Do you ever feel like not riding?

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TheoryX1

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As the title really. I havent sat on my horse for 2 weeks and really am not bothered if I ever do again, well thats how I feel as I type this. Work commitments have been mega heavy and sometimes all I just want to do is give him a kiss and a cuddle. He's happy enough as he goes out every day and is the type of horse who is the same if he's ridden every day or once a month.

We have also got a few broken ponies on our yard at the moment, so less people rding than normal. We;ve also still got Mini TX's mare on box rest, so even less motivation to ride. I really do enjoy riding, but for the life of me I cant be fussed. What bothers me is that although he is a fit and happy 19 year old, who is most definitely not ready to retire, will he stiffen up? He's fed his glucosamine supplement and is out every day and most weekends for the weekend with his mates, so he's not standing in a stable. If anyone suggests having a sharer, been there, done that, got the t shirt, not going back there.

I do read some of the reports on here and understand the amount of hard work that you need to put in to compete and I do feel so lazy, so come on, how many of you sometimes really do not feel like riding.

All I have to offer is my lunch, which is yesterday's roast chicken and stuffing sandwhiches, plus a banana. My PA will make you a nice filter coffee though to go with it.
 
I know how you feel! My boy is 20 now and I always worry that he'll stiffen up. I also feed glucosamine but don't seem to have a problem so long as he has the opportunity to go out. I have to have something to aim for, even if it's months away in order to keep making the time to ride. I love it when I get out but motivating myself to scrape all the mud off and tack up is really hard. I find I compete less now but even if I plan a longer ride with a friend then I know I need to keep motivating myself to ride in order for him to enjoy it as much as me!

murphysmummy
 
I go through the odd phase of being unmotivated!
If I have plans and something to aim for I'm fine, if I don't I can't see the point.
A couple of years ago I lost all interest for a couple of months - told myself I was going to have a proper break, it lasted 3 months before I was so bored I got another horse!!!
 
Me! I think everyone has periods where the motivation dwindles! I'm quite good at making myself ride anyway and once i'm on board I enjoy it. Thats mainly because Jae being a fit bouncy 6/7yr old I now it's important for him to be worked. However there is the odd day when I don't ride as I think if you really don't want to then there is no point forcing yourself as it just turns out to be counter productive.
When I had my old schoolmaster it was less important and tbh it was fairly common over the winter when I would only ride him once maybe twice a week. I used to go through a phase every now and again when I wouldnt ride for a week or two. When they get to that age I don't think it matters. Yes you can keep them ticking along and obviously thats good for them but if you really don't feel like it don't worry about it!! It wont kill him!
 
Yep - I think the weather at the minute is probably not helping your case either, I need all my motivation to ride when the weather is miserable. I love sometimes having a weekend day when its horrid and we both have a day off, feels like a luxury :)

I'm sure he won't mind the time off, bet you get a long weekend and/or the weather picks up you will want to ride again.
 
phew! I was feeling very guilty of not really wanting to ride now!
for us though it's a case of too big a gap between Ele and Med level... I need to learn to sit the trot properly which at the moment is hard but I realise I need to keep doing a circle of it every day to get better so I kick myself and go to the yard... but I really look forward to a week's holiday which starts Friday :D
 
Kind off. I gave up competing when pregnant with daughter & never had the finances to compete since. When she was little I only got to ride if I had a babysitter, & with no aims combined with the exhaustion of being a single mum, working ft & a horse on diy I just wanted to relax sometimes, & leaving her all day meant I only wanted to leave her for an hour at wkends. By the time she was 4 was hacking with lr pony attached so it was for her pleasure, like going to a park or swimming not mine. But now she's 7, been of the lr a year its suddenly really fun again as we now have freedom to canter & gallop out hacking again. And jumping with her with ingenious two height courses as a foot is the limit for her on her pony at the mo. I've never had a problem getting mine exercised or taken out & about as she's 14.2 & a teenagers dream, so no guilt on that front.
You sound like you have a very busy life, give yourself a break while you can, 19 is no age it won't do any harm in the short term.
 
