Horses - treat them like horses or treat them like kids?!

S

Sarah1

Well-Known Member
Joined
24 February 2006
Messages
2,273
Visit site
Just a query really following on from couple of posts yesterday about rugging.
It seems that lots of people do (or don't do) with their horses what they would (or would not) do with their children.
Personally I think my horse is a horse, I love him to bits but he's not a child and I don't treat him as such, I don't think it means I care for him worse than those that wrap their horses in cotton wool tho! He lives in the life of luxury really just a horsey luxury rather than a human version!
So which catagory do you fall into?
 
Sarah1 said:
Just a query really following on from couple of posts yesterday about rugging.
It seems that lots of people do (or don't do) with their horses what they would (or would not) do with their children.
Personally I think my horse is a horse, I love him to bits but he's not a child and I don't treat him as such, I don't think it means I care for him worse than those that wrap their horses in cotton wool tho! He lives in the life of luxury really just a horsey luxury rather than a human version!
So which catagory do you fall into?
Click to expand...

Yep, I'm with you.

Everyone's different, and I do love my girlie and probably talk to her like she's a human but she's a horse at the end of the day and I like to treat her as one.
 
Treat them like a horse.

He's one of the most important things in my life and I love to pieces - but I have to treat him like a horse, for his own well-being.
 
I think it is interesting to see how people interact with their equines - on the posts yesterday a few people were saying if they wouldn't do something with their child (like leave it a bit cold to lose weight) then they wouldn't do it with their horse & that way of thinking is totally alien to me but it would be great to try to get a better understanding of their thinking behind their actions tho I fear it might be a bit contentious!
I mean you wouldn't saddle a child & ride it round or shave it to stop it sweating or make it sleep on the floor with just shavings or straw would you? Or would you?!?!?!?!!? :D
 
Not sure quite what you mean in terms of treating them like children? I do like my girl to be comfortable, well excersised, appropriate feeding and plenty of turnout. The way I decide to do some of the parts, eg less schooling as it bores her so we school when going nicely forwards on a hack, are tailored towards her personality. Routine and manners I do treat her as if she were a young child. Clear and consistent boundries that I insist she sticks to, a stern no and lots of pats help differenciate good and bad behaviour. In much the same way as I imagine one would instill disapline and politeness in a small child - not that I have one, I am guessing!
So, I guess a bit yes and a bit no in answer to your question!

(P.S. sorry for the awful spelling! No spell check on quick reply and I get c**p white screen when trying for anything more fancy!)
 
Sarah1 said:
I think it is interesting to see how people interact with their equines - on the posts yesterday a few people were saying if they wouldn't do something with their child (like leave it a bit cold to lose weight) then they wouldn't do it with their horse & that way of thinking is totally alien to me but it would be great to try to get a better understanding of their thinking behind their actions tho I fear it might be a bit contentious!
I mean you wouldn't saddle a child & ride it round or shave it to stop it sweating or make it sleep on the floor with just shavings or straw would you? Or would you?!?!?!?!!? :D
Click to expand...


You mean I shouldn't have done that with my kids?:D It amazes me how people were effectively comparing their horses to children, I give my (or to be more precise my daughters) horse and ponies the best care I can, but I hope my children had rather more, and different, care and attention, although they may consider the dogs came before them.:p
 
Just having a little more of a think about this, and it is interesting that I am a lot less pink and fluffy with this horse, than my previous one.

Emotional attachement may have a lot to do with how much we mollicodle - or not.:cool:
 
glosgirl said:
Not sure quite what you mean in terms of treating them like children? I do like my girl to be comfortable, well excersised, appropriate feeding and plenty of turnout. The way I decide to do some of the parts, eg less schooling as it bores her so we school when going nicely forwards on a hack, are tailored towards her personality. Routine and manners I do treat her as if she were a young child. Clear and consistent boundries that I insist she sticks to, a stern no and lots of pats help differenciate good and bad behaviour. In much the same way as I imagine one would instill disapline and politeness in a small child - not that I have one, I am guessing!
So, I guess a bit yes and a bit no in answer to your question!

