Emotional dream about a horse...

[NikkiS]

Long time lurker here…

Just a quick background…I have a mare whom I have owned for 11 years. I bought her when I was a teenager and well, I bought her b/c she was “pretty”. Fast forward to the present, this mare has taught me a ton…we both still have our moments. She has been with me through many boyfriends, to my husband, to me having a baby. I have been an assistant trainer off and on at a local barn and started and ridden many other horses. I had worked with a client’s Foxtrotter and discovered after the horse had been sold, it was my heart horse. This was 6 years ago. New owner moved him to the east coast and loves him to pieces. I regret not buying him almost every day. I have always had a very business like relationship with my mare. She is not lovey-dovey. I wish she were. I have gone back and forth for over FOUR years on selling her. I can’t do it. Quite frankly, I couldn’t sleep at night wondering if she is in the wrong hands. I can only afford to keep one horse. Period. I couldn’t even rely on free-lease, b/c if she was brought back to me…I could NOT afford her…Yesterday, I had the urge to “look” at horses on CL and Dreamhorse. Then…I had this dream last night…

I dreamt I went to try out this horse for sale. I remember very vividly. It was a big sorrel and white draft cross gelding. It was the best ride of my life. I giggled the entire time. I felt like this horse and I were ONE. This horse and I were speaking to each other through our souls. It truly was “majikal” in all the cheesy sense. After I got off him, I broke into tears, b/c as much as I had enjoyed this profound ride, as deeply as I was touched by this horse, I couldn’t bring myself to sell my mare. I was miserable. Then I woke up.

What the HECK could this mean?! It’s eating me alive today. Any opinions/suggestions are welcome. I just feel so lost.

[danceronice]

You feel like keeping this mare is holding you back from finding the horse you really want. The dream is your subconscious telling you that. Conversely, it could be you’re being warned to not go looking at other horses because even if you find the One, as long as you have the mare you can’t buy him.

[cutter99]

It sounds to me like you feel like you are lacking something in your relationship with your horse, but you don’t feel comfortable letting her go in order to be able to move forward with another horse because you don’t know what the future will bring for her, especially if she is no longer yours. It is a honorable position for you to take, as so many horses get passed down the line when the owner is ready to move up, move on, etc.

And hey, I understand that. I have 2 more horses here than I should, one who was inherited through my divorce and had been foundered twice and now has special needs, and one who was a pity purchase from someone who could not afford to feed her. I have occasional passing thoughts about selling them or giving them away, but I am also lucky enough to have plenty of pasture and the finances to care for them. It has gotten to a point where when I bring it up to my husband, he tells me to forget about it as they are all just going to be with us until they die. And yes, I am extremely lucky to have him!

Maybe you can find the solution for both you and your mare with some “out of the box” thinking! Can you work something out where you train for your horse to be used for lessons and cover her board and upkeep that way? Is she quality enough to be a broodmare, as in donating her to a college or university for a breeding program? Could she do lessons in a college program? Is there a 4-H or therapeutic riding program she would be appropriate for?

The ugly reality of life and the horse world is once a horse leaves our care, there are NEVER any guarantees.

[shelly]

From a dream interpretation website :

Horse
To see a horse in your dream symbolizes strength, power, endurance, virility and sexual prowess. It also represents a strong, physical energy. You need to tame the wild forces within. The dream may also be a pun that you are “horsing around”. Alternatively, to see a horse in your dream indicates that you need to be less arrogant and “get off your high horse”. If the horse has two heads (one on each end), then it implies that you are being pulled into two different directions. Perhaps your strength or power is being divided. Or you are confused about some sexual matter. If you see a dead horse in your dream, then it indicates that something in your life that initially offered you strength is now gone. This may refer to a relationship or situation. Consider the phrase “beating a dead horse” to indicate that you may have maximized the usefulness of a certain circumstance.

To see a black or dark horse in your dream signifies mystery, wildness, and the unknown. You are taking a chance or a gamble at some unknown situation. It may even refer to occult forces. If the horse is white, then it signifies purity, prosperity and good fortunes. To dream that you are being chased by a white horse, may be a pun on chaste. Perhaps you are having difficulties dealing with issues of intimacy and sexuality.

To dream that you are riding a horse suggests that you are in a high position or position of power. Alternatively, it indicates that you will achieve success through underhanded means. You lack integrity. If you are riding a horse that is out of control, then it means that you are being carried away by your passions. To see a herd of wild horses in your dream signifies a sense of freedom and lack of responsibilities and duties. Perhaps it may also indicate your uncontrolled emotions. If you are riding a wild horse, then it represents unrestrained sexual desires.

To dream about a talking horse refers to higher knowledge. Consider the significance of what the horse is saying. If the horse is black, then the message may be coming from your subconscious. If the horse is blue, then the message may be of sadness. You or someone is looking for help, but don’t know how to go about getting it. The dream may also a metaphor for the idiom “straight from the horse’s mouth”.

[Pembroke]

I’m thinking it just means that the topic has been on your mind a lot?

[NikkiS]

Thanks everyone so much for the suggestions. Yes, I feel she is holding me back. Sadly, I have mentioned on more than one occasion that when she grows old and passes, THEN I will get my “forever” horse. How sick is that?! Then I get this fear that if I don’t just do it now when she is still somewhat in her prime, I will NEVER get the chance. My first horse was 30 years old. We threw a lot of money at him keeping him happy and comfortable. He was amazing and worth it all. I would do it again, but the idea of doing it with this mare seems less desirable.

