Girls, Aspergers, and ... horses?

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My horse obsession started when I was born and is still going strong.

When I was a kid, most or all of my pretend play revolved around horses or horse-related drama, like 'Cowboys and Indians.' Every family vacation of my childhood included me scoping out the nearest horseback riding activity and signing up. I collected any kind of model or figurine horse I could get my hands on.

These days I 'collect' the real thing. I have seven horses now, four of them rescues. I could go on about them all day. Horses are my life

My stepmom's son is obsessed with trains & at least one of his kids (maybe both) is/are on the spectrum. Though he & his wife probably won't get them diagnosed 'til its too late.
I like horses, so does my mom. Part of it may be I grew up on a horse farm for 5 yrs. Though I still like horses & a lot of stuff to do with them.

At least you did not get thrown up on (on the train or in a car).

Hmmm, I have read about this horse thing too. My friends as a small child all had riding lessons and two had horses of their own so it was "the thing". We used to "play horses" which involved running around pretending to be a horse. I always wanted to play a film, as in act out and elaborate on scenes I liked. I always wanted to script the play and have my friends say and do things that revolved around me. Horses though, I was quite interested in them too but as my family didn't have that kind of money I never had lessons or got my own and lost interest. My big special interests are always a TV show or famous person. I've had interests like "culture" as the girl above, particularly religion, medicine and psychology but they were never as intense as my love of Buffy for example.

I have always fancied girls/women obsessed by horses and dogs. In my lonelyness I was biking around from one horseplaces to another or training my dog hoping to overcome the barrier and have a talk to one of them. Later I married a dog freek obsessed with breeeding dogs. sad to say the the one who take the leap over the barrier was she. And as a matter of fact we kept horses at our farm too.

I'm not really AS but more like HFA.
Excuses for my lack of knowledge in horse, dogs and relationsships kind of english but I'm only good at technical terms. The ones You use on the console.

/Hans

I have no interest in horses. The closest to that was loving zebras, but it was more for the black and white striped pattern. When I was younger I was interested in animal rights, but I still do not care about animals at all.

I've heard GIRLS do! NOT just ones with AS. HEY, boys do ALSO!

I was completely obsessed with horses my entire childhood, as far back as I can remember. It ended in high school, when it was replaced with the Beatles. But I had tons of plastic horses I played with, and pretended to be a horse a lot as a young child. Horse posters all over my bedroom. I read innumerable books about horses. I was a total bookworm, I loved reading, but I read almost exclusively books about horses. Besides that, just books about other animals.

That is all.

hey, I still have some of my models! original (not the reissue) appaloosa breyer stallion, 2 of them, and a roan laying down colt

I also insisted everyone address me as "horsey" in 6-8th grades and signed all my homework with that name (when I could be persuaded to do it). I refused to answer to my given name in school.

hmm. interesting variety of responses! I was completely obsessed with drawing, sculpting, reading about and playing with models of horses for a number of years (well into my teens) even though we were a middle-class suburban family and I didn't get to see the real thing very often, except from a distance. I also didn't know any of the technical terms for them or for riding, but as mentioned, I could draw a perfect likeness from memory. I was much more interested in my Barbie horse than in the Barbie dolls.

Bhetti - I love that you wanted to be addressed as horsey!

I guess my curiosity will have to go unsatisfied for now!

I love horses but only ridden one once in Montana. She was an old fat nag. Actually, the cowboy who was in charge of the horses and took riders out, told the group that he liked to match the horse to his rider and of course everybody got a kick out of that - except me. I was neither fat nor a nag.

My love of horses began when I was a little kid and watched cowboys and Indians on television all the time. I fantasized about replacing Dale Evans as Roy Roger's love interest. All we did was ride our horses and sit around the campfire with Gabby Hayes singing "Happy Trails to You". Roy rode Trigger, and I, of course rode Buttermilk.

Last edited by cosmiccat on 13 Sep 2009, 10:48 am, edited 1 time in total.

