Best of JN: Life After WEF

With the Winter Equestrian Festival drawing to a close last week, hundreds of equestrians all over the country are making their back home and back to their regular lives. Adapting to normalcy after nearly three months of horse show heaven isn’t always an easy transition. You are either exhausted from three months of non-stop showing or gutted to be returning to your 9-5. Either way, we partnered up with Draper Therapies to create this list of tips and tricks to help you adjust to the transition.

Adjust to a “normal” sleep schedule

After months of running around like a mad-man, fueling up on caffeine and pixie sticks like a retired Toddlers and Tiaras queen, getting a normal amount of sleep each night is quite the adjustment. We recommend soothing music to help you find your zen… preferably anything not horse-related.

Speaking of schedules, start eating on a normal schedule too!

Don’t even act like you haven’t been stashing snacks in every nook and cranny of your tack box/ring bag/golf cart. When you are running from ring to ring, it can be hard to squeeze in meals, so Cheetos have to suffice. Time to get back to eating breakfast, lunch and dinner like a normal person. And perhaps you should toss some fruit and vegetables in there too because we all know the food carts aren’t the healthiest…

Enjoy some “you” time

Three months of anything can be tiresome, but three months of showing horses can definitely zap your energy reserves. Turn off your hundreds of alarms reminding you of which rings to be at and when, and just chillax for a day or two. There is no harm in taking a bit of a break and enjoying some “you” time. After all, the summer circuit is fast-approaching, and we all know you aren’t taking any vacations this year.

Get used to everyday life being a bit blah…

For most of us, our normal everyday lives are nowhere near as exciting as a day in the life at WEF. I mean where else can you surround yourself with countless horse-lovers, run into celebs AND enjoy some of the best social experiences on the planet all in one place? The most exciting part about your day now is probably the fact that you can no longer spill coffee all over yourself sailing over one of the speed bumps on the show grounds in your golf cart…

Unpack and Organize… Oh, and wash all of that dirty laundry you’ve been hoarding

A big part of resuming your average life is putting away everything you stashed into your suitcase for your stay in Florida. Whether you were there three days or the three months, we know you have a pile of laundry to catch up on. Putting everything in its proper place isn’t going to be fun, but it is a necessary evil. Get. It. Done.

Nurse your bank account back to health

It doesn’t matter how well you plan ahead, somehow WEF sucks out all of your time, energy and MONEYYYYY. Even though you just got home, it’s time to start stashing up for next winter so you can escape for another winter in paradise. Go Jumping.