What is your "thing"?

[millikins]

I love just watching my ponies;how they interact, body language, who's friends and who's billy no mates. Also nice leather tack, especially old leather that's been looked after. I've just bought a pony double bridle at Reading auction, doesn't fit anything I own but it might one day

 

[muckypony]

Clipping out, wiping over with a hot cloth, grooming with a soft brush and enjoying the shine and velvety coat.
I will be doing this soon!

Me too

And then putting a nice soft, clean fleece on! Patting a clipped horse is also one of my favourite things about winter!

 

[Vodkagirly]

I love watching them roll. I get a great satisfaction watching my old boy drop roll, get over to the other side and give that a good scratch, it looks so satisfying and I'm so pleased he still has the flexibility to do it.
I ignore the mud that I have just seen them coat themselves in, in the hope it will be rubbed off before they come in.

 

[alainax]

Sweeping, making feeds, saddlecloths, rugs, plaiting, brushing feathers, applying hoof grease, moving poles around the arena, planning schooling sessions, clapping/petting/stroking a clipped horses fur the wrong way (sorry ) cleaning out horsebox/trailers... ah the list is endless!

 

[HaffiesRock]

My Haffy always blows in my nostrils (and me back) when I get to the yard. I love this and is definitely another thing

 

[Hoof_Prints]

washing tails.. I have 4 while tails to manage and it stresses me out to see a stain setting in !! I am also obsessed with getting their feet done having had them barefoot for years, I now seem to be having shoes done all the time ! definitely less than the average 6 weeks . Their feet do grow pretty fast though.. probably due to being barefoot a long while. I am also a rug addict, they have a rug for every weather and have various changes done throughout the day.

It drives me mad when the clips grow too much so I end up clipping each horse about 7 times each in the winter I'm sure there are many more things but I'll stop now before I sound crazy

 

[minkymoo]

Saddlecloths, though I've not got many, I'm in the hunt for the perfect red one!

My most favourites are that feeling of being on a hack, just me and him, the sense of freedom, and friendship we have. Perfection.

My second favouritest thing is quite a recent one, E always lies down when he comes in each morning and if I'm lucky enough to catch him at the right time and in the right mood, I can sit next to him and he'll put his head in my lap and we can sit there for ages whilst I stroke and kiss him. Precious moments like that, I look foreard to so much!

 

[Pie's mum]

One of my things (which I have come to later in life!!) is always having him well turned out - feathers trimmed, mane pulled, matchy matchy. Oh and Lemieux!

I also have a bit of a thing for muzzle kisses. Could stand there for hours with my cheek against that lovely soft velvety bit between mouth and nostril.

Edited to add Ariat. I am obsessed by their jackets!! Although I have to limit myself onto only when they are in the sale and I have overtime / expenses to claim from work!!

 

[spotty_pony2]

Mine is hoof supplements! I am obsessed with all hoof creams and hoof oils, and use hoof moisturisers in the summer and stockholm tar in the winter.

 

[ShadowHunter]

Feeding! I wish mine wasn't such a good doer so i could feed her more I also have a HUGE deep litter bed thats really satisfying to make clean.
I can tell rugs and saddle cloths will also be my weakness so I'm putting off buying more as i know once i start, i won't stop

 

[Sukistokes2]

Good thread.......

For me it's the smells....hay, pony breath, stables and even the smell of urine after it has settled a bit...weird but there you go.

 

[Regandal]

Good thread.......

For me it's the smells....hay, pony breath, stables and even the smell of urine after it has settled a bit...weird but there you go.

Yes, I'm a sniffer too. My two smell quite different, I could tell them apart blindfolded. Love burying my face in their coats.

 

[Red-1]

Feet.

Jay is barefoot, and I love faffing with his feet. I love cleaning them, walking him barefoot on the road and seeing the shape. I use fancy hoof grease twice a day, love to shape them with a nail file too (I KNOW, it is called a rasp, but to me I am doing his nails).

 

[Pearlsasinger]

i love a nice sunset with a chestnut horse in front of it, i love the way the setting sun makes them look deep copper.

I love standing in the fields with the hose-pipe, filling the water trugs, looking at the view. The horses grazing in the fields, the neighbouring fields, the villages and beyond. We have been here 20 yrs and are still making new discoveries about the places we can see from our fields. Then, of course, there are all the birds to identify.

 

[ossy]

For me it's washing. I love washing things, numnahs, boots, head collers, rugs oh and the horse, as soon as something smells slightly horsey its in the wash lol

 

[Pennythetank]

Love tack cleaning, just the transformation for cardboard old mess to clean and supple. I found an old double bridle in my friends tack room yesterday and had great fun stripping it apart. 😊
As a little kid I was obsessed with picking out feet, dont know why exactly but even now I'm delighted when a wedged stone has to be leavered out.
Plaiting(tails especially!!) and grooming in general but I love getting to take a filthy, unkept horse and scrubbing them, then pulling and banging off mane and tail and turning them out all smart. I can't stand scraggly lanes,tails and feathers. Even heavy cobs generally get hogged, pulled and feathers off if I can get my hands on them but I try to turn out to type( cobs hogged, m+ms to type etc) cos I'm a freak like that. Everything that doesn't have full thick feathers (or does but shouldn't!) get them cut and singed, can't stand them.

