If you had your time again, would you bother with horses?

[sakura]

I don't think I would. I don't regret it at all, I have a wonderful horse who I adore - but the idea of having to go back to livery yards just feels me with dread. I have no desire to do that or rent land. There's also the economic aspect these days which just doesn't make horse ownership viable long term for me.

So I think the more correct answer would be that I wouldn't keep horses again unless I had my own land and won the lottery, which I don't play!

 

[Birker2020]

I don't regret my time with my horses, but it has placed a very heavy load (and still continues to do so) on my mental health.
I haven't experienced the fun that I used to have for many years now, the sheer pleasure and expectation of a fun filled ride, cantering over fields, or just trailering up to the local club for a clear round jump. Long happy days of fun.

So although I say yes, I always want a horse in my life, I also question whether I could cope without.

 

[Petmurf]

After having lessons on and off for 40 years, I finally got my own horse 2 years ago at the age of 53 and I can’t imagine life without him especially during the lockdowns but I have had good jobs, exotic holidays, lived abroad etc beforehand so I don’t feel like I’ve missed out and I waited until I was in a good financial position to afford one, just wish I had done it a bit sooner before the menopause loss of confidence kicked in ?

 

[calder]

Horsiness is something I’ve never been able to “solve” in my life. It’s been more like a process of discovery, from being a young adult to a middle-aged (very) occasional rider. While agreeing that it’s an addiction, I’ve never owned a horse and probably never will. I felt like I didn’t have the time or resources and ought to devote myself instead to work. That hasn’t gone quite according to plan, and although horses have brought me through some difficult and stressful times but I’m not in a bad place by any means…. and some of my happiest times have been when making time for riding - invariably in schools with the odd hack or holiday thrown in.

I do wonder what my life would be like if I’d given in, and not just to horses, but there’s no way of knowing. I’m not riding at the moment and won’t until I lose weight and gain some financial stability. I’ll always be a rider even when not actually riding, but there is always a question of how much you can manage and for how long. Everyone’s story is different in this regard, and it’s not getting any easier, particularly (but not only) for us riding school riders as prices shoot up and schools close down.

 

[Crazy_cat_lady]

I don't regret my time with my horses, but it has placed a very heavy load (and still continues to do so) on my mental health.
I haven't experienced the fun that I used to have for many years now, the sheer pleasure and expectation of a fun filled ride, cantering over fields, or just trailering up to the local club for a clear round jump. Long happy days of fun.

So although I say yes, I always want a horse in my life, I also question whether I could cope without.

I'm another who hasn't enjoyed the sheer days of fun for many years. Being able to just blast round the fields for the hell of it, there was a whole gang of us up there when we were teenagers loaning the rs ponies, we'd have fun riding together and jumping them, playing gymkhana games etc. I absolutely adored the rs pony I used to loan.
It all just got so serious.

 

[Sealine]

Absolutely yes. I grew up horse mad with non horsey parents and worked hard as a child/teenager in return for rides. I wanted to work with horses but my parents discouraged me. I was in a very dark place in my 30's after 10 years of fertility treatment resulting in a twin pregnancy and stillbirth of my full term daughter. I gave up my pursuit of a family for my sanity and decided I was going to do something just for me and bought my first horse. After my daughter's stillbirth I think my maternal instinct was driving me to care for something or somebody. My first horse filled that gap with ease, she was very affectionate but high maintenance and often lame. After a few years she had to be PTS which is when I bought my current horse who is my horse of a lifetime. We've had so much fun together over the years and being with him and riding him is my happy place. Each horse has given me what I needed at different times in my life so maybe I was drawn to them.

Luckily my career has given me the funds and flexibility I needed for horse owning and my husband completely understands the addiction and how it helps me. We aren't wealthy but I don't begrudge a penny on spend on my horse and I'm happy to forego expensive holidays, clothes etc. I can't put a price on the pleasure my horse and everything that goes with horse ownership brings me.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I've been lucky enough to own horses from the age if 10. I'm now the wrong side of 40. I've only had a few weeks away from them in all that time. I've been on some great yards, sole use, and a not so great yard. They have really kept me going all these years. There have been days when I really didn't want to do the horses but once at the yard that changes. The only way I have them again is if I was on a sole use yard. I Currently have an oldie and a 16yo ridden horse. These are most definitely my last 2!

 

[maya2008]

It is most definitely an addiction. For me, though, it is a positive one. It means my hypermobility has negligible effects on my life, and that I can manage much more physically than my mum ever could. It gives the same gift to my children and one of my good friends - life without pain. Additionally, it’s good for our mental health.

Someone should seriously study it as an addiction though - I mean, my son was sobbing in the ambulance the other week having come off a friend’s pony, because he was worried he wouldn’t be able to ride his own for a while. Not at all about the fact that he had just been dragged 200m... I have ridden with dislocations, concussion, raging sinusitis, two days after having each of my children…not really rational, no?

 

[calder]

Someone should seriously study it as an addiction though

This was actually done in a tongue and cheek way by David Nutt, who was the government's addiction chief about a decade ago. He was comparing the risks taking ecstasy to riding, arguing that both gave the "user" a lot of pleasure, but also came with risks. The risks of ecstasy and "equasy" - the word he invented to draw attention to the pleasures/risks of riding relative to illegal drugs - could be measured but were often ignored, both by "users" and policymakers.

The newspapers were allegedly outraged (or deliberately missed the point) and he lost his job.

The argument was more about risks and rewards than it was a study of addiction, but I bet there have been studies of dopamine, adrenalin and other hormonal levels in riders. Then there's the old joke about why heroin is called "horse" in some circles, but I reckon that's more of a reference to gambling than to riding.

 

[Roxylola]

To non-horsy people I've found it's best described as an addiction. It's where all my spare cash goes, and a fair portion of cash that's not spare. I'll do without a lot before I'll scrimp on my horses. It's literally what I live for, I didn't have anything to do with horses for about 7 years during a toxic relationship, sat on a friends for about 10 minutes and then moved heaven and earth to get back to it.

 

[Junebug44]

This is worth watching to the end. Says a lot without words! x

 

[catembi]

I am not sure. I had my first pony when I was 3 and have never not had a horse. I am now nearly 51. My whole life has been dedicated towards horses - getting a ton of qualifications & scrambling up the career & housing ladders to get a house with land (first equestrian property achieved by 34), struggling away at work to get the money to keep it all going... Since I lost Catembi in 2007 I have had issue after issue after issue with horses, which each successive horse not being able to get as far as the last competitively. My finances are perilous as I am trying to get the mortgage paid off by the time I am 55 so that I could go p/t...to have more time for playing ponies. I was going through my finances yesterday & trying to make it all add up, and every single item apart from my HRT was to do with horses, mortgage, lorry...

I have had 4 x PSSMs in a row & my new chap does NOT have PSSM...but he has navicular changes which I am trying to manage with barefoot rehab & now he has recurrent cellulitis...aaarrrgghhh...! I sat in my tack room yesterday & cried. I have worked so very hard to get my current property which is so perfect, I have a lovely arena, I have transport, jumps, a quad to maintain the arena, a tack room full of carefully chosen stuff...but every single time I climb onto the bottom rung of the riding ladder, I get knocked off again. I simply cannot keep a horse sound and in work.

I was thinking about giving up yesterday now that the cellulitis is back. It would mean getting everyone PTS as no-one is going to want an ex racer with navicular & cellulitis, an ex racer with PSSM & failed KS surgery or a Dartmoor with PSSM who has never got over her rough start in the drifts. But the thought of empty fields, empty stables, an empty tack room, and what would I do with myself? I would also hate to live in a house without land. I have got used to the space.

I just don't know. I earn a substantial salary which all goes on horses. I have autism & ADHD which makes it extremely hard to hold onto a job at that level, and I am grateful every time I get through another month. I have had disappointment after disappointment with horses - but also all the happiest times of my life have been horse related. If I gave up, the core of my life would disappear.

Ask me again if I manage to get my horse back into proper work...

 

[ozpoz]

I have learnt practically everything from horses and the world around them, on so many levels, even if I didn’t understand at the time. From childhood onwards they’ve influenced my life, good times and not so good. There are very few times when I haven’t had a nice horse to spend time with.
I don’t regret any of it although I appreciate not everyone has the same view, and the older I get the more I am grateful.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I wanted to ride ever since I can remember, but wasn’t allowed as a child. Owning my own was a dream come true and losing him has meant a loss of my social life. I don’t know if I’d get another, tho, it is too painful losing a horse.

Re the money, the OH never mentioned it, but I know he’s relieved I’m not forking out for twice daily danilon, livery, hay, all the vet bills. It will help to secure our future. He sometimes catches me looking at for sale adverts. I know what people mean about an addiction.