My horse mom friend Kathleen has been having a rough year with a seemingly endless pile-on of injuries — kid and horse — and various other issues related to the two horses she owns. It’s been a lot for her and (somehow!) she’s handling it like a champ and with such grace. You need to realize: When you sign up for this sport, you need to expect there will be falls, some possibly with big injuries, issues related to horse purchases and leases, and other things that just pop up because we’re dealing with live animals and a zillion variables all. the. time. It’s expensive. And many, many times you don’t have control and you just need to let. it. go. Yep, breathe.
You actually figure out pretty quickly after signing your kid up for their first horse riding class if this environment is for you, ha. For better or worse, you and your kid might not be on the same page. Another mom friend told me after her daughter came home from a one-day horse camp and declared, “mom, I’m a horse person now!” — she said, “nope, you’re not.”
Fortunately there are lots of ways to have these giant beasts in your life at various levels of commitment. Your kid can be an occasional horse person with some lessons on a school horse without you having to get knee-deep in the muck. Our barn has a great lesson program that offers a leveled curriculum in partnership with Spark Equestrian Academy, which is a good fit for many families who are looking for a structured riding program. Different barns offer different types of classes or private/semi-private lessons and sometimes you can take a single class to try the place/trainer out. Proceed with caution, ask lots of questions, and trust your gut. A safe environment and healthy horses are pretty easy to see.
Riloh had been riding for a while before we found Spark, but she took the final few levels of classes and they were great. The horsemanship part of the classes really rounded out her knowledge and made her much more independent. As a parent, I appreciated seeing some goals for each class so I knew generally what was being taught (and what I was paying for) after a certain amount of weeks. And it’s great for the rider to see themselves climb levels as they become stronger. When she finished the final level, Riloh was recommended to start jumping with a certain trainer at a new barn, and she’s still riding with that hunter jumper trainer three+ years later.
We love our barn community. No barn community is perfect. And we still love ours. We’re grateful for the wonderful, generous, hardworking, caring, patient, knowledgable, honest people who help us learn and make sure we are taking good care of the horses we love. We have made some life-long friendships through our experiences and shared passions at this place. I know I can count on these people, and I’m pretty sure they know they can count on me.
Kathleen and I joke about the reaction we sometimes get from non-horse people when they learn we are “equestrians.” Like we’re fancy and bougie and show up to the barn after the horses are all prepared for riding by some farmhand. When in reality (!!), we’re shoveling, brushing, mucking, and picking hay out of our hair — plus managing teen emotions, supplying snacks, and writing checks. Our kids are in each others’ cars and houses frequently along with a crew of several other horse girl buddies and it’s usually messy and awesome.
So maybe those are some things to think about as you sign your kid up for horse camp this summer. And remember horse love is a very deeeep love and barn friendships can be life-long. I’m talking to you, future horse mom.
A few fun links:
