Those with non horsey oh's

C

Crazy_cat_lady

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 January 2012
Messages
8,414
Visit site
What do you usually do with the horse when they go up to visit it the first time?
Mine might be coming up to meet H this week and I'm trying to decide what will be most interesting for him.
Was thinking walk down the lanes may be nice but risk of being flattened is high as H spins and runs forward or there is schooling in the field but that may be boring. H has only just started jumping again and on soft ground only and the schools are in use for lessons in the week so can't do that plus I'm rubbish at it!
 
Hm... I set him up with a bit of heavy labour moving bales while I rode. Perhaps that's where I went wrong.
 
The closest mine has got is a pat over the fence and a "nice boy" comment. He also once watched me ride at dressage, that's it. He usually goes off golf or swimming, best place for him. I really wouldn't know what to do if he did come to see them.
 
Mine got run over by my old pony the first time he came to see them, and hasn't really come since!
 
Mine strolls about the yard patting all the horses, looks at the free range chickens, tries to encourage the cat to come over for a pat and that's about it. He is not yet brave enough to get to close to mine :). He doesn't come up that often - it is my hobby and my down time away from the family
 
After 20 years, OH is now almost comfortable standing by the front end for a minute whilst I unhitch a carriage... so long as the pony doesn't threaten to move. He still won't actually get in the carriage. :D
 
He comes up if we need to call in on the way to/from somewhere. He'll look at him over the door maybe touch him and then go and sit in the car waiting for me. He's an outdoor type so not averse to dirt but just isn't interested. He loves it makes me happy but I love having my own hobby and wouldn't want him around too much anyway tbh.
 
Mine walked out on my first ever hack with me... Ended up leaving him in the dust when he (pony) buggered off up the lane with me!

Oddly, he quite happily got on a couple of weeks later! Now he helps occasionally when I'm moving water buckets, but mostly he'll go and say hello to all of the animals while I muck out.

Ax
 
Last edited:
I only intended for my OH to have a stroke and pat and mooch about while I did chores. OH however insists on mucking BOTH out (though grumbles at my insistence on banking walls!), does waters and sweeps. For some reason he absolutely will not do haynets so I'm in charge of that. He tends to blitz through my stables whilst I grab the horses in from the fields. I did once give him my retired horse to hold and he got trodden on and dragged off with so he isn't a fan. The other day I allowed him to lead my well behaved youngster to the field and he was chuffed as anything! I'm working on making him horsy so he will one day want a horse...so far he doesn't 'get' why I spend all my time and money on horses but he does quite like a gypsy cob (to my disgust as a PBA and TB x Sec D owner)
 
first time i got him to muck out........ second time i got him riding my horse :D

i love him but horsey time is my time :D i dont mind sharing horse time occasionally but hes not horsey and just does it to amuse me and irritate me as hes a natural rider :D
 
Mine won't get out the car most of the time... Usually id rather have it as my down time anyway, however the moaning about the time and money drives me insane... (We've been together over 4 years and I swear he's moaned more this year than ever before! :( )
 
I can't remember what I did with my hubby the first time he met Benji.

One b/f I had came and met pony then spent the whole of the next hours sneezing, spluttering and wheezing. He was allergic to them. Needless to say the relationship didn't go anywhere.

I'd throw them in at the deep end personally. If they muck out for you then they're a keeper! :D
 
Pat, carrot and... wrestling - don't ask! ;)

He'll sometimes come for changing a wheelbarrow wheel that's rusty or hay bales but that's it..

Horsies are usually at home so sometimes he just puts his conference calls on mute, walks out without a word and goes off to find the horses that are around the house somewhere. :D
 
This is what I did, gave hima ridinghad for his birthday, booked him a lesson, got him hooked and now he has his own horse, problem solved! :D
 
The first time my OH came to meet my parents was when we were also planning to move my horse.
So 5 minutes to meet parents, walked to farm, I left him and my dad together while I went to catch horse. 15 minutes journey in lorry while I watched my horse and we didn't really chat much.
Horse was put out to field straight away at new yard and then we toddled home.

