How attached are you to your horses?

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Rachel_M

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As per title.


Do you class your horse as family, pet or a working animal, etc?


Do you find it hard to sell your horses? Do you hold your horse in higher esteem then members of your family?
 
I love my horses and my hubby knows they come first.I will not sell the two i have now.Yes i'm a sad twat.
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I could never put my mare over my OH but she is very very precious to me, even now she out on loan there isnt a day that goes by that i dont think about her in some context and i still have days where i worry that shes happy/ok etc

totally silly i know but heyho, shes my baby
 
Very attached. Have two little shelties that I wouldnt sell for love nor money. Big horsey suggested selling her when we were having a bad day (well it was more buyer collect when she wouldnt go in the box) so oh now has her.
 
Very attached, he is my first horse . I love him to bits and also because he is mine and my dads, he is definetly thought of as part of the family. Am still attached to my old loan horse, who I am lucky to be able to see whenever as at same yard and semi retired
 
I like my horses; occasionally I find one I love, but there is absolutely no way I would EVER put a horse over my husband or family LOL!!

I find it easy to sell my horses that I like - I find it difficult to sell horses that I love and that would probably be the reason I have never sold any of the horses that I have truly loved; I keep them.
 
I love both of mine a lot, I would find it extremely hard to sell them as they are both glorified pets. In fact the only horses I have ever sold have been those I've not owned on my own.
 
Well, as RS owner, I went through a few horses, wasn't that attached although it was upsetting to let them go.

However, now I am not a RS owner (woohoo!) the three I have are very special and will not leave me. But they do not comapre to family. They are pets and animals not people, so they are thought of differently than people!
If that makes sense...
 
Could never sell my horsey, he has a home for life and is part of the family for me and my OH. That said, my family do come first of course.
 
I love my neddies very much so!! We've had them all a while, charlie for about 12 years, millie for about 4 1/2 and willow combined time of about 9 or 10 years. I could never sell any of them, far too attached. We only sold willow because we 'had' to, i was far to big and he was still young enough to go out and compete, not hving our own land then we had to sell him. Now a little girl is riding him and may loan him but as we have our own land, it's all good!
 
I never thought Id be able to sell any of my horses, but I did in the end. I only sell if I firmly believe that the horse isnt suited to me or has reached its potential with me etc. so it was for their best interests.

I do love my horses to pieces though and do find it very difficult to sell any of them! I always keep in touch with ALL my sold horses though and often go and visit them
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This is something I'm trying to work out at the moment. My horse has been lame on and off for a year and I don't know what I do if we doesn't come right as I can only afford 1 horse and the reason I have him is to ride. Also I've been riding a friends horse and he's so much more straightforward than mine I've found hacking more relaxing and fun.
I used to think my horse would be with me for life but I'm now finding myself questioning that.
No way is he more important to me than my OH though - although my OH probably doesn't think so.
 
Absolutely adore my boy
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He has a home for life with me and he will always be mine. If he outgrows me in skill then I will find someone else to ride him to take him forward but I dont think he would care either if he just stayed with me for ever and I didnt push him
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So in answer to your question, I am totally 110% attached to my horse and would do everything in my power to keep him
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Most of the Ponies i have had I have had like a working animal TBH, i had no problem selling them, probably because i knew I would only have them a season or so.
Ginga is abit like that, I like him very much but he is here for a purpose and once he can no longer do it he will move to a quieter life, but i would obviously not PTS unless he needed to be. Pip on the other had is my best mate! I put him above everything. There is no reaon for it, I just like his character and he is a laugh. I'm not sure he will ever be sold. The two little ones who we have had for decades are like family. We would never sell them, we have had them too long but I dont have the same attachment as I do to Pip strangely. I just feel they are here for the duration!

All the ones we have had a sellers, because i knew that i did not mind letting them go.
 
i have sold quite a few horses( to good homes of course), but no amount of money would make me sell my boy. i have had him 7 yrs and will have him for the rest of his life? thankfully OH loves him too?
 
I'm going to sound terrible now, but as long as I still enjoy them they can stay, once I stop enjoying them they go. Lifes too short to waste on a horse which doesn't do what you want. It's not that the horse does anything wrong it is just that the 2 of you together aren't right.
 
Doesn't sound terrible at all - it sounds perfectly sensible. I never do understand why people keep horses that they are unhappy with.
 
I consider mine to be working animals. I am quite attached to them, and totally dedicated to their welfare and well being, I am not sentimental however I do appreciate that in living with me the horses have no choice, and therefore I owe it to them to do the best I can for them now and in the future
 
Our horses are part of our family - hubby loves them just as much as me luckily! We have never sold a horse, and I couldn't ever envisage a situation where we would. And they are all provided for in our wills, we know where they will go, who is second on the list if the first person has also passed away etc.

Might sound sad and morbid, but we felt it was very important to us to know that they would be loved and cared for nearly as much as they are with us!
 
I love Shadow, she's definitely part of the family, we've had her from a foal and we'll never sell her. I like Destiny but I know we'll sell her eventually, having sold my outgrown ponies and been through the heartache I've learnt not too get too attached. I don't think I'll ever have the same bond with another horse that I do with Shad.
 
So attached we now have five.
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I can't part with daughter's pony even though she has moved across to son's pony and he has found another 'love' - a 14.2! Still have their first pony (same story) and mine. No, they are family. There are enough of us to ride them all and enough room and resources to keep them.
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OH has just bought himself a Morris Traveller for consolation.
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I love ben he is very much part of the family, My mum loves him to bits and she scared of horses, all family think hes gorgeous, but I wouldnt sell him for nothing hes my one in a million star.
 
I do love my horse to bits but I don't feel he is 'the one' I have felt more attatched to three other horses, I would hate to give him up but if a more suitable one came acorss then I would let him go.
I would probably class him as a pet.
 
I loved my first pony and first horse, they ended their days with me. My present mare is also loved by me and my husband, we can not imagine our life without her TBH

I've had 2 other horses which I was fond of but I didn't feel the same about them as I did the others. I don't know why, they were both nice characters, maybe I just prefer a challenge
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i class my horses as pets, i guess... working pets. i absolutely adore them, and look after them to the very best of my resources and ability. i find it very very hard to sell them and only do so if i'm sure i have found an absolutely perfect home for them. i give a permanent no-question buy-back guarantee - in essence, a permanent trial. if their new owner isn't ecstatically happy with them, on an ongoing basis, then i want them back, because they won't be treated well enough.
as far as holding them in higher esteem than members of my family (LOL), definitely higher than some of my family!
 
Dolly was my first horse and I love her to bits. Don't think i could ever sell her. I was sharing her and OH bought her for me not long after we got together so she means a lot to him too. When we bought Mac, we weren't looking for another horse, but his owners at the time were very scared of him and I had spent a fair bit of time riding and looking after him, and had quite a soft spot for him. He has since developed various joint problems and there is no way I could sell him even if I wanted to. Love him to bits though and am resigned to the fact I have a big ginger pet for life.
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I had to have my horse PTS very recently, although I loved him I didn't realise just how much until we had to nurse him for a month before he died. Like the saying goes - you don't realise what you've got until its gone
 
I have always got very attached to my horses - but I've also sold several to good homes once it's transpired that we wanted different things out of life.

I honestly couldn't say how I feel about my current horse. I definitely like him. I'm not totally sure that I love him yet because I was so completely devastated when I lost my last horse. We shall see.
 
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