A passion for horses - nature or nurture.

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Again, another one for whom it was nature - completely non-horsey family yet there are actually tons of photos of me on horses as a kid, I always managed to find them and them me...and those are the photos I look happiest in. I lived and breathed horses, if I couldn't find one to get on/next to, I was drawing them, reading/writing stories about them....total un-encouraged passion...had a long break but inevitably found myself aged 40 with 3 of them! The passion never goes away...daughter has a pony...but doesn't have the passion...never mind, I've got more than enough for both of us!! :D:D:D
 
Very intresting thread.

200 years ago, if your family lived in the country or town their horses were at the very centre of their lives. It was the family car, the tractor, the lorry, the bus and the provider.

Therefore IMO it is nature:)
 
Mum and my auntie were both horse mad when they were kids but couldn't afford to have ponies or really have lessons. In their teens they rode sporadically ( I think they helped out at a local riding school in turn for rides).

My auntie started riding again in the late '80's and I was about 7 and begged mum for lessons. I had weekly lessons, then mum started riding again and my cousin and brother started riding. I use to help out at the yard most weekends and school holidays. Rode various horses and ponies over the years.

My auntie has had a few horses and still has one now at the same yard. I rode properly until I went to uni and then got back into it via my now OH who brought his horse to the yard we rode at. OH horse retired and went back to Holland and we got a 4 year old TB X called DJ. 2 years ago I got my 15.1hh mare Chloe and last year she became properly mine. Done quite a bit of unafill dressage, hoping to affiliate in summer. OH is just getting her back into SJ which she loves.

Now life revolves around the horses but I think my dad still hopes its a phase I'll grow out of! Dad has never been horsey, he has rode but I think the hair-raising experience we had when once pony trekking in Ireland put him off!

I know its sounds corny and a bit "pollyanna" but I do consider myself very lucky as when I was a kid, I'd have done anything for what I have now and still sometimes can't believe that Chloe is mine.

So maybe a bit of both, nature/nurture?
 
Definitely nature. None of my family were horsey apart from my sister who rode for a few years in her teens, but is now never seen without make-up and high heels. She would cringe if she had to actually get dirty. From the age of about 8, I wanted to ride, but I wasn't allowed. (Parents would pay for piano, violin and sodding ballet lessons - but not horse-riding lessons). So when I was 13 I got a Saturday morning job in a newsagents for four hours which paid for my once a week riding lesson. The bug never left me, and the fact that I always had to pay for it myself makes me even more proud of myself. I bought my first horse when I was 17 after saving up working weekends and holidays and then kept it on working livery at a riding school, paid for from my weekend job and any holiday work I could get. I am completely passionate about horses - doesn't matter to me if I ride or not, but I spend every spare minute that I can with my horses. So the thing that I paid for myself is the thing that stayed with me - the violin and ballet went out of the window long ago (although I do still have a piano - albeit rarely used.)
 
for me it is nature. Ive been horse mad ever since I can remember. I grew up in a city and no one could understand it! But its been my passion all my life, and when I went through difficult times a couple of years ago I seriously thought about giving up. But an old mare gave me back my spark and I know now horses are a part of my life for always
 
Nature I think. My dad used to plough horses before I was born, and going back in the generations there were a few groomsmen. We were not brought up with horses but ican remember being horse mad from a young age. My siblings weren't. I eventually started riding at age 12 and was lucky enough to get a horse when I was14.
 
I think it's in my blood. Though my mother isn't horsey at all, But my late Father was a Thoroughbred trainer and the the whole of his side of the family have had something to do with horses, including riding them in the war :D I don't even remember learning how to ride. I was riding around the kitchen table before i could walk and talk on my little shetland (he knew how to open the back door..)
 
