DIY Routine?

[Amelia246]

Needing to take the plunge from full to DIY and looking for people to share their DIY routines so I can get a clear picture of exactly what I need to be doing and at what times. The yard I’m at is 15 minutes from my home and I also work full time starting between 9-10am and finishing 5-6pm.

I’d really appreciate if anyone can give me a good run down of exactly everything that is done in the AM and PM and how long it takes you, what time you usually get up to sort the horses, anything I can do to make things easier as I know it’s going to be a shock to the system, and also keep the costs down.

I have autism if you’re wondering why I need such a organised list, and I’ve never had my horse on DIY before. Thanks in advance

 

[Dave's Mam]

I go to yard at 7am, Dave's already had his breakfast which was outside his door, put in by first at barn. Turn out & cuddle a bit.
Set Speedibeet to soak for dinner & tomorrow breakfast, fill nets, he has 2, muck out straw bed, I'm really slow at mucking out & do enjoy a natter with morning liveries, relay bed, water done & sweep up to make my bit tidy.
1 hour 15 mins.
Afternoon, bring in, ride & feed, skip out, all time dependant on what we did.

 

[Caol Ila]

I also changed from full to DIY, and I have two on DIY.

I wheel and deal as much as possible so other people turn them out in the mornings. On mornings where I have to do it, I get to the yard between 0830 and 0900, wing them into their fields, then go back to bed (I work for myself, from home, and I think morning should be illegal).

I go to the yard in the early to late afternoon, do the stables, ride. The stables take about 45 minutes if I hustle, over an hour if I don't. I can be there for four or five hours in the afternoon, but I am easily distracted, chatting to friends, or wandering around aimlessly, wondering what I'm doing next. When I had only one horse on DIY, I could keep it down to two or three hours.

 

[dottylottie]

i don’t have to go in a morning because the whole yard is fed by the YO so my routine is just evenings

arrive, quick kiss if she’s in a good mood, then either tie up/play pen/field/anything to get her out of the way lol. nets and buckets out, buckets washed and water filling, make feeds and fill nets, muck out and water in. pony back in with a small net or a treat ball to keep her occupied whilst we faff about for an unnecessary amount of time, then fed just before we leave because miss piggy eats up within 30 seconds so we leave it as long as possible

edited to add, she’s retired now but when she was ridden it was at whatever point i felt like it lol, before or after jobs. If i was doing her on my own i’d do jobs first because i’m easily distracted so best to get it all out the way before i wander off, or if me and my mum were up together i’d ride whilst she did the jobs for both girls (except the shavings bed, that one was my job lol)

 

[Callieann]

Morning
I arrive at 6.45 put feeds in. Pick out poo from stables and then change rugs while they are eating. Turn out. Finish taking out the wet. Empty barrow. Put in fresh hay and water.
Evening ,
Arrive at 4.00 mix up evening and and next morning feeds. Bring horses in and change rugs. Fill nets for morning.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I work 8.30 til 5 so have 2 to do around that. Get to yard just after 6. Feed, turnout, muck out, get everything ready for them to come in at lunch. Fetch ridden one in, tack up, rude, turn back out, other is retired. Bring in at lunch and poo pick fields. I actually bring in 4 and poo pick 4 fields at lunch. Get back to yard shortly after 5, skip out, fill waters etc and get things ready for morning. In spring they are out til after work and in summer out 24/7.

 

[meleeka]

I arrive and feed. While everyone is eating I fill nets for later and change if needed. I then let them out and muck out and do water. It takes me about an hour.

 

[Peglo]

I go out to mine at 6. Feed them, put rugs on while they are eating and wash last nights buckets.
I put them out and then muck out stables, put out fresh shavings/straw, wash water buckets and do haynets.

when I get home from work I make up my soaked grass nuts and speedibeet bucket for old horse and soak her main feed bucket too.

about 8 I take them in, feed them, unrug, feet, maybe a little brush. Make soaked feed for old horses feed in the morning, give a treat and kiss and that’s them until morning.

I work 8:30-5.00. Hope you enjoy your new routine.

 

[black and brown]

Don't worry too much you will quickly establish a routine and find out what works for you and what doesn't. You'll probably feel a bit overwhelmed at the beginning with everything taking ages to do but you'll soon speed up! One piece of advice which I found useful was don't go anywhere empty handed and try to multi task, so fill up water buckets whilst making up feeds for example. Good luck!

 

[MissTyc]

Just do whatever fits your life rhythm!
I don't really have a routine. I have three do to AM and PM.
The "easiest" routine for me is bring in around 7pm and turn out between 5 and 6am (depends on when I get up!), as they make very little mess in stables that way so a quick skip of the deep litter and off I go to walk the dogs ... I poo pick when I bring in with a chest torch. We don't have any mains on the yard, so you get used to using solar lights, torches... When it's dry enough, I leave them out 24/7 and check on them AM while walking the dogs. Gives me a little lie in to 6 am!

Edited to Add: This is winter only and I don't get any riding during the week. I try to use my stables only December to March as have access to more grazing the rest of the year.

 

[Tacobell]

i normally pay yard groom to turnout in morning. i have flexi hours at work so i will go up at 2 to muck out and hang snack nets that i made night before, bring in prob 230, ride, poo pick, make feeds for night and next morning (and feed), take snack nets down and refill those along with their night nets, put night nets in and skip out and sweep up.

if the weather is vile, like today, i will be at the yard for 6 feed and change rugs, put on walker, muck out whilst they are on there, put them back in and give their snack/day net that i made night before and do any additional jobs i can like make feeds, make night nets etc before aiming to leave by 715. ill then go back up about 3 to ride, skip out, and finish jobs.

