Are horsey women 'tougher' than the average female?

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Sophstar

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By 'tougher' I don't mean butch or strong. In the past couple of weeks I have just noticed myself being a lot more laid back about situations that other people or most women would have either not done, not stayed so calm about or just not have the guts to do.

Situation one...a livery a while back found their horse on 3 legs with a lot of blood on the other. Barb wire injury with a tear narrowly missing both joint and tendons from the hock all the way to the heel. Whilst other people would have screamed, ran away etc at the site of so much blood, me and the horse's owner padded the bandaged leg and with 4 people's assistance got him into the yard. Yes he was badly injured but do horsey folk have a stronger ability to stay calm and focused in times of accidents!?

Situation two...friend sliced his finger open at work and being a finger, bled alot. Cue all other female colleagues running away with me stepping forward as the only one whose not bothered about blood. The line 'i have horses. I've seen alot of blood' was my answer to 'are you good with blood?'

Situation three...I have spent the morning knee deep in mud, water, half of which was stagnant making the ditch round the edge of my paddock deeper so it didn't keep flooding. Do I know any other girly friends who would even consider going home caked in mud and smelling horrific? No, only horsey friends.

So are girls/women who work with/have horses generally better at facing challenges, albeit muddy ones and just having the guts to get stuck in?

I'm not bothered about breaking a nail:D
 
I want to say yes. Reasons being me, my very horsey friends, and the things we will do that many non-horsey friends won't (if I listed them we'd be here all night).

Conversely, mother dearest is not an ounce horsey. But she's great with injuries and mud and getting absolutely filthy. Then again, we live on a farm and when she's not in her office job, she's a full time farmer's wife so guess that makes her a bit tougher than your average woman anyway!

So my answer is YES :)
 
Definitely. My work mates think I'm crazy being out in the piddling rain scrubbing out water troughs etc. My old boss at a stud I worked at once worked a whole day with a dislocated shoulder after a stallion trampled her in the walker. Tough!!!!
 
Totally. Horsey females are just...indescribable...

My horsey daughter fell at school last week- and ended up with a massive egg on her forehead. Cue school having a panic attack, phonecalls all round....daughter got house points for being brave, apparantly she just got up and carried on...when told how brave she was was being, she pointed out that she fell off ponies regularly:rolleyes:

I think we're all a bit odd.

I found a mummified toad in a big bale last week....and immediatley put it in my pocket to show the kids.:D
 
Definitely. And from a non injury pov, I'm the one who isn't fussed about walking in the dark anywhere - non horsey friends all insist on going in multiples to go a few steps down a dark (but street lit!) road.

I've also been complemented (or the opposite with health care professionals) on my high pain threshold - yes things may hurt, but they don't hurt anywhere close to some of my falls, of which ie dusted myself off and got back on.

One of my lecturers at uni states that 'horse riders do things to their bodies that no other person would find do-able, and withstand a strangely large amount of trauma' ... So true! Why do we do it to ourselves I find people asking - because of the bond, the love, and the sheer greatness of being able to ride an animal almost 10 x the size of us and the pleasure in which we gain when everything goes right.
 
hiddentalents said:
Definitely. And from a non injury pov, I'm the one who isn't fussed about walking in the dark anywhere - non horsey friends all insist on going in multiples to go a few steps down a dark (but street lit!) road.

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True.....trekking half a mile up a lane through the woods to the 'top field' in the pitch black....why not?:D

I had one of those moments last week...out riding....when you actually realise the madness of what you are doing....sat on a horse, in the woods, on your own......few bits of leather holding it all together.....when you actually think about it, horsey people are in fact insane....:eek:
 
By a country mile!! My friends cringe when they see my bruises, cuts, scrapes, etc, in a rainbow of colours!! My uncle is a builder and tells me I'm better than his brickies when it comes to lifting weight! I also get complimented on my high pain threshold lol!!
 
definately - I can carry large sack of feed on each shoulder and get confused when men offer to "help" I do horses on my own in the dark then walk dog up dark lane - miles from anywhere - you could scream your loudest and no-one would hear (but I have promised OH I wont attack anyone !)

