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An Equestrian Life

Farm Life, Horses, My Life
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January 18, 2017

My Non-existant Life Balance

Above is the closest I’ve been to riding a horse recently. And that’s not even me playing it! That’s Dave playing an online horse jumping game. He would miss the jumps, but magically, the jumps would become transparent for him to just canter through. This was only a safeguard to avoid injury though, the rider was still very disappointed in Dave’s performance.

"You need to work on your spacebar skills!"

“You need to work on your spacebar skills!”

I wish I could work on my real life spacebar skills. I haven’t ridden since my guest lesson, and I am feeling an itch that a powder won’t fix. It’s been unseasonably warm, but it’s been very wet. So wet, I would not be able to get my tractor to my arena to drag it. I can’t even remember the last time it was dragged.

Now, keep in mind I can still only do this on the weekends. Most of my week looks like this:

PSX_20170118_095825

Don’t worry, traffic was at a standstill, therefore allowing the picture to be taken safely.

My opportunities for riding during the week are slim to none. Occasionally, we have a holiday. But then it’s cold and it rains, or snows. It’s been a mostly mild January, but usually it’s mild during the week – those times when I need to be at work. I like my job and my company, so I’m not complaining about that aspect. I just need some telework, or it needs to get sunny again, and stay sunny until like 7pm.

Recently, we had a company event, and due to the hours, I decided to stay in the city. I stayed with my friend and got a reminder of apartment living. I can see why people would live in a stacked column of housing, especially when work is mere minutes away, as well as an entire mall an elevator ride away. Although we are a bit older than the last time I was living in an apartment, so we weren’t exactly snacking on ramen.

Salmon!? I distinctly asked for lobster frittala!

A free salmon dinner?! Ugh! I distinctly asked for lobster!

I also did some fine arts and crafts. Who knew I was so talented at the pipe cleaners?

Only $1600 on my etsy store!

Only $160 on my etsy store! Act now, and I’ll throw in used play doh I’ve collected in my travels. 

I’m basically waiting for to get more free time. Eventually, I’ll be able to ride during the week again… I’ll start taking a lesson every week again… and keep advancing. It’s just another period of life where I have to accept that not riding now will benefit me in the future, career-wise. The waiting isn’t so fun though.

I’m brainstorming some ideas to get Berry working again while I’m at work, none of which sound appealing, financially. But, it could end up extremely beneficial to send Berry to a trainer for a few months until I get more time.

Or I could install some arena lights. I kind of like that idea. What I don’t like is the thought of doing anything on my mud slick of a pasture.

On the positive side, since I’ve been stuck inside on the weekends, I decided to seriously tackle redecorating my house. Before and after pictures to come!

Good job to all of you that make the riding/work/life balance work. One day, I will be among you.

10 Comments
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  • L. Williams
    January 18, 2017

    Waiting can be very hard.

    Reply
    • Courtney
      L. Williams
      January 29, 2017

      Yeah… 🙁

      Reply
  • rooth
    January 18, 2017

    We’ve been getting some nasty nasty rain here as well (thank god for covered arenas). Lucky me, I’ve got a mare who likes to roll in the mud…

    Reply
    • Courtney
      rooth
      January 29, 2017

      Oooo, you lucky duck!!

      Reply
  • Shelby
    January 18, 2017

    If the sun would just stay out later our lives would be so much easier!

    Reply
    • Courtney
      Shelby
      January 29, 2017

      Soon…

      Reply
  • Emma
    January 19, 2017

    Ugh these short dark days are the worst. Spring will come eventually tho!! (Until then maybe arena lights would be worth looking into?)

    Reply
    • Courtney
      Emma
      January 29, 2017

      Yeah, I will need to!

      Reply
  • Nicole
    January 19, 2017

    I’m in my first 9-5 adjacent position and I’ve been surprised at how much you just want to crawl into bed and do nothing at the end of a work day and after a ride (or lunge-and-find-out-your-horse-is-lame as the case may be). I always knew my grad school life was cushy, and always appreciated that, but… real life is a thing I must do now, I guess.

    Reply
    • Courtney
      Nicole
      January 29, 2017

      A fate that nearly all of us reach eventually 🙁

      Reply

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