When did you...?

W

Wayne_Coe

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 March 2015
Messages
69
Location
Bingley, West Yorkshire
Visit site
Realise that you were "horse mad" and the love affair began?

For me, I am pretty sure it was my mums fault, I grew up on a smallholding and she put me on her mare before I could walk! Over the years, as my catering career progressed... I would stroke and talk to the horses on my way to work and when I was laid off, I volunteered with the RDA and loaned a horse for a year, met my ex and went back to Catering and Sailing until we split and I madly?! took on a Working Pupil role with estate duties (thanks for the tractor lessons Brian!!), worked in a couple of yards and the bug has severely bitten!
 
Probably the first day i went for a ride at the age of aboooot 3 or 4 and my dad had to give me a smack because i refused to get off and leave. I kicked up a right stink. Went back every week until i got my own pony.
 
I grew up in an unhorsey house in a city suburb. My earliest memory is looking at horses in a field across the road from me. Sometime between the ages of 3 and 4 houses were built in the field (I am now 52!). I don't know where my passion for horses came from. Someone on my father's side did a family tree. My grandfather, who was dead before my parents met in the 1940's, had been head coachman for the local gentry originally, and his father apparently was from a family of renouned horse whisperers. So maybe it's genetic.
BTW, my father lived and worked in the city for all of his adult life and had nothing to do with horses. He died when I was 13 and I got no encouragement from him before that as he was as unhorsey as my mother who was a city girl through and through.
 
Last edited:
I just remember that if I heard hooves on the road outside our house, I would run to the window as fast as my legs would carry me to see the horse. I don't recall ever not being horse mad.
 
Since my childhood friend told me she rode and my mum got a horse.. I could on groom his shoulder but hey, who cares. :p

P.S - we are still awaiting that video of you falling off a pony on the other thread!! :p :) :)
 
As DD265 says, I don't remember not loving horses!

I remember getting catalogues and circling the bits of tack I would have for my horse and looking at my breed book to find the perfect horse. I think this is why Ned has so much stuff...now I can finally afford all that stuff that I wanted!
 
I can't remember not being "horse-mad" either. As soon as I could put pencil to paper I tried to draw horses, and I recall playing a game with my cousin that involved crawling about on hands and knees with scarves tucked in our waistbands for tails, because we were the naughty twin foals of her lovely dapple rocking horse! Due to very non-horsey parents I never had more than a few lessons and holiday treks, so ended up stop-start riding as an adult. Regular lessons were then dependent on my circumstances at the time followed by a share and a break for motherhood; having a keen daughter finally got me back in the saddle and achieving what I had given up on aged 12...my own (ish) pony, :) Interestingly another, younger, cousin, took up riding in her teens, so I think it might be "in the blood" but just skipped a generation or two!
 
I don't remember ever not being horse mad! I imagine it would be from my gran though as she rode in her youth and was named after a horse (different story) she used to point out horses to me as a wee whippersnapper all the time and took me to lessons when I was able to pay for them :biggrin3:

My mum is not horsey in the least apart from occasionally patting mine, which came in handy when 15 year old me convinced her to let me buy an unbacked 2 year old, tee hee!

We have discovered lots of horsey folks in my family tree and one of my nieces is quite keen dispite never really seeing mine and my Bro being very anti horse!

I think it's in the blood somewhere, you either love them or don't :)
 
I was about 5 and we had gone on holiday to a caravan park and there was a pony trekking place attached. I was lifted on to a grey pony called Bangles and led round the park and I was hooked. From then on my dreams were of horses, my favourite toys were horses, my walls had pictures of horses on and I would pat my bicycle saddle when I put in back in the stable, sorry, garage. As a hormonal teenager I would even get upset seeing horses in fields as I couldn't see how I would ever get one of my own; we lived in suburbia, money was tight and one else in my family is remotely horsey. Twenty five years later though I finally did!
 
Last edited:
Probably when I was aged 3 or 4. I remember opening the back door of our house and finding a horse on the yard!! Ok, so it was hitched to the cart the coal man used to deliver coal, but I was allowed to stroke the horsey and give it a carrot and from then on I couldn't wait for coal deliveries. Our house at the time had a long drive way up the side and the coal man used to reverse up it with horsey backing the cart through a gate and up the drive!! I was finally allowed riding lessons when I was about 5 at a local riding school, and never got over it. I'm 61 now and still trying to get the hang of it ....!!
 
