Do Horses Choose Their Rider/Person?

[necryptonix]

So what are your stories about horses seeming to “choose” their people? Strange happenings, inexplicable dreams about your horse, crazy coincidences, etc?

I didn’t really believe the whole “the horse chooses the rider, not the other way around” thing until I had a long string of strange events occur when I tried to sell my OTTB.

A little background: I bought my new OTTB just a few months ago, and he was bit of a rogue right from the start. But I thought he was awesome, worked on bringing him down from the track with lots of turn out, lots of hay, etc. He’s incredibly smart and learned everything quickly, aside from a few quirks he has about his feet being handled. But after a nightmare experience at my current barn I decided it would be best if I sold my horse and waited to own horses until I had my own barn again. But as soon as I posted his advertisement I began having VERY vivid dreams about him (which has never happened before or since). I started to get contacted by people who wanted videos of him, the usual, which was fine. But the very day I went out to take a jog video, my horse was suddenly dead lame (like he could barely walk). Turns out he had gotten an abscess. So we took care of that, but as soon as he was sound and ready to go back on the market he banged up his back leg and went lame again. By this point, with the strange dreams on top of everything, I decided I should probably just keep him and find a new (hopefully better) barn. The very day I made that decision, he started getting better and hasn’t put a foot wrong since.

I’ve only had him a few months but he already follows me around like a dog, is a complete gentleman under saddle after only 3 rides, and comes when he’s called and waits by the gait for me even after I leave. He also seems to understand my blind eye issues as he is perfectly behaved when I lead him, but tends to get stupid and antsy when others try and take him in and out. He’s made huge improvements since I got him (used to lunge at the stall door if anyone came too close to it, now allows me to muck out his stall when he’s in it). All in all he’s become a really fantastic horse very quickly, which I’ve never had happen with any of my other horses. After this horse I’m really starting to believe that the horse chooses their “person”, and we don’t get much of a say in it!

I’d love to hear if anyone else has had any similar stories/experiences so I feel a little less crazy!

[TheMountainsAreCalli]

Oh heck yeah-- I think smart, opinionated horses definitely choose whether or not you’re the person for them.

My sweetheart gelding, I think he chose me. He was a bucker–unloaded everybody, not like a rodeo bronc, but with the calculated precision that says he’s done with people. Yet he decided he loved me. Not only did he not buck with me, no matter what awful situation we got in, he NEVER let me fall off. That horse would do absolute gymnastics to get back underneath me if I was committed to falling off. It’s been about 15 years and he’s nearing 30 and in semi-retirement, but he’s still never let me hit the ground, and continues to take care of me like I’m his most precious possession. He is one of a kind, and I know I’ll never replace him. I really think that he just lost all faith in people, and when someone showed him some love, he decided fiercely he didn’t want to be with anyone else. I’m so lucky he picked me! (He’s mellowed in his old age, and lets children ride him, as well as my intermediate rider husband. But I guarantee that if a big guy with a forward seat tried to climb on board, that gelding would bide his time until he could leave the dude by the wayside.)

Incidentally, does anyone remember that fantastic story of the AQHA Horse of the Year maybe 5-10 years ago, about the filly whose owner was a Vietnam veteran? He had some kind of brain injury which caused seizures, and had a special saddle built to strap himself on board in the event of a blackout. He trained the filly, and she figured out his problem, and the story said if he blacks out, she won’t let anyone near him-- protects him fiercely like an attack dog until he comes to again. It just brings tears to my eyes every time to think of that story!

[sdlbredfan]

This is a great topic, and I am glad the OP decided to keep the horse after all. Poster number 2, your story is so heartwarming.

When I was a teenager, taking riding lessons, there was one mare that was really quirky, and ‘hard to ride’,as in you had to ride her according to her rules, if you wanted a pleasant ride. Most people hated her. I loved her, and she loved me. She would do anything I asked, as long as I asked politely, and gave her the time she needed to comply. (She was very nervous, and wanted to ‘do right’, so if any rider became impatient with her, she became a basket case.)

