Calling a horse 'it'. Do you?

Magnetic Sparrow

Magnetic Sparrow

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Perhaps it's my age - I'm a more mature rider - but I sometimes refer to horses as 'it'. It's not a particularly conscious thing, I do it to any horse including my own.

This morning I met a woman I don't know in the process of turning out a horse belonging to one of my fellow liveries, and giving it an absolute riot - shouting, yanking on the lead rope, dragging it round etc. I assumed it must have done something evil to deserve that kind of reaction and since the horse is known to bite I said something like 'Did it bite you, then?'

I then got an in-my-face full-on rant about how the horse was a him not an it and how dare I call him an it. Proper eye-popping, frothing at the mouth stuff.

I managed to keep a straight face and let her run on, but it did make me wonder if other people have a major problem with calling horses 'it'. Comments, please?
 
I do find it a bit impersonal calling a living thing "it", but it doesn't make me rage.
If I don't know the sex of something, "it" suffices perfectly well :)
 
Oh yes, you'll get lots of outraged people who wouldn't dream of calling any animal it. Doesn't bother me though.
 
I don't like it. It sounds disrespectful, disdainful, somehow, particularly if you know full well whether it's a he or she. That said, I guess I'd call other animals "it" if I was referring to them generally. ("Did you see that dog? It ran across the road.) But it does jar on my ears when I hear owners talking of their own horses like that.
 
They get called a lot more things than it!

Edit... I'd prefer people calling my horse rather than continually getting the sex wrong! I've told you he is a he!!!!
 
'did he-or-she bite you then?'! if i know the sex than i will always say he or she, but if not i don't really think it is that insulting saying it- you know it is still a living thing and the horse doesn't care. occasionally i have to read back to check what sex of horse someone was asking a question about in order to get it right, or say 'they'. no needs to start shouting about
 
I often call geldings it but I 'know' them then I usually use he .
If I dont know the sex of the horse I will use it .
I can think of a lot of better things to get excited about than 'it '.
 
I swap between using it and not. To be perfectly honest I don't think the horse is going to get offended by it so don't really see a problem.. ;)

ETS - if I know the horse I tend to use he or she
 
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It's an it if I don't know *it's* gender - what else? I never had anyone get stroppy with me because of that though, you'd think if she cared enough to worry about that she would care enough not to get shouting and yanking wouldn't you?
 
TBF, the woman was probably flustered and a bit embarrassed when you saw her. Maybe your question came at the wrong moment and she had a 'moment'.

I tend not to refer to horses as 'it' and definitely not my own. As someone else said, it seems a bit disrespectful.
 
I often find myself saying "It's a horse, not a baby/barbie/poodle/boyfriend/whatever", but generally it'll be a he or a she if I know which. Doesn't alarm me if horses are referred to as an "it", 'though. Who are you supposed to be being "disrespectful" to?
 
I often call my gelding 'IT' but it usually has 'G' in front. I generally call my horses he or she, more often than not though I use their name but for some reason our dog Nutty often gets referred to as 'the dog', I can only think it's because he's the only one.
 
Thanks, all, for your comments. Interesting reading indeed.

JillA, I was not impressed with the temper tantrum she threw with the horse, given the fact that it is rather sensitive (as well as bitey) I thought she was well out of order tbh. She's never coming near any horse of mine.

I know it would be wrong of me to deliberately start calling any horse I can 'it' next time I see her, but the temptation will be soooo strong.
 
No I personally don't call any living being "it". I don't say anything to others who do though. Except I did get angry with the Daily Mail the other day (not the first time). They ran a story about a baby who choked to death at a nursery and said "...when it started choking. ." Now that was just wrong.
 
Depends on the scenario? Wouldn't have bothered me in your case...

I have called mine 'it' before when they've ticked me off! I use 'it' rarely though.
My YO and his GF refer to horses as it, which doesn't bother me. There are quite a few liveries so 'it' is easier to remember I suppose ;)

However when I was at college there was a member of staff there with a horse she'd had since it was 2 (horse is in 20's). Poor mare is crippled with arthritis and all sorts of other issues and is still made to work for the college students, and go out and even jump etc. I jumped her once, AWFUL experience as she is so crippled. My instructor put me on her on purpose so that I'd fail the jumping assessment for that year.
Anyway, her owner is an unpleasant woman and often refers to her as 'it'. The mare was diagnosed with cushings and actually seemed to pick up a bit and get some sparkle back once her medication kicked in properly. One day us students were on the yard and she proudly said to the tutor we were with after smacking the sweet mare one that 'it's feeling full of itself just recently, it pushed me yesterday so I gave it a reminder of it's manners' implying she thrashed the poor old girl. Now 'it' used in that context bothers me..
 
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