Day 22 - The Importance of Riding

Day 22- The importance of riding in your life


From Clover Ledge Farm

I get distracted by life and that's okay. I'll play catch up.

I'm fairly sure I touched on this earlier, and also in posts around the time that I'm going to mention, but riding is critical. Honestly, just being around horses is critical, enough so that I and others notice a change in my mood and behavior.

It's likely the only reason why Eric doesn't more seriously try to convince me to stop riding.

Horses are a natural antidepressant for me. I have noticeably more patience with my children and I am happier after riding.  The effects wear off slowly but if I ride again after a long absence I can feel the change in my mindset. Seeing her everyday helps, since she's at home. If I need to I can go out and just hold her and breathe her in. That tides me over when I can't ride as frequently as I would like.

My current goal with my schedule is to purposefully ride more. Now that I have thigns to work on from my lesson and another lesson scheduled where I want to show that I've made progress and practiced, it's motivation to get out. I've ridden more now that it's cold than I did in the summer. O.O

Anyway, it's important. I was able to get through college without horses but I had them at breaks to come home to. And in grad school I found Cheri with her four (Stella, Gwyn, Blanche and Nyx). I relied heavily on those horses when I finished my degree and had no job afterward.

It was hard to say goodbye when we moved to Washington and it was fortune for me, if tragedy for Cheri, that allowed me to get Gwyn. The day she stepped off the truck and was mine, my -own-, was an amazing feeling.