Horsey Friends, Family and Conversation

Flipo's Mum

Flipo's Mum

Heavy owner of a Heavy
Aug 17, 2009
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Perthshire, Scotland
Who else in your family has the horsey bug?
If I could, I'd probably talk horses 24/7. But no ones really interested!
My sister rode for almost as long as I did as a kid - we had two ponies between us. She's now married with children and far too busy for it all.
My mum had ridden very briefly as a child but wasn't too fussed.
My dad is an avid animal lover and is very proud of flipo, he loves telling people 'wait to you see the size of my daughters horse!!' but he knows only a little of caring for them and has ridden only once that I know of.
I would so loved to have had a horsey parent aunt gran or some relative to learn from. Some wise older horseperson I could turn to for advice.
As it is, other than on here (which is my main source of horsey chatter and my saviour!) I have only about two other people who get it all. One is the girl I share the field with. She's been fab, encouraging, has stepped back when I needed to be more in charge and will talk and listen for hours about horsey stuff. I'm always considering my next step with flip and she's a good sounding board for the many ideas I have!
The other is a friend who has has similar lows with her youngster and we have a shared need to prove ourselves capable of this.
I know all the girls on the yard to say hi to and pass the time of day, a few help me out with my riding which is really appreciated. I've got a few friends who are not horsey but like flip and come help us out as foot soldiers and I now have a riding instructor who's ear I can bend.

So whats your horsey circle like? Can you go a day without uttering the word horse?
 
My mum rode as a child and took a few lessons and has 3 horses of her own, but I am the 'horsey' one in the family and the most dedicated.
My dad has ridden a few times and has his own saddle, but hardly ever gets the time to ride.
My sister rode as a child and had a pony bought for her by my nan but she isn't overly interested.
 
Lovely thread:happy:
I have absoloutely no one in my friendship groups or family that has the slightest interest in horses:poop:
I now have good friends at the two yards i am at. If one lady left Alfs yard i would probably follow her.
I have made some friends at Cass's yard who are really knowledgeable in a genours non patronising way which is great and just what i needed.
And New Rider friends of course......without this community i probably would have given up the horse world as it can be very daunting and lonely when you have nobody to share things, get advice, laugh, cry :happy:

Im very rarely get any response from my family and close friends is i start on about my favourite subject which can be really frustrating at times but it must be boring for them. x
 
I have my farm friends, a girl out of mine and OH's mutual friends had riding lessons and said she would like to go back. Other friends smile politely and ask questions but understand when we can't do something because one of the horses is poorly etc. Apart from one who is totally unanimal orientated!
My mum takes a very small interest but is generally scared of them but can manage a pat when they come round. Although she loves my friends mini Shetland !
 
The only person in my family who is horsey is my 15 year old cousin..no one else is that bothered by them really.
My friends dont like horses (most are scared of them):-( so i only get horsey chatter on NR & at the RS every week..
I did work at a polo club whilst travelling so have a couple if horsey peeps on fb & have met up with my friend emma since being back in the uk ..the others i speak too once in a while on fb!!
 
This thread has actually made me realise how many horsey people I know!

Family - my mum and dad both ride, the three of us all went to lessons last year together when I decided to get back into it, though they dont ride as much as me. My dad rode a lot as a child (was taught cavalry style and struggles to understand anything different to this style of riding), he got thrown off my aunties horse last year though breaking a rib or two, and hasn't been back on a horse since. He keeps saying he will, but I'm not going to push it. My mum occasionally rides with me at the RS. Neither of them know about keeping one though. My aunty owns a horse, it was her getting him that prompted me to get back into it. She is great and I can call her up and ask her any questions I might have (going to be bending her ear this weekend and things I need for the share horse). My cousin used to ride when she was younger too.

Friends - I didn't really realise I had horsey friends until I took it up last year and posted on my facebook that I had fallen off :giggle:. They asked where I go, and we ended up teaming together and going along - there are 4 of us who regularly go together, and another who started but then realised she was preggers! I have another friend who used to have her own horse when she was younger, I haven't ridden with her yet, but we plan on getting together at some point. I also have very un-horsey friends who hate when we get together on a night out and have horse chat! My best friend is particularly disinterested! She used to come along to the school riding club because she didnt want to miss out and hated every moment of being in the saddle :giggle: she has said she would like to come and pat my new share horse though which is saying something! :biggrin:

My instructor is also amazing, she makes the whole RS experience very sociable, and I would ask her advice on anything.

