We’ve probably all heard it before, “You’re addicted to your horses” – I know that I have! The equine community is an interesting one; we can easily wrap our entire lives up around our “hobby”. So, if you’re wondering if you’re a horse addict, read on to find out!
1. Your Horse Has More Expensive Shoes Than You Do
I know that I’ve said it before to more than one person, “If I spent $200 every six weeks on shoes, I’d have a closet full of Louboutin’s or Burberry’s”! I think I’ve worn the same boots for the last year and a half as far as I can recall…
2. Your Horse Wears “Name Brand” Clothing and You Shop at Walmart
Now, there’s nothing wrong with Walmart (I get a lot of my clothing there…of course I’m a self-proclaimed horse addict), but it’s pretty much a given that most of our horses are wearing the most expensive or well-known brands out there; if they were human, their clothes would have at least come from Nordstrom’s or Macy’s.
3. Your Horse is Always on a Special “Diet” and You Eat Whatever’s in the Fridge
Horse addicts are always looking for the best way to feed their equine friends. Whether it’s premium quality forage, Timothy Hay or the best pellets on the market, our horses usually eat better than we do!
4. Your Horse Gets Daily “Supplements” and You’re Lucky to Remember a Multi-Vitamin
If I added up all of the time and money that I spend working out the perfect supplement combination for my horse’s joints, coat, hooves, mood and brain health it would be staggering. I know I’ve got some Vitamin C and D somewhere around the house, but I can’t remember the last time I remembered to take it…
5. Your Horse’s “House” is Better Kept Than Your Own
Think about it…when’s the last time that you meticulously cleaned your room on a daily basis?
6. You Have “Phantom Bruises” That You Can’t Quite Explain
Whether it’s getting hit by a barn door, pinched by a stirrup leather or struck by a stray hoof or braided tail, bruises are just part of the “benefit” of horse ownership.
7. All Your Friends and Family Know a Great Gift Isn’t Diamonds or the Newest Electronic Device, it’s a New Wheelbarrow or Pair of Boots
Horse addicts are usually more excited by a new pitchfork than a pretty sweater, and that’s just the truth.
8. You Will Run Around a Pasture or Paddock in the Pouring Rain Just to Get a Blanket on Your Horse so He’s Comfortable and Dry
How many times have you returned from the barn looking like a drowned rat just so that your horse was safely wrapped in his best waterproof blanket?
9. You’ve Had to Explain to People at the Grocery Store That You Aren’t a Health Food Junkie When They See That Huge Bag of Juicing Carrots in Your Cart
If you donned a pair of Yoga Pants, running shoes and a sports top, that huge bag of carrots in your cart might still look out of place…especially when you buy one every week!
10. You Have a Collection of Breyer Horses That Have Made it From Childhood All the Way Through Your Adult Life
Sure, I can toss out a few stuffed animals and other childhood mementos, but my model horses…absolutely not!
11. Your Friends and Family Are Tired of Watching Movies With You Because You Point Out the Exact Breed of Horse on the Screen
“That’s a Friesian”, “Look at that Andalusian”, “That’s a Quarter Horse, and you know they’d never have had Quarter Horses back in the Medieval Times”.
12. You Have “Barn Clothes” and “Nice Clothes”, and Your Barn Clothes Get A Lot More Use
In my closet, there are two stacks of jeans…the “horse jeans” get a lot more use!
13. You Have Been Known to Go into the Grocery Store and Leave a Trail of Shavings or Stray Pieces of Hay in Your Wake
Sometimes it’s easier just to put your head down and keep walking when you find that you’re “shedding” hay, shavings or horse hair.
14. Your Breakfast Usually Consists of Caffeine and…More Caffeine
…because when it comes to getting to the barn in the morning, you can’t be slowed down or late.
15. You Treat Your Own Injuries With Vet Wrap and Betadine
A horse addict doesn’t have time for hospitals and doctors, there’s too much to do around the barn. “Oh, I got kicked, but I’m sure nothing’s broken”.
Horse addicts are a rare breed – sort of like an Akhal-Teke, which comes from Turkmenistan and is considered by some to be older than the Arabian, and I know this because…well, you get the picture!
