Horse Stories

[Slow Puffs]

Interesting that PB is into horses.

Maybe you have had an experience with a horse...

As a youngster. I remember being "kicked" by a horse at our cousins. So excited by seeing the horse, never expected it to turn on me.

Later, nearing the end of "high" school, I lived with my Uncle who had a "work" horse to haul lumber. Even later, he got the neigbour to "shoot" it. It was old, but even now I don't think it was right.

Leads me to question: Is a horse a money-making machine? or a pet?

 

[puros_bran]

Depends on the human and horse involved.

 

[puros_bran]

Btw... I've been hauling them for two years & two months but I've always been into them...

Search your memory bank Dragon... LL gave me crap about it all the time on Knox.. and Big Tony Ferrell would swap story with me about the track...

Here's an interesting tie in for you.. The Ramseys grew up in Artemus, one of the incredibly small towns around the small town of Barbourville where I grew up... My granny 'senior set' Kitten Ramsey's Mom...

Ken & Sarah are tops in thoroughbred racing... If I'm not mistaken they hold more Wins than any other Kentucky farm since 2000.

 

[Richard Hester]

I think any animal can be both a pet and a worker. I know in todays life styles this is not the correct way of thinking since we now have costumes for dogs and the likes. I remember when I was ten years old I went hunting with my Grandpa one of the dogs he had was a lazy thing and too fat from the summer, he wouldn't run a rabbit to save his life so my grandpa shot him. I looked and my Grandpa and ask him why he shot the dog and I will never forget the words or the way he looked at me when he said it, "son nothing or nobody eats in my house for free." he never had to tell me to cut wood or any other job ever again.
Best Regards
Richard

 

[Hawker]

I've been around horses my whole life and used to rodeo when i was younger. I rode bareback & bulldogged and team roped. Still do a little team roping & go to a few brandings once or twice a year. A few years back we had a team of Belgins. We never did any field work with them but you could say they were 2000 LB pets that pulled the hay wagon around for rides.
When i was 12 i had a horse named Chex that was out of my dads paint mare that i bred to a quarter horse stud for $100.
This horses was the best horse i ever had. I could head, heel, bulldog & calf rope of him. Won 7 rifles off him wild cow milking in the Ponoka Stampede. Outside the arena he was a walking fool always having to be in the lead and few horses could keep up with him. In the mountains sheep hunting or trail riding he was in his element. If he was out in the field or i was walking/repairing a fence all i had to do was whistle & he'd come running. In the winter he pulled a cutter that i made & this was how we got most of are Christmas trees when the kids were young. When Chex was getting a little older and starting to slow down we had a friend who's daughter had lost her horse and they couldn't find a suitable replacement so we let her use Chex for a 1 1/2 years. One day i got home from work & jumped on my bike to go to the next town to watch my wife barrel race and right when i got there they were anouncing this girl riding Chex. I ran to the arena & sure enough there was my tough as nails, cross any river, climb any mountain where others would take the long way around horse all decked out in Pink from headstall, saddle pad splint and bell boots and he was barrrel racing. He made that little girl as happy as he ever made me.
A couple of years after we got him back i got home from work one night & he wasn't feeling well so we called the vet and he said he'd be out in the morning to look at him. At 04:45 i couldn't sleep so i got up to check on him. His neck from his throat to his chest was swelled right up and rock hard. He was having trouble breathing and you could hear the fluid gurgling in his lungs and he had blood coming out of his nose. (this is hard to write ) I said my goodbyes and gave him a hug then went to the house to get a gun and after giving him another hug and saying thanks bud i put him down. My wife said not to that she was calling the vet to do it but there was no way i was going to let him suffer any more untill the vet got there. To this day that was the hardest thing i've ever had to do but i think i owed him that much. He had a congested heart failure. My wife & son helped me hand dig a grave and we buried him on a hill out back and every spring i mark the spot with cattails & cedar arrows.
Here's a picture of him in his later years he'd get his porage every, morning a mixture of soaked beet pulp, grain & step six senior ration all mixed up then we'd let him loose on the lawn and south hay field to eat.



As for your question is a horse a money making machine or pet - I'd say Friend.

 

[pepesdad1]

Chex couldn't tell you it was time to go...you have to feel it and through that bond and understanding that the two of you had, to make that decision. You loved him enough not to want to wait for the vet, to stop his suffering.
I had a 13 year old dog with congestive heart failure...she started to "go" while at the vets office, but waited in an oxygen tent until we got there to hold her and tell her we loved her. God, I loved her. Hardest thing to do was to say yes to the vet and feel that last heartbeat when she coded and died.
That love, that bond you have with another specie...that's God's gift to man (some men/women). That is really special.

 

[puros_bran]

Pepe I wish we had a like button on here..

