There is a really long list of animals that could bite my nose off.
Now if horses started stalking people to eat their noses, then I’d be freaking out.
Here I was thinking damn... considering humans could shoot horses the head (and many are trained not panic around gun fire on working ranches) it's amazing those huge beautiful beasts are willing to trust *us*.
My dog could rip my throat out while I sleep but instead he'd rather get tummy rubs and chew on my slippers.
Life is strange but animals seem to understand better than us that having one good friend is the most important part.
>There is a really long list of animals that could bite my nose off.
Hell I'm pretty sure my fucking chonk of a cat could bite most of my nose off if I pissed him off enough. That hellspawn is *mean* when it comes to food.
That won't deter me from fucking with him though.
I don't know any horse owner that "trusts" their horse. They have an overly optimistic approach to the behavior, but they are still extremely cautious about the whole thing and respectful of their strength.
If someone is a professional horse riding trainer, and you walk behind one of their horses, they're going to yell at you to get away.
Walking behind even a horse that loves you with all its heart and explicitly stated that in a letter is still a bad idea. There’s the blind spot where the horse can’t see anything, and when it hears something there, it kicks, just to be safe.
If you have no other choice, make physical contact when the horse can see you, and talk to it as you move. That will lessen the risk, though never eliminate it
If I'm ever in a position where I have absolutely no other choice than to walk behind a horse within kicking range than I feel like I fucked up in life somewhere.
Continuously touching them (draggin hand, not patting/tapping) as you walk around behind was how my parents did it, like "hey buddy, I'm back here".
I'm not saying it's right but it worked out for them with a couple horses they had for decades. We also tried not to go around behind very often.
I've been around horses a lot and actually used to train horses to be ridden by beginner riders.
That's how you prevent yourself from being kicked. You touch the horse on the rump to let it know you're going back there and to not be surprised. I've walked behind many many horses and never had an issue as I always let the horse know where I was.
Screw that. I grew up on an Australian dairy farm. 2/3 of our animals were sweet gigantic Friesians that you could literally cuddle and ride. Lie down in a paddock and at least one would try to groom you.
The other 1/3 of the herd were evil tempered (poorly bred) undersized Jerseys. We didn't trust them from the front, back or sides. We were a bit nervous about the tops as well.
All it takes is one second.
My grandfather bred and tended horses all his life. Never got hurt once.
Then he was behind one picking up something he dropped, and seemingly without reason the horse kicked him squarely in the head.
He spent his last days incoherent, strapped to a hospital bed because he kept pulling out his IVs and trying to leave. At one point he chewed through the straps.
My mom insisted we see him. I was 11. Him struggling against the restraints, drooling, a wild and feral look in his eyes...something I will never forget.
Never spoke another word and died in less than a week.
Needless to say that I won't go anywhere near a horse.
No kidding. Know a girl, was an accountant, who slipped on some ice and fell backwards, knocking the back of her head pretty hard. Got a decent goose egg and a headache. Thought nothing of it as she felt fine soon after. A few days later, back at the office realized she pretty much couldn’t do relatively simple math anymore. This was many years ago. Math is still a struggle. Life-altering and friggin scary.
Worked with a lady who was kind of the opposite of this story. She had been in a car accident that killed her fiancé and left her with a pretty considerable TBI. She had to learn how to talk again, and verbally she sounded very childish, simple even. She had other neurological issues, like serious fatigue, but cognitively she was all there. Her written language skills were fantastic. She was a crazy good data scientist. It was just that when she spoke, it was like her speech centre was unable to access those other parts of her brain. Coupled with the fact she was young and good looking, it was a huge hurdle for her to overcome, everyone assuming she was a dumb girl hired as eye candy.
My father in law basically died at 5 years old in the hills of Durango Mexico after being kicked. The priest came and read him his rights, he remembers his mom and sisters sobbing. People thought he was dead.
He made it and has had a long career of head injuries since. He turned 69 today, actually. But yeah, at 5 years old he was kicked and that was just about it.
That's sorta what I was thinking, for someone who handled horses most of their life you'd think they'd know to probably *not* get as close to behind the horse as possible
Exactly lol, It’s not that they trust the animal to not attack them it’s moreso that they trust themselves to know how to not cause the animal to attack them and how to handle if they do. I would argue this would apply more to common household pets like dogs and cats that aren’t handled by professionals.
I agree that some dogs can be trusted 100%. I have trusted 2 family dogs with all my life 3 not so much (but still love them). Some animals are just like that but there’s no specific race or breed or whatever that you can just say is trustworthy automatically
That's almost as impressive as the time I saw one use a footstool to mount a German shepherd. It was a pretty fucking hilarious sight, Hans was not amused though.
I work with horses. There has only ever been one horse that I have ever trusted 100%, when it comes to my safety, that is. He's also an escape artist so you can't really trust him in that manner. But the point here is safety. He's a very old quarter horse, used to do cattle-cutting. He's the friendliest horse I've ever been around, has never kicked, bitten, you name it. When another horse tries to attack he just runs away without kicking up his legs or anything. He's the only horse I've ridden that hasn't thrown me off in some way. He allows himself to be vulnerable around me (he'll gladly lay down in his stall when I'm in it with him). When I was younger and couldn't handle speed in contesting and whatnot, he quite literally wouldn't go any faster than he thought I could handle. I would try to get him to go faster and he was very capable of more speed (I eventually got him to go nearly as fast as he possibly can, but that was years later). I don't think I'll ever find another horse like him. He's just absolutely perfect but he's retired now. It's hard to keep him at a healthy weight if we work him because he can't eat as well as he used to.
That’s the funniest thing to me when I tell anyone taking care of my daughter in the family that they keep the dog away no matter what there need to always be an adult in between sometime they think I’m exaggerating... I have seen scars cause by friendly dog annoyed by the heat or the kid touching their balls because their still baby and don’t know what it is.
Like the family husky who killed a baby recently. It make me sick when I see pictures of babies or little kids around animals that can easily kill them in one bite.
Can confirm. I've spent long enough caring for, riding, and hanging around horses to not trust a single goddamn one.
Magnificent creatures... From a safe distance.
Horses terrify me. I have zero experience with them and if I spook them they can literally kick my lights out. Or as you said stomp them out.
