Where my Arabian peeps at?

[californianinkansas]

This is one of the best Arabian funnies that I’ve ever read. My (ostensibly) non-horsey husband even laughed when he read it. It was posted on ABN this afternoon. My Arabian is the perfect horse for me.

Enjoy!
Amber

---

I’ve heard someone say that one reason Arabians get a bad name with people not familiar with the breed is because Arabian body language for “What a great day! Let’s get out there and DO something!” is, in the “language” of many other horse breeds, “You have seconds to live.”

          [U]Non-Arabian Rider Borrows Arabian for a ride[/U]

ARABIAN says: “Wow, this is fun! Hey, human, look at that squirrel over there.”

RIDER hears: “AGG! SCARY MONSTER! I AM ABOUT TO BOLT AND RUN WILDLY AWAY!!!”

RIDER says: “Umm, easy, settle down, let’s just walk.”

ARABIAN says: “Why should we just walk? The ground is nice and flat and there’s a cool breeze. I’ll bet if I go after that squirrel I could make it run again.” Offers up a few trot strides by way of suggestion.

RIDER thinks: Oh no, this crazy horse is not walking after I told it to. It must be very nervous and about to go off on me. My friends told me Arabians were nuts.

RIDER (tensing up a little more) says: “It’s all right, there are no monsters out there.”

ARABIAN hears: “There are lots of monsters out that WANT TO EAT US.”

ARABIAN says: “What?! Monsters? Where? I didn’t see any. I mean, I thought I saw a squirrel, but maybe you’re right. Hey. what was that sound?! There’s something moving over there! It must be a MONSTER-- my rider said they were out today!”

RIDER takes ARABIAN back to stable and hands her off to her owner. RIDER says: “Your blankety blank horse tried to kill me.”

OWNER: ???

ARABIAN says to OWNER: “That rider told me there were monsters in that field. I am so never going there again.”

[SharonA]

Your Arab peeps will get back to you in awhile. They can’t come to the computer right now. This is because they’re still doing the walk of shame back from the field/trail/beach, because they weren’t smart enough to stick the beautifully smooth and lightning-fast “melt-out-from-under-you” that is horse’s expression of “You are an idiot who is not listening to my superior intelligence about this trail and I would enjoy going a different way, thank you.”

[Lauruffian]

Reminded me of a mini-trail ride I did with my (yes, Arabian) boy the other day, although the discussion would be more like this:

Tril: “I’m feeling playful! WTF IS THAT?”
Me: “It’s a manhole cover, dumba$$, same one that was here yesterday.”
Tril: “But it might eat me today!”
Me: “WHATever. Move on.”
Tril: pout
Me: “Dude, walk a straight line, would you?”
Tril: “But…what’s THAT? And THAT? And…”
Me: “Knock it off. I know you’re not actually scared. Walk a straight line.”
Tril: “WTF!” freezes in place
Me: “F’real? Tril, move forward.”
Tril: “NO! There’s a THING!”
Me: "TRIL. I know you. You aren’t afraid of anything. But you love to play with everything. Move forward. …Alright, then. <uses excess rein to smack him on the butt>
Tril: “OH! Oh. Oh, I see you actually mean it. Moving forward then.”
Me: <rolling eyes>
Tril: “OMGWTF is THAT?” <spooks hard in place, spins on his haunches, tries to bolt home when a flock of birds takes off–REALLY? BIRDS?>
Me: “Oh NO YOU DON’T.” <shortens one rein, spins him back the other way, kicks him forward> “Enough of this crap.”
Tril: “I’m bored with this game because you won’t let me play. I’ll walk along at a leisurely pace, in a straight line, and on a relaxed rein now.”

Seriously, he was perfect the rest of the ride. The manhole covers, weird looking tree stumps, birds, Mysterious Things et al didn’t even cause him to do more than flick an ear again. Somewhere, his antics have worked for him–but not with me.

[uphill]

Too cute! I miss my Arabians! Been riding a friend’s horses Paint and Connemara…just isn’t the same! Give me an A-rab any day!!

[copper1]

That was cute and oh so true! Love my crazy Ayrabs and would take them on any trail anywhere!

[spook1]

ARAB peep here!!! that was great and true!!!
I take so much ribbing from my friends who have WBs….lol
I luv the arab humor!!!

