Thinking about horses... [Archive] - American Paso Finos.com Forums

britzlove

03-19-2007, 07:31 PM

Just what I came up with after this weekend...

For my daughter..Friday afternoon I downloaded music..and she wanted some horse songs.

Among those were some of my favorites and I even found some new ones. And so started the questioning of why I cry like a baby when I hear "Wildfire" and "Run for the Roses". She's also experienced me cry babying at the end of "Sea Biscuit" and "Phar Lap" and of course, "The Man From Snowy River".

So as I spoke to my child about the fact that she need not worry I wasn't sad...and she wondered if it was happy crying...I tried desperately to explain that I have no means to describe why...but what I said was "Baby, there's just always been something about horses..."

So as I could not really explain it to her...I may not be able to explain it here...but I'm gonna try...

I am that kid that spent weeks sleeping in a stall next to an ugly, fairly rank appaloosa colt whose mind was broken and was unsafe. I am that kid that has been to the track since before I could walk...and who can speak to the horrors and the immeasurable power of the good there...I'm the kid who stuck in perpetual middle class had to really work for my horses...yes...I cleaned 25 stalls daily every week for weekly lessons with an average instructor...and I babysat, pet sat, cleaned houses, dumped garbage, yard maintenance for $ for the extras.
I read "Misty" maybe 3 X a year, my tattered copy of "National Velvet" was just given to my daughter last night. My walls were covered in magazine cutouts and photographs, and a handful of trophies and ribbons...cause they were few but hard earned.
Looking back on 30 years now…

What I'm saying is...

There's just something about horses...

Some essence barely definable in human terms...

Above all else...and this I have told many non-horse friends who wonder why I sacrifice so for them...the horse has to be the most honest creature in existence.

I still can’t put it in words…but you can see in every photo…hear it in every hoofbeat.

My gratitude for these animals…30 years a horse crazy kid...I have no regrets.

Heidi

03-19-2007, 08:47 PM

My gratitude for these animals…## years a horse crazy kid...I have no regrets.
Me, too.

I guess I grew up a fairly priviledged kid because I had my horses on our own property since I was 6 years old, but I never took them for granted and could never 'easily dismiss them' because of my close familiarity with having them constantly around. By the time I was around 11 I had free rein with them and unlimited riding while the parents were at work. I rode all year round, sometimes getting up in the middle of a moonlit night to ride in the ground fog or waking at 4am to ride before the heat of summer.
Like you, I also get choked up at horse songs and movies. It strikes a responding chord inside of me that I must respond to, and many times the emotion is so great that only crying will let it out without damaging me because there is no earthly way I could hold that feeling inside.

I love horses. They must always be a part of my life. They define who I am.
Heidi

Terri

03-19-2007, 09:11 PM

Thank you for posting this. It moved me.
And Heidi, what you said is so true for me too:
I love horses. They must always be a part of my life. They define who I am.

I grew up a "lesson kid". Every babysitting, grasscutting, chore dollar went toward lessons. I would beg to clean stalls. I kept some left over horse hair from a grooming in a little plastic box to smell inbetween trips to the barn. As a teenager I would spend summers with my Aunt who would free lease an old retired show morgan for me to hack around on. I didn't actually own my own horse until I was 24. And then had to take time off from horses to have human babies.

But horses have always filled my dreams and thoughts. To this day, I can't drive past one in the field without craning my neck to get a better look. It is kind of miracle I haven't crashed more cars. My husband made a CD full of horse tunes of me to listen to in the car. I must have played it a million times. I think one of my teenagers hid it. I can't find it.

But what IS it about us and horses. Is there a gene that attracts only some people to these animals or is it some deep psychological calling that not everyone hears. Why are some of us from birth horsepeople and others think we are crazy. Sure some kids, mainly girls, get into it for a while and "grow out of it". But there are others, like all of us addicts on this board that need horses like we need air. What is it that causes that?

TrueStepPaso

03-19-2007, 09:34 PM

...I have no regrets.

