is it "in the blood" ?

I think it could be something we get from our family. My parents like them but haven't got much interest. Where as my granddad adores them, so much so as a three year old kid he took me riding on some shetlands with my cousin, she has completely given up now. But ive been hooked ever since that Shetland ride, but hes always encouraged me to ride and loves hearing about my horse....sadly my dad blames him for over 7 years of own horse bills haha.
 
None of my family were into horses - in fact they were all pretty crap with animals. I have two sisters - one rode when she was young - like early teens, but would now be scared of getting dirty and smelly - she's all about hair and makeup and nails now, and the other sister is so terrified of any animal I'm surprised she doesn't live in a padded cell, and she's now passing all her fear onto her children. Don't you hate it when they do that? I'm the only one who lives with 5h1te under my fingernails and calloused hands.
My parents like "looking" at animals, but wouldn't be good if they had to actually handle them.
So I come from a pretty animal clueless family really who are all into procreating and think that the world shines out of their childrens's arses and that their children are the most beautiful in the world - believe me they're not - they are completely gormless.
My parents think I'm strange because I don't want children - they say that I'll want them "one day". At nearly 40, I don't think I'm going to change my mind! Give me the horse 5h1t and wet dog smell any day!
I think that's probably why I live nearly 400 miles away from any of my family and I'm glad to keep it that way!
 
it was my grandad who introduced all us 4 girls( me, my sis and 2 cousins) to horses when we were little, he used to sit us up on a pony called stockings in a field where we use to take the dog for a walk ( he did know the owner lol) out of all of us tho i am the only one who really fell in love with them and yearned for one as a child (never got one) begged for riding lessons and wrote to jim'll fix it asking for a pony:o my sister has no interest in them at all, my 2 cousins both had lessons but never really got into it like i did. i was so into it i got a job doing pony treks during the school hols when i was 17 and managed to persuade them to let me stay on and then told my parents i wasn't coming home:eek: that went down well:rolleyes: i did take about a 10 year break when i discovered men were quite interesting too but then got rehooked after taking my kids pony trekking on holiday. my daughter is pony mad and i often wonder whether it's nature or nurture, i also wonder if certain starsigns are more horsey than others, my daughters birthday is the day before mine:)
 
Lobelia_Overhill said:
My paternal Grandfather was in the cavalry in WWI, We found a photo of him on horseback, in his uniform a few years ago, but I dunno where it is at the mo.

!
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My maternal Grandather was a good horseman, he was in WW1 and we have his diaries, he was in the engineers corp, he often mentions exercising the horses, or clipping the horses or so on in his diaries.

He had a dairy farm and had working heavy horses, plus riding horses, he used to jump the 5 foot hedges and 5 bar gates on his horses. Sadly i never met him as he died before I was born.

I am like a lot of others - started liking horses for no apparent reason (after a led pony ride when I was about 3 years old.)

My kids all like horses but that is because they have been exposed to them from birth.

My OH used to ride a little when he first met me, but has lost interest, has other interests.
 
Interesting thread, ive often wondered this too! My parents are non horsey although they do love animals. Both my sisters are totally uninterested in horses yet I have been obsessed since about the age of 3 when a friend of my dads gave me a book about ponies. I still have the book. As I got a bit older I would sketch the images of the ponies Fromtgebook & just adored
looking at the pics. Oddly enough, my parents have 2 porcelain horses in a glass cabinet in the livingroom & when I asked where they came from my mum said they were my grans
 
nikCscott said:
I like the term 'in the blood'

I actually think that you are born with the qualities that make you a horsey person
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I think this too.
I was desperate for a pony from about age 6...never got one as my parents sure couldn't afford one, or even riding lessons. They submitted once only, whilst on a camping holiday in Wales, I was about 9, and we all went pony trekking. Father was put on a horse they described as "he used to be a racer!"....Father afterwards was rigid believing he was actually ON a racer and therefore about to be carted off to Scotland. I'd read that many pony books that I was way ahead, opening gates, heels down like I had read I was supposed to, in heaven.
The next time I rode I was 16, and on my (wealthier) cousin's pone, chucked off three times, bounced up giggling each time. I was 25 when I could afford booked lessons, as I had a good job by then.
Years later, Dad told me he used to ride "other people's horses" bareback and barefoot (him, not the horses) growing up in rural Gloucestershire. I have no doubt he didn't seek permission, and also no doubt they were working plough horses. My Mother's side is all Hull trawlermen. So, not an inherited passion, or skill, it's just in YOU.
 
No I don't believe it is inherited, although as someone else said horses do get under your skin.....

