Thursday, February 21, 2013

Hungry As A Horse

Unfortunately, I do not see my horse everyday.  I board Harley at a nice place and they take very good care of him, so I do not have to be there to feed him or clean up after him everyday (I DO have to pay for it to be done, though).  I try to see my horse as often as I can, whether it be to ride, lunge, trim his feet, or just groom and feed him carrots.  Despite my best efforts and the fact that spending time with my horse is among my favorite things to do, life does get in the way at times and I have to miss seeing him.  Here are some examples of reasons why I might not be able to go to the barn:
  • I have to work late at school.
  • I have a bag full of grading, which is working late but at home.
  • The daylight hours are short, which also means he gets fed dinner earlier in the day.
  • I have a doctor or dentist appointment after work.
  • There is a family birthday on a week night.
  • There is a family birthday or holiday event right in the middle of the day on a weekend and I also have work or household obligations sucking up time before and after the midday event.  I detest midday events, because they monopolize the entire day.  Just make it in the morning or at night!  (please) 
    • One time I had to wait for guests to arrive for a family event (not my event) and I couldn't leave the house until they arrived.  They were about four hours late and it was an absolutely gorgeous Saturday in the spring.  I think that it had been raining for a while before that, so I was nearly beside myself knowing that I could have left and gone to the barn and been back before they arrived.  It was so difficult to hide my distress and socialize/entertain for hours afterward.  The only one who understood my frustration was my Mom (and my husband).  She watched me cry over enough rained out riding lessons as a kid to know exactly what was going through my mind!
  • I have to clean the house (with my husband) before guests or a holiday.  With both of us working and neither of being very domestic, this usually turns into a cleaning marathon ending minutes before our guests/family arrive.  It's miserable, but at least it gets us to clean the house!
  •  Household projects or yard work, which must be completed during the daylight hours, can hog up perfectly good barn time.
And speaking of "hog", here's a new one:
  • I'm too hungry to go to the barn. 
I can hardly believe it, but this actually starting happening to me a lot in the fall.  Of course, it was because I was pregnant, and like my horse, I have a high metabolism and a high energy job.  I knew that I would have to eat more to share with a newly developing human, BUT I had no idea what that would be like.

During the first trimester, I would actually rush home from work with a hunger so intense that I didn't even take my coat off before I opened the refrigerator.  I could down a can of soup, an entire avocado or cheese sandwich before my husband came home to see any evidence that I had made food.  Other times, he would walk in and I would be stuffing my face with my "first dinner" only to have no problem a few hours late eating a "second dinner" with him.  I felt very, very fortunate not to have any sickness or fatigue.  I have spoken to enough women and heard enough stories at this point to know that I should thank my lucky stars, but MAN-O-MAN was I hungry. 


This started to interfere with my barn time as the days got shorter.  There was less and less time after work and I needed a good chunk of it to fill my stomach.  My husband remembers seeing me looking kind of upset after work one day and when he asked what was wrong, I lamented that it was a beautiful day and I wanted to go ride my horse so badly, but I was too hungry to leave the kitchen.  It was really distressing to me.  I had never been a slave to my physical being before.  As a teacher, I was used to ignoring my bodily needs to suit a bell schedule.

Of course, I was still able to get out to see Harley, but it was much easier to do on the weekend.  I would bring a snack (or snacks) and take a break from trimming or grooming to eat before a ride or finishing my work.  I started giving Harley his hay cubes while I took my food break.  He enjoyed this deal immensely and I found myself appreciating the expression "hungry as a horse".

I started eating the baby carrots that I brought for him and he would definitely give me a look if I walked out the tack room with one in my mouth and none in my hand for him.  I don't think that sort of thing was lost on my equine companion. 

Sorry, Harley.  I couldn't help myself!



20 comments:

  1. Ah the joys of being preggers! Eventually that hungry feeling will go away. But only because your tummy will be squished and there will not be room for as much food.
    Harley sure is a handsome boy.

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    1. You are describing exactly what is happening to me now. I still get hungry, but I fill up pretty quick and I can no longer each two dinners. I am kinda glad that the hunger pains are subsiding, because they were feverish.

      Aw, thanks about Harley. :)

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  2. I know your pain! I have a hyper active metabolism and am constantly hungry. Congrats on the new little girl! I'm sure she'll be excited to ride Harley in a few years.

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    1. Thank you!

      I have always been serious about lunch time, but this was a whole 'nother ball game!

