Professors on horseback

[JustJumpIt!]

I've noticed that there are quite a few academics on this board - I'm looking to count myself among you (again) in the near future.

My brief story is this:

Met hubby in grad school, got married, had first kiddo, went on the job market as ABDs, neither one of us landed a job. Grad school funding ran out for him, so (can't support a family of three on one grad student salary!) we both looked for jobs, any jobs, and I landed one with the government. He finished his PhD, and I just finished mine (defended at 8 months pregnant with kiddo #2, currently doing the final revisions!). I'm unhappy and on the academic job market again, hopefully with better success this time. Hubby has decided that it isn't for him, so we won't be a dual-academic-career couple this time around.

At the moment, I'm not riding at all (and wouldn't have the time or flexibility in my schedule even if I weren't ginormously pregnant). In grad school, I rode at least one horse every day - even with a baby, conferences, teaching, etc. It worked well, and there were always plenty of faculty around who rode consistently, too, but then again, there were always others who were absentee horse owners because they didn't have the time. I desperately want to get back into horsey things, and I'd like to know how all you riding academics out there make it work (so I don't fall into that second group!). How does riding fit in? How do you balance it? Does the flexibility in the academic schedule help?

[Evalee Hunter]

Forget riding for the moment. Take up driving. Take the kids driving with you. I actually know a woman who did this while she had a post-doc grant & a couple of kids. Got her horse exercised, got her horse fix, kept the kids amused, all at once. Such efficiency.

I can't give you any advice from personal experience. My kids arrived late in my life (I was 37 for the first & 40 for the second).

[kcmel]

Yes, the flexibility definitely helps. We are a childless dual academic career couple, and keep our horses at home. It is hard to ride in the winter. Or if a grant is due, or you have a talk to prepare, etc. If we boarded I am sure we would ride more. So don't do what we did :lol:.

[RAyers]

I think it depends at what level you want to ride. I ride upper level eventing (FEI 2-star and up) and haul my and my horse's ass all over the US. I have no family, so I can do this. I work at any odd hour and even from competitions (I'm replying to this while in the airport off to a meeting). If I had a family, or even if I was married, I could not do this. It would be very unfair to my SO. I would have to just ride and show locally.

The BIG problem is that as a junior faculty, you have some MASSIVE requirements towards getting funding (supporting students and your research), tenure, teaching, service, etc. Your first years as an academic, at least in an applied science etc. is really spent trying to bring in the first $1,000,000 towards your tenure. That means a lot of business activities beyond just the academic requirements.

The few academics I know who ride and have families, ride just for fun. They show every so often and just enjoy the time with their horses.

Grad school was "easy" since you did not have to worry about your funding. As an academic you become the CEO of your own small company. And with that all of the responsibilities and risks.

By the way, I am tenure track, coming up on my 3rd year review, so this may be a bit of hyperbole. I am just freaked out right now.
Reed

[Ray]

I desperately want to get back into horsey things, and I'd like to know how all you riding academics out there make it work (so I don't fall into that second group!). How does riding fit in? How do you balance it? Does the flexibility in the academic schedule help?

what field are you in ? what type of job are you looking for ? what type of school ? a teaching only job is much different than a research + teaching job, and some colleges are much more laid back than high-powered research university.

I ride 6 days a week in the summer and show a fair amount (avg is 10 shows) and ride 3-4 days the rest of the year, with foxhunting once a week in spring and fall. I have a tenured position at our state medical school; my teaching is fairly light (done by 10/1! [but I had to earn my way to this]) so my main focus is research. Since people in my lab do much of the hands on stuff, I can do alot of work from home, so I am on the computer early in the AM and often after dinner.

I started horses later in life (after enough exposure as a kid to know I would like it). First 2 years of my "real job" - there would have been no way. Then came once a week lessons. Of course, I got hooked, so then (in the next 8 yrs) came the half-lease, the full lease, the horse purchase, and then the showing. I can do this only because 1) my spouse got me into this and we go to the same shows :D 2) spouse makes more $ than I do 3) no kids 4) barn=>home=>work are all 15 minutes 5) my horse is a draft cross and I can leave her for 2 weeks, come back and no change, never hot 6) I really trust the place I board to care for my horse when I cant be around. I'm not saying you need all of these, just what works for me.

