Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Slumping

On the one hand, things are going well: Tris is healthy, happy, fat, and well-cared for as we head into the winter.

On the other: I've hit a bit of a slump. December has been a disaster for riding so far, as was the last half of November. I string together two or three days of riding and then I have to go out of town. Or, like today: I took the day off to get to a series of appointments. Two of the three were canceled due to our impending snowstorm.

Great! I thought. I'll re-route my afternoon and after the first of the appointments, stop by for a few quick errands that need to get done, and then head to the barn. Except, fiance to my car to work today because of said snowstorm; it is 4WD, and bigger and more solid, and I feel better having him drive it when he's got a long commute on Vermont's poorly plowed roads.

The storm hit with a vengeance by 1pm - it really seemed to go from overcast to whiteout very quickly. I worked my way through my short errands on the city and main streets, and within an hour even those streets were ugly and slippery in fiance's smaller, lighter Prius, even with the snow tires on.

So I headed home, and I've been puttering away on the kind of necessary household tasks that have been piling up these last few weeks.

I can't help but feel that if I'd really wanted to get to the barn, I would've. Some of that drive and fire that pushed me a few years ago is gone. I'm not sure if I'm overall tired and stressed from work and life, if the work Tristan is doing right now is not lighting a spark, or if I'm just in a temporary lull.

I've been reading a lot of blog posts recently by people suffering the same thing. I think in horses we work so hard - and read so often about others working so hard - that it's a tough thing to admit, and to cope with. When do you need to slow down, when do you need to take a break entirely, and when do you need to get the hell over yourself and push through no matter what? I don't have answers for myself, unfortunately.

5 comments:

  1. I'm in the slump club! We should make t-shirts. I push through it when I know my slumps are to the detriment to my horse. With the bad rides we've been having, I can't just take a few weeks off because I feel like it and our weather is NOT bad so I feel like I have to make the effort.

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    1. Ha, yeah.

      For me: yes, Tristan would benefit from more consistent conditioning work, and he's actually feeling good and we're having good rides right now. The catch? He has so little work ethic that I feel like he would always prefer to just hang out and eat his hay rather than be ridden. I constantly struggle with how to balance that mental break for him.

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  2. yea i am definitely right there with you. i've got my fingers crossed that the feeling is simply coinciding with the onset of winter. after a week (or maybe two or three), when winter is undeniably not going away, and i'm bored and cabin-feverish, *then* it'll be easier to motivate myself out the door... maybe?

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  3. I've been living in slumpville. Trying move on to that "get over yourself" part. Sometimes time helps. Sometimes the slumps melt off (spring?) And sometimes you tell them to eff off and you fight.

    Good luck! You're not alone. :)

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  4. You are definitely not alone in this, I start to struggle around the holidays, and then until spring really starts getting closer. It's just hard to devote all the time/energy when it's not as fun or rewarding in crappy weather.

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