(P.S. sorry for the awful spelling! No spell check on quick reply and I get c**p white screen when trying for anything more fancy!)
Click to expand...

I think she was reffering to some repeating comments on the 'leaving rugs off to strip weight' thread.

One comment was made that was along the lines of it irritated her to see people doing this as she would never take her childrens duvet away if they were overweight to get the weight off them so why do it to her horses?

:)
 
amymay said:
Just having a little more of a think about this, and it is interesting that I am a lot less pink and fluffy with this horse, than my previous one.

Emotional attachement may have a lot to do with how much we mollicodle - or not.:cool:
Click to expand...

I agree to an extent. I was always more emotionally attached to Monty boy since he has a serious sob-story behind him. He therefore always had nicer things than Zoom (poor Zoomy :(). I couldn't go to a horsey event without getting Monty a nice pink, diamante accessory but would only get functional things for Zoom (lucky Zoomy :D).

Then again, Monty was an arse and was 17hh so I was much stricter on discipline than I am with Zoomy. She never gets told off whereas poor Mon was always being scolded.
 
amymay said:
Just having a little more of a think about this, and it is interesting that I am a lot less pink and fluffy with this horse, than my previous one.

Emotional attachement may have a lot to do with how much we mollicodle - or not.:cool:
Click to expand...

Ditto this thinking about it!

Though I do adore my horse...I think it's just learning when things are serious and need attention and when smaller incidents that happen, aren't as serious.
Or experiencing enough serious things happen that you get used it and not panic as much as previous?
 
I don't have children yet but I wouldn't say I treat the horse like a child. I do chat away to him constantly and I wouldn't let him be uncomfortable so he has a rug if its cold have clean bed ect but I don't wrap him in cotton wall at all. He does rough it like a horse and seems to prefer it that way.
 
Yeah the emotional attachment thing is a good point as I think is the age of the horse?
My big boy is 8 & I often think 'he'll be fine, he's a horse' however with our little old lady (30 yrs ish shetland) who we've had for many, many years I do fuss more...I worry more about her, that she'll be colder etc & a few months back when she was off her food I tried every feed on the market to find something she'd eat! Bailey wouldn't get that I'm afraid! Poor boy!
Even with M'Lady tho I'm not sure I'd get to the point where I was treating her as anything but a horse albeit an tiny, old, fragile one!!!!!! She's happy to rough it a bit it's just my conscience that makes me worry I think! :D
I think my hubby would hope that I'd be a bit softer with our future children than I am with Bailey!!!!!!
Now my choccie lab on the other hand is another matter...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
well i def mollycoddle my horses in terms of not letting them get cold and wet, not expecting them to *rough it* in anyway etc but dont for one moment imagine i talk to them in fluffy wuffy baby voice whilst they walk all over me.....im very hot on manners and they are all ultra polite!
 
Binky01 said:
I think she was reffering to some repeating comments on the 'leaving rugs off to strip weight' thread.

One comment was made that was along the lines of it irritated her to see people doing this as she would never take her childrens duvet away if they were overweight to get the weight off them so why do it to her horses?

:)
Click to expand...

lol, that's quite funny! Must read the thread! Imagine all the chubby kids at school being sent in with no coat to make them loose weight!! Think kids and horses are def different!!!
 
I was really thinking more of the people who said 'I wouldn't do that to my child so why do it to my horse' which implies that they think of them & treat them as children.
I'm with you on the manners thing 100% but I've known people who treat their horses as their babies and fuss & faff around them & in the end the horses have no manners at all! I hope that's not how they treat their kids!!!!!!
 
My daughter totally dotes on our horse and pony, but in a way that acknowledges they are equines if that makes sense.

