The Hobgoblin Marks 24 Years

Happy 24th Birthday to the horse that has taught me so much about who horses truly are and who he is content to be. Hobbes came to me as a 6-year-old retired racehorse and newly retired school horse from Saint Andrews University. It seems he didn’t take to the racing life or the college environment well. He had been retired after a few turf races because he wasn’t fast and was eventually donated to the horse program at Saint Andrews where it was revealed that he was terrified of jumping. He also didn’t care for dressage, or for different students riding him (noting a trend?), so he came to me during a juncture in my life when I thought I was getting pretty decent with horses (this is when the horse gods laugh). At that time, I was a recent graduate of Saint Andrews and was working at a nearby camp with a horse program and therapeutic riding program. I think Hobbes came with a goal to teach me maybe more about how much I DIDN’T know about horses and how much I still had to learn…

Things I have learned in the 18 years that we have had:

1. How to cope with consternation. I had expected when I got him that I would retrain this dragon of an OTTB (off-the-track thoroughbred) with my newly acquired official equine college education and my decent experience learning some natural horsemanship theory and techniques. I quickly realized that he was not responding the way I expected. This was to become a trend. In fact, he never does anything that I expect. It’s kept life “spicy”.
2. It’s totally fine to change a horse’s name. His Jockey Club name is Silver Genes. His Saint Andrews name was Casper. He came to me and I couldn’t call him Casper, because it made me think of the friendly ghost and he already spooked too much for my comfort! I named him Hobbes after the philosopher Thomas Hobbes because I wanted him to learn to think more instead of reacting so strongly. He did in fact learn to think more. He also continued to react strongly. This joke is still on me every single day.
3. Sometimes you just need a trainer. I like to think that the current me could probably take 6-year-old Hobbes in a completely different direction if he had come to me now. And that is due to a bit more maturity in my horsemanship and mostly because I can afford to work with a trainer regularly at this point in my life. At the time that I got him, I was living lean after college and had enough sense to realize eventually that I’d bitten off more than I could chew. But I also couldn’t afford a trainer. This would have been a game-changer with him back then. I needed some guidance. He’s a friendly horse, but he’s never been fully tame. Some of the behaviors he expressed were so extreme that I wasn’t sure what to do and didn’t want him to get hurt or me for that matter. Good training for him and for me would have been a wonderful help.
4. Sometimes horses don’t fulfill the dream you had for them and that’s ok. I genuinely believed that one day I would crack the code on my own with riding Hobbes well, and I just never did. Part of it was a lack of skill and knowledge. Another part was a lack of guts to ride through some of the hard behaviors he was throwing at me. And part of it was that he was so unhappy when I rode him and so happy when I played with him at liberty. I started to spend a lot more time developing the thing that he seemed so happy doing. I had another horse to ride that I felt safe on and had the riding side of my life fulfilled. I was by myself often when I had time for Hobbes and had some legitimate fears about being hurt and being alone. So, we played at liberty and had a blast. He can learn just about anything I want to teach him in that realm. And he looks happy most of the time. Sometimes he has dragon-face, but maybe so do I…(Ha).
5. Taking away expectations creates room for real creativity. Although I have some definite regrets that I didn’t get this horse going the way I wanted to, when I realigned my thoughts with him, he offered a lot of beautiful moments. I am no liberty expert at all, but I can play with him in that space in a way that I can’t with my other horses. He’s intuitively looking for the fun answer, not even defining what’s right and what’s wrong–just fun. He feels empowered to express himself. He makes me laugh a lot with what he comes up with. And that fun… I just wouldn’t trade it.
6. A third horse is a great asset. You’ll have to go with me here for a minute, but I think my logic is sound. You can’t have a farm with horses and only have one. They are herd animals and need other horses. So, you must at least have two, right? And that’s all great until you want to take one somewhere to show or ride and must leave the other horse at home. The one on the trailer usually doesn’t look half as worried as the one you left behind. But here is where Hobbes does his magic: he’s the third horse. I’d take Max to a show. Cole and Hobbes would be a little clingy when Max loaded but then, hey, they had each other so they would relax before the trailer even got fully down the driveway. But leave just one horse and you often have a holy terror running around and screaming. Your neighbors are worried. Boards break. Fences and gates get banged up. It can be a nightmare. But not when you have that third horse! They keep everything safe. No drama. No mess to clean up when you get back. And no anxiety for you and your poor #2 horse. (Anyone can freely copy and paste this entire section if you need legitimate argument points for acquiring a third horse for ANY reason. I fully support you in this endeavor. Use these points in any order to counter-argue any significant others who just don’t get it yet.)
7. Goofy OTTBs who are hard keepers are great at staying in one place. So once you get three horses the chances that you will get more increase infinitely (Don’t tell the significant others this part). It’s pretty much a law of the universe. And if you have a big pasture along with some smaller turnouts your hard keeper OTTB is going to be so useful. The overly easy keepers can’t stay on the grass 24/7, but guess who can? Your third horse, OTTB hard-keeper type! When you acquire new horses and they may need dry lot turnouts, your hard-keeper OTTB third horse can just hold down the fort of the big pasture and hang out with whoever gets to come out there for whatever short amount of time the easier keepers get to be on grass. They are the “Steady Eddies” of the big field. You think this isn’t a thing but get a handful of ponies and chunky warmbloods and it’s obvious that no one else can be on that pasture all day and all night. It’s a secret bonus power.
8. Laughter matters with horses. There is so much with the horse life that can make you stress, cry, and question your sanity. To have a half-feral goofball that even at 24 years old still plays with the younger ones is like watching our own reality show–it can be highly entertaining. To be real—he’s super limber for his age because he really hasn’t done that much in the way of ridden work, but he’s the greatest at playing with the younger horses and ponies that come here. He’s like a dad with a toddler: completely finding his inner child and willing to go for broke to make them laugh or to show them all the fun that can be had!
9. When you keep a horse solely for their company it makes for a special relationship. This horse has stretched me. He’s tried my patience. He’s aggravated me and stumped me all in the same second sometimes. But we have a rapport that overrides all of it. He trusts me and teaches me about how horses behave and how deeply they love and care. He also reminds me not to take myself seriously, because he’s allowed me to do anything BUT that with him. I will always cherish what we have. And I will always smile when I think of this long relationship and what it’s brought me beyond what I ever could have thought up.

So again, I celebrate this one-of-a-kind friendship with a horse today. A horse who I love and who met me right where I was back then and still does today. Happy 24th birthday to my half-feral and loving kiddo. You are beautiful and enough just as you are. Thank you for teaching me that on top of everything else.