Staying motivated in your horselife when faced with the mundane?

Question

What techniques do you use to keep your 'eye on the prize' when struggling with the everyday mundane in your horse life?

Because you know you could excel at _________ fill in blank, but you still have the day to day farm work to do?

How do you keep motivated and not burn out?

Answer 1

My Grandmother always said "Many hands make light work". Truer words were never spoke. I know how difficult it is to stay focused when there are so many other things happening that need your attention. In addition to my barn, I own and run a country Inn. I feel like I get pulled in 10 directions at once and know what its like to wear many hats. This is way I decided to hire on some help (another story entirely). My hope is to free up some of my grunt work so I can focus on the things that are important to me. Good luck to you!

Answer 2

i know i could excel at making money doing this but one day i hope to win the lottery then i can pay someone else to do the mundane work so i can concentrate on perfecting the training for an andelusian that i cant afford right now.

Answer 3

I would do my chores first and then when I am done I reward myself with a nice relaxing ride, or a fast-paced trail ride.That way I can get the hard stuff over with and have fun with my horse for the rest of the day.

Answer 4

My fill in the blank...was ranch horse classes for NFQHA.  haha...I may not have 'excelled' all the time...but I did have fun!

My friend was my motivation.  That little devil would enter me in a show and then tell me about it later.  Or she would threaten that she was going to...and since she had a history of doing it...I believed her.  So, I'd best start practicing!

Sometimes...I just made myself sign up for open horse shows that were coming to the area.  Whether I thought I was ready or not.  That was enough incentive to get me to working whether I wanted to or not.  Or I was tired or not.

For me...committing to an event before it arrived...kept me motivated.

My mare and I haven't competed together for over 6 years.  I committed to an event coming up in a couple of weeks.  Now, instead of finding other things to do...we are actually working together.  She doesn't know why...but I do.  I'm enjoying riding her with a goal in mind...not just for fun.  

Maybe that's it....I have a goal.  It's not big in the grand scheme of things...but it is a goal.  To do as well as we can for this trail trial.