A horse and a full time job?

My pony is on grass livery and I only need to go once a day. We also try and help each other out too as not all everyone works full time.

At the moment I am looking after 5 horses including mine as two people are on holiday and one of those people has 3 horses, however they are only needing a field check and some fly spray put on.

If he did not live out he would have to go on part livery as I have a long commute to work and it takes an hour to get to the yard from home too.

I think it is fine if your house, yard and workplace are near to each other. I do get really tired due to the 3.5 hours of travelling a day as well as work, but it is worth it. Thankfully I work for an organisation which give me a decent amount of annual leave 29 days plus we shut between xmas and new year.
 
For thos who have said something along the lines of "I've been doing that forever, don't be so stupid, it's easy" please remember that not everyone has kept horses for years and it's still a big, daunting commitment, which is one thing if you've done it forever, but quite another to look at from the bottom.

I can and do occasionally cycle over 100 miles in a day with barely a second thought. I'm aware though that some people might feel exhausted after 10 miles, or 5 miles, or 500 yards - and thats fine, no one is going to say 'I can finish a century, why can't you?'. If they want to ride 100 or 1000 miles, they can - give it enough time and they'll build up stamina and 100 miles will become....well....not quite easy but quite do-able.

The difference is, the bike doesn't give a stuff wether I look at it or ride it or oil it not. My horse is relying on me to be there every day, rain, shine, snow, ice, illness and everything. Shouldnt I take into consideration the fact that I've never done it before and I will need to build my stamina? Maybe find some advice to make 'those' days as painless and therefore as few as possible?
 
Mythical said:
For thos who have said something along the lines of "I've been doing that forever, don't be so stupid, it's easy" please remember that not everyone has kept horses for years and it's still a big, daunting commitment, which is one thing if you've done it forever, but quite another to look at from the bottom.

I can and do occasionally cycle over 100 miles in a day with barely a second thought. I'm aware though that some people might feel exhausted after 10 miles, or 5 miles, or 500 yards - and thats fine, no one is going to say 'I can finish a century, why can't you?'. If they want to ride 100 or 1000 miles, they can - give it enough time and they'll build up stamina and 100 miles will become....well....not quite easy but quite do-able.

The difference is, the bike doesn't give a stuff wether I look at it or ride it or oil it not. My horse is relying on me to be there every day, rain, shine, snow, ice, illness and everything. Shouldnt I take into consideration the fact that I've never done it before and I will need to build my stamina? Maybe find some advice to make 'those' days as painless and therefore as few as possible?
Click to expand...

Can your horse live out? If so, I'd recommend making it as easy on yourself as possible & looking for a 'fully supervised but living out' arrangement like I have. I can go up & ride every day, but I don't have to. My lot are perfectly happy / well looked after in any case. I kept them at home for a few years but found the pressure of being in 'sole charge' too much. Especially as I have little / no control over my working hours.
 
I work 7 days a week 7.30am - 7pm, at two jobs, the first 7.30-1.30, the second 2-7, I have my lunch in the car on the way from job A to B, its a 25 minute trip in light traffic. I have 2 horses on DIY who are out 24/7 in summer and in over night in winter.
I turn out on my way to job 1, then muck out and ride both at the end of the day, I usually get home at 10pm, have dinner and a shower and straight to bed!
 
Seriously?!!

Err - yes, lots of people have to do this!

I work on average between 40-50 hours (and that is actual hours out at work) per week, and then on top of that I do on average two nights on call per week). My mare is on DIY and I have nobody to help out (other than a paid horsesitter when I go abroad on the odd occassion). You have to make it work!
 
As others have said its all about working out the best routine for yourself and your circumstances. Do you prefer to get up early and get your horsecare jobs done before work, or do your jobs of an evening after work?

I'm definitely not a morning person. I'm on DIY but if you leave your horse's breakfast and/or haynet outside your stable they are put in for you every morning, and I pay for turnout Monday to Friday, so I don't actually have to go to the yard in the morning before work. I do all my jobs after work.

