have you given anything up for horses? do you regret it?

maletto

maletto

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 April 2010
Messages
1,674
Visit site
as title really. just interested to know how people have changed their lifestyles to fit horses in or if you have given anything up in order to do what you love.

if so, have you regretted it at all?

considering a pretty big lifestyle change myself!
 
sanity and a healthy bank balance, I'd say.

Regrets? I've had a few... But then again, too few to mention :D
 
My sanity at times, social life and a healthy bank balance. I never go out; max once a month if that and due to health reasons I don't drink, I hardly spend time with friends outside of school in winter and my bank balance doesn't look great, as soon as my pay cheque goes in my account, no sooner is it going back out for livery :D wouldn't change it for the world (well perhaps a bit more money..) and don't regret anything :)
 
A life, a career, any hopes of ever having any kind of savings. But no I don't regret it! Keeps me happy and doesn't affect anyone else's well-being so works well for me!
 
Gave up having spare cash or a new car or moving out from my parents (at 28yo) but gained sanity and something to love (being and eternal spinster!).

I didn't have a horse or do any riding for a 2 year gap and didn't realise how much I missed it until I got back into it courtesy of a friend whose veteran I have loaned for 22 months. Couldn't bear being without a horse again and I am now shopping for a new boy to enjoy for life :)
 
Had them from being a kid so don't know any different really. Without I'd no doubt have more time & money for loads of stuff I can't afford with them. But I'd be miserable as hell, don't regret anything about them.
 
My life! sometimes I do regret it, when I'm tired and it's wet and cold and the kids don't want to be at the stables, come summer I feel much happier about it though!
 
When I was 21 I very nearly literally gave up my life to be with horses.

I had been told I was dangerously allergic when I was 16, but I flatly refused to give up despite getting progressively more seriously ill. I couldn't imagine a life without horses.

Finally, a few days in an Intensive Care Unit and the realisation that I very, very nearly hadn't survived those few days, finally brought the point home to me.

A life without horses was hard to imagine, but it was possible. And it least it still was a life. :rolleyes:
 
I don't like to think I 'gave up' anything, more swapped a few things.
Nice fashionable clothes, for jodhs and hoodies
A smart Mazda sports car, for a grotty little Renault Clio full of hay, horse hair, dog slobber and mud
A sparkly clean kitchen and utility room, for rooms with muddy boots, sweaty tack and a yard cat hanging about
Nights out clubbing, for early mornings cubbing
Straightening my hair and putting on makeup every morning, for a scruffy topknot tied with a plaiting band and a bit of nivea slapped on my face every now and then.
And I'm sooo much happier now! So no, I didn't give anything up, apart from being miserable trying to be "normal" and fit in with the Muggles =P
 
Not very much in the last 20 years.

I did turn down an amazing offer many years ago now because I couldn't leave my horse ... stupid, stupid, stupid. My life would have been so very, very different if I had taken that path.

So yes, I regret that decision greatly and I learned my lesson - however much I like a horse, there will always be someone who can look after them just as well as, probably better, than I do, in general horses don't care who it is that feeds them.

I gave up my horses (which was enormously upsetting) to change my life five and a half years ago.

Now I have horses again, lots of them, but, if circumstances dictated, then I would give them up again.

My lifestyle revolves around the farm/horses, but I haven't given anything important up.

If we want something we buy it, the horses don't go without, but neither do we, why should we?

We have a decent vehicle, go out for meals, shows etc when we feel like it, I suppose the only thing we have given up, by necessity, is long vacations, purely because it is so hard to find not just a horse or house sitter but a farm sitter.

One of these days, in the not too distant future, when our daughter has left home, I will wake up one day and think "Why am I doing this?" and the horses will go, the farm will go and so will we ...
 
Last edited:
Well I became a horse owner when I moved to Ireland nearly 11 years ago. Previous to that my life was working in the horse industry but never owned my own. So that meant I had savings and could splash out on myself at will.

Been back and forth on moving back home to the States. We had it all planned out to move back 8 years ago when we only owned 1, but as we were flying and so was the economy we didn't. That I totally regret. Now I have 4 plus the original one that I can't part with and in the process of moving home. The horses will come home in shifts. First 3 in the fall then 2 in the spring. But at home I can make much more money working all the hours I can. Here I cannot.

So for 2 years I will be real broke getting the horses home and catching up, but I will have no regrets about that. I'd have regrets if I left them. They have kept me sane for the last few years.

Terri
 
Mostly moving back to the UK for university because I couldn't face quitting riding, not having my horse etc...I don't regret it, but do sometimes wonder what would've happened had I gone that route (I'm only 21, and I am doing a degree now, and happen to be in Australia for a year anyway!).