The next time, I then had him traipse around a cross country course taking photos of us jumping.
He watched me compete a few times but didn't get close to any of the horses.

He will now go up and poo-pick, feed and clean out my horse's hooves. He will even lead my older horse along the road to the stables. Untacking is still a mystery to him however as when I fell off in Feb, I lay on floor unable to move, shouted at him to catch pony and take bridle off - He undid every buckle on the left.
 
Poo picking, start as you mean to go on hehe!

mine walked out with me quite a lot last summer as my horse was only just backed and I didn't have anyone else to ride with!
 
First time I got my OH up the yard I had him mucking out. He was less than impressed. Five years later he is always up there. Doesn't ride but does everything else, he has his favourite of my horses, and spends his own money buying her gifts. To be honest it does drive me crazy occasionally as he has the annoying habit of thinking he knows best, giving his (totally uneducated opinion) and being a bit of a know-it-all. He also has a habit of not quibbling when "his favourite" needs something but if it's my little gelding, who he doesn't particularly like, he has a right attitude and grumbles about the cost. Makes me want to throttle him. I would rather he was uninterested!
 
webble said:
Stroking and feeding thats about it
Click to expand...

This for the first visit. They get bored after half hour. My experience is they do not want to watch you ride ever, but can be persuaded to take photos of you riding and might walk with you on a half hour hack if it is picturesque and not muddy or raining. Mine wanted to ride after a while but would only do fun stuff in the arena. I put out some crates for bending round and some trotting poles. I have two and he will lead walk his favourite my oldie on a hack whilst I ride the other one, occasionally. If the turnout is closed in winter he will go jogging and take a horse with him while I muck out. He did an off road hack once because he wanted to know what it was like, I sent him off with directions then drove the car to the half way point where we swapped so he would not get tanked off home! It can work with non horsey OHs but my experience is they want the yard visits to be fairly quick.
 
Mine started just coming up at night and saying hi to the one horse over the stable door, and doing stuff like filling up water buckets and haynets. I don't quite know how it happened, but he has progressed to having his own horse, running my own yard with me with at one point 6 horses on it (thank goodness that trial of utter hard labour is over - we both have full time jobs and they're mostly high maintenance Trakehners who definitely do not live out at night!), accompanying me on a steep learning curve breeding two of our own (I can still hear the furious yells after he got foal kicked on a number of occasions and for some reason the 4 year old chose to test out his biting skills only on him during the last 3 years :-o!), being a fabulous groom with 4 of them at the annual breed show (very stressful, think 2 big powerful mares outraged to not be near enough to the stallions and having a total tantrum); and he's now such a good dressage caller he often gets asked to call tests for other people. Top tips: he definitely likes doing stuff on the quad bike best of all, DON'T forget to take up lunch when you're going to be there all day (if not, huge man tantrums occur), and stop trying to teach him how to put bridles back together after tack cleaning - it will never happen. I am very luck indeed :-)
 
Strangely, mine is not impressed at being at the yard, can't think why! :rolleyes3: He unloads the car, leads the quiet one up the lane, actually mucked out once or twice, amazingly, but generally leaves me to it, which I definitely prefer. I worry he's bored otherwise so I hurry and cut corners.
 
Last edited:
My dad tries to keep away as much as possible! He was weeding killing and doing outdoor stuff at home and he could not believe how helpful and sweet Pearl was... We had pearl at the Malvern autumn show, he could not tell the difference between my gelding Freddie and pearl my mums highland mare... I just smiled.
 
Kind of depends on your OH's temperament! Mine is now obsessed with horses so...

I'd make it interactive. Maybe teach him to lunge a horse? And explain what to look for and why you do it. I think actual hands-on training is a great way to get someone involved in horses without pushing them too far out of their comfort zone (forcing them to ride!).
 
At first it was a ten minute stop to give the horse a pat and say hello, then it moved on to taking pictures for me when I had lessons or at a show, but I would find very random pictures of spiders or other people's horses doing silly things as he got bored :)
Now the horses are at home he will turn out, bring in, muck out, feed, make tea for the farrier, mend fences, spray field etc. everything except riding , he is great :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top