TEN Ways My Life Has Drastically Changed By Owning Horses

ten-ways-my-life-has-drastically-changed-by-owning-horses

 

June 2015 our daughter started taking horseback riding lessons – from day one we said we will never buy a horse…

September 2015 our son started taking horseback riding lessons – we said we will never buy a horse…

December 2015 we started partial leases on two horses – we continued to say we will never buy a horse…

May 1, 2016 WE BOUGHT A HORSE…

 

14716082_10207467357703973_5444019426248914707_n-1

 

August 2016 WE BOUGHT TWO MORE HORSES…

 

14570431_10207625258571396_5630494809915301040_n

 

14572273_10207625259611422_4553877957515235462_n

 

For God sakes do not listen to a thing I say!

 

Buying one horse was like having one child.  It is a whole lot more work but manageable and you have the best of plans to keep the stall manicured and gorgeous, brush that horse so there is never a bit of mud, etc…

 

By the time there are three horses it is exactly like three or more kids.  The stall is “clean enough”, the horse is “brushed enough” and you feel like giving that third horse the keys to the truck so they can go buy their own hay…

 

So… Ten ways my life has changed….

  1.     Hanging at the barn with tons of friends and tons of horses as well as other animals is far more fun than an amusement park.  Seriously – even my kids would say the same thing.
  2.      The kids will shovel poo, brush mud off the horses, slip in the mud and be carrying a sandwich the entire time so they don’t have to stop and eat.  Yet the second they walk in the door for dinner I make them wash their hands so they have clean hands for eating…
  3.      The kids hate cleaning their own horses stalls (all kids not just mine) but the second they see some other person in need with their stall – they rush in to save the day.
  4.     I no longer think of my paycheck in terms of groceries, utilities or mortgage.  I think of my paycheck in terms of hay, grain, bedding and farrier.
  5.      I will walk around with horse boogers on my jacket, horse poo on my pants and boots and hay in my hair and still go to the store for groceries afterwards.  Any other day I won’t go to the store or in public if I haven’t had time to take a shower yet.
  6.      The kids won’t go outside and play at home – they will stay on the electronics and never move.  Yet they will go to the barn and stay outside for ten hours straight and not a peep out of them in complaint.
  7.      I used to feel like the kids always need something – clothing, lunch money, field trip money, etc… Now the horses always need something – farrier, vet, dentist, fly blankets, winter blankets, sheets, quarter sheets, bedding, grain, hay, hoof cream, supplements, halters/lead ropes (Lord knows where they always go), treats, buckets, fly masks, UGH!!!
  8.      BOOTS – prior to owning horses the only boots anyone except my daughter had were winter boots.  Now there are probably 50 pairs of boots between all of us in the house, in the barn, in the cars…
  9.      My life went from revolving around kids bed times, medication times and moods to revolving around horses, weather, riding, making sure they all get ridden, shows etc…  Consistent bed times are almost nonexistent – when we get there we get there.  Meal times are when we find a moment we eat – or we are too tired to even bother.
  10.      Flies used to drive us crazy.  God forbid a fly lands on a piece of food we are eating.  At picnics everything needs to be covered.  At the barn….we pretty much ignore the thousands of flies landing on our sandwich – we just try not to eat one when we take a bite…

BONUS

Playing in hay is more fun than playing in snow, leaves or water…. Jumping out of a hay basket with your friends and landing in a huge pile of hay is so much more memorable than anything else in life.

 

It is all worth it!

21 thoughts on “TEN Ways My Life Has Drastically Changed By Owning Horses

  1. Sarah-Louise Bailey says:

    Reading you and your daughters’ experiences with your horse is happiness but don’t you think that it is way too much and haven’t you
    recognized the crazy amount of money that you were spending on them according to your story? I was just a bit concern about that and I know you do notice it already.

    • Athena says:

      It is a great deal of work but manageable and the kids would never give up the horses – they would rather do the work. The money however – well as long as I keep blogging, all that income goes to the horses. If for some reason I stop blogging I will absolutely need a backup plan. But what is more important is that it really doesn’t matter how much money there is or isn’t – once you fall in love with horses it is so very hard to not do everything you can for them. I can assure you my kids/family are not suffering in any way from owning the horses. We may have had to reprioritize our time but it’s all good…

  2. Holly says:

    Great article! My uncle used to bread show horses and I loved riding them. I can’t imagine ever doing raising them myself though. It’s all I can do to keep up after my cats. I got one and said that’s it. Then came number two. I was definitely done after that. Now I’m up to number three. lol

  3. Kathy says:

    Horses are a lot of fun, but a lot of work too. I love horses, but I’d never want to own one. The flies really are bad! I feel bad for the horses when those darn flies are always around.

  4. Elizabeth O. says:

    We took care of different animals when I was young and it’s really going to teach you a lot of lessons in life especially when it comes to compassion and love. You’re going to have to adjust to the changes they bring as well. But they are always for the better.

  5. Jaimie F. says:

    Oh i love horses. Each time we want to ride a horse, we still need to travel up northern part of the country. You truly are one blessed person.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *