Pictures of Your Mom with Horses

[dressagetraks]

Bonus points for willing but not really horsey themselves Moms, those gems who enabled us.

This is one of my favorite pictures of Mom. This was back circa 1996, and Mom was still 100% herself. I was trying to get a conformation shot of Lacy that day, and Mom volunteered to help. She was not horsey (horsey friends will notice a few safety flaws in this photo), but she was unafraid and willing to assist, and Lacy was a good girl who wasn’t likely to be a problem.

However, as we all know, getting a conformation shot is tricky. The moment you get it set up right, the horse shifts a leg or swishes a fly or develops abrupt Eeyore ears, and your photo becomes a joke. So this shoot was proceeding as expected, and we were several takes in. I said, “Let’s try it again,” and Mom and Lacy both let out a big sigh simultaneously. Mom then laughed and spontaneously gave the mare a hug of commiseration.

This is not the shot I intended to get that day, but I treasure it.

[2bayboys]

These pictures were taken 75 years apart. Last year my mom asked me to help her get on a pony again and I was thrilled to make that happen.

She still is and always has been a huge supporter of my passion.

[SummerRose]

What a fun post!

Here’s my mom with her filly:

A few years later, with that same filly that she trained herself (and no, she wasn’t very safety-conscious! But she trained her filly to be pretty bombproof. ):

For the fun of it, horses have always been a family thing. Here’s my aunt, pic taken in the 60s, I think, around the time Mom had the filly (incidentally, for NoVA folks, this is what Tysons Corner used to look like back in the day ):

Mom and I (and my sisters, but they don’t count ) rode together for years during my childhood and teenage years but I don’t have any pics from then. I need to find some! It’s so much fun to see Mom doing the horse thing.

More recently, Mom on my then-31 year old Arabian mare (incidentally, this is a mare that I got as a yearling and trained myself - like mother, like daughter!):

Mom on one of my current mares, taken a few years ago:

And Mom on the mare I bought last month:

[2DogsFarm]

I envy you who grew up with horsey Moms.

My own Mom drove me to weekly lessons.
That I’d bartered for going to Sunday school & when I was older, paid for with babysitting money.
But she was not a lover of horses.
And after seeing a kid in one of my large group lessons (10+ kids under 12) come off & nearly get his chest stepped on, she’d wait for me in the parking lot.
A true sacrifice for a non-horsey mother.

Those of you who grew up with horses & rode with your Moms are luckiest of all.
& Those still sharing your horses with your Moms… Priceless

[ChocoMare]

My mom with the QH mare I share-boarded on for a few years. Mom was not horsey at all but she knew I needed help at a show. She’d hold her while I cooled off, made sure my number was straight and boots wiped clean. Her hat was straw so, of course, smelled like hay. Rainey stuck her nose to it and sniffed, sniffed, sniffed so hard, she almost sucked it off my mom’s head!

This same amazing woman didn’t want me working alone Monday nights at a big show barn I was working at when I was 17. It was rather isolated and dark, so I could have easily become a victim of anyone or thing. She’d fill water buckets, sweep etc. while I fed 70 horses. She was quite the trooper.

October this year will be 10 years since she went Home. Miss her something fierce.

[RMJacobs]

I also envy those of you with horsey moms. My mother did get me riding lessons when I was maybe about nine or ten, but then we moved and she never let me pursue it again. She had zero interest, and the same for the rest of my family. I’m the only one that I know of in the entire family who had a passion (or even any interest) in horses.

I got my first horse when I was 19 and living with my first fiance. Luckily, both my husbands encouraged my horse interest, and both rode/ride.

Rebecca

[Laverne77]

My mom is not horsey at all. She does occasionally come out to the barn to see my horses (I think she just pretends to be interested in them for my sake) and bring them treats (“Grandmas” are supposed to be suppliers of treats, right?) One time about 10 years ago she was at the barn as I was tacking my Standardbred up and she asked if she could drive him. Shocked the hell out of me! This particular horse was a good babysitter type so I hooked him up and away they went around the yard a few times - at a walk.

[RhythmNCruise]

I come by my love of horses quite honestly. My mom had horses growing up and she and her friends rode all over the place. When I started showing an interest as a young girl, my mom was all too happy to encourage it. I have countless pictures of my mom with and on various horses throughout the 35 years that I’ve been involved with them. She’s done trail rides, parades, and shows. But she’s always been happiest as “granny” to her big, four-legged grandchildren. Here are a few of her with her “grandson” Milton (appy) and his “roommate” Fancy (bay). My mom is 79-80 in these pics. She still goes to the barn with me every weekend for some horsey time. Even if it’s just sitting in a chair and watching them graze.

