Anyone just can’t be bothered to ride...

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fredflop

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I should be all keen to get going... but I’m not. I’d much rather just stay lounging on the sofa all day watching junk on tv.

I have a few reasons why I CBA...
Can’t go and ride first thing as schools are in use by riding school, so have to wait until later on in the afternoon.
Horse isn’t straightforward, so it’s not just a case of getting on and going, needs schooling.
I seem to have been like it with most of the horses I’ve had - gets to the weekends and I can’t be bothered with it!
No competitions to aim fot
No friends to ride with

anyone else in the same boat
 
I haven’t ridden for most of February. Weather has been foul. Two storms. Strong winds. Persistent rain. Bridleways too muddy. Rain was running down the roads yesterday off the fields. Have had one with an abscess. One foot sore after pulling a shoe in the field The ponies are covered in mud I’m mucking out twice a day. I work so it’s hard with four. My back gave up on Friday. I’m trying to not get too down about it all. But, it’s been a hard winter. I’ve lost my riding mojo too.
 
JFTDWS said:
Nope, I ride two or three every day and still bounce up to them like a horse-starved kid at a riding school on their weekly lesson most days :D
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???

exracehorse said:
I haven’t ridden for most of February. Weather has been foul. Two storms. Strong winds. Persistent rain. Bridleways too muddy. Rain was running down the roads yesterday off the fields. Have had one with an abscess. One foot sore after pulling a shoe in the field The ponies are covered in mud I’m mucking out twice a day. I work so it’s hard with four. My back gave up on Friday. I’m trying to not get too down about it all. But, it’s been a hard winter. I’ve lost my riding mojo too.
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☹️☹️☹️
 
fredflop said:
I should be all keen to get going... but I’m not. I’d much rather just stay lounging on the sofa all day watching junk on tv.

I have a few reasons why I CBA...
Can’t go and ride first thing as schools are in use by riding school, so have to wait until later on in the afternoon.
Horse isn’t straightforward, so it’s not just a case of getting on and going, needs schooling.
I seem to have been like it with most of the horses I’ve had - gets to the weekends and I can’t be bothered with it!
No competitions to aim fot
No friends to ride with

anyone else in the same boat
Click to expand...


Change where you keep the horse so that you have better facilities and other people to ride with.
Join your local riding club and go to training and meet people
Find a good trainer who will inspire you
or
Sell your horse, and stay on the sofa. Whatever you do keep on with the negativity - it will serve you well whatever you decide to do with your time.!!

Having said that this last month has brought even the more positive amongst us to the brink of depression. But hey ho. The sun has shone here all morning and not one drop of rain has fallen. In a few days the arena might dry out and in a few weeks the fields might also dry out.
 
Weather looks to improve over next couple of weeks. Unfortunately saddle needs checking so waiting for saddle fitter so still can't ride.
 
Exactly the same as exracehorse, its been a long winter, diy yard, no facilities other than field and stable, its a mudfest, pony is fed up and grumpy, Im fed up and grumpy, we are just trying to muddle along together until the weather breaks without falling out. Id been riding most weekends up till February but it has broken me, I just cannot be arsed atm :(
 
I’m working abroad in a couple of months time, so there’s not much point in moving horse anywhere else. I’m at the most suitable yard in the locality as it is!

staying on the sofa seems a much better idea!
 
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I haven't ridden since before Christmas as shop wet and CBA. Depressing though that I will have to go through the whole bringing up to fitness regime again.
 
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Not ridden for pretty much most of February. I don’t do horrendous weather.
Forecast looking a bit more settled so I will get back to it over the next week.
In my defense, I have just started a new business so that’s pretty much consuming every waking hour of my life at the moment!
 
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Me, I think I would much rather lounge about on the couch and not ride and some days I do just that, but I feel rubbish at the end of the day. If I force myself to get on out there and ride, I enjoy it when I do and I feel much happier! It is a struggle in this weather though.
 
Mine are both pretty difficult at the moment but if I dont keep climbing up into the saddle they aren't going to get any better
So I structure my day to allow time to ride around everything else, book regular lessons and shows to keep me aiming at something. I chose this life, I really try and remember that when I'm down a hole. As I child I dreamed of having horses and a horsebox etc.. I am determined to make the most of it.
 