Cobiau Cymraeg Wyllt said:
Again, another one for whom it was nature - completely non-horsey family yet there are actually tons of photos of me on horses as a kid, I always managed to find them and them me...and those are the photos I look happiest in. I lived and breathed horses, if I couldn't find one to get on/next to, I was drawing them, reading/writing stories about them....total un-encouraged passion...had a long break but inevitably found myself aged 40 with 3 of them! The passion never goes away...daughter has a pony...but doesn't have the passion...never mind, I've got more than enough for both of us!! :D:D:D
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Golly that sounds like me. Totally non-horsey family but I lived and breathed horses as a child/teenager. For one reason and another I ended up having a long break but in my forties I now have three ponies, and also have 2 pony-mad daughters .. . so definitely Nature in my case, but probably Nature and Nurture in theirs :D

ETA, it wasn't until I came back to horses, that I realised how much I'd missed them. I really can't imagine not being around them now.
 
I think a combination of both for me.

My dad rode as a child and had his own pony, and although my mother had never ridden she was more into art her father was a racing correspondant.

I was facinated by horses from a young age - there are photos of me age three just staring mesmorised by the horses in the field opposite our house.

When I was 6 my parents moved house and Dad decided we needed to get a house which had land so I could have a pony. (These were in the days when houses with land were not really expensive like they are now!) We then loaned a pony from neighbours which was ride and drive and my grandparents bought me a pony and over the years helped fund my horsey passion. I did pony club and had friends in the village with ponies to ride out with (I don't think livery yards were very common in those days). My sister also rode but was not as keen as me as she got into art like my mum and is more of a dog person, though she occasionally helps out at RDA, she is not obssessed with horses.

For me I am very into the social aspect of having a horse even as a child I liked riding out with other children, pony club camp etc, had I not had friends to ride with or competed so had interaction with other people I don't think I would have been so interested.

I then had a break from horses whilst at uni though rode once a week at a RS, did not want to spend money and time keeping a horse was more interested in drinking, clubbing and boys.

This continued after I left uni and found work but I still rode once a week at RS and made lots of friends there enjoying the social aspect, progressed on to having a share for 4 years and then at age 35 my grandmother gave me a some money which I used to buy a pony - sadly very shortly afterwards she died. Since then my pony has gradually taken over my life. I think if I had horses at home but no-one to ride with or was not into competiting I do think my pony would have ended up as more of a pet, as it is I am on a yard with friends to hack out with and to go to competitions with. I do really enjoy just being with my pony as well so it is not just about the riding for me.

Had my parents not encouraged my passion for horses then I am not sure I would have had the drive to get envolved or ended up addicted!
 
Sis and I are convinced it is nature. Neither parent had had much to do with horses till we began learning, but both of Dads parents were involved with horses and Mums side of the family still show shires in Ireland.
 
Fellewell said:
I blame Sigmund Freud and his deeply flawed theory of developmental stages.
During the latency stage (between the ages of 5-7 yrs or thereabouts) Freud claimed that not much happened. Whereas the latency stage was infact the very important pony fixation stage. Unresolved desires at this stage culminate in lifelong regressive behaviour.
When this wish fulfillment finally take place it can be a disappointment (bit like Disneyland, Paris)
You're quite right OP, it's time to try something less dangerous (Have you thought of tombstoning;))
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spot on!! i keep telling my parents that if they had just bought me a pony when i was 7 i wouldn't feel the need to have 5 of the buggers now!!! i also blame them for me having 3 dogs for the same reason:D
 
Ibblebibble said:
spot on!! i keep telling my parents that if they had just bought me a pony when i was 7 i wouldn't feel the need to have 5 of the buggers now!!! i also blame them for me having 3 dogs for the same reason:D
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I go with that! I do reckon that if I had had a pony as a child I might not have been quite so horse-obsessed. (Although now I'm finally a horse-owner, I only have 3, not 5!). So when my Mother questions the wisdom of having 3 ponies, I tell her it's her fault! :D
 
Nature for me- totally non horsey parents but was mental about them from age of 6... Obsession waned somewhat mid teens to start of 20's... But love it again now although defo no longer obsessed x
 
Nature for me. Completely non horsey family. So much so my mother did everything she could to deny my interest. Eventually she realised (after 12 years of bugging her about horses) that it wasn't a 'phase' and I got my first horse (at the age of 18).