She's away with the Student Union this week and our horse got a foot problem just before she left. She was distraught, and I mean distraught, about the whole thing. I'm doing the mucking out type stuff and the YO is doing the poulticing/handling type stuff, and I know she completely appreciates it, but I am also nervous of her return (tomorrow thank God) because I know as much as she does appreciate it and would never be rude about it, neither of us will have done it like she would have!

When she does have kids, if they get treated as well as her horse (but in the manner of children) they will be very lucky.
 
I'm with you on the manners thing 100% but I've known people who treat their horses as their babies and fuss & faff around them & in the end the horses have no manners at all! I hope that's not how they treat their kids!!!!!![/QUOTE]

Sadly I have seen several children spoilt by exactly that behaviour! I have also seen one child turn around and refuse to live with her mother because the mother tried to treat both her and the horse like that. The child knew she deserved better and left. The horse has no manners, kicks and bites, maybe trying to tell the owner something?
 
i think its funny how people wont do something to their horse because they wont do it to their children horses have a massive fur coat alot more blubber than children, and they are a completely different species so i dont see how you could treat them the same, most people wouldnt starve a child if it was fat as it cant necessarily cause them alot of pain and making it hurt to move in not so bad cases but a severly over weight horse will cause a massive amount of pain so you have to do what you have to do in the situations
 
glosgirl said:
(P.S. sorry for the awful spelling! No spell check on quick reply and I get c**p white screen when trying for anything more fancy!)
Click to expand...

Off topic but I think that you're having a similar problem, as I've had since the upgrade (you have my sympathy, I felt for doing something like this
Computer_by_Mike_Bartoldus.gif
more than once). But after I followed the instructions on how to remove, not only my HHO session cookies, without also my HHO browser cookies, that I got from TheFatController, my problems seems to have disappeared. *touches wood*

Note, that TheFatController's instructions are for removing browser cookies when using Mozilla Firefox.

In Firefox;

* Close all sites/tabs (or at least do not have HHO open in any tab or window)
* Go to the 'Tools' menu
* Click on 'Options'
* Under the 'Privacy' tab you should see a link 'remove individual cookies' (I think it is available in pre 3.6 FF), click on it
* Scroll down to 'horseandhound.co.uk' folder
* Highlight the folder
* At the bottom of the 'cookies' window, click 'Remove Cookies'
* Close cookies window
* Close options window
* Close browser


This should now have removed 'ALL' the HHO cookies. Restarting your browser and logging into the HHO forum will, of course, reinstall the necessary cookies - you should also find that your password is still 'remembered' as that is a separate function in Firefox (assuming you allow Firefox to remember your passwords).
Click to expand...


Since it seemed to do the trick and solve my problems, I later thought that I should try cleaning my Internet Explorer cookies too, before I lost my courage. I know that TFC said that it is done differently on different browsers, but I decided to have a try,
I opened an Internet Explorer window, clicked on Tools and then Internet options and then it was not like it is on Firefox, as far as I can understand, I cannot remove specific web cookies on my Internet Explorer browser, without it is either all cookies gone or all cookies stays.
a050.gif
But I'm a numpty with computers, so I might be wrong.


Anyhow, after that I removed the old cookies, I have not seen any of those white screens again.

;) This far.

:)
 
Sorry, but I forgot to mention that you need to remember to click the little Remember me box, next to the two boxes where you write your user name and password, before you log in again.
Otherwise you might get a new problem with that HHO begins to log you out, after 10 minutes or something.

s040.gif
 
I have to say I see (and get annoyed by) more people who treat horses like dogs - e.g. expect them to walk to the correct place without actually holding the leadrope/reins or expecting them to stay stood in the stable with the door wide open whilst they go get the hosepipe/put a rug on etc. (yes, I know some people will argue they do this and it is fine but at the end of the day a horse is a flight animal and any horse can get spooked and behave unexpectedly!).

