Why you had to give up horses..

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MochaDun

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Just curious as to the reasons/factors why some people have to, or decide to, step away from horse owning?

Age or illness?
Finances?
Lost interest?

Or are there instances where you may be effected by one or several of those things but you found a way to keep your horse by getting a sharer, putting it out on loan for a while etc until things improved/you could reflect on how you felt?
 
My mum gave up for a combination of reasons.
She broke her leg in three places (not horse related)
She was diagnosed with farmers lung
My sister had a baby. My mums first grandchild
And she just had had enough
She said she was tired of the mud the cold the wet. She had just had enough.
She used to produce show cobs for 30+ years. When she comes and sees mine I always ask if she misses it and she always says no.
 
I sort of gave up when I went to Uni, my boy went to a lovely riding school, it was meant to be temporary (3 years) but my Father died which really threw everything upside down and my whole life changed. Horses vanished for a number of years, me and horses just weren't the same without my dear Dad tagging along.

I went back to the horses (after about 12 years off) and I got a lovely loan but I developed M.E (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) and Fibromyalgia and after a couple of years I had to face facts that I am just no longer well enough to look after a horse, even for 3 days a week and riding was an utter mission full of pain, fatigue and enormous amounts of 'payback'. I was pretty miserable to be honest.

I now go along to a local Riding School for a plod in the school or a very short hack, they're great as they know I just want the interaction maybe once a month if I'm up to it so I don't have to keep having a 'newbie lesson' before a hack or a schooling session!

If I'm lucky I may get better and I'd love to get another horse on loan but I cannot see myself owning again, I'm a bit neurotic as an owner and now Google has been 'invented' I would be spending millions on the vet every week ;)
 
I went cold turkey when I went to Uni - 4 years and I probably rode twice a year over the holidays - totally non horsey family and clearly no funds so no option.

I've cut right back while being pregnant / having small kids - just hacking a bit
The great thing about our sport is that I can pick it back up again when I'm 45 and still have lots of fun
 
I have had to give up (hopefully only temporarily) due to illness affecting the financial situation (and my ability to ride regularly). Not a fun place to be and not a situation I ever imagined I would find myself in.

I suppose I could have looked to put my mare out for loan indefinitely and hope for the best, but things being as uncertain as they were I decided to do right by her and sell her as I couldn't take the risk of the loan not working out and had no guarantee I would be in a position to take her back for the foreseeable future. Additionally, had I put her on loan the responsibility of still owning a horse would have been an added burden to my situation such as it was/is.

A fellow livery at the time also had to give up and sell her horse due to illness a while before I did.
 
I sold my mare when we just couldn't afford her anymore. I'd lost my job and my boyfriend had sold a car and a motorbike to help fund keeping her. I'd not long moved in with him and he'd sacrificed so much for me... so when I fell pregnant I wrote her for sale advert. Luckily she sold on the first viewing to a great home.

That was 16 years ago and I've never had another horse since, rode a few for friends ages ago. Now I'm on here reading about everyone else's horses lol. Oh and waiting for a foal to be born. Come on Missy!!!

What's hard is after so long I still miss her a lot. I know thats strange but I think she might of been my horse of a lifetime, it just wasn't meant to be.
 
I had a rescue horse who came to me as a horse to look after until they got another more suitable one for me, it was always the intention to send him back when he was no longer useful to me as he was old but it was to get me back into it. He was here maybe 6 months and they said they had another so i took him back and they said they didn't have the other one but they were keeping mine anyway cause he should be retired. So i was horseless for about 5 years out of frustration lol
 
I have moved to London for my career. I have neither the time or the funds for horses at the moment.
Have been away from horses for 2 years now, will hopefully get back into it in a couple of years.
 
Uni, and I probably won't really get back into it as a rider. I like hacking out and having fun if my sister has something suitable in (currently the lovely Tango is my perfect horse so I'm hoping quite hard he's about after my exams so I can have some more fun on him before he's sold!) but I can take it or leave it ultimately.

I love horses, I love being 'groom' for my sister and I love being up at the yard when I'm home. But I don't pine for riding- just for the actual horses and their personalities.
 
MochaDun said:
Just curious as to the reasons/factors why some people have to, or decide to, step away from horse owning?

Age or illness?
Finances?
Lost interest?

Or are there instances where you may be effected by one or several of those things but you found a way to keep your horse by getting a sharer, putting it out on loan for a while etc until things improved/you could reflect on how you felt?
Click to expand...

Initially it was because I couldn't afford a mortgage and a horse, so financial. I have ridden for other people since,but gave that up 2 years ago after a bad fall and 6 months of treatment for injuries. I don't bounce anymore and my poor old bones can't take it. Still love horses, but get pleasure from watching other people riding (events, shows etc.)
 