[californianinkansas]

[QUOTE=Lauruffian;7380817]
Reminded me of a mini-trail ride I did with my (yes, Arabian) boy the other day, although the discussion would be more like this:

Tril: “I’m feeling playful! WTF IS THAT?”
Me: “It’s a manhole cover, dumba$$, same one that was here yesterday.”
Tril: “But it might eat me today!”
Me: “WHATever. Move on.”
Tril: *pout*
Me: “Dude, walk a straight line, would you?”
Tril: “But…what’s THAT? And THAT? And…”
Me: “Knock it off. I know you’re not actually scared. Walk a straight line.”
Tril: “WTF!” freezes in place
Me: “F’real? Tril, move forward.”
Tril: “NO! There’s a THING!”
Me: "TRIL. I know you. You aren’t afraid of anything. But you love to play with everything. Move forward. …Alright, then. <uses excess rein to smack him on the butt>
Tril: “OH! Oh. Oh, I see you actually mean it. Moving forward then.”
Me: <rolling eyes>
Tril: “OMGWTF is THAT?” <spooks hard in place, spins on his haunches, tries to bolt home when a flock of birds takes off–REALLY? BIRDS?>
Me: “Oh NO YOU DON’T.” <shortens one rein, spins him back the other way, kicks him forward> “Enough of this crap.”
Tril: “I’m bored with this game because you won’t let me play. I’ll walk along at a leisurely pace, in a straight line, and on a relaxed rein now.”

Seriously, he was perfect the rest of the ride. The manhole covers, weird looking tree stumps, birds, Mysterious Things et al didn’t even cause him to do more than flick an ear again. Somewhere, his antics have worked for him–but not with me.[/QUOTE]

That was hilarious!:lol: You did a brilliant job of articulating his thought processes.

I tell people that my (Arabian) gelding enjoys a good spook the way that some people enjoy bungee jumping or skydiving. I’ve discovered that there is a 1:1 corelation between his spookiness and his boredom level.

My gelding’s previous owner alternately coddled and felt bad for him or was afraid of him. Her husband was one of those “I’ll-show-him-who’s-boss” QH types who started Vee in a long-shanked curb bit (as one does, of course). Vee’s dramatics worked exceptionally well with his previous humans -not so much with me;); although, I do admire the intelligence and planning that he puts into one of his meltdowns.

Most of the horses around here are dead-broke stock horse types. Whenever Vee is in the middle of one of his (carefully planned) meltdowns, I just roll my eyes and tell whomever’s watching that Vee is lying through his teeth. I’m always amazed by his capacity to quickly and correctly judge the emotions of the humans around him.

Arabians are the best. I’ll never have another breed of horse.

[californianinkansas]

Me too!

[californianinkansas]

[QUOTE=spook1;7381073]
ARAB peep here!!! that was great and true!!!
I take so much ribbing from my friends who have WBs….lol
I luv the arab humor!!![/QUOTE]

I hear you! I live in the middle of QH country, so I get a lot of c**p about my “crazy Arab” from the other horse people out here. Recently, a QH owning friend of mine was discussing the difficulty he had- and still has- training his QH to back up. My friend asked me how I get my Arab to back up. I told him that I - from across the paddock - I give Vee either the hand cue or voice command to back up and he does it, too easy. Then I offered to go show him. :winkgrin:

Arabians are awesome for a person that respects their intelligence.

[californianinkansas]

Lauruffian,
I love your blog. More blog posts, please!

[AmarachAcres]

New arab (cross) peep here. I used to be that rider on any horse, amazing what confidence can do. Loved reading that.

[MyssMyst]

I love my Arabians, and doubt I’d have anything else.

[californianinkansas]

Hey there, MyssMyst!

Perhaps you would feel comfortable sharing the really cool experience you had with your 7 y/o and your mare? Please? puppy dog eyes

[pony_baloney]

My Arab would point like a dog if he could. He’s always got his eyes pinned on something somewhere. So much more fun than a horse who doesn’t notice anything. I think I’d be a bit bored.

[oldernewbie]

I just tell anybody that I’m trail riding with for the first time to just ignore what’s happening the first 15 minutes. He’s gonna spook at plants, grass, logs, dirt! until he gets whatever it is that makes him this way out of his system. And then he will be fine. Pretty much true for any new site for him.