Once you get into a routine you'll be fine - until then you can play around with the order in which you do jobs to minimise the number of times you have to cross the yard. For example work out how long it takes for your water bucket to fill so you aren't wasting time standing around watching it fill: - can you use this time instead to empty your wheelbarrow, or fill your haynet, or make your feeds etc. Can you take your hoofpick with you when you bring your horse in and pick out his hooves at the field gate, then you might be able to avoid brushing the soil up from the yard when you get to your stable, or pick them out into an old feed bucket so you avoid a mess. There's lots of things you can do to speed up by just a minute or two which all add up!

After a while once you find a routine which works it is surprising how quickly you can get your "essential" jobs done if you have an evening out planned.

I've recently added a dirty big horse to my one clean pony, and I've had to completely re-think my routine, and still have some adjustments to make before I get it right, but I'm finding it quite hard work at the moment although I'm sure it will settle eventually and I'll find it manageable again.

Good luck if you do get your own horse, it is such an exciting time getting to know each other!
 
Mythical said:
For thos who have said something along the lines of "I've been doing that forever, don't be so stupid, it's easy" please remember that not everyone has kept horses for years and it's still a big, daunting commitment, which is one thing if you've done it forever, but quite another to look at from the bottom.
Click to expand...

I know where you're coming from. I don't have a horse but I do full DIY duties for my share's owner when she goes on holiday. It's always a shock to the system to start with (and I am not fit and have quite low energy levels :() but by the end of the week I'm into a groove and that's the most important thing, as others have said - a good routine and no chitchat! (and then she comes back and I lose it all again!) I'm lucky in that I work at home and the yard's a 15min drive away but I'm not a morning person and have to be disciplined with myself to be efficient first thing. When you're doing only one, it takes a while to build up real stamina as you're only really doing enough to make you a bit tired but not enough to build up real fitness, which is what you need to be consistently quick and efficient. If that makes sense?! It probably doesn't :D
 
OP, you're spending up to four hours a day commuting - is that right? No wonder you're thinking about it carefully and feeling a bit daunted! Is there any way you can cut travel time? That would make the thought of DIY much more doable for you!
 
I have mine on assisted DIY - so they get turned out in the mornings mon-fri but I still manage to travel to my work half hour away, work full time, walk 2 dogs who can't come to the yard and manage to horses, eat and sleep.....not sure how I do it really.
 
Different things work for different people :D

as for DIY, sometimes I paid something like £1 /£1.50 a day for the lady on the yard to either turn out or bring in... sometimes I turned out / mucked out / maybe rode etc in the morning and she brought in so I could have a night off, other times she turned out and I brought in/mucked out etc.

During the summer, he lived out 24/7 - and this was a god send as I could ride at any time every day with minimal work, it also meant that I DIDN'T have to go up every day, if I wanted a day off, as all you had to do was text someone in your field and say 'are you up today? can you give XXXXX a quick check and drop me a text after' very often, you would get a picture of the horse lying flat out in the sun, or causing mayhem! Also, if you let it be known that you weren't coming up or text someone, they sometimes often asked if they could borrow your horse so they could let a friend ride theirs and go out together, which was often a very handy thing!

I think 24/7 turn out on a yard where they are checked by staff is a godsend.

oh, and I worked (and still do) Mon-Fri 9-5, up to 4 nights a week in a pub, and teach freelance... as well as trying to keep a 'social life'

It's do able, but I run on empty permanately.
 
Yes. 4 horses and a demanding day job. (Secretary for 3 European directors) Constantly tired but I love my horses and wouldn't give them up for the world. They are my source of sanity after dealing with a French man, a German man and a Japanse man all day.
Also helps to have an 18 year old daughter who is a great help.

Over the years have learned to let go a bit on the house front and not nearly as house proud as I used to be. House is clean and tidy but Life is for living not cleaning. OH is also an Angel. He does all the cooking so I can be sure of a meal is ready when we get in from the horses.

You learn to make adjustments in your life and after a while it becomes routine. Don't know what I'd do with the time if I didn't have the horses.
 
Full time job, horse on DIY and a 20 month old daughter!
It's hard work sometimes but you just do it! Don't ask me how I fit everything in as I have absolutely no idea!!!! I have a fantastic hubby and my daughter is horse mad which helps as it means she can come to the yard in the evenings/weekends with me.
 