I don't ever remember not liking them and wanting to be with them. My grandad had a Welsh cob called Joey, used to pull a cart around Sittingbourne in Kent. The problem was my grandmother on the other side of the family hated horses, it didn't help that if I touched a horse my face would swell. My Nan used to go into hysterics over it, telling my eyes would fall out and I would stay like it if I touched a horses again. ( she was sadly a product of her time) My parents were less worried, it turned out I was the same with fluffy dogs, cats and bunnies. In the end we had them all and I kind of got over it. I remember my first riding lessons not being able to see because my eyes were swollen shut. It turned out that I can get used to my own horses and not react to them, strange horses can still set me off.....not that it stops me petting them.
 
I can't remember not loving horses. As a child I had a Sindy doll and her horse and tack. I used to ride in the car permanently looking for horses in the fields and if we ever met one out hacking I was so excited. I'm much the same today apart from the dolls. I bought my first horse as soon as I could as my family were non horsey and would have never afforded one for me. My dad promised me a horse for years when he won the football pools, needless to say it never happened. I just think I was born a horse lover/ animal lover. I also used to ride the back of the sofa and play horses all the time. I even used to dream about them.
 
Last edited:
When I was 3 or 4 we used to have a rag and bone man who used a horse and cart and I used to rush outside to look at the horsey when he came along. Also, a couple of houses in our road had little teeny yards each with a horse in, presumably cart horses rather than riding horses as we weren't in the country as such. I always used to look when we walked by to see if I could a horses head peering over the stable door.

I pestered my poor parents for a pony as soon as I could utter the words. I was obsessed with horses despite having never been exposed to them apart from the glimpses I mentioned. Then we did move to the country with fields next to and behind our house but my parents couldn't afford to buy me a pony. I used to stare out the bedroom window knowing that the riding school ride would come along a couple of times a day. If I heard hooves I was out like a shot to watch the horses. Then my friend and I acquired halters and used to ride some ponies bareback that lived in the field next to my house. Of course I'd severely hurt anyone OI found doing that with my horse now LOL. We also had a fallen tree in our garden which my friend and used as our 'horses' with doormat saddled and looped string stirrups and string reins.

I spent all my spare time helping out at a local RS in return for rides, went to the RS near my house when I had extra pennies as they had an indoor school and 'proper' instructors. I used to build SJ courses for the family dog to jump and dressage arenas in the back garden. I used to help a local lady with her Showjumpers after school but I was too small to ride them, I used to groom for her at shows every weekend. I learnt a huge amount re stable management and general horse care from her.

It's definitely some kind of virus that lives in you that you either have or you don't.
 
when i was a kid my grandparents lived almost next door to the police horse training centre near Bristol and there was a lovely old retired police horse in the field next to his vegie allotment , i used to feed him gramps carrots and parsnips and sneak onto his back for a plod around the field, very naughty of me but i was only tiny and had to climb on the fence to get on him, i adored him and he'd come galloping towards me every Saturday, i did this for 2 or 3 years and then one day he wasn't there and the police later told me he had died, i was gutted and swore that one day i would have a horse and at 43 i got 2 !!!
 
I didnt start riding until I was 7/8 and had moved to NI.

mum rode when she was younger, but gave it up in her teens. My great-aunt had horses for years, I can remember visiting her when I was 4/5 and she had a 'big' horse - however I never met Athena, the horse mum always talked about that she had, or the pony that came after the horse I met!

mum asked me if I'd like to try a lesson, and I picked it up very quickly - was off LR in 3/4 weeks and cantering after a few months. I'd never been fussed on horses before, but it took me a while to really become horse mad. Whilst I enjoyed my lessons and the pony camps etc, pestering mum for a pony didn't begin until I found myself absolutely in love with one of the RS ponies, a cheeky Welsh gelding who wasn't always the easiest and could be a bit of a monkey but taught me a lot and we shared an understanding lol

after that I was spending as much time as I could at the RS, although I did take a break for a few weeks at some point.
 
Shady said:
when i was a kid my grandparents lived almost next door to the police horse training centre near Bristol and there was a lovely old retired police horse in the field next to his vegie allotment , i used to feed him gramps carrots and parsnips and sneak onto his back for a plod around the field, very naughty of me but i was only tiny and had to climb on the fence to get on him, i adored him and he'd come galloping towards me every Saturday, i did this for 2 or 3 years and then one day he wasn't there and the police later told me he had died, i was gutted and swore that one day i would have a horse and at 43 i got 2 !!!
Click to expand...