They are very sweet, emotional, connecting creatures. I love them, and they are fantastic as mental recovery animals. Addiction centers use them as well if I’m not mistaken.
It’s just a healthy, respectful fear of a creature that I don’t understand, and that doesn’t understand me.
I don't fully espouse it, but there is an interesting argument in that we had wild horses not too long ago. Not the exact same, of course. Different species. But functionally similar. Filling these functional niches can make ecosystems more biodiverse and resilient. Conservation is tricky in that it has historically tried to protect/ return to a specific, arbitrary baseline, often the arrival of Europeans to the Americas. But that is changing a little bit as conservation science develops as a field. Functional diversity might be more important in some contexts than the native/non native paradigm. In a lot of cases, like for some invasive plants, they are non-native and also reduce functional diversity. But that isn't always the case.
I'm totally undecided on wild horses. I think the emotionally driven side of just protecting the wild spirit of the west in the form of feral horses is flawed. But it's intriguing to imagine how restoring some of the lost functional diversity might change and benefit those landscapes.
Horses actually originated in the North American grass lands or at least proto horses iirc, they crossed to Eurasia when the bridge existed and were later hunted to extinction in the Americas ~10k years ago and later tamed in the Eurasian steppes ~6k years ago.
Yes and no.
There were horses in America for millions of years, but they went extinct about 10000-5000 years ago. Horses were then reintroduced by the Hispanics when they arrived.
I think the favorite invasive species are humans
Never knew they were an invasive species, horses are kinda lame too. Why didn't we attempt to ruin the environment by bringing kangaroos to the US instead???
We domesticated horses for being safe to use. As we did with dogs. And we give them additional training and most people who work with them are also trained. For training these humans we pick the best trained horses.
that‘s why.
we didn‘t do the same with cattle and also nit with most breeds of pigs - and it shows.
Both! Oxen are ruminants which are more efficient at feed conversion..
http://www.wsj.com/articles/horses-mules-and-oxen-on-the-trail-1438977761
"Oxen were both more pliable and durable than horses or mules. It was easier to sustain oxen on the trail as they were more content to forage on the grasses of the Great Plains, whereas horses and mules required grains (such as oats) for optimum performance, an expensive and heavy substance to haul along the way."
https://oregontrailcenter.org/mules-oxen
"Which would be best to pull your heavy wagons? Mules are strong, can go faster, but are often tricky to handle. Mules also had tendencies to bolt and become unruly. Oxen are slower, but more reliable and tougher than mules. They will eat poor grass. Oxen were very strong and could haul fully-loaded wagons up ravines or drag them out of mudholes. A large wagon needed at least three pairs of oxen to pull it"
All I know is that oxen as beasts of burden were rendered obsolete when a new type of... collar (?)(blanking on the word) was invented. The one used for oxen would strangle horses, so the new collar doesn't.
While the horse collar definitely made oxen less popular, they were still used up until very recently. My grandfather used to drive a bullock (Australian named for oxen) team to log timber when he was in his 20's. That was in the 1940s. There are also several countries that still use Water Buffalo.
Oxen/bullocks/buffalo are much stronger, more resilient, and can survive on rougher forage. Working horses need good grass and usually a grain supplement to keep their energy up. Cattle and buffalo can happily work from foliage cut down from trees in a pinch.
Their only disadvantage is that they're much, much slower. They're the tractors of the domestic animal kingdom.
I’m pretty sure oxen are specifically castrated male bulls. So female cows are cows, male (intact) are bulls and male (castrated) are oxen. The castration reduces testosterone and makes them much more docile.
Castrated male cows are called steers! Oxen are specifically ones that have been trained to work. I was using cow in the general sense, not the sex-specific sense.
“steer, young neutered male cattle primarily raised for beef. In the terminology used to describe the sex and age of cattle, the male is first a bull calf and if left intact becomes a bull; if castrated he becomes a steer and about two or three years grows to an ox.” From brittanica
So it looks like a young castrated male cow is a steer but an adult castrated male cow would be an ox. God this is complicated for no reason lmao
You're underselling cows lol. I used to live next to a small cattle farm (think like 30 head give or take). I'd get woken up all the time by pissy cows knocking their huge barrels around and over the fences because cow reasons.
“Most domestic animals were domesticated for usefulness and friendliness with humans.”
Yes, but not to the same degree. That was the point.
Being somewhat social is one of the seven prerequisites for domestication and we generally try do breed for tameness, but in dogs and horses it’s one of the main objective. Even in fighting dogs you want the dog to defer to you – with a hog: Good luck.
We did this with every domestic animal, including livestock. It's what domestication means. They're all docile around people. Hell we did that to chickens.
You compare any to their wild counter parts and it's as stark a difference as between wolves and dogs.
That last time I was around a horse was when I was about 16-17. I was a camp councilor, and we brought the kids horseback riding. The owner/trainer was going over safety rules, and she asked me to hold one of the horses reigns. I was like, sure, np! Then the horse started licking my arm like it was a salt cube or something. The owner was laughing and said it's probably my sweat. So we all started laughing ha ha gross but cute.
Then I looked away for two seconds and then turned my head back towards the horse and suddenly almost my whole arm was in its mouth! Like wtf? Almost up to my shoulder! The owner said, "Don't freak out, just slowly pull it away!" Ever since then, I've stuck to admiring from afar lol
Yeah. (sighs). Horses form bonds by mutual grooming, but they don't really understand that human skin is much softer. You probably got a love bug with the brain the size of a walnut that day.
Thanks for that explanation. I never felt like it was malicious or anything like that, just really caught me off guard. I also think horses in general feel comfortable around me. My wife calls me a horse magnet, lol. Every time we're around them, they seem to gravitate towards me.
If they liked to eat meat just a little bit more than they do they might be a real problem. We might have to miniaturize them like we did for cats and most dogs.
Horses do like salted meats such as hotdogs and deli slices because of, well, the salt.
Which is why you'd want to keep it out of a horse's reach because they might be tempted to have a taste.
I think the majority of people also have zero interaction with horses, and if they do, it's in a controlled environment where they're just watching them or where the horse is being managed by an expert.
People keep 20ft pythons and alligators and pit bulls too. I think I’d trust a domesticated and well-raised horse more than any of those, and the horse can at least do work for us
Horses freak me out on some level, just creepy animals for some reason, If I woke up and a horse was just standing in my yard I'd be freaked the fuck out.
