Meeting lovely people out hacking

Woolly Hat n Wellies

Woolly Hat n Wellies

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I had a lovely moment out hacking this morning.

I met a big family group out walking on the bridlepath, and all the kids stopped to stare wide-eyed at Billy as we passed. So I stopped and introduced him, and asked them if they wanted to say hello. They all lined up to pat him, and he stood and arched his neck but didn't move a muscle, except to blow very gently on their fingers. He loved being the centre of attention. They asked lots of questions (why is he shaved?), and said "wow!" and "he's beautiful!" a lot. They all thanked me and we started to move off, when another lady approached me and asked if her very scared friend could pat him too, so of course I said yes. The scared lady looked terrified, but she stroked him and seemed really pleased that she'd done it. The first lady said what a lovely, calm, relaxed horse he was, and I was so proud of him. This time last year I wouldn't have trusted him to behave and stand still like that, and today I just knew he'd be ok, and he was.

It felt so good to be able to give a little treat to all those people, who all seemed delighted to have the chance just to pat him. It made me really appreciate how lucky I am to have him.
 
I am a big beleiver in introducing people to horses, frequently i stop when children seem interested, it takes but 2 minutes of an hours ride to make someone happy and maybe build an interest in horses, plus walkers etc. dont think we are stuck up snobby riders.I always say good morning etc to every walker jogger cyclist that we pass, its only polite and promotes good will.
 
Aw i just love that glowing feeling they give you when they are being good little spuds. I do a few family/school trip things with my little ones and they are always just perfect. It often makes me wonder why its ME, the one who feeds them and loves them and doesn't scream or poke them, gets all the bad behaviour hah!
 
I always stop when children are looking/making comments. I was once a pony mad child and if anyone asked me if I wanted to stroke their horse I would have been thrilled. It's good education how to approach a pony etc for both children and parents.
 
I own a grey (snow white!) so we always get 'oohs' and 'aahs' when out hacking, especially from little children. I always stop and let people pat her, tell them her name and what not. I think she loves it too :)
 
My fave part of badminton last year was petting the marshalls horses. I fell in love with this big grey, it was nuzzling me n everything.

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Then there was the lovely horse in london that didn't move an inch until i went up. I think they know i love them lol

10547574_10203428260524658_7177976260458545226_n.jpg
 
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Glad I'm not the only one who stops and lets people make a fuss of my horse. Not so much with my old boy as he didn't like standing still on a hack, but my palomino loved attention and G does too.
 
I love stopping to let people fuss my mare, she was terrified of people to begin with so I used to sneak them a mint to give to her to make her realise people are "good', funny thing is haven't done it for a long time but now when she sees someone she gets a real march on after them just incase they have treats.

It's nice when people fuss them too, everyone always comments on how stunning she is and how clean she is (she generally a very clean monkey thankfully as she has a lot of white!).

I too would have been thrilled as a child if someone would have let me stroke their horse. Where I live now is very rural but previously when I took my wee ones out we used to end up like the pied piper collecting children along the way!
 
Ah how lovely. I used to own a beautiful palomino mare (quite light palomino as opposed to the strong gold palomino) and she was like a magnet for the general public. She loved the attention and I enjoyed answering questions about her.
 
My big chap was particularly taken with one group of children we met one day. He really enjoyed being patted and admired.
For the next two or three weeks when we passed that point on our hacks, he would slow down slightly and look for his "public".
People often say hello to the horses as our hacking is all quite suburban, but there was something about this particular group of children he really liked (and no, they didn't feed him!).
 
well done you-I think its important to take time for this sort of thing. My old horse loved it, he was of the opinion that everyone was obviously coming to see him anyway and loved little people. People love the Exmoors too and its good to tell people about them.
 
Awww! Such nice stories :D

I love stopping to chat to people! Ned is pretty clingy, so he's usually able to stop and let people pat him! Though we did get more people stopping when I used to ride Blobby, who was a percheron X appaloosa, so he was really big and spotty!
We did have an interesting time with Blobby once, when a family with a few kids stopped to chat, when one of them suddenly runs between his front legs and starts trying to climb underneath him!! The parent didn't seem to care :O :O
He was a rock, so he didn't do anything, but I did have to tell them that going under a horse isn't the best idea :P I don't think they got it...

When I rode Neddy through central MK, we got loads of people getting really excited about seeing a horse :) it made me so proud! A few people stopped to pat him and he was loving it! We've not done it for a while though.
Little Ghillie always gets people stopping to stoke him, it's so cute :)
 
Love this thread. Only yesterday when hacking with friend as we waved to kids along the road we talked about how we always wanted to go up to horses when we were children and were always so thrilled to be allowed to pat them. I have to pinch myself these days as I still cannot believe that I'm now the one on the horse (Just took me about 50 years to get one lol)...just wish we would see more kids walking where I ride rather than travelling in cars!
 
I've had a couple of incidents that have made me smile.

One was a group of lads, caps, hoodies, scarves up round their faces with illegal off road motorbikes. One saw me coming and shouted to his mates to turn those things off.....a bit more colourful language but you get the idea. He then came over, called his mates over shouting come look at this horse it's f'ing massive.......erm actually she is 14.1 and only a pony but I didn't like to disillusion him. I then had this crowd of lads asking all sorts of questions about my Dales girl.

Another time I met a really old lady, she was in her eighties and she asked if she could stroke my mare. She said she had never touched a horse before.

I always stop and chat to anyone, whether they want me to or not lol. I have a public footpath through my field, I now have a whole army of regular walkers who keep an eye on my girl when they walk through.
 
