Would you keep horses if you couldn’t compete?

Personally, not competing wouldn't bother me at all, I guess because I came to riding later in life and not really having done it I guess it's never been a priority anyway. My daughter competed and my friends do and I enjoy celebrating their successes but for me it all seems very stressful, I just want to enjoy my horses and have a bit of fun in a non-stressful way like hacking, lessons, pole clinics that kind of thing
 
Competing is my drive and my motivation. I love producing exciting, athletic and talented horses and I love the journey. Until that journey stops, and then they are sold. I use competitions as a push and a check of where I am. Weirdly, I am not that bothered about the result or where I finish, I just love the process. I want to know how I am doing, what holes have shown up and if we have improved in our training. Competitions are the test for this.

If I didn't compete, I wouldn't ride. I say this as someone who currently has 4 in work juggled around a full time job. I loathe hacking, I can just about tolerate it for a reason like fitness or as a break from schooling.

I am quite hard about it. I know what I want with a horse and if it doesn't fit that criteria then I am quick to move on. No point in trying to make a silk purse from a pigs ear. Don't get me wrong, I really like the ones I have and I love being involved in the journey but I get almost more pleasure out of seeing them do a great job for someone else when they are sold.

Horses are far too expensive to be slightly unmotivated by. Its not the end of the world to sell and if circumstances change then you can begin a journey with a new one.
 
LEC nothing wrong with that, I think it would be boring if we were all the same and I love having a happy hacker horse that has had a great life and been well produced so I would totally agree there is life after competition for a good horse :)
 
I've had two years of barely competing. I've loved it when I've gone out, but it's made me realise there's so much more. I adore hacking Fig and training Rooni up now is just wonderful.

The training is significant for me, I really do enjoy that.

I would still have horses if I couldn't compete. There, I said it!
 
tristar said:
sometimes pigs ears turn into silk purses, top of the range at that. all sounds very hardbitten to me
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Depends on what you want to do. If you have put the time and effort in and they are going out and struggling then its no fun for the horse either. Better they go off and do a really good job for someone else which is easy for them. You buy/breed them in the first place that you hope they have the right ability and trainability to go up the levels but sometimes it doesn't happen. I feel more sorry for round peg horses where people keep trying to ram them in a square hole and then everyone is miserable.
 
AUB said:
Yes. For me it's not the competition against others that motivate me. It's the training and the striving to be a little bit better and make progress everyday. I don't know if it even makes sense, but I just want to be the best rider that I can be. I don't care if I'm better than others.
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makes sense to me
 
I agree re training rather than competing. I love the training most, myself and the horse! The worst part about my pony being out of action was the feeling that I was losing my fitness and riding skills. I haven't competed since February due to the asthma issue, and whilst I miss it a bit, it was really the day to day riding/training that I missed most when I couldn't ride. His competing days are numbered anyway, so I want to keep training myself so I'll be ready to start again with another horse, whenever that is. I would ride without the competing, and did for many years. I'm looking forward to the luxury of retiring a horse voluntarily rather than forcibly and trying to train myself to enjoy hacking as well as schooling!
 
milliepops said:
I do agree in principle LEC, however I do also love my silk-ear horses and none of us are miserable ;)
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It is a funny thing, as Red1 said, for some horses, and some situations you mind, for others you don't. If you mind them not fitting the original job plan, then moving them on, if are marketable and can secure a good home, is logical. Sometimes ambitions change with horses or time. Sometimes they don't etc.
 
I haven’t read the replies yet sorry. But in answer to the title question no I wouldn’t.

Competing and hunting is my main drive with horses as it’s what I enjoy doing, and see my riding as more of a sport that way. I love hacking/schooling/training when working towards th3:3 or it’s my work but with my own I struggle to find motivation if I have no goals outside of home.

Therefore next year my lovely horse will be for sale, as I want to save up to buy a house and realistically that is looking impossible with a horse. I could keep her on DIY and rush around everyday to ride her with no spare money to train or compete but it will feel a chore and id hate to feel about my horse that way.

