WHY do people have horses if they find them such a chore ?

Maybe the horse has an old injury and cannot be worked? Maybe they have problems with home life and everything is a bit rush at the moment?

I went from spending my every waking hour (bar working) with my horses, to seeing them a few times a month (hubby does them) because I cant get to them, when I am there im doing chores (poo picking, ragwort, fencing, cleaning, water, trough) but I enjoy my horses and it wont be forever.
 
I must admit though, if we didn't enjoy it, we would never do it...expensive, all weathers, hard physical work, emotionally draining at times, and can result in serious injury or death! So surely they must enjoy it on some level? Or are attached/feel sense of duty to horse? If it were such an albatross, they would sell, so they must get something from it. Not everyone is the same at expressing things though...

Honestly, OP, do consider taking up psychology if it interests you :) We ended up at university by doing an adult learners scheme and had a lot of fun. Go for it!
 
YorksG said:
It's reading posts like this that reminds me again why I am not on a livery yard and would poke my own eyes with pins before I went back to such a place! There are days when I have had a tough day at work (I work full time in a demanding job) when filling bags with haylage, in the rain, does not see me at my happy smiley best. To think that some twonk would then deem that I should not have a horse, because I am not a little ray of sunshine, would absolutely put the tin lid on the day for me. I really do think that if more people at livery yards spent more time thinking about their own motivations, rather than those of others, livery yards might be better places.
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Having read lots of your posts and agreed very much I'm surprised by this post, not really like you.

I too have a youngster suddenly and unexpectedly in with an abcess so can sympathise with grumpiness.
 
Dunno, I got annoyed with mine today because he didn't want to stand for a new rug to be fitted. I spent an hour with him, then tucked him up for the night. He is rarely ridden, I won't be able to ride for god knows how long and sometimes, it IS a chore, frankly. I'm so bliddy busy at work that I'm finding I increasingly have to ask favours in order to fit it all in. I don't think I'm going to sell or loan him, but it is definitely a chore some days.
 
Doormouse said:
Having read lots of your posts and agreed very much I'm surprised by this post, not really like you.

I too have a youngster suddenly and unexpectedly in with an abcess so can sympathise with grumpiness.
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Sore feet in youngsters are a nightmare! She wasn't that brilliant about holding her feet up for any length of time and was a work in progress, having been sedated and having her foot hacked twice has set her back a bit!
I do get irritated by the endless livery yard problems, when on the whole if people spent less time bothering about what others did, they wouldn't have the problems anyway :)
I do hope we continue to largely agree though.
 
I understood what you meant OP!

YM was one, I don't understand why she had horses, let alone managed a yard!! Horses seemed to be a pain, a bore, a hassle, money NOT well spent and she wasn't that bothered about welfare either.

People warned me I would get fed up of day to day care...it's only been (almost) a year and I'm loving it more and more each day :D
 
some days i think "ive had enough im selling" mostly because of my surroundings....if something annoys me about a yard/something someone has said etc....i end up feeling depressed and "blaming" the horse....not her fault.

atm im mentally exhausted and had enough of yards - not my horses fault - yet shes the one who gets less attention as i end up not wanting to be at the yard etc...

mabey thats the reasoning behind some people?! the actual surroundings??


fwiw - i adore my horse, im so lucky to have her and work my backside off to have her -i will enjoy her but just need to sort out my mental exhaustion first :)
 
Doormouse said:
I do think a lot of you have completely missed the OP's point.

I run a livery yard and sometimes struggle to accept how some people seem to begrudge their time doing their horses, not just somedays, but everyday. None of us are cheerful everyday and there wil, always be days where we are grumpy, introverted etc but generally at some stage we show pleasure and enjoyment that we are around our horses.

It is also not the amount of time, we are many of us on a tight schedule, it's the effort we make while we are there. If people rush in, don't speak to their horse, hassle it to come in, move over, pick up feet etc etc I would think it starts to feel a bit unloved. We all rush in sometimes and hassle but not every day of the week.