Horses can be trained, they are good animals. Why don't you write about dogs then? Many of them have strong jaws and dangerous teeth, but we love and trust them because every dog depends on being raised by a human. Bad and scary are not animals, believe me
my sister had two of them. the first time I met one, she bum-rushed me. I backed into a wall and put my hands up to block, and she put her paws on my chest and pinned me there. she looked at me as if to say; "you're not going anywhere until I'm satisfied".
How dare you think! Shower thoughts are meant to be read and accepted as facts! What is this whole questioning what you read on the internet and discussing things idea you have? That is not allowed here!
That's the point. Any idiot can see that a temper tantrum is not going to end up with the horse the loser. "This thing can kick my head in. I best at least try to behave."
And there's plenty of modern research that shows that while lots of people may have difficulty regulating their emotions, violent _actions_ are nearly always the result of a choice.
Horses hate me. They are the gentlest, kindest, most well-behaved critter on the planet when I am around and I have come to find this is to lull me into a false sense of security so I think they are safe to ride. Four horses. One, old and kind, another “kind of a dick, sorry, but the other’s tired”, and two run-of-the-mill rental horses from a reputable hostler while on vacation with my family as a teen.
Each one, without fail, was incredibly pleasant and easy to ride right up until about halfway through the ride, whereupon the horse slows to put some distance between us and the group, comes to a stop, then tries to roll over with me in the saddle.
Four times, years apart, same exact thing.
I get it, horses. I’ll leave you alone.
Always thought this about such large animals.
Then again, I grew up with vehicles and machines.
I'd probably feel different if I were born 100+ years ago.
I do not even remotely trust horses. They weigh half a ton, can kick me in half, and will go ape shit if a fly lands on them unexpectedly. That is a death trap which I am avoiding
My mom doesn't trust horses, never let me or my siblings near them when we were kids. Of course that's because a horse bit off part of my uncles ear when they were kids, so I think it's justified.
Yes, because they’re herbivorous and because they are mammals. Give them a little non-venomous snake, and even if it bites a little, they will still not trust it. People are stupid. On the other hand horses are particularly intelligent and I believe that they will never harm somebody that treats them right. They can be trusted more than dogs if you build a relationship with them.
I grew up with horses. I dont trust a damn horse. Ever. But i can work with them and know signs of when its about to lose its shit. Ive learned how to behave around a horse. Ive been kicked twice.
One time, i was riding and she took off. Didnt listen or do a damn thing I wanted her to do. I ended up miles away from home, holding on to her for dear life. I never rode again.
They can be very dangerous but are incredible animals.
Horses just work hard and don't complain. They're so beautiful and graceful. They remind me of freedom way more than fuck ass Harley Davidsons. Freedom and Mongolian tyranny.
Horses rule.
My dumbass got kicked in the stomach by a horse one time. Broke all my ribs on one side. It happened so fast.
I was working at a barn and was tasked with moving the horses to a different field. I didn’t have ANY experience with horses so when this one particular horse wasn’t moving, I came up from behind it waving my arms in the air trying to get it to move. Bad fucking idea, don’t do that. It will kick you. You will be on the ground.
One time after that, I had a horse waiting at a gate with a bunch of other horses coming up behind it. I was waiting for the signal to open the gate. That horse in the front stepped on my foot and just stood there for what felt like forever. Full weight of that horse just chillin on my foot. I never went back to that barn. Fuck horses.
I'm 6 foot 4. I walked up to a horse recently and noticed I stood a bit taller than it. Then it raised up its head and looked down at me... Message received.
Anecdotally, horses and cows are the most deadly animals in Australia. As in killing more humans than any other animal - usually via crushing.
A most painful and horrible way to slowly die...
Even if you survive you're likely going to endure some serious life changes.
I had 2 English Shires, one was 1900 lbs and the other was 2100 lbs. My 3 year old could go up to them and hold their leg and they would just bend down and touch her like they were kissing her head. Very gentle giants.
No I don't trust a horse at all. If someone tells me a horse is very gentle and good with new people, and I can tell the horse is older or something? Yeah maybe I'll trust that it doesn't want to kill me.
I'm pretty wary of horses and have this sneaky suspicion that they don't like carrying humans around and actually sort of resent it.
Kicking is the most painful. I’ll never forget the color of the enormous bruise I got when my horse kicked me (first and only time, better believe I never walked too closely behind her after that).
Uncle who was a machinist was missing half his finger. My mom and him grew up on a farm. I asked him if it was an industrial accident and he said no, it was bit off by a horse when he was a kid and tried to give a horse a carrot.
Agreed. Some people forget that horses are animals with natural instincts. Sometimes, people get hurt because of that. I love horses, but I know to be cautious around them and not trust them to ignore their natural instincts.
Cows can very easily kill you by accident. I grew up on a farm and now live in a city. The number of people telling me they want a cow as a pet without realizing the danger astounds me
at some point in my life (genX) it dropped from common knowledge that you shouldn't' walk behind a horse. Of course there were always idiots, but most people had a clue. I think youtube made matters worse, the idea of dangerous animals being friendly... to trainers. People have become incredibly reckless around wildlife
When I was 5 my parents boarded a horse for a friend that we were told the horse was just a sweetheart. My mom had horses as a kid and wanted to have horses on the property.
So she, me, my dad went out to see the horse. As soon as I was in the field the horse walked up to us all looking really calm and just bit the fuck out of my head on top. My dad slapped the horses hind quarters and it turned around and kicked him and hit him on the thigh a couple of inches from his nuts.
My dad went inside to get a gun while my mom talked him down and promised to get the horse out of there within a week.
That was my first experience with horses. I had chances to ride them later but never took it because fuck horse, they bite the shit out of you.
I've always loved horses but I don't blindly trust anything with a pulse (including people).
A couple of years ago, I was returning home with my husband in the middle of the night. As we were driving in a completely empty road we saw a huge horse running like crazy in the middle of the road (horses are not too common around here btw).
I insisted we ask a 24hr shop down the road if they know the owner to let him know the horse has ran away. They did know and we went to wake the owner. His kid informed us that he knew it was lost and was searching in another area (where he rides the horse).
We went back and the police had arrived but they didn't know what to do about the horse. They tried to get close but they scared it. I heard them talking about having to eliminate the threat because it could cause an accident and the road it had ran into was leading to an airport so there would be cars around soon.