When the weather is foul (like it is at the moment) then I don't want to ride, however once i'm on and ive got going then i'm glad I have ridden.

With regards to getting stiff, Bloss is 19 and she has linseed and rosehips which keep her really supple and have stopped her hocks from clicking first thing in the morning after she has been in over night. The linseed is also good for their stomachs and gives them an amazing coat/condition.
 
I dont today after his utter down tools yesterday :( I know I should ride him as he cant learn that tantrums get him anywhere but I'm kind of not seeing the point as he is so inconsistent at times.
 
Yes, i competed and hunted 2 horses. The winter before last when the yard was iced up and there was snow everywhere i thought to myself, i dont really want to be doing this. That was 18months ago and i havent sat on my horses since. it was the constant battle of fitting them in around work and actually having a life. The cost of competing, keeping the horses, diesel costs all got too much. I have a better social life now, i dont have to get up at 530, im richer, but i do miss it a little!
 
I've felt like this for the past few months after I had to move yards. New yard didn't have brilliant hacking (mostly road work) and arena was a bit of a nightmare to ride in which put me off getting lessons. That coupled with essay deadlines at uni stopped me from riding.

Moved yards at the weekend and have ridden every day since. Got my first lesson this year tomorrow too, so looking forward to it :)
 
The only time I didnt feel like riding was when my only horse was retired. At that point I felt like giving up, now I would ride everyday day all day if I didn't think my poor horse would hate me! :D
That does only extend to my horses mind you, I usually have three a day to ride at work and once I'm past the first obnoxious hit I usually wish I didn't have another two to ride! Getting to ride Mal is my reward :D
I am a bit obsessive about my ponies though, riding is alll I think about, from the moment I wake until the moment I go back to sleep :o although I think about food quite a lot too!
 
Yep, definately atm with all this exam stress and pony feeling rather full of himself on the spring grass :(

The only motivation I need is that I know he'll probably be going back in September so I can concentrate on my a-levels...
 
Me. All the time!

Meg is 19 so same age as your lad, and I do worry about not riding often enough, especially as she's now out 24/7 on spring grass and I need to keep a check on her weight.
I find if I'm up and there in the mornings, I'm more inclined to ride than if I turn up after work/uni.
Could you not travel somewhere and blast the cobwebs? I went all last week without riding, then went to the forest with Moomin1 on here yesterday and have ridden today and am already planning tomorrow's hack!

Here's hoping you can find some get up and go soon! :)
 
Today, after a long day at work and getting stuck in traffic on the way home making a 1hr journey into nearly 2 hours, I got back and it started pouring with rain, but I only had 2 hours of light left to ride so I used every last bit of my motivation and rode. I thought to myself, why the hell am I doing this?! But once I'd got soaked to the bone I thought "hell, I'm as wet as I'm going to get now, might as well enjoy it!" and remembered there's nothing better than a good gallop on my beautiful horse, even in the driving rain! :D
I would ride 24/7 if I could. But my horse is young and needs the work, and I'm young and need the work too ;)
 
Thanks for all the replies. I oddly enough decided I was going hacking tonight and made arrangements to leave work a bit earlier. However the proverbial ***** hit the fan in work this afternoon, which made me feel utterly terrible, as I had a major problem to sort, and I oddly enough drove home in tears of sheer and utter frustration (grhhhhh, junior business partner thinking he has been promoted to MD, grhhhhh, yes he is a male ........ men .....), and by the time I got to the yard all desire to ride had left me. Thankfully Mini TX sorted him out, and we left him out overnight with his mates to have more fun.

Before I bought him, I rode him at the riding school I bought him from and I used to pay for 3 lessons a week just to ride him. Now I can ride him any time I want, I dont want to ride him. Its really odd, we just seem to love spending time together. We even had a lovely walk down the lane to his field this morning - he 'purrs' when he is content and he purred this morning. He is my little pride and joy though and I am sure my riding mojo will return soon. Its nice to hear I am not alone.