I am sure that there are many professors at my school (not to mention my competitors!) who work much longer hours than I do. But its a quality of life thing; I want my health and my physical ability, a well as my marriage, to last. And I do some of my best thinking on trail rides :winkgrin::winkgrin:

But with teeny tots and a new academic job, whoa girl, you will have your work cut out for you! Riding much may have to wait a few years; you may have to plot and plan for getting that kid on a pony asap so that you can both go to the barn :cool:

[Erin Pittman]

I am one of those academic types, too. I find that time to ride varies depending on what's going on - probably like most folks, whether they're in the academic field or not! Over the summer and part way through this semester, I managed to ride daily. Right now, I've been so busy at work (mid-terms!) that I haven't ridden as much as I'd like. To be honest, I *could* ride every day, but by the time I get home at night, I just want to sit with my SO and relax. If I can't do my riding in the morning, I don't usually get it in. I LOVE LOVE LOVE my job, though - couldn't imagine doing anything else. :yes:

[asanders]

This thread is not really helping my state of mind... qualifying exam on Thursday (COTH is the best procrastination tool I have ever found :lol:)

Seriously, I am an older grad student with a husband and kid. When I gave up my government salary to embark on this crazy PhD roller coaster ride, I boarded my 1 horse. I had a 1.5 hr (one way) commute, which was one big factor in the school decision.

I had this demented idea that by losing the commute, I would have time to ride. :no::no::no:

Now I have the horses at home. I started with my one TB, a pony for the tot, and another TB project-to-be-hubby-horse. I I just sent one of the TB back to his home farm for a sabatical.

OTOH, I think going out to feed every morning is somewhat therapeutic, and I am planning on taking the remaining TB and pony to a show next month (assuming I survive past Thursday).

One thing working for the government can teach you is how to separate work from life. I'm not talking about government slackers; I worked in a highly productive research unit. But, at 5 PM it was time to turn out the lights and go home --then come back in and bust your butt again tomorrow.

I continue to stive for this type of partitioning; it is hard in grad school because my work, which may have no time limit, and my fulfil-my-assistanceship requirement run together...

Look for a way to keep horses in your life without it adding to the craziness. Maybe a pony and cart are in your future?

[ellebeaux]

I'm a professor wannabe myself. I'm anticipating graduating in Dec 2009. I returned to do a PhD after doing field and lab work for years. My worry is that I'll have to do 1 or 2 postdocs and I'll still be running around the world which will make it impossible to have horses when I have the income to do so.

My goal is to do teaching and research at a university with a med or vet school or a liberal arts college. I love working with students and I have a bazillion more research projects that I'd like to do so I'm really happy with my career choice. I'm going to schedule it so I have enough time to do things I like to do like ride and garden.

But I'm having a blast being a student and am going out this weekend to try a medium level dressage horse. The owner's pregnant so she wants someone to ride him for free. I really really hope we get along and that my riding skills are up to snuff!

[JustJumpIt!]

Good luck, asanders! I took my two-year-old for a horsie ride the morning of my defense - it was the most therapeutic thing I could have done. Whatever happened that afternoon, my kid had had fun with a pony, and how cool is that?

I'm in the humanities, so the schedule tends to be more flexible than in the sciences, which is a plus. And my government job (in a very high-powered office where most are putting in 12-14 hour days) has taught me to separate work from life, too, even when there's a lot of pressure to put work first - I laid down my ground rules pretty early on - I go home on time, and when I'm home, I'm home - time on the BlackBerry chasing e-mails is limited. I get some funny looks at work for it, but hey, I'm the only one in my office who has a spouse and young (pre-high-school) children.

It's good to hear that some of you have made it work - I'm not expecting to ride for hours every day, but hearing that there are ways to make it happen in some form is great!

[OkLurchers]

I'm an academic (post-tenure, Ph.D, associate prof.). I'm considered 1/2 sociology, 1/2 criminal justice. I keep 3 horses at home--2 in work (1 is retired). I find that a teaching schedule helps, but it ebbs & flows when projects have to be graded & research is due. In my case, I've already had a book published & lots of presentations at conferences over the years (been teaching full time for 11 yrs.), so much of the pressure is off. Plus, I'm (on purpose) not at a publish or perish university--which really is key if you want a life. When I started grad school I was a single parent of a small son & braided for extra money (truthfully, thinking back--braiding made most of my money). That allowed me to show my jumper, but I never showed as much as I'd have liked. I didn't show at all during the time I was taking my Ph.D classes, but I started again after they were done & I was ABD.
Currently, I do a lot of advocacy work in the community because my area of expertise involves sex offenders/sexual assault & domestic violence issues--this ends up sucking up much free time for riding, but it's both immensely rewarding & necessary, so I do it.
Teaching college, IMHO, meshes well with horses because you're not on a 9 to 5, but the work load is still enormous, it's just that you can do much of it anywhere--which makes all the difference. I've graded papers & edited textbooks at horse shows & my next research project involves horses & situational crime prevention...I'm hoping to do some of the research at horse shows, ha, ha...

[Ted the Peep 'Ho]

My mom got me before getting tenure. And she has no (human) children. Because the lab takes up so much, writing grants takes up so much, mentoring takes up so much...well, you get the idea, and academics doesn't pay much, she can afford me, and that's it.

And she brings papers/grants to read/review to the barn, and her laptop, and you would be amazed how much she can accomplish. It's a wonderful and peaceful setting. I get to graze, she gets caught up in the science, it's a win-win situation (except when she realizes it's past midnight, and she has an hour drive home...but at least she finished "writing a section" whatever that means). Or when the only light is from her laptop screen, and it's summer, and the flies all buzz around (because they are "positively phototactic" - doesn't that sound tuff?). Of course she does look stupid sitting out there in forty degree weather with a zillion layers. But it works for me. And it is amazing how much she gets accomplished in what she calls "sound bytes."

One of the best things is that working with me has taught her to deal better in lab. Like, the day her ultracold freezer went down, and she lost 5 different antibodies (polyclonal) she made, about 15 years of work, antibodies she shared with colleagues all over the world, plus all these frozen samples and everything...she spent that night cleaning out the freezer and didn't see me, and the next day she was a bit subdued and muttered nasty things about her chairman, but I didn't sense anything too wrong.

One thing about having a scientist in the family, they talk funny. They can curse in several languages (ask me what "scata" means!), and they go off on these weird tangents about "prefontal cortex" and "object placement" and "the dopamine theory of reward" and "endorphin rush." They go away on lots of trips to places like Bethesda MD to review grants and apparently can find NOTHING in the airport or around the hotel to buy horse treats. But sometimes they go give seminars and make their hosts take them to tack stores where they can buy you presents. She got me likits years ago from Glasgow way before they made their way across the pond.

The past eight years have been very, very bad. My mom spends a lot of time writing grants, and then she gets wonderful comments and then there is no money, so she tries again and again, so it's like she never stops. And she does science on the very cheap now. This is why she says "flies are good" but I think she's nuts. FLIES ARE BAD. Or she goes to review grants, and some of them are so wonderful, and there's no money for funding. And many of her junior colleagues aren't getting tenure because they can't get funded. She keeps talking about "lack of science education in this country" and tells me if I voted Republican the treats.would.stop. Like, I'm even old enough to vote!

Know what else is good? No one at the barn does what she does, so it means she comes into contact all the time with people who do other things, so she's not so insular. And all humans have things to complain about, and it reminds her that as hectic and crazy as her schedule is, other people have things too. And they have some great parties, she always likes spending time with her barn friends.