When horse bit me on leg and A&E wanted to give me crutches and pain killers I prodded the lump hard to show it didnt hurt and they all went mental yelling "dont do that - let us give you pain relief and crutches " was very confused as it really didnt hurt much and how can you do horses with crutches ! Couple of years ago when I broke my wrist I went to A&E and denied it could be broken - they grabbed it twisted it round and I still denied it until they got cross and I admitted it may be bust ! only got upset when they said I would be 5 weeks in a cast and couldnt drive !! (made them take it off early for Christmas)
 
tend to be physically stronger as lugging nets, water buckets etc. Never thought about it till a friend was being wimpy about carrying bags which I honestly didn't think were heavy. Also to be fair, being around animals we get to used to blood, gore and hurting ourselves so do tend to be more pragmatic when faced with gore.

However (coughs gently) I am the same person who had 50 fits when finding a squashed mouse in one of my rug boxes. Mouse had been climbing out and someone had stuck more rugs on the box, effectively squashing lower half of said mouse. In my defence...

so did everyone else!!!
 
yup, tougher than the average man too ;) My very sweet bf came to help me at the yard the other weekend because I had bronchitis and he thought I wouldn't manage. Job 1 - lugging 25kg sack of feed that had been delivered to the pub by mistake 1/4 of a mile down the road. Bf = dozen steps and worried he'd hurt himself - me = rest of the way. Job 2 - shifting 6 bales of hunters up a very muddy slope. Bf - faffed about for half an hour trying to work out how to do move the wheelbarrow in the mud whilst getting stressed about the dirt - me - picked them up one at a time and waded through the mud.

He fusses about the cat's litter boxes too - less so now he's realised mucking out is a giant litterbox clean :D
 
Yes, I think so, because you have to be. Standing around crying & playing the part of the wilting defenceless female doesn't get you anywhere when at 6pm on a winters evening you find your horse hopping lame & no one around to help. Or weeping & wailing because your horse is ill & needs help, or when you're ill & they still need doing. That said, I have met a few of the weaker types that fall apart when things go wrong, but they generally seem to be in the minority.
 
I think us horsey girls are pretty much indestructible...

We get trod on, stomped on, bitten, kicked, squashed, break nails, have hair pulled out, get lots of bruises, scrapes, cuts, soaked to the skin, frozen to the bone, have clothes distroyed, walk around with holes in our wellys, lift heavy bales, drag huge water buckets, tip endless barrows of muck, drive wagons, get caked in mud, slobbered on... the list is endless.

I think we're pretty much as good as if not better than Super Woman!! :D
 
Yep.. can deal with blood, sweat and mud... can carry heavy things without thinking about it, and can carry on with injuries too... when you have to, you do.
We might go home at the end of the day and go, I hurt like buggery, or that was tough, or how did I do that? but we did, its done and thats that!
 
Yes yes yes!
We get covered in mud, dirt, water, poo, blood, cuts, bruises and sometime even horse wee!

We are out in the freezing cold,wind, rain, and snow and the blazing summer heat.

We do most things other women wouldn't dream of, with the perfect makeup, eyelashes, perfect nails and hair, BUT we all have one thing they don't and that is a bond with such a magnificent beautiful creature who we love more than life its self and is always there no matter what.

We also get the satisfaction of seeing these lovely creatires everyday, and work towards achivements big and small and get to watch them grow.

