To ride or not to ride?
That is the question. Sometimes the answer is easy to get to, and other times, it’s not. You want to ride, but something tells you not to get on your horse today. Or maybe you don’t have a horse and you’re trying to decide if you should get back in the saddle again.
There are many reasons to ride and just as many not to. If you are a happy horse owner, ask yourself if it is just today that you are feeling ambivalent about getting up or if it is tending to be an often-occurring thought—this “I don’t think I feel like riding today.” Ask yourself the following questions:
- Have you gotten hurt recently or anytime while with your horse.
- Are you afraid of your horse? If so, can you pinpoint the reason?
- Are you physically up to your norm?
- Has it been a long time since you last rode?
- Is the wind blowing?
- Does your horse seem out of sorts; anxiety-ridden or more nervous than usual?
Let’s say you’ve not ridden in years and now you are thinking of getting back to riding. You are excited and you are feeling anxious about the idea as well. Should you proceed or take up knitting instead? One great way to get back to a long-lost sport is to ease into it and see if the passion you remember having is still there. Take a few riding lessons and ride more than one horse. Go riding with friends or even rent a horse for the day and explore both your surroundings and your own feelings about riding. Once you do this, you’ll have a good idea of how serious you are about continuing your riding career and you’ll have made some contacts to help you get started back to the happy horse owner status you may be thinking about.
Sometimes, the best answer to the question of whether or not to ride is to take a day off and just spend time doing nothing with your steed instead. Bonding while neither of you has any agenda is a great way to spend time together and get to know each other better.
Happy Trails!