And of course the wonderful NR. I have met (in real and virtual life) some great, knowledgable people, and I know I wouldn't understand half of what was going on in the horse world if it wasn't for you guys! Happyhacker101 and Clashnoir in particular have been great to me, and a lot of support over the last couple of weeks. If it wasn't for HH101 I wouldn't have went out and found Harvey :smile:
 
I don't really have any one immediate to talk to about horses.

My Auntie has owned horses most of her life until recently but we don't talk very often maybe once a year if that!

My sister used to ride years ago but has no real interest now although her daughter has lessons now and would talk and play with my horses all day if she could but she lives in Kent and we only get together every month or so.

Apparently me and my Auntie got the horsey bug from one of my ancestors who had horses all his life.

Oh and my cousin's daugher has got into horses now and has a pony. We only talk mainly via Facebook!
 
Well OH is horsey like me, though he can live without horse talk 24/7 (as he's always reminding me!lol). I suppose I would like more horsey friends then if anything happens we can help each other out. The yard I belonged to before bringing them home to live no longer exists, and I barely keep in touch with people I liked on there - they all seem to have either given up riding or moved out of the area!

Without NR I'd have struggled - it has been a wealth of knowledge and support over the years, I am addicted (no, you don't say Trewsers!) and know that most of the time I just enjoy posting horsey fluff and reading about everybody's day to day horsey life. (Bit sad really........)!
 
Good thread FM.

Family - All except my brother are big animal lovers but I am the only horsey one. My Dad got lumbered with lots of mucking out of my Auntie's horse when she was little so there was no chance of us getting one. My mum loves coming to watch anything I am doing when she is over here (from Oz) and organises their travel itinerary around my 'events' so she can watch. She is very good at bringing picnics but nothing horsey. Quite a few of my cousins used to ride.

Friends - couple of friends who like to hear about Izzy to a degree. Used to ride but now have babies etc. One good friend who has had horses ages and now her kids have them.

Livery yard - I am at a great yard and have made some fab friends up there. Our yard is very social and supportive so there is always a bottle of wine, people helping on the ground at events, and generally helpful with advice for a numpty like me.
 
I know people in my area but nobody I'd call a friend. I'm one of those people who have a close circle of close friends rather than lots. None of my close friends were horsey.

New rider has been superb. I come on here to get my horsey fix.

Best of all I met a couple of members who I really wish I lived closer to as they have both become very good friends only limited by geography. Ruskii and flumpy both rock!
 
my sister and me learnt to ride at the same time - i was 21, she was 11 :)

we bought her a horse after i bought Rosie, we spent many years riding out together lots. I miss that alot :( but when she comes up now we try to borrow a horse so we can ride together :) when i go down there i tend to ride my sisters horse out with my best mates horse...or sometimes i borrow my mates horse.

tbh though my sister isnt very 'horsey'...in that she enjoys riding and she loves her cob, but shes not passionate about it - if you know what i mean....i am a little obsessive about it and read everything about horses and would happily talk horses all day! i do get very upset when she never asks me how my horses are or how i am getting on with them...

my best friend in Cardiff is the reason i go into horses at 21, and i havent looked back! she still has a horse and we chat horsey stuff everyday on emails in work (she works for the same company but based in Cardiff and i am up here). My other school friends - surprisingly 2 used to ride and loan horses and are looking to get back into it - but when we were closer in school i wasnt actually interested in horses so didnt realise!!

hmmmm locally, i have made lovely friends through the two livery yards i have been on up here. Through hockey i have discovered that some of them used to have horses, and now one comes to ride moet every other saturday :)

my hubby isnt 'horsey' but surprises me with the amount he knows thanks to my wittering! he rides once a week at the minute as we borrow the yard owners hunter for him :)

my mum still calls Rosie a boy (after owning her 6 years and the name is a bit of a giveaway!!)! hmmm shes not very horsey! although does occassionally ride one of mine when i ask her if she is visiting!
 
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My Dad always loved Horses and used to help out at a Riding Stables
when he was Young.

My Mum always showed an interest in my Riding and later in my Horses and my Dad always loved my Horses. They both encouraged my
interest and paid a local girl to give me lessons on her HUGE Cob.........even when Dad was in a Nursing Home one of the first things
he would always ask about on a daily basis was the Horses........

sadly both no longer with me....

