Equestrian Challenge: Day 10

Day 10- How your family/friends feel about your riding
This is an interesting one...

My Mom is definitely supportive. I don't think she really gets the whole horseback riding thing, or how much it means to me, but she's never, ever stood in my way. She's only ever been positive, and supportive, regarding the whole thing. My Mom does Ironman (the massively intensive trialthalon), as well as runs marathons, etc. So she gets being "crazy" about something, literally and figuratively, and dumping all of your money on a pursuit of happiness, so I think that helps.

My Dad... is an interesting case. We have a strained relationship as is, and he is not a rider. He never really had an opinion on my own riding. However, his wife grew up around draft horses, and rode a bit as a kid. A couple years ago they purchased an acreage which is basically one big area where he can keep all his cars, etc. He's a mechanic. He then started talking about "rescuing" horses, we had a big discussion and he agreed with me that due to his lacking of knowledge about horses, rescuing is not a good idea. Then, without a word to me, his daughter who rides extensively and owns her own horse, he went and bought two horses. Their land is definitely not set up, or adequate for horses, and my dad has absolutely no idea what he is doing regarding health, wellness, or riding, when it comes to those two animals. He also cannot ride, and has the worst tack imaginable, and "his" horse completely takes advantage of him, and dumps him regularly. Then, this summer, he told my mother that "I'm too small, and inexperienced to handle [his horse]", yeah... okay buddy. It has put a pretty big rift in between the two of us, and is a lot of the reason that our relationship is currently so strained.

My Ranch-Friends... for the most part, are awesome and totally supportive. I think they all know how much horses and riding means to me, and how hard i've been working on getting to be a better rider. So, that's really nice, but their mostly "horse-girls", so of course they are behind me 100% in the pony-endevour.

My "Other" Friends... This is a slightly frustrating one, I'm the only one that rides, and for the most part none of them get it. Some of them love to make inappropriate jokes that literally makes my blood boil. For the most part - none of them know how to share in it you know? It's weird... I don't really know how to explain it, I suppose riding is a very selfish pasttime, that requires a lot of your energy, spare time, and money, so it makes sense my friends don't "get it", especially since i'm rarely around... but it still kind of stinks. What can ya do.