No one in my family was horsey until our net door neighbour acquired a shetland companion for het daughters horse and popped me on board. My sister and I have been hooked ever since, parents still think they are expensive and dangerous.

You have to go back several generations to find anyone with any contact with horses in our family, but before ww1 horses were a much more common part of life.

Dh is the same, he learnt to ride as an adult, he had wanted to as a child but his parents wouldn't let him as his older sister had one lesson and hated it. His family haven't even met our horse, my parents will at least stroke her over the door and come and watch at shows etc.
 
hmm the post about having the qualities that make you horsey is probably more like it...
and also like someone said it could be just being exposed to them from birth :D
i might not have been horsey if my mum hadn't bought me a pony and then sold it. i've been hooked ever since! years of wanting another one obviously sunk in! very..very..deep :mad::p:D
 
elsazzo said:
Interesting thread, ive often wondered this too! My parents are non horsey although they do love animals. Both my sisters are totally uninterested in horses yet I have been obsessed since about the age of 3 when a friend of my dads gave me a book about ponies. I still have the book. As I got a bit older I would sketch the images of the ponies Fromtgebook & just adored
looking at the pics. Oddly enough, my parents have 2 porcelain horses in a glass cabinet in the livingroom & when I asked where they came from my mum said they were my grans
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eek my phone wouldnt let me finishh!!!!....

.....who loved horses (I had no idea she had loved horses as she died when i was a baby) The day my old horse was put to sleep my mum gave me a brooch which belonged to my gran. It is a small horse shaped brooch made out of little stones (not sure which kind) I thought it was lovely. Every tme i look at it I think about my gran and remember my old horse :)
 
I wasn't brought up having any contact with horses, but lived in a rural area. I remember wanting a horse at an early age, eventually getting a few riding lessons about aged 12. I had to walk about 2 miles down footpaths to get there. My dad used to plough with horses when he was young, my mum used to ride, but we never had a horse unti I was 15. My siblings aren;t interested, my eldest daughter was until aged 16. My dad's relatives several generations back worked as grooms and coachmen.
 
Neither my mum or Dad are remotely interested in horses. Occasionally my dad will get me a bag ofapples or some polo's and now I am back at uni they do help me financially occasionally.
Neither of my sisters are remotely interested, I had my first pony for 3 years before she came to see him and she only lived 10 mins away. I've had him for 7 years now and my other sister came and saw him for the first time 2 weeks ago - and it was only because I was taking her from my parents house to my other sisters house, so I went via the ponies so she had no choice. She s very much a Londoner. My nieces and nephews have all sat on and been for a ride with me, they enjoyed it but never got into it. All the kids I have nannied for however seem to love horses, and I get the blame! 3 of the children have their own pony now 1 has lessns and the rest beg to ride whenever they can. In fact they aren't even fussed about riding groomin and helping out is enough for them.
So in conclusion! No I don't think its in the blood, I think its to do more with the people you are around .
 
My Mum's family were animal minded but not horsey, my Dad wasn't horsey either although did come on several trekking holidays with me (and rode).
I got riding lessons as a bribe to behave initially, and have been hooked ever since!
 
I always loved horses, but didn't even start riding lessons until I was 10. My mum hated horses (at the time!) and my Dad wasn't bothered either way. My mum wondered where I got the streak that made me love horses so much, and it was only last week when we were looking up the 1901 census and found out my great-grandfather was a farrier, and my mum had no clue that he had been a farrier! So maybe it is 'in the blood' but it skips a few generations ;)
 
I think it helps.. purely because horsey people tend to help their kids grow up around horses?

I'm a born and bred Londoner so there aren't many places to ride, but I remember from about the age of 3 begging my parents to ride. My mum used to be fairly horsey, but stopped once she had kids and my dad never really was but tried getting into it when I started.. I'm in my teens now and still utterly obsessed. xx
 
I am the first in my family (unless you count my granddad working the land with horses) but then my mum worked for a family that had a lot of horses and at 3 i started riding and sadly for my bank account i never stopped.
but i am very lucky i now have a few horses to say the least and have converted most of my family, mum, aunties, uncle, sister, and 3 nieces.
So i suppose i will be the one they blame for getting them into horses, but they are lucky as in they will never have to buy one as there will always be something at my yard to ride.
 
I must have had a blood transfusion at birth - none of my family have an horsey background at all but I've been obsessed since a baby - my mum has in my baby book written under first words
"Pretty" and "Gee Gee" how obsessed can you be at 1yr old

I can't be without one.
 
