Well, then we'll have to agree to disagree - I suspect a horse with a few riders would probably pair-bond to the stable guy and be perfectly happy, or to one in particular of the riders, but YMMV, obviously.
...the mare I learned to ride properly on was in many ways my mare and not anyone else's, to the extent that people used to grumble at *me* when she played up! I never owned her, I never had her on loan, but I was the person she came to for comfort (and vice versa). But even then, the primary owner is still that - I had a memorable encounter closing up one stables one night where a pony ignored his goodnight carrot until the yard owner came over to give it to him himself.
You're actually kind of proving my point here, if I've understood you right - "your" horse was obviously happy when he was with you, despite being "bonded" to his actual owner. So Catkin could easily have bonded more to Ginty than Lawrie but still have "belonged" to both of them and been happy being ridden by Lawrie.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2005-08-30 11:31 pm (UTC)Well, then we'll have to agree to disagree - I suspect a horse with a few riders would probably pair-bond to the stable guy and be perfectly happy, or to one in particular of the riders, but YMMV, obviously.
...the mare I learned to ride properly on was in many ways my mare and not anyone else's, to the extent that people used to grumble at *me* when she played up! I never owned her, I never had her on loan, but I was the person she came to for comfort (and vice versa). But even then, the primary owner is still that - I had a memorable encounter closing up one stables one night where a pony ignored his goodnight carrot until the yard owner came over to give it to him himself.
You're actually kind of proving my point here, if I've understood you right - "your" horse was obviously happy when he was with you, despite being "bonded" to his actual owner. So Catkin could easily have bonded more to Ginty than Lawrie but still have "belonged" to both of them and been happy being ridden by Lawrie.