My two retired boys however will continue to munch grass... so won’t quite be out of ownership!!

I hope this doesn’t come across harsh to my horses but they cost a lot of money and I won’t put life on hold for a horse hence my post.
 
windand rain said:
Kind of shows up who the horsemen are and who the riders are though
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What does, competing? Competing successfully might indicate that the rider is a horseman, though there are plenty of things top riders do to their horses which I wouldn't accept being done to mine.

Not competing certainly doesn't indicate that the rider is not a horseman.


.
 
I was a Dressage writer one day and the judge said she had given up riding and had no horses as she was no longer physically able to ride the sort of horse she had been used to. She still loved horses and loved judging but just not to ride.
 
flying_high said:
It is a funny thing, as Red1 said, for some horses, and some situations you mind, for others you don't. If you mind them not fitting the original job plan, then moving them on, if are marketable and can secure a good home, is logical. Sometimes ambitions change with horses or time. Sometimes they don't etc.
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I mainly have horses that can't be sold on. Or at least if they were it would be unlikely to end well, or be for a pittance.

I am very competitive which motivates me to train them when I don't really feel like it, bit I think it's possible to combine a competitive streak with really limited horsepower without getting frustrated or being unfair on your horse. You just have to be realistic about what's a good result ;) and work really hard.

One day I might be able to afford a proper horse, perhaps I'll feel different then!
 
Thankyou to every one of you.

I don’t know why I have no motivation to ride. I think it’s because financially it’s holding us back as a family maybe. I don’t mind when it was just me skint but now it’s the children it seems so selfish of me. We can’t afford holidays, days out, trips etc.

I also feel like I’m letting the horse down in a way as he could be really competitive. He’s very good at dressage and could do very well with someone else. Instead he will spend his days fat, not ridden and not achieving anything. Not that he cares!

I can’t get a part loaner due to yard rules. I also can’t find another yard or one that will allow grass- I’ve tried really hard but it’s not around here! My yard is about as cheap as it gets, I can’t afford help.

I thought about loaning for 1-2 years but I’m not sure my situation would have changed much!
 
if you could loan him out for 1 to 2 years it will give you time to come to terms with being without him and will either make it easier to sell him or you will realise that you want to keep him. there is no right answer but you sound as if you are almost ready to let him go. if he is good at dressage and is a nice person you should be able to find him a nice home...good luck with whatever you decide..
 
windand rain said:
Kind of shows up who the horsemen are and who the riders are though
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That’s a very close minded view imo.

I was thinking about this more, it’s something I’ve been thinking about quite a lot over the last couple of years.

One of the factors in the way I feel I think comes down to the changing livery market. Round me it is almost impossible to find anywhere with really decent turnout on decent ground. As such you have to stable and the trend is for small individual paddocks. For me, the only way I can justify keeping a horse in that environment is if they are working hard. And that comes at time, energy and money. If the input outweighs the benefits (which for me it does) then all I’m left feeling is ‘what is the point?’.

We have a nation of fat, underworked leisure horses kept in this sort of environment. I’m not sure I want to keep a horse as a pet in that environment. So if that makes me a lesser horsewoman I’m not going to argue.
 
I’ve been thinking about this a lot the last few days and I realise how much I actually just love the whole aspect of a competition day. I love the prep the night before, the busy morning and the loading of the lorry. I love driving there with my horse on board, just being around my horse at a different venue and then having a coffee after the class before coming home. I actually think that’s the bit about competing I love. The rosette and placing is the icing on the cake.
 
Warning. Totally soppy and sentimental!

For me personally, my horse was very, very much longed for, for my entire life before he came along. I worked very hard to be able to own him and I waited a long time to be able to do so. So he will always come before the riding for me. I adore him so much. I do enjoy building our partnership through riding and I understand now so much more about the importance of getting and keeping him fit as I have been through laminitis with him and come out the other side. I like to improve my skills for his benefit because the better I get the happier he is and competing is a part of that but if I couldn't compete it wouldn't really matter because the way I see it I am lucky to have him in my life at all :)
 
So I was all set to ring the potential loaner for a viewing this morning.

