I had this horse, when the mother and I went on a horse-back ‘safari’ in Cyprus. Except it was named Gregory, which ain’t quite as bad-ass as satan.
But still…
I rode a horse once in Mexico. Damn thing took me right beside a wall that had barbed wire at about face level.
College Equestrian team, later I had an instructor who was shortlisted for the Sydney Olympics, used to teach riding to beginners, and managed a barn in central Virginia for 2 years. Oh, and my user name is the name of my old horse, RIP.
I just got back from visiting my old barn, so I rode… yesterday. 
I answered no but now I remember I rode a poney once when I was, say, 6yo.
I rode on donkeys a couple of times though.
Yes, my Grandda always kept horses so I learnt to ride when I was little, but when I was 11 I got thrown off when the horse I was riding got spooked by a low flying aircraft and I broke my hip. Still rode after that though but sort of gradually lost my nerve. I would like to see if I could ride again.
There’s no way that over 90% of dopers have ridden horses. Selection bias in action.
My mom put me into some lessons (because at the time we were going to get a couple ourselves-but we had to move because of my dad’s employment situation suddenly changing). Anyway, I’ve always had an uncanny ability to relate to just about any sort of animal, except in this instance. Either I, as the only male in a class full of girls, consistently got the problem animals, or something, but the two individuals that I rode kept trying to buck me off, snap at me, and other such mischief. I finally said the hell with it and told my mom just how stupid I thought horses were. Now, I’d be willing to give them another shot.
Two of those tours for me, plus one time on a farm in North Dakota (the state in which my maternal grandparents were living at the time). Grandpa was a minister, and one of the families in his congregation hosted my parents and siblings when we went to visit Grandpa and Grandma. Each of the host family’s kids was “assigned” to my sister, one of my brothers, or me. I still remember that three of the horses were named Yogi Berra, Sergeant Friday, and Gypsy, but I don’t remember which was my steed that day.
Nope. Never even touched/petted a horse. And it’s odd, cause I had a friend in HS who’s family always had horses, and then dated his sister a couple years ago and she was still quite into riding and whatnot (she has gobs of trophies, ribbons, and medals.) I also have a cousin who has a horse and pony, so you’d think that at some point I might have at least gotten closer than 10 feet to one of them…but nope.
I’m not scared of horses, I just have no interest in them. They seem like fairly useless animals, to me.
Ponies when I was a kid, and a real horse on a trail ride in Alaska. I’ve owned two horses, for my daughter, but I’m not sure if I ever actually got on them.
Horse, mule, camel and elephant.
Used to take horseback riding lessons when I was 12ish. Damn boots hurt my feet and the horse popped me in the nuts once, but it was fun. And we’d go riding during the summer at a family get-together…until this year I was told I was too heavy to ride :(.
If I could go back in time, I’d be a mounted cop now. That just seems like such a fun job.
Well put, and perfectly describes most of my experiences as well. The only exception would be once at a ranch in N. Dakota, the horse wasn’t broke down, just a nice calm family horse, in a big group trail ride.
We used to go to the riding stable a few times a summer when I was a kid. I never got good at it, but I never fell off either
Not sure I agree. Between children’s pony rides, scouting, camping, resort vacations, and national parks, it isn’t the least bit uncommon to get on a horse at least once in your life. If 90% of people said they rode regularly that would be a different story.
Something similar happened to me - also in KANSAS! My grandfather had two older horses that he’d lead us around on, and when I went to Girl Scout camp, they were going take us on a trail ride. They asked who’d ridden before, so of course I raised my hand.
I was assigned Buttermilk. He was the only horse with a whip on his saddle. The other horses had to stay 10 feet in front of him and 10 feet behind him. If he stopped to take a crap, we had to hold up everyone behind us. I was scared spitless but not going to admit it!
Naturally something startled ol’ Buttermilk, and he took off a’running. I wound up with some scratches from a tree branch, and they did find my glasses unbroken.