Boy do I totally get where you are coming from. I’ve been a bit incapacitated for the last couple of weeks. It has been inconvenient, to be sure, but not the major effing drama it would have been as sole caretaker on the farm.
My horses are both immaculately cared for and I know that when I can drive and go see them they will be completely unconcerned and unaffected by my absence.
It does rather bring it home that it really was time to move.
Well, here we are again. After I was finally recovered from breaking my back last year, then breaking my hand last fall, and Covid over Christmas, and double pneumonia,this spring I was finally getting it back together and starting to ride again I slipped and fell in the barn this morning and broke my shoulder. And of course, the litany of illnesses and other health problems that I have that are oh so much fun.
So I am in that boat of seriously, considering hanging it up and getting out of horses. I would keep my older Mare, who is 21 and a homebred , and my five-year-old homebred who last year decided to stop sweating. I have a four-year-old, quite a nice one that I’m trying to sell that I would like to have gone like yesterday and one gelding that’s pretty easy and nice to be around and one boarder. But I am really considering throwing in the towel and selling off everything, trailers, tack, saddles whatever and just calling it a day with the horses because I can’t seem to catch a break. This really sucks.
I’m so sorry. A broken shoulder sounds horribly painful.
I’m down to one horse and even though we have fantastic horse facilities (for what I need) because of my health issues I had to make the decision to board her a few months ago.
Tough decisions
Right now yes it is horribly painful. I initially couldn’t get up and had to call my next-door neighbor, who thankfully is a nurse and her husband is a battalion chief with the paramedics. Bless her heart forever she came and got me and took me to the emergency room. Now I’m prone in the bed with a sling and some ice on it, and I can barely move without pain. I’m just tired, and over it. Doing all this work to maintain this property and care for these animals and all the things, and not being able to enjoy it. Just one thing after another.
Ouch, sounds so painful! Are you still at the hospital?
Alteration, I have been reading this thread off and on and it is so nice to read that you’re on the other side and things are going well. And Annie, I truly feel for you. You have been through the wringer this past year with so many injuries, and a shoulder injury can result in a long recovery. I wish you a smooth recovery.
I am a couple of years on the other side of 50 years of owning horses, rescuing horses and assorted other animals and owning my own farm. The death of Mr. Chai pretty much changed the course of my life and the heartbreaking loss of my last horse, my beloved Shire, was very difficult. At first, I thought I couldn’t live without horses in my life. They have been my love and my refuge fsince I was a child and I have always loved figuring them out and caring for them.
Slowly, I came to realize that I was not missing the constant worry: that comes with horse owwership: how my older horses handled the extreme heat and cold where i live, the fact that they were all older and I was constantly worried about their health, not to mention vet bills, finding good hay, farrier bills, rarely able to go on vacation. Then, after leaving our farm, I worried about finding a good boarding situation in an area where board easily runs $1100 a month. Eventually, I found a wonderful situation and I am so grateful that my last few years with my horse were in such a great barn with an owner who was an incredible horsewoman.
But now, with no horses, I still love them, occasionally visit DreamHorse or feel tempted when I see a rescue in need of a good home, but my life is now filled with family including a new grand-daughter that I help care for, friends, travel and a job I love. I am eternally grateful that I was able to have horses for most of my life, and I miss the camaraderie of a good barn, but there are many positive things to experience when you have more free time. I wish you all the best.
It is, very much so. No I got home a couple hours ago. I’ve been trying to remain motionless in my bed except for my channel changing finger bc every movement hurts…
Thanks chai it’s been a rough couple of years. I’m 56 so prob close to your age.
OP my apologies for hijacking
Oh, gad, that’s terrible luck.
I had 6 months of plantar faciitis that then turned into 8 months of frozen shoulder, so yes, a year off is he____ and makes a mess of one’s plans! I hope you find the disposition of animals/work/healing that you need to go forward.
Me too. Thanks.
Damn. I’m sorry. It is hard to have life decisions forced on you.
Do you have help?
DH is here til Tues am. He’s an OTR trucker so has to go. He was headed out to get a load when this happened.
A friend runs a lesson barn down the street and she sent me a young lady to come in the evenings and do the stalls for me. Thank you so
Much for asking.
Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry to hear that. That sucks 
That was exactly what kicked me over the edge. There’s no point in having all the work if you can’t enjoy it. Many healing thoughts coming your way.
No need to apologize! My thread was an invitation to commiserate 
Thank you chai.
