I found this a sad comment

[KBC]

Last Monday was a beautiful day, so friend and I decided to go and ride. She is older than me, and I’m geriatric, we both like the safety of an enclosed space, and often ride inside, because she pefers that choice. When we were ready to ride, discovered that there was a lesson going on, that wasn’t on the board, so I convinced her to enjoy the warm and ride in the big outdoor arena. We were riding down there and she made the comment “But I’m always less productive when I am outside”

That comment hung with me, and had to ask her “do we always have to be productive” She has just exchanged the stress of being retired and making ends meet, to the stress of re entering the work force, in a job she hates, to make a little money. I got her just to walk around the arena with me, and chat, just like we were out for a trail ride, tried to convince her that just being, hanging out, is enough…I thought maybe she had taken it on board. She still took her mare into the indoor when we got back, I guess she went to be productive.

Me, well I was enjoying riding in a polo shirt, knowing we were looking at a severe temperature drop and snow the next day. I thoroughly enjoyed riding my new lease horse in the big ring, let him go and explored some of his big movements such fun.

Maybe I’ll start a campaign for being deliberately unproductive at times, because just enjoying is important as well

[jvanrens]

@KBC

Maybe I’ll start a campaign for being deliberately unproductive at times, because just enjoying is important as well

For human and equine both!

[Djones]

@KBC

That comment hung with me, and had to ask her “do we always have to be productive” She has just exchanged the stress of being retired and making ends meet, to the stress of re entering the work force, in a job she hates, to make a little money. I got her just to walk around the arena with me, and chat, just like we were out for a trail ride, tried to convince her that just being, hanging out, is enough…I thought maybe she had taken it on board. She still took her mare into the indoor when we got back, I guess she went to be productive.

I don’t personally enjoy a trail ride the way I used to. I don’t. That’s a fact. I don’t like that fact, but I accept it. I think we’re going to sell our big LQ, the thing I lusted after for ages, then only used from 2012 to about 2019, and since then it’s only been out very sporadically. It hasn’t moved since last October. I never even flushed the RV anti freeze from the pipes. I have ridden thousands of trail miles on horse back, from Montana to North Carolina to Tennessee, Florida, Kentucky and Georgia. I don’t care about trails anymore. I’m not even sad, I’ve had a grand time, and maybe that enjoyment will come back in force. Maybe not.

Let your friend’s wishes be what they are, as they are, without your opinion of them. Keep that campaign in the hamper

[Luseride]

Usually at the end of a lesson I will tell my riders they can do what they want for a few minutes as long as they are safe and that I will yell random things at them about position but it is their time. That is the favorite time for most as they don’t have to think about what I am asking them to do but to just enjoy their ride.

[RedHorses]

My senior is 26. The last couple of years have not been kind with a recurring stifle injury and too much down time due to abscessing after cellulitis infections. We are still wandering about the farm, and have managed to make the trip out to ride the local forestry centre trails about once a week in the last couple of months. While I am trying to rebuild some stifle strength, asking him to bend, and track straight there is no more working on stuff.

It is time to avoid the slippy or deep footing that puts strain on his stifle. Time to reduce expectations, let him choose the pace most of the time, and tell me what he feels up to doing on any given day.

It is time, as it was in the final years with the first two chestnuts, to simply enjoy the world in his company. I feel incredibly fortunate that he has healed enough to do ridden walks with a little bit of trot. Each day, each ride, each hand grazing session is a tiny treasure to be savoured. I find myself reluctant to miss a day because I have no idea how much time we have left.

Years ago, when I was training and had show plans, I tried to get out of the arena at least once a week. Sometimes I would do 15-20 minutes of work in the ring before going out on the trails. It let me feel productive in terms of training goals even on the ride around outside days. Maybe your friend feels like that too.

[Kyrabee]

I have had trouble keeping my body cobbled together for quite a few years. I am deep into unproductive. I seldom am in the saddle for more than 30 minutes and for sure if that is an amble up the road or ‘productivity’ I am into it. Not many hard goals for me. I enjoy my horse’s company.

The two gray ladies even back in 2018 or ‘19

[Syrynx]

Last night right before my lesson I was feeling massively anxious to get on (happens to me from time to time). Trainer said, let’s just do something. So she hopped on another horse and we did one of our walking and talking rides. These get me out of my head and relax me so while technically unproductive training-wise, it was actually pretty productive helping me mentally.

[PonyApocalypse19]

It’s a hard mindset to change. I used to think I had to work on something everyday that I rode and I had to stick to a schedule. And then sometimes life forces you to be unproductive - as I sit here with a broken toe!
I showed a lot last year and hit a goal I had for myself. The post let down slump really changed my approach, even more so now that I achieved my goals this year too. My horses are both in their early teens, they know all the trick so there’s nothing left to teach. The one horse, I have been cantering around the fields, charging at deer and having a grand time! The other horse we just go on long walks around the field (I’m not brave enough to canter him around yet). We’re not productive in the sense that we’re schooling anything, but I am maintaining their fitness in a less stress way. There’s nothing coming up to prepare for and I don’t need to refine anything like I would before a show. We’re just enjoying outside rides as long as we can before winter hits. And there’s nothing wrong with just ambling about, some days are just like that.

[TWH_Girl]

I absolutely agree with being unproductive. I love just hanging with my guy and riding to just feel him beneath me, not accomplishing anything. He seems just fine with it and it feeds my soul.
I don’t have any goals for my horse at this time due to other stuff going on…I’m okay with it too.

