You ain’t kidding - I am thankful I have a hobby and passion, I am afraid many people do not.
I have them because they are a link to that magical time when all I cared about was getting to the barn, riding, and when the next horse show was. I was the kid that opted out of going to the mall or movies with friends in the evenings because I wanted to stay at the barn late to pull my horse’s mane and clip him. I didn’t go to prom because I had a horse show. I didn’t do most of the normal teenager things because my horse was more important.
I’m still kind of that way. Not married. No kids. But i have my own farm and three horses (and three dogs and two cats). I’m living on a VERY tight budget (which means the horses eat Triple Crown feed and I eat Pop Tarts for dinner), I never take vacations, and I basically have no social life. But I’ve never wanted any of that. I work as a teacher so I can pay the bills and have a lot of time off to spend with the horses.
Because when I’m around horses, I’m no different than I was 27 years ago. I’m still that girl because of them. I don’t want to lose that.
Because horses don’t lie, and they sure as hell don’t break your heart on purpose.
My mare has been sick for the last 4 months or so, and my fiancé has started asking me questions like this. Why do it? I stress about the money, I stress because the vet won’t stop being vague, I stress because she’s not getting better, I stress because I HAVE to work her a little bit for the sake of one issue, but she doesn’t enjoy it because of another and I feel like I’m torturing her…
But then I remind him that if I didn’t have the horse to stress and obsess over, I would be looking hard at HIS diet, grooming, weight, and exercise, and I would have to worry about things I have no control over…like work. At least with the horse I can say “I will try x, y, and z to see if it improves the situation.” There’s so much to worry about in the world (climate change, the government, the direction my company is taking, etc) that I have no actual control over.
Plus she’s pretty and when I can actually ride her, she’s a blast 
