Sunday Scaries Don’t Exist At The Stables

By Jessica Shannon

The “Sunday Scaries” is a relatively new term that puts a label on what many working people have felt for years — fatigue and anxiety that persists as we reflect on our vocations. It describes that pressure in your chest and fear that sets in when we realize, whether consciously or subconsciously, that our brief weekends are coming to a close.

But the time warp of the barn is the one place where the “Sunday Scaries” seem to not exist. At a minimum, the peaceful sanctuary of the barn helps us push off the “Sunday Scaries” longer, allowing us to remain in the joyful and healing hope of the weekend.

Amateur riders work for their horses. Everything we do from 9-5, Monday-Friday, is to continue to afford to be around them. We sacrifice a lot. Some people feel that their weekday rides are rushed because of work and home life, but we still find ways to get in the saddle.

We thrive on barn time.

I ride 5 days a week and go to the barn one day just to play with my horse. I make the time to ensure he knows not to associate me solely with work. Six days per week, I feel my heart rate calm and my worries fade by the touch of his velvet nose and the smell of shavings.

The weekend rides have the volume turned up significantly. Everything is more, and time truly ceases to exist. There are more barn friends present. There is more saddle time, and more grazing time following the ride. Tack cleaning is deeper, and I scrub his buckets with a scrub brush and baking soda instead of simply dumping them out and refilling. I spend more time gabbing with friends, weaving personal stories with riding goals and dissecting our rides, and each of us feel lighter, happier, and more connected to our horses and each other. Few of us are thinking about tomorrow. Like horses, we are living in the now.

A few weeks ago, one of my dear friends said, “Jessica, while you’re dawdling, can you…” It took me a moment to process the rest of the request. I realized my dawdling was stronger on Sundays, albeit productive, therapeutic, and fun. My barn dawdling was a subconscious method of putting off the “Sunday Scaries.” As long as I am listening to my Thoroughbred chomp grass or refilling fly spray bottles,
time stopped, and the weekend remained. The week does not start if we are in the sanctuary of a stable.

The moment I became aware that I was putting off the “Sunday Scaries,” I made a conscious decision to make those feelings of anxiety and fear of the week obsolete completely. Embrace the sanctuary of the barn. Allow the peace, hope, healing, friendship, and connection you feel there, whether with horses, humans, or both, to remove worries about your work week. Allow it to help you cope with whatever your job throws at you.

Horses heal. The barn is safe. Perhaps the reason we are so thrown when there is conflict with others at the barn is because we needed that place to be a shelter of goodness. It almost stings more than conflict elsewhere. Continue to be yourself at the barn, as we can only control ourselves (and hopefully our horses). Horses don’t judge like colleagues or bosses can, and they are the ones creating the true
sanctuary we experience.

Let the “Sunday Scaries” fade and eventually cease to exist. Let the resiliency and confidence we build as equestrians carry you through every obstacle you face during work hours as if they were a steady six-stride line going away from home.