Tell me your horse stories!

[Tom]

Hello everyone, I need your horse stories!
Please tell me about your real life interactions with horses.

Did your horse do something funny? Sad? Unexpected?
Was there a problem with your horse? How did you solve it?
Did you work through a training issue? Riding issue? Tack issue? Tell me about it!

I need everything from small simple things to big ordeals that took years to solve.

Please include details like what kind of horse, what discipline, etc.

Thank you!

[BlackOak2]

I'll try to keep this kind of short. After all, I think many of you know I tend to make 'short' replies that are serious reads!

Anyway.
I used to ride at this stable. An appendix came into the stable, a purchased horse for the trainer. He was taught by his former owner to ride around with his head 'up like a giraffe'... and it looked like it. I suppose that they wanted him to look like some sort of freisian or something? I don't know.
Anyway, the trainer was really worried about him. Every time somebody would ask something from him (walk, trot, canter, etc) his head would pop backward (no ability to pop further upward) and she'd worry that he would accidentally crack somebody right in their face. After watching him in the ring a couple times, I did realize that it was a real possibility. And that wasn't the only issue with him. He had a habit of being a 'stargazer' and also distraction issues, always riding around the ring looking everywhere but where he needed to.
She had been riding him for about a year, trying to correct his behaviors. Got him to a semi-safe area... but he still rode around like a giraffe and would look everywhere but where he needed to and she opened him up to the lessons program and for leasing.
No real surprise that none of the students liked to ride him.
But I did. No matter what I'd do on his back, he took no offense to it... mostly because he was always paying attention to the horses in the field, the other rider in the ring, the branch on the tree as we passed, the shadow on the ground... even the passing butterfly on the flower.
But he was sensitive enough to the 'whoa' (gee, I wonder why -_- ) and with a follow up kick, he'd move forward (that's squeeze, no response, then squeeze, talk 'walk', no response, then the follow up kick).
Yeah, I was only an advanced beginner at the time and I was safe on him, but really couldn't get anywhere riding english.
So I spoke to the trainer and she said... 'well... if you want to try to bring his head down further, I can try putting him in a martingale, but YOU won't be riding him in one. That's a bit too dangerous right now with your abilities and his unknown training with one. What he really needs, is to come down in his energies.'
Oh... I thought... maybe western? So I asked her, how about western?
She said, 'he's not trained to rein, but there's no reason you can't try him in it. After all, he's safe enough and you won't be asking him anything that'll get either of you into trouble.'
So, western we went. A LOT of long, slow jogs, reining training, a LOT of backing up and... what they call 'low work'... eventually after about another year, his head carriage (with mainly just me riding him three times a week), returned to where a western and natural head carriage (especially for his body style) should be.
And also, with all of that 'low work' his distractions' issues also disappeared. He'd jog right ahead, his ears sometimes popping back at me, sometimes straight ahead, and every once in awhile, he'd get so comfortable that his nose would sway slightly right and left, in pace with his jog.
That following year, I took home reserve champion of the year for the green western division in the Training Shows.
He was about 15 at the time and thereabouts also began suffering from locked lower back and locked hip issues. That was also a new experience. The trainer, thankfully, had a boarder that had brought in a chiropractor for her horse. So the trainer suggested that the chiropractor take a look at the appendix... and that's when his locked issues came to light (this was many years ago, when chiro for horses was a fairly new thing, at least in my area). So yeah, that's how that all worked out.
Twice a year visit from the chiro, she taught me how to give him necessary massages to help prevent the locking and he was again, a comfortable horse.
But... he didn't offer the same sort of indications of locking like some horses do: Not willing to back up or stiff at backing. His symptoms was simply an unwillingness to pick up a certain lead at the canter. Which was a bit hidden anyway, because at my riding level at that time, I couldn't really canter to begin with. -_- Well, even back then, I had some of my own mobility issues I couldn't figure out. Hah! So he and I, we paired up well.

Well, that was kind of long anyway.