Not to mention stable lasses hve the best memories and laughs! That we will treasure for ever, oh And... Were stronger than most blokes and are pretty toned and we scrub up well!:D
 
most horsey women are outdoor types who with or without horses are not afraid of hard work and dirt. i don't think having horses makes us special,a little speshull perhaps for wanting to do some of the things we do!!:) most of us are quite practical and have probably learnt from experience that having a meltdown at every injury is pointless.
What is the 'average' female anyway:confused:
 
most women want sympathy when they get injured -we just want to get on with the rest of the day-we are far too busy to go to A+E and the thought of being in plaster is horrific-you cant ride with a broken ankle in plaster but you can if you can find a boot of sorts to squash it into! :D:D we are rock hard:D:D
 
Physically yes I would say we are a hardy bunch with big muscles and always striving to find an extra hour in the day but...emotionally the bravery, beauty and generous spirit of our equine friends frequently leaves me with watery eyes and a wobbly bottom lip.
 
I think so for example we had a work do on Saturday and I was standing outside smoking with two of the men and one other girl I was wearing a knitted short sleeve dress and was constantly asked if I was freezing as they all had coats on a were shivering, my reply...I have horses It's colder at 5:45 am trust me Lol!!!
 
Without a doubt YES. One of my friends was receiving some pretty awful treatment for breast cancer however she needed to work to pay the bills so she still got up in the morning to go and muck out other people's horses and she was 71 at the time!
 
For sure yes we are !

I listen to some of the girls/ladies at work making a great deal about what I view as minor complaints/issues and wonder why they just dont get on with it ! They are either having an emotional breakdown or running of to visit the doctor ever five minutes.

Having a horse teaches you to take the rough with the smooth, they are great levellers :D
 
I'll go against the grain then, and say - I'm not!

I think I have two "modes" - in a horsey emergency I can cope with mud, blood, snot and goo but when I'm out of horsey mode, I can't cope with anything. I can't say the word blood because it makes me want to pass out, I get overly distressed when I break a nail at work in case it catches on anything, and I hate getting wet or dirty. If I had to ring an ambulance I'd be a wreck, but ask me to call a vet and I'm fine. I'm not a particularly girly girl, just a bit of a wuss!

So beware hurting yourself around me, or you'll end up vetwrapped, on box rest and bute ;)
 
Toppy72... Spot on!!

I can't watch international dressage to music without crying like a small child... I blummin hate dressage!! But what a wonderful culmination of hard work and training with a great bond and understanding between horse and rider... However, I'm voted 'girl least likely to cry' on my team at work :D 'ard as nails me!
 
Hippona said:
I found a mummified toad in a big bale last week....and immediatley put it in my pocket to show the kids.:D
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I just had to escort a live toad trying to hop into my feed bags this evening...cue 2 intrigued ponies watching me carefully judge its next hopping direction to get it into the mucker!
 
Bit of both . . . like others have said - can carry bags of feed on each shoulder and wonder why men offer to help when I'm doing just fine myself. I will be up the yard in the dark on my own. I'll deal with my own injuries well - broke my finger really badly (hospital were talking about wires and things to try and make it a finger again) but just walked around the yard talking, untacked my horse, laughed. Didn't ring anyone to come pick me up. Kept getting told to sit under a hose pipe and ring my parents :D

Initally, i'm a wimp after I've fallen off - but I think that's my body's coping. I lose all feeling and can't move. It used to terrify me and make me think I've done huge damage but it became clear after it happened a few times that my body just wanted to check it was all working and then it was fine. Have gone to hospital after not being able to move one side of my body, having fallen into a fence, got told not to walk on my ankle for at least a week - was back walking that day, no painkillers, just got on with it.


HOWEVER, with other people/horses injuries. I don't do well. I'm a wimp, want to throw up. I seem to have got much tougher though now that I've grown up and I'm the one in charge of bandaging/waiting for the vet/calling an ambulance. Think I've learnt that if I don't do it, no one else will and the adrenaline just kicks in. Feel less sick when I see things now. There's been a few incidents where people panicked and just went to pieces so I was falsed to step up to the mark. Do find it harder when people panic as I don't have anyone being the tough one with me :D
 
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