All u peeps that work with horses how do u do it all???

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keekee

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Iv just started a new job on a racing yard and im really enjoying it but when i get home im exhausted and cant find the energy to do my own (which is very sad..) i have forsed myself to ride her after work the last few days but dose it get easyer???
 
It will get easier but with the nights getting darker you will stuggle. I start work at 8 and finish at 5. I have one horse at work (DIY) and 2 at home. I start my day at 7 in the morning and am lucking if I finish before 7.30 at night. Hunting mornings atm I start at 4!
At your racing yard do you get a long lunch? Could you ride yours then?
 
2hrs and theres 20miles between my horse and the yard luckly we have a floodlit school but im gonna see if i can wk through lunch and leave early..
 
i hated doing it, ended up resenting doing my own horses which was not good.
I now have set up a livery yard, and have the best of both worlds!:)
 
It's very hard sometimes to be honest. I find it difficult even though I don't ride at work.
Part of the reason I've never taken a riding job is because I'm worried it would become a job and not something I do for fun. I save riding as a hobby, and it works for me.
Whereabouts are you working? Are you here at HQ?
 
I used to work on a racing yard and had long lunch breaks. I was so tired after morning stables and riding 3 or 4 lots that I had to sleep during my lunch break
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I am sad to say that I eventually sold my horse. The enjoyment went
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[ QUOTE ]
It's very hard sometimes to be honest. I find it difficult even though I don't ride at work.
Part of the reason I've never taken a riding job is because I'm worried it would become a job and not something I do for fun. I save riding as a hobby, and it works for me.
Whereabouts are you working? Are you here at HQ?

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This is exactly the problem I am facing now. I have been offered a fantastic job as a groom and rider at an event yard but it's a 6 day week including weekends, 7.30-5.30, I live 40 mins away etc. In a bit of a dilemma!
 
I work at a stud about 40 mins away, I ride at work (once or twice a day) and do a lot of long reining so usually exhausted when I get home, but still manage to ride mine (hes about an hour away from work too!). I did find it hard at first, but found as I got more used to it (and probably fitter!) I find it a lot easier. Also, have a look at your diet and make sure you drink plenty and eat the right food-something with slow release energy to keep you going all day
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[ QUOTE ]
It's very hard sometimes to be honest. I find it difficult even though I don't ride at work.
Part of the reason I've never taken a riding job is because I'm worried it would become a job and not something I do for fun. I save riding as a hobby, and it works for me.
Whereabouts are you working? Are you here at HQ?

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This is exactly the problem I am facing now. I have been offered a fantastic job as a groom and rider at an event yard but it's a 6 day week including weekends, 7.30-5.30, I live 40 mins away etc. In a bit of a dilemma!

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That's a 10 hour day, so if you are doing a 6 day week, then 60 hours. The Working Time Regulations state that if you work any more than 48 hrs averaged over (I think) a 17 week period, then your employer has to have a separate agreement.
Don't do it; there are more considerate employers out there.
S
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Ditto. OP its just a question of finding the right job. I'm a sole charge groom for three Horse Driving Trials ponies. They're all too small to ride so the job's just driving or backstepping for my boss if he drives. Apart from the fact that they're laminitics so they're high maintenance and I can't turn them out to get some time off, I doubt there's a better job with horses.
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I've also got four of my own all in different places and I'm not fed up of it yet. In fact, when I'm not out doing horses I'm on here talking about bl**dy horses - I think I'm a bit weird.
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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
It's very hard sometimes to be honest. I find it difficult even though I don't ride at work.
Part of the reason I've never taken a riding job is because I'm worried it would become a job and not something I do for fun. I save riding as a hobby, and it works for me.
Whereabouts are you working? Are you here at HQ?

[/ QUOTE ]

This is exactly the problem I am facing now. I have been offered a fantastic job as a groom and rider at an event yard but it's a 6 day week including weekends, 7.30-5.30, I live 40 mins away etc. In a bit of a dilemma!

