Day in the Life of a Working Amateur Rider

Day in the Life of a Working Amateur Rider

7:00am: Alarm goes off.  Two dogs pounce on you to see if it’s time for cuddling and love.  You hit snooze.  Dogs go back to sleep on top of you potentially cutting off circulation or breathing ability.

7:55am: You wake up, and overslept.  Spend a groggy minute in bed contemplating if you can get away with not showering after only a somewhat warm evening at the barn.  You get up and decide pony tails and perfume are an equestrian’s best friend.

8:15am: Dig through hamper to find not very dirt breeches because you zonked out before doing laundry last night.  Scrounge riding clothes in one bag, gym clothes in another since there’s a chance of rain.

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8:20am: Throw anything that resembles food into a bag.  You are saving money by bringing lunch to work so you can pay for weekly training rides on your horse.

9:00am: Arrive at work.  Your digital picture frame is currently displaying a photo of you and your horse at a your last show.

10:00am: Chat with friends online about your ride last night.

11:00am: Browse horse blogs in-between work and meetings.

12:30pm: Eat lunch at desk.  Spend your lunch hour dropping stirrups off at the UPS store to return to SmartPak, and picking up antibacterial soap at the dollar store so you can wash legs later at the barn.

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3:00pm: Check weather to make sure you aren’t going to get rained out tonight.

4:00pm: Call husband and tell him you will are riding and to eat dinner early if he wants since you’ll be home late.  Husband does a good job not acting at all surprised at this.

4:30pm: Scarf down snack because you know you won’t be having dinner for practically a million years.

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5:00pm: Wish for work to end.

5:30pm: Still wishing for work to end.

6:00pm: Work has ended! Rush to your car as fast as you can.

6:15pm: Traffic.

6:30pm: Traffic.

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6:45pm: Resist temptation to do a Dukes of Hazard over the speed bumps down the driveway to the barn.  Change as fast as you can, and potentially almost fall down with a leg tangled up in your breeches and boot socks.

7:00pm: Hug and kiss on pony and all is right with the world.

8:30pm: Text your husband and tell him you’ll be home a little later than planned.  He again does a good job not being shocked.

8:45pm: Analyze your ride on the way home.  Resist temptation to instagram cute pictures of your horse while driving 80mph down the toll road.

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9:15pm: Arrive home.  Declare a peanut butter jelly sandwich and some sugar free pudding as dinner.  Talk to husband about his day and resist temptation to go into every single detail about how your horse was during his trot sets.

10:00pm: Try to gather motivation to do laundry/dishes… and fail.

10:30pm: Watch SciFi shows with husband while reading Chronicle and more horse blogs.

11:00pm: Fall asleep on couch until husband wakes you up and suggests it might be better to fall asleep in bed.  Realize you really do need to put food up in the kitchen, feed dogs, and do a few more chores before bed.

11:45pm: Tell yourself you really need to get to bed earlier.

12:15am: Go to sleep, ready to repeat tomorrow.

17 thoughts on “Day in the Life of a Working Amateur Rider

  1. Maaan, you get to sleep in till 7:55??? SO JEALOUS. I’m out of bed at 6 to be in the barn feeding by 6:10. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure Red would let himself out of the pasture and come bang in the door. Starved ponies, you know.

  2. “Dig through hamper to find not very dirt breeches because you zonked out before doing laundry last night”
    This. Cannot stop laughing. So true.

  3. You know you are passionate about horses when you actually chronicle how you spend your time and still want to get up and do it again the next day!

  4. Sounds like a really busy day. It’s a good thing you board or else you’d never have time to ride. I don’t work now but sometimes I wish I did! When you have your own farm there’s mucking, dragging rings, feeding, filling hay nets and so many more little things to take care of I hardly have time to ride a few times a week.

  5. I love this. Also love the quote about not being able to drive people in your car. That actually happened to me today. I had a gigantic feed tub in the front seat and all my boots piled in the back.

  6. Whelp, this pretty much summarizes my life, right on down to “Tell yourself you really need to get to bed earlier.” LOL. Perfection.

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