Funnily enough my 2 other female cousins are also into horses. We are the only ones in the family.

I got burnt out from competing and had a break from riding for a few years. I had my old boy still and looked after him but never rode. After a couple of years out of the saddle I was itching to get back to it.

I have owned horses for 10 years now and can't imagine a life without owning one. Even if it wasn't a riding horse I would still have to have one.
 
I believe it is nature not nurture. I have always been an animal lover but even when I was tiny,...any chance I got to ride a pony or donkey, I was there!! I remember a friend of the family asked me what I wanted for my 6th birthday,...she said I could have anything I wanted....money wasnt of issue. I asked for a riding lesson!! She booked me a pony day type thing. At 7 I was learning to ride (my dad thinking I would get bored within a few months....17years later and here I am with my own!). I rode from 7 until about 15 incld shows etc then, as being a teenager, grew apart from it,...but always longed to go back and always went for a ride on holidays etc. Now I am properly back into it and have my girly.
I think have a horesy passion has little to do with being an animal lover (I have had all animals under the sun .... but my girly brings something non of the others ever could/did - apart from my dog :0)
 
Forgot to add - my parents and family aren't horsey either. My mum rode when she was young but that was it and my dad thinks he's being brave holding a dope-on-a-rode or being in the same field as the wild beasts!!
 
Definitely nature for me. Totally non-horsey family. I got 6 riding lesson as a combined Christmas & birthday present when I was 10 & I think that was meant to knock it out of my system but I spent the next 6 years trying to save up to have enough money to buy & keep my own horse. At 16 I realised it wasn't going to happen & got into hill walking & canoeing instead.
20 odd years later, married with 2 kids, we went to America on holiday. Youngest was 5. Next to one of the camp sites we stayed at they were doing kids horse rides & our 2 went both evenings we were there. A couple of years later youngest suddenly asked for riding lessons for his birthday - turned out he was hooked from those rides. Then I started having lessons & it was a one way street to a muddy, smelly, permanently broke lifestyle.
 
Certainly not nurture for me - my adopted parents are not animally at all (okay they have a dog, but forget to walk him and don't groom him at all, and as for training........!!), and really don't understand my fondness for all things furry!

But my birth mother apparently rode a lot and was very horsey; I was adopted at 6 weeks, so nature? I don't know.

I was given riding lessons as a birthday pressie when I was a girl, and eventually gave up aged about 15 when my eczema/allergies got too bad to cope.

Got back into horses ten or so years later, and I so wish I'd never given them up for those years.

But I think most little girls (and some boys) are horsey mad - I have friends with kids that have never been near a horse in their lives, but read horse books, draw ponies on everything, and long for that little pony to be delivered by Santa!
 
Nature for me too, totally non horsey family but they have always been really supportive. I live and breathe horses, if I'm not with them I am reading about them or watching them on tv or shopping for them!

My OH is nurture his parents always had horses and so did he and while he loves them and enjoys them he doesn't get my obsession and likes a break from them
 
I believe i was born with a horsey gene despite coming from a non horsey background.All i ever wanted was a horse,in whose absence in my earlier years i made up with model ones,books and watching all horse related films and sport on tv.Eventually i wore my parents down so much i had riding lessons,then the pony and it's all spiralled from there.I am aware some of my family had farms in Ireland and Oxfordshire long ago,so wonder if perhaps something did affect me genetically.
 
I'd say nature. My parents are not horsey, though my mother went through a phase and had riding lessons as a teenager. I've been horsey since before I can remember. When I was two, my parents went on holiday to Iceland and discovered, too late, that dragging a toddler through Iceland for two weeks was not as much fun as they had thought. Apparently they kept me placated by buying toy horses. It was the only thing that worked. It's been down hill ever since.
 
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