You Know You’re an Equestrian When…

I was recently talking to a non-equestrian friend about barn life, and something she said struck me. She mentioned how you can tell where someone is from by how they talk and she found it interesting that people could tell I was an equestrian without me having to say a word. I thought about that for a minute. Aside from wearing riding clothes, what other attributes made equestrians recognize me as one of their own?

So, here’s my edition of, you know you’re an equestrian when…

1. You introduce yourself by who you trained with (or the barn you ride at): To this day, I still reference my old trainer when I arrive at a new barn.
   
   
2. You know people by their horse’s name, but don’t know their first name: I recently met up with an Instagram follower who turned out to be an equestrian that I used to ride with back in the day. While I didn’t exactly remember her, when she mentioned her horse’s name, I knew the horse.
   
   
3. You spend more money on your riding outfit than you do on your work clothes: Riding apparel has come a long way since I was a kid. My riding clothes are way nicer than my regular clothes these days. And with brands like Equisite, my riding apparel can do double duty and easily go from the barn to brunch. Fun fact: I’m wearing an Equisite shirt in the photo above, and I’ll be sharing more pieces from the brand on the blog soon. Stay tuned!
   
   
4. You “cluck” at other animals that aren’t horses to get them to move: Let’s see, I’ve tried this with deer, wild rabbits, and cats, and none seem as obedient as horses.
   
   
5. You don’t make plans on the weekend because you know that “going to the barn” means that you will be busy all day: When I stopped riding consistently, I didn’t know what people did on weekends to occupy their time. For so much of my life, my weekends were spent either riding multiple horses a day or going to horse shows. So I went on a hiatus, it took me a while to re-acclimate and find other non-equestrian hobbies to fill my days.
   

I could go on and on with this topic, so I will leave it here. If you’re an equestrian, feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments below and stay tuned for part two!