[RMJacobs]

@Laverne77

One time about 10 years ago she was at the barn as I was tacking my Standardbred up and she asked if she could drive him.

I tried to talk my father into driving my Hackney pony, just in my yard with me in the cart. He said “Are you nuts?” I assumed that was a no.

Rebecca

[dressagetraks]

Speaking of “Grandma” behavior, I well remember the morning Toccata was born in 2007. Mom was already living on my farm in her trailer I had set up for her. So she obviously, when she got up, looked out the window and saw me in the front pasture admiring the foal and complimenting the mare.

Here came Mom, still in bathrobe, out of her trailer, walking RIGHT PAST an entire porch full of cats, who, of course, knew she was the softest touch on the farm and awaited her attentions every morning. Normally, Mom would feed cats at the drop of a hat, and it got worse as her dementia increased. “Meow? Oh, you must be hungry. Here.” All cats within a square mile knew about her.

So there were the cats, lined up on her porch for the usual morning routines, and for the one time ever, she exited and walked straight past them, not a pause, not a look, just right on by as she hurried to the fence to see her “grandfoal.” The cats were flabbergasted.

[lorilu]

)

My Mom with Rabbit, her army remount.

[Janet]

I do not have a picture of her with horses, but my mother was definitely an enabler in getting us riding lessons, and then horses of our own. She was raised working class in London (England), but went on a few trail rides with friends after WW II. She loved all animals. She would go for a ride on one of our (my sister and I) horses about once a month. We were responsible for doing all the horse care, but she would often come out to the barn to help, and was actively involved when the farrier or the vet came.

No horse pictures, but here she is with kittens.

Mummy with Kittens.bmp (1.8 MB)

ETA that unfortunately she died of cancer when she was 51 and I was 21.

[RemarkableOwl21]

My mom has always supported my horse interest even if she is a bit fearful of horses. This is her riding my grandfather’s (her stepfather) horse.

[Rackonteur]

I don’t have any photographs of my mother with horses (she had one of the one time she ever got on a horse). What i do have are lots and lots of memories of her about horses – taking me to riding lessons, taking me to pet neighborhood horses, taking me to pony rides, taking me to horse shows, mailing me apples for the horse i rode at college along with my boots and some brownies, taking me shopping for those boots and my first pair of jods and hard hat …
Great memories.

[Rackonteur]

Lovely.
She sounds like my mother.

[oldernewbie]

The first two pix from 2017 when my mom was 88. She was NOT a horse person but wanted to sit on my horse. We put her up there, he was a saint, and we did not take a step. He was always a good boy but I sure as heck did not want to be responsible for her demise! That’s my niece the future veterinarian on the right and me, 45 pounds heavier (eeeeeek!) on the left.

Second pix is when we took her to watch my niece show. She was always game to go to a horse show and watch her daughters and one granddaughter that showed.

Third pic is Mother’s Day 2022 when I hustled to my sister’s house after a horse show to spend time with Mom. Sure glad I did - had no way then of knowing that that was our last MD.

Miss her like heck, she passed away at 93 this year on March 4. I start to feel bad and then look at all the pix we have of her having a great time… can’t express how thoroughly she lived life to the fullest.

[Rackonteur]

Y’all and your moms are really making me want to get back on a horse again. I’m loving seeing all these lovely pictures and reading about your moms. Mine would enjoy reading these too.

[Jealoushe]

My mom and one of my mom and step dad in their ugly Christmas sweaters for good measure

[anon40672407]

Hahaha. Never got a picture of my mom with the horses because she wouldn’t come near them. The one time we got her in the saddle, she shouted, “I can feel him breathing!” “Shall we ask him to hold his breath, Mom?” She got on an elephant in Thailand, and might have gotten on a camel in Egypt, but it was a big no to a horse.

These have been lovely shots.

[Sparrowette]

My mom attended a one-room schoolhouse out in “Nowhere, NB”. They had a corral for the kids to put their horses while school was in session and a pot-bellied stove to keep everyone warm. She told me of how fun it was racing the train to school on her horses Slim and Zip. I still have the old wooden saddle tree she used on them.

But as an adult, I never saw her ride, so I have no pictures.