[shadowheart2006]

I've had so many experiences with my horse, but the biggest thing that's surprised me about him is how far he's come.

My horse, DaVinci, is a ~15hh dark buckskin with a wide blaze and one blue eye, thick black mane and tail with white at the top of his mane and faint dappling coming in with his summer coat. I bought him on June 16th, 2020. I've been riding for about 5 years and am fairly advanced, so when I was looking for a horse I wanted a bit of a project. I found many horses but they were all too old or too tall (I'm pretty short) or too expensive, so when I found him he seemed perfect. My parents and I went to see him and he was in worse shape than he had appeared from his sale video; his spine and ribs protruded pretty badly (which had been covered by a saddle in the video) and he was terrified of people. The woman (I'll call her "B") who was selling him ran a consignment program for horses and so was selling him for another woman who actually owned him. We never actually met his owner, but according to B she hated Vinny and thought he was a terrible horse, was too heavy for him, and was extremely abusive. This would explain why he shied away whenever someone approached him and was so skinny. He also clearly had past trauma with mounting and dismounting, and was overall just obviously terrified.

So, of course, I loved him.

While he was very scared, he didn't (and still doesn't) have a single mean bone in his body and was one of the sweetest horses I'd ever worked with; very respectful of my space, not pushy, and very gentle. I believe that he was likely Amish trained, as he was clearly uncomfortable but stood like a rock to be groomed and saddled and was very good with his feet (which were sore and soft from bad shoeing jobs) being handled and picked. Again, he was a bit scared to be mounted but stood still and calmed down as soon as I was on his back. He was a beautiful mover, very graceful and light on his feet, and with plenty of speed (which I would need for my drill team work). However, he had clearly never been properly taught how to stop or react to bit pressure as he would throw his head up and required a great deal of pressure to get him to slow down/stop. He also did not neck rein, which would be a problem if I wanted to ride him in drills. But he was still a great horse and I knew that all of his training issues could be fixed (I already had plans to take lessons with my barn trainer) and his trust issues would just take time and care.

So I rode him a couple more times and we got a vet check and bought him for $6,000 and brought him home. We immediately started giving him grain to gain weight, got him bonding with a herd of 4 other horses, had our farrier come and shoe him, and after a few weeks he already seemed happier. I started working with him every day since I was on summer break, my first priority being "installing breaks". I took lessons with the trainer once a week and she worked with me on collecting him and controlling his speed as he had a tendency to race off.

Now, DaVinci has improved so much. He collects very nicely, neck reins very well, has moved on from an o ring snaffle to a shanked training bit (called a cross-x), he walks up to the gate of his pasture when I whistle for him where he used to run away, he follows me everywhere, has gained a decent amount of weight, and now stops when I sit back and tell him whoa with no or very little rein pressure. I can easily mount and dismount from the ground and he will stay completely calm, I've ridden him in drill team with a flag, and his speed control is vastly improved.

He still has a ways to go (he'll only let me on him and is still scared of other people) but we have both worked so hard and come so far in just under a year. I guess the biggest surprise with him was how different he is now than what I thought he would be. I'm now doing dressage and liberty with him as well as drill team, and we have grown and bonded so much. He is my support and my therapy and my best friend. Every day I am grateful for him and I know that he will always be my baby.









https://youtu.be/npJ0u0XcEGg

https://youtu.be/DwEanpUJNX0

Edit -
I forgot to mention - he sold as a grade horse but we believe he is an Andalusian/quarter cross, so we've been calling him an Azteca because that sounds cool .

