Does non-Horse life affect attitude and riding?

icnmary

icnmary

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Aug 4, 2004
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I just wondered how all of you felt. Do bad things in your non-horse life affect your attitude and pleasure you derive from riding? In other words, could pressures outside of horses affect your riding skills, fear levels and over all interaction with your horse?
 
Yep totally, although I suppose you shouldn't let them. I don't think interaction changes, but my confidence in myself and ability do suffer.
 
Don't know if other people feel the same but whenever something horrible happens in other areas of my life or I'm feeling abit down about something just being around my horses takes my mind off things and cheers me up. Being with them also helps me to put other things into perspective. On another level, if I've had a particularly good ride/schooling session it gives me a boost in general and boosts my confidence overall - not just with horses.
 
with you there stroppy mare
if i've had a rotten day the horses are even more important
out i go and get them in and brush them quietly, ride if day light, and problems just fade away for a time.
 
If something bad happens in your personal life of course it is reflected in other things such as in your riding.If your mind is on other things you are not going to be able to give your all to something.When I lost my daughter I wasn't able to go near a horse in about 6 weeks as I just couldn't cope with the mind numbing grief I was going through.My horse at the time was shared between myself and my daughter and I found it very difficult to be around my horse when my daughter couldn't be.However once I started to go down to the yard again the time I spent with Nutkin was a wonderful relief and I often went down the field just to cuddle him and cry.It was nice to have somewhere to outpour my grief where I could just be myself. However when things are not right in your life you find yourself lacking confidence and that often comes through in your riding.
 
Spending time with my horse is the perfect way to relieve stress at the end of the day. There have been a couple of occasions when I haven't ridden my horse because my confidence in myself has been so severely knocked by something/someone that I have been worried I would convey it to her.
 
id be lying if i said it wasnt. when i have the day from hell, i am still grumpy by the time i get to the yard, ahem.

BUT! pony cheers me up every time, without fail :)

Julia
x
 
I tend to keep different parts of my life in compartments, so one aspect of life doesn't affect the other. For example, when I'm not at work, the place does'nt exist - well not to me anyway. My pets (inc Falcon) are always with me in thought - and the cat fur and horse hair on my jacket are constant reminders! Friends and family are in a completely separate compartment. That's the way I like it, neat and orderly! I find coming home to my cats and Falcon (sometimes I'm lucky enough to see him after work) is a great stress buster. (Fortunately, I live far away from my place of work to be able to completely forget about it.
 
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No I find the opposite, something bad happening in my horsey life totally affects my non horsey life, but turn it around no nothing affects my horsey life other than my horsey life, probably because my life is totally horsey orientated:confused:

Kath x
 
Absolutely!

I know I'm supposed to leave all my stress at the school or arena gate, but sometimes I can't. And if I'm wound up or stressed when I ride, then the horse picks it up.

Of course, the converse is also true. When I was very young, I used to do needlepoint - it calmed me down b/c the stitches MUST be even so I had to concentrate on being "soft" and calm or my work would be all tight and horrid. Riding is the same. One of the horses I ride is very stressy himself and so I have to be the "grownup" and be calm myself to help him through it (or he'll tank off or buck). So riding him forces me to be calm otherwise we just wind each other up.

And I do find just being with the horses very relaxing. I like the sound they make shifting around in their stables, their snuffly greetings, the sound they make as they chew their hay/haylage, their bigness, their warmth and their smell. All those things can calm me right down or cheer me right up as required.

And then there are times when the owner of the yard makes snarky comments about how neither I nor my children can ride/have much experience and I just want to cry . . . :(
 
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No Way!

It's the other way round for me.

If I've had a bad day at the office, or an argument with one of my children I go to the farm and all the pressure of the day just melts away.:)

In fact, I think I enjoy riding / spending time with my horse a lot more if I've had a bad day.
 
If I'm stressed Ziz feels duty bound to play about, mess me about, do the opposite of what I'm asking. However being with her cheers me up and calms me down.
 
Anyone read 'The Chronicles of Narnia '?, in the story when the children go through the wardrobe door they enter a magical world, quite separate from the real world.
For me the wardrobe door is the farm gates and when I pass through them, my other life disappears, no matter whats going on in my life or how tired I am. I have so much energy and focus, until I pass back through those gates, when reality dawns again with thoughts of cooking dinner, ironing and soothing someones ruffled feathers...groan.
 
hmm, when ive had a confidence knock then i cant ride to save my life - im a very temperamental stressy person and so's Curly, so thats just a recipie for disaster.
However if ive had something bad happen (like ive been dumped) then going for a gallop and letting the tears fly off my face at speed is the only way to go :D
 
I am a stressy high strung person. I wish I could find the switch to shut it off at the barn. I'm definitely a type "A" personality. I think my biggest problem is patience. I'm used to immediate results in most aspects of my life and my horse brings me down to earth in that regard. The instant gratification aspect of my personality definitely works against me at times........:(
 
Definatly for me! i dont really trust anyone now but i used to be really bad as a kid and i found it really hard to trust a horse but once i got to trusting horeses my parents said i improved in trusting them and my friends(let them hug me without worrying bout getting emothionally close) so it kindof works in a circle...horse helps non horse and visa versa
 
if something bad happens in my non-horsey life, it has minimal impact on my horse life. But i find if i don't get my quota of horse time i start getting ratty and irritable at work and in situations away from my horses. I need that time to relax, unwind and return refreshed to my job.
 
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