I always stop and chat to people and kids, plus being a dog owners it's nice to chat to dog walkers, it also helps to ge their dog/s used ot horses, it's better on the way out though, as on the way back he won't stand still and I worry about someone getting their feet trod on, I also had fun with hoody types who thought my 14.2 was MASSIVE lol :-)
 
I always used to get comments about, "Isn't he big???" when out and about on my previous share horse. Admittedly, SHE was a 17.1hh ShireX, so they weren't entirely wrong!

There was one little lad who was obviously desperate to stroke her, but also obviously nervous of approaching her. I was so proud of her when she stood absolutely like a rock as he worked up the nerve to stroke her shoulder. (I'd've said to stroke her neck, but he couldn't reach!)

Like others have said, I was the pony-mad little girl (and pony-mad teenager, and pony-mad young adult, and pony-mad older adult...) who would have loved to get to stroke any horse I met while I was out. I get a warm, fluffy feeling every time I'm in a position to let somebody have that chance!
 
equi said:
My fave part of badminton last year was petting the marshalls horses. I fell in love with this big grey, it was nuzzling me n everything.

11221725_10205358327775133_5199718067171228001_n.jpg




Then there was the lovely horse in london that didn't move an inch until i went up. I think they know i love them lol

10547574_10203428260524658_7177976260458545226_n.jpg
Click to expand...


He was just a bit handsome!
 
I love talking to people when we're out hacking. I'm so immensely proud of my boys that I don't need any excuse to chat about them to people!!
 
We have "the mint man" who is always walking his dogs in the woods, and always has a pocket full of mints for the horses. : ) Trouble is the ginger one now thinks everyone has mints in the woods...
 
I always stop and chat to people out hacking, young or old alike, my boy just loves the attention and I do like to let me people know I'm not that 'snooty women' on her horse. I have had conversations with gangs of teenagers, lads riding on motocross, cyclists, dog walkers the lot.

The meeting I can recall which was just lovely, my boy & I was hacking down the end of a country lane onto a B road, there is a section of the lane where you have to go on the path and as I was on the path two old gentleman were walking up. I apologised profusely for being on the path, but they didn't mind at all, spent a good 10 mins or so chatting, lots of patting and generally admiring the boy.

When we said our goodbyes, I overhead the two gentleman say to each other that I made their day, 'twas a proud moment indeed.
 
We don't have to step out of the door! Orca is stabled within a petting farm. Being privately owned, she isn't one of the 'exhibits' but that doesn't stop her from arching her neck, tilting her head, fluttering her eyelashes, wriggling her lips and generally showing off in order to gather admirers whenever there are visitors. I think her long mane and cute face really appeal to the little ones. Unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to put a sign on her door if she (or I!) are going to have any peace during holiday season ��.
 
My friend and I would always stop if people wanted to say hello to the horses. In fact, Shannon would quite often make a beeline for the kids and stand there being fussed. Gus, being a bit bigger, was normally second to get patted after they got confidence patting Shannon - he would always stand very still and let people fuss him. He wasn't always keen on babies in prams, I think because he could hear them, but not see them.
 
I used to take my sisters (ApplyLover) Appaloosa Ted out for walks when he was at a friends it was very built up and lots of houses (anyone who knows thatcham Berkshire) it used to be her Appy my friends cob, and Shetland and the amount of people that would stop and say hello or the kids that would want to come pet Ted and make a fuss of him although I did have a kid ask if he was a Donkey once lol he has gigantic ears and is very very well breed for a donkey thanks kid 😂 It was nice to see so many people stop even though you got the odd ******* who would speed passed with cm's clearence in their cars because they wanted in their drive. Now we are in the middle of nowhere with lots of horses I do miss being able to take him out around the houses like an oversized dog haha
 
Woolly Hat n Wellies said:
I had a lovely moment out hacking this morning.

I met a big family group out walking on the bridlepath, and all the kids stopped to stare wide-eyed at Billy as we passed. So I stopped and introduced him, and asked them if they wanted to say hello. They all lined up to pat him, and he stood and arched his neck but didn't move a muscle, except to blow very gently on their fingers. He loved being the centre of attention. They asked lots of questions (why is he shaved?), and said "wow!" and "he's beautiful!" a lot. They all thanked me and we started to move off, when another lady approached me and asked if her very scared friend could pat him too, so of course I said yes. The scared lady looked terrified, but she stroked him and seemed really pleased that she'd done it. The first lady said what a lovely, calm, relaxed horse he was, and I was so proud of him. This time last year I wouldn't have trusted him to behave and stand still like that, and today I just knew he'd be ok, and he was.

It felt so good to be able to give a little treat to all those people, who all seemed delighted to have the chance just to pat him. It made me really appreciate how lucky I am to have him.
Click to expand...

I wish I could hit the like button - My usual hack should take an hour or so but I can be gone for ages as everyone loves a pat and a chat and is does make you realise how lucky we are.
 
Yes takes me forever to get round my village as we have to stop and talk to everyone ,in fact the children all know my horse by name. My mini has developed a habit of refusing to move if we come across people until they have given her a fuss which is now a bit frustrating. However I too was a child that would look longingly at horses so happy to oblige and swell with pride when they are complimented.
 
I love meeting people with children who want to stroke my boy. I remember I was once that little girl.
I often joke with the parents to watch out, it's an expensive hobby!!
 
I was once riding my showy twerp of an arab on the narrow bridleway that runs around the side of local golf course. Some riders had recently got into trouble for letting their horses put a hoof on the hallowed green golfing turf, so my heart sank when a golfing chappie came striding over to me. I was so surprised when he said 'I just want to say what a beautiful horse, could I stroke him?'. Blimey I almost fell off in shock. And twerpy arab stood like a rock to be fussed. We ended up having a long conversation about how hard is was to share the gold course and the bridleway and how we all need to be a bit more relaxed about the whole thing.

It was nice.

Love all the stories on here. I think we're ambassadors for our sport/hobby when we're out and about.
 
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