[/ QUOTE ]


That's a 10 hour day, so if you are doing a 6 day week, then 60 hours. The Working Time Regulations state that if you work any more than 48 hrs averaged over (I think) a 17 week period, then your employer has to have a separate agreement.
Don't do it; there are more considerate employers out there.
S
grin.gif


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Oh wow... I had no idea of that! Thank you very much for your advice. I'm a bit gutted, because it's my dream job in the area, but I think I will end up hating it if I commit to it.
 
When son was in UK working as student rider/groom for very busy and successful international event rider, he used to work from 7 am until...whatever ! He was riding anywhere between 8 to 12 horses a day + feeding + cleaning the pro's tack every day + turning out horses + taking them to the walker + fencing, grooming on comps. His record: 6 weeks straight on without one single day off
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And I thought: he's going to crack up and run away from it all
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If he can handle this, he can handle anything
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Well he did and still does. Still in the business today (but his own) and loving every minute of it but what a life !
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I think I might feel differently if I was competing right now/my career prospect was in the field, as with your son, but I'm still in the mindset of wanting to work and being able to see my friends a few nights a week - something I don't see happening if I have to be up at 5.45 every day
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I'm kind of in awe of his success! haha
 
i didn't cope, when i was working long hours last year. my grandad ended up mucking out and finishing them off for me, and i hardly ever rode as i was too fed up to be bothered, it wasnt so bad when the nights got lighter though. but now ive got a great job with great small hours but a good pay and i get loads of time to ride etc
 
I do know what you mean... Really worried me at the beginning he was in the U.S.
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Hardly any time off, no social life, no friends (well he was new there and had none obviously). Is this a life for a young man in his 20s
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Working with horses and making a good living out of it is like going into religion and you really have to want this sort of life, at least for a while...
 
I used to work with horses and I sold my own when I did as it was just too much. We never got days off, I didn't have any money, I was knackered all the time. Also, I rode 5-6 horses a day at work so the last thing I wanted to do was come home and ride.

I worked with them for about 4 years then gave up in favour of an office job and my own horses again - thank god I made that choice! I suffer with my back now so if I was still working with horses I'd be in a bit of a mess, as some days I can hardly dress myself, let alone muck 20 stables out
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That's a 10 hour day, so if you are doing a 6 day week, then 60 hours. The Working Time Regulations state that if you work any more than 48 hrs averaged over (I think) a 17 week period, then your employer has to have a separate agreement.
Don't do it; there are more considerate employers out there.
S
grin.gif


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Crikey - I used to work from 7 a.m - 7 p.m (sometimes later) 6 days a week and most Sunday's come in and muck out 8 horses and do them in the evening. I only got paid £200 pw and my boss thought she was being generous. That's not to mention the fact that I did 8 horses usually exercising 5, school runs, all the housework, garden etc. I am so pleased to have a full time office job now so that weekends and evenings are my own!!

I've got one horse at the moment and I ride him before work. Am dreading the depths of winter because I hate riding in the dark!! But if I want to go hunting I have to keep him fit. I have to leave home at 8.30 so horse has to be done and put out by the time I leave. He gets fed in the field.
 
I sold my own horse because after mucking out 30 of my boss' (well, between 2 of us but it was still enough). Plus teaching, riding and all the feeds/waters/sweeping etc the last thing I wanted to do was ride my own.

However, I now really miss the connection of having my own horse and am seriously looking for a job with a better work/life balance in order that I can have that one-horse experience and enjoy it again.

I think if you are full time on yards, it is very difficult to have your own and keep enthusiasm unless you are really truly madly horsey and don't ever want to do anything else. I know people like this but, much as I love horses, I am not one of them.
 
Thanks all for replying i think i need to do some serious thinking about this 1 as my horse will never come last in my life the job will probably have to go......WHY CANT I BE A LADY OF LEISURE???
 
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