I think it's like anything else. The downside is, you have to make it work, and you have to sacrifice other things. But if you got a PhD, you already know a lot about sacrifice and discipline. On the other hand, having a horse really enriches your life. My mom is a much better person because of me, really. She even says that. And this way she gets to do "big animal behavior" even though she kind of pays to do it.

The nice thing about having a mom who is an academic, they reward you for doing stuff that shows thinking and creativity, even if you were kind of naughty. She likes when I think for myself, as long as no one gets hurt.

[Posting Trot]

An academic here. I didn't buy a horse until post-tenure and post-baby (actually the "baby" was almost 3 when I bought my horse). I'd ridden as a kid and had a horse, then sold the horse after college, and spent the next 15+ years without owning a horse but usually taking lessons once a week.

I board my horse. I don't think I could do it otherwise. I can't get out to the barn every day, and when a conference comes up or committee meetings run long, or the grading is piling up, I need to know that my horse is taken care of without my having to worry about it.

My husband doesn't ride, and doesn't particularly like horses that much (doesn't dislike them either), so it would be stressful if he had to assist in taking care of a horse.

Sure the flexible hours help, but there sometimes isn't as much flex as you think. Writing requires a lot of time, as does grading and meeting students in office hours; research (I'm a historian) requires trips to distant places, and senior status means being put on various committees that eat time even if they don't accomplish much. Add to this a child with his own schedule, and a spouse whose schedule is less flexible and you'll easily be at your desk (in your home office anyway) grading papers at 11 pm.

However, I love being an academic, I love teaching, I still get to ride 3 (sometimes 4) days a week when classes are in session. Family life works well and probably better than if I tried to manage a small farm as well.

Good luck.

[gortmore]

Okay everyone who has already done it.

I am currently doing my MA in Criminal Justice. I work full time as a Research Assitant, have 7 horses at home, 2 dogs and a spouse. I have a paper due at the beginning of November as well as a presentation. I am feeling so overwhelmed and wondering how I am going to get anything done and wondering why on earth I thought I could do this. I have not ridden in a week. Please tell me that the sacrifices are worth it.

Probably does not help at the moment that I have to go to Physio every week for a shoulder injury as well so that I know is making me tired. I need a pep talk so everyone go at it.

Thanks

[asanders]

In case anyone was biting their nails over it...

I PASSED!! yippie. Now I have a ton of work to do :eek::eek::eek:

Tomorrow is a school holiday; homecoming. I may get to ride twice this weekend!!

[Ted the Peep 'Ho]

CONGRATS!

And my mom made it through a DOD teleconference grant review panel yesterday AM that lasted over 3 hours. Not quite as ugly, but still.

[Skip's Rider]

Congratulations asanders! Way to go!!

And gortmore, hang in there. You'll somehow manage to get everything done. Here's something that really helps me get writing done: "the first time is for getting it down, not for getting it right." You can fix it later. Sometimes we shoot for perfection, and that just ends up hindering our progress.

I am a Research Associate at a large university. Fortunately for me I'm not tenure track. That's really hard for all the reasons others have mentioned. In addition to research, I'm currently teaching a junior-senior level course with 180 students and planning a number of outreach programs. I am always busy, but I do make it out to the barn every day. I ride about 5x/wk and just check in and groom on the other days. This is my mental health time. I leave for work at 7 am and get home around 8 pm. I do additional work at home in the evenings and on weekends. However, my children are older. The oldest is in her first year of college. The youngest is 16, and spends most of his free time with his girlfriend. I'm in the middle of a divorce, so don't look at me as being successful there, but the marriage was bad long before I had this heavy work load.

With small children, support and actual help from your husband will be critical. Will he share the responsibility of taking care of the children, and can he run the vacuum cleaner? Remember to take the time to enjoy your children when they're small. I will never regret doing that even though it set me back in my career. It's all about choices. Good luck!!!

