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socializing versus horses
Jun. 24th, 2007 12:18 pmI went to a party last night, after many hours spent at the Groton House 3-phase horse trials. I was pretty wiped, but the party was nice -- not terribly crowded, thanks to the n-zillion other social things going on, and quiet enough for actual socializing.
But somewhere along the way it hit me that I have been making much less effort to get out and be social, yet I'm not suffering (too much) from the "left out" feelings, the idea that there's this huge wonderful Camberville social network to which I am no more than a flea. It just doesn't matter.
Instead, I am riding horses. And it's much, much better for me, a strong introvert, than trying to keep up in an extrovert's game. Ben worries a bit about how much time horses are taking, but I worry less, and am finding that everything else in my life is shifting to accommodate.
Will I ever own a horse? I really don't know. We have enough land to keep a horse, but no place to ride it, so I'd still have to board it somewhere. Horses are expensive to buy and even more expensive to maintain. Right now, I can't justify the expense; we are in good shape financially but there is no room in the budget for an expensive hobby. I may, at some point, get a "half-lease" on a horse, basically an arrangement that allows me a certain amount of riding time on a specific horse owned by someone else, in return for some hundreds of dollars per month. For the time being, I am riding Minnie and getting lessons from J on a barter arrangement, and in the fall I'll go back to Windrush and pay for lessons again.
I was going to add my impressions of the horse trials, but we are going out to be social, and Ben is anxious to get going.
But somewhere along the way it hit me that I have been making much less effort to get out and be social, yet I'm not suffering (too much) from the "left out" feelings, the idea that there's this huge wonderful Camberville social network to which I am no more than a flea. It just doesn't matter.
Instead, I am riding horses. And it's much, much better for me, a strong introvert, than trying to keep up in an extrovert's game. Ben worries a bit about how much time horses are taking, but I worry less, and am finding that everything else in my life is shifting to accommodate.
Will I ever own a horse? I really don't know. We have enough land to keep a horse, but no place to ride it, so I'd still have to board it somewhere. Horses are expensive to buy and even more expensive to maintain. Right now, I can't justify the expense; we are in good shape financially but there is no room in the budget for an expensive hobby. I may, at some point, get a "half-lease" on a horse, basically an arrangement that allows me a certain amount of riding time on a specific horse owned by someone else, in return for some hundreds of dollars per month. For the time being, I am riding Minnie and getting lessons from J on a barter arrangement, and in the fall I'll go back to Windrush and pay for lessons again.
I was going to add my impressions of the horse trials, but we are going out to be social, and Ben is anxious to get going.
