Seasonal Affective Disorder, or just plain SAD.

Many of us are at least aware of Seasonal Affective Disorder. It's where the change of seasons can make a person that typically has a "normal" mental state act irrationally and suffer from depressive type symptoms. It happens more often in the transition from summer to fall and from fall to winter. No surprise that the days are getting shorter, the sun isn't out as long, etc. We definitely notice the change, and our horses do too. Now, up front, as far as I am aware of there has not been a study regarding horses and SAD, but anyone that has been around horses long enough can tell you that horses' moods and attitudes change along with the weather, too. They don't want to come in from the fields earlier than they have to. They tend to graze more, probably storing up for the winter months (again, there may be a study that shows this, this is just observational). The horses also SEEM to just be slightly "off" in regards to their attitudes as well. Here at SGTRC, on a professional level, this is the season that our lessons slow down and stop. We shift our focus to education, fundraising, and other non-riding activities. We do inevitably miss our lesson students, but it is also good for our mental health to have a "scheduled" break. I think it has a lot of benefits that we can then pass along to our clients. All of this is to say that we're sad the riding season is ending, but we're so very grateful for all of our riders this year, and can't wait until next season! God bless all of you.