What special times have you had with horses, that stand out in your memory?

[Sparrowette]

I guess it’s just that I’ve reached that age where I have more memories than I did when I was much, much younger, but there are times in my experience with horses that stand out in my mind and sparkle there.

Like riding Double Shot, a Morgan/TB cross mare in a valley in the Kiabab Forrest. We were just mosying along the valley trail and I was playing the harmonica, watching her ears swivel to hear it, listening… Such a feeling of togetherness and peace that has stayed with me all my life, and I think maybe these things/times are what keep us addicted. :love-struck:

I can’t be the only one who has had these. What are yours?

[paulosey]

I have wonderful memories of my Appy gelding Red Rum, who passed this spring at 27.
One day, when he was a young horse (maybe 2 or 3) we were exploring, as we often did, and crossed an old rock fence line. Rum stopped and when I looked down his legs were terribly tangled in barbed wire. That horse stood still as a stone while I untangled his legs…that’s the kind of relationship I had with him and truly miss him.

Another time we were cantering through a deep woods and just ahead of us, silently, a big grey owl was flying along the path. It was so big it’s wings almost touched the trees on either side. It was a “take your breath away” moment.

I miss that big gelding alot…

[ByTheBook]

I have also hit that point where the memories are so vivid that I can smell, hear, and even taste the air the way it was when it happened.

One was a show ring moment. I had a horse that was an absolute bear to get going. He broke out easily enough, but in the finishing process, he reared up and flipped over on top of me, hairline fracturing a vertebrae in my spine. Fast forward a year later, he won the first of many championships. I remember the song that played on our victory lap, the way his neck was sitting, even the smell of the arena at Lexington. I showed that horse for 6 more years and always did really well with him, but that first win is still special.

I remember another time with my heart horse (not the horse above). I had broken my leg and was out trail riding on him. We were cantering up a hill and the toe of my cast caught on a tree. It would have broken my knee, but it’s like the horse knew what had happened. He executed a perfect quarter pirouette, freeing my leg and simultaneously teaching me what true connection with the horse felt like. I just thought ‘turn–for God sake turn’ and in less than a breath he did. I didn’t even (knowingly) physically cue for it.

I know, I sound like an absolute klutz, don’t I? lol

[netg]

So many!

My sometimes nutty TB is my heart horse, so despite all the fabulous memories with many other horses, ones with him mean the most. Right now I’m glowing over our ride last night.

I’ve been having breathing problems for weeks, and yesterday just couldn’t catch my breath. The day before he was extremely hot, and galloped around his pen for about 15 minutes before 5 minutes of extended trot followed by handwalking and cooling him off, because it was getting cold and he was dripping wet so I wanted him to be healthy! Yesterday he came out of his pen still with a ton of energy, but he was fantastic to ride. Relaxed, soft through his whole body, reaching into the contact, and on the aids. I didn’t have it in me to work very hard, so he made up for me and it was just one of the most pleasant and peaceful rides we’ve ever had. When I asked him to go he WENT, and when I asked him not to go he immediately stopped or slowed with total relaxation. We would do medium trot or extended canter, then transition to loose rein walk, did some canter on the buckle just to work on his self carriage, and he took it all in stride, only wanting snuggles and sugar cubes for reward. Those perfect harmonious rides where we are of the same accord just make me smile each time I think of them.

Next happy horse memory I think of was my last ride on my baby - my 5th or 6th time riding her. Our last trot diagonal away from my trainer he told me to ask her for a little more trot, and she shocked me by sitting, pushing, and giving me a medium. She’s not trained to do it yet, but it was just what came out of her from my request and the response I eventually expect to get from her all the time at those aids - but didn’t expect to get yet!

[moonriverfarm]

Growing up I had an incredibly plucky and talented QH who did everything from working cows to foxhunting. In those days we rode bareback with no helmets, swam our horses in ponds, jumped barbed wire fences, trail rode everywhere, rode double and sometimes triple and enjoyed the heck out of being horse girls. We did all our own braiding, we mucked our own stalls, we watched the farrier and the vet and doctored cuts and wrapped legs. Without that foundation I would not be riding today at 55 doing many of the same things (with a helmet on). Learning to really be a horseman was the best part of growing up on the back of a horse. I still get a head rush when I bury my nose in my horse’s neck.

[talkofthetown]

I have a couple, with my heart OTTB.

One, was several winters ago. We used to have a tradition of every few months, when the moon was full and bright and the sky was clear, I’d go hop on Boomer bareback with his halter and just hack around in the moonlight. One night, it was super cold, and clear, and I think right before Christmas. Could have been after, I don’t remember. But it was one of those really still, beautiful nights. Boomer was extra fuzzy (gotta love all that warm hair to snuggle into!), and everything was just perfect. I hate to use the word “majickal” but it felt like that. It was just me and him, total trust in each other, had such a fun ride. It was beyond really special, I’ll always remember that night.

