wwyd....keep on loan or bring back home?!

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kizmund

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This may sound a bit of a confused post and that is because I am pretty confused in my head, I really do not know what to do for the best for both me and my horse. :confused:

Bit of background....
Had my horse for coming up to 9 years, she is lovely but quite quirky. I got her when I was younger to compete on and she has been great and we've done low level DR, SJ, hunter trials etc. She is perfect on the ground; a child could get her in from field, groom, tack up etc, no problem loading, farrier, clip...all that stuff and really affectionate. She does have her issues....she doesn't enjoy hacking particularly, she seems to enjoy short hacks but anything long, even with company she doesn't enjoy and tries to nap. Next! She also does not like be in the field by herself, even with horses next door, she can also get upset if a horse is taken from the field that she is in, even if there is another companion in there and will sweat up and pace....although in the summer she is MUCH happier in field. She had a short (thankfully!) stage where she jumped out of the field :rolleyes:when she wanted to come in but she hasn't done this for a number of years...thank god! But she will happily be in her stable when there are no other horses in sight and will travel happily alone. The final thing is that she is an incredibly good-doer so much so that when she was in medium work (ridden 6 days per week with one competition) she only had limited hay at night, a small tocken feed and was still over weight.

2 1/2 years ago I was six months in to uni and couldn't afford compete and decided I should concentrate on my course etc. I had lots of people offering to take her on loan and also offering to buy her. I decided to loan her to a college as I decided this would suit her best and I wouldn't have the worry of them returning her with little notice. College life suits her; she's ridden a lot, only taken on short hacks and the horses all go out and come in at the same time....she goes out every day and stays out over the entire xmas hols a loves it, her weight is much better with the increased amount of work too.

I have been riding friends horses during my time at uni and have developed a love of hacking and they have a lovely yard where every one helps one another out, tea is always on the go etc, fields are bad and there is no school so not really suitable for my horse.


Soooo (am finally coming to my point now!) am in a position after xmas with secured job, money and time to be able to have a horse again. So do I...

a) get my horse back from the college and keep her at a competitiony yard and pay the yard to t-out and bring in each day in winter so that she doesn't fret if I'm late. Will mean I need to ride everyday and will cost more as will be competing and have regular training. Will also try and improve her hacking skills with hunting which she loves (think because it involves a big group).

b) leave her at the college for a couple more years with the risk of her going a bit sour, and get myself an easy-to-do horse on loan to keep at friends yard and have a couple of years chilled hacking before getting her back where she will be in very early 20's a ready to do a bit less and I will have more time as I will be more settled in new job.

c) get horse back from college and get her a small companion and keep at friends yard, can hire yard up the roads school and could turn out early as needed to with new companion.

d) ...something I haven't thought of yet.

Sorry to ask you guys this and I'm sure to a lot of you it seems like a non-issue but any words of wisdom you can give me would be great!
Thanks and sorry it's such an essay!
 
Can you go and ride your mare whilst she's at college??

I say this because mine was at an equestrian college for two years and I was able to ride him at weekends and for one afternoon during the week........ this arrangement worked well for me, at the time, due to caring responsibilities.

Your mare sounds like she can be unsettled very easily; and if you DID remove her from the equestrian college you would probably find she would, at least initially, be very unsettled, but would probably improve over time.

However, as you say...... horses at equestrian college can and DO get sour from being used by numpty riders, and IMO two years, three max, is plenty for any horse to stay in that environment.

IF you like your mare, and miss her, and want her back, those are all good reasons for going for option (a). Perhaps you could consider paying the yard to exercise and/or horse-walk/lunge her occasionally too??

Or option (c) would be a cheaper option.

Whatever....... I think you need to start enjoying your mare again. She'll certainly be well schooled after being at equestrian college.

The other thing you could do is to investigate options, if you feel that she's settled at college and would stress if moved, as to whether you could perhaps upgrade and go onto a different sort of livery as opposed to "full loan", i.e. she is perhaps used less ridden sessions per week (but you would then have to pay more, obviously), and you could then ride her/use her, maybe compete & hunt from the college campus, but she'd still be in the atmosphere where she's happy.

Just some thoughts.

But the bottom line is she's your mare, and it sounds like you might like to now start enjoying her???
 
Thank you for your reply

Funnily enough I don't think moving would unsettle her, she is very chilled when it comes to some things and very unsettled when it comes to others. For example: I moved yards twice since I've had her and both times she acts as if she's been there for years, likewise when I took her to the vets for the day and when we've stayed overnight at shows.

I do go and visit her at college, but it's over an hours drive and because she's worked so much in the week I like to let her have her weekends off so I go and visit a few times a week in the holidays (xmas, easter, summer and all 3 half terms).

I absolutely love her and for that reason I'm trying to do my best for her. She was well schooled before she went, regularly winning at unaffiliated novice dressage so my only concerns with taking her back is whether I'll have enough time (with my new job) to ride her, have lessons with her and compete her or whether I should wait a couple of years until my life has settled down a bit.

Great idea re. changing livery option, I think if she did stay at the college I would change the livery option, as I have more money now even if I got another one I could afford to pay for her to be there and she'd get the benefits of being there but less work. This is, of course, only if I decided to leave her there and get another.
 
Mmmm, if you're worried you won't have enough time to ride her etc at the mo then why don't you investigate options of yards closer to you where you could perhaps go for a higher class of livery, where she was maybe exercised and/or lunged, but would give you time & space to enjoy her a bit more????? An hour's plus drive to see her would be the deciding factor for me TBH.

Know what you mean about letting a college horse have time off to chill; mine was very popular and was well-used, but it was always nice to see him when I could. In fact I missed him so much that I brought him home again!!! Plus felt that after two years there he was beginning to sour from it, which is something I feel you need to think about with your mare - horses can sour in that sort of environment very quickly, and it isn't anyone's fault, some just do.

But if you were to leave her at college and change the livery option......... that might be an idea; but then again why get yourself another horse when you already have one...... and it sounds like you now have the chance to enjoy your mare a bit more and just need to find the "right" yard for you both a bit nearer to home.
 
I'm in a similar situation (at uni as well) to you with a horse out on loan - where both the horse and loaner are really enjoying each other...

I decided to get another, and keep at a local yard where I can enjoy having a youngster and back him during the summer when I have 5 months off. I'm happy that the loan horse is happy and it's the best solution as if she's in work, she likes to be worked hard and I just don't have the time to do that at the moment.
 
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