Yup. When I was young in the early 80’s I worked on an Arabian horse farm. Hard but rewarding. The horse were very, expensive and I was told NEVER ride any of those belonging to the owner (one stallion was $100K+) I NEVER EVER did and respected that. Just being around them was good enough as they were beautiful.
Some of the horses being boarded was another story. I was supposed to exercise some of them. A few were owned by spoiled little rich girls and were difficult to manage unlike the owner’s horses that were well behaved. Most days...those girls would call ahead of arriving, want their horse tacked up and ready to ride. They’d run the crap out of those poor creatures until they were soaked with sweat and then....as you can guess....handed the fully tacked animal back to me and drive off. It was very, sad to see.
Almost any time one of those girls tried to catch their own horse it was impossible and I...the one who fed and groomed it....was only one who could catch it. Normally they’d trot, or canter, right up to me thinking MEALTIME!
Honestly? I’d feel as if I betrayed the poor thing doing so just to let it get ridden into the ground again. Of course, those little girls really thought they were the most amazing horsewomen around, but I know better.
The owner also asked I keep people from giving “treats” to any of the horses. Often parents would hand sugar cubes to their children to feed the horses. I was the “evil witch” who did not allow that. Not even apples were allowed from a stranger. Of course I understood why, but most folks have no clue.
Years ago, when we lived on a farm with lots of horses and
cattle; a man & his wife from Fang’s work came out. The
woman got on one of our horses and rode him REALLY hard;
showing out I guess. Next morning, the horse was dead and
we heard later that the woman was in the hospital having to
undergo a hysterectomy. I never saw the couple again &
Fang is long since out of that job. I was sorry the woman
evidently hurt herself; but I was even more sorry that our
horse had died. (I had no idea how old the horse was, but
I’d guess it was fairly old at the time.) I got pretty wore
out of company every weekend when we lived out there. I
finally told Fang that for once I would like to BE company
instead of HAVE company for a change.