Time spent with you horse is not measured in quantity but quality. If you are grumpy and cross everyday, no quality.
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Spot on.
I think many of us have seen these kinds of owners and wonder why they bother. Its depressing because rather than turn a blind eye to the needs of the horse they can't be bothered to get out of bed for, other people check it has hay/water/turn out/reattach broken rug straps etc.

Fortunately, there are many others who are the opposite and are totally committed each day regardless of wind, snow, illness and other demands that life throws at them.

I don't recall a single day when I've thought the horses were a chore in all the years I've had them. I'm still as excited as I was 50 years ago when I first got in the saddle.
 
I think my point has been completely misunderstood, sorry. It was the every single day " i do not want to be here" livery I was discussing with hubs, not the odd day you feel like c***.

Never mind, i'll keep my discussions with hubbie. But please don't forget that a lot of us ARE on livery yards, and this has to be a topic that is aired occasionally.... perhaps not by me again though ;)
 
Shysmum said:
I think my point has been completely misunderstood, sorry. It was the every single day " i do not want to be here" livery I was discussing with hubs, not the odd day you feel like c***.

Never mind, i'll keep my discussions with hubbie. But please don't forget that a lot of us ARE on livery yards, and this has to be a topic that is aired occasionally.... perhaps not by me again though ;)
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Sorry I think I may have misunderstood the OP :o ...I see what you mean. There are people I can think of that I wonder why they have certain animals (not just horses). There is no point if it makes you consistantly miserable xxx
 
I know where you are coming from op. I know someone quite close to me who keeps her one on full livery,her choice up to her,but moans how much it costs goes up once a fortnight and then moans because her clothes smell,she works part time so has plenty of time but her reason for not going is it spoils her me time. And is now buying here daughter a pony because her friends will be jealous
 
But are you at your yard all hours every day? I go to my yard early doors, drag pony out to field, do my 'chores' etc and pass all but a grunt to fellow liveries (too early, caffeine deprived, in a rush to get to work and generally half asleep). Pony is barely looked at other than a rug change and dragged to field. To an outsider this would look like I don't give a monkeys. However come the evening I re-visit, bring pony in, many kisses, groom, ride, share tea and chats with fellow liveries and actually enjoy my time at yard.
You do seem on a downer about livery yards in general. Yes we've all met the person who really doesn't give a damn, but at your last 4 yards?
 
I know where you are coming from ! In New Zealand, we don't do "livery" full or otherwise. You pay rent to a land owner and put your horse in their paddock, you might have your own paddock or it will be in with several others. I know several people who don't see their horses more than once a week ! Horse is quite happy eating grass and doing nothing. They have all the gear, pay the rent, get their feet trimmed, but that is pretty much it. I don't get that at all.


Then there are the ones, who don't ride. They talk about it, have all the gear, spend hours picking up poo and doing all sorts of other stuff. Lots of ground work. But they don't ride. I don't get that either.

So I'm with OP on this - why bother? Wouldn't a dog be easier, not to mention cheaper?
 
Some people are not morning people, some are not evening people, some are neither or both lol;

One of my liveries looks like she's sucking lemons in the mornings;

But I agree shysmum, she definitely shouldn't have a horse, everyday is met with " god its cold, blimey its getting muddy, jesus its dark, its costing me £30 a ride ( this makes me laugh as she rides about an hour a week ) blimey he's eating a lot of hay"........etc etc

I still love getting up at 5.30, I love poo picking, I love doing their feeds, love everything about it; And I am the one who go's up and fills the water up everyday, poo picks every afternoon in the dark, moves the electric fencing in the wind and rain. I love it all :)
 
