A word from my friends at breeches.com –

Yeah, you read that right. We’ve all had those couple of days where you’re just done. With everything. You’re struggling with the next dressage test, or screwing up distances, you’ve been coming home super late every night from going to the barn after work. Even things we love can become monotonous.

 Riding can feel like another full time job- you know, other than the one you already have only to fund your crazy horse addiction? Getting frustrated and down on yourself is really easy when you feel that you’re at a standstill. 

Go on that camping trip, get up early to go hunting (no earlier than horse show mornings), find some new friends at that book club you keep talking about. Maintaining your passion for horses doesn’t mean beat it to death, but preserve it gently.  If you ate your favorite ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner for a few days straight, you might want to change it up, so you don’t stop 

Enjoying other activities makes us better riders and equine caretakers. There are lots of other hobbies that can help hone in your detail-oriented skills. 

For example, I’ve been going hunting with my significant other, a dedicated archerer in every way. Now is the season for bearded turkeys; waking up “horse-show-early” is a lot harder when there isn’t an actual horse show to go to. Driving over an hour away to then hike up a hill and sit in a blind for 5 hours and not see a turkey is just the name of the game: a game of perseverance, patience and seeing how long you can hold your bladder. Watching nature wake up around you, being aware of your surroundings, monitoring every single muscle fiber contraction in your body to not scare a possible victim away and preparedness are all even translatable and very relevant to being in the saddle. 

As equestrians, we are often told that this is all we do, while this may be true, taking a short hiatus is healthy. It doesn’t mean you’ve lost all hope to put your toes in the stirrups ever again, it just means a redirection of focus temporarily. We aren’t judging you. Come back refreshed and better than before!

Read more at breeches.com.