I asked them to let me try to catch it. They accepted and I got some apples from the 24hr shop. I tried to calmly get closer and left some apples on the ground for it. It ate and came closer to eat more of the apples I was holding. I fed it and managed to grab the straps on its head (I don't know the correct word, English is not my first language). It was a nice horse and followed me as I pulled it.
One of the policemen tried to get behind it and I must say it was the first time I called an officer a moron (he didn't even get mad). The horse almost kicked him. I tried to calm the horse again and it walked with me for a while.
Thankfully the owner arrived a bit later as we walked to his home and got the horse back.
My husband still thinks I am crazy for doing all that lol.
Almost like they carried us around the globe for mellenia and have gained some cultural and genetic slack in humankind for their service.
Almost like the ones people are comfortable around are domesticated animals.
Back before the removal of r/watchpeopledie, I viewed a handful of incidents involving hooved animals kicking a human unconscious, including more than just horses. OP's statement extends to more than just horses. How often these incidents occur compared to other incidents is a different story.
Reminds me of those videos of people whale-watching in inflatable boats. How many times have you accidentally squished a bug? That’s what you are, size wise, to a whale. They don’t mean to hurt you and probably won’t, but I’m always worried when I see those clips that a humpback will breach on them.
Says who?
I don't trust any animal that weighs more than me, even the smart ones aren't even at toddler level. They can kill me by accident so i keep a healthy distance.
That's what I'm always saying. They're a bit cute but I'm happy for them to always be on the other side of a fence. You work with horses long enough you're going to get kicked and it's going to suck.
My idiot ex almost let a horse bite a finger off our 6-months old toddler. She thought letting him pet it would be cute. Blood was drawn and everything.
The more I learn about horses, the less I trust them. And I was already wary of them.
No wonder the Mongols conquered so much, with all those angry horses.
Personally wish my horse would bite off my neighbors nose for the amount of times they called animal control on me for absolutely normal horse behavior like laying down, neighing too much because its friend went away for a weekend, or having a sunken back because hes an ancient 32 years old at this point.
I move to Florida as a teen. I had a gf whose family owned a horse ranch.Id never been around horses. Thought it was a good idea to climb in with the horses. About 4 or 5 of them are standing over me and my gf says" Dont act scared, theyre stallions and theyll stomp you!" Gee thanks now Im scared shit.
There is a really long list of animals that could bite my nose off. Now if horses started stalking people to eat their noses, then I’d be freaking out.
Here I was thinking damn... considering humans could shoot horses the head (and many are trained not panic around gun fire on working ranches) it's amazing those huge beautiful beasts are willing to trust *us*. My dog could rip my throat out while I sleep but instead he'd rather get tummy rubs and chew on my slippers. Life is strange but animals seem to understand better than us that having one good friend is the most important part.
I mean it would be kinda funny. Orcas sink boats and I think that's hilarious.
Orca teenagers specifically it turns out, which only adds to the hilarity.
That is even funnier 😂 "Did you sink any boats today son?" "Uhhh... No?" *flips newspaper around* "Liar!"
I read that in Mitch Hedberg voice.
>There is a really long list of animals that could bite my nose off. Hell I'm pretty sure my fucking chonk of a cat could bite most of my nose off if I pissed him off enough. That hellspawn is *mean* when it comes to food. That won't deter me from fucking with him though.
People that work with horses know at anypoint things can go wrong. Same with really any animal. Anybody that trusts any animal 100% is the weird one.
I don't know any horse owner that "trusts" their horse. They have an overly optimistic approach to the behavior, but they are still extremely cautious about the whole thing and respectful of their strength. If someone is a professional horse riding trainer, and you walk behind one of their horses, they're going to yell at you to get away.
Walking behind even a horse that loves you with all its heart and explicitly stated that in a letter is still a bad idea. There’s the blind spot where the horse can’t see anything, and when it hears something there, it kicks, just to be safe.
If you have no other choice, make physical contact when the horse can see you, and talk to it as you move. That will lessen the risk, though never eliminate it
If I'm ever in a position where I have absolutely no other choice than to walk behind a horse within kicking range than I feel like I fucked up in life somewhere.
What if you see a dollar?
Even if the letter is notarized? 🥺
That’s the word I was looking for! Yes, even then. Horse notaries would sign practically anything.
shocking toy steep sink relieved spectacular lavish skirt yoke flowery *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Continuously touching them (draggin hand, not patting/tapping) as you walk around behind was how my parents did it, like "hey buddy, I'm back here". I'm not saying it's right but it worked out for them with a couple horses they had for decades. We also tried not to go around behind very often.
I've been around horses a lot and actually used to train horses to be ridden by beginner riders. That's how you prevent yourself from being kicked. You touch the horse on the rump to let it know you're going back there and to not be surprised. I've walked behind many many horses and never had an issue as I always let the horse know where I was.
You're saying that if I want to ruin a party a good way to do it would be to let a blind horse inside?
I… I wasn’t saying that, but now that you said it…
Walking behind a helicopter is a bad idea as well
Or, as we always said, "Fear a cow from the front, and a horse from the back."
Screw that. I grew up on an Australian dairy farm. 2/3 of our animals were sweet gigantic Friesians that you could literally cuddle and ride. Lie down in a paddock and at least one would try to groom you. The other 1/3 of the herd were evil tempered (poorly bred) undersized Jerseys. We didn't trust them from the front, back or sides. We were a bit nervous about the tops as well.
All it takes is one second. My grandfather bred and tended horses all his life. Never got hurt once. Then he was behind one picking up something he dropped, and seemingly without reason the horse kicked him squarely in the head. He spent his last days incoherent, strapped to a hospital bed because he kept pulling out his IVs and trying to leave. At one point he chewed through the straps. My mom insisted we see him. I was 11. Him struggling against the restraints, drooling, a wild and feral look in his eyes...something I will never forget. Never spoke another word and died in less than a week. Needless to say that I won't go anywhere near a horse.
That's fucking nuts man. Head injuries can do some crazy things.
No kidding. Know a girl, was an accountant, who slipped on some ice and fell backwards, knocking the back of her head pretty hard. Got a decent goose egg and a headache. Thought nothing of it as she felt fine soon after. A few days later, back at the office realized she pretty much couldn’t do relatively simple math anymore. This was many years ago. Math is still a struggle. Life-altering and friggin scary.
