Your favorite simple moments?

[eightpondfarm]

The thunder of hooves when they come galloping down the hill into the barn. Or watching the geldings roughhouse out in the field in the evening. My old Arab mare and Percheron trotting across the front yard and hearing/feeling the stomp of his humongousness reverberate the ground. Releasing the mustang herd yesterday after farrier’s visit and them tearing up snowy turf…sending big balls flying off their hooves as they tear across the pasture, rejoicing in freedom at last!

I love seeing a horse roll.

and i love the low nicker of a gelding’s greeting, or the high nicker of a mare’s.

[DawgLady]

@ThreeWishes… Is that horse named Deacon?! He looks JUST like a horse I sold a couple years back!

[ThreeWishes]

Hey @DawgLady. His name is Happy. I bought him in 2016. His name was Carson before I owned him.

[Indy]

Belly scratches. My favorite mare has a perpetually itchy belly and when you start approaching her right hind leg during grooming, she lifts it up and out of the way for you so you remember to get all up in there. Sometimes you’ll just be walking by her and she lifts her leg up to ask for a scratch. I love the blissed out look she gets on her face when you hit a really good spot. It’s my favorite thing and I refuse to skip belly rub time even if I’m running a bit late - fortunately my trainer accepts “sorry, her belly was itchy” as a legit excuse to be late to a lesson because she understands.

[Mercedes2]

My mare stood patiently for a good hug the other night instead of going straight to her hay net. I rarely hug her and I felt like a little girl just loving on my pony.

My boyfriend kissed me when I got home and asked if I had been kissing the pony because my face smelled like her. Oops lol

[Fiesta01]

Great video! Love the tongue.

[Fiesta01]

@furlong47

At the barn in the morning, after you’ve thrown hay and feed to everybody, just sitting there for a moment listening to the sounds as they eat.

Only thing better than that is when it’s Christmas morning.

[Fiesta01]

@SuzieQNutter

I love watching horses drink.

Yes! The way their ears move sideways when they swallow.

[candyappy]

I like to stand next to my gelding in the evening while he is eating his grain and just give him some love. We both enjoy the quiet time and it keeps my " boss" mare from trying to steal his food. So it serves 2 purposes.

[TxMorgans]

I lost my young gelding in October…He used to rest his muzzle on my shoulder and snoofle my ears (I know snoofle isn’t a word, but I bet you know what it means). I had just gotten to the point where I trusted him more - he had moved out of the ‘test everything with my mouth/teeth’ phase, and become extra snuggly. I miss it. Don’t take your snoofles for granted. What I would do to squish that sweet nose again. Night time grooming sessions. Petting his neck in a figure eight because of all his whorls. All so simple, and I miss them so much.

[Spudsmyguy]

I love giving my gelding scratches on his chest. This is his favorite itchy spot and will present it to me if I am nearby. He gets so into it and his eyes would practically roll back in his head. When I’m done he gives a disappointed sigh and go back to what he was doing.

[Alterration]

Yesterday I had a funny simple moment that took me totally out of my bad mood.

The barn door was frozen, and I was trying like mad to get it open. My very sweet, very smart guy was watching me struggle with it, and he came over and bit the door. He normally doesn’t bite the door, but it was his way of “helping” without opposable thumbs (he probably sensed my frustration with the door as well).

Another simple moment is when my nervous, cribbing, cranky old man comes and snoozes standing next to me because he knows I’ll watch over him. Makes my heart warm.

[RedHorses]

On Wednesday morning I took my older horse out to the arena to warm up for a ride in the 18"+ of snow we got on Monday. He was NQR tracking left and distinctly off tracking right at trot.

Doesn’t sound like a favorite simple moment, does it?

I dismounted and went over his hind end carefully looking for any possible cause. He has PSSM so sometimes NQR/off is simply too much glycogen stored. I didn’t find heat, swelling or reactivity but I did find nice, round, solid muscling over the top of his hindquarters!

He lost a lot of weight and muscle last summer/fall due to his summer heaves (really bad last year) and his spine stuck up over his hindquarters. It made me very sad because his PPID symptom is loss of topline muscle (he’s one of the 50+% that Prascend doesn’t help with muscle loss) and I didn’t think he would ever get it back.

He’s my super horse and just stood in the arena while I poked and palpated (and admired that lovely round bum!). In the end he was very forward and willing to move so we did go for a short ride in the snow.

[Fiesta01]

I’m so sorry for your loss. It’s heartbreaking to lose them. Please try to focus on those quiet, special times with him and rest assured you’ll be reunited some wonderful day. Sending you hugs and prayers.