[Jersey Fresh]

The past eight years have been very, very bad. My mom spends a lot of time writing grants, and then she gets wonderful comments and then there is no money, so she tries again and again, so it's like she never stops. And she does science on the very cheap now. This is why she says "flies are good" but I think she's nuts. FLIES ARE BAD. Or she goes to review grants, and some of them are so wonderful, and there's no money for funding. And many of her junior colleagues aren't getting tenure because they can't get funded. She keeps talking about "lack of science education in this country" and tells me if I voted Republican the treats.would.stop. Like, I'm even old enough to vote!

This would be exactly why I sold out and took an industrial job post-graduation. I just finished my PhD in May and with the economy getting weaker and weaker, I took a job with a company that has continued not only to profit but to increase its sales every month this year.

Granted its not low stress by any means, but without that worry on my mind I can focus on my work.

[asanders]

And my mom made it through a DOD teleconference grant review panel yesterday AM that lasted over 3 hours. Not quite as ugly, but still.

Yoohoo!! peeps all around I hope. I went to a grant writing seminar and the presenter showed (actual, unretouched) photos of an NIH grant review committee session. The first day all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, papers in neat stacks, everyone at the tables. Day 5 looked like Katrina aftermath.

Fortunately for me, my work is mostly with computers, so besides my time and relatively minimal hardware investment, my research is cheap.

Did anyone thank their horses in their dissertation acknowledgements?

[DressageGeek "Ribbon Ho"]

I didn't have Ted when I defended, or I would have!!

And lemme tell you, writing grants these days takes three months. I carefully craft and proofread every sentence, no joke. So before you even submit your grant, you look like Katrina aftermath.

This is why I have bad hair before I even put on my riding helmet.

[Skip's Rider]

I didn't have Ted when I defended, or I would have!!

And lemme tell you, writing grants these days takes three months. I carefully craft and proofread every sentence, no joke. So before you even submit your grant, you look like Katrina aftermath.

This is why I have bad hair before I even put on my riding helmet.

YES!!! That's a great thing about helmets -- they hide our bad hair!

[BlueEyedSorrel]

Did anyone thank their horses in their dissertation acknowledgements?

I'm about 1.5 years out from defending (I hope, I hope, I hope....praying to the lab gods to be kind!) and I definitely plan to. The last slide of my defense talk, after slides thanking my advisor, my committe, my collaborators, my parents etc, will be thanks to my "4 legged therapy crew." My "therapists" include Missy, Pixie, my kitties Belle, Nora and Heidi and an honorary mention of Ted the Peep 'Ho for being my surrogate when I was temporarily horseless. Truly the only reason I've stayed sane through this process!

BES

[amastrike]

I'm a Master's student... although starting to realize that job opportunities in my field with an MA are not abundant, so I may end up applying for the PhD program :eek: .

Things have changed quite a lot.. undergrad wasn't so busy, and riding my horse was a number 1 priority. He got one day off a week. There were NO unscheduled days off. Now, there are times where he gets 3-4 days off in a week, and I have to shrug and deal with it. You just have to do the best you can. I recommend waking up early, riding early, and getting to work ASAP. (This from the person who is not capable of getting out of bed before 9:00 :rolleyes: .) What's helped me the most is not working at the barn, and picking up a different job, which can be done online more-or-less when I want to (although, if I want to at any time other than between about 10:30AM and 8:00PM, I'm SOL). It would also help if I, you know, kept track of what needs to be done and then, like, did it..

[DressageGeek "Ribbon Ho"]

I'm about 1.5 years out from defending (I hope, I hope, I hope....praying to the lab gods to be kind!) and I definitely plan to. The last slide of my defense talk, after slides thanking my advisor, my committe, my collaborators, my parents etc, will be thanks to my "4 legged therapy crew." My "therapists" include Missy, Pixie, my kitties Belle, Nora and Heidi and an honorary mention of Ted the Peep 'Ho for being my surrogate when I was temporarily horseless. Truly the only reason I've stayed sane through this process!

BES

woo-hoo! Ted gets a mention! I'll give you a classic picture.

After all, I'll probably be in the audience.

[quietann]

By the way, I am tenure track, coming up on my 3rd year review, so this may be a bit of hyperbole. I am just freaked out right now.
Reed

Good luck!

