I am a primary school teacher and every fall I recieve off reactions from new staff members who hear me rushing out of the building after school saying, “I have to go; I’m late to the bar…n!” They never hear the ‘n’ on the end of that word. Luckily, I have some great friends who explain my addiction isn’t to booze.
11 Likes
Years ago I had a coworker that always wanted to come ride. She was a “very good rider” and she wanted to come out and “gallop a lot”. So I show her a picture of my horse all tacked up and I think I was riding him. She looked at the picture very puzzled - " Where is that thing in front of the saddle"? Oh you mean the saddle horn? I ride in an English saddle - there is no saddle horn. " So what do you hold on to?" I never extended an invitation to her. Eye roll!
11 Likes
Yeah. He was probably pushing 90 too.
When I was a kid Mom was my groom at all 4H shows, when I was older and wandering the countryside, she was the one who went to the barn to grain my horse. She lived vicariously through me. Dad paid the bills and would make an appearance at shows, but that’s about it.
9 Likes
I invited a co-worker, who doesn’t / didn’t ride, to come watch me in a one day horse trials. She was psyched and thought she was going to (in her words) “Ride that Horsey!” Uh no. She never showed up. I asked my half-lessee if she would be my groom at the same one day trial and she was all gung-ho and said she’d be there ready to go. She shows up 2 hours late with her 3 year old in tow. She just watched as I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off getting ready.
2 Likes
Ugh… Humans…
3 Likes
My college roommate was helping teach colt starting and equine reproductive class at the community college. She met a “cowboy” at a bar and was dating him for a month or so. He kept bragging that if they had any tough colts in the class, he could come over “and buck them out.” One January day, they are talking on the phone, and she is thinking she is pretty tired of him. He asks what she did that day, and she said she was out with the repro class palpating mares. He freaks out, asks if she really puts her hand up there, and she says “Oh, it’s a good way to stay warm on a cold day.” Never heard from him again. 
30 Likes
I was stationed at a HQ element for three years. I always said about the same thing as I scooted out the door. I was really embarrassed at about year 2 1/2 when a friend of mine told me that, more than once, he had to explain to co-workers that I didn’t have a drinking problem. After that, I would scoot out saying “I’ve got to take care of my horse.” 
4 Likes
Behind our house we have neighbors who moved here from quite close to NYC, in fact they are originally from there and still work there. They can see our back field from between the trees behind their pond and were tickled to death the first time they saw our retirees out there.
Over the years we learnt that she “just loves horses” and used to ride on her mom’s boyfriends farm where they raised/trained trotters. I’m not sure how much actual experience but that’s the story. She is a lovely lady but is a diva (truly…she’s an opera singer) and sometimes comes out with what I consider some rather bold questions. She’s extremely curious about all things.
They were over for dinner the other night and we got to talking about horses, and she asked why we keep three horses that are retired when it is so much work and there is so much poop to clean and we cannot use them for anything. I was pretty shocked even though she did preface it by saying “this may be a too personal question”.
She was very interested in our answers as I explained my lifelong passion, how as long as I can afford it and they are comfortable and well that I have a lifetime commitment to them. Plus the fact there is nothing better for relieving my stress than mucking their run-in barn and nothing more satisfying than spreading out a clean bed of shavings.
Then my husband added his reasons which were by and large the same as mine.
I didn’t get mad, I just found it was rather…odd. At least she knows they are retired and didn’t ask to ride! 
9 Likes
On a related note to Syrnyx, DH was out packing in the mountains when they came upon a couple of women out backpacking and got to talking about horses. They were from New Zealand and asked what else DH and his friend did with the horses other than trail ride? He said nothing really, we have them for our enjoyment. They were flabbergasted that DH was able to keep them just for his own luxury and didn’t have another job like pulling a wagon (I guess). Where they were from horses are so expensive to keep that they have to have more than one job and no one, except the very rich, keeps them solely for pleasure riding.
3 Likes
We have 2 horses and I don’t think I’ve ever had anyone ask to come ride them. I actually offer rides to our friends with kids since one does beginner lessons and is very kid safe. I’ve only had 1 person take me up on it. Another came out one time but the kids were too scared of the horses and preferred to play with the barn cats.
