Horses are my thing. Everyone knows that, but that doesn’t mean I’ve always had time for them and that’s especially true in college. I’ve never had the luxury of being able to ride every day. But during high school I would always get to see my horse on weekends. During my first year of college, I was active in my college’s equestrian program, and was getting to ride two to three times a week. After I transferred, I started doing IHSA, but thought I didn’t have nearly the time I needed to be able to do even that. So I tried taking lessons at a private barn, which got really expensive really quickly. So once second semester came around, and after I went over my budget, I realized I wasn’t going to be able to ride (at least not as often as I was used to). Not only had I run out of money, but I had also run out of time because second semester was academically very tough. It was then that I realized, I was lying to myself when I said I didn’t have time for IHSA first semester, and as second semester killed my academic confidence, it made me realize I was missing something that was very important to me.

For non-riders who need something to visualize what quitting this sport means, try thinking about quitting something that literally destroys your stress. Like for instance, if you go running to relieve stress, imagine what would happen if you stopped.

Quitting riding for me, was like quitting coffee during finals week, or something equally as tragic. Eventually, I realized every little thing was stressing me out and I had no way to deal with it. I would go to the gym to try and allocate my stress in ways that didn’t involve chewing off the ends of my fingernails. No matter what I did to try and cover up the fact that I was driving myself crazy, I never really felt as carefree as I do after I go riding.

Obviously, not riding for a semester taught me that I should never have stopped. But it also taught me a lot about myself. It taught me that I’m high-strung, and relatively intense, and without ways to distribute the tension I get really, really unhappy. It wasn’t that I was depressed, but I always felt like something was missing.

Horses are expensive, they’re time consuming, and they’re not really a major athletic fixture at most colleges or universities, so finding time and resources to accommodate a horsey lifestyle is hard for most college students. It’s frustrating to watch riders your age advance their careers while you’re not even getting to ride. If you’ve been riding your entire life, college isn’t the time to stop.

I’ve made a commitment to myself for the summer to ride at least three times a week, and next year I’m doing IHSA if the time constraints kill me. Working something you love into your schedule is important, and it puts a lot into perspective when you live without it for a period of time. Luckily, I have a family who is willing to support my riding, and I’m ever grateful to them for that. It's pretty needless to say that I'm not planning on quitting again any time soon.

So here’s to riding every day, and not biting your nails off in fits of anxiety.