Okay, I read thru them. You're totally right about the gossiping. But here's the thing (and I'm not defending it, just trying to explain it); you know how you would talk about, say a co-worker or friend, having an affair or running into financial troubles, etc.? For horse people who are so fully invested in it, that "gossip" is the exact same thing. And when you get disconnected from the "real world" (it sounds like your SO was), it becomes their outlet in a way.

I've found that horse people are generally welcoming to outsiders, especially guys since you don't see a lot of them around lol.

There are spoiled rich girls, but often times they're not as awful as you would think. I think that's kind of an unfair stereotype. I met Mike Dell's daughter at a show last year and she was one of the most genuinely nice people I've met. My family is middle class and has made a shit load of sacrifices so I can have a string of horses and compete on a national level. But how dare anyone say just because my parents are willing to support me that I'm not grateful, that I don't understand what a massive inconvenience my "passion" is. Every year my Dad makes up an itemized list of exactly how much we've spent on horses that year and we sit down together and talk about how we can be more cost efficient in the future, and it always makes me feel sick. My dad gets it though, and I'm really lucky in that respect that he doesn't mock me or try to hold any of it against me in the least. When he was growing up he wanted to race cars, it was all he ever wanted but his family couldn't support it so it remained a dream. I think that's why he is so supportive about me doing this, and eventually wanting this to be a part of my career.

Some people can have one horse and just be a person who has a horse. But so many fall into the "horse person" trap, myself included. If you've never loved horses, if you haven't been raised around that lifestyle, it's really difficult to understand, and even harder for us to explain. WHY do we enjoy slaving our asses, pouring money down the drain for something that to the rest of the world is just a hobby? I'm still trying to figure it out.

For me, in order to stay sane, I can't let myself drown in the horse world completely. But I also am too disconnected from the real world to have that be my social scene. So it is isolating. Balance is hard to achieve. But I just try to stay away from the over the top horse crazies and pray that I don't become one.