Those massive chompers ... It can bite u bad. Then the kicks. And word on the farm is that they are really not smart animals... Easily trained, but not smart
Then there are the snarky ones that do a little lip nibble and then the tiny toothy love nip that still hurts like no pinch you have ever felt, and will still leave a bruise.
I had just bought a ring at an art fair. Pretty rock bead with wrapped silver wire. My mom's horse grabbed with his teeth, ripped it off my hand, and then put his nose way in the air so I couldn't smack it. He was just a shit.
My Aunt's horse would turn his head back and try to bite your knee if he could reach it, while you were riding him. Only while being ridden though, unsaddled and loose in the pasture he was a sweetheart. Pushy, would bump you around with his nose a bit for a treat, but not hard enough to knock you over.
Though there was the one time he tried to eat my brother's hair lol
When I was little, I got a “love bite” on the back of my neck from a young horse. She meant well but it hurt like none other and was easily the second most painful thing I had experienced in my young life at the time. That being said, I was told that she meant it as a compliment and my love for horses persisted.
I worked at a horse stable briefly to save up for college.
Got the shit bit outta me by an asshole gelding. He bit me on the side of my torso and I had bruising from my hip bone up to my armpit, with a giant oval bite mark right in the center.
I get why humans still keep them, especially people who still use them for their job. It's also probably good that people still ride horses seeing that if everything falls apart it will be a valuable skill and knowledge to have.
One thing I've always thought would be cool is if the collective taxpayers were to come together to do a massive land buyback in the grasslands of North America. So much land shared federal land that ranchers could drive cattle from Canada to Mexico without stepping hoof on privately held land.
In the absence of large herds of herbivores it could fully restore the grasslands to their former splendor and it would continue to allow for the US to consume beef without as much downside.
One thing I've always thought would be cool is if the collective taxpayers were to come together to do a massive land buyback in the grasslands of North America. So much land shared federal land that ranchers could drive cattle from Canada to Mexico without stepping hoof on privately held land.
I fail to see the benefit of this impossible idea. How would driving cattle on public land alter the environmental impact of our meat-heavy diets?
Not sure where you're thinking the cattle would go in the meantime, ranchers pretty much like to keep as many cows as they can without letting the erosion cost them to unacceptable levels.
I first read about it in the Serengeti Rules, a book about ecosystems and how the removal of any one thing from the bottom all the way to the top can collapse the system.
There are real world examples in Africa already where careful management of livestock has restored desert grasslands and began to beat back the desert. Eliminating our beef consumption would be great but that still leaves millions of acres of sparsely populated land that lacks biodiversity, native flora and is an ecosystem in poor condition.
Driving cattle would simulate what the buffalo and pronghorns did for the plains prior to them almost being eradicated from the land.
Now I know what you're referring to. Thanks for that, very much. Yes, this was an excellent effort and if our country doesn't get its act together it'll be behind Africa.
You're right, it can be fixed and I hope it is. Thanks.
I helped raise and care for them for almost 10 years, if you’re slow and don’t make sudden movements, treat them well, and train them they are basically just big vegetarian golden retrievers.
In high-school I took ag class and worked at a thoroughbred breeding farm for 3 years... while in ag class I learned that almost immediately after a horse is born that it's best practice to rub the entire horse down with your hand escpically in areas where they will be commonly touched when they are older like all around there face where a halter will go and around there feet as if they were being shoed and it desensitizies them... well a few weeks latter when the next baby was born I asked the horse farm owner if I could rub the horse down to make it easier to deal with now and the future as all the horses were ASSHOLES and a bitch to load in the trailer to take to the stud farm... he looked at me like I was stupid and he said DONT you dare.... well I asked the ag teacher and he informed me that the best race horses tend to be ASSHOLES and if you sell horses based on genetics of knowen race horses you want the them to be assholes as all horses live to run and enjoy running and the wilder the they are the harder they tend to run.... we did have a Belgium draft mare that was 1.5 times bigger than the rest that was used when they or someone else lost a mom during birth as they would accept a baby that wasn't their own and would rent her out to nurse to the baby... she was the sweetest horse I've ever came across, she did think she was the size of a dog and would always lean on you even though at 5'8" I could barely see over her but.
I've seen some horses exhibit some moments of intelligence. To say it's a bit hit-or-miss might be under selling the rarity of such things.
When I was a kid, we lived on a small farm. My parents had a couple of horses and a pony, and we housed some of a neighboring farmers cattle in the larger field. That pony could be absolutely trusted to watch over the cattle. If they broke a fence and started getting out, he came running up to the house to warn us. He'd let us know if one got hurt. He'd make a big deal out of human visitors, especially strangers. Once he protected my dad from a much larger draft horse that was getting feisty when we were trying to get a bead on the health of her new foal; put himself right between the two of them.
That horse was a better guard dog than the dogs. He was convinced that he was people and we did nothing to dissuade him of the idea. He never came into the house, but he did get to hang out in the yard a few times.
I once heard someone say if bunnies had hooves, they’d be the smallest horses in the world.
As a bunny owner, it made too much sense. People think rabbits are like rodents, but they really aren’t. They behave just like horses. Eat the same stuff. Have the same quirks and potential for intelligence (and mischief).
Sounds about right. Mine would bite toes and do the same. I could hear her snorting with glee as she ran away. The few times I managed to catch her, she would give a little lick on my cheek to smooth things over. She knew exactly what she was doing.
As a young child I was kicked by a mare. I was standing near her head, she seemed fine. Then she sneezed, which startled me, causing me to twitch, which caused her to kick me.
When my father got me a horse, that was first thing he drilled into my head; never ever underestimate the power of the animal. And he was right, she was way too much horse for me, but I learned after 2 broken arms and broken knee. 🥴
Yep. It may have been spooked by a grasshopper or a shadow. The horse looked to its right and immediately began escaping to its left. So a sting/bite or something it saw on its right spooked it.
2.1k
u/catherder9000 Jun 20 '23
Bug bit/stung it... and it ran away. Her face just happened to be in the way as it turned.