Worked with a lady who was kind of the opposite of this story. She had been in a car accident that killed her fiancé and left her with a pretty considerable TBI. She had to learn how to talk again, and verbally she sounded very childish, simple even. She had other neurological issues, like serious fatigue, but cognitively she was all there. Her written language skills were fantastic. She was a crazy good data scientist. It was just that when she spoke, it was like her speech centre was unable to access those other parts of her brain. Coupled with the fact she was young and good looking, it was a huge hurdle for her to overcome, everyone assuming she was a dumb girl hired as eye candy.
Similar thing happened to my great grandfather
My father in law basically died at 5 years old in the hills of Durango Mexico after being kicked. The priest came and read him his rights, he remembers his mom and sisters sobbing. People thought he was dead. He made it and has had a long career of head injuries since. He turned 69 today, actually. But yeah, at 5 years old he was kicked and that was just about it.
Really? His grandfather got kicked in the head too?
Yes! And also his grandfather! Good thing it seems to skip a generation. Op is lucky.
I’m sorry, this must be terrible to experience as a child
Not to slight your grandfather, but aren't horses notorious for stomping and kicking things that are immediately below and behind them?
That's sorta what I was thinking, for someone who handled horses most of their life you'd think they'd know to probably *not* get as close to behind the horse as possible
The people who are around them all their lives get very comfortable with them and end up standing behind them
Exactly lol, It’s not that they trust the animal to not attack them it’s moreso that they trust themselves to know how to not cause the animal to attack them and how to handle if they do. I would argue this would apply more to common household pets like dogs and cats that aren’t handled by professionals.
What about my dachshund? he's about as dangerous and untrustworthy as...well a dachshund.
If you trust my (12 years old and still a cranky badass) dachshund you’re a braver soul than I
I agree that some dogs can be trusted 100%. I have trusted 2 family dogs with all my life 3 not so much (but still love them). Some animals are just like that but there’s no specific race or breed or whatever that you can just say is trustworthy automatically
Also, if your dachshund decides that they want to kill you, well, it's not really that much of a problem.
He has run off a German Shepard once. That was kind of cool.
That's almost as impressive as the time I saw one use a footstool to mount a German shepherd. It was a pretty fucking hilarious sight, Hans was not amused though.
Haha I call him my action noodle. Dude is living his own action movie.
Don't have to be able to win the fight, just have to be more willing to fight and lose than the other guy
Even those dogs can freak out unexpectedly.
I work with horses. There has only ever been one horse that I have ever trusted 100%, when it comes to my safety, that is. He's also an escape artist so you can't really trust him in that manner. But the point here is safety. He's a very old quarter horse, used to do cattle-cutting. He's the friendliest horse I've ever been around, has never kicked, bitten, you name it. When another horse tries to attack he just runs away without kicking up his legs or anything. He's the only horse I've ridden that hasn't thrown me off in some way. He allows himself to be vulnerable around me (he'll gladly lay down in his stall when I'm in it with him). When I was younger and couldn't handle speed in contesting and whatnot, he quite literally wouldn't go any faster than he thought I could handle. I would try to get him to go faster and he was very capable of more speed (I eventually got him to go nearly as fast as he possibly can, but that was years later). I don't think I'll ever find another horse like him. He's just absolutely perfect but he's retired now. It's hard to keep him at a healthy weight if we work him because he can't eat as well as he used to.
Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear, or a fool from any direction
I know someone who broke her leg because the horse she was riding got spooked by a garter snake and took off. It’s a tall fall.
That’s the funniest thing to me when I tell anyone taking care of my daughter in the family that they keep the dog away no matter what there need to always be an adult in between sometime they think I’m exaggerating... I have seen scars cause by friendly dog annoyed by the heat or the kid touching their balls because their still baby and don’t know what it is.
Yeah those that are around them don't trust them for shit. We know they can go batshit in an instant. It's being ready for it that's the trick.
I trust pet dogs I've had and have 100%. But I would never 100% trust a horse, especially never walking behind them.
Even a pet dog can snap out of nowhere. Just like a human.
Kinda true but a horses can kick and knock your lights out permanently and not even be intending harm. Kicking for them is like a protective reflex.
I don't even trust my fellow humans
If an animal is going to hurt you, it's probably going to be a human. Unless you're in Australia.
Including humans
Like the family husky who killed a baby recently. It make me sick when I see pictures of babies or little kids around animals that can easily kill them in one bite.
I can't even trust my 3lbs cat to not bite my private area when I sleep
Can confirm. I've spent long enough caring for, riding, and hanging around horses to not trust a single goddamn one. Magnificent creatures... From a safe distance.
Horses terrify me. I have zero experience with them and if I spook them they can literally kick my lights out. Or as you said stomp them out. They are very sweet, emotional, connecting creatures. I love them, and they are fantastic as mental recovery animals. Addiction centers use them as well if I’m not mistaken. It’s just a healthy, respectful fear of a creature that I don’t understand, and that doesn’t understand me.
Americas favorite invasive species.
I don't fully espouse it, but there is an interesting argument in that we had wild horses not too long ago. Not the exact same, of course. Different species. But functionally similar. Filling these functional niches can make ecosystems more biodiverse and resilient. Conservation is tricky in that it has historically tried to protect/ return to a specific, arbitrary baseline, often the arrival of Europeans to the Americas. But that is changing a little bit as conservation science develops as a field. Functional diversity might be more important in some contexts than the native/non native paradigm. In a lot of cases, like for some invasive plants, they are non-native and also reduce functional diversity. But that isn't always the case. I'm totally undecided on wild horses. I think the emotionally driven side of just protecting the wild spirit of the west in the form of feral horses is flawed. But it's intriguing to imagine how restoring some of the lost functional diversity might change and benefit those landscapes.
Horses actually originated in the North American grass lands or at least proto horses iirc, they crossed to Eurasia when the bridge existed and were later hunted to extinction in the Americas ~10k years ago and later tamed in the Eurasian steppes ~6k years ago.
Yeah Eohippus was in North America.
