Was it love at first sight?

[Barton Bounty]

Was it love at first sight when you saw your prospective horse? And did you bond straight away???
BB came straight from a racing environment, only had 4 weeks let down. He was fiery and hated me. He got used to me over the coming week and soon developed a soft spot… but to truly bond with each other, we did a lot of groundwork before riding because I was well aware it was a completely different environment for him.
over the coming months we gelled and his personality shone through , he is actually hilarious, he has a sense of humour, super trainable and he is my heart horse. I have never had a bond with any other like it. I would say it took a few months for him to settle down. Now we trust each other with our lives. He chases me, chases my pick up. He gets himself to the gate at the same time every day waiting for me ?he used to hate cuddles and now he just wants to be with me allll the time ? He is a fizzy fart sometimes when I am riding. As soon as a kid or novice gets on he is super gentle and walks with care nice and slow!
such a great boy ??

 

[pistolpete]

Not really with either. First one turned out to be the love of my life. Darling Pete who is pictured. Second purchase I was definitely infatuated with the highland. We are not a match. I’ll always care for him but…

 

[ponynutz]

Nope, and nope.
I'd just lost the LWVTB on the horse of my life and got my girl now instead. She was so naughty and we really didn't get on but although I came close I never sold her.
We're still not as close as me and the loan were but I couldn't bear to sell her now.

 

[Barton Bounty]

Nope, and nope.
I'd just lost the LWVTB on the horse of my life and got my girl now instead. She was so naughty and we really didn't get on but although I came close I never sold her.
We're still not as close as me and the loan were but I couldn't bear to sell her now.

I had one mare I loved years ago and just before I got BB I bought a mare called Lucy, i rode her three times before buying her and when I got her home she was an absolute bish! She bit my kids! Bit me , tried to kick the farrier in the head! Tried with for 8 weeks and sent her back, got a refund as the owner was gobsmacked she was like it ??‍

 

[Spotherisk]

I’ve had Harley 25 years, love him dearly, but we are like one of those old couples that people say should have been divorced years ago! We are a couple but he’d be very happy not to ever be handled again, so long as he can see me a few times a day (horses are at home).

The late Tinner was an absolute from the moment we saw each other when he was a four month old weanling in a barn of 30+ weanlings and yearlings. He was the only one for me. he just stood in the barn and stared at me, and I stared back. There was so much that horse did for me, such a mutual enjoyment of each other’s company. Putting him down aged 10 was absolutely devastating and I doubt I’ll ever have another horse. This was the day he arrived, from the state of him and you will understand there had to be a connection of sorts!

 

[Barton Bounty]

I’ve had Harley 25 years, love him dearly, but we are like one of those old couples that people say should have been divorced years ago! We are a couple but he’d be very happy not to ever be handled again, so long as he can see me a few times a day (horses are at home).

The late Tinner was an absolute from the moment we saw each other when he was a four month old weanling in a barn of 30+ weanlings and yearlings. He was the only one for me. he just stood in the barn and stared at me, and I stared back. There was so much that horse did for me, such a mutual enjoyment of each other’s company. Putting him down aged 10 was absolutely devastating and I doubt I’ll ever have another horse. This was the day he arrived, from the state of him and you will understand there had to be a connection of sorts!

Bless… he looks cute

 

[ponynutz]

I had one mare I loved years ago and just before I got BB I bought a mare called Lucy, i rode her three times before buying her and when I got her home she was an absolute bish! She bit my kids! Bit me , tried to kick the farrier in the head! Tried with for 8 weeks and sent her back, got a refund as the owner was gobsmacked she was like it ??‍

Jesus! Glad you got out of that one, shame for the owner if she didn't realise had it in the horse.
Fell off mine every day for the first year...

 

[Barton Bounty]

Jesus! Glad you got out of that one, shame for the owner if she didn't realise had it in the horse.
Fell off mine every day for the first year...

She went home and was like a different horse again ?

 

[Gloi]

It was with my current one because I first saw a picture of him as a couple of week old foal. He'd just had a headcollar put on and had such an affronted look on his little face.

 

[poiuytrewq]

No! The horse I have now I hated?
The old boy I have I was having a coffee and saw his ad, knew I couldn’t afford him. Read further, he’d failed a vetting so price halved. Went to see. He wasn’t in and the second he saw his owner appear and wandered over I knew he was mine/my daughters (was buying for her but he’s always been mine ?)
I loved him as soon as I saw his face.
Current horse as above. Hated, what an absolute arse.
However he’s grown in me and 7 months on I love the weirdo

 

[JBM]

I loved Barry’s personally but I got him while he was still in training so I was a bit weary ?
They let me have a trial with him and I fell in love with his cuddly personality he’s such a baby
I love both my horses both of them are like a different side of me!
Barry is the cuddly size of me
And Judy is the Boss woman side of me ?