I am a former psychology professor; I fell off the tenure track and crash landed pretty badly during my 4th year (5th year was tenure review). I loved the flexible schedule but just could not handle the combination of research, teaching, and service demands, especially at a second-tier business school that was just starting to ask for a lot of research and grant money but didn't have the support system in place for young faculty to succeed. I wasn't riding at the time.

I retrained as a biostatistician and work at WGU (World's Greatest University, aka Harvard, and I say that with tongue in cheek) three days per week, and ride at least 3 of the 4 remaining days. Academia is often more flexible about scheduling, part-time work, etc, which is conducive to riding. I could earn way more in Big Pharma, but it would mean selling my life to them. Don't need the extra money, so here I sit :)

[JustJumpIt!]

I forgot to thank the horses, you reminded me, BES. And the darn dissertation is turned in and approved and at the printers right now. Horses were definitely my sanity in all that - my advisor asked me how I found the time to ride in between everything else, and I just said I couldn't NOT find the time to ride.

[BlueEyedSorrel]

I forgot to thank the horses, you reminded me, BES. And the darn dissertation is turned in and approved and at the printers right now. Horses were definitely my sanity in all that - my advisor asked me how I found the time to ride in between everything else, and I just said I couldn't NOT find the time to ride.

Congrats on finishing the dissertation.:D

By shear dumb luck or maybe the cosmos aligning;), I found an advisor who is a horse person. I didn't learn that he has horses until after I joined the lab, and it definitely wasn't the biggest reason (the long publication record, lots of grant $$ and all-around nice guy personality were higher on my list of useful qualities in an advisor). Still, it's nice to know that he does get the horse thing. He even offered to trailer Pixie to the vet school after her tendon laceration!

BES

[horsefree]

Congratulations to those who have reached recent milestones! That's super!

This is going to sound so jaded... In my very limited experience "flexible schedule" is a myth, especially when you are junior faculty, or when you are--as I am--not on the tenure track.

The job market is terrible in my field--basically I should be happy I have a job at all (which, given significant budget cuts taking place at my institution, looks tenuous). However, on the non-tenure track my teaching load is very high, and I teach every day. The pay is not the greatest, but as a single person who can manage to live very cheaply I do own a horse and can scrape by. I do not take lessons or show, however. I can only afford to board and pay his vet/farrier bills.

Regardless, I am so glad thankful that I can pay the bills, because getting out to the barn to care for my horse and ride is what keeps me going.

That said, because of my teaching load and schedule my riding life is far less frequent than I would like. For example, this week, I had so many meetings in addition to teaching that I haven't been to the barn in five days!

Fortunately, the beast in question is very understanding. He certainly doesn't seem to mind hanging out with his buddies getting fat.

If I don't manage to claw my way onto the tenure track this year I'm packing it up and moving to a sweet horsey location and doing something else as a job--that's "Plan B," which is *kind of* something to look forward to!

--

I'm back to edit because I realized how grouchy I sound and I want to retract some of those negative sentiments... or rather, point out the plusses. (Thanks for your support, though, Ted--I am keeping my fingers crossed, too, for the next administration and hopefully a positive impact on higher education.) I really am thankful for the time I was able to spend working on my Ph.D. and am extremely thankful that I have a job, which, no matter how temporary and not ideal in many ways, enables me to do what I love doing--by which I mean neither research nor teaching, but my horse habit!

[Ted the Peep 'Ho]

It is very tough. I hope things ease up with the new President.

[thatmoody]

Signing in - ABD in Texts & Technology (those in English may now know where I go!), full time teaching load, doing dissertation research this semester and writing next. Got my IRB approval this week, so it looks like we're on!

I'm nervous and overwhelmed as well. I ride maybe 4-5 days a week, and won't plan on showing at all till I'm done. After that, it depends on where I am. I plan on teaching rather than research, and may end up with this economy in a non-academic job for a while.

