Was that too direct? Well if it makes you feel any better I asked myself the same question and came up with the answer, “yes.”
I came to this conclusion while walking into the house from the cold barn. The weather is cooler (some say cold) and I was thinking I was hungry. Then I examined both of these thoughts a little closer. Was I really cold? Or was I just cool. Maybe even some would say refreshingly cool. Was I really hungry…or was I just beginning to feel a little hungry?
I determined I am spoiled. Always wanting perfect balance. Not too hot, not too cold. No sign of hunger, etc. Maybe I need to enjoy these ‘imbalances’ a little more. Isn’t a cool fall day a nice change from the heat? When does food have the best flavor…when you are ravenously hungry of coarse!
This is the exact thing that makes me sometimes annoyed with horses. For example I have ridden some horses that are raised in perfectly groomed pastures, only left outside to deal with the weather if-well if the weather is perfect. Oh, and there is a fly system in the stalls.
Brats. They are spoiled brats. Horses that must have perfect weather, can only stand to be outside for short times and can’t deal with flies are NO FUN to work with!
Give me a pasture raised, fly bitten, well adjusted, muddy, hairy horse…who knows life isn’t always in balance.
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Poem
Got a new little horse
he’s handy, stout, just barely tame
Doesn’t have a pedigree
just some sagebrush in his mane.
This horse has been cross country
most men have never rode.
Over red-rock mountains
and into canyons filled with aspen groves.
There’s something about runnin’ free
that puts sense in a pony’s head
the lessons in the wild don’t count one, two, three
but oft times dead.
When it comes to negotiating a switchback
with a pack horse in tow
or dallying a head-strong steer
no arena trip could make him know.
How to dig in with those hocks,
put his head down and pull
all that stuff about bittin’ up and leads
is just a lot of bull.
You hand me one who’s learned his manners
from the teeth of a bitchy mare
or has had to dig for his feed in winter
when the hills are just plain bare.
I got me a case of trophies
they’re not made of silver and such
it’s just the times that me and my pony
have been to the mountains we love so much.
So you can have your polished show horse
with his blankets nose to tail
I’ll take my rangy mustang
who rather stand outside, ass-end to the hail.
– Lesley Neuman
copyright 2003, all rights reserved.
Hmmmm..I have a lovely mare who cannot deal with flies. Spooks a little at open spaces (can’t contain her emotions!), and balks at brush and rough ground. So, I bought a couple of ranch, range raised yearlings. What a difference. Love them all–but it is refreshing to see the young ones so well-balanced and able to deal with the rougher parts of being outside.
I think it depends. . . .on the horse. Some can be spoiled with treats and never bite; others start nipping after the first carrot. Some shiver in wind and rain and need to be covered; others roll around and enjoy it and tear up blankets trying to escape. Know the horse, and treat him accordingly.
Well, it’s not the horses’ fault or desire to be treated as such. Therefore I don’t think you can consider them spoiled brats, but just victims of their upbringing. I also always maintain that “spoiled” is an attitude. I believe people or animals can be treated like royalty without having a “spoiled brat” attitude. It’s all in whether or not they express or just feel gratitude for all they have been given. I know children who on the surface who would appear to be spoiled brats by how they are being raised, but they are beautiful and humble souls on the inside.
I totally agree that horses that are brought up out in the pastures are so much more fun when you are out on a trail ride they just take everything in their stride, they know how to handle any rough going the ride is so more relaxing, and when you get home and give them a wash down and groom they will let you know how much they enjoyed it by rubbing their head on you.
I show horses and they are only stalled and rugged at night, they run in the paddock all day, and people always comment how calm and relaxed my horses are, it is because I let them be horses.
Wow! And you also have really good writing skills.
This is so true. My mare Pnut spend 1 1/2 years on a cattle ranch in VA. She had no blanket, no barn, just a run-in for when it was really really bad. Of course, she was not alone. When I got her back in early spring, she hated – HATED – being in a stall. When we came home that spring, the grass was 8″ tall, so I had to bring the horses in at night; they blew up like ticks in less than a week of being out 24/7 on their 15 acre pasture. By the time the summer bugs hit, she was begging to go into the barn during the day, HAD to have her Amigo Bug Buster on, would run inside when it started to rain sideways. When she is having a hissy fit – stomping her feet and shaking her head because of little flies while we are riding, I often ask what happened to my good old ranch horse? How did I end up with this diva? They will become as spoiled as you let them.
Like with my kids…Spoiled is my choice. Brat is theirs. If I chose to give to them, then that’s ok. When they cross the line from spoiled to spolied brat is when I stop the spoiled.
I really like that description!
No we are not…… life is just to precious and we take every day a step further….
the horses are out and just get stalled in at night in winter time…. no blankies…. and often look like pigs instead of horses…. dirt deep up their ears!!!!
keeps us warm to clean the mudd of them in winter and after a long cold ride, enjoy a hot cuppa something!!!!
🙂 while the others accross the street at the fancy stable…. have the horses in nice warm blankies…. with solarium, red light and blowers…. kind of having this jealous look in their eyes!!!!
Tell me about it. I bought a Paint Clydesdale cross from a man who treated him like a pet his whole life. Thinking his behavioral problems were derived from sub-standard care, the man pampered the horse for years. When I received him, he was so used to his perfect lifestyle and was in for a surprise when I made him work, smacked him for striking, and elbowed him for biting. I’d rather work with a neglected horse than a spoiled one.
Stacey your bloging skills are fantastic! Enjoyable and thought provoking, Great job!
I agree totally
Love this!!! 🙂
Ironic, I was thinking the same thing the other day! My horse is pasture boarded, and has been pretty much all his life, while the other horses at the stable are taken in most of the time, out of the rain and snow and they avoid the mud. You can really tell what horses are spoiled when we go on trails. Where my horse will go straight through muddy spots, high grass, etc. the others raise a fuss.