Our “May Pinup” is Greg Egan and Simeon Shaina.

To celebrate one of the most pleasant and balmy months in Australia I’m sharing an article on one of my favourite topics. Why do you think we love horses? Have a most enjoyable May and make sure you hug your horses and treat them with the love and respect they deserve.

Why do you think we love horses?

Do you ever think about why we take horses to our hearts? I often spend a lot of time thinking about this relationship. Horses are such graceful, glorious creatures. They fire your imagination with their structure, the way they move, the strength of their bodies, their shining coats, or is it simply the earthy way they smell. I think every horse is magnificent whether it’s the sturdy brumby or the couture designed thoroughbred. All have their own unique characteristics wonderfully adapted to their purpose from the country they originated.

Humans have a long and productive relationship with horses. We have always brushed them, drawn them and sculpted them. We train them, plait them and paint their hooves. We wash them and rug them and buy matching accessories for them. We give them molasses in their feed to keep them healthy. We use warm water to mix their feeds in winter. We grow their manes and tails long and talk about them as if they are human. We speak to them using human adages ‘here’s my boy’ or ‘my boy’s not happy today’ and more times than not, every cent we earn is used to keep them happy and healthy. Most of us spend every day, weekend and many evenings cleaning saddlery, mucking out stables, grooming, foaling down mares, treating an injury, and then, maybe, riding them. But having horses is often not just about riding; it’s about being with them, looking after them, knowing their history and how different the world would be if we didn’t have them.

I’ve always been horse mad and as I grew up I realised there’s a romance associated with horses, artists have painted or sculpted them for thousands of years and I often wonder if this romance is because they seem wild and vulnerable. After all they still have that fight instinct. They also have incredible strength, sometimes frighteningly so. I also feel that some people still possess a longing to conquer them. Don’t forget we use the term ‘breaking in’ to describe the process of how a youngster is turned into a riding horse. When you spend a lot of time in the saddle you become very aware that they are stronger than you. For all the work we do with horses they are still unpredictable. They are not dogs! If they want to run and buck and rear and get you off their backs, they can.

Yet even knowing that horses have the potential to be a lethal weapon, we still fall in love with them. So why is that? Is it because you can escape on a horse? You can gallop so fast that tears stream from your eyes. The horse is the ultimate escape! Slow or fast, life is spread out below you and so much more picturesque when you’re riding high on a horse.

In the past, people conquered empires on the back of a horse, they transport humans everywhere and never let them down. How ironic that life seems to have turned a little upside down. Now humans transport their horses everywhere! Horses are now a luxury item, an accessory for their human minders, even though they remain our companions. We trust them and we have our favourites. If you’re fortunate enough to have given your heart to a horse and made him your true friend, then you are a very contented person.

Words Carmel Rowley  www.carmelrowley.com.au