How Other People Ride, Blog Hop Invitation, State of the Blog

Words

Awareness of the outside world. Tor.com: The Plotter vs. Pantser Divide Has Been Exaggerated, Palmer, Aug 8, 2022.

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Blog hop idea. What is it like to keep your horse in a full-care, full-time training barn?

I don’t know and I’m curious.

Over the years, I have kept my horses at eight barns in five states, from New Hampshire to North Carolina. Seven of the barns were boarding situations. They feed your horse; you do you. Some were basic. Some had an instructor available. In each case, you were the captain of your ship.

One barn was a training barn that I thought was a boarding barn. That worked out as well as you would expect.

Now my horses are home, and have been for years. [Barniversary]

So what’s it like not having control over your own horse?

Not talking about a co-op barn. I, personally, don’t share well enough to do this, but I could see how it could work.

Nor do I mean sending your horse off for training for a specified period of time. I wouldn’t, but again I can see it.

Nor do I mean training as a supplement to your riding. I have seen this in both dressage & hunters. At least you ride your own horse.

Speaking of riding your own horse, neither do I mean being the owner of a fancy horse shown by a Big Name Rider. That is a totally separate set of expectations. While I don’t see the attraction of paying for other people’s fun, clearly folks do. More power to them. Maybe if I were so rich that I could pay the fees out of petty cash, I might give it a whirl.

That’s a lot of restrictions. So what do I mean?

What I mean is the very specific situation where your horse, the horse you own and show, is mainly ridden by a trainer. Where maybe you have a lesson on the horse, or maybe you ride school horses until the show. Where riders are discouraged from hanging out at the barn before or after their lesson. Where your horse is presented to you tacked up. Where, perhaps, riders are not even allowed into the barn. Where the trainer is appalled at the idea that there are other barns wherein people ride their own horses every day.

I am on record as unable to fathom this. [Why Not Rack Off Into The Sunset?]

Is it the best way for you to get to the top of your chosen sport? You want to be more involved, but lack the time? You prefer it this way?

Talk to me, tell me what I’m missing.

As before, if you blog this, please comment here &/or message me so I can list your post. If you have already written posts that fit, please drop a link in the comments. Not a blogger? Please feel free to comment at length below or contact me about a guest post. [Stories I’d Like To Hear, 10 Blog Hop Ideas]

State of the Blog [archives]

Onwards!
Katherine