Don't understand people who don't spend time with their horses?!

galaxy

galaxy

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Is it just me?

I know people who literally come up feed their horse and go.... Or even just stop to see if their alive! I don't get it? Why spend all that time and money to do nothing than the bare essentials? I kinda get in the winter it can get tiring, but day after day of mucking out, bringing your horse and leaving? Hardly riding? Never grooming? What's the point of having a horse?

Then the weather is fantastic like today, yet people still still not there?

Please someone enlighten me!
 
Maybe they come at times you arent there
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Unless you are an on site YO
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in which case....dunno
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I'm there.... alot!
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(in my defence I have 2 horses to do, and teach people/ school horses on site)

The YM is a very good friend of mine and is mystifies her too!
 
I think we all go through phases where you could cheerfully see the back of them - especially at the end of winter - but so long as they're looked after there's not much you can say. I don't see the point either mind you - it's not like they're cheap to keep!
 
I just don't see what pleasure they're getting out of it? Do you know what I mean? I don't find the mucking out etc bit the fun bit. It's the spending time faffing with my horse.... grooming, riding, just messing.
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But they must get something I'm sure....
 
I love being at the yard with my pony. It is my time to relax and enjoy myself. I have been up there for several hours today - went out hacking and then gave pony a bath ready for show tomorrow. I know a lady who (honestly) comes to see her pony once a year - unbelievable eh? I feel so sorry for the poor thing. I am on a different yard now so I can't even spend time with him like I used to. He would be much happier being someone else's pride and joy in my opinion rather than being left to rot.............
 
I was like this - quite frankly I don't think its any of anyone elses business.
I have enough money to have a horse AND not ride it.
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I don't know why (other than jealousy) people would find the time to speculate about why I was there or not - but then thats why the horse world is known as being so bitchy!!
 
yes but ...why?... its not just riding , i agree.... i,ve got a mare we keep but don,t ride , but i love just being with her , i poo pick and she follows me around so i end up standing there scratching her neck , hubby calls it poppy time , its the owners who literally turn up , lean out of thier car, see neddy is standing and then are gone again , i cant see the point in that
 
But why is that any business of yours?

For some people maybe the point is just having a horse.

I have a garage - perhaps I don't put my car in it but what has that got to do with anyone but me?
 
its not my business ff but i love horses love the time i,m spending with them , the original poster was generalising about having horses but spending no more than 5 mins a day with them , i cant see any pleasure in that and was hoping someone would explain it thats all
 
MH, that was exactly the point of my post. It wasn't to be bitchy or judgemental or anything of the sort. Just tring to understand where people are coming from....
 
Well I'll explain it.
I have a horse. Horses do not desire to be ridden or played with. Horses desire green grass, the company of other horses, food, water and shelter.

All these I provide for my horse. I love knowing he is happy and safe. I don't feel the need to ride him, or fuss around with him. Just the fact that i have him is enough.

So I drive past a few times a week, I check he is alive and well and nothing is amiss with him and then I go home.
 
sometimes I am too bloody busy to do more than that! full time job, plus run my own business, a family and a house to run. I spend as much time as I can-sometimes that means 10 mins, sometimes I only ride and very occasionally I might spend 1/2 day up at the yard.
 
I used to go through phases just like the OP described. Where I just wanted to know he was ok- he didnt need grooming as he wasnt being ridden. Then a month or so later I was more keen again- at the moment I would love to ride but cant- although am doing exactly as descibed because I can barely walk so do the minimum with the horses...
 
oh, and last year there was a rumour that I hadnt ridden my horse in a month-what the evening livery owners didnt realise was that I was up riding at 6.30am nearly every day....
 
well I'm normllly there alot (every night during term and from about 8 - 4 every day during the holidays (working and riding other peoples horses, as well as doing mine)) but the past week I've hardly seen him (having some serious withdrawl symptoms) because I have exams at uni, I figure that when I finish next thursday though I can be there all the time. So its possiable that people have reasons for not being there that much sometimes.
 
I also am guilty?? of not spending every waking hour with my horse..... he lives out so when its cold and miserable (and so am I) all I need to do is to check he is ok and go home to the warm, or go to work to earn money to keep him!!

As someone else has said, he does not want me to take him away from his friends and food, to take off his rug and make him cold while I groom him, for MY pleasure, and then put him back again.

Come the summer and its a different story.... I will gladly spend hours at the yard as there is actually something to do.