Luckily my 2 ponies are easy! Live out 24/7 so check, muzzle, release from bare paddock in the morning on the way to work and then go straight back there after work to ride, groom, feed, or just general pony time. I check and feed my friend's 2 horses as well. Luckily we share chores if one of us really can't get down. Some days I don't get in till 10pm and the OH has a weekly complain about the lack of time I'm at home but they keep me sane so they win:D

Work 6 days a week so can be difficult on my one day off to cram an entire weeks worth of chores in and get a nice long ride in but I have always never had enough time and the thought of sitting round twiddling my thumbs with nothing to do would send me crazy! I live 2 miles away from the yard and 1 job is a 5 min drive away and the other is only 20 mins or so, so makes life a WHOLE lot easier!
 
I think you will find getting to the yard at 715pm rather exhasting.

Few years ago I had to drive 2 hours each way to work, and was attempting to keep horse fit enough to do BE90 eventing. I was up at 530 each morning, and at the yard for earliest 7pm (and this was with horse on full livery).

By the time I had ridden, and got home is was between 8-830. This was no fun at all, and I was exhausted.
 
Just a word of warning to those who regularly text to ask others to do a quick check if they are up anyway, unless you regularly return the favour, the person you are texting will eventually get bored of giving you a day off & tell you where to go. Or if they are more reserved than me just lie & say they've already been up etc.
 
Keep the horse out for a start! I've always kept my horses out 24/7 until one of them is now on months of box rest and its hell - I dont know why anyone would choose to stable their horse! Seriously though, keeping them out is so much easier. I'm now on maternity leave (now have to fit in a 7 week old child!) so not working currently but have done for years, I simply fed them and checked rugs etc. in the mornings then rode, fed etc. when I got home. I usually had 2 horses to ride although sometimes I had 3 which was a bit too many to ride in an evening (especially when I have no lights and only paddocks to ride in so obviously riding in winter was purely done at weekends). Ive never found it much of a chore but then I've had horses since I was 8 yrs old so I know no different! You learn to not have a social life though ;)
 
Ive had horses on mostly DIY for over a decade ontop of full-time work and single parenthood, but at times it has been exhausting, the thing that has helped me most was moving to a yard with assisted DIY AND an indoor menage, i now pay for extra stuff, so no issues of owing favours and i can ride later at night if needed.
 
I work full time (7.30am until 4.30pm) and have two horses, a dog, a cat, a very understanding husband :D

I work about 45 miles from home at the moment - I work on a building site so go site to site ...

So winter means getting up at 4.15am, arrive at farm by 4.30am, get home for around 5.15am, get ready and leave for work at 6.15am .... arrive home 5.30-6, pick up dog and back up to the farm :D

Hard work but its worth it ... in summer only go in evenings as they're out (unless like now one has an abscess so both back in with nice wonderful 4.15 get ups) :rolleyes:
 
littlelegs said:
Just a word of warning to those who regularly text to ask others to do a quick check if they are up anyway, unless you regularly return the favour, the person you are texting will eventually get bored of giving you a day off & tell you where to go. Or if they are more reserved than me just lie & say they've already been up etc.
Click to expand...

I thought it would go without saying that you would return the favour....

And if someone was taking the piss, the person who was doing the checking wouldn't be as silly as to just not check them, rather actually say something?
 
I think if its a regular thing its best to arrange it in advance myself in an I'll do x if you do y rather than daily texts. That may work among close friends or like minded people but on the whole I think its best to make plans. Not always but the majority of last minute texters push it into 'can you just stick mine out, in etc'. I'd never say I had if I hadn't, but I have told people I thought were taking advantage I haven't done stuff I have. One lady used to text at least once a week asking me to do stuff but was too unreliable to ask favours in return. One day when I'd had enough I didn't reply to her text to 'stick him out I was running late for work'. I put him out & then replied at 1pm to say I hadn't so she had to leave work only to discover I had put him out. Not saying everyone is like that, but because I've met more than a few like that I am very wary of someone regularly texting for favours on the day, prefer to arrange in advance unless its an emergency.
 
I have my horse on diy but I do have one or two days off each week. I do a friends horse one day per week so she returns the favour and if I am busy at work I will pay extra for a days livery. It is perfectly manageable but it is time consuming, during the winter I get up early and do everything in the morning before work so that I can get straight home.
Part livery makes life a lot easier as you dont have to worry if you are held up. I used to be on 5day full livery but it would be too expensive to have that on my current yard.
 
