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Categories: Equestrian Lifestyle

Rider Insider: Your Horse’s Hidden Talent


He looks like an ordinary horse, but what amazing abilities lurk beneath the surface?

 



Poor Wilbur Post. His troublemaking equine companion, Ed, had the amazing ability to talk in fluent human English, but he refused to share that talent with the world. Wilbur went through life knowing that the horse in his backyard had this amazing skill, but had no way of proving it to anyone else.



Your horse may look like a normal equine out grazing in the field or dozing in his stall, but behind that plain façade, is there a unique skill just waiting to be unleashed? Can he open any pasture gate with his nimble upper lip? Does he make a strange and unusual facial expression when someone brings his favorite treat over? Does he have an uncanny ability to differentiate between the sound of your car door slamming when you arrive at the barn and the seemingly similar sound of everyone else’s?

Your horse’s hidden talent might not be quite as exciting as Mr. Ed’s, but it’s probably easier to prove. Tell us about it in the comments below. Some of our favorite responses will be featured in an upcoming issue of Horse Illustrated!

 


This month, Noble Outfitters is sponsoring the Rider Insider column in Horse Illustrated with a prize for the selected featured response. If you’d like to be considered for a prize, make sure to include your contact info in the email field of the comment form (emails will not be publicly displayed.)

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  • My horse, Doc, has this weird thing were he halts all nice and square when you stick your feet straight out to the the sides. My instructor said no one else can do this on him. Weird!

  • My horses, like to play with a small plastic pail, they stand in a sort of circle, and one of them runs with the pail, drops it, then another picks it up and runs.

  • My horse Hitch is a real character. He tries to take my shoes off so that I can't get off his back. He likes to ride off alone, just me and him, and he bucks when I try to return to the rest of the group. He is also nicknamed "The Bulldozer" because instead of jumping the fences he destroys them, and somehow he does this without getting hurt! He's also the kind that steals hats, gloves, leadropes, water bottles, and even saddles and just plays. He seems to understand English, too. I tried to sell him once, but he heard me tell the prospective lady that he was for sale and acted completely crazy until she said, "That's enough, I've seen enough," and immediately began acting the perfect gentleman. We laughed about it and she left without him, saying Hitch believed he was mine and that was that! He's an unregistered American Warmblood, and I couldn't ask for a better horse.

  • My young OTTB has the amazing talent to fully collect do fancy dressage movements including but not limited to perfect flying lead changes and (sorry do not know names) trotting in one spot and c antering with little hind end movement in a circle (spinning)..and all this is ONLY when he has lessons around other horses..has made my dressage coach drop her jaw. Someday maybe we can do them on command!

  • I am not sure if this is considered a talent, but it sure does make me proud! My Mini "Chance" is a gelding and he is only 33.50" tall and you would normally think he would those a race to a mini with longer legs. Your wrong! Chance will race minis that are bigger than him on his own time and beat them by a long shot! People are amazed at how such a little horse can go so fast,for so long! Chance will go FULL OUT for an hour before stopping! He likes to prove to saddle horses that just because a mini is smaller than them, it doesn't mean that they will loose... He likes to prove to the horses that are bigger than him aren't better than him!

  • My 7 year old Warmblood/Thoroughbred, Rhythm, loves to help me sweep! He'll pick up the top of the broom and swing it back & forth against the ground... it's pretty dang cute, if I do say so myself!

  • My horse is just a little 15.3hh off the track, pacing Standardbred gelding that I got for free unbroke last year. He's just a brown paper bag kind of guy on the outside, but when he gets jumping watch out! He clears 5 feet with room to spare and loves every second of it!

  • My Quarter Horse, Belle, loves escaping her stall. She goes to the other 2 stalls and opens the latches to steal food. We have to watch her until everyone is done. We just love her.

  • My Quarter Horse, Sailor, is a great riding horse but he also loves zipping and unzipping jackets! He'll do it over and over again, and he likes to catch us by surprise once in a while.

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