First post !
I use to have horses as a teenager. Worked myself to pay for everything as non-horsey family. Was completely obsessed, didn’t choose boys over horses at the usual stage and only put my last horse out on loan while my new baby was poorly thinking in a few months time everything would settle back to normal, but they brought him off me as baby turned out to be SEN and partner left us both.
Fast forward 16 years and I still haven’t replaced him YET.
I work full time in a well paid job, daughter is mostly independent. I could afford a horse at livery but would realistically only have time to ride 3 times a week at most.
I’ve thought about having the yard use horse for lessons but I would really like a well bred youngster to bring on myself so wouldn’t be suitable for lessons. I want him just for me !
Gosh this is selfish isn’t it !
To add, daughter is not horsey. This really isn’t something we could do together.
I’m just still obsessed with wanting another horse.
You can tell me to grow up if necessary!
Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.
The tack room
Is this a bit selfish of me ?
NoProblem123 · 20/10/2019 12:34
Do it!!!!
I have 2 - not in livery, live out 24/7. I have a 27 year old retired mare and a lovely 4 year old that I'm bringing on. I love it. I don't ride at all at the moment due to his age and been silly busy this year but now getting serious about it so if you're near to me come on by! 
Well if you are selfish then so are all of us so don't expect judgement/to be told you are U for wanting a horse here Horses are always going to be an expensive and time consuming hobby compared to say, knitting, or watching telly 
but it sounds as though you have worked hard for many years and earned the chance to do something just for you!
Working livery probably not a great idea for the reasons already mentioned, but it might be good to try and find a competent sharer? Not just as a financial contribution but so that horse gets some regular exercise on the days you can't ride and also so that you have some back-up if there are odd days you can't get up there or for holidays etc. If you are prepared to wait for the right person and have a nice horse on a good yard with access to hacking and a school, you should be able to find someone who is an experienced rider and able to at least hack around quietly a couple of days a week which does youngsters a world of good IMO. You probably ought to budget for full livery too if possible so your limited time with horse can be spent riding rather than worrying about yard jobs, and you know you have cover if a work crisis or something with your DD prevents you getting to the yard.
On that note though, do be a bit wary of taking on too much with a youngster, even a straight forward one does take an awful lot of time and energy/patience to bring on and I find you end up spending a lot more ££ too on lessons, clinics, trying out different tack, getting instructor to ride occasionally etc etc. Plus it always feels like a lot of responsibility and pressure to 'get it right' with a youngster, for me I already have plenty of responsibility in other areas of my life so horses should be about as much relaxation and enjoyment as possible (although they do stress me out plenty with their antics and injuries nonethless!).
If you are short on time and don't want to compete at a very high level it might be better to look for something more established that you can start to have fun on right away, particularly if you've had a bit of a break from riding/horse ownership in general? Just a thought though, if you are the sort of person who really enjoys bringing on youngsters than feel free to completely ignore!
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.