I dare you to watch this video and not cry:
Of COURSE they remembered each other. I knew they would. How perfectly wonderful to see this, though. As far as horses having emotions, I don't think there's ever been any doubt in my mind... ;-)
Showing posts with label Horsey Thoughts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Horsey Thoughts. Show all posts
Friday, March 22, 2013
Friday, December 7, 2012
Horsey Quotes
“Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of Solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole and, once it has done so, he will have to accept that his life will be radically changed.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
There are a great many horse-related quotes out there, but this is one of my favorites (as I whole-heartedly agree with the sentiment!). Another is:
"There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man."
This one is often attributed to Ronald Reagan, who was fond of repeating it. It's also attributed to Winston Churchill, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Dr. John Abernethy and Woodrow Wilson's physician, Dr. Gary Grayson. Now, I don't know about you, but I've never heard of the latter two gentlemen. I always figured Winston Churchill was the one who said it. Or maybe it was M.C. Self, writing in Horseman's Encyclopedia in 1946 (a famous and well-regarded tome), who said it first?
Well, no, apparently not! The ORIGINAL author of this quote appears to be the Duke of Beaufort. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of Dukes of Beaufort, but I think they're talking about this one, the 10th Duke:
This isn't really a quote, but I've bet you've all heard the words, "It's just a horse." I've also heard it applied to both of my dogs and my guinea pigs. ESPECIALLY my guinea pigs ("You spent how much at the vet, on a RAT??!?"). Don't you just want to slug people sometimes?
"Horses are not my whole life, but they make my life whole." ~ Author Unknown
I encourage you to find a couple of these quotes, with nice illustrations, and many more at this entertaining site. Lots of neat stuff on there!
[*Researched via quotationspage.com and Wikipedia]
Friday, September 2, 2011
What Makes a Horse Person?
A blog post over at Equestrian Ink has inspired me to explore this question. What makes a "horse person" a Horse Person? Here's what I think...
First of all, it is emphatically NOT owning your own horse. I could not feel more strongly about this. There are an awful lot of people, myself included, who have dreamed of and would like nothing more than to own a horse, but are not able to for a variety of reasons. I'm sure lack of money is probably the biggest, but lack of time, physical problems or no suitable facility in the area would be other common factors. My own reason is definitely a lack of money, with a side of a dearth of time (two jobs and two kids in high school, with a myriad of activities going on in which I'm heavily involved). Not having my own horse is rough, but it's never stopped me from finding a way to be around them and if I'm lucky, to actually ride. It's never changed how I feel about them.
Being a Horse Person means there isn't a day that goes by where you don't want to see, touch, read about or just think about horses.
~ It means you would rather do something, anything, horsey than about 90% of other activities (sorry, Honey!).
~ It means you try to incorporate horses into your life whenever possible: the house you buy (!), decorating said house, the clothing you wear, jewelry, vacations, you name it.
~ It means if there's a horse within a mile of you, you will probably hear or smell it and instantly wonder what it's doing, how it's feeling and if the owner is taking care of it properly.
~ It means that if anything else even remotely horsey catches your eye, you will look for them. "A white fence and a pasture? Where's the horse(s)? What, it's a trash-processing plant?... Oh, well."
~ It means you don't care what discipline, what breed, what kind of horse might be available for viewing, you will watch it and absorb every detail of its appearance.
~ It means that even if you're not riding, every single page of the new Dover catalog or Practical Horseman must be perused at leisure, and surveyed for a possible iota of new or fascinating information.
~ It means that people must be carefully exposed to your horse obsession lest they think you're a weirdo, or if they haven't seen you in a long time, aren't too shocked that you still have it at the advanced age of 40-something. (The latter happened to me last year. I got comments like, "Gosh, I'm surprised you still have horse models in your bedroom. I know you did when you were 10, but, uh...")
~ It means that when word gets around, other people will actually respect you for your horse knowledge and seek you out for answers to burning questions such as, "Who do you like for the Derby?"
~ It means that you will give up many, many things that other people consider essential to existence in order to pay for riding or even just seeing a horse. "Let's see: one copy of People magazine, or one gallon of gas to run to the horse show and back. Duh."
~ It means that you have at least two categories of friends, "horsey friends" and "non-horsey friends." They view each other with suspicion if intermingled, and the latter group tends to recoil in disgust when the former try to impress them with sheath-cleaning stories and insider lingo. "So then he let out a double-barrel just as we were swapping to make the rollback since he landed wrong. I nearly went off onto my GPA, but the Sadl-Tite held out, the Pelham I was trying got his head back up and we made the next oxer although he left from Timbuktu!" (I dare you to try that sentence out on your non-horsey friends next time you see them!)
