What are your favorite quotes for horsepeople and for life?

It ain't what we don't know that gets us into trouble. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so.
Mark Twain

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sue on January 16, 2009 at 8:51pm

Time spent with a horse is never wasted.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Laura on February 15, 2009 at 6:55pm

I think this is soo true but my boyfriend and my mother totally disagree! LOL But they just don't get it.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Diana on January 17, 2009 at 12:43pm

Be All You Can Be... Thrown, dragged, kicked, bitten, slimed, trampled, stomped on .... (bumper sticker)

To Finish Is To Win (AERC motto)

Are just 2 of my favourite. I have spiral bound notebooks full of horsey quotes that have appealed to me over the years.

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by christine dickinson on January 21, 2009 at 10:26am

Don't be afraid your life will end, be afraid it will not begin

Live each day as though it was your last one on earth, one day it will be.

For the love of a horse we grieve, for the love of horses we go on

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Barbara F. on January 26, 2009 at 8:02pm

“It is something to be able to paint a particular picture, or to carve a statue, and so to make a few objects beautiful; but it is far more glorious to carve and paint the very atmosphere and medium through which we look, which morally we can do. To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.”

Henry David Thoreau

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Linda Weldon on February 2, 2009 at 11:37am

My fave quote is -
"Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx
I also have a favourite original quote of my own -
"Gather your thoughts and your reins."
Linda Weldon

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Linda Weldon on February 2, 2009 at 11:41am

Do or do not, there is no try.
- Yoda

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Roland Hardman on February 3, 2009 at 2:23pm

Favourite quote regarding horses:

The more I learn, the less I know.
Me 2002

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kevan on February 18, 2009 at 6:39pm

Here are a few of my favourites ..

"Unfettered by complicated verbal language, horses respond directly to energy. Attention is focused, channeled energy. When your attention wanders as you ride, your horse's experience is as empty as yours when you realize someone to whom you're talking to isn't listening."
-- Susan Travis

"Somewhere in times own space,
There must be some sweet pastured place
Where creeks sing on and tall trees grow
Some paradise where horses go
For by the love that guides my pen,
I know great horses live again."
- Stanley Harrison

-----------------------------------
Some various ones; I don't know who to attribute most of them to, however.

When in doubt, ask a horse

No one can teach riding better than a horse

A boy is a long time before he knows his alphabet, longer before he has learned to spell, and perhaps several years before he can read distinctly; and yet there are some people who, as soon a they get on a young horse, entirely undressed and untaught, fancy that by beating and spurring they will make him a dressed horse in one morning only. I would fain ask such stupid people whether by beating a boy they would teach him to read without first showing him the alphabet? Sure they would beat him to death before they would make him read.

Love means attention, which means looking after the things we love. We call this stable management.

It is the difficult horses that have the most to give you.
- Lendon Gray

Horses comment on a car -"150 horsepower, big deal. I'd be impressed if it ran on hay."

Do not underestimate a horse's pride, or he will dent yours

Farriers are like cats. They don't like to go out in the rain and they don't come when you call them

Give me food and drink; and care for me. And when the day's work is done, shelter me. Give me a clean bed and leave me not too small a place in the stable. Talk to me, for your voice often takes the place of reins; be good to me and I shall serve you more gladly and love you.
Don't tear at the reins. Don't reach for your crop when we come to a hill; don't beat me or hit me if I misunderstand. Don't think me disobedient if I fail your will; perhaps there is something wrong with my harness or my hooves. A bad tooth-you know how that hurts. Don't tether me too tight and don't crop my tail, my only weapon against mosquitoes and flies. Let me ask this of you in the name of Him who was born in the stable. And when the time comes, Dear Master, when I am no longer of use to you, don't let me starve, or freeze, nor sell me. Don't give me to a stranger who works me slowly to death and feeds me not; but be kind and prepare me for a quick and merciful end. God will reward you for it, now, and through eternity. And I shall come to you, always...... running.

On the first day god created horses, and on the second day he painted the good ones

Use your head, not your spurs

There are times when you can trust a horse, times when you can't, and times when you have to

The Horse is nobility without conceit, Friendship without envy, Beauty without vanity. A willing servant, yet no slave - Ronald Duncan

That hoss wasn't built to tread the earth, He took natural to the air, And every time he went aloft, He tried to leave me there. - Tribute to an Unmanageable Horse

A horse already knows how to be a horse; the rider has to learn how to become a rider.
A horse without a rider is still a horse; a rider without a horse is no longer a rider.

A horse is the most honest creature in the world - if she's doing something wrong, it's probably because you told her to!

You can tell a gelding, you can ask a mare, but you must discuss it with a stallion

-------------------------------

I wrote the following as an answer to an interesting question posed to me about my horse ...

Make me worthy of my horse,
as I value his trust above all else.

Help me understand his lessons,
for he is far wiser than I.

Let me observe with my soul,
For my ears & eyes miss much.

Guide my hands & make them feel,
for I hold not my friend’s mouth in them, but his heart.

Keep my mind open & willing,
only in this way will my horse & I continue to grow.

Put faith in place of my doubts,
only one will allow me to move forward.

Never allow me to forget, the three most important things:
I am not training my horse, we are learning together.
My horse asks only for my friendship, he repays me with his trust.
Patience, not power, will win my horse’s respect.

Make me worthy of my horse ...

▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Barbara F. on February 18, 2009 at 6:44pm

I love these quotes! I think paint lovers will like this one best:

On the first day god created horses, and on the second day he painted the good ones