This post's title comes from a text a close friend sent me last night, after I apologized for yet another weekend of horse activities trumping social ones. She gets it. In part because she and I are close, so she's gotten a lot of blow-by-blow details from me as my horse life has progressed, and partly because her career is her vocation and not a punch-the-clock job. This kind of support has been overwhelmingly important to me as I've gone through various transitions and rough patches in the horse journey, and I'm extremely grateful for all of the people in my life who've accepted that this whole horse thing is now one of the biggest priorities and main driving forces in my life.
On the other hand, I'm starting to feel like I haven't quite conveyed what I'm doing and what this means to me to a number of people in my broader social circle. I get the sense (from some, not all) that this is viewed as a "pleasure" activity, like eating ice cream, or going to a movie. It's not that they're dismissive, they're just... puzzled, I guess, when I say that I'm turning down the opportunity to take a vacation and go sit on a beach because I have an even better opportunity to stay here in the miserable heart of winter and ride someone else's horse. Why am I staying home on a Saturday night so I can get up at 6 AM on a Sunday morning to commute an hour each way, so I can pay for a riding lesson and hang out in a cold barn?
And not that I would even consider the above scenario a bad day at the barn - I'm really looking forward to it! I enjoy many of the "work" aspects of being around horses, and certainly there's a real sense of responsibility and obligation that comes from having one in your care which makes it easy to prioritize the horse's needs. But, for anyone who rides regularly, there are times when it's just not "fun." It's not video games, it's not an amusement park ride, it's not sitting on the couch flicking through the TV channels. It's pushing yourself and your boundaries, it's confronting things about yourself that you'd rather not see, it's learning acceptance and how to be centered in the moment and in yourself. I guess I've never been motivated enough by anything else to really experience this before, but the inherent value that riding and horses bring to my life is so great that it seems obvious to me that I'd put long term goals above short term pleasure. And, I dunno, it feels better to do something and participate than it does to sit around and consume the things that others produce.
In any case, enough of this nonsense. I gotta get myself together and head out to the barn. Less talk, more rock!
On the other hand, I'm starting to feel like I haven't quite conveyed what I'm doing and what this means to me to a number of people in my broader social circle. I get the sense (from some, not all) that this is viewed as a "pleasure" activity, like eating ice cream, or going to a movie. It's not that they're dismissive, they're just... puzzled, I guess, when I say that I'm turning down the opportunity to take a vacation and go sit on a beach because I have an even better opportunity to stay here in the miserable heart of winter and ride someone else's horse. Why am I staying home on a Saturday night so I can get up at 6 AM on a Sunday morning to commute an hour each way, so I can pay for a riding lesson and hang out in a cold barn?
Because the only thing worse than a bad day at the barn is a day when I'm not at the barn.
And not that I would even consider the above scenario a bad day at the barn - I'm really looking forward to it! I enjoy many of the "work" aspects of being around horses, and certainly there's a real sense of responsibility and obligation that comes from having one in your care which makes it easy to prioritize the horse's needs. But, for anyone who rides regularly, there are times when it's just not "fun." It's not video games, it's not an amusement park ride, it's not sitting on the couch flicking through the TV channels. It's pushing yourself and your boundaries, it's confronting things about yourself that you'd rather not see, it's learning acceptance and how to be centered in the moment and in yourself. I guess I've never been motivated enough by anything else to really experience this before, but the inherent value that riding and horses bring to my life is so great that it seems obvious to me that I'd put long term goals above short term pleasure. And, I dunno, it feels better to do something and participate than it does to sit around and consume the things that others produce.
In any case, enough of this nonsense. I gotta get myself together and head out to the barn. Less talk, more rock!
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