Has a horse ever helped you..

Pippity

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On one occasion, I was bringing in a friend's cob mare when a yearling who was in the same field started getting a bit excited with her hooning around and was about to barrel into me. The cob mare barged the yearling out of the way, then stood there looking very proud of herself.

On another occasion, my share horse and I were nannying a youngster on a hack when some bratty kids thought it would be entertaining to throw lumps of dirt at the youngster. My mare promptly charged them and chased them through the hedge! She was a big girl - 17.2hh and half-Shire - so I suspect it was a very intimidating sight for the kids!
 

HaffiesRock

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Reading these has reminded me of another.

Out hacking a very large, growling, barking dog came barreling up to us in the woods. It was being chased by its owner who was screaming she was so sorry but the dog got away from her and doesn't like horses. Benji just stood stock still and lifted his head up out of the way of the snapping dog. I was so proud of him. I had my young mare behind me with my friends daughter on so if she had of been in front, it would have been a completely different story.
 

Aoibhinn

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My story isn't too dramatic or amazing like some of the ones I've been reading but I think that it is worth mentioning.

Myself and my sister have two ponies, a 13.1h bay gelding who is very pushy and basically a brat, and a 14.1h grey mare who is my baby. Myself and the gelding don't get on too well, he bites me I slap him etc.

I was trying to get them both fit a few weeks ago and instead of riding both of them I said that I would ride the mare and lead the gelding alongside me, which to be fair to him he is very good at doing. I usually ride them on the roads by my house, which is quiet and goes in a ring of about 5 miles.

One day I was trotting the two of them on the road and had only gone about a mile when I heard neighing from a field next to me. These two cob ponies, about 14.2h, came galloping over to the ditch and started following us along it. One of them was a stallion, and very vocal about it. My gelding is very protective of the mare so started getting worried, told him to cop on and we kept going.

We passed the end of the field anyway and continued up the road. Next thing I looked behind me and saw these two ponies coming out of the field onto the road after us. I nearly had a heart attack! I had my hands full with my own two and had nothing to keep the others back with. I figired that it was too dangerous to stop and get off because I wouldn't be able to do anything anyway. There was nobody at the yard because Dad had gone away earlier to a meeting so I couldn't ring anyone.

The next farmers yard was about a mile away so I decided to keep going and get help there. Meanwhile, the two ponies were right behind us. My mare was very good and kept trotting, even though the stallion was chasing her. My gelding was scared to death but he kept up with me. Then the stallion got very close to us and started baring his teeth and lacing his ears back. The gelding lashed out at him and kept him back. He continued to do this for the full mile, keeping the stallion back from both myself and the mare.

He was a little star, instead of turning and trying to face him, disrupting everything, he kept going and kept him back from us. We still don't get on quite so well but definitely like him more :)
 

Shantara

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Some of these are truly amazing!!

Ned was in a pen with another horse, T, who was very dangerous and hateful. He liked to charge, bite and kick, so mucking out was always interesting, as I'd have to constantly watch my back. However, as Ned and I started to form a bond, he began to stand with me, not letting T anywhere near me, despite the fact T was a good 2 hands bigger! If I walked away from the wheelbarrow to get a dropping, Ned would come to :) It really made me love him even more!
 

swilliam

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My daughter was hacking out on her 18h shire x TB. They were on a stretch of road with no pavement or verge of any sort, just a hedge. Some young idiot in a car with his mates was coming towards them, and actually came onto their side of the road, heading straight for them, whilst yelling and waving their arms out of the windows. Mav stood absolutely still - all 800kg of him. They presumably realised how much damage hitting him would do to them and swerved away at the last minute. He continued his walk home, bringing my somewhat shaken daughter back safely.
 

flurryjuno

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Just read through everyones replies and wow, the floodgates are open!!! Its amazing and heartwarming to think that these animals with minds of their own know when and choose to look after us this way, loved hearing everyones stories :)
 

forelegs

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When I was younger I was having a jumping lesson on my little cob by pony - we completely missed to a fence and went crashing over it, him doing a full somersault in the air. I couldn't believe it when he didn't land on me - and neither could my instructor, who swears he threw his body weight in the opposite direction so he wouldn't land on me!
He was an amazing pony, used to follow me round like a dog, a complete character.
 

Mike007

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Since I had a fall that has left me with a paralysed right diaphragm (and hence ,right lung) Bob the nota cob has been very protective. He will bounce and pull all the time he feels I am ok but as soon as I start to get out of breath its like one of those films where the train slams on the brakes and the wheels lock and there are showers of sparks. He even got hs one and only ever 8 in a dressage test because I got out of breath coming down the center line , His halt at "x" was in fact an emergency stop bless him.
 

