Hay NOw

Seabiscuit, War Admiral, Mr. Ed - famous horses from the race track, silver screen and black and white sit-com era. Unfortunately, I am unable to get close to anything like them in reality. I am allergic to the dander of these beautiful creatures.

I have always excitedly said 'horsies' in a little girls' voice whenever I see them. I just can't help it. I was never one to want a pony as a little girl but I always thought they were beautiful, strong, amazing animals. My first opportunity to get up close and personal with one was when my then boyfriend scheduled a romantic horseback ride on the beach for our anniversary. During the middle of it, it felt like my throat closed up. It was hard to swallow, my eyes were watering and couldn't stop sneezing. 

Years later, another boyfriend and I were exploring the wine tasting hills of Saratoga and came across a winery that had a barn. I went in and petted the horses. Bad idea. HA-CHOO!!! This continued thru dinner on Santana Row and thru the night during our stay Hotel Valencia. I felt terrible.

Since then, I have made it a note to mention on my website that I unfortunately cannot work with horses or do events as an event planner in barns that actively or recently had horses. So far, I haven't had any issues nor did it prevent me from declining any jobs.

However, in the beautiful town of Charleston, South Carolina, I booked a horse carriage tour with my nephew. My sister said he enjoyed the one they took in Wilmingon,North Carolina and I have never been on one. There's probably a good reason for that but since it's been years since my last incident and getting older has changed a few things, I forgot how frustrating the reaction was and thought I would be okay. That's a negative.

I couldn't resist petting Jake No, not Jake from State Farm. The horse! The beautiful animal was tied to keep him steady with the attached carriage and I wanted to may console him being tied up with some love and attention. Before we even loaded up on the carriage,I was already sneezing. Oh dear. Here we go.

Normally I am friendly and super outgoing and chatting up a storm with everyone, especially when I travel. This time, I did laugh at jokes but I was just feeling good. The tour was fantastic. Our tour guide was great with tons of knowledge, stories and worked well with Jake. Jake played his part in the entertainment and chatted every now and then. At an intersection that he was walking into, a driver on their phone to his left started to go. Jake didn't stop but definitely yelled at the car as he continued the right of way. You tell them, Jake! Sadly, there are accidents like these.

HA-CHOO!

I also failed to do my research in how the horses are treated in Charleston. You've heard stories of horses worked to the death and collapsing in New York (New York Post) and PETA urging folks to not pay for these tours. Our tour guide stated that these carriages weighed much less than the equipment they were attached to if they worked on the farm. I also witnessed another horse by the same company getting bathed while waiting for our tour to begin. Perhaps they are treated fairly. On Charleston Carriage Works' website, they state: "We LOVE our horses. They are treated like part of the family and each and every day, enjoy extended vacations, get frequent time off and are under the watchful care of resident experts day and night. Our team is constantly and completely in tune with each horse's personality traits, training, comfort level and health at all times." I am a big animal lover and I should have done my research. I will most likely not do another one of these tours until I do more research on the company and basically, for my own health. I'm not built like a horse.

Are you allergic to horses?
Can you name one thing you've stopped participating in because you thought it was cruel to the animals involved?

Related articles
Top 10 Famous Racehorses - https://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/10-famous-racehorses1.htm