Shysmum,

Don't worry it's not just you but maybe you have had bad luck at meeting a lot of them. I met a couple but they were both at the same grass livery yard (though happily not at the same time). One even lived & worked part time in the village. Despite that it was still too much like hard work to come & check that the horses were ok more than once a week.
One owner had 2. She used to turn up at the weekend, spend 5 mins there & go. I could understand it once her OH had cancer, but not for the prior 2 years - they even had paddocks at home if the 3 mile drive was too much. I phoned her first thing one morning to say 1 looked like it had laminitis - it was late afternoon before she turned up - she had been unpacking after her holiday apparently.
Thinking about YO there (who lived on the premises) was as bad & only discovered that their pony had rubbed it's face raw when I enquired what the problem was - it had been raw for 2 days in a field next to the house. It used to be handled twice a year to have it's feet trimmed.
Guess why I left that yard even though it was only 1 field away from my house. I had got fed up of people relying on me to let them know if their horses were not ok when I worked full time with an hour commute each way.
 
NZJenny said:
Then there are the ones, who don't ride. They talk about it, have all the gear, spend hours picking up poo and doing all sorts of other stuff. Lots of ground work. But they don't ride. I don't get that either.

So I'm with OP on this - why bother? Wouldn't a dog be easier, not to mention cheaper?
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I very rarely ride! I love being with horses, doing the groundwork, but I don't like riding very much, the reason is simply because I am crap at it and it's not very fair on the horse!!! I have had lessons with many instructors but I never seem to improve, just one of those things, but I do have a friend who rides mine for me and where I play my part is the theory, I can see from the ground and help her it's a knack I seem to have, so as a team we work very well together, but riding just isn't for me!
 
I know what you mean OP, I have the same problem, unfortunately it's with my mum. I think she loves the idea of her horse more than her horse. She rarely goes to see her, rides her even less, but will buy her random supplements every now and then even though horse doesn't need them... seems odd, why not save the money for fuel to drive out and SEE your horse? Of course because hers is kept with mine it's just easier for her to get me to see to her, and of course because if I say no she will be furious and I care about the horse, I say yes. She's a lovely pony someone would be so happy to own.
 
I can definitely relate to this OP as various liveries over the years complain about never getting a lye in during the winter because horses have to be out by 9, and therefore end up asking myself or another woman on the yard to turn horses out so that they can get some more sleep.

Or the other classic is that they work a full time job and dont have time to ride, much out, turn out etc. Yet same person expected me to ride my old TB mare 2 hours a day despite me having a part time job and doing a-levels and being a carer to my mum. Logic seems to escape some people sometimes :/
 
I'm with the OP on this one too.

Our YO has to insist that all stabled horses are turned out by 9am and those on grass 24/7 are fed once a day (hay or bucket feed) just so that they have the minimum standard of care.

Every yard seems to have at least one owner who can't be bothered.
 
I had a complete break from horses for 20ish years to bring my children up. Now every time I ache, or its cold or raining I remember the horseless years when I would of given anything to of been near them and nothing seems a chore :)

My house on the other hand.............
 
I work full time and I love my horses and they have everything they need,. However, sometimes I don't have time that I would like to spend with them, sometimes I am very tired and under great pressure from a variety of sources and feeling I am failing at everything and letting everyone down so yes, sometimes I am very miserable and sometimes I don't say much and sometimes I even have a little whinge, sometimes I don't sweep the yard perfectly and sometimes my horses are muddy too, and sometimes other people turn out and bring in for me, as I do for them, because we all are in the same boat and just want to survive the winter doing the best we can for our horses so they are bought in and out at reasonable times of the day.

People who have all day to spend on the horses and do everything to a high standard all the time and never need help are very lucky and they shouldn't be so judgmental and assume that those who can't meet those standards are lazy or don't care about their horses.
 
Moomin1 said:
The horses may not be 'suffering' - they may be absolutely fine, despite owner's minimal time with them. If horses' welfare is compromised like I say, then yes it's an issue, but otherwise it's nobody's business what someone does with their horse time wise each day.

Maybe these people have other serious problems going on in life they are having to deal with, which is why they aren't looking happy?
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yup! :(
 
I doubt that anyone who has kept horses for many years hasn't had times when life makes extra demands, with pregnancy, bereavement, illness, more hours at work etc, etc. It isn't an excuse for poor care though.
 
