It's Not All Rainbow-Farting Unicorns

I was having a discussion with a co-worker today about owning a horse. He said he had one as a kid, but that they're too much trouble, and cost too much money, and he'd never own one again. I wanted to be indignant at first; they're not trouble - they're amazing animals, they shit rainbows and kittens, totally, right!? I got to thinking about my last blog entry- I made it out like I go around perky and optimistic about Rain all the time. Yeah, I love my horse, yeah, we're making progress. But it's really not all flowers and puppies and whatnot. And I would hate to misrepresent the fact that, she's a horse, shit happens.

The reality is, they kinda are trouble. I'm not saying the trouble isn't worth it, but they kind of really are trouble.

Rain is not amused.

At our last barn, Rain developed the exceedingly pain in the ass annoying habit of pulling back. I lost a lot of good lead ropes that way. And she got away. Every. Single. Time. The barn owner freaked out every time Rain pulled, worried that she was going to pull the hitching rail out of the ground. It got to where I barely had time to girth my horse to prevent the saddle flying off in anticipation of when she would decide to pull back...when she'd decide to pull back.

Fast forward to the new barn. Rain continued to pull back. Trainer ties a lead rope onto my rope halter (can't use a buckle halter, she breaks the hardware). Rain pulls back. Rain somehow manages to break the rope. Not pull the knot loose, no, she breaks the lead rope. The rope snapped. It's taken a couple months, and a couple more leads, to get my mare to reliably tie. I wouldn't say yet the habit is broken. But she at least thinks twice now.

During our pulling-back phase, she broke Trainer's thumb. Chipped the joint, in fact. Trainer somehow got her hand in the rope, mare pulled back, thumb snapped. Trainer notes that she thought it was just dislocated at first. Occupational hazard of being a trainer, after all. She popped it back in. Then came the swelling. X-rays found a chipped joint. Good job, Rain.

My horse has also managed to throw out a horse shoer's back, and bucked me off so badly that I limped for 3 weeks. In describing my condition to a friend right after it happened, my fiance said "Yeah, I think she's fine, it's just...every time she tries to walk, she cries."

I love my horse. Truly, I do. But horses aren't for the faint-hearted, and they ain't necessarily fun and frolic all the time. They're bend you over and rape you out the butt  really expensive, they're time-consuming, and sometimes they're just outright annoying.