How has your horse enriched your life? What has your horse taught you?

Answer 1

My first horse enriched my life so wholly and totally it was an amazing experience. She was a cast-away 18 yr old TB whose owner was too scared to ride her and stopped paying board on her. When I first laid eyes on her, she was skinny, unkempt, with her mane & tail tangled up in so many burrs it was impossible to tell where her hair ended and the burrs began. She hadn't been ridden in 4 years. I was a new rider, having only taken lessons off and on over the last few years, and not even able to sit a canter or see my diagonals.
I popped that hyper-active, highly sensitive, but absolutely stunningly gorgeous blood bay mare out of her stall and the bond was instant. Once groomed - I rode her, climbed right up on her and walked & trotted like she'd been doing it all along. Well, newbie me didn't know that horses run back through open gates. One month later, she ran out of her pasture and got caught up in barbed wire on the other side of the farm. Her mangled forleg bled for 4 hours before a vet came and tried to put the hamburger meat back together. With a questionable future, I tended to her day and night for 2 months. That was April - by July she was 100% healed & sound and we were riding - CANTERING! and even jumping and trail riding! There were many times she bolted with me, or spooked - but she never did anything to hurt me. We formed a bond so strong, it was almost visible. Then one day, she collapsed while I was riding her - she fell on me. Turned out, she had a failing heart. She began to degrade over the next 6 months, and one October day, I stood at her side while she was euthanized.

She taught me EVERYTHING. Not only did she teach me how to be a better horse person, inspire me to go to school for equine veterinary care, and teach me how to ride by doing it right when I was right and letting me know when I wasn't right, but she tought me the ultimate levels of love and trust and dependancy.

We had many many many wonderful experiences in our very short 18 months together. She never saw 20 years of age, but the life she gave me during the last of her's was something I will treasure forever.

She was my first horse, my first love, my first true friend, my ultimate blessing in my life and I hope someday to see her again. My beautiful "Lady", Pass A Native, 5/21/81 - 10/5/00, I will always love you and cherish our pictures.

Answer 2

Oh...wow. I sold my horse a couple months ago, but she was a huge part in my life. She has taught me to look and listen, and to be careful. She would be good on some days, and bad on others, and that just taught me not to expect the same from every person or animal everyday. Once you get a horse, you're attatched after practically a week, so it's hard to let go, like it's hard to let go of a person. I cried for hours when I sold her! She's given me reason to go outside and ride, have fun. She really was the best. I hope my answer helps you!

Answer 3

When I got each of my boys I found them at homes that were not taking care of them, my Arabs owner was just going to leave him in a field all alone because he had to move and didn't want to take him. My TB came from a home where it was either shoe them, feed them or give them vet care. Needless to say he got none of these other than some low quality hay. They were skinny, shaggy, knicked up, sad looking creatures. With a little TLC (and some good food) they look gorgeous and they are so sweet!

They have both taught me that everyone, including animals, deserve a second chance and that beauty is only skin deep. You have to look beyond superficial looks to see an animals true heart, and despite their breeding or conformation even the "homely" looking, ill bred horses can be the best companions.

Answer 4

My horse is pretty much the only reason I made it through my first year at college. I was 4 hrs away from home, didn't know anyone, in a new town with a psycho roommate. I boarded my mare at a near by barn and I would spend huge ammounts of time with her, she helped me stay sane. Horses have always been thereputic for me, I get really stressed out easily, and going out to have a good ride makes me forget about everything. I've also always had a ton of friends that ride, I love the social aspect of riding and showing as well.

Answer 5

Everything I need to know, I learned from my horse:

When you have a happy, cheerful disposition, you get more treats than others who are prettier or more talented but grouchier.

If you respond enthusiastically to those who are affectionate to you, they will forgive you when are a little lazy and really don't want to take up that canter right away...or do a super-extended trot....or actually jump the cross-bars instead of just kind of trot over them.

There is no such thing as a bad treat. If you accept with enthusiasm and gratitude a handful of weeds offered to you by someone, they just might give you a whole bag full of really great treats next time around.

Most work is best done with a relaxed attitude. Getting hyper and tense and prancing and dancing around doesn't get the work done any faster, but it sure does get you more tired.

When someone asks you to do something that is beyond your ability, an emphatic immediate refusal gets the point across a lot better than halfheartedly trying to do it just because they're asking, with a lot less pain for all concerned.

It's good to be on good terms with your neighbors. They can keep you company, they can help you with things you can't do yourself (like scratching itchy spots on your neck that you can't reach yourself), and if they like you they won't mind if you occasionally sneak some of their food.

It's best to be optimistic. Maybe a trail-ride on a hot day seems like a dumb idea, but it might involve ripe peaches picked from a trailside tree that you wouldn't get if you didn't go, so it's best to be cheerful and optimistic.

If you really have to dump somebody off your back because they're being a doo-doo head, if you want to make the point that you unloaded them because of what they were doing, don't run away after you unload them. Just stand there staring at them with a smirk on your face: it really gets the point across, and it makes them feel totally stupid.

If you're smart, you know just how long that lunge whip is and you know just how agitated the person holding it has to be before they actually try to snap your lazy hind end with it. So you wait until just before they get to that point, and stay just a couple of inches out of reach, to avoid having to do unwanted work. (Caveat: if you make them get too frustrated, they may cheat and get a longer lunge whip. Unfair!)

Affection and treats awarded because you're friendly, and because you remember people who have been nice to you and nicker at them, are every bit as good, and a lot easier to get, than affection and treats awarded because you can jump six foot fences or do grand prix dressage or other hard stuff.

I loved my horse, who taught me many lessons for life in the twenty years that I had him. He died last year at 24 and I miss him terribly.

Answer 6

My horse saw all the good in me that I was often unsure was there. He was forgiving when I got it wrong and patiently waited for me to get it right. He never failed me and I'm not talking performance-wise. Through him I learned how much love I am capable of, what true devotion is and the valor of keeping your word.

Answer 7

Mainly, my horse has taught me how to love. How to put someone else before yourself. And how to know truth, kindness, and patience.

Answer 8

My horses taught me balance, patience, to " Cowboy Up" how to jump off, how to fall off, how to take care of something living, how to truly love, how not to kill the world & how to be truly Happy!!!!!! They sure make my life complete!!!!

Answer 9

Integrity
Confidence
Responsibility
Honesty
First Aid

Answer 10

My horse taught me to love.How to be a better person.She taught me responsibility.