She is a tb cross, stunning, but not registered and definitely not broodmare potential. She has calmed down a bit with age, but she is sensitive and can be reactive. She has brilliant “moments” under saddle and has had quite a bit of training in dressage and over fences. She is a strong jumper, so much so, that she has made me insecure to jump any longer. But she LOVES it. I haven’t had her over fences for 6-7 years. She can pull when tied. I would say it happens on average once per year. She has packed complete beginners, but only under my supervision. In our area, I could probably get $2k on a good day for her.

I know this is completely unrealistic, but if there were ever a home that came along that promised to care for her and NEVER sell her under any circumstance, I would give her away for free. Of course that’s not a possibility.

Sometimes I wish I could be calloused enough to just say good riddance, but the last horse I sold to buy her tore me up inside so bad, I vowed I would never sell a horse again. I cannot understand how it’s so easy for other people to just buy and sell them like they are cars…

[HorsesinHaiti]

Shelley: for horse owners, all that psyche stuff probably goes out the window. For us more likely that a horse is, well, a horse of course!

[NikkiS]

Forgot to mention she also has a little bit of WP training and currently goes in western tack, which would actually make her more marketable in my area. Not really important…just a side note

[rizzodm]

[QUOTE=NikkiS;7982006]
Thanks everyone so much for the suggestions. Yes, I feel she is holding me back. Sadly, I have mentioned on more than one occasion that when she grows old and passes, THEN I will get my “forever” horse. How sick is that?! Then I get this fear that if I don’t just do it now when she is still somewhat in her prime, I will NEVER get the chance. My first horse was 30 years old. We threw a lot of money at him keeping him happy and comfortable. He was amazing and worth it all. I would do it again, but the idea of doing it with this mare seems less desirable.

She is a tb cross, stunning, but not registered and definitely not broodmare potential. She has calmed down a bit with age, but she is sensitive and can be reactive. She has brilliant “moments” under saddle and has had quite a bit of training in dressage and over fences. She is a strong jumper, so much so, that she has made me insecure to jump any longer. But she LOVES it. I haven’t had her over fences for 6-7 years. She can pull when tied. I would say it happens on average once per year. She has packed complete beginners, but only under my supervision. In our area, I could probably get $2k on a good day for her.

I know this is completely unrealistic, but if there were ever a home that came along that promised to care for her and NEVER sell her under any circumstance, I would give her away for free. Of course that’s not a possibility.

Sometimes I wish I could be calloused enough to just say good riddance, but the last horse I sold to buy her tore me up inside so bad, I vowed I would never sell a horse again. I cannot understand how it’s so easy for other people to just buy and sell them like they are cars…[/QUOTE]

Nikki I let go of my halfie mare a little over a year ago because she was holding me back. My trainer was patiently waiting for me to realize this and move on. She went to a sale barn and came down with pigeon fever. I was horrifed and felt like it was my fault that she got sick. A lady at the sale barn nursed her back to health and ended up buying her. This little halfie mare is now doing three day eventing and is in the best shape she has ever been in. I got my dream horse, Lusitano gelding, who is amazing. Now that I have my guy I see how my little mare was holding me back (also seeing video of little mare jumping I realized I was holding her back, she loves to jump). I am happy and little mare and her new owner are happy.
Moving on does have happy endings:)

[NikkiS]

I think a lot of my fear of selling, is that here in MT, a lot of horses have “jobs” and they are very much considered livestock. There is a surplus of BROKE horses here and not many people are willing to feed a horse who isn’t 99.9% dependable. There are some English folks around here, but a lot of them are riding big, fancy, imported horses and really have no interest in some “mutt” regardless of jumping talent. Around here, papers talk. No papers? Your horse better not fall short in any department. When that’s the kind of market I am dealing with, it seems like a death sentence for my mare. One of the biggest kill buyer auction houses in the US is only a short drive from me. In Montana, my mare is just another grade bay mare. I can’t figure out which tortures me more. Keeping her and missing out on the chance to have that “special” horse during some of my best horsie years (still in my 20s, albeit late 20s )or imagining her on someone’s dinner plate. That’s reality.

[RPM]

For years when I was not riding I would occasionally dream I was having a wonderful ride on a chestnut horse. The dreams were so happy I would wake up smiling, or laughing, with sheer happiness. In waking life I never particularly liked chestnut as a color (I don’t judge a horse by its color; but chestnut is way down on my list of colors I like). Whenever I dreamed I was riding, the horse was always a wonderful chestnut.

Then, when I came back to riding after years and years of no horses, I ended up riding a wonderful red dun, BTDT horse. When I met him, in the wintertime, I thought he was a chestnut, until he shed out and was obviously a red dun (plus the BM said he was red dun).

I think that in my dreams he was appearing as a chestnut because when I met him in waking life he appeared to be chestnut to me.

I have also loved two “real” chestnuts in my life – the first horse I ever rode, and the first horse I ever took lessons on.

[NikkiS]

^That’s awesome that you quite literally got the horse of your dreams! I must say though, my FAVORITE color is sorrel/chestnut. Nothing shines like a red horse. The right kind of red can look like velvet. No white? Even better

[NikkiS]

And come to think of it, red and white pintos (like I had dreamt of) are probably bottom of the list for me color wise. lol.