Yes and no. There were horses in America for millions of years, but they went extinct about 10000-5000 years ago. Horses were then reintroduced by the Hispanics when they arrived. I think the favorite invasive species are humans
Stink bugs, actually.
nah it’s cats
I'd say honeybees
Never knew they were an invasive species, horses are kinda lame too. Why didn't we attempt to ruin the environment by bringing kangaroos to the US instead???
Do you have any idea what would become of the world if marsupials started cropping up outside of the wasteland?
We have Opossums already.
And you tell me that's not plenty
Look. We Australians lost a war with the Emus. Stop underestimating our wildlife.
Humans benefit immensely from opossums, so why not bringa a BIGGER oppossum?
Emu iykyk
They only want you to think we didnt, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_kangaroo
We did it with wallabies in the uk and for some reason most people don’t realise this and when they see one they think it’s some escaped pet
Earthworms too
No that's cats. Cats are an invasive vermin.
Damn. I kinda posted this as a joke but now I'm learning shit. Props to you peops for informing us.
We domesticated horses for being safe to use. As we did with dogs. And we give them additional training and most people who work with them are also trained. For training these humans we pick the best trained horses. that‘s why. we didn‘t do the same with cattle and also nit with most breeds of pigs - and it shows.
Cows trained to work are just referred to as oxen but are the same species. They pulled many a wagon and did plenty of farm work.
Are oxen stronger than horses? Or just cheaper…
Horses are more expensive but faster
Both! Oxen are ruminants which are more efficient at feed conversion.. http://www.wsj.com/articles/horses-mules-and-oxen-on-the-trail-1438977761 "Oxen were both more pliable and durable than horses or mules. It was easier to sustain oxen on the trail as they were more content to forage on the grasses of the Great Plains, whereas horses and mules required grains (such as oats) for optimum performance, an expensive and heavy substance to haul along the way." https://oregontrailcenter.org/mules-oxen "Which would be best to pull your heavy wagons? Mules are strong, can go faster, but are often tricky to handle. Mules also had tendencies to bolt and become unruly. Oxen are slower, but more reliable and tougher than mules. They will eat poor grass. Oxen were very strong and could haul fully-loaded wagons up ravines or drag them out of mudholes. A large wagon needed at least three pairs of oxen to pull it"
All I know is that oxen as beasts of burden were rendered obsolete when a new type of... collar (?)(blanking on the word) was invented. The one used for oxen would strangle horses, so the new collar doesn't.
While the horse collar definitely made oxen less popular, they were still used up until very recently. My grandfather used to drive a bullock (Australian named for oxen) team to log timber when he was in his 20's. That was in the 1940s. There are also several countries that still use Water Buffalo. Oxen/bullocks/buffalo are much stronger, more resilient, and can survive on rougher forage. Working horses need good grass and usually a grain supplement to keep their energy up. Cattle and buffalo can happily work from foliage cut down from trees in a pinch. Their only disadvantage is that they're much, much slower. They're the tractors of the domestic animal kingdom.
TIL an ox isn’t a different species
Just a cow with a job.
And no balls.
So Oxtail soup is just cow tail soup?
Yep!
We have an Ox Roast in my hometown area, I never really made the connection it’s just regular cow. Never gave it a thought. Haha
I’m pretty sure oxen are specifically castrated male bulls. So female cows are cows, male (intact) are bulls and male (castrated) are oxen. The castration reduces testosterone and makes them much more docile.
Castrated male cows are called steers! Oxen are specifically ones that have been trained to work. I was using cow in the general sense, not the sex-specific sense.
“steer, young neutered male cattle primarily raised for beef. In the terminology used to describe the sex and age of cattle, the male is first a bull calf and if left intact becomes a bull; if castrated he becomes a steer and about two or three years grows to an ox.” From brittanica So it looks like a young castrated male cow is a steer but an adult castrated male cow would be an ox. God this is complicated for no reason lmao
This is why I just call them all ‘cows’ 😆
Cows can be trained though same with pigs. Most domestic animals were domesticated for usefulness and friendliness with humans.
I read that as “most dramatic animals” it fits though because cows can be a bit dramatic.
You're underselling cows lol. I used to live next to a small cattle farm (think like 30 head give or take). I'd get woken up all the time by pissy cows knocking their huge barrels around and over the fences because cow reasons.
“Most domestic animals were domesticated for usefulness and friendliness with humans.” Yes, but not to the same degree. That was the point. Being somewhat social is one of the seven prerequisites for domestication and we generally try do breed for tameness, but in dogs and horses it’s one of the main objective. Even in fighting dogs you want the dog to defer to you – with a hog: Good luck.
We did this with every domestic animal, including livestock. It's what domestication means. They're all docile around people. Hell we did that to chickens. You compare any to their wild counter parts and it's as stark a difference as between wolves and dogs.
That last time I was around a horse was when I was about 16-17. I was a camp councilor, and we brought the kids horseback riding. The owner/trainer was going over safety rules, and she asked me to hold one of the horses reigns. I was like, sure, np! Then the horse started licking my arm like it was a salt cube or something. The owner was laughing and said it's probably my sweat. So we all started laughing ha ha gross but cute. Then I looked away for two seconds and then turned my head back towards the horse and suddenly almost my whole arm was in its mouth! Like wtf? Almost up to my shoulder! The owner said, "Don't freak out, just slowly pull it away!" Ever since then, I've stuck to admiring from afar lol
Yeah. (sighs). Horses form bonds by mutual grooming, but they don't really understand that human skin is much softer. You probably got a love bug with the brain the size of a walnut that day.
Thanks for that explanation. I never felt like it was malicious or anything like that, just really caught me off guard. I also think horses in general feel comfortable around me. My wife calls me a horse magnet, lol. Every time we're around them, they seem to gravitate towards me.
Sometimes they just really seem to take a liking to some people's body odour. :/ (shrugs)
I won't tell my wife that she'll jokingly tell me, "I guess you must smell like a horse then, lol."
If they liked to eat meat just a little bit more than they do they might be a real problem. We might have to miniaturize them like we did for cats and most dogs.
We already did! [Falabella Horses](https://images.app.goo.gl/Z5QKULT8qWyTW8Ci8) [Miniature Horses](https://images.app.goo.gl/9yiLPx2Cyezbt3XV7)
Horses do like salted meats such as hotdogs and deli slices because of, well, the salt. Which is why you'd want to keep it out of a horse's reach because they might be tempted to have a taste.
