Juggling Act

For most females at some part in our lives it becomes a juggling act trying to balance work and family around our equestrian pursuits. To be brutally honest most days I feel like I’m dropping more balls than I’m juggling.

I have been and still am very lucky to have a great network of family, friends, and an amazing coach who has made it possible for me to follow my equestrian dream. Angus went to his first show at 3 months of age and very quickly became a fixture at monthly jumping clinics. Now he’s 7 and I look back and think how amazing it was that I was able to carry on such a full life even when he was young. He was a colicky baby and even when he was recovered from that he never slept much whether we were at home or in the truck so it didn’t really matter where we were. My long suffering friends who stayed in the truck with me got used to me singing nursery rhymes basically in my sleep (I am tone deaf I might add) and Angus enjoyed our adventures away with all the extra people around and attention. I apologise now to all the people whose horses were traumatised by a different plaything each year; prams, tonka trucks, balance bikes, bikes with bells, scooters, a small pony sometimes in a cart, and most recently a motor bike.

Im somewhat embarrassed to say that for a while there every time he saw a bottle of wine he would say “Pop, Pop”, and if someone was having a tricky day on a horse all that could be heard was “Ohd oh” from the sideline.

More recently he seems to have a harem of teenage girls he has at his beck and call so funnily enough still enjoys coming with me. He’s even managed to get my poor long suffering coach to be his “wing man” when he was too shy to go and talk to his favourite teen. No doubt things will change at some point and he will think staying home with Dad (Hamish) is more fun, at least that is until he’s a teen himself and discovers how many girls vs boys are at clinics and shows lol. Pity help me is all I can say!!!!