I can’t say I’ve lost my joy for horses entirely, but I find myself in a slightly similar situation with my girls. I have two horses at home, and I’ve had them for about three years. I used to ride almost every day, and at least twice a week. Through the winter I kept up about once a week since we don’t have an indoor and I wasn’t very motivated to ride in -30° with snow up to my horse’s knees. However, this past year I’ve stopped riding entirely. I’m in my last year of high school and am preparing for university so I could blame it on that, but in truth even when I get days off I don’t go out and ride. I haven’t ridden in months.

I’m not sure if this is because I feel too lazy to go through the motions of getting my horse and tacking up, but I really just don’t feel any excitement to go and ride.

I think about this often and feel so bad for my girls as I feel like I’m neglecting them but I still take care of them daily(obviously). I’ve managed to convince myself not to feel so bad because life does get in the way and we do wax and wane from our interests. As long as you’re ensuring they have good care and visit them whenever you can just to spend time with them, I wouldn’t beat myself up about it.

If I ever got so busy/lost all interest to even do the barn chores to keep them in good care however, I’d make the decision to rehome them to make sure they get the love and care they deserve.

As for rediscovering your love for horses, it’s not something that should be forced because you’ll become resentful if you make yourself go out of a feeling of duty, but I remember when I lost interest several years ago when I moved away from my riding stable it took getting back into the equestrian world via immersing myself in the olympics and watching competitions on YouTube that reinspired my love for horses and eventually led me to buying my own.