I sold my pony for love when I was 21. Bought a house, got married, popped out three children in quick succession and didn't give horses a single thought for another 21 years, let alone ride or even touch one. Aged 42, with now grown up children, a divorce and a re-marriage behind me, I announced to hubby number two one day "I think I'd like to go riding..." That was 8 years ago and I now own 4 cobs, oops, one of whom I bred. Life is good and I'm having the time of my life with them. I don't regret my break at all, it's just that now I can't see how I could have been away for so long as they bring me such joy. People who got to know the 'horseless' me have said "Now that we've seen you with horses, we realise there was a hole in your life that we didn't know was there until you filled it".
 
Uni and I miss it a hell of a lot. I ride with our riding society a couple of times a month and have had the opportunity to compete which is great but can't wait to get a job which allows me to have my own again
I think what I miss the most is the constant drive for improvement. I used to event so there was always a new fence to jump xc schooling or a new threshold to hit with the dressage, then the achievement when it all goes right. I dont miss lame horses though :p
 
I know this is an old thread but I just wanted to say thanks. I put my lovely mare up for sale this week after battling with ill health for almost two years (nearly the whole time I owned her). We became a bad match after I got sick and we've struggled on but my energy levels just won't return. Reading some of your comments has made me feel a bit better about the decision and has reassured me you are never too old to get back in the saddle, so even if it takes a few years to get me back there it won't matter. Thanks xo
 
I gave up for a couple of years and took to jumping out of aeroplanes. Though I still have my Clydesdale, I potter around on her at times. I gave up working with them when I realised I was no longer nimble enough to get out of the way of bouncing racehorses.
I went to Uni and did a business degree in my mid 50's. Still very involved with Pony Club though as an examiner and coach.
 
When I was young I had very severe asthma. It got worse and worse during my teens. I was diagnosed as allergic to horses, and refused to accept it. Despite frequent stays in hospital, I carried on (with the help of friends) keeping my old lad and thought I could "manage" my allergy.

When I was 21, I took my horse and with a couple of teenage friends with their horse, went on holiday to a remote cottage with no phone (yeah, I know, great idea...) and during the night I had the worst attack I'd ever had. Due to the resourcefulness of my friends and the emergency services, I made it to the nearest Intensive Care Unit and they got me through the night, but only just.

I gave up contact with horses for aver 30 years.
 
I am quite old (approaching 60 with frightening rapidity) and have "given up" several times, but it just doesn't seem to stick. First time was after injury at 16; got back into horses professionally at 21. Second time was at 30 when I stopped breeding WB's and sold up; that didn't last long at all and I had a horse or two within a year. Then gave up completely for a couple of years, now have three and still ride professionally. I did miss them dreadfully when I was without horses; there is something in some people's blood that makes having horses like an incurable disease.
 
I gave up for a whole three months, last year! I'm in my late sixties, ridden "spirited/onward bound" sorts all my life. I sold the last one in August last year as he grew and grew, and got fitter and fitter, and I did not have the core strength to balance him properly any more. I was also not enjoying riding so much because of this.
So - I decided that, after sixty-six years, I should give up: all the tack (very expensive, made to measure), rugs (ditto) grooming kit - several full sets, lotions, potions and sprays, leather headcollars, in fact all the kit from the last twenty+ years of "only the best will do", went with the horse. That was it!
After a week, I started "just looking, out of habit, really" at horse ads. After a month of feeling very much at a loose end, I started looking at loans (decided that wouldn't work, as my standards aren't necessarily the same as others and either I or they would get fed up) rode lots of allegedly safe horses and didn't want to ride any of them again, looked on DD and there she was! Young (4) Exmoor x ? Pony, 13.3hh, looking very much like the first "proper" pony I had as a child. Dubious set up, but went and saw and rode her: green, thin, neglected, wormy and scared, but sweet nature and lovely paces. Bought on the spot.
Nine months and a huge colt foal later ("no, lady, definitely not in foal, never been near a stallion . . .) which is sold and will go at the end of October) I am thrilled with her. She is very pretty, well put together, quick to learn and as challenging as any bigger animal. The good thing is that she is 13.3hh rather than 16.3hh, has a shorter neck and a very long thick mane to hang on to.
Never say never!
 
I never completely gave up, i was pony mad but ponyless as a child and i lived for my weekly lesson but lack of money and time meant I barely rode at all from being 16 to 21. Then in my post grad year I took on a new part time job, I got chatting to my manager and she was lapsed horsey too, she started getting wistful and spoke to an old friend from her days working with horses and before long a beautiful ex racer arrived on loan. I was able to ride her and help out with her too.

It was pivotal. I had not long split up with a boyfriend who I had been with for many of my horse free years and when I bumped into him again he asked me how I was and I said "I'm riding again", it felt really significant.

Once I finished uni and got a proper job I started having riding lessons and eventually met my husband at the riding school. We bought our horse a few years later and she makes me incredibly happy. She is a lifelong ambition realised and she surpasses all my expectations. I can't imagine giving up again.
 
I have given up short term twice.

Once when I was at uni, and the other right now as I have just bought my first home. I say 'given up'. I am on a break- but still ride every other week or so. I either go to see mine whose on short term loan, or I sneak a ride on a friends horse.

I have enjoyed the freedom and the money in my account, but I don't know how well I would cope long term without horses around.
 
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