I spent Saturday at the Equine Industry Summit hosted by the Vermont horse Council. (Thanks for coming with me Mom!)
There was a lot of great discussion about the Vermont equine industry and it made me want to touch on something that I feel is a huge problem in the horse world, not talked about enough and is very important to me.
This is mental health. There is always a push to be the skinniest you can be, ride the nicest horses, have the most expensive tack, win all the shows and go, go, go.
I am not embarrassed to admit that I really struggled this winter and early spring, and I was at my lowest point with my mental health.
The sun was not shining, the bills were piling up, and I felt very defeated.
I am always very hard on myself and hold myself and my business to an extremely high standard. I have spent the recent weeks refocusing on just enjoying the horses again, and spending each day on what the horse needs and nothing more. I removed the urgency to hit the first shows of the season, and meet training goals that were unrealistic given the circumstances and that I was setting purely on comparison of people in other positions than I.
I have always put an emphasis on having healthy, happy and confident horses, and I feel like having a more relaxed and positive mindset has really enabled this to its fullest.
I have really put in the work on myself and I am happy to say that I am feeling much better and I am excited to get back into the groove with the warmer weather.
If you are struggling as an equestrian, I hear you, I see you, I am you, and I support you. Remember why you started doing this in the first place… It wasn’t to be the best, it wasn’t to win all the ribbons, it wasn’t to have the most expensive tack or the most expensive horses, it was because you loved the horse and you loved the sport.
The community as a whole needs to focus on supporting each other and not competing against each other. We are such a small community, we can a
