Obsessed with horses

Post Reply New Topic

Were you, as a young girl? Are you still?

I was crazy about horses. Still am, actually. I read all the books in the Black Stallion series by the time I was 12 or 13. I still have them, too.

My youngest daughter is also "horsey". In fact, she's majoring in Equine Science at the Univ of Arizona.

horses were my special interest. I read every horse book I could lay hands on including every novel published and non-fiction titles on topics like horse-breeding, training, and tack making. I worked at the stable, I slept at the stable if I could get away with it, I skipped school to be at the stable, and I got a job at 14 to pay for my own horse. my mom threw me out of the house a couple years later so I abandoned all horsey things for survival's sake and eventually the obsession faded away. later I had a special interest in espresso, then when the internet became accessible to the masses I developed an obsession for graphic and web design.

now I'm too afraid of horses to want to be around them. when I was a kid I was trampled and thrown a lot, and it didn't deter me, but it took years of chiropractic to recover from the damage and my health is too fragile to risk much these days.

No, I always thought they were uninteresting. I was and still am obsessed with cats. Not to the point where I used to be though.

Horses used to be my special interest too, but I sort of swayed away from them because I was never good at horseback riding and mostly just embarrassed myself during lessons. I love being around horses and riding them, but "horse people" kind of make me nervous so I usually stay away from stables and riding. Hopefully I'll get a horse of my own someday....

Does anyone else ride? I was always too uncoordinated to get really good, but I still love it. It's a great feeling to be in control of such a powerful animal.

No, never. I also never understood the girl obsessed with horses thing. *shrug*

To each her own.

I did happen to like horses, and it was one of the few "typical" girl traits I had, though I'm not sure I liked horses for the same reasons most girls did. I liked horses because I liked animals and ranches, and hated walking.

yes. aren't most girls though?




somewhat.
i don't read about them anymore (as a kid i read about all the famous racehorses) but i have a lot of horse things. i paint and draw them and i occasionally ride. i'm also obsessed with carousels.

Horses (and the offshoots such as unicorns and Pegasus) seem to be a very common interest, especially in elementary and pre-teen girls. I was a little horse-crazy; lucky for me, my parents could afford riding lessons for me and my brother. I was actually pretty good; then we discovered I am violently allergic to horses. (Got hit in the face by a tail; I knew better than to walk close to a horse's butt, but forgot in the excitement of being asked to show. My entire face swelled up. Covered with hives. My eyes swelled shut. Miserable experience and kind of put me off horses.) A few of my friends were lifetime horse enthusiasts, though, riding in many shows, learning dressage, steeple-chase, owning a horse, things like that. I would watch their shows when I could, but never regained my interest in horses.

I was absolutely horse-crazy, and volunteered at a stable as a teen just to be around the horses. Couldn't/can't afford one of my own, but I still occasionally have incredibly vivid horse dreams.

I've always been scared of horses. I grew up working class in a big city. The closest I got was donkey rides on the beach. Horses in fields in the countryside and stuff, that was scary. Now I'm more scared of horsey people sneering at my immense towniness.

I really liked birds as a child, particularly crows, ravens and rooks. It's really not girly to like crows, unless they invent My Little Raven dolls anytime soon.

I've never been a horsey girl, I don't see the appeal. I've been friends with 2 girls that are mad on horses. my most recent friend goes horse riding and has done since she was 5 or something, she loves them.
I wonder what it is about horses and ponies that drive young girls crazy.

I often wonder the same thing. I'm neutral towards horses and I don't understand their massive appeal to other girls/women. When I was a child, I was much more interested in wolves.

They smell nice. They make nice noises. They have lovely, soft noses. They're beautiful. Many of them like people. They like being groomed. They're nervous and not terribly bright, so they need protection even though they're so big. When you're riding a horse you know, it's almost like you can communicate with it telepathically - you can feel it's tension or happiness in the way that its body moves and in the expressions in its ears.

All in all, there is very little in a horse that is 'not to like.'

I don't think it's that horses drive girls "crazy". Maybe I shouldn't have used the word "obsessed" ... I didn't mean "obsessed" in the sense of OCD.

And boys become obsessed with them too, you know. It's not just a girly thing, by any means. I've seen just as many male stable rats as female.

Horses are very appealing animals, which shouldn't come as a surprise. In the long process of domesticating them, it makes sense that we became "domesticated" to them, as well. What I mean is ... as they became predisposed toward working with humans, the humans became predisposed toward finding them very appealing.

This is no different than people considering dogs to be appealing.



Very eloquently put, LKL. Thank you

It's hard to know how one could not appreciate the speed and power and grace of a thoroughbred race horse, for instance. Or the fine-boned toughness of an Arabian. Or the good sense and down-to-earth practicality of a hard-working cow pony. Or any of dozens of other examples.

For me, my own imagination was stoked as a young girl by the adventures of The Black Stallion. How exciting the stories were ... a magnificent stallion in far-off exotic desert kingdoms full of intrigue and mysterious characters. My goodness, I couldn't put those books down.

During much of the time my kids were growing up, we had horses. As LKL pointed out, they need lots of care despite being so large and powerful, and my girls learned about horses from the time they were toddlers.

This may sound strange, but one of the biggest thrills of my life was the time I was hiking in a remote section of Utah, and happened to come across a small band of wild mustangs. I don't know why, but to me wild horses embody the joy of freedom and wildness more than other animal. They're very skittish ... you can't get within half-a-mile of them. The herd stallion prances around, shaking his head and snorting his annoyance. The alpha mare, ever the practical leader, decides when and where the band goes.

I certainly don't expect everyone to feel about horses the way I do. I just wondered how being aspie might be involved with it, if at all.

I was in love with horses as a young girl and have one in my backyard today. They are a magical and highly spirtiual creature. In order to be "with" a horse, you have to be "with" yourself because they are sensitive prey animals. They have MUCH to teach us if the mind is open to learning.

Very true, and their psychology is very delicate as a result. It's possible to really mess up a horse bad if you don't understand horse psychology.