Subj : Pet Owners Independence D
To   : Rob Mccart
From : Arelor
Date : Sun May 10 2026 07:08:43

  Re: Pet Owners Independence D
  By: Rob Mccart to MIKE POWELL on Sun May 03 2026 09:00 am

 > Little dogs mainly get spoiled. Bigger dogs usually less so. They want
 > to keep you company but they usually stay out of the way.

I think that happens is that when a little dog causes trouble, somebody will pick him up and save him from the trouble he created. When a small dog angers a big dog the owner is going to pick the small dog up and so the small dog learns he can get away with anything.

Your Rottweiler never learns you are going to pick him up and hold him in your arms if he angers a draft horse.

 > People who have never owned cats usually don't know cats. I've had a
 > few and some were the expected elite self absorbed tyoe tht do what
 > they want but others have been very affectionate and do what you
 > tell them to like a dog so you never know, but I don't think that
 > is something that can be taught. It's the cat's basic personality.

I used to have cats and my experience is they regard you as food expending machines at best. Many never get to trust you and many you can't trust. I keep hearing stories about cats that are more affectionate but I have never witnessed them.

 > My sister owned and bred horses for years and I spent some time
 > around them but not that much. My experience was not that they
 > are affectionate and want attention.. more like if you get too
 > close to them they bite you..  B)
 > I figured the only reason they paid attention and whickered at
 > my sister when she entered the barn was because they wanted to
 > get fed..
 >
 > But, not they weren't my horses, and I didn't ride them so I
 > probably didn't know much about what they were really like.

The thing with horses is that they often show their affection in brutal ways and are therefore taught not to do it. If you observe horses in nature you will notice they often scratch each other with their teeth, for example. Most people don't want their horses to bite them all over, so they train them out of it. Horses will also breath into your face and expect you to breath into theirs unless they learn that is not how humans say "hello".

For reference, I don't train these behaviors out of my horses, and I have had bystanders get scared and believe I was being attacked when my favourite mare was getting very intense with the cuddling.

That said, horses are definitively not like dogs and aren't going to love you just because. It is definitively possible to do everything right and get her trust but that does not mean she is going to necessarily love you.

 > That may also depend on whether they have others around them
 > or have only contact with their main human so would maybe be
 > more likely to look for attention.

My favourite mare was bred for slaughter and lived all her childhood with her herd. The guy in charge showed up every now and then but it is not like he was paying that much attention to him. The male in the herd was extremely protective of the foals and you could tell he enjoyed their company. When the foals were pestering the other adults for play he would step in and play with them a bit so they left the others alone.

I would show every week around there and pet this little filly but she definitively didn't grow with much human attention. Now she lives in my barn with another mare and you can tell she enjoys human company greatly anyway.


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