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cheating on your horse

3K views 23 replies 23 participants last post by  FaydesMom 
#1 ·
Anyone ever felt like interacting extensively with other horses would be like cheating on your own horse?
 
#5 ·
@Tarpan -- I know seriously!

When my horse was out of work, I rode 2 other horses, each once. When I thought about leasing one of them, my heart felt broken, I didn't want to. I couldn't stand the idea of being away from my horse and hanging with another. It's very likely that I'll never feel the same way about another horse and have the same bond that I do with mine... it's so special. <3
 
#6 ·
For the short period that I owned two horses, my original mare would start whinnying on the top of her lungs and attacking her stall door every time I led the new mare out of the barn. I started having my friend lead her out with us so she wouldn't hurt herself in her stall but she would fight to get away from my friend and come over to me. I started having to sneak the new horse away to work with her while the original was out in the pasture :P
 
#7 ·
Yep, I have felt this in the past and I grapple w it now. I got a filly to keep my mare company b/c she became a bit to dependant on me. I couldn't open a house door, window, or pull up in my vehicle for example, w/o her whinnying and carrying on - although I spent/spend a lot of time w her. She is possessive of me, and I knew that before I got the filly - so DH has "pretended" the filly is his from day one. But, DH isn't horsey, so I train the filly...and my mare makes it pretty plain she feels betrayed when I do. B/c of this, I always feel "under the gun" for time when I work w the filly, and I really hate to train under that condition. Then, I feel guilty about making sure my mare knows she is and always will be "number one"...I'll think "am I treating the filly like a red-headed step child?" Oh, the trials of being a parent!!!

In the past there was a stud that didn't belong to me but I dearly, dearly love him - and I ordinarily have no use for studs. So, every time I passed one of my own horses over to ride him I would feel guilty - and I am not even sure why...kind of like I was a bad mother, or something.
 
#8 ·
My horse is definitely jealous of any other horse I ride. He's gotten over it somewhat but if he can see me riding another horse he sulks, turns his butt to the arena and if there's something he can put his tail over (stall door, fence) he puts his tail over it if he's really upset.
I usually ride him first thing. Today I rode another horse before him and he was not pleased, nudging at the gait and stamping his feet.
If he's turned out with another horse I ride, he is mean to them and does not let them come to me. It's pretty comical actually. The poor thing :P
But he's "special" :)
 
#9 ·
Considering all the horses line up in the pasture and watch with the expression of "HA HA sucks to be YOU" to the horse that's being worked... no.

My horse will act like a moron and run around in circles if I am riding someone else but I'm sure that's more of him being convinced that I am handing out treats to this other horse and HE's not getting any.
 
#12 ·
My horse will act like a moron and run around in circles if I am riding someone else but I'm sure that's more of him being convinced that I am handing out treats to this other horse and HE's not getting any.
This definitely. I don't think it's jealousy as in THAT'S MAI MOMMA riding another horse, it's more like HEY DON'T GIVE HIM MAI TREATS :lol:
 
#10 ·
I dont ride other peoples horses very often, just keeping my boy exercised is enough for me. But I did swap horses when riding with my neighbour the other day as she wanted to try out my treeless saddle. It felt SO weird being on a different horse, my boy is a clydie x and very broad and solid whereas her horse is a TB who has a very fine build and is slightly under-weight with not much muscle right now. She said she felt like she was sitting on a sofa riding my horse and I felt like my knees were almost touching on her horse, there was hardly any horse under me! But I wouldnt feel like I was cheating on my horse if I went out on the neighbours second horse instead of him - I know he would be perfectly content to stay home and let another horse do all the work instead :)
 
#11 ·
No and that's because I have had 2 - 4 horses my entire life.

They all get equal play and work time.

My heart horse knows he's my heart horse but he is also a standoffish strong alpha-dominant and it's beneath him to have a hissy fit about anything. Unless I take his BFF of 20 years out of the pasture without him. HE can leave the pasture and his BFF behind, and life is great, but don't reverse that - lol lol
 
#13 ·
I have two horses. And the more horses that belong to other people that I can ride, the better!

Why?

Because I have the eventual aim of being a professional horse trainer, and the more different issues I know how to handle, the closer I get to that goal. [edit; my gelding gets jealous, and it really is "HEY THAT'S MY PERSON LEAVE HER ALONE" - I don't give treats - but my filly really couldn't care less because the whole time she's been broke, she's had to deal with the fact that I do have another horse to ride]

Of my two I have the bipolar gelding who literally can switch from dead slow and sluggish HUGE flying kick every stride to keep him moving lazy to just about bolting forward in a heartbeat. He is a challenge but a lot of fun! And then I have the very smart, very sensitive, cold-backed breaker filly. They couldn't be any more different in how they move or how they need to be handled - gelding needs a very dominant, occasionally rough approach [he ALWAYS has the option to respond to a light aid before I get rough] and filly needs softly, softly, sweetness and light.

Both can be difficult travellers. My gelding is good to load [but WAS absolutely impossible due to the trip that caused his ongoing issues, I had to fix the loading thing] and will on the odd occasion self-load, but scrambles. My filly is just a nightmare to get onto the trailer, then she travels ok until you stop [at traffic lights, to get gas, whatever]. She doesn't back off easy either. She basically just needs a huge amount of positive trailer experience, because she doesn't have much experience at all and what she DOES have has been forceful... she CANNOT be forced.

I'm also presently dealing with owner expectations, being that I'm trimming my neighbour's horses' feet [I'm the only halfway decent trimmer she knows, I volunteered to do it for free because of the state of their feet but she's insisting on paying me], and a friend who has one of her horses on box rest in my "barn" is on my case to be her "farrier"... slowly collecting clients I haven't even gone looking for... must be doing something right with my horses' feet!
 