[reefy]

I totally get both mind sets! I get to ride on the weekends only but I bought a (to me seems young) 9 y/o horse right before Christmas last year. I had just said goodbye to my stately elderly mare that I trusted implicitly. Now new girl is not so new and is 10! But I feel like I must be productive on the 2 days I get to ride and sometimes, I just don’t want to be. Sometimes I’m happy if I just get on. I have no trainer to work with this time so it’s all on me and I’m trying to be happy if I just get on. It all seems like a lot some days but I dearly love this sweet horse. She just has a few ‘things’ that I’m trying to work through. I figure we’ll get there eventually and when (if) I retire in 2025, she will be my new full time job and I can take the pressure off myself. For now, if I get on and trot around in circles for 30 minutes, I feel like that was a great ride!! Some days, just getting on is productive enough, lol.

[KBC]

@Djones

Let your friend’s wishes be what they are, as they are, without your opinion of them. Keep that campaign in the hamper

Nope, will not, now I have found it I will campaign for unproductive, because sometimes we just need to chill and enjoy. Now would I stop anyone else going and being “productive” after the ride, well no, but I would not of chosen to go into the indoor and work, after being outside, her horse though, her choice.

Neither of us have grand goals anymore, last fun show of the season is this weekend, we are both as prepared as we can be, then let down time comes.

It’s the same as discussing a break to the sun in the winter, and DH is saying “we can’t go where we did last time, we’ve done everything, unless you just want to sit on the beach and drink wine”

You know I COULD do that, sunshine, sea, sand and good wine and food I don’t have to cook, but I know he probably couldn’t…

[Djones]

Maybe this is me being tired of being told to feel differently or want differently. “Oh you don’t really feel that way…” _ YES. YES I DO. I am bone tired of being told I don’t know what I want or feel or think.

So it’s entirely possible this is me wearing my skin nerves-side out.

[EmilyM]

when i feel like being unproductive, I walk my horse all over the place on the farm and just bridge the reins and enjoy the scenery. Good for equine and human alike!

[sascha]

@KBC

That comment hung with me, and had to ask her “do we always have to be productive”

What was her answer?

Some folks take comfort in being productive in their downtime. Others prefer less productivity on their downtime. That can change from time to time and as we age as well, and sometimes it doesn’t and it’s all ok.

[KBC]

While she agreed, she didn’t sound convinced! That’s fine, just a little sad, when you are in your late 60’s, your mare is in her late teens, it’s OK just to enjoy!

[hoopoe]

I would give some grace. She may be trying to square with an expense she is struggling to justify. If I went back to work to make ends meet I would also start wondering and trying to justify those expenses

[RojoValentine]

My trainer does this as well. It helps both of us, and the horses are like “cool, easy day!”

[dmveventer]

@KBC

Nope, will not, now I have found it I will campaign for unproductive, because sometimes we just need to chill and enjoy.

Leave your poor friend alone. There’s nothing wrong with being productive. There’s nothing wrong with being unproductive. Your choices are not more valid than hers, and nagging her about it is almost certainly not going to help your cause.

There’s also a fine line between unproductive in a good way and unproductive in a bad way. I personally would not ask my horse to wander in circles around an arena for an extended period of time with nothing to engage their mind, that’s pretty boring. At least on a trail there is stuff to look at, changing terrain, etc. If I’m in an arena I’ll try to give my horse something to do, even if it’s easy, just to keep it interesting. Your friend may also have felt, as I would have, that if she was focused on chatting with you that she wasn’t really getting to spend time with her horse, and went off at the end to get some horse time one-on-one.

Everyone is different. Don’t become the kind of person who ruins another rider’s precious barn time by not letting them spend it how they want.

[Foxglove]

It might be a time-thing. I have my horses at home and can do as I please when I please. I have miles of trails (when it isn’t deer season) and two arenas –

When I worked (retired now) -I only had about 5-10 hours a week to spend with a horse --if there was a goal --dressage show, whatever --I used my time to “be productive,” and work the horse toward that goal.

These days, I do what I want when I want. In 150 days, Bob has his first Ranch Horse Versatility show --that’s our goal. Most days I spend an hour or so out with him, working on our ranch horse stuff. But Sundays I fox hunt with my old hunter (he’s such a jewel). So best of both worlds.

I have been “criticized” but a (former) friend whom I used to take trail riding (don’t bite the hand that owns the trailer) because I wouldn’t agree that stopping every few feet to let her horse sniff the poop on the trail, eat leaves or grass, or other non-moving activities was fun. She said, “do you always train when you ride?” —well, yes! I always encouraged my horse to be a good horse citizen and that meant walking down the trail --not stopping every two feet. But I also disliked her sloppy turn out (yes we were trail riding but PJ bottoms and crocks with a hoody is sloppy turn out. I also brushed my horse (she thought it irritated her horse’s skin, so did not do so) and her equipment was, in my view, unsafe (rein held to bit with baling twine). Wow, can we say judgmental? Yeah, but trail riding is supposed to be fun, and with her, it wasn’t. Other fish in the sea . . .

Live and let live, but I no longer ride with her.

[goodhors]

Foxglove I have to agree. Ride them right, whatever you are doing with the horse. No excuse for letting them “get away with stuff” like nibbling instead of striding forward. Bad things will come back to bite the rider later when the horse takes charge of the ride. You can have a lesser quality of solid tack. But a rider can’t use makeshift repairs, neglect basic “under the saddle” grooming when going out to ride. Have seen accidents, wrecks when poor tack failed the rider. No one wants to see that! She deserved your moving on without her.