Do you LOVE your horse ?

[1stclassalan]

The famous jockey Ruby Walsh has recently said that doesn't actually like horses that much and that he just turns up to ride them - furthermore that they are actually incapable of much emotion beyond their feed bucket.

Brough Scott has a piece in his last week's column in H & H on roughly the same lines even though he reckons himself to be a "sentimentalist."

I'm sure that this will provoke a good reaction from this forum but let me start it off by saying that I am a big hairy bloke who's spent most of his life doing big hairy bloke things, yet I was besotted by my old mare putting her before everything else. I had the pleasure of her company for seventeen years till cradling her head when she died and nothing was ever a chore, I'd go to her like a kid let out of school and she'd whinney at the sound of my footsteps going to fetch her in.

 

[V1NN]

I truly love my horse, he is the best thing i have. x

 

[cobgirlie]

I adore my big hairy thug. He's my reason for being and lights up every single day! I'm a 41 year old very straight speaking woman who has no kids and can't be doing with slush or sentiment but when it comes to him I'm a complete girlie!!

A fella on my yard who's ex-army in his mid 60's says his horse is just a form of entertainment, he's there purely for his enjoyment and when he retires and cannot afford the livery he'll sell him without a second thought. 3 weeks ago the horse had choak, he asked for my help because had no experience in what to do, I managed to find the blockage and sorted the horse out without the vet being involved. He said thank you and outwardly appeared fine but the look of panic in his eyes said it all.

 

[Kenzo]

I love my 2 to peices but like any horses I've even looked after, I adore them all in their own individual ways even if their characters differ greatly, once you get to know them if you have a passion for horses, you can't not like each one.

They make me very happy, proud, emotional, sad, I worry about them, it's important to me that there happy and healthy ...suppose it's a bit like being a parent, if that's love then yes I love them very much.

 

[MissMincePie&Brandy]

For those who haven't met a horse with emotion, then they haven't met my boy!
Since I retired him, he's turned into the sweetest, most humanised horse I have ever known. I don't over-treat at all. He only gets treats when I turn him out, so no one could say he's only looking for food off me. He enjoy's doing mutual grooming (with me!), and we have a very close bond. He costs me a fortune and I can't ride him - he's a worn out racehorse, but he will live like a king with me for the rest of his days, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Someone at the yard recently described my horse as "a gentleman who lunches" I thought that was quite funny and summed it up rather well. LOL

 

[ISHmad]

Yes I can honestly say I completely love, adore and cherish my horses.

 

[hayinamanger]

Yes I do, more than anything...even more than chips and roasties!

 

[Firewell]

I do, I wouldn't have a horse if I didn't, far to expensive and hard work!

However I know lots of professional riders don't (mostly men), a friend of my OH is a NH Jockey and he says he doesn't love the horses or like them! He doesn't even know the name of the horse he's riding half the time. Another friend of my OH has a polo team and a 100 ponies. He couldn't care less about them! That's not to say he doesn't look after them, he pays his grooms well to look after the horses but all he wants to do is turn up, get on a play polo. He has respect for his best ponies but that's the closest to any emotion he feels and at the end of their polo career he will just pay someone to make the decision about selling them ect and he won't have a passing though about them.

I think dealers are a bit like that about horses they sell, they may make sure they are rugged and fed but they have no emotional attachment at all, they just see ££.

 

[Starzaan]

To put it bluntly, YEP!

My horses are the reason I get up in the morning, they're my best friends, and they never fail to make me smile. I get a lump in my throat when I open my bedroom window and hear them whinnying at me, and still laugh out loud when I gallop my Roy boy.

I love all the horses I look after for other people too. Sure there are those who I'm not as keen on, and there have even been some that I just really didn't like, but I seem to end up loving all of them to pieces. I still hang out of car windows and shriek "HI PONIES!" at horses that I've worked with in the past!

So yes, I love my horses more than anything. To the stars and back. Forever.

 

[spotty_pony]

I love mine and I'm really attached to them. They are part of my family.

 

[Archangel]

After 31 years of me caring for him twice a day and even today he has got a new feed bowl (and the others haven't), the Little Toad sure has some kind of hold over me

 

[Enfys]

No, I'm sorry I don't.
I am fond of them though, If anyone hurt them I'd go after the culprit with an axe, but I still don't love them.

I love my daughter, I love my husband, what I feel for my horses doesn't compare at all.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/love

 

[ihatework]

I'm not a particulary sensitive/touchy-feely type of person!
I have 2 horses. 1 I love very much, I have from day 1 and always will.
The other I care for but don't love

 

[picolenicole]

More than anything!!

He's always there when I need him (as in a hug after a cr*p day), he's never too busy (unlike some of my friends) and he doesn't mind if I've not brushed my hair and turn up looking like death.

