Time to stop ... and how to do it!

[NagathaCrispy]

All words of wisdom gratefully received!

I'm getting on a bit in years (71!) but have ridden most of my life, starting when I was a small child. For the last 25 or so years, I have owned horses of various shapes and sizes, keeping them at local livery yards: I've had the current horse at the current yard for 7 years now. My horse is a 10y/o cob with a calm disposition: not a steady Eddie type, but not a speedy type either. Enough go to enjoy, but not so much that it's frightening IYSWIM.

A couple of years ago, I had a bad fall (absolutely not the horse's fault) which resulted in a spell in hospital recovering from injuries and an enforced lay-off for several months at my doctor's insistence. Since then, I have really struggled to get my riding mojo and general confidence back. I have been trying hard, but it's just not there any more, and I am now at the point where I think I really need to re-home my horse, admit I'm done and move on.

So, I suppose what I'm asking is, will I either get that enthusiasm back or - if not - where do I go from here? I hate the idea of selling my horse, but I can't keep a young, healthy, fit field ornament for ever. The whole situation is really making me very sad and anxious, but I'm at a loss. All thoughts on this would be very welcome. Thank you.

If you are happy to pay his bills why not get a sharer who will do 3/4 days a week for help with jobs and some cash and that way you can still enjoy him with no pressure to actually ride . I’ve owned continuously for 40+ years but actually can’t go near them much at all anymore as I have emphysema and asthma which is severely affected by hay and hair . Our elderly pony is retired on full livery but we’ve never sold any of ours so that wasn’t an option .

A sharer would be a sensible first step as you could see how you felt watching someone else enjoying your horse. If you find you are ok with it you could progress to selling.
Another option would be breaking the cob for driving and seeing if you can enjoy driving.
I don’t like to sell my animals but sometimes it is the sensible decision and yours is a perfect age. You would be able to be picky about who you sold to and hopefully find someone who will really appreciate your precious horse.

Nothing wrong with a paddock ornament horse won't care if not ridden as long as he is taken care of
I have a 7 year old who is not ridden he has a great life

Part loan or sharer, definitely. I have my daughter's old pony still with us. He had a crappy start in life and so I will never sell him. He's given my girls a fantastic introduction to riding and they both enjoyed so many firsts with him, he owes us nothing. Part loaning keeps in in work and he does seem to like having a job. He also enjoys lots of attention as my daughters and two of his previous loaners are still on the same yard! With the right people, it can be fantastic. Just choose carefully and set your boundaries early on. Plenty of people will want to Part loan, but not everyone will be a good fit.

My dad is 80 next year and currently competing at Advanced Medium affiliated dressage. He had a bad fall 15 years ago whilst out hacking alone and it scared the living daylights out of him. he decided to focus on dressage at that point and got a horse just for that purpose. Although at 21 she is older than your boy, they both have periods of time when they cant ride/be ridden due to age related issues but they find ways around it. Dad is lucky that he has a menage at home and a couple of fields to walk her around but he rarely rides for more than 40 minutes at a time

Could you get your confidence back by working in a controlled environment for a while? Schooling at a walk, over poles, through bending poles etc? But I do agree that if you can't it would be kindest to loan/share/sell your 7 year old - even if lots of horses do retire that early, he deserves an opportunity to still have fun!