end of the rollercoaster

[oifonly]

It's been nearly two years since I bought Staro and I have finally decided enough is enough. I can't deal with the emotional rollercoaster of "will-he, won't-he be ok to ride today" every single time I go to work with him. It's just too much

Comments

[medland]

Oh lovely, I'm so so sorry. :( And for what it's worth, I don't at all think that you're a quitter. Quite the opposite actually. Much love. Can we see each other soon?

[oifonly]

you should definitely get yerself over to gloucester-cester-shire for a weekend break, you know! There's a spare room here... :D

[glenatron]

Don't think of it as defeated. It's not a win lose situation. Sometimes you go looking for one thing and find another. Sometimes you learn that the other thing you found isn't what you wanted or what you needed. You've been there before.

I think maybe for what you want in a horse you could maybe find a horse that has done some competing and retired from it, but still has plenty of get-up-and-go for riding out without all the silliness and hard work that Staro insists on. There seem to be a few horses who hit a point where they can't jump 4" any more or whatever and I'm not sure those guys always get the best deal from that point onwards. That may be somewhere that you can help.

Staro is a very tough horse to work with, don't feel bad about not wanting to do that. Also don't feel like he's a dead loss- you haven't really done anything wrong with him, he has seen more of the world with you and got some useful experience and I certainly don't think there's much reason he'd be worth less now than he was when you got him. He's not

[tempusfugitx]

I'm sorry :( I'm sure it doesn't help that you haven't been feeling well either. But you're not a quitter; sometimes, just like with people, a person and animal just don't click.

[anonymous]

*hugs* You are definitely not a quitter - as I said on Sunday, had he been mine he wouldn't have stayed nearly as long. You've been immensely patient, tolerant, brave!!, and poured endless amounts of hope and dedication into him and he just isn't interested in doing what you want to do.

I think you've made the right decision - when he's like he was on Sunday, he could hurt you and not care, and given how remote your field is, that would be hugely unsafe.

Don't feel you're a quitter cause you certainly aren't, just look forward to the time when you have a nice, friendly horse that wants to hack out with you, and our long rides together when I bring Dolly up without fear of her being bitten or him being kicked.

[donster]

Aw I'm sorry to hear about Staro. :/ But then from someone looking at it in a I don't know anything about horses but you want to ride him point of view I think you're doing the right thing. :/