Series Presented by Horizon Structures
Your Barn Can be Your Retreat Unless Your Job is There
When it comes time for a career choice the common advice is that if you find work doing something you love you’ll never work a day in your life. That works on paper, but it’s not true for everyone. The reality is that working day in, day out in a job that entails doing something you love can result in burnout, and the whole plan can seriously backfire.
If you have a true passion for horses and serious talent training and riding them, then taking on the focus and single-minded pursuit of an equestrian athlete’s quest for success at advanced levels in sport may be the perfect career choice.
Perhaps you love the idea of nurturing horses and would like to operate an equine rescue or take up life as a medical professional in a veterinary or adjunct medical field. But be aware that when you work with horses daily and deal with all the complications and difficulties that can occur with them and their owners, over time the passion that once ignited you to follow your love of horses can diminish to barely a spark.
Whether the job entails talking horses all day in an office working for a retailer or manufacturer of equine products, or is a hands-on horse position, burnout can creep up on you. For example, the veterinary community sees a high level of burnout in ambulatory care providers. Working every day in the horse world as a groom, competitor, barn operator, or horse caregiver can be exhausting mentally and physically.
Horse lovers across the world fall into two major groups: the hobbyist and the professional. There is nothing wrong or second rate about choosing to stay an amateur rider or horse owner, with horses in the backyard or boarded, where the horse barn is a place of respite from the toil of everyday working life.
The Horse Barn as a Retreat
The choice to make the horse barn a place of respite, to refresh and rejuvenate body and soul, is often a lifestyle choice that makes perfect sense and can help maintain balance in both family and personal life journeys.
Consider the benefits of sharing time at the barn with friends and family as a place where caring for your horse(s) evokes a feeling of harmony and makes you happy rather than being a pressure cooker of managing staff, other people’s horses, financial issues, and legal liability risks of running a horse business.
The ability to mitigate your own stress levels caused by the incessant demands of today’s world through interaction with horses on a low-pressure level can equal sincere enjoyment and health benefits.
If you have a job doing something non-horsey, you may also find yourself better able to afford more time (and have more money to spend) working on your own horse and riding than being overwhelmed with the needs of clients and other people’s horses or working in a job ‘thinking’ horses all the time.
A modest barn in your backyard can serve as a true oasis for your horse passion. Barns that are designed to address basic horse care needs, such as a simple two stall shed row with a supply room and overhang make a great choice for keeping a couple of horses right outside the back door. This two-stall design offers both form, fit, and function and the advantage of a small footprint.
The realization of a childhood dream to own horses and keep them in your own backyard as a person in their ‘vintage’ years can make retirement a completely new fun chapter in your life. Special barn design ideas for the vintage rider/horse make life as straightforward and safe as possible.
Whatever style of horse barn you choose, allow your head to rule your heart when it comes to barn selection and follow logic to make the best choice. Financing options, ‘to the penny’ quotes for the purchase, delivery and set up of the almost ‘instant’ magically appearing modular horse barn makes modern day horse owning a viable option for most horse lovers.
About Horizon Structures: One horse or twenty, there’s one thing all horse owners have in common…the need to provide safe and secure shelter for their equine partners. At Horizon Structures, we combine expert craftsmanship, top-of-the-line materials and smart “horse-friendly” design to create a full line of sheds and barns that any horse owner can feel confident is the right choice for their horses’ stabling needs. For additional information about the company or their product line, please visit their website at www.horizonstructures.com
Nikki Alvin-Smith is a seasoned writer/content creator who loves to share her lifelong experience with
everything horse, farm, and travel. Her experiences as an international-level Grand Prix dressage competitor,
coach, and worldwide clinician provide educational truths and fun moments to share. She and her husband,
Paul, live in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of New York and operate an organic hay farm and dressage yard.
Visit nikkialvinsmithstudio.com to learn more about her affordable services.
See this article in the July/August 2023 online edition:
July/August 2023 Issue
Nikki Alvin-Smith is a seasoned freelance writer who loves to share her lifelong experience with everything horse, farm and travel. Her work has been printed in more than two hundred fifty equestrian magazines worldwide and her published articles number in the thousands including travel and lifestyle press.
A Brit who has called New York home for more than 37 years, Nikki brings a unique perspective to her writing.
Her experience as an international level Grand Prix dressage competitor, coach and worldwide clinician, with a youth spent showjumping and foxhunting, provides lots of educational truths and fun moments to share with the reader. Additionally, she has been a horse breeder and importer of Hanoverian, Dutch and Iberian horses for more than 25 years.
Visit nikkialvinsmithstudio.com to learn more.