Anyone else struggling with motivation?

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widget

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Sorry for a self indulgent/feeling sorry for myself post but was hoping for a good old fashioned hho kick up the backside!

I have a four year old cob on loan
from a charity he was backed last year and is now coming back into work. I keep him at home but only have a large field to ride in, no human help at home and no one o hack out
with. The weather is making it real
struggle and I'm really down about it
and worried that doing it all single
handed there could be issues.

I'm tempted to give him back and buy
a five+ year old that is established that I can just get on and all this worry.

I had hoped to have transport by now which wouldhave meant I could box
to a yard to work him. But
circumstances have meant that I
don't.
I know it sounds sour but I see all my
friends going to funrides and shows
and I'm stuck lunging in a soggy field
All suggestions, kicks up backside etc
Welcomed!
Has anyone else been in same situation?
A gin and tonic for all those who
made it to the end of the post!!
 
Sympathies..if you have horsey friends off out to shows can you not hack out with them, how about joining a riding club or going on your local Facebook page and ask for someone to hack out with or lifts. Could you offer a space in your field to someone else? Hack him out inland for a bit to see how he is. It is hard when you lose motivation, you need to come up with a plan of action for yourself.
 
I do feel for you, because of my leg I am unable to do a lot of things with my girl with out help, people have hetic lives and our not always around to give me the help that I now need. If I want to ride in the school someone has to help me on and then be there to help me off, and I can only ride out if someone comes with me, so I do get a bit frustrated sometime, but I try not to let this get me down, I can now lunge my girl on my own and do not need any help from anyone to do this so if I can not ride then I will take her up the school and do what I can. I do look at other people and thinks its not fair they are doing all this stuff and I can not but this is just life and we can not live our lives feeling like that. Do you have any friends that could come over to you and help you on the odd time, the weather at the moment is not good and can make you feel down, but just do what you can. Re giving him up and getting another one I can not advise you on that you can only do what you think is the correct thing for you and the animal, take care x
 
Hi thanks for your replies, I sound such a whinge!
I can hack locally once we get going. Unfortunately we are in a remote rural area so no shows I can hack to. I have a few horsey friends but they are all miles away and busy. I've advertised for someone to hack with/share lifts with so will see how it goes.

I'm sure the weather is a big factor if the ground was dry I could really crack on with him and probably be at the stage I want to be in a few months. I've booked one of those adult pony camps for august so something to aim for but I just hope we are ready!!
 
widget said:
Hi thanks for your replies, I sound such a whinge!
I can hack locally once we get going. Unfortunately we are in a remote rural area so no shows I can hack to. I have a few horsey friends but they are all miles away and busy. I've advertised for someone to hack with/share lifts with so will see how it goes.

I'm sure the weather is a big factor if the ground was dry I could really crack on with him and probably be at the stage I want to be in a few months. I've booked one of those adult pony camps for august so something to aim for but I just hope we are ready!!
Click to expand...

Get him out for a few in hand walks for something different and to build your bond. Groundwork is brilliant for that and not taken seriously enough i think. When are you planning to get on board?
 
It is just so difficult to get a youngster going without a school and also isolated from other people doing the same thing. When you are on a yard you get swept along by the momentum of everyone else doing stuff but on your own you only have your own get up and go and sometimes it has got up and gone!

I am stuck at the moment because I don't want to cut the field up by lunging plus I don't have one bit of flat field and the more experienced horses are fine but baby struggles balancewise.

I have resorted to doing a google satellite view to locate all the hidden arenas in the area and have found 3 all within leading distance - whether or not they will let me hire them is another matter of course!

I am also considering moving them to a yard with facilities for say 3 months so that I can crack on and then return to splendid isolation when she is more established.

My local riding club have lots of great training days but just too far away at the moment.
 
Yes we do go for in hand walks at least once a week. I would long rein him but I don't feel entirely in control long reining ( any horse not just him!)
I've been on him in the field in walk and a wobbly trot he's very good to be fair to him but I don't want to ride when ground is wet incase he slips and then if the weather is tat he has a few days off lunging/riding and I feel we are back to square one again!
 
I'm having a bit of a motivation thingy as well! It's rained solidly for 3 days & nights now, forecast to carry on for another 5 days at least and my little paddock is waterlogged so pony and friend are stable bound 22 out of 24 hours (they get a couple of hours on the drive to nibble at grass verge!) Riding is limited to the roads round my way, so not many hack out and diesel is so expensive I have to think really hard before I use my trailer.

Woe is me - then I remember Ebonyallen and feel so ashamed.

Keep plodding on - you're giving your lovely cob a second chance at life, don't send him back. I have a rescue as well, they are so rewarding.
 
I backed and broke my youngster in a field with no school or human help (other than a cameraman the first time I sat on him). I did all of the basics - riding away, establishing all three gaits, steering etc, and very gentle hacking by himself before I moved to a yard with a school for his further education (though not because he needed it, the previous place closed).

