A change in circumstances..advice would be greatly appreciated!

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Holly88

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Hi
I'm looking for some advice from fellow horsey people as unfortunately other people in my life aren't particularly well placed to advise me!

I have very recently finished university and will be starting a full time 9-5 job next week. I have had my horse on part loan for coming up to two years and absolutely love her to bits. I couldn't ask for a better arrangement - the horse is amazing, the price is very reasonable and the yard's lovely.

The problem is, now I'm going to be working full time I'm wondering if I will need to give her up. I live and work in a large city centre and it's a 45 minute drive to the yard without traffic - with rush hour traffic it could take anything up to an hour and a half. While I was at uni I was able to go up in the day to muck clear the field, ride, bring her in etc, but now the earliest I'm realistically going to be able to get there is 7pm - long after she is usually bought in.

I desperately don't want to give her up and her owner doesn't want me to either (she has said we will work it out somehow) but I don't want to let her or her owner down! I will be free on weekends now but her owner is also only really free then so I am not much help to her in that sense any more. Has anyone else been in a similar situation? I may just be worrying over nothing but I'm not sure it's fair to my horse - she will be exercised considerably less and may end up staying out for longer than she's used to if neither of us can get there until late.

Sorry for the long post! Any advice would be greatly appreciated
Holly
 
Is there someone else at the yard who can get her in for you? I have been getting home around 10.30pm some nights and would be stuck if it wasn't for the other people I share rent with. You could perhaps offer to turn theirs out at the weekend or a similar arrangement?
 
I graduated a year and a half ago, and it is hard to adjust to suddenly having much less flexibility in terms of time. I'd say I worked as hard at uni as I do at my job (yes I'm a freak of nature) but could always work according toy own hours.

Hers is the good news: now you will get MONEY in exchange for work :D. Could you perhaps dedicate some of your new hard earned salary to paying someone to do the bringing in and poo picking, so that through the week you only have to groom and ride? Or perhaps increase the contribution you pay to the horse's owner, on the understanding that you will do less work?

I have a three day a week part loan agreement (3 days a week) work reasonably long hours and have a similar commute to the yard. However the horse I loan is on part livery (everything but exercise) so I can spend as much or as little time as I have with her.

Finally, though, if you are unsure whether you could cope then there is mo shame in taking a break. Settle in to your new job and take some time for yourself, then see if you can fit a horse in too. I took a break for about 4 months when I startedy first full time job, buy found I missed riding a lot and decided I would make the time and find the money. On the other hand, if giving up you loan horse is too dreadful to contemplate, well then you have your answer ;)

good luck with whatever you decide, and with your new job too.
 
That may be a solution thanks...it would mean her going into a dirty stable until I could get there but she rarely has more than one or two poos in the corner of a huge stable so I guess it wouldn't be a problem.

Encouraging to know that other people manage it who are stuck in work til even later! Roll on summer eh?

xx
 
Thanks Steorra!

That actually makes me feel so much better! We are in pretty much exactly the same situation. I also do 3 days a week (2 week days and one weekend). Almost everyone else at my yard lives within about a mile of it and works flexible hours so was feeling a bit like I'm mad for attempting it! Good to know it's possible hehe.

There may be someone I could pay to do the poo picking (that's the main problem as neither of us can get there in daylight!) and if worst comes to worst, she's the sort of horse who's the same whether she's worked every day or hardly at all!

Thanks for the good luck and the advice
xx
 
Had you thought of loaning your horse to an equestrian college? There's plenty of threads/posts in the archives on here, so might be a good idea to have a peek at that.

It might not suit every owner, or indeed every horse, but it might just be worth looking at ...... mine was on working livery at equine college so PM me coz I can fill you in.

Just a thought/idea ................
 
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