Well, tomorrow night, its in my diary to leave at 5.00 pm, the trusty PA is going to field all my calls from late afternoon, and providing its not pouring down with rain, I will be hacking. Yay!
 
Yes, This afternoon when i got up after 3 hours sleep having been nightshift.
Did the stables and brought the guys in through horizontal rain/ hail and wind, and thought stuff this riding can wait till tommorrow :D
 
Yup, haven't ridden since last week due to crappy weather, having to cycle to the yard and back in said crappy weather, having no school to ride in in said crappy weather, and having finals to revise for, again in said crappy weather...can you tell the rain is annoying me somewhat?
 
Me at the moment! I had an enforced break for a few months last year due to injury and have kind of got out of the swing of it, this weather isn't helping either!
 
Yup.. Go through phases. Not ridden for just over five weeks. The Dizz dropped weight (I wasn't quick enough with greeting extra into her :( ), so had four weeks of feeding her up and not working her, now she's out on the summer field and the grass will be doing its thing :D. Will start Pessoa'ing in a week's time, do that for two weeks, then back into ridden work.

I've had to have time off either due to me or to her being wonky, but I have had the odd impatient moment this time.

Work and Life can sometimes just get in the way, and other times, well, it's nice just to be around the horses :D
 
All the time at the moment. BH is out of action and my only option is Nitty. Sitting on Nitty is always squeeky bum time so right now I have to make myself ride. In the rain. After watching her do amazing handstands on the lunge. joy! :rolleyes:
 
Usually my bouts of unmtrivation are never more than a few days. They tend to be primarily weather based, like today, pouring rain and freezing! Or when it's over 35C, I just think it's too unpleasant for the both of us!

I also find I'm less motivated to ride afte a full day of Uni/work, so I get up early and ride before. It's a cracker of a way to start the day and I don't have that awful feeling of 'Oh no, I have to rush about now and ride the horse'.
Exam time is bad too, I think when you are stressed it can be hard to think that riding is on top of the list of need to do's, but it is a wonderful way to de-stress and give yourself a bit of 'me' time. I try and make myself at least go out to the agistment and brush/handle the horse and when I'm out there I figure I might as well work him! I'm so fabulous at tricking myself :)
 
Not really, I have had so much enforced time off riding through Hopalong's many injuries that I appreciate when she is in action all the more and try to make the most of it! ;) I've always dreamed of having my own horse and never thought I'd be lucky enough to actually live "the dream", I am like kirstyhen- would live and breathe horses if I could (and chocolate! :p ), probably why I blether so much on here with other horsey folk as there's only so much horse-related chat Mr FigJam can cope with. ;)

Equally, I draw the line at riding in minging weather like tonight- wind and rain is just not going to be fun for either me or Hopalong. So we spent half an hour doing some "gardening" and stretching legs then went back inside to haynet and dinner bucket. Nicer weather makes horse ownership much easier/more pleasant and enjoyable!
 
Ditto what most people have said already, I lose motivation if I don't have a goal and what with wild or injured horses have had a bad 5 years. I got seriously demotivated a month ago when my first comp with Nickel was cancelled. I literally went into a depression, which sounds silly now but as he's been off for so long it was literally all I thought about. I didn't ride for the next week. I am much better now, we've rescheduled our debut to this weekend but have not ridden much over the last 5 days, I had a lesson on Saturday, then gave him the Sunday off to recover, then it rained Monday (Well TBH it's rained pretty much solidly for the last two weeks), then I hacked out Tuesday (got a bit wet) and didn't ride today as it was pouring down. I'm no fair weather rider, but having ridden as part of my job in the past, the novelty has definitely worn off. I am not that worried about periods of inactivity. Nickel doesn't care either, he loves stuffing his face out in the field.
 
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