Is it okay to stop riding?
Ive been riding for years and the last couple I’ve been lucky to have been very successful in eventing and showjumping mainly. I have a small yard(4stables, arena and field) down the road that my mother built when I was younger as it was easier than paying for livery and having to stick to other yard owners rules which some of you know can make it quite tricky to get your own things done.
Any way I’m 16 now and the last the last 4 years I’ve been working and up keeping the yard mostly by myself occasionally getting a helping hand with heavy jobs etc… because my mother works full time all week. I’ve always had 2–3 horses in work at one time and Monday’s would be the only day we would take completely off any exercises.
for the last 4 years every single week all year round my day would consist of up at 5:45, 10minute cycle to the yard, ride one of the youngsters for half an hour or so and lunge my main eventer, then back out in the field with feed and cycle home again then school from 8:30 and the bus would drop me off at 5.30 that evening at a shop about a 15 minute walk from the yard and then I’d ride the eventer and the second youngster that was in the yard (I had a few youngsters over the years that I’d sell on when they were going well). I wouldn’t finish up in the yard till half 8 most evenings and I didn’t play any other sports so I’d usually go home get dinner and straight to bed. Tuesday-Friday was the same idea every week in the means of exercising two in the mornings and two in the evenings obviously changing it up for them each day. And lessons on my eventer on Saturdays and the youngsters got a day out schooling afterwards and then shows or ode’s most sundays and then to a local unregistered show with the youngsters to get them out and about. I know a lot of people reading this will think I’m making most of it up and just being a spoilt brat which isnt true because I’ve worked extremely hard for everything my mother has given me and I do appreciate everything she’s done with time and money.
for those of you still reading after a year or so after building the yard I got with a better trainer and really put my biggest effort in and I started winning a lot of events and competitions on two of my ponies at the time and was competing in 1m30s and open xc and. 1* Events , as I was only about 13 at the time I started winning more and more a lot of my friends were getting jealous and thats when the rumours and bullying started in school, at shows, in pony club and at local yards I went to hang out with friends. I’m happy to say now I’m not involved with them anymore but still get a bit of shit from them in school.
this isn’t a pity post but I found it extremely hard to keep the horses going and not having anyone backing me.
After 3 especially bad years of not looking after myself and cutting myself off from making new friends which led to people not liking me I eventually said to myself that I had enough, this was last November and ive sold my eventer, I have my trainer Bringing my youngster on to sell him in exchange for giving him a filly I bred off my first pony.
i felt extremely bad having to tell my mother after everything she put in to get me to where I was but I mentally and physically couldn’t do it anymore. We don’t have a great relationship anyway and this has made It worse but that’s a different thing
The basis of the story is In my years riding and competing in different disceplins I have never found one decent person who wants to acctually see you do well in the sport, everybody is in it for themselves and it’s only when you sit back and think about it do you realise quite a lot of people mostly young people Are getting everything handed to them, all my friends that rode had money and were given push button ponies that could get them to a high level they were also kept in the livery yard down the road and only came out to ride 2-3 times a week, none of them ever had to muck out or feed their own horses in exchange for their parents paying €130 a week.
We never had a lot of money and the last two years I’ve been working with tbs doing sales prep and getting paid cash so I’ve been paying my entry fees myself the past two years, most of my friends are 17/18 now and still don’t have jobs and their parents are still doing everything for them, another thing is body image, Im a rugby player aswell so never had the skinny legs with skin tight Jodhs and long boots and show jackets. I never liked the way I looked compared to all the girls my age who ride since I’ve stopped riding I’ve gotten so much happier and am happy with my rugby player look. I have always been fit and healthy but never had the skinny girl look and it’s only now I realise that that’s okay. om not sure if it’s just me or if other people think that our sport is being run and controlled by the riders and people who have money as this is about 9/10 ways that you can now succeed to a high level, it’s very little about talent anymore and push button horses do exist, every show and lesson is a ridiculous amount of money which isn’t necessary and has stopped people like me who doesn’t have a lot to spend from reaching their potential.
i injured my knee at a match and had surgery a couple weeks ago and not aloud back to sports till December which has really messed with my head as I was only starting to become happier after stopping riding and I’m telling people that I’ve given up because of my injury and not what I’m putting up here.
I understand that people are going to have mixed feelings about my story and I just wanted to get it out there and wondering if any One else feels the way I do about the way the sport is going and the people in it.