I do however not see the point personally, in having a horse if you NEVER spend any time with it at all, or ride etc. But can understand people who have older horses who cant be ridden etc, but they dont want to part with them.

I would not get a horse just for the sake of it though..... it needs to do its job when I want it too
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Ok so you drive past ans check he is ok a couple of times a week, 2hrs after you have driven by he does something (horses are silly) them maybe he is left there to suffer for several days, I check my horse twice a day whatever even if once (just now) I walked up to him gave him a lovely apple, checked he had four legs and was not lame, gave him a scratch and left thin to enjoy the grass!!! I rode him this morning though and gave him a nice bath to wash the sweat off!!! I love having the bond, he knows Im his mum and the one who will feed him!!!! I cant understand not having this sorry, you may as well just sponsor a horse from a resue centre!!!!!
 
I don't spend as much time with Bob as I should but I have a 9 year old and a 3 month old to take care of. Some days it is literally put Bob out, muck out go home, back in the evening, bring him, quick groom & check over and home again. It's just how things are at the moment. I don't want to sell him & I've offered him for part loan but no-one wants part loan.

So I guess that makes me guilty as well????!!!!
 
I have a horse that I don't ride, and I see him only at weekends over the winter, and will see him maybe 2-3 times mid-week in the summer. So shoot me!

He was bought to do a job, and was progressing wonderfully in it, then he picked he an injury - brought back into work and then I had a big change in my life, moved to the other side of the country and started a new very busy job involving 5 years of training and exams, so I just don't have the time to do anything with him. He loves it! He gets to eat and play all day long and is one very content and happy boy
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He is on full livery and looked after by people I trust and it suits both of us fine; he eats and avoids doing any work and I can still keep my lovely boy, who I see when I can and is the most wonderful relaxer/calmer in the world
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I am working my backside off in my job and with my studies to ensure that I earn enough to keep him for the rest of his days, and when I'm qualified I should also be earning enough to buy another and move them both to DIY or assisted livery... and the other one will be ridden
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So no, I don't see my horse all that much, but the arrangement works for both of us and I have a very happy pony
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Maybe the person the OP is talking about has other comittments at the moment that just does not allow her more time with her horse. Maybe a sick family member or a job that is very demanding right now.
 
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Maybe the person the OP is talking about has other comittments at the moment that just does not allow her more time with her horse. Maybe a sick family member or a job that is very demanding right now.

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Indeed; generally, people who don't spend much time with their horse don't do so because they dont *want* to spend time with them, they do it because can't.
 
I'm probably that kind of person. Most days I nip up and change his rug in the morning so see him for about 2 minutes, then in the evening I feed him and change his rug - taking about 10 minutes. I just don't see what else there is to do! If I'm riding then obviously I'm up for longer to tack up and actually ride. He doesn't need groomed or fussed over. I still enjoy owning him and would never be without him, so there's no harm in my spending very little time with him
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Horses do not desire to be ridden or played with. Horses desire green grass, the company of other horses, food, water and shelter.
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If that is the case why then does my horse come trotting or even cantering down to meet me when I turn up at the field?(and I am not laden with food either).

Horses have been domesticated for many centuries, many prefer to do a job. We have all heard this and most horsey people know of cases where horses become depressed (lose condition, become listless) when they are retired out to pasture?
Some even have to be PTS.

I think you have a rather shallow perspective, of what a horse requires to be healthy,(mind as well as body). One thing in particular being the need to travel great distances foraging for food and being part of a herd. That is what horses do in the wild amongst other things we have taken away from them by domestication. Being ridden out on hacks with their herd leader (the rider) fulfils one of those needs.
My horse truly enjoys his long hacks, surveying the countryside and find new grasslands to savour. He stops and looks interestedly across the Firth when we get up high in the hills, for some quite long moments, and I can't but feel that he derives some pleasure from the view. I am firmly of the opinion that all the higher orders of intelligence need a purpose in life. If you take away their freedom, (by domestication) you need to give them a different meaning. (Apparently circus animals are happier learning tricks than just sitting in their cages waiting for the next meal and to die).
I have never been able to fathom out people who own horses but spend no time to cultivate interactions with them. I think they just must just like to have them so as to tell people they have a horse, primarily for status reasons.
They miss so much of the amazing bond that can exist between two totally different species, that grow to have a mutual dependency on each other, a bond that can be life changing for a human being.
Why do you think people grieve so much when they lose their beloved horse? - it is because of just that.
FathingwoodFox you have soooo lost the plot!!!
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