Then I went to the yard, he galloped over with a whinny and we went for a lovely hack. He was naughty as he usually is but I felt so sad that this could be the last time.

Something needs to change, perhaps a shift from competing to just riding. Maybe I could hire and compete once per month I don’t know.

It would be so much easier if he wasn’t my dream horse, everything I dreamed of having as a child and he could take me to the top but sadly I can’t get us there.

I don’t care about ribbons or winning, but I find motivation disappears when I’ve got nothing to work towards!
 
littlen said:
So I was all set to ring the potential loaner for a viewing this morning.

Then I went to the yard, he galloped over with a whinny and we went for a lovely hack. He was naughty as he usually is but I felt so sad that this could be the last time.

Something needs to change, perhaps a shift from competing to just riding. Maybe I could hire and compete once per month I don’t know.

It would be so much easier if he wasn’t my dream horse, everything I dreamed of having as a child and he could take me to the top but sadly I can’t get us there.

I don’t care about ribbons or winning, but I find motivation disappears when I’ve got nothing to work towards!
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you could try working towards the future,but that takes faith as we cant see it yet, but things and dreams a have a way of working out
 
windand rain said:
Kind of shows up who the horsemen are and who the riders are though
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That's pretty judgemental! I never judge someone for what they want to do with their horse or how they keep it as long as welfare isn't compromised. Everyone has different motivations about the time they spend with horses from just wanting to pat it to going round Badminton.

I haven't been on this forum for years and you have summed up why it has such a bad rep.
 
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Not really it is an observation I didnt say which way round it was and some have taken it in totally opposite ways. Riders ride horses for a purpose horsemen care deeply about everything to do with them neither is mutually exclusive and some rders are horse men, some horsemen are riders but a lot of riders are not horsemen and a lot of horsemen are not riders
 
windand rain said:
Not really it is an observation I didnt say which way round it was and some have taken it in totally opposite ways. Riders ride horses for a purpose horsemen care deeply about everything to do with them neither is mutually exclusive and some rders are horse men, some horsemen are riders but a lot of riders are not horsemen and a lot of horsemen are not riders
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I have seen people who have been defined as horseman do things that are not deeply caring about horses but it reaches an end goal. I guess it depends in your mind what makes a horseman and what makes a rider. IME I find most very decent riders who have come up through a good system and are passionate about the process are good horse people.
 
littlen said:
So I was all set to ring the potential loaner for a viewing this morning.

Then I went to the yard, he galloped over with a whinny and we went for a lovely hack. He was naughty as he usually is but I felt so sad that this could be the last time.

Something needs to change, perhaps a shift from competing to just riding. Maybe I could hire and compete once per month I don’t know.

It would be so much easier if he wasn’t my dream horse, everything I dreamed of having as a child and he could take me to the top but sadly I can’t get us there.

I don’t care about ribbons or winning, but I find motivation disappears when I’ve got nothing to work towards!
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Can you talk this through with your partner - would they be useful to bounce your thoughts and feelings off? It sounds to me like you need to make a plan and give it a go, whatever it is. Otherwise you will be stuck in this limbo of being unsure and not quite happy for an indefinite period. When you say "just" riding, could you look at it as preparing for competition, and just compete a few times a year?

It also sounds like you've already given up on your dream of reaching the top with a fantastic horse, because you don't have the time or money - while this may be true for now, it won't be true for ever. The children will grow up and as they get bigger you may find you have more time again. You seem like a person who needs a plan and a goal, so can you "re-set" your plans for the next couple of years and work towards something slightly lower key? Assuming your horse is not already getting on a bit, he will (probably - as nothing is certain with horses!) still be ready to go again in a few years' time.

Could you perhaps tell yourself that once the house renovations are finished you will up your goals again? Sorry, these are all just "thinking out louds" but I really felt for you and didn't want to read and run. Remember that whatever you do you're not letting your horse down. He will be fine in the field and if he's a nice horse he will likely also be fine if you sell him. Best wishes.
 
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