Only horse folks would understand...

[Penthilisea]

Today I was driving home from barn X I used to board at, having ridden a youngster. I was on a back road, and saw a lovely big clydesdale coming down the road towards me, with a blond middle aged female rider (sans helmet, boo!) Aha! says I. I know that horse! I rolled down my window and said "Hey I know you! Thats Bozzie, right?" Indeed, it was Bozzie, who boarded at barn X for a few months. A few minutes kibitzing even led to a job prospect for me! Then another car appeared so I made my goodbyes, with promises to email for a job application etc!


However... when I got home, I tried to tell my SO about the nice lady and Bozzie from Barn X. SO asks, innocently enough, what the nice blond ladies name was?

...

I have no idea. I'll have to call Barn X and see if the Barn owner remebers? It's awfully hard to give a good reference when all I can say is she trail rides a sweet clydesdale named Bozzie.

Are there any other horse people around you only know by their horses name/appearence? I still have a few adults I see occasionally I only know as "Carly's Mom", when I taught Carly riding lessons 10 years ago!

[SarahandSam]

LOL... yeah, I can remember horses, but not people. (:

ETA: Just realized I do that with all pets, I guess. I take my dachshund to a dachshund meetup group every month. I do not know the name of a single member of the group. I know their dogs, though.

[gloriginger]

Oh yeah all the time. I have people in my dog agility class that I have known for over a year and for whatever reason I can only remember them as Mitzie's or Maple's mom. Its just because the animals are more important, no offense intended. ;)

Did she give you an email? You might be able to figure it out that way?

[Couture TB]

Kidding me, when I gave lessons it was easier to call out the ponies/horses's name when giving instructions! Still can't tell you my some of my horsey friend's names unless I look at the order of go, but can name all their horses! :lol:

[Traum]

I used to tell my lesson kids that I was going to call them by their pony's name in lessons. There was NO way I was going to remember all those kids and they thought it was totally cool to be called by their horse's name :D

Same when I taught dog class. Everyone was so and so's mom.

On a related note, I got a cutey little paint to ride and a great job offer/reference from the same person the first day I met them :) Nothing like having the vice pres of HR as the one you write in the 'referred by' box :D

[Frank B]

Matter of fact, today the BO introduced me to a new boarder & comments that we should remember each other from a former barn. We look at each other and both draw a blank. Then BO mentions each of our horse's names. BINGO!

[SimplyRed]

I know exactly what you mean! There are several local riders that we always know their horse at the show but never the rider! :D

[crewgirl34]

I had moved to a new barn and on farrier day a bunch of us were standing around waiting our turn. I had at least 3 people I didn't know come up and address my horse by her name, give her a pat and/or treat, and barely acknowledge me. She's usually a barn favorite, and she's blind so she gets the sympathy vote as well, so she's popular! Me, I'm feeling like I'm back in high school...I've also been introduced as, "You know the blind horse at the barn, yeah, she owns her." But in all fairness, I had a phone call recently that went like this:
Hi, this is Stacey X.
Me: (dead silence)
You know, we bought Star last year...
Me: "Oh yeah, hi Stacey!"

[Linny]

The barn where I'm riding has horses' names white boards on stalls, but no owner names. As such I am still struggling to remember everyone's name. Having the horse and human name together on the name plate is the easiest way to remember the names of the people. In my mind I connect "Apollo-Susie Smith" and when I see Apollo, I now think, "Oh, that's Susie!"

[MistyBlue]

Wanna hear sad? If I sat here and thought for about 10 minutes...I could probably name all 90+ horses at the barn where I worked and boarded 30 or so years ago...I can name every horse by breed/color/gender/name/habits in the place I boarded when I first bought Galopin and becoming a re-rider 6-7 years ago. 13 of them there. And the last place I boarded before buying our own farmette had 22 stalls and 21 horses and I can name those too by stall and even right down to their poop/pee habits in their stalls overnight.
Out of all those horses, all those barns and all those decades....if I could name 10 owners I'd be shocked. :lol: :no: :lol:
Even when I was in those barns it'd be "Hey there Pickle's mom!"

[amdfarm]

Yep, know the feeling all to well. It's now expanded to my son's group of 4-H buddies. He's in the 2nd largest group in the state and I can't even tell you how many are in it. Close to a couple hundred I'd guess.

I know some of the kid's names (not their parents hardly at all) and if they're into horses then I know their horses and pony's names. If they show other stock like cattle, pigs, llamas or only do fashion and photography, forget it. It's a lost cause to even introduce me, as I will have forgotten by the end of the conversation.

Come show time and fair time, I'll probably have to relearn all of them again.

[Amchara]

Met up with some friends last night and one asked me "How are your horses?" Another rider friend says sarcastically "Wow, that was nice!"

We all burst out laughing. First friend says "OK, how are you doing?"

[pony89]

I can definitely relate! It was a little awkward when I tried to set up a shared vet call and realized I didn't know anyone's last names. (ummm....well, the horse's name is Matt, and the owner's first name is Joe - can you hold on, it might be in my phone. Maybe it starts with H? They've definitely used you before.)

My DH's mom is one of 8, so there are lots and lots of aunts and uncles, and many of them look remarkably alike. Holidays are a huge crowd, and everyone brings their large dogs. For the first year or so, after family gatherings, I would be asking my DH, "Now, which aunt is the one with Blitz?" or "Aunt Beth, now which dog does she have again?"

Why is it so much easier to tell animals apart? Most people would be hard pressed to tell three German Shepherds apart, and I am stuck using them to try and figure out which human is which. :confused: (funny side note - at one of the get togethers, some joker switched all of the GSD's collars and confused the whole family since they were very similarly marked. Those of us that actually owned the shepherds did not actually notice until some family members wondered why the wrong dog was jumping into the truck to go home:lol:)