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  3. You made so many good points about what takes up our horse time. I find it hard to get much horse time in because there are just too many other things to take care of. The only addition I can make to your list is babysitting and grocery shopping for me.

    Love your "hungry hog" stories! When is your baby due?

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    1. Oh yeah, grocery shopping has been the culprit before for me, too. I imagine that I will have to add babysitting (my own baby) to the list in the future!

      late June :)

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    2. Late June is a great time to have a baby! The weather is still nice. My son is the 23rd of June and he is just the nicest guy and easy to get along with. Don't know if you believe in astrological signs but I've seen them come true in all my kids. My daughter is June 4th and a Gemini. They're a little tricky to deal with. Hang in there it won't be long now.

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    3. The science teacher in me rejects astrology, BUT I did read about the Cancer sign (wish it wasn't called that) just for fun when we learned of the due date. I am a Scorpio and enjoyed the description for my sign more the Cancer one. After reading it, I wonder if Scorpios are inclined to reject stuff like astrology and that kind of makes me go hmmm...

      Late June is a good time for my teaching schedule, too. At least I think it will be. It is all guesswork for me right now!

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  4. Val , you sweety dear heart. I was on the floor. It's no longer the bell schedule but the baby mouth schedule!
    I've never been pregnant, bit everyone I know has. You just have me huge insight to the hunger schedule that rules life at that stage!

    Sounds as though another stage is occurring soon. You're a good wife daughter , daughter in law and will be a lovely mother! Oh and, not forgetting Horse Mom to Harley, even if you eat up some of his treat carrots!

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    1. Thank you dearly! Those are such kind words.

      I am eating right now as I read these lovely comments and staring at the sun going down out the window. Sigh.

      March 10th isn't coming fast enough!
      (daylight savings)

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  5. Your feverish eating is hysterical! Being pregnant is an awesome wondrous experience, but it sure is weird how it really does change our behavior. Like you I was lucky not to have any nausea, but I couldn't get enough honeydew melon, sheesh! Never before or since have I ever been so ravenous about honeydew melons. Weird. I'm glad the voracious eating has subsided a bit, there's only so much time in a day.

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    1. Hey, that's funny. I have been on a fruit kick since day one. First it was mango, then navel oranges, pineapples, strawberries, and red grapefruit. I can make a container of raspberries disappear very quickly!

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  6. I missed your baby announcement post and I was reading this going Hunh? Eh? Did I miss a year?

    Congratulations, what an exciting time for you all. As the mother of two (grown-up) girls, I can only say that girls are The Best.

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    1. Yay for girls!

      I can honestly say that I was totally fine with it being a boy or a girl, but when I found out that we were having a she, I was really excited. :)

      I think that it makes it more real when you know that you are having a boy or a girl.

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  7. I hope you're carrying emergency rations at all times! Purse, car, desk... Meals should be small, healthy and often, for pregnant ladies and non!

    So happy for you Val. :D

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    1. Definitely! I have always been one to keep a granola bar in my purse, but now I keep V8, Nutrigrain bars, pretzels, and peanut butter crackers and I had to start eating in class. It is not possible to be discreet when you have twenty students staring at you. Once they knew that I was expecting, I stopped worrying about it. The kids have been really sweet in sharing their own excitement. Everyone seems to love babies. I really had no idea before.

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  8. My youngest was born in June, it's a good month to have a newborn: not too cold, not too hot.

    I was ravenous for the first two trimesters of both my pregnancies, but by the third trimester I was so stuffed full of baby there was no room for food. Plus, I had wicked heartburn from the babies squishing up my stomach. Oh, and my son actually strained my rib cage with his kicking. Isn't pregnancy magical? LOL!

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    1. *laughing* (magical, indeed)
      I guess you have a future soccer player on your hands!

      I am happy about June. I will have the summer to recoup and figure out my new life. Yikes!

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  9. No fatigue? Jealousy, I has it.

    I had the hunger too, I was ravenous by the time I got home from work. I'd have to inhale a yogurt or something before I could go feed my horses. Fortunately that went away and now I can eat on a normal schedule again. Though, as Cindy said, less and less starts fitting in there over time- and then it starts coming back up! Joy!

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    1. I is sorry.

      I take naps, although not everyday and it is more difficult to get up in the morning, but I don't think it compares to what other women have described to me. I really enjoyed your posts about the first and second trimester. I had to watch myself so that I didn't slip up in the comments since our baby was still a secret then. ;)

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