The other time was out on the XC field at our first event together. I cried crossing the finish line; we had finally made it, and we had become a real eventing team. I was so proud of him

[paulosey]

Memories…I just thought of another one.
My first horse in the 70’s. I hadn’t had Belle, my half Arab mare, long and we were still getting to know each other. I was riding with my friends and they were jumping fence lines. We were so young and crazy. Belle had never jumped before and I did manage to get her over a small broken bit of fence…immediately after landing her web girth broke.
I promptly left my friends to their fun and rode very quietly home at the walk…we were about 2 miles from home at that point. Good old Belle didn’t put a foot wrong and I think all those Pony Club drills with no stirrups and reins had worked to improve my balance! I also understood why Pony Club stressed that if you used a web girth, you should always use two!
Good old Belle…I hope she and Rum have found each other in the fields they are grazing in now.

[JCS]

Years ago I had a fixer-upper sale horse, very hot and sometimes rowdy to ride but also very smart and fun. We were scheduled to go to a hunter pace with the barn, and I was planning to ride my own TB gelding. I asked the barn manager if she wanted to ride my sale horse. Her exact words: “Are you kidding me? I’m not ready for that rodeo!”

Well, I decided he needed the experience so he’d be more marketable, and I took him myself. I was on the verge of terrified when we mounted up, and even had someone hold his head just in case. Well, that horse was amazing that day. Listening, soft, forward, eager, but willing to stop and wait quietly when someone got left behind. There were optional XC jumps, which he had never seen (had only jumped in an arena) and at first he was scared of them. I popped him over a couple of little logs, and it was like it clicked in his brain: “OH, they’re JUMPS!” and after that he was seeking them out, always looking for the next one. At one fence, I failed to use enough leg and he sort of petered out and stopped in front of it. Without a cue from me, he spun around, trotted back down the trail a ways, turned back toward the jump, cantered two neat stride and cleared it. I literally did not do a thing but sit there and enjoy the ride. That day was the most fun I’ve ever had on a horse.

Long story short, that sale horse is still in my barn seven years later.

[VaqueroToro]

I really never got along with the gelding I owned (sold him last April) but there was a fall night a couple of years ago that was clear and crisp but not particularly cold. He was outside in his paddock and I went out there in the dark to say good night to him. After giving his forehead a rub I stood there and listened to him eat his hay (couldn’t see a damn thing). A meteor or bit of space debris streaked across the sky over his shoulder. It was quite the impressive fireball.

More recently – if the schoolie I’ve been riding was human (and single), I’d want to marry him. He’s the sweetest thing ever. I’ve never been around a horse that liked to cuddle or really have their face loved on. This guy will drop his head into your arms for a hug. Never pushy about it, but loves it when you give him the chance to cuddle and I choke up for some silly reason every time I do.

I’m also a bit of a timid rider but I do trust him – I did the Titanic thing through a chute a few weeks ago (knotted reins, arms spread out wide, cantering, etc) which I never would have felt safe to do with just about every other horse I’ve been on. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve felt euphoria – that was one of 'em.

[2DogsFarm]

Lots of them if I take the time , but right now I remember:

Watching DH - a novice rider at the time - riding his horse bareback & blanketed through deep snow. Cantering along like they had done it for years…

Riding my TB in the woods, jumping conveniently-fallen logs.
After one jump he kind of stopped and spooked in place.
I looked back to see 2 young deer following us - jumping what we jumped.

My first Winter on my own farm.
Snow falling softly, me sitting on the stacked hay wrapped in a fleece cooler w/barncat purring on my lap.
My two horses came into their stalls and both laid down for a short nap.
The incredibly peaceful time of just them breathing softly, all of us totally comfortable in that silence only a snowfall can make.

[Superminion]

Life for us is crazy right now. Two kiddos under 2, DH working 80+ hours, the holidays, being a bit homesick, etc. I take care of two horses at night, Willow being one of them, and when DH is home on time I get the glorious option of leaving the kids home with him. Those nights I stop at McD’s and treat myself to something warm and go relax in Willow’s run in with a book. Chores are all done, and it’s so quiet up there. I love it. Shh… don’t tell DH. :winkgrin:

Last night Willow came over and fell asleep standing a bit over me, with her muzzle on my shoulder. She’s not a lovey horse in the least, so I was nice that she wanted to have that bit of snuggle. We must have hung out for an hour, with me reading and her snoozing. When I got up to leave I gave her a hug and she actually wrapped her neck around like she was hugging me back and made this little whuffling noise. It sounds so cheesy, but I loved every second.