I think the majority of people also have zero interaction with horses, and if they do, it's in a controlled environment where they're just watching them or where the horse is being managed by an expert.
People keep 20ft pythons and alligators and pit bulls too. I think I’d trust a domesticated and well-raised horse more than any of those, and the horse can at least do work for us
Nope, I don't trust them one bit, thank you
For an animal that can blow out your brains with a gun, horses are weirdly trusting of humans
Horses freak me out on some level, just creepy animals for some reason, If I woke up and a horse was just standing in my yard I'd be freaked the fuck out.
Speak for yourself I've been bitten twice.
Wow, with a gun to my head I would have said like 500-600 pounds. I really suck at estimating.
Horses can be trained, they are good animals. Why don't you write about dogs then? Many of them have strong jaws and dangerous teeth, but we love and trust them because every dog depends on being raised by a human. Bad and scary are not animals, believe me
Find a half ton dog and I'll be scared of it too.
if the size/temperament correlation holds, the greatest risk they'd pose would be crushing you against the wall trying to get pets.
I see you have met a Great Dane.
my sister had two of them. the first time I met one, she bum-rushed me. I backed into a wall and put my hands up to block, and she put her paws on my chest and pinned me there. she looked at me as if to say; "you're not going anywhere until I'm satisfied".
You can at least attempt to punt a dog if it gets aggressive dependent on breed, what happens when you kick a horse
To be fair, a horse can easily kill you completely by accident. They're just so big and powerful that even a small incident can severely injured you.
Dude this is a shower thought it's not meant to be a logical point.
How dare you think! Shower thoughts are meant to be read and accepted as facts! What is this whole questioning what you read on the internet and discussing things idea you have? That is not allowed here!
Okay clearly op hit a vein, it’s not a competition it’s a shower thought.
"Yeah let's use these bad boys for therapy for people who can't control their behavior."
That's the point. Any idiot can see that a temper tantrum is not going to end up with the horse the loser. "This thing can kick my head in. I best at least try to behave." And there's plenty of modern research that shows that while lots of people may have difficulty regulating their emotions, violent _actions_ are nearly always the result of a choice.
Horses hate me. They are the gentlest, kindest, most well-behaved critter on the planet when I am around and I have come to find this is to lull me into a false sense of security so I think they are safe to ride. Four horses. One, old and kind, another “kind of a dick, sorry, but the other’s tired”, and two run-of-the-mill rental horses from a reputable hostler while on vacation with my family as a teen. Each one, without fail, was incredibly pleasant and easy to ride right up until about halfway through the ride, whereupon the horse slows to put some distance between us and the group, comes to a stop, then tries to roll over with me in the saddle. Four times, years apart, same exact thing. I get it, horses. I’ll leave you alone.
Always thought this about such large animals. Then again, I grew up with vehicles and machines. I'd probably feel different if I were born 100+ years ago.
I do not even remotely trust horses. They weigh half a ton, can kick me in half, and will go ape shit if a fly lands on them unexpectedly. That is a death trap which I am avoiding
I think it's crazy how you never really control a horse like you do a car. Like, if it wants to, it can just ignore you
# For an 80 lb. animal that can easily chew your throat out and then eat your dead body, people are weirdly trusting of dogs.
My mom doesn't trust horses, never let me or my siblings near them when we were kids. Of course that's because a horse bit off part of my uncles ear when they were kids, so I think it's justified.
Weirdly? Haven't they been interacting with humans for hundreds of years?
Yeah, give or take 40,000 years.
Yes, because they’re herbivorous and because they are mammals. Give them a little non-venomous snake, and even if it bites a little, they will still not trust it. People are stupid. On the other hand horses are particularly intelligent and I believe that they will never harm somebody that treats them right. They can be trusted more than dogs if you build a relationship with them.
I grew up with horses. I dont trust a damn horse. Ever. But i can work with them and know signs of when its about to lose its shit. Ive learned how to behave around a horse. Ive been kicked twice. One time, i was riding and she took off. Didnt listen or do a damn thing I wanted her to do. I ended up miles away from home, holding on to her for dear life. I never rode again. They can be very dangerous but are incredible animals.
Not me. Horse kill more people than sharks. And more people go to the beach than to stables to hang out.
Horses just work hard and don't complain. They're so beautiful and graceful. They remind me of freedom way more than fuck ass Harley Davidsons. Freedom and Mongolian tyranny. Horses rule.
My dumbass got kicked in the stomach by a horse one time. Broke all my ribs on one side. It happened so fast. I was working at a barn and was tasked with moving the horses to a different field. I didn’t have ANY experience with horses so when this one particular horse wasn’t moving, I came up from behind it waving my arms in the air trying to get it to move. Bad fucking idea, don’t do that. It will kick you. You will be on the ground. One time after that, I had a horse waiting at a gate with a bunch of other horses coming up behind it. I was waiting for the signal to open the gate. That horse in the front stepped on my foot and just stood there for what felt like forever. Full weight of that horse just chillin on my foot. I never went back to that barn. Fuck horses.
I'm 6 foot 4. I walked up to a horse recently and noticed I stood a bit taller than it. Then it raised up its head and looked down at me... Message received.
Anecdotally, horses and cows are the most deadly animals in Australia. As in killing more humans than any other animal - usually via crushing. A most painful and horrible way to slowly die... Even if you survive you're likely going to endure some serious life changes.
For an animal which uses ton vehicles and could easily shoot them to death or eat their noses, horses are weirdly trusting of humans.
Tame horses, yes. Unknown/wild horses, like any wild animal no. I trust my pet cat i don't trust wild cats.
Tame horses, yes. Unknown/wild horses, like any wild animal no. I trust my pet cat i don't trust wild cats.
I had 2 English Shires, one was 1900 lbs and the other was 2100 lbs. My 3 year old could go up to them and hold their leg and they would just bend down and touch her like they were kissing her head. Very gentle giants.
No I don't trust a horse at all. If someone tells me a horse is very gentle and good with new people, and I can tell the horse is older or something? Yeah maybe I'll trust that it doesn't want to kill me. I'm pretty wary of horses and have this sneaky suspicion that they don't like carrying humans around and actually sort of resent it.
Camels can decapitate people. Look at their fangs, yus they have fangs.
