I am retired now, well mostly retired. I get to go to the arena and play games once in a while. I miss getting ridden and will call out when horses are in the arena. I want to play, to get ridden, to feel like I have a job to do. It causes the DOR concern to see me miserable, but she also worries about me doing too much. She is working on coming up with a happy medium that will work for us both.Salty the Wonder Horse didn't take to retirement well at all. When Mushboy stopped riding him Salty got depressed, he lost weight and was pouting. Mushboy started taking him to the arena twice a week for a short ride. Lo and behold Salty put on weight and returned to his perky old self.
I understand that humans sometimes have a hard time when they retire. They feel like they have lost their purpose, get bored, depressed, and waste away.
Yep, retirement sucks! I think that rather than being retired horses need a job change. I can babysit calfs, Salty can still go for a spin once in a while, and Scooby is Hank's tranquilizer. Old horses can be babysitters for foals, a companion for a nervous horse, or many other things. We just need a sense of purpose. If we are a pasture ornament at least take us for a walk so we feel like we are doing a "job".
What do you have your retired horses do? How do you keep them feeling that they have a purpose?
Life is so good! Oh and Jack told me to remember to say: Enjoy your day and don't forget to hug your DOR
7 comments:
Oh, my gosh!!! Terrifically entertaining. Your name pulled me in. Of course it would having a blog called cowpattysurprise! What a fun ride for this Ozarks farm chick. You have a very blessed week-end!!!
Jack, I don't know about us horses, but our DOR has an old cat that keeps an eye on everyone at home. He swats the dogs when they get too close and he stalks the birds in the tall grass. Most of the time he just lays around the front door.
~~Scout~~
At my retirement place, Corky used to be the weanling babysitter, and I gots to hang out with the adolescent fillies! But Corky went on to greener pastures last winter, and now I'z stuck with this little brat Jackson, who always wants to play and climb on me and get his mama mad at me. What's a retired A-rab gent to do?!? Oh well, it's a job.
I've been retired for a couple of years now - I'm 29 and will be 30 in May! My DOR rode me up to when I asked her to stop - I have some arthritis, so I wasn't enjoying it anymore. I still go out to the pasture every day, and trot and canter around. I also help keep the young horses in line - they need to learn to respect their elders. At evening feeding time, I stick my head into the aisle over my stall guard and "supervise" all the feeding and bring-in activities. My DOR grooms me almost every morning before she turns me out - and I groom her back sometimes! I feel pretty good most of the time, so life is pretty good for me! Noble
I keep wondering what DOR is, I'm not a horsey person so don't under the lingo. My SIL mentioned she thought her Tango was depressed the other day because she hadn't been ridng as much as she normally did; so interestingly this isn't the first time I've heard that. I think people could take a lesson. They all think they want to retire, they get tired of work; but many don't well after retirement.
Nice post
Sandy
Sandy,
DOR is short for Dope On A Rope...it is my pet name for my owner. Sometimes she can be a bit silly, but most of the time she is really good
Great post...every living thing needs a purpose!
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