Not in my blood either, Father was a Londoner (Customs & Excise Officer all his life) Mother was a Police Officer, Grandfather was a Chief Constable. By rights I should actually be a sailor if such things are passed through blood as both my parents sailed and we had yachts - I hate any water that is deeper than me and doesn't have a manmade base, so that's that theory shot out of the water! Or maybe I should be a golfer - :eek:

I think we only got ponies when we moved to the country, although I do have photos of me riding when we were still in Bristol, and of course riding was on the syllabus at school, it was just one of those things back then, everybody learned it.

Both my brothers can of course ride, but don't. I was the only one that got the bug. My daughter, should, by rights be horsey, she was riding by 3, did a lot of PC, but now, although she is surrounded by horses she can take them or leave them - usually leave them as the hat messes up her hair!
 
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elsazzo said:
eek my phone wouldnt let me finishh!!!!....

.....who loved horses (I had no idea she had loved horses as she died when i was a baby) The day my old horse was put to sleep my mum gave me a brooch which belonged to my gran. It is a small horse shaped brooch made out of little stones (not sure which kind) I thought it was lovely. Every tme i look at it I think about my gran and remember my old horse :)
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awh that's so nice :)

Enfys-Are you in America? I'd love to move there one day with my nag but unfortunately i dont think i'll ever have that much money! :rolleyes:
 
Sister and I have ridden since she was about 12, I didn't want to ride, but as Mum would not give up a day of the holiday for one of us, big sis bullied me into going. :D When we got back from holiday, sister insisted that I DID want to ride, so that she could go every week. Mum and Dad went with us every week for 5 years and then very kindly bought us our first horse to share. Dad's dad drove a pony for his egg and veg round, Mum always insisted that there was no horse connection on her side, until her brother traced the family tree and discovered that their paternal branch of the family, who remained in Ireland, bred and showed Shires! Maybe that explains sisters obsession with heavy horses? :D :D
 
Mum is scared of horses (and dogs/cats etc etc). I was pony mad from being a toddler, even aged 3 id insist on going to stroke the horse in a field near where we lived every time we passed.

Parents could never afford a horse for me and struggled to pay for the odd rifing lesson but i worked at local riding school from age 11 in return (supposedly) for a free lesson every week. Never got a lesson but loved being around the horses & ponies. My bike was my pony. My sisters were my ponies going over the 'juimps' i set up in the garden. Dad came into some money when i was 18 & bought my 2 younger sisters a pony each. i was working so 'could afford my own if i wanted :rolleyes: i became the groom/stable hand for my sisters till they became more interested in boys and the ponies were sold. Youngest sis now has her own horse that i help look after and finally, after 46 years my parents bought me my very own pony 3 weeks ago (this pic was first day after clipping to see what was benath the mass of tangled, matted fur)
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My older sister is definitely non-horsey, 2 others are. My grandad was an apprentice jockey before WWII and having traced her family tree we apparently descend from g****** on my mums side, so i reckon in my case it is in the blood :p
 
Absolutely not! I adore them, I don't think either of my parents have even petted one, and my Dad in particular isn't keen on me riding, but doesn't get on my back about anymore now that I'm an adult. My little sister has no interest and my big sister only rode as a tiny tot: I rode with her, but I've also spent my teenage years riding and am now back to the horses full time in my 20s as I can afford to.

I don't think a lot of it is 'in the blood' anyway: I think a lot of it is exposure and opportunity (nurture rather than nature). None of the parental horse owners at the yard have kids that don't at least ride and compete, if not own their own pony.
 
mm could be nurture then.

like in best case scenario, seeing a pony as a young child and being like :eek::eek: i want one and then obssessing for years, scrimping and saving until you get to become a horsey person :D:D
 
ah, the nature-nurture debate, good old psychology :p

this is something that has always really puzzled me. Neither of my parents are horsey, and as far as I know nobody has been in my fam for generations. We always joke that I must be adopted though because i'm also the only arty one in my family.

I just find it strange how somone with no background of horses, having not even watched horsey programmes/reading horsey books (as far as I can remember), so not even any exposure really, can have such a desire for riding lessons - I was about 8 when i had my first and i've had the bug ever since :confused: :D
 
azouria said:
ah, the nature-nurture debate, good old psychology :p

this is something that has always really puzzled me. Neither of my parents are horsey, and as far as I know nobody has been in my fam for generations. We always joke that I must be adopted though because i'm also the only arty one in my family.

I just find it strange how somone with no background of horses, having not even watched horsey programmes/reading horsey books (as far as I can remember), so not even any exposure really, can have such a desire for riding lessons - I was about 8 when i had my first and i've had the bug ever since :confused: :D
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mm it is interesting. to get onto an even more out there topic maybe its to do with past lives and having horses then ;) LOL :rolleyes:
 
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