 

[rara007]

Pippy, yes

Illogical really, and he def doesn't love me back

The others I like, but not so much

 

[bryngelenponies]

I love both my horses- they're just like part of the family. And for me personally, I'm the kind of person that if I didn't love them I wouldn't have them. I love the way they run up to me whinnying and the way they groom me back when i give them scratches. When I went to uni I could have easily sold them if I'd wanted to go down that route but because I love them so much that just wasn't an option- I would never sell a part of my family. Even though as a result I am a poor student

 

[doris2008]

Yep I do

 

[fburton]

Whatever love there is between us and our horses it is bound to be lopsided, asymmetrical. There's no way that feelings can be truly reciprocated because horses think and feel so differently to us. But that doesn't mean any positive human emotions we feel towards our horses aren't worthwhile. Clearly they are worthwhile - both for us, and - because it ensures a high degree of commitment on our part - for them!

 

[FleabittenT]

I respect my horse, certainly. I enjoy working with her, spending time in her company, and riding. She makes me smile everyday, and owes me nothing.

Do I love her though? Ditto Enfys. I love my partner and my family, but I wouldn't say I love my horse in the same way.

Wouldn't want to part with her though

 

[scatty_mare]

I love my mare. I really do love her. Won't go into details (again!) but she has injuries which mean pts has been an option I am potentially having to consider. Made me realise just how important she is. Never been so emotional about anything! She is a grumpy old hag but she is my grumpy old hag.
I don't love my gelding. I am very, very fond of him, but we bought him ultimately with the intention of selling him on, and I will be able to do this with no regrets (although it will have to be the BEST home because he is a special horse - maybe I love him a bit )

 

[nativetyponies]

No...not in the way that i love my family.

i adore all of my charges, and i make sure all there needs are attended to but love them?..no

 

[Lurky McLurker]

I love my horse, utterly and completely. I know there's a difference between love for a horse and love for a mother, father, child, spouse etc, but that doesn't mean they aren't both just as valid as forms of love.

I challenge anyone who meets my horse NOT to fall in love with him - he's just such a soppy beast!

 

[noblesteed]

It took nearly 2 years of owning him, but I do love my horse now, in the same way as I love my best friend. I didn't realise we even had a bond at all, til my Nan died in the spring. I went and sat in the field on the ground and cried, and my cheeky, rude, bolshy boy came gently up to me and blew in my face and put his head on my shoulder and just stood there. If those aren't the actions of an emotionally conscious being I don't know what are. He is most definitely a very dear friend!

 

[Amy_08]

More than anything. She is my life

 

[maggy-may]

Most deffinanlty they play a big part in my life and i would be soo lost with out them, and i would hope that they would feel them if they didnt have me to tend to their every need twice a day

 

[kirstie]

Yes, I love my horse. She is my horse of a lifetime. I don't love her in the same way I feel for my family or my OH, but I couldn't be without her.

I had a very bad accident in September coming off a young horse and broke my back. I had a lot of pressure to sell her from my family who would be happy if I never rode again. I just couldn't even contemplate it. I'm concentrating on getting better so I can ride her again and look after her like normal. I'm not even allowed to groom her yet.
I feel so guilty that I've got a young talented horse sitting around doing nothing and costing my parents a fortune in livery, but it will be worth it in the end.

 

[riding_high]

i love my horses, they are equal to my kids in so many ways!
my husband says i'm cold hearted in many ways but the only time i show true emotion is when i'm with my kids or horses! lol

 

[Montyforever]

Yes.

I loved my first pony bobby to pieces and he was litterally my everything and i would have done anything for him, lived in a stable and eaten beans for the rest of my life!
When he was taken away from me i swore i would never "love" a horse that much again and kept myself away from loving Hon when i got her (wasn't hard she was a nervous, scatty mare lol) but after a few months and she would choose to come to me in the field and snuggle into me i realized i felt exactly the same about her as i did about Bobby

With Mysti it was from day 1, she appreciates what i took her from and bought her into a nice life where she doesnt want for anything, she would rather hang around with me than her best friend in the world Hon, if thats not love what is!?

Sorry for the long ramble

 

[Happyhuntress]

yes, but it does not compare to my love for my children and family.

I've had him 3 years. He can be rude and bolshy on the ground. He's not soppy -he really just wants his food and for a long time I thought he couldn't give a stuff about me really. It therefore took a long time to really love him, but caring for him everyday means I know him really well and now can see that he loves me in his own way.

Along the way, he has done things and behaved in such a way that have made me very proud - especially when ridden, he has no vices. We've had some great fun times together.

Love was a gradual thing - I guess I'll only know how much I love him when that love is tested.

 

[Elsbells]

It took nearly 2 years of owning him, but I do love my horse now, in the same way as I love my best friend. I didn't realise we even had a bond at all, til my Nan died in the spring. I went and sat in the field on the ground and cried, and my cheeky, rude, bolshy boy came gently up to me and blew in my face and put his head on my shoulder and just stood there. If those aren't the actions of an emotionally conscious being I don't know what are. He is most definitely a very dear friend!

That brought tears to my eyes.

It's when they look into your eyes and into soul and really see you. It is a spiritual and even a physical feeling that's tkes your breath away. It's then that you fall in love and for me, it is undoubtedly love.
I know, I'm soft.........thankfully