Have you ever wondered how much time you spend on horse-related activities other than riding? Like the time you spend grooming, mucking stalls, shopping online for the absolute best supplement or blanket, or hanging around at the barn long after your lesson just because you don’t want to leave?
When I first pondered this question, I thought my ratio of non-riding horse time to riding time would be about 3 to 1. But then when I started paying more attention, I thought it might be more like 10 to 1. I spend a LOT of time at the barn.
I just love hanging out with my horse, even in freezing cold winter.
Being a scientist and a statistics geek, I decided to collect some data to answer the question! Over the last few months I have been documenting all the time I spend on horse-related activities. Here are the results. I board my horse so, other than occasionally helping out with chores, feeding and mucking stalls are not included.
For every one hour I spend riding (defined as time in the saddle or mounted bareback), I spend:
| Grooming, tacking, tacking up, untacking, hosing down, cleaning tack | 0.7 hours |
| General care including occasional feeding and turnout, tick checks, tending to minor wounds, TLC | 0.4 hours |
| Packing and preparing the trailer for trips, unpacking and cleaning it up afterwards | 0.4 hours |
| Travel time in trailer for trail rides/weekends away | 0.3 hours |
| Shopping online, watching training videos, picking up supplies at the farm store, trailer repair/improvements | 0.4 hours |
| Hanging out at the barn, chatting, staring lovingly at my horse, watching others ride, going to shows to watch others ride | 0.8 hours |
| TOTAL | 3.0 |
There are some things I have not included here, such as the time I spend driving to the barn which comes to 0.9 hours per 1 hour of riding, and the time I spend at my job earning money to pay for board, vet bills, supplements, insurance, tack and other expenses, which would add another 2.5 hours per hour of riding. If I had my horse on my own property I suppose this might represent the time spent on feeding, watering, mucking, fixing fences, mending broken stall doors, etc.
I must admit I am rather surprised by these results. For one, I am shocked that my first estimate of 3 to 1 was actually accurate! And I am surprised that the time for non-riding activities is not higher because some days I don’t even ride and yet I spend hours at the barn!
He is definitely going to need a bath after this!
Nevertheless, I enjoy all of my horse-related activities (other than driving to the barn…). Whether the ratio was 3 to 1 or 10 to 1, I wouldn’t care. One of the things I love about having a horse is that it is a package deal – I get to ride, go to beautiful places, have a relationship with an amazing being, get exercise and do manual labor, challenge myself to learn new things, meet new people and spend lots time with like-minded friends.
I even enjoy watching my 5-year old friend leading my super-well-behaved horse into the barn!
What do you think your riding time to non-riding-horse-time ratio is?
Monica