Right on! I took care of everyone else's horses just to be NEAR them....if I got to ride, then that was the frosting on the cake.
I once had a job at a very well-known stable for about a year before I bought my own horse. The pay was awful, and it was 75 stalls between myself & one other girl....on top of that, we fed, groomed, turned out, and rotated. I gave up my lunch break nearly EVERY day to ride a horse for 40 minutes....I lost twenty from grooming, saddling, and warming up. :roll:

From when I was about 8 until I was 14 yrs old, I practically LIVED at a farm that my best friend's parents owned.....all of us girls would sleep in the barn at night with the horses on the hay in the aisle way with blankets, pillows, soda & candy (which we fed the horse, too, of course). Sometimes we'd go for a night ride...and we ALWAYS rode bareback...always. Everyday, we'd either go swimming with the horses, or ride to the Indian Head Campground store to replenish our candy supply (we'd argue over who had to carry the big back all the way back to the farm).....or, both. It was the best....and those horses were priceless! Even though they were HOT, for some reason they took pretty good care of us!

I could never get enough, and today, I still can't......I hear ya, Britz....about 5 months ago, I went out to search for a DVD of the Black Stallion, thinking I would never find such a thing.....and....I found it! I held on to it like it was gold, all the way to the register! I got all misty-eyed as soon as it started, but the tears came when Alec finally befriends the Black, and especially when he gets him into the water, and they run down the beach with Alec's arms spread out! OMG, I love that movie.....there's very little dialogue until the end, and I think Francis Ford Coppola & Carol Ballard did an amazing job...even the music is excellent!

It may be indescribable to someone who doesn't deeply love horses, but I'll bet there's a few of us on here that understand exactly what you're talking about. ;-)

Cindy

03-19-2007, 09:52 PM

I cry like a baby when I hear "Wildfire" and "Run for the Roses".

I do too. Glad I am not alone. I feel like a fool when I can't even listen to a song in public without blubbering. And I can't even watch movies about any kind of animal any more because there is always the part where the animal is mistreated or hurt in some way and I just can't watch it. Even if they end in some happy way I can't go through the other part. I don't know if it is a gene or a sickness or what but some people just have it and some people just don't.

Heidi

03-19-2007, 09:58 PM

...some of us from birth horsepeople...
My mother was always amazed at the close connection I shared with horses, how I could get them to do anything I asked, with little effort. She didn't know where I got it from...

This concept had my mother boggled for many, many years. My father's family are all city-people. My mother's family, too. Mom was raised on Long Island in NY. She was very afraid of horses and other farm animals, though she allowed us kids to have them when we moved to our country property in California with her second husband, whose family raised TBs for racing at the Bay Area tracks and awakened my yearning for everything horse.

It wasn't until she was researching genealogy over the past several years that she came across a relative who had a story to relate to her, about her father's, father's, father from (her great-grandfather, my great-great grandfather) Hungary. He was known far and wide as the man to bring your horses to for training and horses and other livestock for medical care.
Mom now knows where I got it from...

CarolU

03-19-2007, 09:59 PM

Jeesh Cindy...me too! I can't watch Pharlap, told people NOT to buy me Horse Whisperer, and refuse to watch animal rescue shows. I blubber when I see dead cats, dogs, horses, deer on the side of the road, and heaven forbid one of my horses is sick. I live in the barn.

As for childhood, mine was like yours Abbey. We didn't have horses. I 'adopted' myself to a family with horses when I was four. I guess they got sick of me, because it was them that convinced my parents I wasn't going to outgrow it.

They are just part of who I am. I don't even want to think of a life without them.

Carol Nelson

03-19-2007, 10:00 PM

Me too, britz...only make that 53 years... ;-) :smile:

Laura S

03-19-2007, 10:49 PM

Wow, my childhood was all very similar to all yours. From the time I was 9 years old I spent days after school and weekends at the local farm. My family had to come get me if they wanted me to do anything with them. And my feelings for horses now are even more intense. Sometimes I wonder if I am just crazy, but I guess not. I feel like I live, sleep and breathe horses.

