Why, Why, Why Do People Buy Horses That Are Too Much For Them??

As an aside: I did ride yesterday and while my mare and I got eaten up by buggies, we had a great time plus she needed a slight tune-up. Did us both good!

Okay, on to the subject. Just in the last couple of days have I ran across people who tell me that they bought horses with what-I-call-severe behavioral problems and then tell me of their hospital/emergency room visits!! Oh, yeah, they did!

Remember my post a week or so back about the guy who was explaining how to keep your horse out of your space but that some people might not be 'comfortable' with pushing back?? Welp, it's true. I just met a couple of specimens who don't want to push back and as a result, were seriously hurt, like could have been paralyzed-hurt. They don't know each other, just happened that I met them.

One person has a straight Egyptian Arabian...hello?? In case you don't know no nuthin' 'bout no Aye-rab horses, these tykes are prized for their 'presence and brilliance'. That means, if you see them in a show, they are the almost looney ones running around in the Liberty classes acting nuts. They are also very inbred, which as we have seen with the late Hapsburg clan in Europe, inbreeding is not a good idea, lower lip and all. You get froot-loops doing such things!! They are good looking but to me, they look like they could break in two just any minute.

So, adding this PITA horse and an owner who doesn't want to 'impose' her values on the nutty horse, your sum is an emergency room visit. Honestly, I thought of offering my services but 1. I'm not insured for giving lessons (see other posts about how dumb I think this is and that the one taking the lesson should carry their own insurance) and 2. I doubt she would listen to me any way. Horses are to be loved and cherished (okay with that one so far) and they have 'feelings' and those feelings get hurt. Ready to hurl yet?? Took about two seconds for me to decide I don't want any part of this one.

Another was a horse that had been severely abused by being ran all over the place to the point that the horse only had a stop and 'dead run' gear. A very sweet lady somehow got the horse, I'm not real clear how but just go with the story, and in the end, (you saw this one coming, didn't you?) was severely hurt, thankfully not paralyzed. Somehow through several years and injuries, the horse finally came around and they had several years together before the horse had to be put down for some reason.

But, in these two cases and many others, I wonder WHY do people buy trouble?? I remember being silly and young and buying the first horse that came down the pike but I had (still do have) a survival instinct that tells me that a particular horse is WAY bad news for me.

In these cases, one decided to stick with her horse and the other lady decided she's not going to do horses any more. Just too much for her. But she's missing out on a lot of fun and if she really doesn't want to do horses, that's fine, but she caused herself too many problems by going with her heart instead of her head. A little heart is fine but you have to really think things through when buying.

This is one of the great quandries that I don't understand. Whatever the case, get out there and love on your horse!!