Horse People are Crazy?

[Countrywood]

My barn is not A show quality, it is an average barn charging avg fees (for this area ) of $850. There is no cheap pasture board in this area, does not exist. Pasture board means going out of area so far one can forget about riding or interacting on a frequent basis, and again, having checked into places, the fees are $350-$450, ask around that is what others have found as well. Thus, one can’t simply walk away from horse responsibility, or if they do, then they make a hard choice about euthanasia or dumping their horse or sending it to auction.

If one lives where land and board is cheap, they are indeed “less crazy”, because the cost to keep their horse or option to walk away from it or scale back is far different.

[ChasPonyCat]

[QUOTE=JustTheTicket;8384293]
Why are horse women so bent on proving they’re to most crazy? I see stuff like that on Facebook too, with memes about women boasting about how crazy they are. Why? Why can’t you just enjoy your horses without having to have this competition about how crazy you all are?

Re: putting horse in field with a round bale. I wasn’t saying put it there and never look at it again. But even if you board you can find pasture, and pay someone to water and groom sometimes and do farrier and vet as necessary. You don’t have to be A show barn quality care all the time. So you can still walk away from it. The arguments I’m getting here are from people who probably pride themselves on their “craziness” about their horses. Like, the same kind of people who think it’s a big dea to have a boyfriend meet their horse. It’s not your parents. I can’t comprehend how it’s a big deal for people to have others meet their horse. It’s an animal. It doesn’t care who you’re dating.[/QUOTE]

That’s pretty much how I feel about it too. When I was looking into the crazy horse girl trope, I saw so much of this happening on the internet–women who were all, “yeah, I’m batsh*t crazy and proud of it!” and some of the tales of how these women perceived their human relationships compared to their horse relationships seemed…unbalanced, at best.

Yes, if one is not upfront about their horse and their hobby, it certainly could cause conflict, but I think just the same way most things could lead to conflict in a relationship if one is not upfront about it, like having kids, drinking, etc. Basically it comes down to if you and your man are on the same page. I think part of the problem is some of these “crazy horse girls” engage in behaviors that would be damaging to a relationship anyway, like hiding great quantities of money spent on their horses. It’s like if a woman is a shopaholic and racked up debt on numerous credit cards shopping; that too would probably cause relationship problems. I think a lot of the problems caused by horses in relationships are actually problems caused by the people who would probably be causing other problems if not channeling that toward horses.

ETA: obviously, even minimal horse upkeep is going to cost a healthy chunk of change, and one must be upfront about that. I’m not talking about normal upkeep though, but people who secretly spend outrageous amounts of money.

[JustTheTicket]

^^^Exactly. And it’s the attitude of “my horse will always be more important than you” that really perpetuates the crazy horse girl thing. There’s no reason why you can’t be into all things horse and not have your partner feel like an afterthought. I mean,I was a working student for several years, so obviously immersed in the horse scene and I still had normal relationships and people weren’t calling me “weird horse girl” everywhere I went.

Country wood: one can walk away from horses if one wanted to. Come up with all the excuses you want, but it can be done. Sell the horse, lease it out, euthanize if the situation is appropriate. Send the horse away to a retirement farm. If you’re so dependent on the horse that you can’t do any of that, then I guess you’ve earned that crazy title. Otherwise, you absolutely can walk away. I’m not saying dump it and let it starve and die, but you can do the bare minimum and the horse won’t suffer. There are plenty of people who throw their herd out in a massive field for the winter and don’t see them for months and somehow the horses live. They don’t need stalls and cookies and blankets.

[Countrywood]

I agree there are ways to scale back or retire a horse, but its not easy. You sound like you own a farm and simply have no idea of cost or limited options out there. If anyone is throwing out a herd in a massive field they own the field and presumably check on the horses every day. If one sends a horse to a t farm they have to trust the retirement farm takes decent care and the cheap places offer no such assurance…we’ve read the horror stories of what happens with hordes of horses found starving at a supposed sanctuary or retirement farm. Sale or leasing not possible on this horse (I’ve tried). Many horses in today’s climate are not peaceable even for free. My horse is sound but has some issues that make him not for a beginner and age ( 17) makes him not attractive to those that want to show or train up a horse.

I have many relationships with none horse people and many other interests. A good number of horse people lead interesting busy lives when they are not at the barn. I don’t judge anyone as “crazy” unless they act crazy, and thus earn the title!

[Hulk]

Crazy is as crazy does. You have to admit sometimes the cray cray is strong in the horse world.

[KandC]

I will say there is definitely a different “attitude” among horsepeople. They tend to be a little more no-nonsense, even “b*tchier” (according to vet school friends); I just think we tend to be a little stand-offish, and just all around intense personalities. But that comes with the sport; if we didn’t have intense personalities, I don’t think we could ride with the highs and lows of the sport.

So crazy? No. Intense? Definitely.

[Countrywood]

Intense is a better word than crazy. True crazies are present in all walks or life and their own behavior defines them as such.

Intense is when someone makes the leap into horse ownership. There are many casual riders, people who enjoy occasional trail ride or weekly lessons and admire horses but never choose to own one.

They may be more sensible but more likely were not born with horses in their blood…most horses owners can recall being in love with horses /ponies intensely at a very young age. I started at age three, had intense burning desire to own my own pony since age 3 (parents finally gave in when I was 12).

My sister, same family, had some riding lessons, only a casual interest in horses, she never wanted to own one and has not ridden since a teenager

[ChasPonyCat]

[QUOTE=Countrywood;8384881]
Intense is a better word than crazy. True crazies are present in all walks or life and their own behavior defines them as such.

Intense is when someone makes the leap into horse ownership. There are many casual riders, people who enjoy occasional trail ride or weekly lessons and admire horses but never choose to own one.

They may be more sensible but more likely were not born with horses in their blood…most horses owners can recall being in love with horses /ponies intensely at a very young age. I started at age three, had intense burning desire to own my own pony since age 3 (parents finally gave in when I was 12).

My sister, same family, had some riding lessons, only a casual interest in horses, she never wanted to own one and has not ridden since a teenager[/QUOTE]

Interesting assessment, and I see where you are coming from, but I’m not sure I necessarily agree. I think casual horse owners do exist. There are people who keep a backyard type pony as as lawn ornament, or just occasionally ride. Sure, there’s the commitment of feeding it and finding care if you are out of town, but there is with just about any type of pet.

There are many levels of intensity in horse ownership.

[Countrywood]

casual horse owners probably it fits into the lifestyle and economy in an area. If one lives on a farm or small acreage and it costs little to keep a horse, then a few trail rides and minimum up keep /not being intense can coexist!