And Heidi, like you, there was nobody in my family that had an interest in horses. Then when my grandfather died several yrs ago, we were cleaning out his house and I found a newspaper article of his grandmother riding a horse in NYC, saying she was considered one of the top 6 woman riders in the country! That was way back in the early 1900's. She was getting ready for a show on the Bay Shore (must be Long Island) and the pic was of her riding side saddle. She looked like one mean lady!

So I am keeping my eye on my daughter to see if she has the same disease. So far I think she does a little, but not as bad as I do! And now I wont feel so dumb when I cry listening to Wild Fire, because I know that there are others that do the same thing, lol!

CarolU

03-19-2007, 10:54 PM

Sometimes I wonder if I am just crazy, but I guess not. I feel like I live, sleep and breathe horses.

You couldn't POSSIBLY be crazy!!!! (if you are, you have a lot of company!!!)

tinomino

03-20-2007, 02:04 AM

My story sounds alot like everyone's. I started taking pony rides at a local place when I was five. From there I made friend's with my neighbor vivien who was like 70 years old. She was the first introduction I had to paso finos. She had an old mare named Florinda who was 31 when she died. She was the sweetest mare ever. Vivien needed a riding companion so I got to ride her appy gelding. She taught me to ride and I spent all my time at the barn when I wasn't in school or doing homework. I did chores before school and after every day. When the former owner of her appy wanted him back I thought I was not going to be able to ride anymore. Well Vivien went out and bought me a new horse. A POA appy cross. He was a strawberry roan with a blanket. So adorable. I fell in love with that sickly pony the second I saw him. He was a lesson horse at one time and he needed alot of work when I got him but he was a good horse. I was lucky I only ever needed to pay for my tack and any fun things like shows or trailering to friend's houses. Vivien paid for all the other expenses for me. I will forever be greatful for all she did for me.

When I went to UMass is when I met Sue and was lucky enough to get to ride her horses. I started off riding the paint she used to have and then when Jose found out I had ridden Pasos before I got to try out Tino. Well the rest is history! I have been riding Tino ever since. He and I have been through alot. I couldn't catch him when I first started riding him and he wouldn't go away from the barn without putting up a hissy fit a couple times unless I had someone else with me. I am so crazy about him even if he's not the perfect horse. I can't explain that connection to anyone unless they are a horse person. People think I am crazy all the time. One way or another I will always have horses in my life. Thank god I finally found a man who respects that and is willing to share this love with me.

Bonnie M

03-20-2007, 02:34 AM

Same here :D 30 years too!

I remember so many times petting a horse and not washing my hand for as long as I could just so I could hold on to that wonderful smell they had!

I used to clean stalls at a barn just so I could ride and spend time with the horses. I was fortunate enough for a few years to take jumping lessons. My uncle and aunt had horses and when their son, my cousin, lost interest they called my mom to see if we wanted his mare, Misty. It was really hard for my parents to afford one, but my mom wanted me to be able to fulfill my dream, and her dream too.

My husband still doesn't get it why I get so excited when I see a horse. I always have to point them out, and I don't know how many times I have run off the road trying to look at them.

When I started dating my husband, I told him my future plans of owning horses and if he didn't want any part of horses then he better find someone else.

I think there could be some sort of gene...my great-grandparents had a farm and a love for horses, their daughter, my grandmother, had a love for horses, and gave that love to my mom and uncle. And now I have it and I can see the same spark in my neice's eye, she has it too.

TrueStepPaso

03-20-2007, 03:16 AM

Interesting....the whole "gene" thing. I, too, grew up in a family that was from the city on both sides, and only my Mom was into horses when she was young, but it wasn't as intense as my love for horses.

One story she loves to tell is about a barn that used to be down the street from where I board now (you can still see the barn's "skeleton"), and there was a grey horse there named Pokey...who loved to run. The thing was, no one rode him because he was a mean son of a b**ch...he bit, kicked, and rarely stopped when asked for it. Well, when it was her first day there, the regular girls told her that she could ride Pokey...of course, they were setting her up....but my mother had no idea. She was just so excited to be around a horse, that she walked right over to him and started fussing all over him.....ever since then, they got along famously. Especially since my mother also loved to gallop. The owners of the stable couldn't believe it, and they encouraged her to ride Pokey as much as possible.