But aside from that..money! I couldn't imagine life without my horse though. I'm struggling now without him, but the idea that it's only temporary is a big help :)
 
Gave up smoking (20+ a day habit) to find funds for Tetley and have never regretted it!
Didn't need to give up a social life, just swapped it for a new one with a lovely, interesting and outdoorsy crowd ;-)
 
My two week annual holiday in Greece, where I should have been these last two weeks!!

And a healthy bank balance, now always skint.

Regrets? No, if we hadn't bought the boy he may well have ended up back with the meat man (he has already had a narrow escape) and now we know more about his past we just want to make him happy again.

Oh but....just to see some sunshine...............
 
I think the main things are holidays, I've not been abroad since I was eleven - the year I got a pony, and that was twenty-two years ago. I can't see me regretting that at all, I love Britain and the idea of flying and all the bloomin rules involved with it just put me right off.

Also home ownership, I suppose. I don't regret that now but ask me again when I'm too old to work with no where to live! I'll just have to die, or get myself sent to prison. I'll think of something and will cross that bridge when I come to it. :o
 
i may have given up drinking, socialising and the opportunities to wear nice clothes once in a while but compared to what i have gained there are certainly no regrets;)
 
Friends! I sometimes wonder what my life would be like but I adore my horse so never regret my decision. He always comes first.
 
I gave up smoking to help pay for them, that was no loss! :)

We don't go out socialising as much as we used to but when we do go out we really enjoy it because it becomes special rather than the norm. I don't do holidays, used to but now anytime away from work is a holiday & I couldn't think of a better way to spend my time than being with the horses.

In short I think I've gained far more than I've lost. :)
 
I would be far closer to having a deposit for a house now if I didn't have livery and vet bills hitting my account every month:rolleyes: This is a very big annoyance for my other half who has his half of the deposit sat waiting...
 
A fiance and any hope of having money left at the end of the month! Don't regret either though, especially the fiance - 'me or the horse' well duuuhhhhh what do you think?! Had the horse before him!!
 
My social life!! Hard at times as horses really do take up a lot of my time and non-horsey friends don't really understand that I can't go out at certain times because I have to feed them/get them in etc, and they get a bit peed off with me if I'm busy doing horsey things, but worth it ;)

Lost spare money & sanity too, but glad I'm not the only one!
 
Don't know as have worked with horses for almost all my life, so they've given me everything really. Don't regret what I've never wanted, or had, but would like if it was easier to get away - just about to head off to Spain or a week and the hassle is unbelievable! Lucky to have a lovely farm-sitting friend who will live in and look after horses/dogs/cat/chickens/geese.
 
ATM my GCSE's. Not doing as good as I could, but they're still good grades:p If that makes any sense haha!

Oh and my social life. Nobody ever asks me to go anywhere because they know it'll be a "no, i'm at the yard sorry"
 
Actually lost contact with part of my family due to a horse. A few years ago i was given a horse i shared who was my life, loved that horse so much. Sadly my parent said i couldn't keep him as they had to pay my uncles rent as he refused to get a job and pay for his 5 kids by two women one half his age. Needless to say i was heart broken by this, the fact that the day he went to a new home i found him boasting about his daughters new designer shoes he had brought did not help. I know this may make me sound like a spoilt kid but this horse was a once in a lifetime horse and the final nail in the coffin was him mocking me for not having a horse a few days afte he died. Never forgiving him but atleast i save money on christmas gifts.
 
Well I would, like everyone else on her be in a considerably better financial position without horses. I know I have missed out at times when my social life suffered. Full time job and horses, as we all know, does not always leave you with my energy.

But I am not a cup half empty person. I do enjoy the fact that I have a real passion, still! for horses and a good social attached to them. That I still get a reall "smell the roses" moment at times. I temper this with knowing some people who have no real passion (or obsession) for anything else so a grateful I do!
 
I put my horse who I had for 6 years out on load in 2010 for me to move out from my parents house and go to university about 3 hours from home. I completed my first year but after a miserable last 4 months of uni I realised living away form home in 'the city' and without horses wasnt for me.

So now in May 2012 almost a year to the day I moved back home I now have my old horse back after the loan home didnt work out and thankfully I was in a position to take him back but also have a gorgeous yearling who is possibly the best thing since sliced bread!

In short I gave up the 'student life' and living away from home but to be honest I have never been happier, I had to give up horses to realise how important and how much they mean to me and I dont think I will ever give them up again.
 
Oh and I come from families that have always had horses so do not know any different.

I think we would be very rich if we didn't have them LOL.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top