How attached is your horse to you?

Enfys

Enfys

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Follow on from Miss Huggy Bears post.

Sadly, I have to say that although my horses appear to like me, I am, in reality, merely the provider of food and scratches. They would do just as well without me (as an owner) as with me.
 
Not at all as far as I can tell! Which suits me fine as I feel no guilt about holidays, or working late etc etc.

Mind you, he's not really attached to anyone, and never has been, he's just not that sort of horse.
 
Rocks is far too attached to me. Of course i simply adore the bond we have, but it proves VERY difficult to deal with when I go on holiday. I went on holiday for 5days in february - rocks was apparently according to YM extremely depressed, went everywhere with his head hung low, didn't eat his feed, box walked at night...and i came home and he went manic he was so excited to see me.. and thats after 5days...im going on holiday for 10days next week i have no idea how he's gonna cope.
 
My mare is very attached to me but copes OK when I go away. My sisters horse is very attached to her but when she goes away he transfers that attachment to me which show's how fickle he is! He'll just take attention off anyone who's offering it.
 
I dont know if a horse can ever be truely attached to a person
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I'm sure if a complete stranger walked up to P with a giant bucket of carrots, they wouldn't be long getting to now one another.....
 
Not at all! She whickers at me when I turn up but if I don't appear to have a feed bucket about my person she loses interest immediately. She seem to like anyone and everyone on the planet except me - miserable cow! See my reply to Miss Huggy Bear's post . . . I'm selling her a.s.a.p. I'm so fed up with her now . . .
 
My WB isn't that fussed unless I come armed with an apple! My TB on the other hand does seem to like me quite a bit, bless her. If I am seeing to another horse while she is not receiving any attention she gets quite agitated (doesn't matter if someone else is seeing to a horse). She will follow me round in the field and spends ages sniffing my hair
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if I let her! She also get a bit fed up if I go away on holiday or anything, which I don't really mind as I don't like leaving my horses anyway
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I disagree - Rocks won't let a stranger near him, carrot or no carrot, unless i'm there. And like explained if I go on holiday, he doesn't eat his feed, walks around with head hung low.

He is however the only horse i've ever known to be that extreme
 
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I dont know if a horse can ever be truely attached to a person
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I'm sure if a complete stranger walked up to P with a giant bucket of carrots, they wouldn't be long getting to now one another.....

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Don't necessarily agree with this - I rarely feed my TB mare titbits and she doesnt get a hard feed at the mo. It doesn't make any difference to how attached she is. When I first got her she had been left in a field for years and if you so much as touched her she would literally shake all over. I spent a lot of time with her helping to overcome this (took 6 months to get a saddle on her) so I imagine it's to do with that time we spent bonding.
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Mine (including all of the boarding horses) are all awfully attached to me. I don't feed them and I don't tidbit them so I know that it is genuine. I show them the same respect though as I like them a lot too.

The minute I come out of my house they will be straight over and they all stand at the fence looking across with their ears pricked.

When I decide to go out for rides, I often have them all stand there and I could swear they are saying "take me!" If I don't take the big Appy out but I take another from his herd, he will stand at the gate until I come back and then he bosses the horse around on it's return. He is probably the most jealous horse I have on the property.

I guess it is all to do with how much time you spend with them - I spend all day with them so it's only natural that they will wander around with me.
 
Its interesting what you all said about leaving your horses, I only left mine for 24hrs when I fell off last August as was in hospital and 24hrs in the floods the other week becuase I coldn't get home. If I go away its only ever overnight so that I can see him each day, how sad is that!!!!
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I just hate having to ask people to help with him. It would be very intersting to know how long it would take for him to forget about me?!! I need him way more than he needs me! I think he truly loves me though because he has a choice of 20 acres of long grass or starvation paddock and happily follows me to the starvation paddock???!!! When I do let him out on the long grass when I arrive to put him back in the paddock I wave at him in the distance and he comes in, I never have to go and get him. Our bond is the most amazingly magical bond that I've ever had with a horse and I hope that I grow old with him!!!!
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I know I'm a complete loon when it comes to this horse!!!
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O bless her - Im sure she loves you deep down
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but just doesnt know how to show her true feelings..

Oscar has 2 mums and I would love to say he loves me more but Im pretty sure he loves us both equally and thinks its his birthday when we both turn up. He is attached to us and never likes to leave the gate until we have walked away of an evening.
 
depends how near to dinner time it is, sometimes I mistakenly believe they are attached to me, but they ditch me for food in a shot. My cat is attached to me tho, if I'm on holiday he doesn't eat, and cries and mopes around in my bedroom until I get home, bless him
 
PS. I've never left mine so don't know what they would do - I doubt they would do anything to be honest....they'd just get on with life regardless.
 
She is attatched-ish!! She wickers and calls me when I got down the yard but I am pretty sure thats because she knows that dinner is on its way. When I got back off of holiday earlier in the year she ran across the field to me when I called her, winnying all the way. That was a special moment I have to say. I like to think that she does miss me
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I disagree - Rocks won't let a stranger near him, carrot or no carrot, unless i'm there. And like explained if I go on holiday, he doesn't eat his feed, walks around with head hung low.