I’ve learned after much hard experience that the less of a fuss I make, the sooner he will be over it. You can’t punish your way out of this situation! I sure can sit a spook tho! even though his are pretty straightforward and in one place!

On the plus side, he never ever forgets his training. I haven’t ridden much in the last 2 months - but when I do ride, it’s like no time has passed since the last ride.

They sure are smart, fun horses! Here he is beating up on a WB friend

[californianinkansas]

[QUOTE=oldernewbie;7381602]
I just tell anybody that I’m trail riding with for the first time to just ignore what’s happening the first 15 minutes. He’s gonna spook at plants, grass, logs, dirt! until he gets whatever it is that makes him this way out of his system. And then he will be fine. Pretty much true for any new site for him.

I’ve learned after much hard experience that the less of a fuss I make, the sooner he will be over it. You can’t punish your way out of this situation! I sure can sit a spook tho! even though his are pretty straightforward and in one place!

On the plus side, he never ever forgets his training. I haven’t ridden much in the last 2 months - but when I do ride, it’s like no time has passed since the last ride.

They sure are smart, fun horses! Here he is beating up on a WB friend[/QUOTE]

My boy is the same way. He likes to see what he can get away with, then he settles right down. I agree with you in that when it comes to “punishment,” he operates on the principle of negative attention is still attention. I’ve learned to calmly repeat ad nauseum , “These are your options. [for instance] You can either calmly and quietly stand for the farrier or we can back up or side-pass all over the property. I’ve got all day. What you do not get to do is to graze or go back to your paddock.” Repeat. Then he is over it and acts like butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth for the rest of the day.

You are right -Arabians forget nothing. Good or bad. And they do not ever forget people.

I’d be bored to death with another breed of horse.

I love the photo of your horse!

[MyssMyst]

[QUOTE=californianinkansas;7381405]
Hey there, MyssMyst!

Perhaps you would feel comfortable sharing the really cool experience you had with your 7 y/o and your mare? Please? puppy dog eyes[/QUOTE]

For sure!

My seven-year-old was practicing showmanship with our PB mare while someone else was lunging. That horse bolted and headed for my son. Without missing a beat, she uses her head to scoot my kid over to her other side, then stepped between him and the other horse, ears pinned at the offending horse. She loves “her” kids and is every bit as protective of them as I am. We went to our local Arabian club’s banquet last night, and all we heard was, “Oh you own her? You’re so incredibly lucky!” We definitely are. She’s getting joint injections tomorrow, and my 7-year-old insists on being there. I initially said no, since I didn’t think he’d handle it all that well. Cue immediate meltdown… His rationale? “After everything she’s done for me, I’m going to be there for her when she needs me, even if it’s hard and all I can do is pet her nose and tell her I love her.”

Even my HA mare, who is a total nutjob on the ground normally, will chill out and be a perfectly mannered angel with the kids. Super scary/evil jump standards that are going to KILL her when I’m riding? If the kids are up, it’s “Jump standards? I don’t see any jump standards…” Even my semi-bratty gelding will be quiet as a lamb for the kids on the ground or in leadline. The first time a kid led him, he was four, and just stuck his nose in their hair and followed them that way. I love these horses, and they’re family. All of them WANT to be part of our family, and my kids throw them b-day parties, lol. No way would I go to any other breed now.

[HeartsongHorses]

"Arabian body language for “What a great day! Let’s get out there and DO something!” is, in the “language” of many other horse breeds, “You have seconds to live.”

This is so true! I haven’t been able to really articulate this.

No wonder people with other breeds are wary of Arabs’ flamboyance! I love it when my horse is bouncing and snorting in hand. The line is lose and she is respecting my space. Love it.

[californianinkansas]

Thank you MyssMyst!

What a great kid! I know adults who do not show the emotional maturity that your son is showing towards your mare right now. Can your son come to my workplace to give classes on How to Behave When a Loved One is Ill or Injured?

My gelding is usually one of those all snort-and-blow all the time Arabians (thanks to his Boggs/MTC breeding on both sides :sigh:), but even he is very careful around children, especially little ones. Vee is also convinced that the four-year-old mini gelding is really his foal, but that’s another story.

[californianinkansas]

MyssMyst,
How did the other horse react to your PB mare guarding your son? Just curious. You obviously have a Arabian war-mare on your hands. bows respectfully