspect I'd get a loan pony if I couldn't ride her anymore but I would be happy to only ride 2-3 times a week. I'm not competitive. I don't like being with other people whilst I'm with them and see it as intrusive. I do what I do well enough to get by and that's fine by me.
 
I have always loved Horses right from a Young Age, was lucky enough to have a local girl 'teach me' when I was about 8 for the grand sum of
2 shillings and sixpence for an hours lesson, lol, on her HUGE grey called
SEAGULL..............

Had another girl take me on when she bought a coloured called Alamo and then shared a friends horse Brandy for a few years. After having the Kids came back into it with another part share with a Horse called Sunny........think he was the one that actually taught me to ride, lol. !!!

I was 34 before I owned my own Horse, a loopy TB Mare 'Lady' who was
anything but..........

Then had Sadiq my Arab who a friend had bred and unfortunately had to part with him with the breakup of my first marriage. Hardest thing I ever did in my life !!


Lived without Horses for a fair few years then and came back into it with
one on trial, that didn't work out and bought Morse my first Youngster, then
had a neck injury (nothing to do with him) and he was sold and down the
line bought SIONED, then came Bert as well.

For me having the Youngsters has just been soooo rewarding, there are days I have totally missed the riding, but what I have gained far outweighs that,
I just love caring for them both, teaching them new things and tbh if it came
that I couldn't ride either I honestly don't think it would bother me as long as it wasn't down to health issues with either of them obviously.

Don't think that will happen though but taking my time and yeah, really looking forward to getting out and about on Sioned and taking Lani out and about on Bert, however, for me, its about so much more than just the riding:wink:

There was a day last Summer when I went down the field after a Night Shift without having a sleep..........it was a glorious sunny day and
I was in the stable/tack room and dropped off to sleep in my chair. When I woke up both Ponies were laying down snoozing right outside the
stable door with me, actually on the concrete slabs.............priceless moment and thats why I do it, you could not buy a moment like that !
 
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Riding is the main reason I have horses, but it isn't the only one. I do enjoy the routine, being closer to nature, the exercise, the camaraderie and just being round them. There will come a day when neither of mine are rideable any more, we're half way there with Rio in truth, but it won't stop me enjoying every minute with them. I do hope I'll still be able to cadge rides elsewhere though :)
 
Because i'd rather spend my day with a horse than a human any day of the week!

Seriously though, im happy just being around the horses, I dont need to ride them to be happy - just seeing/hearing them when i go to the field makes me smile:biggrin:

Yes, I love riding but it's not the be all and end all for me but im lucky enough that they live at home and can manage one non ridden as a companion if i need to, i wouldnt want to be in a position where i wanted to ride but could only afford one at livery.
 
All 3 for different reasons I think, and I get something different from each one. Why 3? Because I enjoy being in with my own herd and love the place I have with them.

I started with Rhia to change my lifestyle (8 years ago). She was a rescue card, at the time I was very down and abusing myself. I had grown up with horses and always had a lot of respect for them. But hadn't been around them for a while. My mum put me in touch with her owner to try and get me out of this cycle. I was also very unconfident and was in an abusive relationship. It worked very quickly and after 6 months I was in a lot more responsible position and purchased her - her owner wanted us to be together :) I dumped my loser boyfriend- didn't need him anymore. I suppose most of this was horse company and the responsibility of looking after a horse- therefore having to look after myself. The riding was a side bonus where I loved Rhias company so much, I stopped wanting to get drunk with randoms and spent hours tracking across the moors instead. There has been times through the years when I have wanted to progress with her, maybe try something else and start competing, but in reality it is her being my best friend over anything else, if she doesn't enjoy something then neither will I. She will also be with me for life. Over the first few years I sometimes went without petrol or food but always paid livery on time and anything Rhia has needed.

Holly- I wanted a field companion for Rhia- someone she would get on with, I also wanted to progress with driving with a horse I could trust (a bit been there done that), and wanted to build a bond with a pony so when my future children and nieces/nephews were ready to learn to ride I would trust her and know her inside out. She has also become my cuddle monster. Rhia is only affectionate when it is really really needed but Holly would stand and be cuddled all day, and picks up on emotions very quickly. She is probably the sweetest most honest little pony I have ever met.

Albert- I know Rhia is getting on a bit and I don't know how I will ever cope when she isn't here. I know if I let her go I would never be able to replace her so I wanted a youngster that could be taught by her as much as possible, there are some traits in her I want to keep forever. Breeding from her wasn't an interest but using her mass intelligence (she is a VERY clever horse) to teach a horse how to be a horse and lead by example was what I wanted. I wanted a gelding, partly because the thought of 3 mares was a bit much, partly because I thought it would fit in better with the herd, and because Rhia loves geldings. I picked Albert because he is actually Rhias cousin, a Welsh D (love them), very pretty and OH took a shine to him too. When I met him I thought "yes, this is a character I could spend many years with :)" I also wanted a journey- which is what is happening already. I love the bits Rhia is teaching him, just by being a good leader in the field, and I can ride around the field on her and he has learnt that is NOT play time.

I ride Rhia, drive and walk Holly and have started showing Albert in hand (only 1) but actually, I have them all because of their individual personalities and how they fit in with my family :) I wouldn't sell/loan/send back (Holly is on full permanant loan) if they had to change their "use" through physical/mental or age changes.
 
I can't really give a reason why, only being a stressed out young adult (mid 20's) I felt that ownership would give my head something else to think about rather than the everyday stresses of life..
And yes, to an extent it's worked, though every now and then I have a slip up, and want to curl up in a corner and 'disappear'..
I have ridden on and off since 8, helped at a few of RS's, found a mentor (RS teacher took me under her wing) who helped me move my new loan horse onto the yard she was on, and taught me everything I needed to know about ownership, stable management, etc..
I'm no longer on that yard, but the timing was right when I moved off, as I needed my own space, and I'd started to branch out in my own direction with my horses..
 
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