I figured out just what her pet peeves were, and how to ride her in a way that kept her happy. She taught me so much! She also did what the previous poster said, did her absolute best to stay underneath me, if I were off balance for some reason. Once I was riding her bareback, at a slow jog, and accidentally slipped a little. She stopped in her tracks (I had not asked her to, figuring I would get back into the right spot soon), waited until I was centered again, and resumed her slow jog, again without being asked.

Several years later, after I finished college, I returned to my trainer’s stable for a visit, and was offered an opportunity to ride my favorite of years past. She was in her mid twenties by then, still quirky, but had solidified her resistance to cantering. (She had always cantered nicely for me though.) So, I climbed on my dear old friend Bonita, bareback, and after warming up to the point we both felt limber, I decided to ask her to canter. The trainer said to the other riders in the arena, with awe in her voice, "off the rail everyone, (so I would not have to maneuver around other horses bareback) Bonita IS CANTERING!!! " I had not realized that she had become so unwilling to canter (no doubt due to a combination of her very sensitive mouth, some arthritis and back pain) but I got the idea that this was ‘a big deal’. She trusted me not to ask her to do something she could not do, and she knew I was not going to jab her in the mouth, or do anything that would upset her. In return, she gifted me with a lovely, smooth and ‘in sync’ canter, such as we always had had in the past. That was a bittersweet moment, and I cherish the memory, because she died not long after that.

Another horse, many years later, I had gone to try out a horse to buy. As soon as I sat on her, I felt as if I had ‘come home’, we just clicked. Sadly, she developed DSLD/ESPA a few years after I bought her. We had a real bond, so much so I often felt that she was a reincarnation of Bonita, the horse I told about first. Toward the time that it was becoming clear that euthanasia was looming on the horizon, I was struggling with the ‘how do I know when it is time’ question. I had a really vivid dream, in which I was given a mental image of Kallie, down and unable to rise, and panicking because she could not. The next day, when my Husband an I went to see her at the boarding stable, and I had pretty much figured that the sad time was very near, both because of the mental image (that I am sure she telepathically sent to me), and my Husband;s remark about how ‘her legs must be killing her’ made the decision imminent. As I put the halter on her for the last time, for the slow, and difficult walk to the spot the Vet wanted her to be in, and stroked her face and neck, she nuzzled me and conveyed to me a sense of peace, that she knew ‘it was time’, and ‘it was OK’.

[RedHorses]

My older horse clearly recognized me the first time we met. It was very weird; as he nuzzled all over me the overwhelming impression from him was “Where have you BEEN? I’ve been waiting FOREVER!” I made him officially mine within two weeks. I couldn’t ask for a better equine match for me. We are coming up on twenty years together.

[Jarpur]

Many years ago, a friend and I went to pick out young horses as prospects from an out-of-state breeder’s very large herd. We looked at several each, right out of the field, and my friend thought she preferred a particular one. That night, we spent hours discussing the horses, during which she changed her mind and decided she would rather take a second look at a different gelding, while I had my own favorite.

The next morning, when we went out early to observe the herd, a number of large piles of hay had been strewn about, each with several horses eating from it. To gain access to the pasture where the horses we wanted to see again were located, we had to open and close multiple gates as a large field had been divided into pastures of several acres each. While we were doing so, the horse I especially wanted to see again looked up from his hay and noticed me in the distance as I approached the pasture gate. He left his hay, walked over to the pile where the horse which my friend had decided to visit (not the one she’d spent the most time with the previous day) was eating and touched that horse, which made the second one look up and over at us.

Then, they both left their breakfast and came to meet us at the gate to their pasture. Just calmly standing there, as though they’d known we were coming back for them. Two from the herd of dozens.

Sometimes, they do pick their humans.

[DIR]

Four years ago I was asked to ride a horse I’d been half leasing so they could make a new sales video for less $$ and at a lower level. He covered for any and all silly things I did jumping and delivered an awesome demonstration of a horse who could take a joke. I panicked and bought him assuming that after 7 years of trying they might actually be able to sell the guy :lol:. He had never packed me around a course before that video, certainly hasn’t since, but has been a great and safe teacher while making me work for it. In return he seems quite content with someone whose life prevents a busy show schedule. Looking back, I have no doubt he planned the whole thing. Re-watching said video, the horse was laughing the entire time, and the joke was on me:D:D.

