Balancing Horses and Relationships

Horse girl to horse girl, I know we can all can understand the immense love and passion we hold for our horses. We spend most of our days thinking about them, working to keep them and being with them. They are more than just a few hours a week dedicated, as it's often put, it's a lifestyle.

And with such a lifestyle comes the challenges of balancing your horse life and the other aspects of your life, such as relationships.

So in light of Valentine's day, we've put together some top tips for keeping a balance between the two.

1. Compromise

Not the first thing you'll probably want to hear from this me, but perhaps the most important point to make. As horse girls, both young and old, we could spend every living moment with our horse, there's always something to be done, something to achieve & especially something to clean. A life with horses is everlasting and as such, there's always things to do.

However, just as it's important to spend time to bond with our horses it's just as important that we create quality, non-horsey time for our loved ones. Wether it's your boyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wife, fiancee or even your friends and family. Taking time out of your schedule to spend time with them will let them know that, they too, are just as important as your horse.

2. Create understanding

When having relationships and friendships with non-horsey people, creating an understanding to them about the importance horses hold in your life is super important. Non-horsey people often have no idea about why the heck we are so obsessed with these giant, smelly, but oh-so beautiful animals so you need to remind and show them why they are so important to you.

Failing to explain the importance of horses in your life may create resentment around the fact that you seem to be spending more time with your horse or would rather go to a weekend long competition than a trip together.

3. Horses are YOUR hobby, it doesn't have to be theirs too

For the most part, these tips are for those who are balancing horses with a non-horsey loved one. I think most of us can relate, but at some point we have all gotten a little upset when our friend, partner or even parent declined to come spend time with us and our horse.

And to be honest, it can take a good few years to accept that forcing loved ones to spend barn time with you is never a good idea. Of course there are the few exceptions where they may willingly want to join you or there may be an overarching situation where you can't go alone.

However, for the most part, I believe it is important for us to enjoy our horse time in solitude or with others who share the same passion we do.

4. Take time

Learning to create the balance of horses and loved ones takes time. It's not something that will happen over night and it's something only you can dictate and change. Little steps are important and so is consistency. Starting off with allocating every Saturday morning or a certain afternoon to have do nothing horsey and just be with your loved one/s.

Happy Valentine's all ♡