should he go back?

[serena2005]

iv recently moved back home and looking for a job. with winter coming in fast its getting rather difficult to have enough time to muck out and ride every night espically with my 1 year old daughter around.
i was given him to bring on but if i havent got time to ride apart from a few times a week and at the weekends, i may not even have time to ride when i get an evening job during the week, im not getting anything out of him and progress will slow down even more the less i ride.

iv been looking for a sharer but have had no luck, i know if i send him back he will become a field horse and will not be riden from one month to the next and all the work i have done will go straight out the window.

a girl at the yard has offer her horse for me to ride if he does go, i just dont know what to do for the best. i havent ridden all week due to lack of time and i havent even got a job yet.

what do you all think?

 

[samp]

If you have not got the time and finances then I imagine it is best to send him back. it will be hard and upsetting but you have to put the time in with these horses and having a 1yo also you will have other priorities

 

[Dogbetty141]

I would send him back if you do not have the time and you will be able to ride your friends horse. Either that or find a sharer or friend who rides. I think about that sometimes its would be a lot easier.

 

[serena2005]

the ower pays everything, money isnt the problem its just the time.

 

[serena2005]

i have advertised him in local tacks shops for a sharer, but not had any replies, iv asked everyone i know and everyone they knows who rides if they wana share him. but still no joy.

you probably are right about sending him back. just feels like the last 8 months will have been a total waste of time.

 

[Judie]

Hang on in there, it will be so hard to get back into once you've given up and taking up the odd free ride isn't the same.

If he won't get ridden if you send him back why are you worried you aren't riding him enough, he doesn't have to be eventing fit (does he?) to just tick over in the winter, then spring will be here and the days will seem longer and things start to get easier, continue with your mission to share him, there will be some one out there.

 

[serena2005]

thats a very good point i didnt think about it like that.

 

[spaniel]

Woah dont beat yourself up. There are thousands of horses that dont get ridden at all during the week through the winter and yours will come to no harm if you manage to do the weekends and an odd night in the week. if money isnt an issue Id say he was better off staying with you. Winter is harder for all of us but we get through it, you just have to take things as they come and not get too tied up in what you think you should be doing.

 

[serena2005]

you've got a good point there. im just worried ill do all the hard work during the winter and she will turn round and say, thanks ill have him back now! lol but then she hasnt got anyone to ride him so that might not happen!

thanks im feeling a bit more positive about it now!

 

[filly190]

I think, just be honest with the owner and explain that when you have time, the horse will be worked. I would accept this and be grateful that the horse is progessing.

Good riders can achieve a lot in less schooling sessions than the average rider, so make what you do (when you can do it) count.

If you send the horse back, it will just go backwards and be in the field as you say. So what you are doing is important. The horse is getting handled everyday which is more than it would be getting.

Dont beat yourself up, you obviously care very much and are taking a lot of pride in this task. Believe in yourself and what you can do. This horse will still come on, you perhaps dont realise what you are putting in already.

 

[Kelly1982]

[ QUOTE ]
im just worried ill do all the hard work during the winter and she will turn round and say, thanks ill have him back now!

[/ QUOTE ]

Thats the risk you take with any loan and she did say she only wanted you to bring him on so its not gonna be a life long thing.

Saying that though i agree with the others, if he is just gonna be stuck in a field somewhere then i think you should keep him for now and just keep him ticking over. You dont have to pay for him and get the use of him whenever you want so your in a win win situation. grabbing rides here and there is not the same and the offers may soon start to dry up.

 

[Christmas_Kate]

I'm in the same position, havent the hours in the day to do the work I need to with him, with two kids and everything else. He's seriously NOT happy ATM. I have limited turnout, and am having to do with walking him out as much as I can daily. This does keep him ticking over on the point that he's learning alot about leading inhand, and traffic etc. But i'm seriously wondering if it's fair on him. He's only a bubba really. The difference is mine NEEDS turning away for a year or so. Yours doesnt, but won't come to any harm being left to just tick over.
If his owner won't ride him does it matter if you don't??