 

[Kyle Weiss]

I've always dug horses. Never had any experience around them, never rode them, but always fascinated. Hell, any animal for that matter, but when you get around something bigger than you are, it's a different experience. I think most people get away with a lot of crap with certain animals just because we're bigger than they are (and perhaps bred out the independence of them). Horses are different though. As "domesticated" as they are, they still can be quite wild, independent and individual. I see them frequently as "wild mustangs" in the back hills of Nevada. Like any intelligent animal, they are curious, cautious and connected to more than just themselves. Horses require trust and respect, I've noticed, and I've had a few casual friends of an equine nature that I've hung out with. Usually that included me lazing about under a shade tree and tossing an apple to a long face with pointed ears. :lol:

Animals are cool. Any person that can't connect with them or get them to do what they want in a reasonable fashion has a problem with themselves, not usually the animal--regardless of work or pet designations. They aren't like dealing with people (which is probably why I have an easier time dealing with them :lol. Also why I couldn't fathom mistreating or disposing of a dog or a horse for lack of performance or obedience. I mean, a father can't shoot his deadbeat, lazy kid (and sometimes they deserve it). :lol:

 

[Puff Daddy]

I owned horses for years. lived at and ran a boarding stables for a while, was involved with a local horseman's association for a bit, was involved in a feed and supply business at one time. Been there, done that. Plenty of stories, good and bad. Been elk hunting in the Bighole mountains on horseback, been thrown and kicked and stomped, had some seriously good moments with them too.

When I was working with that feed business we delivered to the track a lot. Saw a lot of uncool treatment of the animals, saw a lot of really loving thoroughbred owners too. My own take, after a couple of decades of first hand experience, is that I can't see treating a horse as a thing with which to make money and not treating it like a living, feeling animal too. But, we are human and we are all different.

 

[Anonymous]

http://www.earth-heal.com/index.php/news/news/55-human-animal-bonding-and-communication/844-pets-healing-power.html

:face:

 

[pepesdad1]

Thanks for the link, Yak.
Older people who lack meaningful family, often attach themselves to pets, it gives them responsibility for something other than themselves, something they need to do in the future...a reason to keep on living. There are those who live in constant pain relieved to a slight degree by pain meds (that are destroying the liver), who have often thought of that "golden BB", except for the other responsibilities that they have to see through. It might be a spouse or a pet. Either way that bond and unspoken love is there for them with their four legged critter/spouse/significant other (covered all the PC constituents).

 

[Anonymous]

I loved riding cutting horses. When they are ginning (on it) the sensation is like no other. Closest description I can come up with is ballet.

Horses get a bum rap in the brains category. There is a wired in aspect that brings flee to the for in the wrong (for the rider) situation. It is how they survived. You never want to put them in a situation like a gate that is too narrow and have them panic.

I had a stud horse that, truth be told, was smarter than I was a fair amount of the time. He became a good friend which isn't what the average non-horsemen would think of a "wild stallion".

 

[alfredo_buscatti]

I had two 17 y/o cats last year. One died in August and the other in 3/13. The August was a manx, shrewd and a cuddle-bunny, instinctual. The other was white, very intelligent, had a strong personality. When she cuddled with me when I was lying on the couch, she would lay down by my head after having curled herself up and throwing her hindquarters down across my face. She did this with complete abandon. It seemed that she did this as if she were nesting with other cats. I loved it! It was such an act of trust. She would follow me into a greater intimacy of trust wherever I led her. I loved her fiercely and totally, and she knew it. Though I proposed to her many times she always said "let's wait."

Because of the two deaths 6 mos. apart I got a good dose of the death and dying phase. Not fun and in fact an anguish. But usually a pet has years of good health, and you get the reverse. They are so worth it. If treated well they reciprocate, not like people who are so much work and unpredictable in the end.

 

[pepesdad1]

alfredo_buscatti said: "They are so worth it. If treated well they reciprocate, not like people who are so much work and unpredictable in the end."
And that is a fact of life you can count on!

 

[puros_bran]

You never want to put them in a situation like a gate that is too narrow ........ and have them panic.

That's a large part of my job. The panic part, more often then not, is brought on by the human... Get their trust and they'll follow you to the end of the earth.. As long as you go calmly. And it must be true calm confidence.. you can't ******** a horse. If they don't trust you (or worse they do and your tensed up) you'll get your butt whipped.

 

[Frost]

Only horse I ever knew to any semi-significant degree was maybe 10 years or so ago when a friend and I got a free visit to the "colonial plantation" at a state park 'cause they thought we were volunteers.

I gave it half an apple (which apparently isn't so great for them or so I've heard), then it bit the hell out of my right hand. I took this as a sign of friendship and a bonding moment, so I visited it a few times after that over the next couple years 'cause I used to walk in the park alot. Haven't seen it there since though.

Don't even know if it was a guy or girl horse now that I think about it. I named it Rabies.

 

[Kyle Weiss]

It was a mare horse, Frost, by the obvious reaction to feeding it something it ought not to have. Like any gal concerned about her weight, she ate the offending no-no food, blamed you for it, and ran off in an emotional huff. :lol:

Funny story, by the way.

8)

 

[Frost]

It was a mare horse, Frost, by the obvious reaction to feeding it something it ought not to have. Like any gal concerned about her weight, she ate the offending no-no food, blamed you for it, and ran off in an emotional huff. :lol:

8)

Lol. Well done sir! :lol: