Love for our Non-Horsey, Forced-Horsey Dads

[clanter]

Bluey, not all of horses were real… Pinocchio who was a registered Pine Wooden Head was my daughter’s science project to demonstrate mechanical advantages of different tack. Evidently it worked as she later became a Physics teacher (her field of study was Chemistry)

there was a spring embedded in the top line of the “horse” then she had a fish scale to record the force needed to adjust its head to an attached scale so there would be a point of reference

Afterwards for a many years Pinocchio lived on a shelf in the garage … he was the cheapest horse we ever had to care for.

[B_and_B]

My dad isn’t non horsey per say. An excellent rider, and for many years by far the best groom I could ever ask for at a horse show. Horses love him.
But…he spent all those years working a full time job and every morning feeding the horses on the way to work early. And tweaking his work hours, at the expense of any career advancement, so he could come home early and help me with the horses or pick my brother up from his ballet lessons. And on the weekend, he took me to work at the horse farm at Oh Dark Hundred, and then trailered my horse over for a lesson. In between driving my brother to dance class, mowing the lawn, and fixing what needed fixing. Week in, week out.
He gave up his real love of flying to pay for the horses.
Now a days, I’ll bring the big boy up to the porch to say hi to him. And they both love it. But…darn it…now I am crying.

[Bebe_Falcon1]

I’m afraid I don’t have a “supportive dad” story personally (he was always far too narcissistic), but anytime I encounter a father assisting in any way with their child’s involvement with horses, it pulls at my heartstrings and I get a little misty-eyed.

A man recently inquired about purchasing a blanket from me off of Marketplace – it was the right size, but he just had to check with his daughter to make sure she liked the colour He ended up buying it, and reported back once it had been delivered to tell me it fit perfectly and his daughter loved it. It just made me so happy to know there was a girl out there in the world somewhere with a parent who cared that much.

[sweetsalute]

I just wanted to revive this thread with another shout out for my amazing dad.

He took great care of my horses and treated them for all sorts of rain caused issues while I was stuck further north thanks to severe floods cutting off all routes home.

And just this weekend past, after I had to walk the young horse 9 miles home after a floating incident, he spent the whole morning scouting out trails to keep us off a very busy high speed road (his apple watch said he walked about 6 miles doing that!), helped us cross said road, a deep creek crossing (pony had never done such a thing before) and just generally stuck around to make sure we got home safe (and I’m quite sure he had other plans for the day!). He also went back to pick up my truck and trailer.

[oldernewbie]

My dad and his daughters and horses… I could probably write a book! I have 6 siblings, 4 of whom are girls. So, out of 5 daughters, 4 of us rode and showed. I was the oldest and the most horse crazy. Bless my dad, he hauled us to shows, learned to load horses, was a great ringside observer, and after he bought his farm, very good at leading my sister’s horses out to the pasture every day. He only tried riding a couple of times, but he did try. He was very big on sportsmanship and teaching us to both win and lose gracefully.

RIP dad, he died in 2017 and I miss him every day. My mom came and watched me ride my new guy in his first dressage class in 2019 when she was 90. I was 67 at the time and thrilled that she could see us together.

He and my mom were both city kids so it’s a mystery to all where this horse bug came from.

I still remember the day that my niece showed for the first time - my horsey sisters and I were tearing up and I looked over at my parents and they were too. The tradition carried on! That niece went on to be a heck of a rider and is now a vet.

Horses have been a part of my family’s life and lore now for almost 60 years (OMG!!). So many happy memories and so glad that my parents supported our craziness.

[outerbanks77]

It’s funny - my dad finally gave in and took me for weekly riding lessons the summer I was 9. So now when he comes to visit he comes to the barn and watches me ride and says “Oh, I thought I’d get you those lessons and you’d get bored soon enough and quit. Now here we are 35 years later and I’m still watching you ride.” The rest of my family are boat and water people, and somehow I got the landlubber gene, maybe from my great grandfather the sheep rancher.