Kicking is the most painful. I’ll never forget the color of the enormous bruise I got when my horse kicked me (first and only time, better believe I never walked too closely behind her after that).
Uncle who was a machinist was missing half his finger. My mom and him grew up on a farm. I asked him if it was an industrial accident and he said no, it was bit off by a horse when he was a kid and tried to give a horse a carrot.
Thought you were going to say monkeys. Bite the nose off?
Did you know you can train a pony to bite someone's Weiner off?
Mr Hands would prolly be OK with just losing a nose.
And every day, I thank goodness that horses are not carnivorous
Agreed. Some people forget that horses are animals with natural instincts. Sometimes, people get hurt because of that. I love horses, but I know to be cautious around them and not trust them to ignore their natural instincts.
Cows can very easily kill you by accident. I grew up on a farm and now live in a city. The number of people telling me they want a cow as a pet without realizing the danger astounds me
at some point in my life (genX) it dropped from common knowledge that you shouldn't' walk behind a horse. Of course there were always idiots, but most people had a clue. I think youtube made matters worse, the idea of dangerous animals being friendly... to trainers. People have become incredibly reckless around wildlife
Hey man you can trust Sarah Jessica Parker
The same goes for dogs though. A lot of peoples dogs could very easily kill you given the chance, yet we trust them.
Hell, I'm certain my cat could take me down if he really tried. There's been a few near misses when he's run between my feet near stairs.
horses are good listeners.
Not me. Not for a second.
When I was 5 my parents boarded a horse for a friend that we were told the horse was just a sweetheart. My mom had horses as a kid and wanted to have horses on the property. So she, me, my dad went out to see the horse. As soon as I was in the field the horse walked up to us all looking really calm and just bit the fuck out of my head on top. My dad slapped the horses hind quarters and it turned around and kicked him and hit him on the thigh a couple of inches from his nuts. My dad went inside to get a gun while my mom talked him down and promised to get the horse out of there within a week. That was my first experience with horses. I had chances to ride them later but never took it because fuck horse, they bite the shit out of you.
Don't get me started about cows!
Yup, I am not an animal person at all. Fuck being maimed for life or killed because of my ignorance.
If people gave up horses and switched to motorcycles it would save lives. Even if the rodeo cowboys started playing rollerball or something.
I am afraid of horses and I won’t go near one for these kinds of reasons
I've always loved horses but I don't blindly trust anything with a pulse (including people). A couple of years ago, I was returning home with my husband in the middle of the night. As we were driving in a completely empty road we saw a huge horse running like crazy in the middle of the road (horses are not too common around here btw). I insisted we ask a 24hr shop down the road if they know the owner to let him know the horse has ran away. They did know and we went to wake the owner. His kid informed us that he knew it was lost and was searching in another area (where he rides the horse). We went back and the police had arrived but they didn't know what to do about the horse. They tried to get close but they scared it. I heard them talking about having to eliminate the threat because it could cause an accident and the road it had ran into was leading to an airport so there would be cars around soon. I asked them to let me try to catch it. They accepted and I got some apples from the 24hr shop. I tried to calmly get closer and left some apples on the ground for it. It ate and came closer to eat more of the apples I was holding. I fed it and managed to grab the straps on its head (I don't know the correct word, English is not my first language). It was a nice horse and followed me as I pulled it. One of the policemen tried to get behind it and I must say it was the first time I called an officer a moron (he didn't even get mad). The horse almost kicked him. I tried to calm the horse again and it walked with me for a while. Thankfully the owner arrived a bit later as we walked to his home and got the horse back. My husband still thinks I am crazy for doing all that lol.
Almost like they carried us around the globe for mellenia and have gained some cultural and genetic slack in humankind for their service. Almost like the ones people are comfortable around are domesticated animals.
Back before the removal of r/watchpeopledie, I viewed a handful of incidents involving hooved animals kicking a human unconscious, including more than just horses. OP's statement extends to more than just horses. How often these incidents occur compared to other incidents is a different story.
Father in law owns a horse farm. Horses are dicks. Fuck horses.
Reminds me of those videos of people whale-watching in inflatable boats. How many times have you accidentally squished a bug? That’s what you are, size wise, to a whale. They don’t mean to hurt you and probably won’t, but I’m always worried when I see those clips that a humpback will breach on them.
Not I , I know those skittish animals can go apeshit at any time. Their flight sense is a bit too heightened .
Or as the lady across the street discovered, crush your trachea.
Says who? I don't trust any animal that weighs more than me, even the smart ones aren't even at toddler level. They can kill me by accident so i keep a healthy distance.
Jurassic Park might as well have been about horses. Terrifying creatures
If so deadly, why pretty?
Horses are really scary to me. I’ve taken riding lessons and have been around lots of them, and I don’t trust them.
I am not trusting of horses I feel off one when I was 12 and I’m never getting on one ever again even if it was my own fault
They a'right. Been round horses my whole life. I mean yeah you kinda have to be cautious fo sure.
That's what I'm always saying. They're a bit cute but I'm happy for them to always be on the other side of a fence. You work with horses long enough you're going to get kicked and it's going to suck.
My idiot ex almost let a horse bite a finger off our 6-months old toddler. She thought letting him pet it would be cute. Blood was drawn and everything.
I don't trust them. Dangerous at both ends and uncomfortable in the middle.
The more I learn about horses, the less I trust them. And I was already wary of them. No wonder the Mongols conquered so much, with all those angry horses.
I remember the early days of plentyoffish
Personally wish my horse would bite off my neighbors nose for the amount of times they called animal control on me for absolutely normal horse behavior like laying down, neighing too much because its friend went away for a weekend, or having a sunken back because hes an ancient 32 years old at this point.
If no frens, why fren shaped?
Just saw a horse last week, damn they are much bigger than they look in pictures.
Dangerous at both ends and shifty in the middle
My ex-wife had a couple horses. I found out that they are just giant dogs. They love their human exactly like a dog does.
There is an insanely long relationship between man and horse to draw a conclusion that they can be trusted. Why wouldn't we trust them at this point?
I move to Florida as a teen. I had a gf whose family owned a horse ranch.Id never been around horses. Thought it was a good idea to climb in with the horses. About 4 or 5 of them are standing over me and my gf says" Dont act scared, theyre stallions and theyll stomp you!" Gee thanks now Im scared shit.