10 Signs You’re Running on Empty at a Horse Show

From wrangling kids and cheering on friends to somehow showing your own horse, horse shows are equal parts thrilling and utterly exhausting.

Photo by Marcella Gruchalak

You know you’re at a horse show when your tack is clean, your horse is gleaming, and you’ve already lost your sanity by 7 a.m. Between wrangling kids, sprinting between rings, and trying to remember if you’ve actually eaten food (or just inhaled arena dust), exhaustion becomes its own competition.

Here are 10 sure-fire signs you’re running on empty at a horse show…

1. Your “coffee” cup mysteriously contains more horse hair than caffeine.
2. You’ve yelled “WHERE ARE YOUR _____?!” (fill in the blank) so many times, you’re starting to echo off the warm-up ring.
3. You clap for your friend’s round while simultaneously tacking up your own horse with one hand.
4. You can groom your horses in your sleep.
5. Your smart watch thinks you’ve taken up competitive sprinting between rings.
6. Your show clothes are now a tasteful tie-dye of green slobber, arena dust, and Cheeto fingerprints.
7. By the time you climb into the saddle, you can’t remember if you’ve eaten… today.
8. You try to take a cute show photo, but your phone camera is 95% blurry horse ears.
9. You’ve given your horse a pep talk, your kid a pep talk, your friend a pep talk — but forgot to give yourself one.
10. You’re so tired that when someone hands you a ribbon or check, you briefly consider using it as a pillow.

What’s a sign that you’re running on empty (and loving every minute of it!) at a show?