ArabianGem78

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I rode to a pub to meet some friends for lunch. I developed a full-on, proper migraine. And had to give my mare her head and take us the 2 1/2 hour ride home whilst I concentrated on not vomiting or falling off. She didn't put a hoof wrong!
 

Chavhorse

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When I lived in Cyprus I owned a very spooky ex racer, one day I had hacked out with another friend from the yard and a couple of the youngsters who wanted to come along.....We had had a super ride and were heading back via the quarry which gave us a nice long uphill canter.

I was in the lead and as we rounded a corner at a good fast canter I suddenly found we were in a liquid mud so deep my feed were sitting in it (and this was on a 16 hand horse) and we were starting to slip backwards.

The two youngsters were screaming in panic and my friend's mare was having a complete panic and threatening to lay down in it.

My spooky boy swam forwards into it turned him self round, swam out and as soon as his feet touched dry earth again shook himself off, all the other horses took his cue and calmly did the same.

I was so proud of him, as for some reason he decided that keeping his head and being the leader was the best way to get out of the problem.....even if he did decide on the way back to the yard (all of us covered in thick mud by the way!) he saw an abandoned sofa in a hedge and had a complete break down !
 

Kikke

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in a situation where you genuinely physically needed it? Yesterday I was struck down with something that ended with me thinking 'hmm should maybe bring horses in early then go to bed..' which, for everyone who doesn't know me, is nothing like me at all. I'd just brought Juno in and went to get her field mate in when my dizziness turned into full on jelly legs. I had just clipped the lead rope on when I temporarily lost vision and feeling in my legs, and bless his soul he let me cling on to him and very carefully tiptoed in with me hanging off his neck where I then collapsed in a heap at his feet, cue dad ambulance call etc. Home last night and I'm okay but honestly keep wanting to cry because of what a saint he was! This horse is usually spooky, nervous and generally all round sensitive soul yet he stepped up and got me carefully in to a safe area when he easily could have ditched me and went for his dinner :)

Anyone had similar stories?

Bless him, as you said a sensitive soul, and he just felt you needed to be looked after! What a lovely horse he is!
Never had anything like that happen to me but sounds like you have a keepr there!
 

flurryjuno

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Bless him, as you said a sensitive soul, and he just felt you needed to be looked after! What a lovely horse he is!
Never had anything like that happen to me but sounds like you have a keepr there!

He's not even mine, and hes only here to be broken/produced. What I'd give for him, only been looking after him for a few weeks but hes the softest dopiest boy even if he does have minor breakdowns a couple of times a day!! Gave him an apple this morning as a christmas treat, but he insisted on a cuddle and a scratch before eating it which made me want to cry!! Still going on about it to everyone :)
 

kez81

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He's not even mine, and hes only here to be broken/produced. What I'd give for him, only been looking after him for a few weeks but hes the softest dopiest boy even if he does have minor breakdowns a couple of times a day!! Gave him an apple this morning as a christmas treat, but he insisted on a cuddle and a scratch before eating it which made me want to cry!! Still going on about it to everyone :)
Oh I do wish you could keep him, he is obviously very special and its clear you are developing a lovely bond.
 

russianhorse

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My gorgeous old boy has always watched my back

The firsr was when He charged some guy that flashed at me when we were out hacking when I was 15 - I'd only had him a matter of weeks.

He's continued to watch my back for the 21 years he's been with me and will charge Anyone he feels I'd be threatened by :) I love that boy :D
 

Flicker

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My last horse nuzzled my back while I was throwing up with the noro virus behind the barn. Horse equivalent of holding my hair back, I think.
 

TheoryX1

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Nothing so dramatic for me, for my daughters eventer saved her life. She was competing at a ONu18 at Portman about 3 years ago and had done a great dressage test, had a pole and was on the xc course. Her mare is an excellent xc horse and very reliable, and in the 3 years previously she had owned her had a clear xc record. At the third from last something happened at a very ordinary looking table jump and she fell. My daughter said she felt herself being thrown to the left by the mare very deliberately while still in the air, and the mare went to the right. The mare landed very heavily on the other side of the jump, with my daughter a few feet away. Even the fence judge had seen her shift herself and fling my daughter away, as she could have landed on top of her. My daughter only sustained some bruising and concussion and necessitated a new HS1 as hers had cracked and a new gas cannister for her P2. Her mare was bruised and cut and lame for a few days, but that was all.

Apparently the witnesses there said that had the horse fell on her, she might have been killed, and that the mare had very deliberately made sure she did not land on my daughter. Still brings a bit of a tear to my eye, as its obvious to everyone how much that mare loves my daughter.
 
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