Blog Friends to Real Friends
Real talk, some days I feel like horse blogs and blogging, in general, may be on an unstoppable downward trajectory. Even though I came back to my blog gung ho, keyboard swinging… I’ve had a hard time motivating myself to update. But—this isn’t a post about that. This is a post about blog friends.
The best side effects from the glory days of horse blogging when I went through my entire feed daily and wrote all the comments are the friendships. Through blogging, I’ve made connections and friendships that feel lifelong. Bloggers and readers have given me support beyond what I could have imagined. After Tim died, the generosity from the blogging community literally helped me pay my mortgage one month when I wasn’t sure how I’d manage otherwise. Luckily these days, things are better. I can focus on the fun part of blogger friends, whether it’s supporting each other on social media or texting about all things pony. Most fun of all though is when I get to hang out with my blog friends in person. That was the case this weekend when I had the pleasure of hosting Emily!
Through the magic of work travel in the before times re Covid, I’d met Emily for drinks a few times over the years. Since then, a lot has happened. Her story is her own, but we have a lot in common far beyond horses. Which was a metaphor for the weekend. In fact, this was the only horse that made an appearance during her visit:
Well, unless you count the time we spent watching Olympic cross country—aka gasping and repeating “Oh hell no” over and over again to the television between sips of Champagne.
Horses are the common denominator that brings blog friends together, but we stick to each other for way more than that. Horse people are passionate, driven, hard-working, and a little bit crazy (in the best way). In addition to that though, I’ve found the bloggers to also be empathetic, deep thinkers who really care about the people in their circles.
So of course, it was a fun weekend. And of course, we talked about ponies. But between escaping the Austin heat and trying to make sure Lucie didn’t try to jump in the plane with Emily to head back home (Lucie snuck into her room at night to sleep!), we covered a lot more than the hunters.
As I resume my normal day-to-day worklife, I wanted to take a minute to appreciate not only Emily but all of the friends I’ve made through this blog. I’m so grateful for all of those who have opened their hearts and often their home to me. I’ve been fortunate to meet so many of y’all, and hope to see more in the future. Whether we stopped blogging, kept blogging, or somewhere in-between, the people will always be the best part of this space. Though I love your horses past and present, I love y’all much more.
10 thoughts on “Blog Friends to Real Friends”
I’m honestly so mad we didn’t do a full fledge photo shoot of both of you on the pony tube before we started the float MISSED OPPORTUNITYYYYY
There are SO many blogs I used to read that stopped posting. I don’t fault anyone for stopping, since I was never motivated enough to start, but after years of reading about peoples’ adventures, I do wonder how they are doing now.
Looks like a good time was had by all. Its fun when we get to meet up with people in real life that we met from behind our keyboards. There’s a few more blogger friends I have yet to meet up with and looking forward to doing it. Many of them have also stopped blogging for personal reasons and I get it. Some days I wonder how much longer I will continue to post too.
I love the horse floatie.
Blog friends are definitely a special kind of friends! Glad you guys had a fun weekend!
It was the community that brought me back to blogging, even though I live zillions of miles away. Keep writing, y’all! Also, I NEED the horsy floatie in my life, too, LOL.
Oh yes. Horse blog friends have become some of the most important people in my real life. I am sad that the whole community seems to be fizzling out, though I admit I debate shutting my blog down every month myself.
A network of horsey people across the country (and beyond) is the best part of blogging. The horses are a close second, though.
Thanks so much for the photo of you on your “sea-horse”. It was so cute that I hopped on the internet and ordered one for myself. JOY!
Long time blog reader / lurker – I’m glad you’re still writing! This is belated but congrats on your master’s degree and also welcome back to TX!
I keep checking in to see if you’ve updated with any horse shopping news, but nothing to date. Hoping you are doing OK. Believe me I understand losing motivation to do things. You’re in my thoughts despite that we don’t know each other. Take care.