#14 · (Edited)
I've often wondered about this. My daughter is the rider and has her own horse, but when Acey had an injury and couldn't be ridden, we went out to her trainer's barn and took lessons on one of her lesson horses Chloe.

FF to our next show where Kitten is riding Acey and another student is on Chloe. Every time Chloe would get anywhere near them, Acey would pin her ears and kick out at her. If Chloe was even within her range of vision, she would give her the "mare glare".

Acey had been to shows with Chloe before and never had issues (with her or any other horses), so this was new and startling to us. It's been over a year since this happened and Acey still has it out for Chloe whenever we see her at a show.

To add another layer of complexity, we sent Acey to our trainer's barn for a tune up. According to our trainer, Acey and Chloe got along fine...until my daughter arrived to check on her horse and then they went from buddies to Acey chasing Chloe aggressively around the field.

I guess Acey doesn't want that little buckskin brat anywhere near her little girl.

Kitten now feels a little guilty if she rides another horse and worries that Acey will get jealous. It's actually kind of cute listen to her talk about Acey getting jealous when she goes off to horse camp and rides another horse.
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#15 ·
Nah, if I felt that way I'd never get anything done. Currently riding 5 of my own (and one waiting in the wings to be started late fall) and ride for others for a living. Some days I do think it would be nice to just have one to ride but then I snap out of it ;)
 
#16 ·
Bandit does get into a bit of a pout when I handle other horses. When I have helped kiddie with ponies, it's a few kicks on the door and when we are in view we have a constant supervisor, see example below:

Horse Mammal Vertebrate Shetland pony Pony



Now.. if it's ME he is interested in I don't know, he may just automatically assume i have a packet of polos in my pocket :lol:
 
#17 ·
I think it is the other way around for me! I don't feel bad riding other horses and as someone has said, my horses are more like "sucks for you, you have to work today!" I do feel a little off if that makes sense. Normally I just don't gel with the horse like I do with mine and even though it is very fun because I am still on a horse I don't enjoy myself as much as I would if I was on one of mine.

However I feel bad when someone else rides my horse. A thousand things run through my head, like "what if they mess up and weeks of progress are gone?" Or "what if he likes their style of riding more than mine?" Most of the time I end up feeling better about our relationship because Skip won't work as hard or with as much enthusiasm for someone else. He also tests them and sees what he can get away with.
 
#19 ·
I have 4 horses in my field currently and so they are used to me working different ones. The only one that seems to pout by the fence when I'm working another horse is Rascal and I'm quite convinced that is because he is worried the other horse will get treats, feed, or grazing time on the front lawn that he will miss out on.
 
#20 ·
I buy and sell at least a couple colts a year, and take horses in for 30 days of training, have ridden lesson horses, and will always take an opportunity to ride even if it is not on my horses. This being said I have owned the same mare since I got her as an unbroke 2 year old. She is now 11. I think riding and working with horses other than your own is a great way to build your own riding skills as well as learn techniques to train your horses. Horses really don't care if you ride other horses, I can guarantee that my mare does not get mad or upset when I pull out one of the other horses to ride, if anything she enjoys the day off.
 
#21 ·
I totally do! I feel like the time I'm on a someone elses horse is time I could be on my own! I prefer my horses! Even over a well trained horse. I was offered a even trade for this big beautiful roan (I really dont know what this girl was thinking but this is the honest to God truth!!!) He road so smooth and listened SO WELL! She asked if I would trade even for my mare (who has no papers and still unfinished). Of course I said no. I've had her since she was weaned! BUT I knew a friend looking for her first horse and he was perfect and her favorite color! So I asked price.... she said she wanted $10000 for him! WHATS?!?! LOL I would trade her for nothing though.
 
#22 ·
I have no problem working with other horses, it's HENNY that has the problem. He gets very jealous when I work with other horses. One night a couple weeks ago, we thought Tejano, the gelding in the paddock next to Henny and Bubba's was colicking. I hand walked him for about 45 mins-hour while contacting his owners and waiting for them to get there. The entire time Henny was pacing the fence, pawing, and calling to me in his manly voice(as manly as Henny can get bahaha). I'm thinking it was along the lines of "Mom, mommy, MOM, MAMA, what are you doing?! I'm over here! You're over there! That's not right!" :lol: Whenever we're away from home and I hand him off to someone else/tie him and go to grab something, he tries his hardest to follow me and then impatiently waits for me to come back. He's a big mama's boy, that's for sure.
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#23 ·
I'd never even considered jealousy (our lot are the 'haha you're about to get WORKED' type that laugh over the fence at whoever's in the ring) until one day we went out to catch the boys for a hack. My friend couldn't catch her boy, and since I normally take a couple of treats into the field with me to help catch Geoff, the boys all know and love me. So she caught Geoff while I caught her horse - and Geoff kept trying to spin round to see where I was, and kept stopping on the way to the gate.

I don't think it was outright jealousy, more like 'this isn't the way we normally do things'! Or else the whole 'is he getting my treats' thing. But my last horse was so sociable with everyone and generally attention seeking with everyone that I wasn't expecting that reaction from Geoff... funny :) Then again, he does neigh to me now from the stable, so I'm obviously his pal these days :)
 
#24 ·
Fayde definitely "cares" when I mess with other horses, but I think most of it is the "hey, that's MY treat" kind of a thing. She doesn't appear mad, just watches with ears up and intent eyes.

Though, she does "hug" me by bending her neck back and around me when I'm brushing her sometimes. At first I thought she was just looking for mints, but she doesn't search me like usual, just wraps her neck around me and rests her chin on my hip for a few seconds. She's never done that with anybody else, so...I don't know. :lol:
 
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