[Texarkana]

I tend to be a bit skeptical of stories like these.

But… last summer, I went to a mustang adoption event where they had pen after pen of recently captured wild mustangs.

It was fascinating to walk along outside the pens and see which horses took an interest in me; even more fascinating to watch how they interacted differently with other passersby.

All of the trainers and clinicians present for the event echoed the same sentiment: when choosing an unhandled mustang from the herd, pick one who takes a notice in you. There is definitely something in our energies and mannerisms that naturally draws some horses to us while leaving others unaffected.

[Salty]

I went to look at a herd of semi-feral 2 & 3 year olds. One 2 year old came careening down the hill at mach 10, stopped inches in front of me, square & soft, & put his nose in my armpit. He was the best horse I ever had, & he’s buried here now.

And once I bought a starving buckskin pony, rehabbed him & offered him for sale. He rad off with every cowboy, but was perfect with a 9 year old girl, who turned him into a 4-H superstar.

[necryptonix]

@Texarkana

I tend to be a bit skeptical of stories like these.

But… last summer, I went to a mustang adoption event where they had pen after pen of recently captured wild mustangs.

It was fascinating to walk along outside the pens and see which horses took an interest in me; even more fascinating to watch how they interacted differently with other passersby.

All of the trainers and clinicians present for the event echoed the same sentiment: when choosing an unhandled mustang from the herd, pick one who takes a notice in you. There is definitely something in our energies and mannerisms that naturally draws some horses to us while leaving others unaffected.

I almost got a mustang instead of an OTTB, because I loved the idea of being able to go out to the holding pens and just choose whichever one I liked best. Ended up buying my current OTTB on a whim after only seeing him for a few minutes, so maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t go to see the mustangs. I might have come home with more than I intended! :lol:

But hey, maybe that was part of the “grand design” too. With me being half blind, I had been searching for the rare OTTB that had decent ground manners but I ended up buying the horse that was acting like a kite on the lead line. Ah well. I’m a sucker for attitude.

[clanter]

I do not know if they choose but the one horse we purchased because of the way she looked at us did turn out to be possibly the best horse we ever owned.

[hosspuller]

They do choose. We bought a horse for my wife. But the horse didn’t chose her. He chose me instead. We tested this by walking into his pasture separately. He ignored her … the daily feeder, but followed me like a shadow around the pasture zigging and zagging. No food or bucket was involved during the test.

[ecileh]

When I was in college, my trainer had a young warmblood gelding who had a crush on me. I only rode him once and, even though I fed routinely, never spent a lot of time interacting with him over others in the herd, but he loved me. Eventually, he was sent to the trainer’s brother-in-law to be a field hunter. Years passed, I graduated, but when I came back to visit a few years later, he coincidentally arrived home to rehab and injury. He heard my voice while being unloaded, screamed for me, flung himself off the trailer and came running up to me, planting his head on my chest.

I should have taken him home, but I was not in a financial position to do so.

[tabula_rashah]

Two of my mares are definitely mine and no one else’s. Oddly, they are both Morgans with very similar personalities. While they are very well behaved and anyone could ride or handle them, they’re completely stoic and workmen-like with other people and don’t show any type of “affection” towards anyone else. If I walk out into the field, they are both my shadow and want to be touched regardless of whether I am bearing food or not. Anyone else, they’ll frisk for treats and then ignore. They only other person I’ve seen a hint of acknowledgement to is my youngest brother, their farrier. I remember he said one day "you won’t believe it, Belle let me scratch her head without looking at me like I was the peasant being allowed to kiss the queen’s feet " LMAO!
My 2 geldings, however, are total whores. They don’t care who you are, you’re just supposed to pay homage to them

[Arelle]

I don’t know if they “choose” in a grand sense - but they definitely have their preferences in people.