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Dont get me wrong, I know there are horses that are attached to their owners and Im sure Rock is very attached to you, I have to say though I have never heard of another horse who seems to be as extreme as him though
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you must have an amazing bond and that must be a great feeling!

I suppose with P he is just so laid back, that doesn't mean he doesn't get jealous ect. If he hears my voice his head pops out and he follows me around the yard. He hates when I pay attention to the others and in part thats why I stopped working on the yard. He will always come over once he sees mw walking to the field and if for a second he thinks that another hrse will reach me first he is quite quick to show his authority.

Im not saying we dont have a bond, because we do I suppose I just always wondered if that was solely because Im the person who deals with him. If someone else took my place for a few weeks I dont know if eventually he would be the same with them
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I think Bloss likes me (in a funny sort of way!) And i suppose she must be attached to me. However she dosent really show it as shes not a very effectionate horse, she just wants to be fed all the time
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Archie will follow me around the field and loves human company. Hes like it with everyone tho, not just me! When he goes away for a week in October il really miss him, but im sure he couldnt care less whether im there or not
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The Bedouin used to have a test for their Arab horses to see how loyal they really were. The horses were kept out in the desert without food or water for some considerable time (several days) and then, when they were set free with food and water available, their owners would call them. The ones that went for the food and water rather than going straight to their owners were . . . . ahem . . . "dispensed with" (shall we say). Apparently, the reasoning was that they needed a horse they could trust to be 110% loyal as they were warhorses. I've threatened my miserable (half-Arab) mare with this!!!!!

I had an Arab who did truly love me and it was awful when I had to sell him. I delivered him to his new stables and then fled in tears. I had had him 9 years since he was 18 months old and, so I was told, he screamed the place down for hours and had all sorts of tantrums like throwing himself on the ground etc. He didn't calm down for well over a month and they thought, on several occasions, they's have to ask me to have him back as they couldn't do anything with him (wish they had . . . . )
 
I don't titbit my horse or ever take a feedbucket into the field, so when she pricks her ears up, whinies and ambles her way over to me for a fuss then I think it's genuine affection tbh.
Other horses I've had couldn't give a monkeys if I go on holiday but Maggie does genuinly seem to miss me.
 
I forgot to add that I very rarely tit-bit and he doesn't get his hardfeed at the same time every day so he never knows if he's in starvation, on grass or getting a feed. So our bond can't be food related. When I get off him when I come back form a hack I leave him stood on the side of the road and walk about 3' away to unlock the gate then go back and get him or say come on then and he follows me into the field where he has the long grass and 20 acres to roam in but he just walks back to the car and grazes there while I untack. When I do the poo picking him and his wife follow me around the paddock like lost sheep and the other night I was running up and down the field in zigzags just to see if they were following me!!!!!!!! They were with their noses almost touching my back!!!!
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Don't know who's more mad, me or the horses!!!!!!!!!
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I think my mare likes me she will accidently let out the odd whicker at me, usually when she thinks I have food
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thats the Irish for you though
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The only one im truly bonded to is my old horse (now 22) had him since he was 4 and got him in a very bad state !!

I am the only one that can clip him, be there for vet, catch him basically do most things but he doesnt really miss me in the field !! he is retired though !

My mare couldnt really care as long as she is fed, my 2yo doesnt care either but my other horse Gadget follows me around etc but is not really that attached he would again do this to anyone that shows him attention as he loves people more than other horses !!
 
Thinking about it, I never feed by hand so they don't expect food from me, but the moment I appear (not my daughter, or husband) they all say "Hello" and will come over. If I am in the field they will, without fail, all come to me, and hang around, or follow me presenting various bits of anatomy for scratches. Lola and Zeus like their chests scratched, Robin and Isabella enjoy bum scratches and if I walk away will reverse into position again. Fergus just loves people and will go to anyone for attention, although if he had the choice it would be my daughter he would go to first.
Is that attachment? I have never left them so don't know if they would miss me, I doubt it.
 
Molly loves me in her own way and definately trusts me more than people she doesn't know but I know she would soon forget me if she went to a nice home, I'm not that silly to think she couldn't live without me!!
 
Lady used to be very depressed if I wasn't around, presumably because she was a rescue pony (She's not so bad now I have Fudge)? She has the cutest little whicker that she does every time she hears my voice as I approach her stable and she falls asleep with her head in my lap.
Fudge is at the field gate or the stable door if he hears my car, he neighs at me every time I call his name or when I enter the field (Both come to call), they both are so much better behaved for me than they are anyone else. Fudge box walks or gallops areound the field calling if both Lady and I are out of sight (even though he's never in the field or yard on his own). So I would say both mine are attached to me.
 
Missie is quite a people-person and will follow you round the school if you get off to alter fences etc, and is quite affectionate in the stable. I don't think she's particularly any more attached to me than anyone else tho! She doesn't come to me when I get her in, always have to go and get her, but then I can't blame her really as she's on part livery so I only go up in the afternoons when I ride, so unfortunately I think she associates me coming to fetch her in with work! Contrast with her field mate who I never ride who comes trotting over the minute she sees me for a titbit..
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Hopefully one day I'll be able to keep her at home and be able to develop a closer bond with her
 
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