[Faceman]

Lots and lots of memories. A couple of them…

18 years ago we were on a trail ride in the Wyoming Rockies on a narrow trail on the side of a mountain with a humongous drop-off on the right. The horse in front of Mrs. Face, which had an inexperienced rider, spooked at something and “teleported” backwards into Mrs. Face’s horse, catching one of its hinds inside the reins near the bit. The reins were split, but had been stupidly tied together by the person that had tacked up her horse, and ZI simply missed it when I checked her tack. Well, the two horses were pretty well locked together and jumping around, and Mrs. Face’s horse went over the edge, sliding off backwards. I yelled at Mrs. Face to bail out, but she was panicked and just grabbed the horn and hung on. Somehow the horse managed to slide down about 300 feet on his belly with his legs sprawled out without flipping over, finally coming to rest between a rock outcrop and a tree. Meanwhile, I am sitting there on my horse, not able to do a dang thing, watching my wife slide down a freaking mountain, just waiting for the horse to flip over. It all ended well, although the horse’s belly and legs were pretty gashed up, and it took 5 of us about 45 minutes to get her and her horse back up to the trail - we were too afraid to try and take the horse downslope until we crossed a lower trail because it was so steep.

The other thing that stands out to me are the first early morning snow rides through the woods every year (or at least in those years when we had big snows) after the first really big wet snowfall of the winter. The beauty of the heavy wet snow on the trees and the absolute muffled silence in the deep woods is almost a religious experience - I’m sure a lot of you have enjoyed the same feeling…

[Bluey]

The summer I was, eight, I think, our old neighbor couple finally quit farming and everyone else was doing it for them, helping as they could.
I was told to take their young white mule out regularly for exercise, as they were not using it any more to farm.

Didn’t have any but a halter, no bridle or saddle, so I rode that mule all over the mountains without anything but a halter.
I remember like it was today coming to downed trees in the trails and jumping them, the mule never stopping, but every time, after jumping, dropping the right shoulder and I would slide off, to again jump on and keep on riding.

I think it was close to the end of the summer before I learned to stay on and then the mule quit doing it.
I was sad, I though that was really fun.
I think that is why jumping is still my most favorite to do with a horse.

[Zuri]

What a lovely topic! It has brought back so many memories of how closely horses have been aligned with times of joy and times of sorrow.

I am not as accomplished, talented or knowledgeable as most of you. I have loved horses my entire life, took lessons as a child, and bought my first horse at 41. My daughters inherited that love and I sold my horse so that my then 7 year old could have a pony then a horse as she grew. Her sister followed too in that love and got a horse of her own to love. I got to be a show mom and ribbon holder as I watched these two lovely girls in the show ring grow into beautiful young women.

In 2010, my beloved father died suddenly, leaving me a small inheritance. I knew exactly what I was going to do with it: buy my dream horse. My siblings invested theirs, which was probably smarter. I went on a journey. Without this last gift from my dad, my dream would never have come true.

I went to look at a horse my trainer suggested I see. I took a friend to ride him for me as I have been disabled for some time due to one too many falls:) As I walked down the aisle, I saw the most beautiful head I had ever seen. Daring not to hope, with downcast eyes I asked the young girl who was getting her boots on, where the horse was I was there to see. She gestured to the horse who stood in the cross ties, partially hidden, whose head I had just seen. I went down the aisle and stopped in front of the most gorgeous horse. He took my breath away. I watched him go; my friend rode him; I could barely breathe. He was perfect. He vetted sound. He was mine. My daughters love him and ride him and show him on the A circuit when we can do it. On occasion, on a “good” day, I will go out and watch my youngest daughter ride him. He takes my breath away every single time I lay eyes on him. Just like the first time. He is my heart horse.

[sdlbredfan]

What a great topic! When I was a teenager, there was a very sensitive and quirky mare that I dearly loved. She and I just ‘clicked’ and were in tune with one another. This was especially delightful to me because I did not have a horse of my own at the time, was a working student. There was only one other rider who got along with this mare, among a very large riding school and training barn program. I was riding bareback, at a sitting trot. As we came around a turn in the very narrow indoor arena, I started to slip toward the inside. I was not worried, was sure I could get myself back in the right spot soon, so had not asked her to walk or halt. On her own, as soon as she felt me leave the ‘centered in the middle of her’ spot where I belonged, she just stopped, waited until I was back where I was supposed to be, and smoothly resumed her jog.
Another truly magical moment, to me, was with my dear departed Kallie (she of the DSLD/ESPA who eventually had to be PTS due to that) when I had her pasture boarded until a stall opened up at the stable we were at. It was Winter, she was in her teens, and I made sure she was bundled up in a blanket as needed. I was working a night shift at the time, so always visited her on the way to work. She followed me to the gate, for one last scritch and goodbye. I hugged her and she hugged me back, wrapping her neck around me to pull me close. As I left, I looked back, and she was watching me, as if I were the ‘child’ and she was the doting ‘parent’. She did not rejoin her little herd at the hay bale until I had reached my car. My current mare Honey sometimes hugs me back too. Horsey hugs are great! Interspecies communication and cooperation are amazing.