~ It means that even though you don't have your own, there have been/are horses in your life who have meant the world to you. Doesn't matter if they're famous (Secretariat, Zenyatta) or not (Grey-Baby, Mare, Marbles, LiRoi); the mere fact of their existence brings joy to your heart and a light to your soul. You will love them forever and ever.
I spent about 10 years almost completely away from horses, busy raising human children and living life as a stay-at-home mom. I would not trade those years for a million bucks and I know how I lucky I was to be able to do that. However, the trade-off was putting aside a vital part of my being. In case I ever wondered if this was true, during those years I occasionally experienced torturous dreams that caused me to wake up crying. They all followed the same theme: I was with a horse, I was grooming it, I was tacking it up, I would be at the point of putting my foot in the stirrup and then... it would be gone. Someone else would ride off on it or it would just vanish. I never stopped thinking about horses, but the part of me that longed to be back in the saddle never went away. I don't think I've ever smiled harder in my life than the day (okay, maybe at my wedding :-) that I came home having found a great barn with an adult lesson program, picked up my saddle, and announced to the family, "I'll be needing this soon."
Did I remember how to ride? Hell, yeah. Was I sorer than you-know-what for a week afterwards? OH, yes. But did my heart feel like it was finally back in the right place? Yup, it sure did.
I, for one, have never, ever doubted that I will go to my grave a HORSE PERSON (and hopefully with a photo of my very own tucked to my chest along with one of my family).
First of all, it is emphatically NOT owning your own horse. I could not feel more strongly about this. There are an awful lot of people, myself included, who have dreamed of and would like nothing more than to own a horse, but are not able to for a variety of reasons. I'm sure lack of money is probably the biggest, but lack of time, physical problems or no suitable facility in the area would be other common factors. My own reason is definitely a lack of money, with a side of a dearth of time (two jobs and two kids in high school, with a myriad of activities going on in which I'm heavily involved). Not having my own horse is rough, but it's never stopped me from finding a way to be around them and if I'm lucky, to actually ride. It's never changed how I feel about them.
Being a Horse Person means there isn't a day that goes by where you don't want to see, touch, read about or just think about horses.
~ It means you would rather do something, anything, horsey than about 90% of other activities (sorry, Honey!).
~ It means you try to incorporate horses into your life whenever possible: the house you buy (!), decorating said house, the clothing you wear, jewelry, vacations, you name it.
~ It means if there's a horse within a mile of you, you will probably hear or smell it and instantly wonder what it's doing, how it's feeling and if the owner is taking care of it properly.
~ It means that if anything else even remotely horsey catches your eye, you will look for them. "A white fence and a pasture? Where's the horse(s)? What, it's a trash-processing plant?... Oh, well."
~ It means you don't care what discipline, what breed, what kind of horse might be available for viewing, you will watch it and absorb every detail of its appearance.
~ It means that even if you're not riding, every single page of the new Dover catalog or Practical Horseman must be perused at leisure, and surveyed for a possible iota of new or fascinating information.
~ It means that people must be carefully exposed to your horse obsession lest they think you're a weirdo, or if they haven't seen you in a long time, aren't too shocked that you still have it at the advanced age of 40-something. (The latter happened to me last year. I got comments like, "Gosh, I'm surprised you still have horse models in your bedroom. I know you did when you were 10, but, uh...")
~ It means that when word gets around, other people will actually respect you for your horse knowledge and seek you out for answers to burning questions such as, "Who do you like for the Derby?"
~ It means that you will give up many, many things that other people consider essential to existence in order to pay for riding or even just seeing a horse. "Let's see: one copy of People magazine, or one gallon of gas to run to the horse show and back. Duh."
~ It means that you have at least two categories of friends, "horsey friends" and "non-horsey friends." They view each other with suspicion if intermingled, and the latter group tends to recoil in disgust when the former try to impress them with sheath-cleaning stories and insider lingo. "So then he let out a double-barrel just as we were swapping to make the rollback since he landed wrong. I nearly went off onto my GPA, but the Sadl-Tite held out, the Pelham I was trying got his head back up and we made the next oxer although he left from Timbuktu!" (I dare you to try that sentence out on your non-horsey friends next time you see them!)
~ It means that even though you don't have your own, there have been/are horses in your life who have meant the world to you. Doesn't matter if they're famous (Secretariat, Zenyatta) or not (Grey-Baby, Mare, Marbles, LiRoi); the mere fact of their existence brings joy to your heart and a light to your soul. You will love them forever and ever.
I spent about 10 years almost completely away from horses, busy raising human children and living life as a stay-at-home mom. I would not trade those years for a million bucks and I know how I lucky I was to be able to do that. However, the trade-off was putting aside a vital part of my being. In case I ever wondered if this was true, during those years I occasionally experienced torturous dreams that caused me to wake up crying. They all followed the same theme: I was with a horse, I was grooming it, I was tacking it up, I would be at the point of putting my foot in the stirrup and then... it would be gone. Someone else would ride off on it or it would just vanish. I never stopped thinking about horses, but the part of me that longed to be back in the saddle never went away. I don't think I've ever smiled harder in my life than the day (okay, maybe at my wedding :-) that I came home having found a great barn with an adult lesson program, picked up my saddle, and announced to the family, "I'll be needing this soon."
Did I remember how to ride? Hell, yeah. Was I sorer than you-know-what for a week afterwards? OH, yes. But did my heart feel like it was finally back in the right place? Yup, it sure did.
I, for one, have never, ever doubted that I will go to my grave a HORSE PERSON (and hopefully with a photo of my very own tucked to my chest along with one of my family).
“Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of Solitaire. It is a grand passion. It seizes a person whole and, once it has done so, he will have to accept that his life will be radically changed.”
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
At "The Barn"
What happens when an ordinary, non-"horseperson" enters a horse barn:
"Phew, it stinks in here. How come I can't pat that one? She's cute!" (This about the resident stallion)
"What? Watch where I'm step - OH, CRAP, what was that? It was crap? Dammit, these are my good shoes!"
"Here, I'll just give this one a carrot. OWWW! It tried to bite me!"
"Move? Where? *Excited neighing*Thundering hooves* Sorry... I didn't see you coming with that horse. I'm really sorry it got away...."
"Maybe I should just go wait in the car."
What happens when a horseperson enters a barn:
You are at home.
Seriously, I've always marveled at the differing reactions to horse barns. Since I was a little kid, I am struck anew at how happy I am to be there every time I walk in (As long as it's a nice barn, of course! I've also gone in a couple where my reaction was "Oh, no..."). It's so many little things but they add up to the whole "barn experience," for those of us who like them...
Dust motes swirling in the sunlight glancing through the doorway. Birds flying about, or preening and cooing on the rafters or stall tops. Alert equines peering over stall doors, looking for their owner or a treat. The sweet smell of hay, overlaid with eau de horse. The delicious aromas of well cared-for leather and saddle soap. The sharp tang of liniment. Soft nickers, throaty rumbles, irritated squeals, whinnies and neighs. The occasional thud of a hoof meeting a wall or floor, and the soft swish of tails lazily shooing flies. The rhythmic chewing of hay. Buckets and feed tubs being flung against the wall as hungry muzzles dig into dinner. Hooves moving around in shavings. Laughter and giggles from humans grooming contented horses.
There are few places I'd rather be on a warm, sunny day, filled with the anticipation of a good ride. I know you all feel the same way, too! Happy (almost) Spring!
[I will casting back my mind to childhood days again for my next post, but just had to share how I feel about horse barns in general. :-)]
"Phew, it stinks in here. How come I can't pat that one? She's cute!" (This about the resident stallion)
"What? Watch where I'm step - OH, CRAP, what was that? It was crap? Dammit, these are my good shoes!"
"Here, I'll just give this one a carrot. OWWW! It tried to bite me!"
"Move? Where? *Excited neighing*Thundering hooves* Sorry... I didn't see you coming with that horse. I'm really sorry it got away...."
"Maybe I should just go wait in the car."
What happens when a horseperson enters a barn:
You are at home.
Seriously, I've always marveled at the differing reactions to horse barns. Since I was a little kid, I am struck anew at how happy I am to be there every time I walk in (As long as it's a nice barn, of course! I've also gone in a couple where my reaction was "Oh, no..."). It's so many little things but they add up to the whole "barn experience," for those of us who like them...
Dust motes swirling in the sunlight glancing through the doorway. Birds flying about, or preening and cooing on the rafters or stall tops. Alert equines peering over stall doors, looking for their owner or a treat. The sweet smell of hay, overlaid with eau de horse. The delicious aromas of well cared-for leather and saddle soap. The sharp tang of liniment. Soft nickers, throaty rumbles, irritated squeals, whinnies and neighs. The occasional thud of a hoof meeting a wall or floor, and the soft swish of tails lazily shooing flies. The rhythmic chewing of hay. Buckets and feed tubs being flung against the wall as hungry muzzles dig into dinner. Hooves moving around in shavings. Laughter and giggles from humans grooming contented horses.
There are few places I'd rather be on a warm, sunny day, filled with the anticipation of a good ride. I know you all feel the same way, too! Happy (almost) Spring!
[I will casting back my mind to childhood days again for my next post, but just had to share how I feel about horse barns in general. :-)]
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