This January I was contacted by a riding school who was wanting to move an old horse of mine. He wasn’t staying sound, wasn’t working in their program (in fact there are records of near NFR level shenanigans :lol::rolleyes:), and they didn’t have a place for him once their donation period was up.

Now, long story short - this horse and I were top 5 in the country a few years back. Won a ton of titles and accolades. He’s a good guy - definitely has some vet issues, but never really gave me much trouble at all. When I found out he was donated, I put myself on the short list as a permanent home if the need should arise.

I went to pick him up in April. It was a gross, rainy day and I had never been to the school before. I still remember the look on his face when the student went to get him out of his stall - I handed him my halter, he opened the door, and my gelding stuck his head out like “okay what are we doing now, I’m trying to finish breakfast.” I was off to the side so he didn’t see me at first, but I said “HI DOBBY” and if that horse’s jaw could’ve hit the ground - it would have.

Since he’s been home, he nickers and runs to the gate every evening when I get home from work and every morning when I go to feed before I leave. When I’m outside, he follows me around. When I’m doing anything stationary (filling water, cleaning stalls, etc) - he puts his chin on my shoulder and just sits there. :lol:

He’s a friendly guy, and will work for food for most anyone - but you can just tell he’s happy he’s back with me above anything else.

[Scribbler]

My mare was bought by my coach as a pretty much unhandled, standoffish, wary, two year old. Coach broke her to ride and was planning on moving her along, but mare fell in love with her and turned out to be a much better horse than coach had expected, and turned into an outgoing, friendly, people-oriented horse. I started half leasing mare, then took over full care. For a very long time, mare clearly still preferred coach. She could hear coach’s truck out of sight down the driveway and would run out into the paddock to watch for her. If coach was leading or working with mare, mare would not even acknowledge my presence. If I was working with mare, mare would always have one eye on coach. She clearly knew coach was in charge of both me and her.

Sometime over the last year, mare seems to have finally mostly shifted her full attention to me when coach is present. It’s also paralleled me taking more initiative when coach and I are doing things together, and me learning how to load and trailer on my own. So I think its not just who feeds her (me) but also who she thinks is in charge in a given situation.

[peedin]

I took one look at my then 2 year old gelding and he looked back at me and I said “he’s mine.” Current mare was my lesson horse and the first day I put my leg over her I felt an instant connection and knew she would keep my safe.

[pfqh]

I had been horse shopping for a while, with little success. All I could find were emotionless, robot show horses. I went to see a horse on a whim, and after I finished riding him I stood next to him while the owner was showing me some tack. The horse kept moving close to me and snuggling. I noticed he was very distant to the owner and her help. I liked him and said I would like to try him again in a few days. When I left he looked out of his stall and gave the most pitiful whinny. When I went to see him for the second ride the moment he saw me he came right up to me and would not leave my side. I bought him and he’s been my best friend ever since.

[16_Hands]

These are such great stories :). I had one such horse as well. A 3 year old OTTB mare who never went as well for anyone except me. I quickly learned that you needed to compromise with her and she would do her best to please. Loved that little horse until finances were such I had to move her on. I’ll never forgive myself for selling her to people who tried force on her and ended up killing her instead.

[DoodlesMom]

My older gelding chose me. I got him and a mare together - bought a pretty paint mare and he came as her companion, as they had been together for a long time - and they were incredibly herdbound. He was “broke” but it turns out he was broke to drive only. He would run from me in the field, had a myriad of mental issues from being abused, and he ended up rearing and flipping over onto me when I tried to ride him. I tried desperately to sell him.

The mare died unexpectedly about a year after we got them. The first time I went to see him after her death, he was alone in a small paddock. I walked in to get him, and he walked up to me (which he had never done before) and put his head on my chest. It was all over from then on. I couldn’t get rid of him if I tried! He’s been free leased a few times, even sold by a lessee while on a lease, but he’s always come back to me. We’re going on 19 years now. He’s fickle, and picky, and spooky, but he is a mama’s boy.

The younger one, well that’s a story about why you should never go look at a baby! I knew immediately that he would be mine, but I think it took him a little longer to figure it out. He’s super affectionate and loves almost everyone, but he only comes running when I call him!