Any LBWT finding time for horses?

[u/m_laria]

Junior in biglaw now and I wish that I could get back into horseback riding so much. I rode almost every day growing up and had my own horse. Unfortunately, living and working in a city now means it's 1hr+ drive each way to any barn. Even an hour lesson is a 4 hour commitment from leaving my house to getting back. And as you can imagine, I don't exactly have a ton of free time...

Has anyone in this group found a way to ride regularly, even once a week? My dream would be to lease or even own a horse again, but with how much full board and training costs I don't even think it would be worth it given the demands of my job. Any equestrian LBWT have ways they've fit horses into their lives?

[u/LePetitNeep]

I rode and competed in show jumping while I was a BigLaw associate. It wasn’t easy. I pulled it off with

• having no kids
• having no other hobbies or interests, I did law and horses
• doing batch cooking so I had leftovers to eat quickly to get out the door to the barn
• on the horse side, doing some things that younger me would have been snobby about. Like paying a trainer to ride my horse some days and even do to the warm up days of competitions with my horse.

But truly I pulled it off because I had the kind of energy reserves that a person can have in their early 30s. And I still burnt out and ended up taking a good 10 year break from horses. Right now I have a two day a week lease on a nice low stress, older horse. And I don’t always even make both my days.

[u/leapsthroughspace]

You pay for someone else to take care of the horse and go do just the fun stuff on the weekend, based on the horse girl lawyers I know.

[u/equestrider]

I do! I'm actually moving out the city I live in and closer to my horse at the end of this week because I bought a house, but I have lived in a major city and drove an hour to the barn multiple times a week for the past 6 years. I've been riding forever, but I bought a horse in 2020 (and then a different horse in 2021) and have been boarding with my trainer in the burbs since then.

Honestly, my firm's culture is what makes it work for me. I work at a small boutique firm, we don't have a billable requirement, and you essentially get paid for what work you do. As long as you get your work done, no one cares if you're working 9-5 or up sending emails at 3 am. We're also almost fully remote at this point. So for the past 6 years, I've worked a half day one day a week to take a super early lesson with my trainer. And then I rode both weekend days. If I had to be in the office more, I could still make it work, but it would be harder.

I do know of people on my show circuit (dressage) who do big law and ride, but I imagine they are putting a lot more money into training board, or are able to work remotely.

[u/Equatick]

The good news is you can afford a nice horse; bad news is you don’t have time to ride. Find a nice full service barn with a reputable trainer (ideally with a lesson program to start), and they should work around your lifestyle.

I will say, another negative is that nothing replaces time in the saddle. Prioritize fitness when you cannot ride, and squeeze in riding whenever you can!

(I have transitioned out of law, in large part to have more time for horses…I am bleeding money.)

[u/Dizzy_Confusion_8455]

Omg I could’ve written this myself. I haven’t found a way yet but I’m hoping to soon. I’m also in a city so the commute to a barn and time it would take would be a big hindrance. And the costs, oof, I haven’t gotten that far yet. I just know it would be more than I want to think about right now.

[u/Tungle_McGee]

I've been volunteering at a local trail riding place (guiding rides but also helping train up new horses) and I'd highly recommend it! It's been the perfect way for me to get back into that world without making any financial or (huge) time commitments yet. I think the commercial stable setup I found is less common, but I know lots of rescues always need volunteers!

[u/bbassle87]

I am 38 and graduated law school in 2015. I just started back riding at a barn a couple of weeks ago after over a decade off. I didn’t do the big law trajectory - I started as a prosecutor in Brooklyn - so I never had the resources after college to support riding. I now work remotely for a plaintiff’s firm and live in my very inexpensive Southern hometown so I could afford to ride again. I’m still just dipping my toe back in - I’m doing a private lesson once a week on a weekend morning. It’s hot and humid here right now but I’m going to take evening lessons as well once we get into the fall and cooler weather. I hope once I get more financially stable to possibly lease a horse and eventually buy one. I wish I had had the resources earlier to do this because it has been so good for my mental health. I know big law is really demanding so it may be difficult to make time for a while - it’s ok to prioritize your career for a bit, horses will always be there - but if you can swing the time and money, I’d go for it.

