An insight to the mind of an eventer.

You guys are probably famililar with this conversation:

Non-rider: So, hows life?
Rider: Pretty good! My horses are good, I'm riding a lot. I'm happy!
NR: Awesome! Anything else going on?
Rider: Uh... well, I went to a show/clinic/lesson and had a great ride!
NR: That's great... anything else exciting? Like, non-horse related?
Rider: Um...

Or this one, when meeting a new person...

Potential New Friend: So, what are you into?
Rider: Well, I love to ride, love horses, I show occasionally...
PNF: Awesome! And what's your job?
Rider: I train horses and teach lessons.
PNF: Oh, how cool is that. Livin' the dream, huh? What else are you into? Hobbies?
Rider: Oh, I event!
PNF: *looks puzzled*
Rider: Event... horses... *insert tirade describing this crazy sport*
PNF: *backing away slowly... trying to fade into the background*
Rider: Uh... I also cook... er... have dogs... um... I love cupcakes!!! *sigh*

It's pretty much an all consuming habit, this horse thing...

Anyway, last week, I had the option to have a day off. This never actually happens in my life, but somehow, someway, that week, it did. What happens is that I schedule my week on Monday, trying to fit all my lessons and rides equally across the week so I'm not stuck with a ton of things towards the end. I minor-ly rearrange as the week progresses, if its too hot to work a specific horse one day or I get an extra one ridden etc etc.

My ride-board. My life blood. I would die without this.

So, I managed to ride a few extras on one nice day last week and was able to clear my Sunday for what could have been a day off. As I sat thinking about having a day off, I was slightly horrified. What would I do? I had to go to the barn to... stare at my horses? Clean tack? Sleep in?

So, I did what any self-respecting eventer would do. I called my MY trainer and scheduled a lesson- between getting to my barn, loading the trailer, catching the horse, loading the horse, driving to Columbia, having a lesson, general chit-chat, cooling horse off, reloading, driving home, unloading horse, turning horse back out, unloading trailer and parking my rig back, it's at least a half day proposition, so I knew it would consume most of my free time on my "day off."

Because, you know, I wouldn't want to have to find something to do that didn't involve my horse. Like... clean. Or get my hair cut. Or go shopping. Or try to meet new friends or something.