Riding and attending medical school and the many frustrations that go along with it.

[Justa_Bob]

[QUOTE=fourfillies;8422742]
As a now solidly mid-career physician who remains passionate about her profession and patients I say take the time to ride. Not every day but a few times a week. The sanity check will make it easier to study now and be a focused professional later. Learning to put aside being in the top 10% occasionally for other things of meaning is a life lesson that will serve you well. I wish I’d learned a bit earlier in life. Congratulations on your accomplishments to date and good luck![/QUOTE]

THIS. Be smart and take time for your mental health. You are stacking guilt on guilt. Guilt for not taking care of your horses and guilt for not studying while riding. You will be fine. Horses will be great. It will all work out as needed…

Learning to see when it’s a guilt response - and stop doing that to yourself. Instead step back and do what you need to balance studying and the need to breathe, relax, recharge. If it’s not riding another day a week, then get out and run or whatever it is to balance your life - guilt free.

Learn it now – there are so many driven women who don’t take care of themselves and burn out. Take a different path and include your horse passion whenever you can. 100% guilt free because its the adult thing to do for self care.

And good luck to you!!

[Doctracy]

I say take time to ride and show of you can. I went to MED school at OSU in Tulsa and bought an 80 acre farm in the country rather than staying close to the school. Worked out well for 3rd/4th year as I did lots of rural rotations in my area.
I raised a bunch of foals and showed a lot. Had 2 pinto National Championships,plus won the judging championship for Amateur. Had leading western pleasure and halter horse for the state,a congress champion,an APHA Champion/Superior Halter/Pleasure that I trained and showed mostly myself. Bought and sold and bred several that became World Champions in Western Pleasure,horsemanship,trail and western riding.
It wasn’t always easy but most of that was due to my crappy abusive husband at that time. I did take a lot of loans,in addition to full scholarship/stipend from the Army. I wouldn’t have taken as many loans or bought nearly as many things but my ex-husband was bipolar and would go on spending sprees,plus he didn’t work.
I had a great time in medical school and,other than the marriage,remember that time of my life fondly.

[KandC]

3rd year vet student here- I still ride frequently, and compete occasionally. I’m about to lease another horse, and have 1 retired 21 year old horse who is at school with me. I’ve been fortunate to have parents pay for my retired gelding, but I fund the lease horse. I just make time for it, and budget my loans accordingly; I don’t eat out a lot and rarely drink (not that I have time to go to bars), and I work part time. It can be done, but you have to run well on minimal sleep :lol: and be organized.

Ironically, my grades are better when I ride 5-6 times a week vs. 1-2 times a week, which is why I’m leasing another horse. I also plan on doing an internship, residency, and possible fellowship after I graduate, and know that I will probably not ride much during those 4 years. It’s about balancing what you love (horses, practicing medicine) with what you don’t love (book learning :lol:, studying from sunrise to sunset, and not riding).

I’m certainly far from the top in my class (middle of the pack), but I think I would not have made it this far if I hadn’t continued to ride. This semester is the first semester I haven’t ridden consistently, and I’ve really struggled mentally.

TLDR; I sympathize entirely, and from my experience, riding was worth it, and helped balanced out working hard in the classroom. You just have to know what will make YOU happy- for me, it was sacrificing a few hours of sleep to sit on a horse. And I want to add- compassion fatigue is a very real and very dangerous thing- if you can’t justify riding, please make time for yourself in other ways. It’s not worth the toll mentally; practicing good self care now is a great way to establish habits for the future so you can be a great people doctor!

[cleo570]

I am an academic surgeon - I graduated from medical school (gulp!) over 15 years ago and still have never owned a horse, despite riding regularly from grade school through college.

I did manage to ride fairly regularly in my 3rd and 4th years of med school - I had 2 sane but green OTTBs and a few other occasional catch rides that I would school several times a week for their timid, busy, or inexperienced owners, and I would ride with my instructor (a 2** eventer) on my breaks at home, 4 hours away. I was very, very organized with my time, and I was able to ride in the evenings, as the BO lived on the premises (and loved the fact that I was riding horses that otherwise didn’t get enough work.) I had no desire to compete, and I don’t think that I would have had the time (or the money) to do it anyway. And other than the horses and a handful of close friends, I didn’t have much of a social life!

But I definitely took several long breaks: my first 2 years of med school really precluded me from riding except on breaks between semesters, and once I started my general surgery residency (followed by fellowship), I rode very very occasionally. My early years in practice and pregnancy also kept me from riding regularly for several years.

Now that I’m mid-career, my husband (a super-specialist surgeon), two little kids, and a very demanding subspecialty practice/research/teaching career really limit my riding, but I manage to get out at least once a week for my mental health.

Balancing medicine, riding, and life doesn’t get easier, but I consider myself extremely lucky, as I get great satisfaction from all three. For me, its all about being organized, and re-evaluating my priorities and goals (for my family, my career, and my riding) on a regular basis.

PM me if I can be of help to you.

[lemonpoppy]

Just wanted to say that you should be so proud of yourself for doing so well in med school. That is not easy, and I’m sure the hard work now will pay off for you when it comes time to apply for residency. It will be worth it!

Don’t worry about the horses. As long as they’re being taken care of, they probably don’t care about how far along they are in their training.

[ActNatural]

Get off Facebook and then you won’t have to see everyone else having fun with their ponies.

You’ll have times where is impossible to ride and then times when you have extra free time. Once rotations start, you’ll have some really cushy ones with great schedules and then you’ll have some with really crappy schedules. It comes and goes.

In your situation, you’re disadvantage is distance. You can’t run out real quick for a ride in-between class and studying. If you were able to have one horse closer, that would help.

Other people pay for horses in school because they max out their loans or they just have rich parents and we hate them. I have a friend who has excellent time management skills and farm sits and feeds every Saturday morning to afford discounted board. She rides regularly but does so sometimes at 6 am or late at night. But, then again, her horse lives next door so no driving. There are ways to make it happen. Just depends on what your priorities are and your study habits.

[Lucassb]

I did not ride at all when I was working on my degree (neither undergrad nor grad school) and I missed it quite a bit. However now, many years later, I am glad that I focused on my studies; it sucked at the time but set me up for success later on. I am now a mid career professional (run a healthcare consulting practice for a large software firm) and have the luxury of a great work/life/riding balance that affords me some really nice horses, the ability to train and compete and enjoy them, as well as real professional satisfaction. Sometimes the reality is that you pay in advance to set yourself up for what you want long term.

I am not saying, “don’t ride” for now but I would say, don’t focus on what you can’t do. You are very fortunate to have your family looking after your horses and caring for them so they are there when you do have time/energy to ride. The horses surely don’t care what their work or competition schedule is. If you worry about their training progress, get a bit more aggressive about finding some leasers or half leasers who can keep them going for you, and then enjoy the time you do have to ride around those schedules.

I imagine that it does seem like it will be forever before you are done with school, but if you are going to make the investment, do it with the commitment to be the best you can be and give it your full attention. In the greater scheme of things, the time you invest in professional preparation will pay off in spades down the road when you have the career satisfaction that comes from being well prepared.

Good luck !

[hillary_again]

What Lucassb said.
I went to school to become an engineer, so I would be able to afford my hobby :). I rode a little, when I was interning, but not during the school year.
I needed to give full focus to school: classes, projects, activities, and working with professors so I could get a great start on my career.
I did miss riding, but looking back, this was a very good choice for me. You will not get another chance to go to med school - make this your priority and keep an eye on the “prize” at the end.
Sounds like your family can help take care of the horses, which is great!