Every day my boyfriend I have basically the same exchange.
Me: I love you babe.
Him: More than B?
Me: Psh no.
Some people are aghast at this. That I don’t love my boyfriend, someone I have chosen to spend the rest of my life with, more than I love my horse. However, my horse came first and my boyfriend was aware that my horse always came first even before we started dating. But that’s not what that post is about. This is about WHY I love him so much.
For as long as I can remember I was horse crazy little girl. I also had a love of books. From a young age I picked up a popular series called “Thoroughbred” which was about a young girl, name Ashleigh, who’s parents worked on a thoroughbred breeding farm in the heart of Kentucky. I read about all her adventures with these beautiful animals.
Also as a little girl I was tiny, everyone in my family thought I was going to be a jockey some day with my love of horses and my small stature. They even went so far as to take me to the track and I got to see the back side and everything.
As I got older I went to horse camp. As a teen I volunteered for ride time. I always fell in love with the thoroughbred. First it was Knight at the farm where I volunteered. Then it was my lesson horse, Demira, at when I started my formal education at 18. And even after 6 years off, I found myself riding with a trainer who’s focus was OTTBs.
One of my first TB loves. Knight 
My lesson horse, Demira 
My almost first horse, Addie
Its no wonder when it FINALLY came time in my life to own my first horse, I picked a thoroughbred. And he was everything I EVER wanted as a little girl. Tall, bay, Thoroughbred.
My bond with my horse goes beyond any I have ever had. Beyond my marriage, beyond my current relationship. Very few people really see the connection between Bacardi and me. He can make me so angry, so frustrated, and all sorts of other negative emotions, but at the end of day when he pokes his head over that stall door and I rub his velvet nose ,all of those emotions go away and are superseded by only one. Love.
So yes, every day when my boyfriend asks if I love him more than my horse, I will always say no. It does not mean I do not love my boyfriend, it just means I don’t love him as much as my childhood dream-come-true. And I’m not sorry.