No Stirrups November Finding The Time To Ride

No Stirrups November continues! And finding the time to ride….well, that can prove to be a challenge!

I should really call this post making the time to ride. Because we all have the same amount of time each and every day. We all have 24 hours every single day. But how we use those 24 hours is the key. And as the month progresses on, finding the time to ride is really important as we all work to get our 10 rides in for the month!

And I am willing to bet, you can find an hour out of every day to ride. But deciding to make your riding a priority, and using that hour every day, or every 3 days to ride your horse is a decision you have to make for yourself.

Plan Your Rides

If you want to be successful with this personal challenge, the first step to making the 10 rides for the month is to plan for them.

I find that by planning my rides really helps me to make them happen. And I am a creature of habit. I love my habits. They are familiar and comfortable. So I like to stick to my habits! And one habit that has been engrained is that Thursdays are ride days. Or, well, actually evenings. And this is because for a while my riding lessons took place on Thursday nights after work. That habit has stuck. So almost every Thursday, I use this as a day I will be riding.

If it is snowing, or sub-zero temperatures outside, I don’t ride. But for the most part, Thursday evenings after work are my dedicated riding evenings. I look forward to Thursdays so much. For me, it’s a good way to start planning for my weekend too!

So once I get home from work, I get the horses dinner ready, and then I go tack up Plezant for a ride. It makes for the perfect end to the day.

Build On Your Plan

And now that I have one day promised to riding, I make time 2 other days of the week. And for me, it makes sense to plan a ride on both Saturday, and Sunday because these are my days off. So Saturday afternoon after a morning of writing, cleaning and video making, I carve out an hour to spend some time with Plezant – oh, and Frisby too!

And then on Sunday afternoons, my husband has a YouTube live video that he does that I really enjoy listening too. And his live session starts at 5:30 PM. So I plan for this. I plan my Sunday ride to begin at 4:00 PM. I ride for an hour, and then clean stalls and get the horses tucked in for the evening. While they are enjoying their dinner, I am in the barn filling hay nets for the week while I listen to my husband’s show. Again, it’s all about creating habits.

So I have 3 days every week planned for my riding time, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Does this happen every week? No, it doesn’t. But most weeks it does. And sometimes, I am able to get an extra ride in. Especially for November. With Thanksgiving, and I try to be off from work the Friday after Thanksgiving along with the following Monday. And thankfully this year, that Monday is still within the month of November. So I will be able to get in one more qualifying ride for No Stirrups November. And there is my birthday too. My birthday is on November 9^th. And if I am fortunate enough to be able to take this day off from work, I love celebrating my birthday with a riding session!

No Stirrups November – Finding The Time To Ride

So for the month of November, I have 15 days with pre-planned set aside time to ride. This is what I mean by panning, and making my riding a priority. There is also a lot of extra – just in case days available if I have to make up a ride, or add in an extra one just because I want too.