Training Envy

Who else looks at social media posts and gets training envy? The I wish I lived there, I wish I had time for that, Do they even work?, I wish I could afford this the I’ll never get there and never be able to do that. The green eyed monster rears it’s ugly head quite regularly when I scroll through my social media.

Then I thought, what if someone is looking at my posts and thinking exactly the same thing, wishing they were me, with my resources, my facilities, my time. I am very lucky to have what I’ve got, I had supportive parents as a teenager and a good job and great partner now. I work a 37.5 hour week with regular 8am-4pm hours Monday to Friday with enough pay for bills, three horses and some fun. So I know I am exceedingly lucky.

Then I thought the pictures I share of my hacks are the 1km in my 10km loop that has nice going and good views, I had to ride 4km on tarmac roads to get there. So surely this is the same for everyone else, you have to remember you’re seeing everyone’s highlights, just the good bits of training.

So yes I don’t have a horse walker, a horse treadmill, a hydro treadmill, I don’t have access to hacking or gallops from my yard. But I do have a hydro treadmill 15minutes away, a pond in the local woods, a grass canter track 15minutes away, Cannock chase 40minutes away, a beautiful sand school at the yard. A lovely little lorry so that I can box out to these places and people who love and help me.

I’ve worked hard to get to where I am in my job and recieve the pay I do. I fully intend to spend probably 50% of that on my horses, taking them to the aqua treadmill, paying for gallops and fuel to get places. That’s my choice to not eat out or buy new clothes and spend the money on my passion.

I just want everyone to remember that you are doing the best you can with what you’ve got. Someone will always have and do more, someone will always have and do less. What we see on social media is not the full picture, someone who looks like they have everything and all their ducks in a row may actually be having a really tough time. Someone who seems to be doing next to nothing may be training hard behind the scenes. Don’t compare your reality with someone else’s highlights and more than anything dream big, because hard work pays off and maybe, just maybe, one day I’ll own all those things I wish I had.