People have made some good points here in amongst the 'omg, thats so easy, i've been doing 10 times that for 100 years' (shoot me now, tongue firmly lodged in cheek :D )
Arrange your day to best suit you, if you have more energy in the mornings, do all your jobs or riding then...for me, i find it better to ride when i am fresher, because both me and the horse get the most out of it. Don't beat yourself up about doing a perfect job all the time, sure some of us can keep everything perfect and tidy every minute of every day...some of us can't...your horse will not die from a less than perfectly mucked out bed, or if you don't change from turnout to stable rug every night...far more important that you have checked he has no lumps and bumps, he is warm enough, and has access to fresh water and hay/feed as appropriate.
If you can, do as many jobs at the weekend or when you are giving your horse a day off, try and team up with others on your yard to 'share' jobs, even if thats just a couple of mornings a week so you can both get a lie in.
You will find it hard at first because it is a step up from what you are used to doing and you won't have a routine...but you will develop one, and it should all become easy after the first couple of months. I have no idea what i would do with my time if i didn't have horses, i have 3 on DIY at 3 different yards (only one is stabled and ridden, but youngster is due to start work soon) as well as a full time job and i still manage to find the time to compete when i want to (eventing) and to have a social life. It does help that a lot of my friends are horsey, so being late due to yard stuff is a common occurrence among all of us...as is being able to rock up at a friend's house still in yard clothes...but i do manage to resemble a human being when necessary!
 
OP I wouldn't discount a riding school too quickly, I kept my TBx who was a bit of a nut job on a riding school for 12 years and she loved it, she loved always having something to look at, loved the attention and there was always someone to hack out with. If they are the only yard that will offer all year turnout, I wouldn't discount it.
 
*update*
I'm trying the full loan out for a while. Today was the first day with work and the horse. Shes turned out for me in the morning and brought in in the afternoon and given a hay net if I leave one, so I plan down after work to do what I do. She only has a thin bed in summer, so mucking out doesn't take long, I fill three nets - one for the Night, one for the morning and one spare. Give her a quick flick over with a brush, mostly to check her over and pick her feet out and get the crud off the outside so I can check for cracks and sore legs.

It took me 1hr45 from finishing work to get to the farm, and that's including finishing a last minute job, shutting my ridiculously overloaded work mac down, getting changed, and the time it took me to stop and eat a bag of crisps, but I DID take a shortcut, which I can't take if it's dark or raining.

Chores took me 35 minutes, but that's without riding. All in all fairly painless, I can cope with that. Winter will be harder but I'll be able to move her by then, closer to home and work.

It's only been a day but so far, so good.
 
Miss Bean said:
OP I wouldn't discount a riding school too quickly, I kept my TBx who was a bit of a nut job on a riding school for 12 years and she loved it, she loved always having something to look at, loved the attention and there was always someone to hack out with. If they are the only yard that will offer all year turnout, I wouldn't discount it.
Click to expand...

I pass the RS on the way to and from work. Most days it's all locked up when I pass and I DID visit on a Sunday, when you can fully expect a RS to be pretty busy. I haven't completely discounted it, but there are places closer to home to consider at the moment.
 
2 horses diy and 9 to 5....wish my yard was at my house and i didn't have to walk up of2 separate hill to get my ponies....that would be nice
 
Two horses, work full time shifts. DIY livery, part time degree course and shifts. Solution sharer for one of them, and sharer is brilliant. Mind you they are out as much as poss winter and summer, no compulsory stabling, which helps no end.
 
Work 6 days a week (tues is my day off but work it as need money to keep the vet happy) YO turns out in morning as start at 6am. After work I ride mine although she's off work at the moment. I ride one for YO which I also compete and as mine is off we're breaking one in at the moment. I obviously muck out mine if she's in and help YO catch any that are in (brood mares and foals at the moment) I then get in and cook tea / walk 3 dogs etc etc. I normally finally sit down at about 7.30.
I try to have lessons in the week and try not to compete every Sunday as not fair on OH to be sat at home on his own.
I get more done this way than when I'm off work. I'm off next week and I know I'll struggle to get my lazy arse out of bed. Yesterday only had the mare we're breaking to do and I was bored senseless sitting at home for most of the day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top