[Jojo27]

A few years ago I was riding my horse bareback and he started bucking my friend was hanging out on the gate I turned him in a circle and he went down on my leg he got up pretty quick and was defined freaked out hes a solid steady horse so that's not his typical personality we found out a few weeks later he has a form of lamitis and was in pain

Also a few times while out riding we've had dogs chase after us and he'll turn around and stomp at them

Hes a 28 yr old quarter horse that barrel races when we get the chance but mostly ranch rides and bareback or liberty work depending on the day

[KingstonDressage]

My current lease horse, Artie, is a 15.4 h Welsh/Quarter cross. He's a really sweet gelding, but is a little bit goofy. Here is my story:

It wasn't exactly a hot day, but I'd saved a horse-popsicle for him. We'd done nothing too, too, demanding, but he had a layer of sweat on him. I opened up one of the popsicles called Nana Bananna, and started giving him some of the ice pop. At first, he licked it nervously, but before I knew it, he was shaking his head up and down and pulling the pop from me. I had been given some of these pops to help promote the new buisness, so I had to videotape me giving Artie the pops. I was excited, because Artie had never had anything of the sort, so when he pulled the pop from my hand, I was excited. Instead of eating the pop and enjoying it, like I'd anticipated, instead, he threw it from his mouth to the floor. Then, out of fear from his own forceful throw, sidestepped and stepped onto the pop. I remebered I was suppose to 'promote' the pops, not show people how much my horse hated them. I laughed, then broke off more ice pop. At first, he did the whole 'lippy smell thing' where he curled his lips, but then shut them. I put the pop against his lips, but he wouldn't budge. Fast forward about a week, I turned in my 'promotional video' to the buisness owner, feeling defeated. Instead of showing people how much horses loved them, I was showing them that some really hated them. Lucklily, the buisness owner just laughed, and said it was okay.

Fast forward a bit, now, Artie actually really likes them, so we made a new video!

[Sky king]

So I was renting a stallion for the summer 2 years ago and his name was spark he was a white Arabian and was the weirdest horse ever and he was in his pen and he started chewing the fence so I took him in side to get tacked up for a long trail ride but his tack was gone every thing.So I just hoped on him . Lol I know this is boring Btw my little brother toke the tack to mess with me

[tomahawk sky]

Hello everyone, I need your horse stories!
Please tell me about your real life interactions with horses.

Did your horse do something funny? Sad? Unexpected?
Was there a problem with your horse? How did you solve it?
Did you work through a training issue? Riding issue? Tack issue? Tell me about it!

I need everything from small simple things to big ordeals that took years to solve.

Please include details like what kind of horse, what discipline, etc.

Thank you!

So my horse’s name is Big Mac. He is a draft cross.
when I ride him for Barrel racing, I always have a person stand at the finish with a stop watch. One day I was doing a local competition he got a time of 15.5 seconds. He is a big horse but he runs fast. He can go really tight around barrels even though he’s a draft. Then after a couple years of years of competing in barrel racing, I decided to try him in a tryout for professional barrel racing he got the fastest time of all the horses that tried out. He got a time of 14.9 seconds in tryouts. The people that were the judges for the tryouts said someday that he might break the longstanding record for barrel racing. Currently I’m training him to run times under 14.5 seconds. His current time is 14.0 seconds. That’s getting closer to the record! He might compete this coming season as a professional barrel racing horse.

[Lakeside Stud]

Hello everyone, I need your horse stories!
Please tell me about your real life interactions with horses.

Did your horse do something funny? Sad? Unexpected?
Was there a problem with your horse? How did you solve it?
Did you work through a training issue? Riding issue? Tack issue? Tell me about it!

I need everything from small simple things to big ordeals that took years to solve.

Please include details like what kind of horse, what discipline, etc.

Thank you!

So, My instructor found this massive 17.2hh warm blood gelding. He was skinny, scared and had a few cuts all over his hind. He was broke, but very green. Then, a few months passed and we were getting better, he was putting in weight and he was becoming less green. We began working on Flat, lead changes, long and low, ect. Then, she sold him, because she had to. Now fast forward about 6 months, he’d been at his new home, and my instructor kept trying to see how he’d been doing but never got a reply. Then, me and my friend were out on a hack with our horses at the time, and my instructor called me, saying that Tay hadn’t been doing good at his new home and she needed us to pick him up. And I was rather excited, since I loved Tay and he was amazing! When we went to pick him up, my heart broke, he was lame, skinnier than ever and scared for his life. We got him home and I began working with him every day, long hours , and we began making progress again. But we were back at the start, I managed to finally get back on my boy and I cried, I thought I’d never get my boy back, and this feeling was something I couldn’t describe.



Now, he’s mine, we compete in eventing and I couldn’t be happier. He was there for me in the hardest point in my life, and the least I could do is help him. I’m still grateful to have this boy in my life, and I’ll never be able to forget what we’ve been through together. It shows you shouldn’t trust what you see, even salt looks like sugar But now me and Tay compete in eventing and are taking each other round our first BE100 this year! And I can’t wait!

[Alyssa Davis]

Hello everyone, I need your horse stories!
Please tell me about your real life interactions with horses.

Did your horse do something funny? Sad? Unexpected?
Was there a problem with your horse? How did you solve it?
Did you work through a training issue? Riding issue? Tack issue? Tell me about it!

I need everything from small simple things to big ordeals that took years to solve.

Please include details like what kind of horse, what discipline, etc.

Thank you!

My horse was a gelding named Levi. He was a Quarter Horse palomino paint. I met him when he was 11 on April 2nd, 2019. He was abandoned with another horse. We decided to name him Levi because "he looks like a sturdy pair of jeans". The first time I rode him, he was in such poor shape. I was determined to train and work with him.
I worked with him for 3 months. He was a scruffy, unhappy horse who didn't know how to love or what love felt like. He never smiled, but after awhile, he began to nicker when I came to his stall.
The most unique thing about him was that he had a hole cut in his neck to help him breathe.
Levi became the most wonderful lesson horse. He loved kids. We also loved to take him on the trail because he never spooked at ANYTHING. He was so happy with his life, and he smiled at us all the time. He enjoyed baths and treats. His favorite treats were apple cookies!
Over time, he slowly started to get spookier. In November 2020 I got on him bareback. I had never had a problem with him bareback before, but seconds after I got on him, he exploded underneath me. After he had thrown me off he was tearing around the arena like a maniac. The next day he did the same thing to a lesson student, only with a saddle on.
Levi went on stall rest for two months. We thought he would get better with time, but it only got worse. We couldn't catch him in his stall, he would pin his ears back and run away from us. Multiple vets came to look at him. They treated him for ulcers, a brain tumor, and other diseases. He only stayed miserable and angry when before he had been happy and so in love with life. To turn him out to pasture would've been cruel, he was so unhappy. Finally, we decided we had to put him down. It was the only way to cure the misery he was living in.

Levi was put to sleep on February 9th, 2021.

The reality was overwhelming. I couldn't believe he was gone. He had been the horse that I had trained and bonded with like no other horse. I missed everything about him.
Now we think that the cause of his illness was lack of oxygen to the brain. It made sense, since I thought the hole in his neck that he used to breathe was getting smaller.
I still don't understand why it had to be Levi, but now I am telling myself that he is making the people in heaven happy rather than the people on earth. I hope nobody else has to see their beloved horse suffer with invalid promises of recovery before the heart breaking reality that there is no cure besides the one option that you least want to hear.
Anyways... that's my story. Yay. I know there will be many other horses in my life, but none will compare to Levi.

[9272bunbun]

Hello everyone, I need your horse stories!
Please tell me about your real-life interactions with horses.

Did your horse do something funny? Sad? Unexpected?
Was there a problem with your horse? How did you solve it?
Did you work through a training issue? Riding issue? Tack issue? Tell me about it!

I need everything from small simple things to big ordeals that took years to solve.

Please include details like what kind of horse, what discipline, etc.

Thank you!

I know you said to tell a story but my story is just starting, I can ride really well, but I have never had a horse of my own. I am only a teen so I can't just go and buy a horse for myself. my instructor just bought a 17.1hh bay thoroughbred gelding named paddy and I have fallen in love! He is so so sweet and he loves hugs, my only problem is that she is training him and then selling him for $10,000 to $15,000 and that I devastating because I love him and my family can not afford a horse right now. But whatever my journey with horses looks like, I am sure it will be great!