Yep, my love started with my earliest memories....and my mother finally gave in when I was six with lessons for a few years....little did she know, she was only making it worse. :lol:

My favorite movie was Legend, does anyone remember that movie? My VHS copy is worn out these days...but I'm still SO siked that I replaced my Black Stallion (which STAYED my favorite....it's a classic!!!) VHS with a DVD!!!! Gee, can you tell...

lisa l aka marci

03-20-2007, 11:00 AM

Oh gee....we had an unbroke Shetland Pony when I was about 7?? or so.....Sugar Baby was his name.....mean little pony! I remember we used to keep him staked out in the neighbors back yard, and he had to be brought in at night. One evening my Dad went out to get him, only to find little me had already caught him, and put him away! This was the same pony that kicked my brother in the belly.....yet I could handle him.....

Then when we moved to the farm, my Mom managed to get us an old schooling horse, Dorado.....WONDERFUL horse!!! You could do anything with him, and we did! Then I had the opportunity to work for Wendy Spring, and can blame her for my getting into Pasos!

One thing that just came to mind - when I was talking to her one day about breeding, she ommented - 'Always breed UP'.....breed to better than what you have to better what you get.....

Darn, have to run to work - more thoughts later!

swaite

03-20-2007, 01:28 PM

Same here :D 30 years too!

I remember so many times petting a horse and not washing my hand for as long as I could just so I could hold on to that wonderful smell they had!

.

Wow - I did the same thing! I was totally horse crazy. If a horse rode by the house I would run like a maniac just get near it and hopefully pet it. That is why I stop for kids when I ride on the streets - I know what it meant to me. My parents would never let me get a horse but my dad always took me to his friends house about 10 min away to ride and groom his barn full of shetlands - I'll always remember those visits with Honey, Billyboy, patches and the others. I got my first horse when I was around 15 after saving ALL my money from a weekend job to build a stall, fencing and the horse. I sold him when I had my daughter but got back into horses when she was six. I have had horses ever since and can't say enough about the thrill they bring me still - just to look at them and talk to them. I still stop what I am doing when there is a horse on TV - any horse on any show I must check out. Still horse crazy and I still LOVE the smell of a horse!:smile:

britzlove

03-20-2007, 03:56 PM

Terri : But there are others, like all of us addicts on this board that need horses like we need air. What is it that causes that?

I really don't know but I'm quite sure it will always be just beyond definition, a phenomena.

It makes us do goofy things like eat blue box mac n cheese for 3 mos to save up for a new bridle that's going to look so pretty on our horse even though we have 5 or 6 other perfectly functional and pretty bridles. Anybody else done that? It's been awhile...but I still have to give things up to have horses the way I want.

Carol Nelson : Me too, britz...only make that 53 years...

I only get worse Carol...I see no sign of it "letting up".

TrueStepPaso My favorite movie was Legend, does anyone remember that movie?

Not only do I remember that movie but I also have my own very worn VHS...and a story...

The Unicorns in that movie make humpback whale calls, remember? Well, this horse:

http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k193/britzlove/My%20Horses/MajesticRobin2.jpg

He has actually got a very long story, something happened in his first three years that caused irrepairable emotional trauma. We've never been able to figure it out..but whatever happened it was bad. He's safe now...and very well loved...I built his paddock right outside my picture window..but with regard to "Legend"...Robin (his name) sings like a humpback whale whenever he's truly relaxed and content. It's rare...I had one farrier he loved that could always get him that way. It's the strangest thing...and the most magical. I'm not sure how he does it. It's not as loud as the unicorns...but it's the same noise.

Terri :kept some left over horse hair from a grooming in a little plastic box to smell inbetween trips to the barn

swaite: I still LOVE the smell of a horse!

Oh the smell! I didn't mention that did I? I too love that smell and my old Appaloosa has the best horse smell still to this day! When I grew up I rode all weekend and all summer. I'd always ride bareback...I prefer it still...and I'd bring my jeans home and sleep with them (weird...can you imagine a non-horse person understanding sleeping cuddling dirty jeans?)
My mother and I had a thing going too...I'd hide them so she couldn't wash them and I always had to find new hiding spots. (I even hid them in my backpack a few times..)

Yep....there's just something about horses :smile:

TrueStepPaso

03-20-2007, 04:02 PM

That is why I stop for kids when I ride on the streets - I know what it meant to me.

Me, too!!!

My poor mother had to stop for every horse I saw when I was little, because I would freak out....she said it was like I was possessed or something. :shock:

Heidi

03-20-2007, 06:28 PM

...she said it was like I was possessed or something. :shock:
I think that defines us quite nicely.
Hubby will point out horses for me while driving "Horse!" (and point the direction). Unfortunately, he also likes to do that when I'm not paying attention and there are no horses around. He just wants to get me to look. :evil: ...and I look. :-?

DSDECKERT

03-20-2007, 08:47 PM

I'm with you all, I was bitten by the horse bug when I was 3 years old, and my Dad bought me my first two Breyers.....the shetland pony, in brown/white and black/white!

I started riding at my cousins house when I was 3....I couldn't get enough. My grandpa Johnson bought me a pony when I was 5...so I'd spend my weekends at his farm (crafty old fart!). It still wasn't enough, so I'd make my Mom drive MILES out of her way to go past the local horse ranch, hoping one would be outside.

When we moved from MI to IL, my pony went to my cousins. I was horseless....I saved every penny to go ride the local "trail horses" every opportunity and when I could nag my poor mother into taking me and picking me up. I'm telling you, that woman was a SAINT!!!!

I remember climbing fences and going into pastures with strange horses just to pet them, smell them....get close to them. I'd even have friends boost me up onto them (not the smartest move now that I think of it) with no bridle, just to sit on them.....

It's good to know I'm not the only one out there....horses have been a HUGE part of my life for close to 40 years now....I can't imagine not having any!

Hey Britz, I still have that Misty book - it's ancient and much loved, dog-eared and tattered!

CarolU

03-20-2007, 08:54 PM

Well, as long as we're having "True Confessions" on here, I loved ALL horse stories, but would get teased terribly for reading them! So, I cut the cover off a Nancy Drew mystery book and hid all my horse books, one after another, inside. Read all The Black Stallion, Zane Grey, Misty, the list goes on forever...I did this into high school. (then I used the same trick to hide Harold Robbins - which I was forbidden from reading - inside Taylor Caldwell slip covers).

:lol:

TrueStepPaso

03-20-2007, 09:45 PM

Oh yeah, I remember the humpback whale sounds that the unicorns communicated with....it was mesmerizing to me, and I've never felt the same way about that sound since....

It still wasn't enough, so I'd make my Mom drive MILES out of her way to go past the local horse ranch, hoping one would be outside.

OMG, I still do that.....I always take the more "scenic" route to.... everywhere.

Terry Wallace

03-20-2007, 09:48 PM

Wellllllll.....it all started for me when I snuck out the door at age three...and my mother found me standing under the neighbor's old buckskin mare..right between her front knees, looking up at her chest...each of my hands on the insides of the old mares knees...

My mother about had a heart attack...my dad came and retrieved me...
I asked my dad what color the horse was and he said "buckskin" and I said what is "buckskin"...and he said "Like the color of a deer"...

Thats when it all started..I rememeber that like it was yesterday. I was forbidden to ever go near the horse again.

Sooo.....anybody here ever read the Billy & Blaze books? By CW Anderson? They were my favorites...definitley inspired me to learn how to draw horses with pencil..

Minouri

03-21-2007, 01:56 AM

I enjoyed reading everyone's stories! What a great thread.

You could say that horses have saved me twice...

I wish I could say I grew up on or with horses. I rode a couple of times when I was young and fell in love...but as the youngest of 11 children in the city there was no money and no access to them for me. Of course I collected books and movies, but that was all.

When I was 15 I was on the fast track to a bad place. My parents had tried every form of grounding/loss of privileges...I was completely apathetic to anything they said. I skipped school constantly, started failing all of my classes and started to hang out with a rough crowd.