 

[MuddyMonster]

No.

But he was sound and ticked some of the boxes, the rest I thought I could work with.

I didn't fall in love with my OH on the first date either, so don't expect to with a horse!

 

[BBP]

I fell in love with the sales pictures of both my horses, and that didn’t change when I got them home. One was a 3yo (now 17) who was the only horse I have ever viewed and the other was 17 months (now 2) bought unseen and untouched from Ireland. The older one I have a great relationship with, the younger one is still a little wary of me but has potential to be even better as hopefully I will learn from all the mistakes I made with BBP.

 

[milliepops]

Not with any of them except my homebred who started pulling at my heartstrings the moment she was born and hasn't stopped since.
The rest have all been slow burners but I love the bones of them all.

 

[silv]

Pretty much, the gelding in my avatar caught my eye in an advert. I just thought he was stunning but way overpriced, he was for sale for a quite a long time as the owner wouldn't drop the price. I kept going back to the advert and videos of him and could not get him out of my head. They eventually dropped the price and I drove 4 hours the following day to go and look at him. The rest is history, I still paid top dollar but absolutely love him to bits, he has it all, beauty, brains, personality and is pretty safe. Everyone loves him.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Most of ours are homebreds now. We have one mare who was bought as a 2yo and I have never liked her. She is 22yo now and I still don't like her.

Jeff - no, I never had much to do with him at work because he was a big 17.2hh bouncy ball, completely unsuitable for a 16yo just starting in racing to ride or deal with. I got sent racing with him because no one else would go and he nearly died. I stood in the vets box holding his head promising him I would look after him to the end thinking "10 minutes and you'll be gone" kind of thing. 16 years later I kept my promise and I held him at the end.

Gray - yes BUT it was because of his looks. He stepped off the truck from America and I turned to Pete, his owner, and said "that's mine when he finishes racing". He was quite simply stunning! 4 years later I took him home with an injury so bad I knew I could box rest him for 6 months and still put him down at the end of it if he didn't come field sound. Instead 11 months after a 100% rupture of his SDFT he did his first ridden showing class and was 2nd. We never looked back. He was the soundest horse I ever had once he came right from that injury. I lost him in a field incident earlier this year. Gray was utterly brilliant. He had one hell of a sense of humour and he never, ever failed to make you smile.

 

[DabDab]

Of my three now:
Dabs - arrived to see a nicely bred 3yo and found a goof of a horse who happily came in and stood in the stables on his own, merrily licking dust off the beams. I just knew I had to have him. 10 years later he is still a massive goof but is really more my OH's horse now. There was a bromance connection between them from the off, and I knew I'd lost my horse.

Arty - a fugly, undersized 2yo that we panic bought to keep Dabs company when my friend had to keep her horses elsewhere. I was indifferent to her to begin with, then she got very ill, then better but very angry (it took two of us dodging flying legs and teeth just to get a rug on her), tbh I really didn't think we would get her to 5 years old. And then somehow, the worse she was to handle, the more attached I started to become - she was unhappy and I just desperately wanted to make the world ok for her. She's 8 now, and the absolute horsey love of my life. Happy an easy and never does anything wrong

Pebbles - an impulse buy at an auction. From the moment she came screaming and terrified into the ring I knew she was coming home with me. She is the pony I used to dream about having as a kid, and although I didn't buy her until I was 30, she continues to live up to that dream every day

Sorry, this post has become a little bit sappy...I do really love my horses ?

 

[poiuytrewq]

X post

 

[Bernster]

I do like the like the look of a horse but not love at first sight, no. I need to enjoy riding them on the first try, in the sense of getting a good feel and feeling like we could work together but each one takes time to get to know and build the partnership. That said, Im pretty sure on the first ride if it’s the horse I want to buy, and I move quickly as I don’t want someone else to snap them up!

 

[Peglo]

My first pony came from a trekking centre I worked at and was always very much the owners horse. She brought her over from Germany with her but when she decided to go back, Peggy wasn’t sound enough to go with her so I got her. Amazing pony but not the cuddly type. She wasn’t very affectionate but had amazing manners but I loved her. Not love at first sight.

