Hobbies Other Than Horses

Now that I have four horses and one that requires a lengthy commute to spend time with I find that my spare time is non-existent. This has really put the kibosh on my other hobbies. I know, I actually do used to do other things besides ride and care for horses. Crazy, huh? Maybe when I get down to two horses I’ll be able to return to those hobbies again…or maybe when the days get shorter? I need arena lights. I’m not sure, but I do know that as much as I enjoy spending time with my furry beasts, I do miss my other favorite activities.

Today I’m going to bore you all with my hobbies because it’s been really light on horse content this week!

Art:
I’ve been an artist longer than I’ve been riding horses. When I was younger I wanted to be an animator. Animation really inspired me and I took every art class I could in school. I was so into drawing that I did really poorly in a lot of my classes because I would draw in my notebooks instead of pay attention. I ended up in IT instead of animation because my parents were very adamant that art wasn’t a career. Jokes on them. My best friend is a storyboard artist and makes more money than I do! lol

I don’t usually post finished art unless they are doodles because I’m too lazy to watermark everything.

I went to school for and graduated as a Master Make-up Artist and worked at a prop shop for a time. Unfortunately we don’t always work in the field we went to school for but some of my work can be seen in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and at Disney parks. I love using my hands to create. I would really love to dedicate some time to get back into drawing because I’m sure my skills could use a refresher. If anyone has some nice high res photos (I’m interested in detail) they’d let me use to practice, I’d be very appreciative.

Music:
Along with art I’ve always been a fan of music. I played the clarinet in our competitive school program to some success (second chair, yo) and eventually picked up the violin but didn’t show any real aptitude for it. As an adult I started playing bass guitar and really loved the instrument. I haven’t kept up on it in a long while though. I think if I did decide to pick up an instrument again I would probably try the cello or piano before going back to bass because when it comes to instruments I will always be a jack of all trades and a master of none. 🙂

Marksmanship:
My dad is a retired Marine Corps officer and my mom was in the Israeli army. Guns have always been in our home. Safety was strongly impressed, as it should be, and I have a healthy respect for a gun’s intended purpose. I’m not a firearm aficionado but I do enjoy hitting the range several times a year because I believe if you’re going to own a gun you should stay vigilant on how to properly handle one and educated yourself on responsible gun ownership. I also have a recurve bow that I shoot. It used to serve well as gopher population control but now with cute barn cats running around it has been retired from its post.

Games:
I guess we could call this a hobby. I love board games and video games. I don’t know where I got this love. My family was not big into any kind of gaming but Gaming Nights are totally a thing for me and I love nothing more than to spend an evening settling Catan or throwing around elaborate curse words when racing friends in Mario Kart.

IKEA Furniture Building:
This isn’t a hobby but I love doing this. Trash those hieroglyph instructions because I go in blind! Why? Because I’m a special kind of crazy.

While I love all these hobbies and do miss them, I think the flip side of spending more time with my horses is worth neglecting some of these. What hobbies do you have? Had you had to give up hobbies to make room for horses?