Equine OCD – How to Know You’re Officially Equine-Addicted
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350 – July/August 2019
by Delores Kuhlwein
You’ve probably seen all the memes about horse addiction, and you’ve laughed at some more than once. Maybe you belly-laughed, or maybe you just giggled a little, knowing the words rang a bit too true. A favorite meme that makes the social media rounds every so often boldly states: “I only buy bay horses. That way, when I add a new one to the herd, my husband won’t notice.”
In fact, your spouse might sport a popular t-shirt that displays the words, “I work to support my wife’s horse addiction,” or you proudly wear your own graphic tee, which might say something like, “Everyone has an addiction. Mine just happens to be my horse.”
The fact is that if you’re reading this article, you likely have Obsessive-Compulsive Horse Disorder (OCHD), also known as Horse Addiction Disease (HAD). You might have inherited the horse-addiction DNA from one of your parents, or maybe you’re the first in your family with the compulsion. Either way, we’re hopelessly hooked and often go to great lengths to quench our thirst and to keep ourselves fed a steady diet of all things equine.
Many of our own in the horse industry have it just as badly as everyone else. A few notable people with this problem include Amateur, Lacey Armstrong; Amateur, Tammy Bradshaw; Amateur, Marylyn Caliendo; Amateur, Paige Merrill; Amateur, Mackenzie Preston; Amateur, Michelle Preston; and Amateur, Kathy Tobin. We caught up with these ladies to uncover the symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Horse Disorder.
YOU MIGHT USE THE INTERNET TO FEED YOUR EQUINE OBSESSION IF
• “Your husband wakes up at 2 AM and finds you scanning the Equine Chronicle Facebook page every night!” – Tammy
• “You join every single group on Facebook or Instagram that has to do with horses.” – Lacey
• “You have some free time, so the first thing you do is hop online to look for a new horse, even though you don’t need one. Then, you tell your husband it’s really for your daughter, who has Dad wrapped around her little finger.” – Paige
• “You look at sale horses often to see what’s out there and who’s selling what. You tell your spouse that you’re ‘just rating the market,’ but he knows what you’re doing, and yet he just smiles and walks away.” – Marylyn
• “You have an extreme show pad addiction, and you set social media notifications for every time a new one is posted, whether you have an outfit to match or the funds to buy one or not.” – Lacey
350 – July/August 2019