The visiting professor stint that I'm on now is nice as a stopgap, but I want something permanent! We worked this out because I needed the health insurance, but it's hard to teach 4 classes, ride, and have my family see me from time to time. I like boarding now, because if they were at home, I'd really be nuts.

[jn4jenny]

I'm sitting between a Master's and Ph.D. as a Lecturer (am going into a field and sub-field where "real world teaching experience" is a substantial feather in the application and job market cap). This particular job market should still be fairly hot, especially if I'm willing to teach or take on administrative duties on the tenure track, but obviously I fear the scheduling issues. If Lecturer life showed me anything, it's that you never are "home free" in the scheduling department. It is Go Go Go until you're a Chaired full professor, and even some of those run around like crazy.

Life as a Lecturer is hell in the job security department, but I'm fortunate to be at a school where I'm appreciated by my directors and they fight hard to keep me around (knock on wood--that gets a little more tenuous every year with the budget cuts). When I really hunker down and put my mind to it, I can find time to ride 4-5x weekly. But you know how it is in academia; it's all the scheduling extras (colloquia, visiting scholar seminars, ad hoc committees, readings, freelancing work, etc.) that getcha, so I haven't seen my horse in five days. :( Fortunately he's at a great barn where I trust the staff, and he's only about 20 minutes from campus.

[DressageGeek "Ribbon Ho"]

I really think the key is organization in sound bytes. When I'm going to sit on study section, or giving a seminar, I pack right after I do laundry, even if it's a week before. I have already packed toiletry bags etc. I do a lot of "drive bys" - phone calls/e mails etc while pushing flies at the scope. In fact, the longest stretch of uninterrupted time I get is at the barn, after I ride. That way, when I get home, I feel like I've put in my "reading/reviewing" time.

Although scheduling in trips to the barn right before I catch a flight can get ugly. I have to remember to remove all horsey items from the car the night before. I'm telling you, peeps left in the car in mid-July in lot parking for a few days gets ...really sticky.

[kcmel]

It's true if you do a lot of teaching your schedule is not so flexible. If you do mostly research, like myself, you can spend a lot of days at home writing (in my department, anyway), which can allow more time to ride or just to walk outside and give your horse some scritches. It's very relaxing and conducive to good thinking:).

[DressageGeek "Ribbon Ho"]

Of course, if you are still at the bench...not so flexible, because it ALWAYS takes longer to do an experiment that you ever think. And to troubleshoot, or jury-rig, or salvage. (As I say to my students, "All of science is a salvage operation.") At least it does teach you patience, as well as the concept that there is no immediate gratification except what you get in the moment (nice immunohistochemical staining, nice lengthening, that kind of thing).

[foursocks]

I just found this- I had no idea there were so many of us on here! I sold my last junior horse and stopped riding when I went for my first degree, and near the end of my dissertation (i.e. in the middle of absolute hell) I started riding again. I think it saved my sanity!

Academia, in general, is such a great life for a rider, I think. You have much more flexibility in your schedule, which makes a huge difference. But, to be honest, as an assistant professor I have had a hard time balancing teaching, research, my house (a rehab job), my husband (patient and wonderful, but still needs attention!) and my riding (green jumper who needs *a lot* of attention). I think if I was single, living in some cruddy apartment close to school, and horseless I'd be further in my career at this point. I would probably also be nuts and looking a little too much like my crazy father, who is the epitome of the asocial, weird professor with mismatched socks and whacko hair...:lol:

I think they key is to use the riding to re-energize yourself, to give you a release, a break, and some well-deserved therapy- but to always try to keep the fire under you as far as your professional needs, and really try to balance those. I currently spend way too much time prepping for my classes and not enough doing my own research- so by the time I get done prepping all I want to do is go ride to let my brain rest.

