10 ways having a horse can prepare you for children

They say nothing can prepare you for having children but I think having horses gives you a pretty good foundation…

1. All the years of riding spooky horses has fine tuned your lightening quick reactions so you are ready to grab your child when they nearly runs into a door frame, falls backwards off a chair or bolts from you in the car park.
2. Ever had a horse that won’t stand still for bandages to be applied or with their foot up for poulticing? They were preparing you for trying to get little feet into socks and shoes!
3. You know how your horse always has new rugs/tack/boots/bandages etc and your boots and clothes are at least 5 years old?! Yup, it’s the same with children they will look like they have stepped right out of a catalogue and you will still be rocking “vintage” clothing. They will always look better than you!
4. Have you ever ridden a horse that blows out when trying to do their girth up? All good practice for summoning that super human strength you need when strapping a child into a car seat that really doesn’t want to go in the car seat. However, unfortunately you can’t just sit on the child until they give up and you can do the straps up.
5. You know your “horse voice” that can be lowered 5 octaves in the blink of an eye when a horse is misbehaving? It is also the perfect mum voice too!
6. All that packing for shows/events with your horse and having to pack for every eventuality, it’s exactly the same when going anywhere with a small child. You need to pack EVERYTHING and more!
7. Snot, slobber and sh*t you don’t mind when its your horse and you don’t mind when its your child either.
8. If you have a girl the years of plaiting horses that don’t stand still for plaiting will come into their own! It’s unbelievable how quickly you can plait one small child’s hair, especially when you can grip them between your legs!
9. You are well accustomed to sleepless nights because of worrying about various horse related matters. These are just transferred/magnified when you become a parent.
10. and finally Patience, need I say more?!