Ever feel like giving it all up?

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Anyone else feeling fed up of horses atm? I run a small livery yard, with my own 2 horses, but just feel that everything I am currently doing with the horses is just a waste of time and money....

The weather is making every day doubly hard work, the comp season has not started yet due to cancellations because of the weather, diesel costs for the lorry when we can get out are spiralling out of control, and feed/bedding etc is just getting increasingly more expensive.

All the fields that I spent hours harrowing and rolling last month look worse now than they did mid winter, so will have to re do them all again if/when it does dry up. The liveries I have are lovely but this is the time of year I should be making my 'easy' money and having a rest before the onslaught of next winter. We are swiftly running out of hay and straw as normally all horses are out 24/7 by now, and risk running out completely if this weather continues. My normal supplier has run out himself, so the next headache will be trying to find another source.

Coupled with that my family are getting the rough end of the deal as I am permanently grumpy, and spending all my time mucking out in the torrential rain and gales, rather than spending quality time with them - in winter that is just the way it is, but by spring and summer we like to catch up on 'family' time too.

I realise this is a very self indulgent post and open myself up to so negative comeback, but am normally such a positive person. I am well aware there are many people with real problems out there, which makes me even more cross at myself!

Somone give me a kick up the preverbial please......
 
Yes, just got fields sorted, trashed again, sick of muddy legs and the smell of wet horse, damp barn complete with stream, aching joints, fun rides cancelled.
Ah but hang on, summer will come, well at least the rain should stop, I will be able to see my horses white legs again, I'll appreciate the place I live in again.
From here, the only way is up
 
Yes you are right Flirtgirty and can see why depression is so rife in farmers. If you work indoors however foul the weather is, it is usually just a minor inconvenience, but for people that work out doors it can be a real downer.

Jonnyfromdonny - that yard looked fab and would lend you the money if I could, but believe me working with horses makes pennies not pounds!!
 
Hi,

Today was awful - i've never been soo wet - spent best part of an hour sewing up a ripped rug - fingers freezing.

Just had to remember why i'm doing this and remember the smirk of happiness and childish glee when we've had a great ride and it's been a lovely dry day.

Looking forward to drier days and seeing boyo in all his glory, clean, mud free.

Never even bothered riding today. But my friends daughter (8) had her first riding lesson today - poor soul she was drenched - she's booked in for next week and came to give boyo a pat and warmed her hands under his rug....
 
Yes, I have questioned why I own the blasted animals several times over the last few days. However, I got a nice wee ride in the sunshine today (believe it or not, we did have some!) doing some horseball training with a friend, and it made it all seem worthwhile. Untill I break my back shifting loads of straw and haylage and mucking out tomorrow, and probably having to hack in the rain...

My fields look like someone's waged a war in them, but it can't rain forever, can it? :eek:
 
Oh yes!! Days like today - tramping down with rain and windy - I hate the wind, soggy wet horses, soggy wet fields blasted rugs....I just want to chuck it all in and take up knitting!! Look on the bright side, the weather will improve (hopefully) and we will have some nice evenings and once I get out hacking again I will be happier and it will seem worth it. I am even looking forward to doing a few shows this year!! Chin up and ride it out!!
 
TOTALLY understand how you feel, and when I read your post, I could have written it myself.. It has rained, heavy rain the whole month of April with me. I havw 7 horses, I have done endless mucking out, endless, haying, endless PAYING for hay and straw, feed, but I have an indoor, and have been riding everyday... still I feel very down. Today was the first day in the month the sun has shone here, and I was a way at a dog show with my dog, and felt so much better, just to escape the horses for the day..
Take a day off, you might feel a lot better.X
 
But how do you take a day off when you work 7 days a week?!!!

Sorry - I know what you mean Tamba. I would love a whole week off, lying on a sunny beach, having 10hrs sleep a night, and not stinking of manure......I can but dream x
 
Sidney said:
But how do you take a day off when you work 7 days a week?!!!

Sorry - I know what you mean Tamba. I would love a whole week off, lying on a sunny beach, having 10hrs sleep a night, and not stinking of manure......I can but dream x
Click to expand...

Even some activities, non horse related, I find helps, as you dont feel like your always trudging through mud, and horse ****!.. totally know how you feel, but your feel better when weather improves, Im sure.x
 
JohnyFromDonny said:
Chin up!:D

I think the weather has more of an effect on us than we realise sometimes. I've been feeling it myself recently, it's funny how it only takes a bit of rain to make me see everything in a negative light. I suppose it's inevitable that us outdoors types are affected disproportionately!

Here's something to think about - how lucky you are to own a livery yard. I've had my heart set on buying this one ever since it was listed. Only 299,995 things stopping me from writing out a cheque :p
Click to expand...

that place is fantastic
 
Yes, the last 2 weeks have been a nightmare - have put the horses back onto their winter routine as weather so foul :( Have just had my first ride in weeks and feel so much better.
 
Yep, and id save a fortune if i didnt have them, if i sold up and didnt have the yard rent, hay, vets, insurance, feed, extras ..... Jeez, id be loaded. :eek::D
Hawaii for a couple of weeks, dinners, clothes and long lies ...... Then what, Id be off my nut wi boredom in a month.
Its the ongoing wet/winter blues, when the suns up and the weather changes, you'll love it again :)
 
Yes I have been feeling it too .

I have 2 horses and do everything by myself and all I seem to do is get cold and wet , fields look bad horses fed up with all the water and mud , I need a holiday but all my money goes on them both .

Everything is so expensive and hay running out .

Very tempted to give up as the enjoyment has gone and everything is getting so expensive .

When you do get too shows people seem to be so unkind to each other
And getting very bitchy , why I just don't get it .
:(
 
Yes i do everyday. I have had nothing but bad luck and heartbreak with mine for the last 2 years. I have , believe it or not, lost 5. One whilst out on loan to atypical myopathy, an old broodmare we had to pts (her time had come) a shetland i rescued that had laminitis i couldn't save her. My long awaited for baby that i bred myself died age 1 (still can't talk about that) and just last month her mum my beloved ID mare her old legs had given up. She went to sleep peacfully here at home in that lovely summer weather we had in March. She would have hated this weather we have now.
I question everyday why i am putting myself through this pain, the grief i feel is immense, not to mention the expense. The vet has had thousands out of me.
I love my ponies dearly i still have 5, all young, two 2 year olds, two 3 year olds and a 7 year old shetland and the only thing stopping me is the worry about where they would end up. If i thought someone like me would have them i would sell up tomorrow. We have our own house and land and a big mortgage to boot, my husband at times resents the horses and they are the cause of most of the rows we have, it is all very VERY hard. I just don't know anymore what i am doing. Perhaps once the sun shines and it warms up we will all feel better!!
 
JohnyFromDonny said:
Chin up!:D

I think the weather has more of an effect on us than we realise sometimes. I've been feeling it myself recently, it's funny how it only takes a bit of rain to make me see everything in a negative light. I suppose it's inevitable that us outdoors types are affected disproportionately!

Here's something to think about - how lucky you are to own a livery yard. I've had my heart set on buying this one ever since it was listed. Only 299,995 things stopping me from writing out a cheque :p
Click to expand...

Well JohnyFromDonny if I win the lottery (but I do mean more than a tenner) I'l get you that yard....... actually, I might get it for myself! Keep smiling everyone, summer IS on it's way!
 
i wouldnt have thought it could rain forever but, then i didnt think it was possible to have this much rain in a short space of time!!

i too work outside with horses and it is so depressing. the only thing that makes me get up is acctually my horse :o but it would be a tonne easier if we werent both soaked through to our undies before i even get on board! i would love to have my own place and a few liveries because with weather like this i could just do the horses in the morning then go in for a cuppa, change of clothes, bit of jezza kyle, run out for lunch time yard, come back in dry off.again. then go out for evening yard! instead of filling the day with jobs that can wait for a sunny day! in the summer im quite happy to spend 8-10 hours a day faffing around and playing ponies but in this weather it is just not fun!

note to self. start doing the lottery!!
 
I am another feeling sorry for my self. I spent most of Sunday moving my horses from a field which was going to flood. Daughter a work, husband bless him not horseproof so I did it on my own. My mare who is usually a cow was so glad to get out of the rain that she was almost nice. Then tried to shove 6 animals into a space that should only have 3 with electrice fencing and find rugs to fit.
This morning, fencing down, no one hurt, mucked out 2, and b**ger poo picking. Then spent most of the afternoon fencing somewhere for them to go as the field looks like its going to be flooded for at least a week and then it will be too wet to turn out on. I have either sunburn or windburn as it was hot.
I am pooped, my husband looks at me as if to say,'you wanted them'
 
Yes. That is exactly what i feel like at the moment :( and i went out for lunch and cinema on monday, like i suspect "normal people" do, and had a lovely day.

I just don't know how much i would miss it, that's the thing.
 
JohnyFromDonny said:
Here's something to think about - how lucky you are to own a livery yard. I've had my heart set on buying this one ever since it was listed. Only 299,995 things stopping me from writing out a cheque :p
Click to expand...

:eek: That's cheap! What's wrong with it? Apart from location, and that the stables are OUTDOORS and that yard would be a bitch to keep free from snow, First thing I would do with that would be to bung a roof over the top of it all - ugh :(

Sidney, it does get to you doesn't it? Constant greyness and labour, a vicious circle, hopefully the sun will shine soon, the fields will dry up and you can get the horses out and have a bit of a breather. It has been a strange old winter/spring.

I would say can you get away for a night or two, but I appreciate the logistics of even that. I have been off my place for precisely 3 nights in 6 years. Getting someone to feed and water is easier said than done especially when you have to consider liveries who are paying for a service as well.

When I was in the UK I'd drag myself out do just TWO horses, force myself to exercise in the rain all because I loved my hunting, but by February, before the end of the season I would generally be so depressed wth the wet, the mud and the godawful greyness that I'd give up and turf the horses out to grass before I slit my wrists.

It is lovely to have your own property, but with property comes never ending work, on a warm, dry evening it is great to just sit on the deck and think "This is mine" :) (If I had a deck it would be;)) Then you think, the fields need harrowing/rolling/resting, there's that fence to mend, that trough to sort out, that bit of roofing to fix, that tree to take down, etc, etc, etc and sometimes it is a bit overwhelming, and that's before you have to keep a household going too.

Deep breaths, do the essentials and take a little bit of Me time. You are no good to anyone if you make yourself ill running yourself ragged, find some time to just stop and appreciate something, anything, however little, every day.
Down tools, say "OH bugger it" and go and sit down with a coffee, everything will still be there later :)
 
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Yes am working on having a beak from horses. I have my own place and although I love having them around I don't want the restrictions they bring with them ie always having to clock watch around their feed times etc etc.

The weather makes it doubly hard at the moment as the rain is relentless and everywhere looks so ' dirty' when flowers should be blooming and the land full of lovely grass instead of having to keep haying and feeding them.

Roll on two more sales time :D
 
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