Ten Top Things We Love About Horses

Ten Top Things We Love About Horses

1. Horses keep us, and our children, out of trouble.
   • Horses require time. Lots of it. The time committed to the care and riding of a horse, will mean less time available to wander in the mall, play video games, and other less healthy activities.
2. Owning a horse, builds responsibility
   • A horse must be fed the appropriate feed-stuffs, at controlled times of the day, in order to stay healthy.
   • They also require daily exercise.  And if they are competing, they will need LOTS of exercise.
   • These requirements mean that you must make a sizeable, scheduled time commitment in order to do both well.
3. A horse allows you to meet new friends.You can belong to a saddle club, a rodeo club, a horse showing circuit, or any number of other clubs that revolve around horse riding.  You will meet friends that have a common interest….a love of horses.
4. Horses keep us humble.
   • When you fall off your horse (and you will), when you lose a competitive horse event, when your horse does not listen to your commands, when your saddle turns on you, because you did not cinch it up correctly….all of these things were designed by horses to keep their humans humble.
5. Horses keep us in shape.
   • All of the activities around horse ownership require significant energy expenditure – cleaning the barn, loading up trailers, tacking and riding your horse and of course, chasing them when they escape the confines of their pasture or paddock to run free.
6. Horses build self-confidence.
   • Most of the time, activity with your horse will be done alone, so it teaches you to be independent.  And the ability to get a 1000# plus animal, to perform at your bidding, is empowering and exhilarating.
7. Our problem solving skills and creativity are increased when we own a horse.
   • Every horse has their own quirks. Creative problem solving will be required for each individual in order to work through the challenges that are presented e.g. a horse unwilling to load into a trailer or cross a stream.
8. Horses create treasured memories.
   • A childhood on horseback holds the fondest memories, as you explored the frontier, raced through the ditches, and had that special bond that only a child and horse can have with each other.  You will never forget your first horse.
9. Horse racing is one of the most exciting sports in the world.
10. Who doesn’t remember Secretariat winning the Belmont by 31 lengths?  I still get goosebumps thinking about it.  If you are too young to remember, look it up on You Tube – there has never been another horse race like it.

• There is nothing in the world, as delightful, as the smell of a horse and the feel of the soft hair around their muzzle.
• It is my “happy place”.

There is nothing so good for the inside of a man as the outside of a horse. ~John Lubbock, “Recreation,” The Use of Life, 1894

-Diane