I'm the opposite. I work 3 days a week and the appalling weather always seems to coincide with my days off; OH was away for a week so I had no childcare, then brought flu back with him so still no childcare for another week. Now I have it! So that'll be another week out of the saddle. I have a rising 5yo to bring on and I'm just not getting enough time with her atm.
 
My two (mares) are both hyper at the moment; they're both cobs and are not happy - and are telling me so! - with their current regime. They're in at night, and during the daytime are out, but on boggy/saturated pasture.

What they really need is to be able to go out without rugs and have a good old-fashioned hoon, buck, fart & roll. They'd be happy then! And so would I!

We took them to a TREC training event last weekend. In a raging gale. Yes we were mad! Rode them over to the venue which one-and-a-half-hours each way, did an hour's training in the school, and then rode back again. They'd have done it all again, threefold! It hadn't even dented their fizziness.

No way am I riding either of them; youngster exploded with me a few weeks back, and OK so I know that was different feed (Meadow grass chop) which I think was a huge mistake, but I know from just looking at the pair of them that riding right now ain't gonna be the best of choices.

Am dying for it to dry up just a bit then the blighters are going out, end of. No more mucking out!

They just need to chill, and be "real" horses able to move freely without trudging through treacle-mud fields, and gradually come back to the nice placid horses I know and love.
 
If the weather is truly terrible I won't ride. But sometimes I feel a bit CBA even when the weather is okay - mainly because I'm in a rhythm of not riding!

But when I do feel CBA I try to tell myself that you never know what might happen and this could be the last day you get to ride - very morbid I know!

I often think in this way to make me appreciate horses/people/events etc even on the days I'm not feeling it and it definitely gets me going and feeling grateful that I have the opportunity to ride.
 
I ride my horse 5 to 6 days a week. His off day(s) usually involve a free lunge and/or hand walk.

Do I feel like riding all the time? Not necessarily. But I look at it this way: one day I won't be able to ride anymore. I'll be too old, hurt, or otherwise unable. The same can be said for my horse. Riding tomorrow isn't guaranteed, so just ride the damn horse (this is what I say to myself when I lose motivation).
 
fredflop said:
I should be all keen to get going... but I’m not. I’d much rather just stay lounging on the sofa all day watching junk on tv.

I have a few reasons why I CBA...
Can’t go and ride first thing as schools are in use by riding school, so have to wait until later on in the afternoon.
Horse isn’t straightforward, so it’s not just a case of getting on and going, needs schooling.
I seem to have been like it with most of the horses I’ve had - gets to the weekends and I can’t be bothered with it!
No competitions to aim fot
No friends to ride with

anyone else in the same boat
Click to expand...
It's always the way that when you can ride you can't be bothered and when you can't ride through accident/illness you really want to.
I've not ridden my horse since Dec 21st due to her injury and I getting bad withdrawal symptoms. i am hoping I can start hacking out after her vet assessment later this month. It will be my birthday treat to myself.
 
Throughout my interminable search for a new horse I keep getting told "it all happens for a reason". I now know that reason is I'd be really struggling getting to know a new horse in this weather and I can happily not ride my old boy for a few weeks and hop on again for our little outings without worrying whether he'll kill me or whether he's fit enough (we're doing 30 mins in walk max!). If that is true, I might have something by the time the weather gets its backside in gear!
 
I struggle with motivation sometimes and find it far more tempting to spend two hours pampering and preening the pony instead of riding! She had an easy winter until the second week of Jan, once all my exams were out of the way. Since then I've still been managing to ride 6 days per week. Here is how I stay motivated!

-Tell myself I'll be happier knowing I've ridden than if I didn't
-Remember the times when I would have killed for a trailer, for a horse who can jump, lessons with people I really respect etc. etc.
-Remember that I don't work to spend money on expensive livery to not get my money's worth!
-Have a weekly planner where I write in my work shifts and when I'm going to ride/what I'm going to do.
-Keep motivated by looking to future competitions and events I want to go to!
-Have my Instagram account as a photo album to look back at our progress, as steady as it may be! :p
 
I have weeks when I'm up for it every day, full invested, and weeks where it's an effort just to drag myself down there. It's just part and parcel of having them.
 
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