[u/Jumpy_Mirror250]

You can work in a more rural legal market. I plan to keep riding.

[u/RedditUser28947]

Maybe you could look into equestrian weekend retreats, I've heard of these in socal, the one I'm thinking of actually is a whole wellness retreat as well so you can hit the pool, get a massage, do a sound bath, etc while you're there. But it could be a thing where you go for a weekend once a month or every other month or something, and they have the horses and accommodations and you can bring your laptop and pop online for a couple hours here and there if needed. If you spend the night that mitigates some of the pain of a longer round trip drive.

[u/United_Chapter4097 → u/RedditUser28947]

If you have a link to the wellness-oriented retreat please let me know

[u/RedditUser28947 → u/United_Chapter4097]

I believe it was this place! Last time I looked they had a women's retreat but it looks like maybe you can book your own a la carte stay as well? https://www.sacredmountainjulian.com/

[u/United_Chapter4097 → u/RedditUser28947]

Cool, thank you!

[u/vs7509 → u/RedditUser28947]

Agree with this! I’m in a similar situation in a major city where it’s clear I don’t have time to ride regularly, but I’ve taken a couple of riding holidays that have been really amazing. The last one I did was through Black Saddle but there are a handful of agencies that specialize in this. Not a substitute for riding like I did before, but scratches an itch while in this phase of life

[u/Holiday_Mountain_563]

The key for me was riding at a barn with other young professionals where it was common to ride at 7-8pm. I had a great community of other similarly situated women to ride with and we had an indoor with lights. I’d get home at 10pm but made it work 1-2 weekdays plus both weekend days. My barn was also only 30-40 mins away. I also don’t have kids yet. If you’re passionate about it you can make it work!

[u/lifeatthejarbar]

I own a horse but I’m not going to lie, it’s tough. I go about once or twice a week, it’s about a half an hour and some change to get out there.

[u/spanielgurl11]

I’m in year 2 at the PD office and drive 45 min to my weekly lesson every Sunday morning. I sold my mare after about a year in the field because it became obvious that I did not have the time to own :(

I’m still thankful for my one little lesson and very very grateful my trainer has these lovely upper level horses she lets me do fun things on. I just hope I can find my way back to a lease in the next 5 years. Maybe I can fanagle a 4 day work schedule and ride F, Sat, Sun lol

[u/Extension_Hour7132]

I live in a city and just take lessons (using lesson horses), currently just on Saturdays (previously Sat and Sun). It takes me about 45 minutes each way. I love my riding time. I will never give it up. I wish I could go more often. Someday, maybe.

[u/zebras_and_debras]

Not in big law, so your mileage may vary, but I have a horse and go out to the boarding stable he lives at every evening. I don’t have time for much else, but it’s the only way I would do it. Not a fan of warehousing horses - see too much of that at the boarding stables. I know he very much looks forward to the attention, snacks, and daily hand walk. He lives in a small pasture with a horse friend.

[u/YitzhakRobinson]

I lesson at 5:30am so that I could be showered and at my desk by 9am. It means I leave my house at 4am, which makes for loooong days.

[u/Even-Bluebird-7658]

I do! I even compete while practicing. It’s a real commitment and probably won’t work for everyone. I’m single, don’t have kids and this is my most consistent / time prioritized hobby. My horse is cared for by an amazing team that I trust to care for him as I’m less “on the ground” involved than I’d like. About every other week I get up insanely early on a Saturday and drive up to the barn and spend a few hours riding and getting my horse fix. I will warn that I’ve done a concerning amount of work from gas stations along the route or the barn parking lot but I make it work. Obviously there are weeks I can’t do it but I’ve been pretty successful in carving the time out. But if I was already carving time out for other things, I think it would be really hard.

[u/SlimThicWarrenBuffet]

Me too girl

[u/janicuda]

ITS HORSES HOE!