That summer my family was completely at their wits end with me. My dad did something I've never seen him do....he bribed me. He offered me horseback riding lessons every Saturday if I didn't mess up that week.

The "lessons" consisted of me and the son of a man who gave lessons (I think my dad cut a deal with him now that I look back...not one lesson happened in a ring) galloping all over the trails that led off their property. Looking back, I have sympathy for the horses we rode. I didn't know enough to be careful with them. We rode them hard and over and under just about anything. That boy was nuts....but I went home smiling every week and it took just one ride like that for me to be right back on track. No way was I going to mess up and miss my weekly ride.

At the end of the summer my dad explained that he couldn't afford the lessons anymore. By then I was already back on track....I was sad, but I knew the summer had been expensive for him.

I didn't think about horses again till I was almost 30.

I came home after my divorce and was so sad. So incredibly, overwhelminly sad. By running from my crazy husband I'd left behind my job, my friends, my money.

I remember praying that I'd find away to be happy again although I doubted it'd be possible.

My dad found an ad in a local paper about an apartment for rent on a horse farm. It said you could reduce your rent by mucking stalls. I laughed. I'd spent the last 30 years of my life in cities....who was he kidding? And I knew nothing about horses.

He said....But you've always loved them.

I went to look at the place. It was tiny, but right outside my door there were seven horses and a pony. The place was like a throwback in time...quaint like a postcard.

That was where I rode the incredibly calm Foxtrotter. I rode every day, made new friends....and felt like I had finally found a missing piece.

I loved every horse I rode and leased, but when I found Scooter I found a best friend. I cant' imagine my life without him.

I love that I can give my stepdaughter a childhood full of horses. Maybe one day she'll be on a message board talking about how she spent her childhood living and loving them.

tinomino

03-21-2007, 02:43 AM

It's amazing what our horses can do for us. No matter what kind of day I've had if I go visit with Tino it all goes away. Even if he's a brat and I am having a "bad" ride by the end of it I am all smiles and my worries have floated away even if I didn't realize it.

I may find it hard to get to the barn everyday and it always seems like I don't have any time off, because I have to be at the barn at 8am then again at 4pm on my days off. But if I didn't have that time at the barn I know I would be miserable.

britzlove

03-21-2007, 03:56 PM

You could say that horses have saved me twice...

This makes me think of something else that I think of when I think of the power of horses.

Perhaps because I didn't hide my infatuation with them and so was a complete outcast in grade school I never had the craving to be "popular" or liked. I was completely content to do my school work at school and come home and get my homework done ASAP so I could do what I wanted. Mon-Thur that was reading horse stories or drawing etc. and then Friday afternoon's my mother would make the hour drive to my grandfathers and drop me off for the weekend, where I would groom my horse Friday evening and Saturday and Sunday meant up @ dawn. I'd go fetch my horse before breakfast, and then after breakfast I'd ride til dinner @ 5...then ride again when it was daylight.

So that crowd that runs into trouble in pre-teen/teenage years...I just wasn't cool enough to play with from 1st grade through high school. In high school I was the older kid in 4-H so I got to help all the younger ones and the competition took lots of commitment. I had way too much to do to be worried about losing my virginity, hanging around smoking or worse...I just didn't have time.

And teenage violence? Never even occured to me...I had learned early that only patience could achieve the best of things...and this lesson among many others can be attributed to my horse...that still keeps me honest :smile: So beyond the mystical, spiritual power of horses there's a valuable practical power.

I did later encounter some troubles JR year because I graduated early and met my first husband and yes married at 17 but was divorced 9 mos later. That was the first time I was stiffly reminded of how important remaining connected to horses could be. The second major time occured a few years ago when I had some family troubles carefully timed with losing two horses over the holidays, one days before Thanksgiving and another two days after Christmas. I went through some bad months where I wouldn't even look at horses because it was too painful...

Do you know who brought me out of it? The same dang ornery appaloosa...I've often thought I may write a book someday about the ole man...but seeing as I'm quite certain he has several more years left...the last chapters will have to wait. We have 22 years together...20 he was officially mine and me his...like a marriage and few people can claim to be married that long :smile: