people who have horses and dont ride??

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wildcard

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im just curious how many people have horses and dont ride or exercise them.. I understand not everyone likes to compete which is fair enough but how many actually just dont ride at all.. ??

Im on a livery yard with approximately 20 people and id say probably only one or two other people ride? is this normal??? some of the horses which people own cost an awful lot of money so why not ride them??

This isnt a dig at anyone as far as im concerned as long as horses are happy and healthy im not fussed more just curious how many other people experience this, I love riding and competing but to get a nice hack out with someone i have to box up and go to a friends yard for this.
 
Up until a while ago I had 2 non-ridden horses. One is my old retired Forester and the other was a 20 month old filly. I did still take them for walks out though, for a change of scenery and extra grass :D missed riding though!
 
We have a few, nothing wrong really with this they love and care for there horses but it does make for a very expensive pet. One will walk her pony out in hand but will never ride him, there is always a reason why, does not have the time to tack up, does not have the time to groom, but has the time to walk him out rather than ride him:confused: But each to their own really. My girl is still on box rest and I can not wait to get back on :D
 
I would like to ride but realistically the type of horse I would need would be a totally bombproof been there done it all cobby type and that's not exactly cheap! And I don't trust loaning after a bad experiance :( I've now got a exbroodmare who I'd like to reback and break to drive but my mums sort of taken her over (and poor old honey can't be expected to work! :rolleyes:) and I've been left with my totally mental welsh a who is so ridiculously high maintainance I can't afford a third :( everyone says to me to just sell my two but I can't, and even if I did I still wouldn't have enough for the type of horse I need :o
Very frustrating! :(
 
I own seven horses with a foal on the way as well. I regularly ride two. The others I keep either because they are out on loan doing a job or because they are old and/or crocked in some way or other and I feel it my responsibility to make sure they enjoy their lives as much as possible whilst they are in a fit state to do so rather than attempting to pass them on to an uncertain future.

Like you I have no decent hacking round here, if I did I'd probably ride the old boys out in walk but as it is they are field ornaments who give me much amusement, pleasure and love.
 
Most of the horses were probably bought to ride but soon had health, soundness or behavior problems which make them hard to ride or sell so people just give up.

Some will have just gone off riding I suppose.
 
Iv got 5 horses, 3 I don't ride as 1 is to old, 1 to yound and 1 outgrown but won't sell him as nobody could say he would get a good home.

I can honestly say I get as much joy out off loving after them as I do riding.

A lady down the road has 2 which she don't ride.

There are homes like it out there for the horses that can't be ridden if you can get the right one but nothing iv got will ever leave my place now due to horror stories but have sold horses before just never again :)
 
I can understand when people have got oldies i myself have a retired OAP and when horses are young or unrideable but out of all the horses on our yard i would honestly say only 2 are unrideable.. ones a foaly and others just had kissing spine surgery..

the rest are pretty sane sensible horses all of which hack or school but still no one rides.. i could understand if like others they maybe walked out in hand or stood messing around playing and grooming them but nothing... which means no one for me to ride out with :(

my poor 4 year old hardly ever has any company out hacking, at some points ive found myself singing to pass time during hacks out im sure car drivers think im loopy lol.
 
I have 4 and I very rarely ride, one is 27, she is retired. one is a section a I rescued as a foal and he's never totally trusted anyone, i can just about catch him if I get him in the stable first, he's had tack on and been lunged/ long reined over a summer but never took to it and was scared witless the whole time, so now he's happliy been a field ornament. One has a bad back, which has not responded to treatment and the other is rideable but a total b!tch!

I could ride if I wanted to, I could spend more time with the last one i mention and get her going, but in all honesty, I dont want to, I'm a groom, I spend all day doing horses and riding, getting pushed about, bitten, kicked and sometimes thrown off..by the time I get home I just want to see my lot, groom them, have chat, feed them and see them happy in their field, their happy and so am I.
 
I have a 12.2hh welsh sec b which I dont ride, if I tried I would squish him!!!! I didnt buy him to ride, I knew if I bought something bigger I would be tempted back into the saddle, which is something I really dont want to do.
But Donovan fulfills me, and I have as much fun with him as I did with Benson.
 
At my previous yard only one other person rode regularly. We had one lady who spent more time grinding rosehips, weaving her own haynets, concocting her own fly spray, communicating with her horse, making rhythm beads, straightening out her straw bed, teaching her horse to raise it's front legs or stop dead when she put her arm in the air than she ever did riding (nothing against this way of 'horsing' but she would claim to people that her horses were 'in work'.)

Another one had two, a mare at 8 years old who went away for breaking but came back and she didn't ever then get on it. Then an old mare who was always retired but then she would proclaim that she was bringing her back into work which would usually amount to tacking her up, riding her round the village a few times that week and then retiring her again.

Another lady took on a 16.3 retired eventer as her first horse - she wanted him to hack. Scared *****less of him, spent five months getting to know him, sat on him once. He became a problem on the ground - bolshy and escaping from his field and so instead of working on this she decided that as he couldn't do his original job (eventing) that he could morally be PTS. So, one day, without warning, he was shot in the field. He was about 16 years old and very healthy.

Nowt as strange as horsey folk...

I am so glad to be where I am, the fact that the girls ride A LOT means that I am so much more encouraged to ride my own horse. My mare is now ridden 4-6 times a week whereas before I kind of fitted in with the crowd and rode maybe 2-3 times a week.

Each to their own - think I just ended up with a strange lot....
 
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This is a interesting thread. There is a lady who keeps 'retired' horses in a field next to one of mine and although she has ones aged 10-32 she hasn't ever ridden any of the 6!! When i moved there i was told she 'rescues' them but not long after we were introduced she told me she bought one of them of a riding school,another from a polo yard and so on. Now it's lovely that she gives them home i suppose but it is wierd that they never get groomed,get trimmed once in a blue moon,she isn't the most experienced owner,2 have laminitus and she either leaves them in the stable with nothing or puts them out on frosty sunny mornings which then makes them bad again so they come in and the whole circle is repeated! I would feel so guilty not riding let alone not grooming them and fussy over them etc. I have had breaks over the years when i've had relationship problems and family dramas and the riding took a back seat as my mind was v much all over the place but for me i'd need to be able to ride at least one to keep me sane. When i'm old and too stiff and manky to ride i can see myself still keeping a couple of ponies to look after and cuddle,could never imagine life without horses at all :)
 
I think as I get older their will come a time when I can't ride, aches and pains are starting already. My horse will probably still be young and fit enough to still be ridden. But I wouldn't sell him so he would possibly not be ridden, but would have the best care that I could give.
 
I bought my little 12hh pony as a favour to my old boss who had him as part of the riding school I taught at:rolleyes: When it shut, he got shipped out to 4 different loan homes and returned within a month...a very misunderstood pony who I understood:o I can't ride him at nearly 5'11 and he is isn't fussed about being ridden but he is my cob's best friend and he is happy living as a field companion with the odd day here and there going for walks in hand, trotting round on the lunge for 15 mins or my friend's kids going to a local show and standing there looking cute:rolleyes:

At 22, with cushings and severe respiratory allergies, I'm just happy to see him enjoy his veteran years happy, relaxed and content with no pressure of doing a 'job':p
 
just having a horse makes some people happy, nothing wrong with that as long as it's cared for;) the previous owner of one of mine had lost her nerve, the longer it went on the more difficult it became for her to even contemplate getting onboard so horse came to me.
 
I currently own 4 Shires, having lost the fifth one to colic, last week. Over the past 16 years, I have had 2 other Shires and a Clyde, which have died due to illness/old age. I have also had 6 foals, 2 of which are still with me and will never be sold. To put it bluntly, I have them because I can. Riding was never the reason for which they were purchased/produced. It really irritates me when I read threads with this title. There is a presumption that because horse ownership is a substantial expense (and it should be if it is done properly) there is only one template or blueprint by which that ownership is judged: riding. I rode as a youngster, but my family never had the resources for us to afford a horse, much less the expenses commensurate with livery, tack, veterinary bills, and lessons. Now that I am a mature adult, and can comfortably afford the aforementioned, I have achieved my dream of owning horses. That dream includes feeding, grooming, providing them with lovely, well-maintained paddocks and large, well-ventilated indoor housing, excellent farriery and veterinary care, and, most of all, vast wells of love. I've done my fingers, hands, and back no favours providing them with the superior facilities and attention to their needs that I feel is their birthright. If the visual seduction, aroma, texture, and sheer wonder of these remarkable animals isn't enough, then ride them. But, don't question others' preferences to remain at their sides, not on their backs.
 
RutlandH2O said:
I currently own 4 Shires, having lost the fifth one to colic, last week. Over the past 16 years, I have had 2 other Shires and a Clyde, which have died due to illness/old age. I have also had 6 foals, 2 of which are still with me and will never be sold. To put it bluntly, I have them because I can. Riding was never the reason for which they were purchased/produced. It really irritates me when I read threads with this title. There is a presumption that because horse ownership is a substantial expense (and it should be if it is done properly) there is only one template or blueprint by which that ownership is judged: riding. I rode as a youngster, but my family never had the resources for us to afford a horse, much less the expenses commensurate with livery, tack, veterinary bills, and lessons. Now that I am a mature adult, and can comfortably afford the aforementioned, I have achieved my dream of owning horses. That dream includes feeding, grooming, providing them with lovely, well-maintained paddocks and large, well-ventilated indoor housing, excellent farriery and veterinary care, and, most of all, vast wells of love. I've done my fingers, hands, and back no favours providing them with the superior facilities and attention to their needs that I feel is their birthright. If the visual seduction, aroma, texture, and sheer wonder of these remarkable animals isn't enough, then ride them. But, don't question others' preferences to remain at their sides, not on their backs.
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I love this response! Especially the last part!

I think my irritation with horse owners who don't ride only comes about when the owner makes out that they ride. Lady number two in my post was an experienced and regular rider (so she told everyone). I saw her ride three times in three years!

If you ever need someone to come and stand in awe at your Shires and shovel some poo for you then let me know ;)
 
If people want to own horses with no intention of riding them then, their money, their life etc
However I do find it laughable when people have horses who they claim to ride but don't. I knew someone like this. The truth was her horse was totally unsuitable & she was terrified of it, but to hear you speak you wouldn't know it.
She was always going to be taking him to this clinic, that dressage competition but then there was always a reason she couldn't. She used to book lessons & then cancel them at the last minute, arrange to hack out with people then not turn up.
In 2 years NEVER not once did she ride the horse.
He was only young as well :(
 
Even if a horse is rideable but just cared for, who cares there are so many poorly treated horses in the world I couldn't care if nobody rode their horses as long as they are looked after
 
I cant ride much due to bad hip but dont see there is anything wrong with it as long as they dont get too fat, or are stuck in their stable a lot of the time

Im sure mine prefer being out in the field munching away. They cost me A LOT to not ride (oops) but i got them to love and care for, as they bring me so much joy (therapy!!!!)
 
I completely understand why people would want to keep horses for the enjoyment of looking after them, i was never questioning this at all and certainly wasnt moaning about it. as most of you have suggested most times than not its due to illness horse or rider or old age,

I suppose i was referring to the type of people who proclaim they ride all the time and dont.. we have a few on our yard who are what i think getting very very close to overweight.. and yet they tell everyone there riding them to help reduce this but you never ever see them doing this... if this was a skinny horse there would be uproar would they not??

i was just curious how people end up owning horses without riding them really dosent matter to me either way as long as looked after properly.
 
I have very little reason to ride. In the past I had horses because I hunted, that was their job, I also had excellent hacking.

Nowadays the hacking is dull, and I go out on the odd occassion if I feel like it.

Most of my horses are young, or in foal. I don't ride the stallion because I don't need to, I have others to ride if I feel the need.

Anyway, I never seem to have much time in the daylight hours, unless the weather is disgusting and that isn't my idea of fun, I've served my time getting wet, cold and downright miserable because I have to exercise the beasts.
 
I have had Blue for 15 years and we did everything in the day, but now i just love grooming, walking him out and looking after him :) i try to keep his life interesting but he too seems happy to chill out i ride maybe once a week i am too tall and heavy to do much more but i just love having him around :) what do people do without a horselol x
 
Perhaps those people who claim to ride, but don't, need a bit of understanding rather then vilification. They may want to belong to a horsey fraternity but have lost their nerve through fear or pain. As long as their horses are well cared for, what does it matter? Being on a yard in livery brings these people into contact with others of like mind. Cut them some slack. They are most likely dealing with their own demons.

I've heard some horror stories about people purchasing horses, establishing them in livery and keeping their charges in stables 24/7. Unless medically required, this is something about which to rail.
 
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