I had a sudden knock of clarity last night after visiting the barn that I moved the younger of my two “keepers” to. My other horse (who is still on property due to the complicated nature of this move) about a month ago found a roofing nail somehow and drove it into his hind foot, barely missing the tendons and bone. Healing was a tedious process, not to mention the fear I had waiting for the vet and the potential of a difficult decision to take him to have surgery or euthanasia. This would still be an anxiety worthy decision at the boarding barn, but I know that he would be taken care of by their staff (I trust this lady immensely - we’ve gone through many medical things together).
But having that happen here, while I’m away for a weekend, and having the caretaker try to manage that herself…omg. While she is a trustworthy person for basic care (feeding, turnout, cleaning), there is no way I would put her in an emergency situation like that. She doesn’t have the judgement for that kind of event.
It made me feel so much better about the decision (and made me want to hurry up and sell the place so that I could get my other guy there).
People do underestimate the worry, and when I was running the boarding barn, I worried about every one of the horses that weren’t even mine. Worried about their weight, their soundness, their buddies, their happiness, their training, their coats, their feet…just constant anxiety trying to keep these animals from self-destructing.
Alterration, you are so right. I had boarders in my barn, too, and I loved and cared for them as if they were mine. We even bought a boarder’s horse because the owner was planning to sell him to a sale barn and he was too old and dear for that. It’s uncanny how horses can find creative ways to hurt themselves no matter how hard we try to keep them safe. I miss it terribly and Annie, if I was closer to you, I’d love to come over and do stalls for you until you heal. That’s how much I miss it. But my grand-daughter is on the way over and we have a beach day ahead with dinner on the deck planned. That would never happen when I had to run back to my barn to turn in and feed.
Thank you chai I appreciate that very much.
My niece and very oldest dearest friend (since we were 9) worked it out that they will be coming up Tuesday and my niece staying for several weeks to help me. (What little family I have is 6 hours away) .
I have been saying a lot lately that there is something to be said for condo living , much as I would hate it
Just coming here to commiserate. I’m still cleaning out stuff! Hoping to get listing photos done later this week and every time I think “yeah, it’s nearly ready” it just seems that there is more and more stuff.
I cleaned out my barn but have no place for horse stuff that has no place yet, so back to the barn it goes. Need to get in there and try to powerwash soon but it’s so dusty, and so hot…I just don’t have the strength.Getting help is so much harder than it used to be. Arrgh.
Oh and saw two houses today and was just 
For nearly half a million dollars you wouldn’t think I’d have to consider investing another $50-100K in it. Sigh. Boy is this market tough!
Howe are you all doing??
So, uh, we’re closing with the neighbors in 11 days. The neighbors, also dealing with older houses that family has lived in for decades, understand how hard it is to get generations worth of personal property out of a very large house (and to find a new place to live, which has honestly been the bigger issue for me, though my circumstances have improved since we made the agreement), so they’re letting me stay on for a year or two at a nominal fee.
I am about to have so much money - even if it’s mostly derelict, it’s still 220 acres in the midatlantic and in an area that is developing quickly. My brother and I opted for a private sale to the neighbors because we want the land to stay farm land and they need the land to continue farming. And while I need to get myself settled and put most of the money into my retirement accounts, I am also like, “Do I have enough to buy a horse? Or do I have enough to lease a nice to me horse?” Aka, how can I waste this money on horses?
I’m not gonna do it. Okay, I might half lease a fancy-to-me horse once my time is up with my current lease. But I am gonna do my best to just buy myself a nice little townhouse with a small yard, and put the rest of the money in savings. And then I can use my other income to maybe increase my horse budget…
I am still sad and actually very stressed about selling the property and moving out, but for me, I do think in the end it’s a good thing and very freeing. And I’ll wind up with enough money that I can splurge on more things and worry a little less. Also, way less mowing.
How’s the farm selling going?
I put an offer on a new house over the weekend and it was officially accepted yesterday. I haven’t listed my farm yet but had the listing photos taken on Friday - OMG that was so hard! Trying to get everything inside and out to look good on the same day. The house looks good; not sure I love how the property is looking but that’s pretty much why I’m selling. The fences need weed wacking, the small outdoor arena looks like a grassy paddock and is impossible to change at this point. But, hopefully someone buying a farm will see it as a small challenge, not an impossible task like it seems to me.
Meanwhile, I’m so busy at work, my assistant is on vacation so I’m doing her job too, and just for fun - all my dogs have sarcoptic mange but I couldn’t get prescriptions for all of them yesterday so have to take two more to the vet this week. 20 years of farm life and running dogs off lead and have never heard of anyone dealing with mange. I didn’t even think it was possible given that they are always with me. But apparently - they must have rolled on a dead animal without me seeing it. Sigh.
The real hard part starts now - actually getting out of this house. Two horses to euthanize as well. But at least I have someplace to go, which I wasn’t sure would happen in this real estate market.
Hope you and all the other downsizers are doing ok.
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