[Oberon13]

Ahhhh! I don’t even know you guys, yet I’m still a bit teary-eyed reading all these beautiful memories!

My first horse was a big red gelding (of unknown lineage) that I named Flash. I was 13…he was a yearling. Obviously, my parents and I had no idea what we were doing, but we got lucky. Flash didn’t have a mean bone in his body. Anywho…flash forward (see what I did there?) many years, and I had Flash with me in Montana where I was working at a therapeutic boarding school for teenaged girls. I watched my sweet red boy connect with one girl in particular, a girl who struggled with the abuse in her past, eating disorders, and complete distrust of anyone or anything. As she learned to work with him in my classes, she absolutely blossomed. Each day after class, I’d take Flash’s leadrope from her, watch her walk back up the hill to the main part of campus. Standing there, thanking him, my hand wrapped in his mane - those were some of the best afternoons ever.

Here’s my tribute to him, for anyone who’s interested…
http://oberonsopus.blogspot.com/2013/07/for-flash.html

[kasjordan]

Lots- my favorite though- trail riding with my at the time 9 year old daughter. We were casually riding through the woods on a beautiful late summer/ early fall day , I glance back at her and she’s got her hands resting on the front of the saddle, her face turned up to the sun and she says “Mom, this is the life!”.
You bet it is baby

[Frosty_M]

My heart horse was with me through my pregnancies. My boys learned to ride on him as toddlers, sitting in front of me, sharing my saddle. ( Don’t worry- they were wearing helmets.) But this memory is when my #2 son was a newborn. Sivad was staying in my landlady’s huge pasture while I recuperated from childbirth. I missed him and decided to take C to meet him. I don’t know what I was thinking. There was no reason to think I could find him. But I took the baby with me into the pasture and called him.
He came over the hill at a dead gallop. He seemed to know what I was there for. I held the baby out and he gently sniffed every inch of him.
I leaned against Sivad and gave thanks to God for my sweet horse friend.

[moonriverfarm]

I have to add to my other warm fuzzy. I have an eight year old OTTB, Jackson. He is the kindest creature I know. He came to me with some mental baggage and was a challenge as far as learning to trust. I work specifically retraining track horses so knew it was just a matter of time and figuring him out.
I have a three year old granddaughter who has a love affair with this horse going on that would make a great tearjerker movie. Since she was 2, she has been in love with him, and he with her. I have video of her leading him like he is a dog around show grounds. We were at bf’s farm a few weeks ago and she wanted to put his “leash” on him and take him for a walk. this 1100 pound, 16.2 horse meekly walks 20 steps behind this tiny child, stops when she does, watches her, all with the kindest eye and sweetest attitude. He bows his head so she can kiss his nose. He can be grazing in a paddock and see her coming and just slowly walk to meet her. There is noting but love between these two unlikely partners. This track reject who had been given up on is worth a hundred times his weight in gold. I wish I could clone him. (And did I mention he cleans up at A shows too?)

[KPF]

I have a few:

The first one is when I was a little kid, maybe 10, we took the school horses out Christmas caroling one night in December. It was dark and cold but so peaceful and so cool to watch people come out on the porch to see a group of caroling kids on horseback.

The second is when I was about 16, I was feeding at my trainer’s barn on weekends to pay for lessons. One morning it had snowed about 6-8" the night before and I was dreading going to the barn. My trainer came out to help with morning chores and when we were done, she asked if I wanted to take the (barefoot) ponies out for a trail ride. She and I rode for an hour or two through the hunt trails and it was so quiet and other-worldly, just us and the ponies in a winter wonderland.

At the same barn, around the same time, I did my first “real” horse trial away from home. I remember the exhilirating feeling of jumping in and out of the woods and a couple of really scary jumps where I just closed my eyes. Coming over the last jump it hit me that I did it, I had a huge grin on my face and asked my trainer if we could do it again. :lol:

With my “heart” horse who died this past summer, there were tons of special little moments where he’d whicker to me or come over and snuggle me when I was sad. We really did adore each other. There were also many proud moments when he moved up in his training and people told me how great he looked. I miss him terribly. :no: