Looks like its going to be another wet day

Decisions, Decisions....

  A few years ago when I owned a pretty simple never goes wrong horse, days like today when its a bit breezy with mixtures of drizzle and heavy rain, wouldn't have been a source of concern.  I'm either going soft in my old age, or I am realising now that all those years I was neglecting her slightly by taking advantage of the fact that she was such a hardy type.

  She really knows how to pull on the heart strings now, and the thought of her being out in this horrible weather all night has meant that I am now rather soggy, after traipsing across the field to bring in two rather bedraggled looking pensioners!

I have been told in the past by many people that Horses have no feelings and that their only concern is their natural  instinct, to be in the herd, stay safe and eat, but if you had seen the look on those two wet faces when they saw us coming up to the gate, in my opinion there is no question that they do have the ability to feel certain emotions.

You could almost here them say:

 'thank god your here, we are a bit tired and getting rather wet!'

This may make me mad, and to be honest I can accept that, because if caring for an animal that puts their total faith in you is being mad, then i am more than happy to be mad! If it makes me a push over or a soft touch, then that is fine as well, if my horse is cold and wet, then in my view she is likely to drop weight, which at the moment is not something that I can let happen, so if it means that I do not 'get the summer off' from mucking out etc then that's fine, because at the end of the summer I still want to have that horse, to have to muck out and do all the crappy jobs we all moan about by the end of January.

Everyone has the right to care for their horse/pony the way in which they see fit, and I have to say that I myself have found that I from time to time pick holes in how others look after their four legged friend.  Unfortunately it is how the horsey world seems to work, but it does tend to get my hackles up when you see something that is so clearly not in the animals best interests, but possibly being done because it suits the human.  They are not machines, they are living, breathing creatures, that put up with you lumping a saddle on their back and a chunk of metal in their mouth and be bored by running round in circles or petrified by scary monsters in hedges or bins, so they should know that you will do what is best for them.

We choose to have these animals, they cost us a hell of a lot of money, time and effort, they do not choose to come to us, so surely we owe it to them to give them the best care that we physically can.....

   ok rant over, time for a cup of coffee...........