My Sister used to ride sometimes but never with the same enthusiasm as me.

Hubby and Sons accept the Horses, come to see them sometimes etc.,
and No.2 Son's Girlfriend used to Ride and says she wants to come down
and start again but hasn't as yet:biggrin:

Grandaughter as most of you know has an active interest and Bert is hers,
although unfortunately with the way I work, lots of w.ends, we don't get
as much time as I would like..........

Could I go a day without talking Horses..........Ummmmmmmmmm NO !!!:giggle:
 
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Joyscarer said:
I know people in my area but nobody I'd call a friend. I'm one of those people who have a close circle of close friends rather than lots. None of my close friends were horsey.

New rider has been superb. I come on here to get my horsey fix.

Best of all I met a couple of members who I really wish I lived closer to as they have both become very good friends only limited by geography. Ruskii and flumpy both rock!
Click to expand...

:bounce: Same here, I've made some good friends through NR :biggrin:

Funnily enough your thread about the horse box got me thinking today ....
 
Mostly the people I knew before I had horses were not horsey. My mother didn't care about horses at all. Daddy had ridden a lot on national service (played polo, even) and loved horses with a passion, but had put it aside as something just too expensive even to think about. I used to love it so much when he talked about the polo ponies he had known and the horses he had ridden.

Before she died last year, Mummy knew I was going to get a pony and it made her cry, because I had always always wanted one, but not because she likes ponies!

My cousin Angie, 5 years older than me, was a good rider and had a wicked bay pony called Nimbus. I had the holiday of a lifetime for 4 weeks when I was 12 riding her friend's outgrown Connemara, Smoky.

Since then - no horsey friends until Ziggy arrived. Now I am close to my neighbour Catherine and Steve likes horses and riding Mattie, though he doesn't like me banging on about them. But my main horsey fix is New Rider! Which is why I am here every day, even when I am really busy :redface:
 
nobody really ...


my mum - they had a biting shetland named lucifer in the backgarden when she was a child (in the 50s!). whilst she likes to look at them and pat them on the nose she really is not at all horsey!

oh and one of my uncles (a farm vet) used to have a horse but swapped it for a boiled chicken (i kid you not!!)

my sister was into it for a few months when we were little, but fell off on the lunge and stopped riding altogether shortly after!

i think i got into it when my parents took us to a local farm where parents could 'borrow' shetlands and walk their kids round a track throgh the woods on them (not hats or anything!) - i LOVED going there, although ponies would often stop to eat or have a sit-down ....

OH is vaguely into ponies and likes to ride angel (and have long discussions with her!) and brush them and stuff. OH's mum is very horsey and drives shetlands in competitions (she has a whole gaggle of them!) and suchlike :)
 
My mum has ridden all her life pretty much untill she had me and my brother,
She worked for David Broom for a very long time, trained as an instructor and competed in 3 day eventing.

Quite a few of my friends also ride.
My OH couldn't give any less interest if he tryed.
 
None of my family are remotely horsey but they will put up with a summary of about 1 minute of horse talk when I speak to them. My husband lets me talk for hours but doesn't really listen.

I do however have some great horsey friends who I have been friends with for about 10 years now. Since I have had kids I haven't seen them as much as I would have liked to, but whenever I see them we slot right back to where we were and I can natter for ages and they never get bored. They are always there for me to share the highs and the lows.

I have some good friends at my new yard and the group I ride with each week are also fantastic. We chat for a good hour or so after the lesson has finished and we are all as passionate about it as each other.

And of course there is NR. I love it!
 
I was obsessed with horses from as long as I can remember. Luckily hubby is now as horsey as I am.

My in-laws though non horsey are happy to hear about them. Converesly my mother is totally uninterested in ours but is impressed by other horsey people she knows as they brag to her. We just say the horses are fine as she never listens.
 
My cousin is horse mad, and her two daugheters are - they have four horses but I rarely see them as they are always "busywith the horses" ad live a long way away. Otherwise my family are not horsey at all.

Have a couple of friends who are horsey - one from last field and a few from new yard.

Actually on reflection, seen vet so often perhaps I should count him as family.... LOL

I think Flipo's Mum manages to catch most of my whinges :giggle: and Zingy and Poohsmate too :)
 
My daughter - but she is away at uni most of the time.

OH and son (at home) have developed àn aversion to horses ....... Grr

Otherwise
Only folks at the yard - lovely horsey friends
 
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