Combinimg new baby and horse. HELP/SUGGESTIONS?

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Loika

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I have a two week old new baby, very much wanted and cherished but as you will know time consuming, well all consuming!! I also have a horse who I can't sell because she is 17 and more than a bit quirky(that old prob, of not knowing where she might end up etc), not that I want to as I have had her 10 years!

How can I best combine my new responsibilities and ride?? What do you do? I have help,as in horse is turned out and brought in, so buggy parked on yard hile I muck out. Baby is in quite a predictable routine already, some variation of course she is only 16 days old. How do you other news mums manage??
 
Hi I have a 6yr old daughter and 2yr old son along with said "quirky" horse whom my husband will never allow me sell on the basis that daily I would be worrying so much about how he was being looked after, that he couldn't cope with the grief it would bring to our family life!!!

So, the best piece of advice I can give is to accept your lot, that you will be stretched thin, you will have some days where you absolutely feel you can't cope and that you may need to pay for some help to look after said quirky horse. I also put my kids into a lovely little family nursery at 6mths old for a couple of days a week. It has made them wonderfully sociable and I get to ride and go to Sainsburys alone without food being thrown around the place - a complete result I feel!

After having a couple of nightmare liveries with equally nightmare neddies, I decided to shut down my little yard and moved my ned to a yard where the lady who runs it is a very experienced safe pair of hands, she will also do the odd bit of mucking out and turn out when I need it. It's unbelievable how much stress I have lost by doing this and said quirky horse absolutely adores my children and is super safe & foot perfect around them. I am very glad I persevered and got through it, I found the baby stage not too bad but my son has just turned 2 and I forgot how stubborn they are - he likes to help muck out which ends up taking a while but loves the horse. I am looking forward to the pair of them being able to ride him in a few years so I can stop having the ridden arguments with him myself, he is a much loved part of our family, if you have to cope you kind of just do.

Good luck - I feel for you!
 
Congrats on the baby. Each stage has its up and down sides. At the moment you can relish being able to park the buggy/car seat or do jobs with little one in the baby sling. I used to be able to lunge or have a quick ride in the school if I had just changed and fed.

Things will get trickier come winter though. Would it be possible to have your horse on 24 hour trun out? I found this much easier, I could poo pick, check rugs and chuck hay out with baby in the sling, or just wizz down and check/hay and do poo picking when I hjad a willing helper. You may also have to accept you wont be able to ride as much, but you will enjoy it more when you do.

Also consider buying in help (mucking out) if times get tough and rope in your OH/Grannies/Auties etc whenever you can top give you some quality horse time. Another thought would be a sharer - some people like a quirky horse.

My youngest is now 2 years and 5 months, but my edlest is now 20 so is able to help a lot.
 
Congratulations! I had my daughter 4 years ago and had two horses to do, both in as she was born in March. It is hard work but I actually found that my neddies became my little escape which I could enjoy whilst daddy did some winding/feeding etc! It is now something that my daughter and I enjoy together, she shares my passion and its lovely to see her with the horses she has grown up. It does get considerably easier within just a few short months. The other thing that a few friends have done is pay someone they know and trust to perhaps keep horse ticking over with exercise/mucking out or the odd bit of lungeing? Most of all enjoy your new baby and best of luck!
 
Thank you so much for your replies!! I definatly accept my lot and don't expect to ride everyday, I think I would find being apart from my daughter for that amount of time difficult if nothing else. I have a sharer who rides once a week, I tried advertising for a more regular/contributing sharer but no one responded at all!! Might try again perhapes. My husband is keen for me to keep Milly because then I am not just a mother, I have my own identity.

We have no grass in the summer(sandy soil), so 24hr turnout is not an option and she is a TB so probably wouldn't cope too well (hasn't in the past). I think you are right Magicmillbrook, as I did often loose my focus with my riding, so will enjoy what i do get to do more, also Milly is at a stage where she is not a total wild beast and is quite well schooled. My livery yard are very supportive and have said they will pick up the slack when needed, so I think mucking out is going to be the easy part!! Just have to get tying the sling right....!

Thank you for your advice! xx
 
Congrats on the new baby! You must be feeling pretty exhausted at the moment so try to remember that things WILL get better. If you possibly can I'd organise some paid help a couple of mornings per week, then you can leave the baby with them whilst you have some guaranteed time with your horse. When the baby is a bit older you'll be able to leave her at a nursery for a couple of mornings or even days per week. And before you know it baby will be starting school, leaving you with loads more free time (unless you have another)
 
If you want to do both (horses and children) then you can. Dont listen to anyone who bangs on about how impossible it is. Its not the same but it can be done, you just find more inventive ways of doing stuff, the horses routine may have to change a bit and it really doesnt matter if the yard isnt swept.
 
I have 2 kids (one 3 year old and a 14 month old) and I have managed to keep the horses and have the kids with very little help, so it is DEFINATELY do-able!! I now really appreciate the time I get to ride - mainly just weekends when the OH isn't working. If you get some child-free time DON'T waste it sweeping the yard or doing 'just jobs' - they can wait!!
 
My youngest is 8 months now and the way I do it is to go down in the day with baby and do jobs, then once she's in bed at 7 go back down to ride and for some me time. I tried the whole riding with her in the buggy, a complete waste of time and very stressful! I manage to do this 5 times a week and it works a treat!

It's hard work juggling the 2 but it can be done x
 
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