Flo was either depressed or doped when I went to see her. There was absolutely no personality to fall in love with but she was stunning. A week in the field with the ponies and she very much came out of her shell. She was grumpy and predictably unpredictable and not the most popular horse. As she got older she softened and became pretty affectionate although would still threaten a kick by lifting her leg if she felt it necessary (it was always a threat, she never actually tried to strike me which is something I guess) I loved her for her but not love at first sight.

Tali it was love at first sight. I saw her picture and became obsessed. I couldn’t stop looking at her advert. 2 weeks later she was bought and shipped over to Scotland from Italy. She has been my most crazy, reckless, amazingly Best Buy ever. She is more than I could’ve hoped for. And ruined my view that love at first sight doesn’t exist ?

 

[scats]

I generally don’t feel that straight away.
Polly was interesting because the first time I looked at her over the door, I thought she was smaller than I had anticipated. I then went and tried another horse. I went back and looked over the door and I had this odd feeling that me and her were meant to find each other. She still didn’t look anything like I’d set out to get, so it wasn’t exactly love at first sight.
It was a similar feeling to what I got with my first pony when I was a child. I just had this sense that we were meant to meet. Very odd.

The quickest I’ve ever fallen for a pony was Diva. Again, she was smaller than expected so I went away to think about it, but the owner contacted and offered her to me for far less than advertised as she wanted me to have her. So a week later, I collected her, popped her in her new stable, and within 2 minutes I loved her more than I loved the boys I had at the time. It was the most overwhelming feeling and I’d have seriously pushed my geldings off a cliff to save her (that sounds so awful!).
I don’t think I’ll ever feel that love again. It was all consuming and, honestly, a part of me died when I lost her.

 

[Spotherisk]

Bless… he looks cute

He was adored, and missed every day.

 

[chaps89]

Nope.
I didn’t want a coloured, anything cobby or a mare.
She was a coloured cob cross mare and quite little.
But I’d had several vet failures, she was a nice sort and cheap so my plan was to school on then sell.
She broke quite spectacularly so she stayed but it took a good few years to click with her. After that I wouldn’t have parted with her for any money. She was a PITA in a few respects but quite simply superb in most others and I have a lot of happy memories.

A Welsh cob I used to ride for someone, the moment I sat on him it was like coming home. I adored him and broke my heart over him, so I think it can happen both ways.

 

[little_critter]

Yes and yes. Love at first sight and he settled really easily. After 6 months someone at the yard commented “is that all it’s been?, it feels like he’s been here longer”

 

[SO1]

Yes. He was 5 and much younger than I was really after but hard to find the 7 years plus ponies.

They said he wasn't massively friendly but he nuzzled me when I was grooming him. The most wonderful pony. Temperament of a saint, kind and loving. Took me to places I never thought l would go.

On Friday I lost him to a very rare stomach condition after 15 years. Every day I loved him more. My heart breaks.

In time I will get another but I doubt I will ever feel the same.

 

[BBP]

Yes. He was 5 and much younger than I was really after but hard to find the 7 years plus ponies.

They said he wasn't massively friendly but he nuzzled me when I was grooming him. The most wonderful pony. Temperament of a saint, kind and loving. Took me to places I never thought l would go.

On Friday I lost him to a very rare stomach condition after 15 years. Every day I loved him more. My heart breaks.

In time I will get another but I doubt I will ever feel the same.

I’m so sorry to read that. I assumed no horse will ever take BBPs place in my heart (he’s still with me but I keep thinking it won’t be for long) but my little 2yo is finding his own place in there.

 

[ester]

Yes, someone else had just bought him and hacked him past our house ?.
3 months later he was stopping at jumps and she put him up for sale (she wasn't a good rider, he was the first of 7 ponies she bought and sold that summer).

 

[rextherobber]

Yes and yes, with #1. Yes and no, not for 2 years with #2, but now the horse of a lifetime ( sorry #1!I still love you though...)

 

[rextherobber]

Yes, someone else had just bought him and hacked him past our house ?.
3 months later he was stopping at jumps and she put him up for sale (she wasn't a good rider, he was the first of 7 ponies she bought and sold that summer).

Wow! At what point do you think, "Maybe it's me..."

 

[ester]

Amusingly she had told the original owner he was dangerous on the road.
If you want a quiet life you hack him down the A38 he's that good.

We managed to get hold of said original owner (who was 15 and a very tidy rider) and they came and visited and rode him and brought loads of videotapes which was lovely