It’s the little, arguably mundane things that bring meaning to day to day life, and equestrians can pinpoint a set of very specific items or situations that bring them joy.
Which one of these small wins do you find the most satisfying?
1. Freshly cut grass verges
2. Hacking on a sunny (or at least dry) day with a friend
3. The smell of newly opened bag of chaff
4. When your tack is clean (even better if someone cleaned it for you)
5. Your horse’s whinny
6. A stack of full haynets
7. A tidy muck heap
8. A freshly mucked out and neatly brushed back bed
9. Matchy matchy sets in your fave colour
10. Thursdays, when your copy of H&H lands on your doorstep
11. A freshly stocked sale rail/bargain bin/last chance box at your local tack shop
12. Seeing your horse take a nap (how is he so cute?!)
13. When horse sport is on the TV
14. A perfectly fitting rug
15. Watching your horse play with his friends in the field
16. Dry gateways
17. Poo picked fields
18. New speed limits on your most loved hacking routes
19. The smell of show shine spray
20. Lunch in your lorry while your horse munches on his hay next to you
21. Those solo hacks that give you much-needed thinking time
22. Getting compliments on your plaits
23. When someone asks you how your horse is bred
24. When you turn your horse out and he gets the zoomies
25. A really great training session
26. Getting home earlier than expected from a competition (bonus points if the other half has a roast dinner waiting for you on arrival)
27. A freshly swept yard
28. When your trainer says you did something well
29. Scouring the internet looking at incredible equestrian properties well out of your budget
30. Any photos — good, bad or ugly — of your horse
31. Foals. Just any foals
32. A fresh clip
33. Early morning rides in summer before the flies come out
34. When all your horse’s bills are paid off
35. A well-shod or trimmed set of feet
36. Friends with fields to ride in (extra credits if they have cross-country jumps)
37. No traffic on the way home from a show
38. A day off with no plans so you can spend it totally alone with your horse
39. Pristine white socks or stockings
40. An organised tack room or feed room
41. A perfectly neat hair net under a hat
You may also be interested in…
4 things horse owners prioritise for their four-legged friends
13 embarrassing mistakes most competition riders have made at some stage
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