I'm back to having no school and, whilst he's no longer a youngster, it is a pain at the moment as the ground is so changeable - first drought now it's rather wet - so planning to jump etc is a bit hit or miss. It's easier when the weather's less changable for sure. It is do-able though :)
 
widget said:
Sorry for a self indulgent/feeling sorry for myself post but was hoping for a good old fashioned hho kick up the backside!

I have a four year old cob on loan
from a charity he was backed last year and is now coming back into work. I keep him at home but only have a large field to ride in, no human help at home and no one o hack out
with. The weather is making it real
struggle and I'm really down about it
and worried that doing it all single
handed there could be issues.

I'm tempted to give him back and buy
a five+ year old that is established that I can just get on and all this worry.

I had hoped to have transport by now which wouldhave meant I could box
to a yard to work him. But
circumstances have meant that I
don't.
I know it sounds sour but I see all my
friends going to funrides and shows
and I'm stuck lunging in a soggy field
All suggestions, kicks up backside etc
Welcomed!
Has anyone else been in same situation?
A gin and tonic for all those who
made it to the end of the post!!
Click to expand...

i have just come back of an hour of walking my 16 year old up and down the quiet road outside my house and she was still being a dangerous twit at the end and she pulled her shoulder throwing herself around. so ive gone from lunging in a field and tiny stressful hacks to nothing. this mare is a novice eventer and medium dressage, ex RDA, ex riding school horse who cost me a house deposit. so i am feeling you pain.
i have recruited 3 or 4 friends who will not let me wuss out and keep kicking me up the bum. you must have a none horsey friend even who will just stand in the field and keep you going. they dont have to no what they are doing to be a support. honestly i could cry at the moment but i no it wont help just keep going.
 
I'm with JFTD on this one, I broke and rode away my youngster with only a field and no transport, you've just got to get on and do. All my schooling has been in the field or out on hacks and we manage to do everything that we could in a school. (Said youngster is now rising 19!)

While a school and transport do make life easier, they aren't essential, and years ago schools were a rarity, I think we've all been a bit spoiled nowadays:o

I often just get myself a map, pack a picnic and trundle out for the day exploring, it's a great way of educating horses too!
 
Hi touchstone and JFTD thanks you have helped me believe it is possible I was starting to think I was daft taking him on with no facilities/ help.

Ebony Allen is absolutely an inspiration : )

Tammy too and Madeleine 1 I feel your pain! Pity we aren't closer!!!

I think I just need to man up and get on with it now! : )
 
widget said:
Hi touchstone and JFTD thanks you have helped me believe it is possible I was starting to think I was daft taking him on with no facilities/ help.

Ebony Allen is absolutely an inspiration : )

Tammy too and Madeleine 1 I feel your pain! Pity we aren't closer!!!

I think I just need to man up and get on with it now! : )
Click to expand...

yes you do, she says sat in the living room cuddling the dog and hoping the horse will exercise herself
 
touchstone said:
While a school and transport do make life easier, they aren't essential, and years ago schools were a rarity, I think we've all been a bit spoiled nowadays:o

I often just get myself a map, pack a picnic and trundle out for the day exploring, it's a great way of educating horses too!
Click to expand...

You're certainly right there, years ago we had a field, only natural shelter, no electric or water on site. No one had a trailer. I managed shows, riding club etc, took me all morning to hack to riding and road safety exam!Had lessons with an instructor in the field, hacked home to wash or clip. We have much higher expectations now.
 
Agree with others here - and sympathise with you!
Have got similar type of 'facilities' to you (ie very boggy field/no transport/etc) and a youngster that needs work...didn't really plan to turn him away over the winter as felt he would have been better kept in work (he's a youngster-with-issues) but in the end was just forced to give him a break because the weather and ground was so appalling. Was really frustrated by this as he was doing so well, but in the end concluded the break might be good for him and tried to get him out in-hand when I could (roads are pretty quiet so can't moan about that)...have another older one on the go, who's in the process of being backed but have deliberately not kept him with my others, am sharing a field with a friend elsewhere because it backs onto forestry - so in the absence of a school or anything like that, am using the firebreaks to do in-hand/groundwork/long-reining etc...it works surprisingly well and once I'm onboard and riding him there, I'll move him to my other field to work on traffic-proofing and road hacking..and move the youngster up to the forest field for similar use of the au naturel 'facilities'!!
So, I really do feel your pain...it has crushed my motivation too sometimes, but equally it has forced me to look for creative solutions and focus on what I CAN do with them, instead of what I can't do with them..perhaps we should set up a no-facilities-motivational support group thread!!! :D:D:D
 
I think we should start a new clique! Trying to back our youngsters in an open field- motivating each Other clique!!
 
I'm another without a school. Daughters pony is a rising 5 yr old I broke last summer with a then 6yr old as jockey, using a field & hacking. First time she was ridden in a small enclosed place was mid summer at a show when she got 1st & 2nd in her 2 ridden classes & 2nd & 3rd in 2 in-hand novelties, completely unphased after being ridden here, there & everywhere. Went in a school for the first time in Dec whilst at a friends yard. Schools are handy but not vital.
 
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