 

[EquiEquestrian556]

Clipping - love clipping...Maybe a bit too much!... Feed!! Love making/buying/mixing feed, and supplements...ooh do love looking through all of them, even though we don't need anymore . Tack - you can never have too many pairs of tendon/ brushing boots, or fluffy breastplates, or new bridles....You get my drift I also love making them look pretty, plaiting, bathing, trimming, grooming, whitening etc. Rugs, love seeing them 'tucked up' nice and warm on a cold winter's day.

Seeing them 'in bed' in pyjays, all contently munching on hay, with nice clean bedding.

The end result of all your hard work, seeing them groomed/bathed to perfection, with gleaming coats, oiled hooves and smartly plaited up, a beautiful sight.

In fact, I think I simply love things that involve a horse!

 

[Araboo27]

Any chance you can Pm me how you do that?

I was thinking the same!

 

[suffolkmare]

Definitely pony-watching when they're turned out after a hack, especially watching them roll. Another "thing" is mixing feeds and adding supplements, but my boy won't need any feeds for a while as he's looking quite round and the paddock is looking large and very green still! A new "thing" is hedgerow foraging from horseback...picking damsons or apples while he tucks into some leaves,

 

[Ebenezer_Scrooge]

....Tacking my boy up and going out for long rides just the two of us with no time or distance restrictions especially when he's really fit. I love the way he is happy to go anywhere with my reassurance if he "questions why?" & the way he gets excited at jumping logs etc that we find out hacking. The escape & feeling as one with my horse cannot be quantified...

 

[soulfull]

Tucking up for the night. Especially being last to leave, turn the lights out and hearing the munching, and the smelling the haylage as i leave on a cool winters night

 

[rara007]

Riding, driving, long reining, other training, when it goes right of course I'm a saddo and schooling gives me a buzz as does working on my jumping on my star schoolmaster. Not really a 'things' or 'stable management' girl! Any more than needed, they do get mucked out and have all they need!

 

[acorn92x]

I love putting her to bed and making her stable all lovely and cosy for her - a nice thick shavings bed, a huge bucket of hay, a nice feed and tucking her up in her fleece now that she has been clipped. Even the thought of it makes me feel all cosy and fuzzy inside haha! I'm also a sucker for good turnout and spend one evening a week when I don't ride her just trimming and washing (She's piebald!) her tail and legs just because I like her to look smart. She loves standing there, munching a haynet whilst I pamper her and I love seeing the transformation from a muddy little cob into a smart, gleaming horse! I also have a colourful saddlepad and rug collection which is a bit of a guilty pleasure(!)

 

[LittleRooketRider]

Making and bringing them in to a beautifully bedded stable, feeding, cleaning/polishing/etc. before a competition and subsequently keeping them clean with bandages et al.
Also tack cleaning.
Basically horses are my thing! 😃

 

[Fame]

Sitting with my horse in the stable and enjoy her cuddling, kisses ��
Matchy matchy is a big thing for me too ☺️

 

[Carlosmum]

For me its show preparation.... it starts with the trimming & tidying in the days leading up to the 'do' then the bathing, tucking them up the night before in a clean rug & bandages. But best of all is the tweaking at the show, the hoof oil, the vaseline, and brylcreme. I often think the showing part is the least important for me, I be happy with the 'prep' all day.

 

[HanniRT]

Yes, I'm a sniffer too. My two smell quite different, I could tell them apart blindfolded. Love burying my face in their coats.

This. My non-horsey OH has taken to worrying I prefer the smell of horses to anything else. It's perfectly possible I do.

I'm another who actually enjoys making feeds. And I obsessively clean tack.

 

[HanniRT]

Love tack cleaning, just the transformation for cardboard old mess to clean and supple. I found an old double bridle in my friends tack room yesterday and had great fun stripping it apart. 😊
As a little kid I was obsessed with picking out feet, dont know why exactly but even now I'm delighted when a wedged stone has to be leavered out.
Plaiting(tails especially!!) and grooming in general but I love getting to take a filthy, unkept horse and scrubbing them, then pulling and banging off mane and tail and turning them out all smart. I can't stand scraggly lanes,tails and feathers. Even heavy cobs generally get hogged, pulled and feathers off if I can get my hands on them but I try to turn out to type( cobs hogged, m+ms to type etc) cos I'm a freak like that. Everything that doesn't have full thick feathers (or does but shouldn't!) get them cut and singed, can't stand them.

Forgot to add tail plaiting!!

It has to be exact. In fact it's worrying that I plait my daughters hair in a similar way. Almost to the point I want to sew the end bit up. Her teacher who, who also rides, spotted this trait and laughed.

 

[Hoof_Prints]

I am the opposite to all the tucking up in bed with their pjs on, I fully enjoy chucking them out in the field rugged up and knowing I don't have to muck out in the morning I like to see them all canter off in a herd up the fields to roam all night

 

[marmalade76]

I have a thing for feed like you, OP, it started when I was pregnant/ had small babies and it was all I could really do, go and feed them.