2 Likes
I got so tired of the inevitable “Can I come ride your horses?” questions in high school that I pretty much stopped telling people I even have them. In fact, right now I think most of the people in my department know, but none of them have any interest in being anywhere close to a horse, so it works.
My niece, though . . . she wanted to ride when she was younger. Didn’t want to learn from me. Didn’t want to use a helmet. My brother bought her a 6-month old filly (“she can learn to train it!”). When the filly fell on the ice and fractured her hip, they thought they’d BREED HER. I finally had to buy the filly, because my niece was tired of her and wanted money for senior portraits instead . . . 
Fast forward several years - niece wanted her daughter to ride. They bought her an unbroken, untrained mini pony (I have no idea what happened to it), and then begged me to let her ride my horses. All I had was 15.2 hand Bodie, and she was too scared to get near him.
Every now and then, niece makes comments about riding Alex. I finally told her, “Sure. If you can ride him with seat and leg aids only, no reins, in my dressage saddle, you can ride him.” Haven’t heard a peep since.
3 Likes
This is a conversation I had with a coworker long ago. Everyone ate lunch in the conference room together. Everyone knew I had horses. Coworker decides to tell me this story
Him: I had a PasoFino, stallion of course
Me: of course
Him: one day I was fixing the fence in the paddock and horse came over and bit me Well I picked up a 2x4 and cracked him right across the head. He never tried to bite me again
Me: I bet he didn’t 
After lunch a couple coworkers stopped by my cubicle “so what did you think of the story”
Me: well that was quite the story wasn’t it
2 Likes
I would rather have people like her that asked questions and listened to the answers than ask, not listen and then either make assumptions or condemn you.
4 Likes
I’m not sure who is misinformed, me or non-horse people, but it does seem to be a pretty common response for people to say “they’re a lot of work, aren’t they?” I’m not sure if it just became a normal part of my life for the last 40 years, or if they’re wrong. My horses don’t seem like a lot of work. It’s maybe 30-45 minutes total per day to feed, clean stalls, etc. Sure, there are certain days with more work, like getting hay or feed, or even grooming to ride, but the basic horse care does not seem like that much work to me. I wonder what would have taken its place if I took a different path.
14 Likes
Yeah, it is a lot of work but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. What I get back is priceless. I don’t mind that kind of hard work. I rather clean a horse stall than dust or clean my house.
27 Likes
Oh! Oh!
I have a new one!
My dear sweet sister rides, but as an occasional lesson student. Not really a horseperson and has not a clue about actual horse care or stable management.
I just got back from a WONDERFUL foxhunting trip with friends in a coastal area several hundred miles to the south, and my sister was asking about the trip.
I told her that one of things that really surprised me was that people in that area were able to hunt barefoot.
Sister looked confused and said “But, but…wouldn’t your feet get cold? And doesn’t the metal stirrup hurt your foot?”
When I was composing that statement in my head, I never dreamed that I would have to be clear that it was the horses that were barefoot, not the people.
And I will forever have the image in my head of impeccably turned out foxhunters, sans boots, with bare feet in the stirrups.
39 Likes
Oh wow… that got me laughing so hard.
2 Likes
Jenerationx,
The context here is even funnier. I hunt in an area where horses have to be shod all around, and at the beginning of December, are usually shod all around in borium studs. ($$$, but totally worth it. Because I like my horse to stay on his feet. Shiny side up, greasy side down and all that.) So we arrive in this lovely coastal area, flat as your hat, with glorious sandy soil that doesn’t freeze, covered in pine tags. Some of the horses are wearing fronts only, NO ONE is shod all around and sure as heck, NO ONE but us visitors are wearing borium studs all around.
I thought it was remarkable. And I changed my opinion of horsekeeping in the area, which I had always discounted because of the need to ship in hay. Because I could afford to ship in a LOT of hay for what I pay for shoes.
11 Likes
I would rather clean 10 horse stalls than clean my house.
34 Likes
That would buy a lot of hay!
2 Likes