I'm sure I would have been a top subject at your yard then..

I hardly ever rode my horse or spent hours grooming her or enjoyed every minute at the yard in the end of our time together. I had a lot of commitments and pressure on me career wise (study wise too), did my horse go without? Of course not she was well fed, mucked out, feet trimmed and kept moderately tidy (as natives can be) etc. But no I didn't have time or energy to ride her or sit there grooming her for hours she certainly didn't suffer though.

In the end I sold her to someone who could give her more after owning her for 6 years and knowing her many more.. Yeah some times I felt it was a chore when I had many other things on my plate but as long as she didn't suffer she was never to know...

It wasn't I didn't love her or want it to work but sometimes other things happen in life that can turn your hobby into something less enjoyable.
 
Standards are standards to me whether you work full time or you don't work at all; My yard is also my home and I will not have full barrows of muck left for 24 hours outside because one livery can't be bothered to take it to the muck heap, I don't care that she works full time; I like my yard swept, I like the hay barn neat and tidy, I like brushes/forks etc put back. I love my home, its taken 50 years to get my dream and it costs to keep, why shouldn't people treat it with respect.
 
For the same reason people stick with their partners through bad times.

There are times when your patience is thin, everything is going wrong and life in general gets you down, but you grit your teeth and get through it because you know how it used to be and hope that it will be that way again once things have sorted themselves out. You don't necessarily enjoy it at that time, heck you may even resent it, it doesn't mean that you still don't care for that person (horse).

If it doesn't improve then you take a break, but making that decision to remove something you truly love from your life, even if it will improve your situation, is extremely difficult. Just because they resent the chores/lack of money/pain/whatever doesn't mean they don't love the horse.

Just my 2p on people that may genuinely be having difficulties.
 
SM you know if you think about the yard you are on and what's been going on it does not suprise me that is not all sweetness and light on your yard ATM .
The other two liverys where never going to be thrilled that you declined to join their nice little job share rota.
And considering the lack of control that was shown by one when you said no I think it's a given tha she's moaning on now.
It up to the individual if they ride or not I personally would not keep a horse as a pet but people do and as long as its needs are met I don't see the issue .
It's also not an issue if she moans 99.9 % of the time she doing her horse as long as its getting what it needs .
You do your horse and your thing and learn to ignore them you were never going to be best friends after rota thing.
 
Hi Shysmum, I'm another who thinks most have taken your innocent musing to the wrong level :)

At one of my previous yards, purely DIY, owner lived off site, there were horses who lived out 24/7 who's owners attended to check on them just a handful of times a year. There were no particular "reportable" welfare issues, although their care was clearly not how any of us would keep out horses, because the horses luckily remained healthy as far as I could tell, their hooves were trimmed maybe two or three times a year, the responsible owners who's horses shared the fields made sure there was always clean water, grazing was excellent so no particular weight issues. I often wondered why these people had horses when they were clearly not interested in them.

Another yard I was at which was purely full livery, had four or five rideable horses all in full health and workable ages with no health issues, where the owners never or rarely visited. Clearly money wasn't as issue for these people spending £90 a week on livery for horses which had been bought for a few thousand pounds each. At least these owners were responsible enough to make sure their horses were well cared for, but I did used to wonder why the owners kept them?

Now for a bit of a rant to the posters who have jumped on Shysmum...
To those who think having an opinion or a musing is somehow wrong, I have an opinion on boxing although I've never punched anyone, heroin although I've never taken any, and child abuse although I've never abused one...sometimes I even discuss these issues with other people in conversation - shock horror!!! Does that make me too nosey or someone you wouldn't want to be around????? After all if everyone was completely insular and took no notice of what was going on around them what a selfish world we would be living in! So lighten up people, a person should be allowed to make an innocent observation or comment without being jumped on!
Rant over!
 
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