I don't teach on Wednesdays, so today I flatted and jumped two horses, did the 876 errands I'd been neglecting, sanded and re-mudded some of the drywall in our new kitchen, played with my dogs, answered a brazillion student emails, graded a stack of papers, and now I'm dorking around on the internet. If I get the lecture I am now (sort of) working on done, I will cast my eye over the article I've been trying to write for the last eon...and go to bed dreaming about the Greg Best clinic I want to attend this weekend! ;)

It's a good life- but balancing everything and not going starkers can be just as hard as those last few weeks of the dissertation. Good luck!

[DressageGeek "Ribbon Ho"]

I think they key is to use the riding to re-energize yourself, to give you a release, a break, and some well-deserved therapy- but to always try to keep the fire under you as far as your professional needs, and really try to balance those. I currently spend way too much time prepping for my classes and not enough doing my own research- so by the time I get done prepping all I want to do is go ride to let my brain rest.



This is it in a nutshell. In science you have to niggle, niggle, nag, nag, nag to figure out the approach/interpretation. You have to think, think, think. With horses, you have to suspend a lot of thinking and just feel. So it is a wonderful balancer.

[Cielo Azure]

Yeh, I have a zillion peer-reviewed papers in immunology and gene therapy (ok, over 30 -which, for me, is a zillion as that is how many hours I worked in building that portfolio). I ran a large lab, at UC Davis and then at U. Maryland. I have a PhD. But, I was just increasingly unhappy. Our research was too far advanced to get funded by NIH, and we were tired of spending our lives writing grants for research we had already done. Writing papers, writing grants (endlessly), working for tenure and job promotion and working, working, working and the politics and...

So, I quit. Cold turkey. 2001.

My husband (who has been my research partner for years) quit academia too. He has worked for industry on and off but now does a lot of consulting (for PATH/Gates Found, Biotech companies, investment companies, etc). He designs clinical trials (he is an MD also), and works in his original field of vaccines (he invented DNA vaccines) and does a bit of consulting in gene therapy (he invented non-viral gene therapy). Generally, he has a lot of friends and generally, people line up to hire him as a consultant. I am the ghost writer, the keeper of the books, the organizer, and head receptionist. I love it. But the work doesn't give us a lot of buffer, in terms of security. I should add, we also were co-founder (along with a few friends) of a couple of companies, based on our ideas and patents (Intradigm and Inovio).

I work with him part-time but mostly I do the horses. We both do the horses. It is our passion. I also love homeschooling our kids, taking care of the farm and being a part-time business-person. After fifteen years of hard core science, I don't miss it one bit.

Especially the politics, I applied for a job at NIH, which I was basically hired for in 2005 -special assistant to the director of public policy. A job where the boss was three bosses down from the president of the USA (Press, HHS, Dir of NIH, Director of public policy, ME). A "big" job (at least for me). It would have made my career and set me on a whole new path. Two days before I was supposed to start, I got a call saying they couldn't hire me. In fishing around, it turns out, I was too blue and not enough red (if you know what I mean). That was "it" for me, I have hardly applied for another "real" job since. I am so done with that kind of BS running our science and our country.

But I am happy, happier than I have ever been. So, for me. I will continue to be a "recovering scientist."
Happy, healthy and balanced (and almost fifty years old)

[Peggy]

I teach at a community college, so no research requirement and a significant number of classes offered late in the afternoon and at night. Thus I can generally cobble together a schedule that is mostly evenings and afternoons and even has days off. It helps tremendously that I have enough seniority to pick times/classes early and that I do the schedule for the program in which I teach the most. So, I have flexibility in the sense that I have time to ride during the day, often large chunks of time, that the 9-to-5ers don't. Plus, you can do grading and prep work during non-traditional work times and at home or the local Panera with WiFi or the barn. Not so much flexibility in the sense that you can't just decide to go off to a show during the week--that involves arranging a trade with someone.

You do have to have a certain amount of discipline in order to get the work done and it's not fun to grade lab reports on Saturday night. (OK, that sentence could have ended after the word "reports":lol:). I would not have nearly as much barn time if I had a family or an SO (at least one that required maintenance).

Based on my experience on hiring committees, community colleges really want people to have prior teaching experience that's not limited to TAing, but involves complete responsibility for a course.