They probably knew you used to sneak onto him but didn't say anything. :)
 
Nobody in my family had ever had anything to do with horses but from a young age my daughter loved them. I first sat on a horse at the age of 30! We were on holiday and there were riding stables on site, my daughter wanted to ride and I was 'persuaded' to go as well. I really enjoyed it and for the next 10 years would go on occasional treks for daughters birthday etc. Then, egged on by my daughter, I had my first lesson at the age of 42, got bitten by the bug and bought my first horse 3 years later, an older bombproof gelding who looked after me until he was pts in February. I have just bought my second horse, a five year old mare.....we've certainly come a long way since that first sit on a horse :)
 
I always liked horses. On the way to my grandparents there was a shop which sold huge old fashioned rocking horses on runners. I used to stare in the window every time, then watch out for the mural of a white horse painted on the side of a pub. I have a memory of deciding not to ask for a rocking horse this Christmas because a real one would be so much better. I was five. I used to rush to the window every time I heard hooves to watch the horses go by. I lived in a town before it became too built up. There was a farm with two shires on the outskirts and I was taken to the edge of the field to see them occasionally. There was a riding school in my street but I never went there and then it closed. I finally was allowed riding lessons at age ten when my parents decided it was not just a phase. From then on I immersed myself in all things horsey, reading anything I could get hold of, buying headcollar and bridle for my future pony, I competed half shares and went to pony club where I started taking the exams. I rode anything and everything offered, roamed the countryside for hours, learned a lot about schooling badly behaved ponies and frequently fell off. I took a break while I was at college for a year but a death in the family when I was younger had taught me life was too short, so there was no being sensible for me! When I got my first proper job the first thing I did was to buy a horse. I still have him now and although life circumstances dictate that I do not ride much any more, when I am old and past it the memories of all that we have done and the places we have seen will keep me smiling.
 
I was horse mad as a child and apparently asked for lessons, started just before my 7th birthday, mum and auntie were horse mad but my nana and granddad couldnt afford lessons, mum and auntie rode sporadically as teens ( I think helping for rides etc). Auntie started again just before I did, mum started, cousin and later my brother. We rode many different school horses/ponies, helped out at weekends etc but Auntie then had horses which we rode. I gave up when I was 17 and only started again seriously when I met my OH through horses, we now have two and compete for fun. Horses are definitely in my blood and I remember when at school being persuaded by teachers and parents not to leave school and be a groom! I dont have a horsey job, my horses keep me sane and am so lucky that work pays for what I always dreamed for! There was a whole gang of us pony mad but pony less kids "helping" at the yard.
 
My mum always liked horses but had never ridden. When I was 8 some people moved near us who were in the process of buying a pony for their daughter. I made friends with daughter and was allowed to go and ride her pony. I was given money for my 9th birthday so put that to good use and booked myself a course of riding lessons. Then at 11 I got the opportunity to ride a section b called Rebel every Saturday and the lady who's pony it was used to give me lessons as she was an AI. Teenage years hit and Spud came into my life as my first loan pony. He was my introduction to NF's. :)
 
I was born in London to a completely non horsey family. I can remember hospital visits with two large rocking horses in the waiting room. I've no idea why I went regularly as I must have been two or three at the most but I just loved going for a chance to ride one of them.
We moved to Hastings when I was three and every time we passed a field with horses in, my mum and dad stopped the car so I could look and very occasionally pat. One day when I was about 5 an owner came over and offered me a ride, I was completely hooked from then on. My parents couldn't afford lessons until I was 7 but from then on I just lived for the weekends at the riding school.
I've no idea who the kind person was who gave me that first joyful experience but I'm forever in their debt!
 
Forever!
We used to have a caravan when we were kids and it was stored on a farm in a field with the farmers daughters horses. I came from a non horsey family, and was very very shy...but loved having rides on the horses when we went to collect the caravan. Mum said it was the only time I was confident to be away from her.
40 odd years later I think I'm more in love with them than ever. My now husband and I bought our first horse together before we bought the house and got married.
 
I can only remember wanting too see or touch every single equine from before I could walk. Sadly my mum did not approve.
 
Another forever person here!
My parents bought me my first pony, a scrappy shetland, when I was 18 months old. Love affair grew even more from there. If there was a horse, pony or anything resembling equine, I'd be there smiling. My fondest child hood memories, playing 'ponies'...I'd be jumping things on foot, my imagination running wild as I 'won' the Grand National, and Hickstead or was a naughty pony at pony club!! My late grandmother would tell me many a story of her horsey childhood, and that was amazing. I'd draw pictures of horses, and if I got persuaded to do anything other than draw a horse, I'd object. LOL
Both my parents are horsey, and even now, 35 years later, I still have a horse, and have never been horse-less.
 
My horseyness was always a bit of a source of bemusement to my non horsey family. Apparently at the age of 2 I suddenly became obsessed with them. I was lucky enough that my dad arranged for me to have lessons when I turned 3 - and the rest is history! I bought Pie as soon as I was able, once I was in a proper secure job and he's still with me 13 years later having taught me so so much.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top