Juggling family time and horse time is difficult. I feel guilty when I'm spending hours in the saddle away from Wyatt. I feel guilty when I am spending hours away from Gem. I try my best and at times one wins out more over the other. Having spent so much time lately preparing for and then attending Barefoot, I feel like I have put enough money in the Gemmie bank while depleting my Wyatt account a little too much.
Dusty was gone all day Saturday running a 50k up and down Paris Mountain 4 times (and did it in 6:31 which is a great time given the elevation profile) and I had planned on attending a beautiful Hunter Pace in NC on Sunday. When Sunday morning rolled around I found that I had zero motivation. I had spent a lovely Friday afternoon and all day Saturday with my little man just enjoying spending the time with him and just didn't feel like losing the entire day on Sunday.
Instead of heading north to ride, I packed up the dogs, hubby and Wyatt and we headed south to hike in Sumter National Forest.
It was a gorgeous day and fall has finally arrived in brilliance here in SC. As we hiked along the horse trails, I felt pangs of guilt for not being on my mare, but then I would hear Wyatt laughing and I just didn't care anymore. It would have been a great day to ride the perfect trails, but it was also a great day to hike on perfect trails. The mare can wait another week.
These are crappy cell phone pictures. I need a new phone, but can't upgrade until summer. I swear phones have a pre determined life span that lasts barely over a year before they stop functioning. I have a Samsung Galaxy that I got just over a year ago and it barely functions. The pictures aren't so great and I dislike carrying both my phone and a camera. I either need to get used to having a camera again or need to get a new phone with a much higher quality camera in it. Not the iphone though. Or at least not the new one. I don't need to carry a laptop around posing as a phone. There is a new LG that claims an amazing camera which I may look into.
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| A tired a sore hubby hiking anyway |
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| Logs are sooo much bigger when you are only 2 |
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| The leaves are absolutely gorgeous right now |
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| Einstein |
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| Einstein is hard to capture on film due to his rich dark brown color. |
I think I am very lucky, in that I came back to horses after my son was almost a teenager. I am much less central to his life now, then I was when he was younger. I don't think I could have handled the emotional disconnect. I applaud your ability to do both.
ReplyDeleteIt is getting harder now as he grows up. I don't want to miss any time with him. Before daylight savings time I can ride in the evening when he goes to sleep and get a great ride in at the barn, but now it is dark at 5:30 so my only time to ride is on the weekend which is also my only time with Wyatt. It is a balancing act, but Gem is my stress relief and sanity.
DeleteGotta love the floppy ears on Einstein!
ReplyDeleteShauna