Cute things non-horsey people say....

A man doing road works stopped and came over. We chatted for ages, he was from the city and apparently never been up close to a horse. He asked if he could touch him. He really really gently stroked his neck (horse was a little freaked out in a quiet kind of way ;). )
Then exclaimed, deadly seriously “oh god, he doesn’t feel like a cat at all”
Umm no, no he doesn’t!
 
Out hacking I came across some lads riding motorbikes off road, Hoodys caps scarf over their faces. The leader of the group saw us coming and shouted to his mates to turn their f'ing bikes off. Threw his in the hedge and came over. Shouting to his mates "come look at this horse it's f'ing massive". "Is it a shire?". I didn't have the heart to tell him my mare is actually a pony. 14.1 Dales.
He then proceeded to tell me he'd never been that close to a horse before, asked to stroke her and started asking all sorts of pertinent questions. I often used to see them out after that and they always acknowleged me, stopped and turned off engines. Never did know what they really looked like.

Moved to a new yard. The field has a kissing gate for walkers to access the public footpath. Just as we were about to leave a dog walker was coming in. She looked at us and said "Can she get through ok? doesn't she mind going through there? (the kissing gate)" I just pointed to the bloody great 5 bar gate next to the kissing gate and said, "no I just unlock that one"
 
Sister and I were hacking through the village when a car came past us from behind, with a group of lads in, they slowed down and shouted through the window,
"Nice socks!".
The horses were wearing hi-viz leg-wraps.
 
One which always makes me laugh.
"Ooh you have a horse? What colour?"
"Fewspot."
"What's that?"
A horse with a few spots....what else? A horse with stars and stripes? (Though joking aside that would be fun to groom.) :rolleyes3:
 
I recently suffered quite a gruesome injury whilst riding (caught my leg on a gate & ripped it open to the bone) which has meant a lot of time in hospital & 2 operations, I've never considered of myself to be particulary brave & thought I was just a normal person getting on with it but non-horsey people must be wimps, as I had the following comments:-
A&E doctor - you are tough
Nurses lining up to look at it & one of them said "you are a very stoic lady"
2 nurses washed out the wound with iodine & seemed surprised that I was willing to let them do it without pain relief
Consultant to me after a skin graft "I hear that you were very brave yesterday"
A nurse in the plastics clinic saying "we are in awe of you" when I told her that I rode home for an hour after I injured myself
The same nurse did also say that horsey people are used to injuring themselves - so that probably explains it
Somebody said that she would have curled up on the ground & cried - what would I have done with my horse if I did that?
 
Once out hacking, a big galaxy car overtook me and then came to a stop in front of me. I started to ride around the car and saw about 4 kids waving at me, when going past the front of the car the driver wound down her window so I stopped and she asked if she were to park up further down the road where there is a bit of green, could her kids take turns riding my Horse. I politely said she wasn't suitable for children and gave her the name of a nearby riding school and carried on my way.

I honestly think sometimes parents do these things not because they expect the rider to comply, but because it is the simplest way to get the children off their backs. They know it's an impossible ask, but the person saying "no" isn't them, but a stranger (the horse owner/rider). "Sorry, kids, the lady on the horse said no. I did try asking...."
 
C2b reminded me of this: out hacking with a couple of friends a few years ago, none of us on anything particularly big (all less than 15 hands). We were going up a bridleway (in walk) and met some walkers coming the other way. One woman practically threw herself in the hedge exclaiming "Those horses are massive!"
 
Some horses make a mockery of being vegetarians. I knew a mare who would eat absolutely everything. She would sniff out food in a wrapper and in your pocket. She stole a corned beef sandwich once. Didn't seem to do her any harm either!

She didn't happen to be small and grey by any chance? Surely there can't be two of them!
 
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