A decade ago, if we were asked to name the single universal hurdle that most people must clear in order to have horses in their life, we might have said, “Money.” I think that is changing.
Make no mistake, riding horses, buying horses, and caring for horses is still an expensive hobby/habit/obsession/passion…but these days, I find those who wish for a few hours in the barn or on the trail are inhibited less by their bank account and more by depleted time stores. With all that we do, with all that we have, with globalization, world travel, smashed glass ceilings, and working parents, we have little time for much else outside the daily to-dos. And perhaps even more than money, horses require time.
So how do we put on the brakes in the middle of heavy traffic? How do we cut speed when we’re surrounded by others traveling a million-miles-an-hour? In her bestselling, you-CAN-get-there-from-here-book THE SMART WOMAN’S GUIDE TO MIDLIFE HORSES, author and midlife horsewoman (against the modern-day-working-mom odds) Melinda Folse provides valuable ideas for making room and making time for horses…in a crowded life where there’s NEVER enough time. (You can order your copy of Melinda’s book from the TSB online bookstore, where shipping in the US is always free—CLICK HERE TO ORDER NOW.)
Try this exercise from THE SMART WOMAN’S GUIDE TO MIDLIFE HORSES and get started “clearing your own trail” today…so you can be riding tomorrow:
1 Track your time use in a journal for a full week. At the end of the week, group your entries into the following categories:
WORK
SLEEP
HOME (household tasks and errands)
PEOPLE (family and friends)
PERSONAL MAINTENANCE (bathing, dressing, personal appointments, and tasks)
SELF (activities that renew you mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually)
2 Tally the total time spent each week in each category. These numbers reveal where your priorities are right now. Is this a life of balance and joy? What adjustments do you need to make? What do you wish your priorities were?
3 Now reorder your priorities to reflect the “horsey” life you want to lead in terms of how you spend your time. Use this new list as your guide as you start to enforce your new set of priorities by saying “No,” scheduling less, and canceling engagements until you reach a balance of time and choice that reflects your personal values and who you want to become.
Find more fun, easy-to-implement advice on finding horses again, or for the very first time, in THE SMART WOMAN’S GUIDE TO MIDLIFE HORSES by Melinda Folse.
And check out the great videos about how horses can bring fun, fulfillment, fitness, and friendship into your life by clicking on the Vodpod Featured Videos widget on the right side of this page.