I also agree that a lot of people anthropomorphise (is that even a word!?) their horses, e.g. making sure there is not even a tiny bit of dropping left in the stable and that the bed is level and the banks all square etc etc. I think that is fine as long as the people realise they are doing for their own benefit not that of the horse! As long as the horse is healthy, has it's basic needs fulfilled and isn't being ruined by letting it get away with too much I don't really mind how people treat their own horses!
 
daydreamer said:
I have to say I see (and get annoyed by) more people who treat horses like dogs - e.g. expect them to walk to the correct place without actually holding the leadrope/reins or expecting them to stay stood in the stable with the door wide open whilst they go get the hosepipe/put a rug on etc. (yes, I know some people will argue they do this and it is fine but at the end of the day a horse is a flight animal and any horse can get spooked and behave unexpectedly!).

I also agree that a lot of people anthropomorphise (is that even a word!?) their horses, e.g. making sure there is not even a tiny bit of dropping left in the stable and that the bed is level and the banks all square etc etc. I think that is fine as long as the people realise they are doing for their own benefit not that of the horse! As long as the horse is healthy, has it's basic needs fulfilled and isn't being ruined by letting it get away with too much I don't really mind how people treat their own horses!
Click to expand...

Thats me! I do all that!
My bed has to be perfect and so do my banking's!
I treat my pony like a child but that's because she's my baby!:o
She is the most spoiled pony on the yard and gets whatever she wants(or whatever i want!) But i don't unnecessarily rug her, i hate people who do that! xxx
 
In some ways I DO treat horses as I treat my children:

1) I expect things to be done when asked the first time, if I am 100% I asked correctly then they get a sharp reprimand and are expected to do it immediately when asked for a second time. If we get to a third time then they know about it ;)

2) I insist on good manners from both - move aside, come when asked, be polite, respect people's personal space.

3) I appreciate happy faces from both - I don't ask too much of them, hell they have most of the day to do as they please, but if I ask for something to be carried out I prefer for it to be done without a grumpy look on their face LOL

However, sadly I have failed completely in getting through to my horse that a tidy bedroom is a happy and peaceful bedroom, that one should not **** on the floor and spreading one's food around the place is simply unacceptable...it is a work in progress :D
 
Horses should be treated as horses, none of this silly 'she has to be in her stable all the time because I don't want her to hurt herself in the field' buisness! :P However having said that, we're all bound to worry but it's best to keep a perspective on things :D xxx
 
Lucy is my baby and i love her more than anything in the world (much to the OHs annoyance :p) But i treat her like a pony. Yes if she needs something she gets it no matter what. She is still rugged at the mo as she is ill. But last winter i could not ride due to a broken hip and wrist so she spent the whole winter un rugged living out!!! I hobbled across the field on my crutches everyday to see her and give her a treat but apart from that she had to go native. ;) :D
 
I love my horse to absolute bits but she gets treated like a horse (a horse who isn't naturally managed though!). I do rug her - I spend an inordinate amount of time pondering which weight rug to put her in - but then again I have clipped her, so can't expect her to rough it, she gets ribby if she gets cold. In fact my child has one coat - my mare has around 9 :). I tell her off when it's appropriate, and I will (shock) reprimand her severely if she barges or invades my space. I do stable her for part of the time, because I like to. She comes in at night in winter and is conditioned to do so, she stays in for a few hours during the day in summer and again, is conditioned to do so. Routine keeps her happy (albeit admittedly she is a little over obsessed by routine) and routine keeps my child happy, so in that sense maybe they are the same. She is happy and healthy, and even though I say so myself I am proud of how she looks and how she seems in herself. She is allowed to be a horse to a point; if I wanted a pure pet to mollycoddle Id have another cat, and if I wanted a horse in as natural way of management as possible Id adopt a wild pony and pay £2 a month or whatever.

I think my horse and my child both get treated as their own kind and both seem quite well rounded normal individuals! :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top