Me too, and I only became aware it was common after I read about it while researching! I don't like to call it a "stereotype". When I was obsessed with horses, I didn't know what "stereotype" meant. If many of us have that in common, it must be a frequent manifestation of AS in girls.
The main reason I was obsessed was just that...because of the mane. I loved the hair. I wanted a horse of my own but only one with a long mane and tail so I could braid them and put bows in them. Ironically, I couldn't braid very well. I tried braiding other people's hair and it was always sloppy. No matter how hard I tried to make them neat. My grandmother had long hair, put them in two braids, then, made a bun out of them with bobby pins. I would try to braid her hair, but they were never good enough for her to put into a bun. She had to redo mine. Usually, I gave up quickly anyway, because I was aware the braid wasn't very even.
My hand/eye coordination, at that time, was poor.
Back then, I wanted was a horse of my own with a long mane and tail (I knew horses could have their manes trimmed to nearly nothing and their tails cropped really short but I didn't want a horse with a haircut).
I've always been fascinated by string, hair, and yarn. String and yarn, when it's been made into fringe. I liked the cotton strings on mops and got in trouble many times for putting a mop on my head, like a wig. I think my obsession was more about long, flowy, things than actual horses.
We had drapery liners made from a sheer fabric and I would take them off the rod and pretend like they were dresses or veils.
Later, I became aware of just how much horses have contributed to the civilization of mankind and was constantly praising them for that. Every once in a while I wish I had my own horse and envy the life of people who show horses and have close relationships with them, but I realize it takes lots of money, space and a very strong back.
So, then I think, if I won the lottery and 67 million dollars landed in my lap, I would like to invest some of it in horses.
Actually, not all girls like horses. When I was a kid, I only knew one other girl who liked them. My cousin lived in a rural area and the neighbors had horses but she didn't like them that much, neither did her brother. Her other brother liked them about as much as I did. In my experience, girls liking horses isn't that common. If it were, lots of parents would be buying their daughters horses. I live in a rural state where keeping a horse isn't that expensive, not that cheap either, but certainly not difficult, and not many families living in the suburbs board horses. Some kids are actually quite scared of horses.
Onto the subject of stereotypes: people like to say "the math and science stereotype", or, "the horse obsession stereotype". "The Transportation Fixation Stereotype". "The Map Stereotype". Maybe, all of those do not apply to me, but I can certainly see where these stereotypes originate. I've always liked "transporting" myself. Whether it be driving a car, riding a train, taking a bus, walking, running, riding something at an amusement park or swaying in a porch swing, I've always liked all kinds of movement. I believe I've had a transportation fixation of sorts, even though some people might think, "uh oh, perfect autistic stereotype. Great! "
Maps. That's another thing I enjoy. I like reading them, looking at them, seeing where everything is. I like going places and using a map to find my way around. I used to go on road trips with others and was surprised when none of them could read the map we were using.
So, the map stereotype, horse stereotype, and transportation fixation stereotype all ring true for me.

no, they wouldn't. buying and keeping a horse is well beyond the resources of your average working class family. I could have one as long as I could earn enough money to pay for everything and as long as my mother didn't have to get involved with it at all, including transportation. that meant I used scrounged tack, I had no decent riding clothes or boots (my riding boots came from goodwill and had holes in them), and my saddle was a gift from my grandparents for graduating 8th grade (I still have it, in fact). vet and farrier bills outstripped my monthly budget quite often.

Bhetti, I live in a rural state with plenty of space available for anyone who wants to have a horse for a pet, but doesn't want to live in the country and needs help taking care of it. My suburb has an abundance of upper middle class neighborhoods. It would be easy for someone to buy a horse and board it if their kid really wanted one. If someone can afford a couple of expensive cars, they can afford to keep a horse in one of the stables around here. It's something like, $150 to $200 a month, and they feed the horse and keep an eye on it's health. So yeah, it would be fairly reasonable to buy a horse as a family pet and take care of it where I live. There's places where people can go horseback riding at an hourly rate but not an abundance of places. In fact, there's only two. Not that many kids are interested in horses. Some are, but not a lot.
Out of all the kids I knew growing up, only one of them liked horses as much of me. One of my cousins liked them too, but out of all the rural cousins (who could have all easily liked horses because they were surrounded by them) only ONE cousin actually went out of his way to be around them. It's not as common an interest as you might think. Barbie dolls are much more popular.

You relate anything general to AS again....

So many people love horses, especially if most people here are from horses lands then they'll agree with you, it can't be a symptom.

In countries where horses are still used as transportation it might be more general. In America, it is the sedan, sports car or pick up truck that becomes the interest of millions. Horses are not so popular. Even when someone thinks they like horses they buy one, see what they are really like, and are not so interested anymore. The person with the special interest horse obsession likes them no matter what.