 

[Tacobell]

i normally pay yard groom to turnout in morning. i have flexi hours at work so i will go up at 2 to muck out and hang snack nets that i made night before, bring in prob 230, ride, poo pick, make feeds for night and next morning (and feed), take snack nets down and refill those along with their night nets, put night nets in and skip out and sweep up.

if the weather is vile, like today, i will be at the yard for 6 feed and change rugs, put on walker, muck out whilst they are on there, put them back in and give their snack/day net that i made night before and do any additional jobs i can like make feeds, make night nets etc before aiming to leave by 715. ill then go back up about 3 to ride, skip out, and finish jobs.

i should add this is winter routine.. in summer, when they live out 24.7, i pay groom to feed and change rugs/fly masks on etc in the field, id come up 230/45, poo pick then ride, feed and sort rugs whilst they are eating.

 

[MarvelVillis]

My winter morning routine takes about an hour (that being said I am 8 months pregnant so am quite slow at the minute!) and is quite basic - I turn out, muck out stable and do hay nets. Afternoons take less time as all I need to do is pull bed back down, bring in, hose legs off/pick out feet and make/give feed. This is for a horse that has been turned away for winter so not much for me to do!

 

[Pmf27]

I also changed from full to DIY, and I have two on DIY.

I wheel and deal as much as possible so other people turn them out in the mornings. On mornings where I have to do it, I get to the yard between 0830 and 0900, wing them into their fields, then go back to bed (I work for myself, from home, and I think morning should be illegal).

I go to the yard in the early to late afternoon, do the stables, ride. The stables take about 45 minutes if I hustle, over an hour if I don't. I can be there for four or five hours in the afternoon, but I am easily distracted, chatting to friends, or wandering around aimlessly, wondering what I'm doing next. When I had only one horse on DIY, I could keep it down to two or three hours.

Ah, it's me! I see so many people talking about their well-oiled routines and wondered how the bloody hell anyone manages to ride, feed and muck out in less than three hours ?

I too enjoy an aimless wander, I'll also say hello and fuss all the horses that are in multiple times throughout my visit, instead of actually getting on with jobs. Haynets filled? Horse break. Mucked out? Horse break. Etc etc...

OP I only go up once a day because loan pony has owner sorting him at the other end of the day. But if I'm not riding, I'll sort nets and get them soaking while I muck out. It should all be fairly straight forward and quick but see above for why it isn't!

 

[ponynutz]

I'm not on DIY but when I was:

During the week:
Livery yard did turn out for us as it was on a farm property (very lucky).
After school got to the yard at about 5/6pm and would muck out, fill nets and get her stable ready. Then I would ride before bringing her in and making feeds and giving her her feed. A quick sweep up and we were done. 3 hours max. Yard had lit arenas but I still had to be quick as Dad would wait in car park - amazing what you can get done in a short amount of time with the motivation of dinner once you're home.

During the weekend:
On weekends I'd get there about 9 to feed, turn out, muck out, fill nets, make up feeds, and anything else that needed doing.
Would then come up in the afternoon to ride as often rode with friends or just wanted to natter (I was a kid so we often bathed ponies or messed around on the yard, it was a bit of a playground for us so I'd be there for 5 hours of an afternoon. I imagine without any of that it'd be a 2/3 hour job). I'd stay until the evening to bring in again, feed, and get everything ready for the morning.

Now she's living her best life in our field at home (without a care in the world; I think she's the happiest she's ever been).

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Not so much routine but time saving tips. If you have space to store them make up a weeks worth of dry feeds and as many haynets as you can at the weekend. Ziplock bags are good for the feed. If you have to soak beet or mash do a days worth the night before so feeds are always ready. Mucking out, I’m on straw and deep litter weekdays then do a full muck out at weekends, I add enough clean straw to keep them clean for 7 days. In the mornings it is poo out with rubber gloves into a trug and a tidy up of the bed.

Good luck, I went from livery with one to DIY with two 7 years ago and don’t miss being on full one bit although I do now have somebody who does Monday mornings for me.

 

[sportsmansB]

I'd get there in am. Put hard feed made up night before in. Make later feeds and haynets while they are eating. Turn out / walker (whatever you do). Muck out (quicker when stable empty, you can bring barrow right in) Depending on how far away paddocks etc are this should take 30-40 mins once you are in a routine.
Evening - get there, pull beds down & top up if necessary, hang nets, bring in, make up feeds etc while grass settles and they snack on hay, ride, top up nets, skip out, hard feed, make up feed and nets for am, home.
If you have more time in am you can finish beds fully then and have nets etc hung up, if you have less time in morning you can just turnout and skip out for appearances sake and do nets and proper muck out later.

 

[ycbm]

Time saving tips.

Bed on something you can skip only the muck out of on working days and take the wet out when you aren't working, or even only monthly.

Don't use a haynet unless your horse needs one.

Only the saddle and bridle areas of the horse need to be clean and only if you're putting tack on.

Feed one complete food that doesn't need soaking. Most horses don't need hard feed, or at least only one a day which can be put in at night and left.

It's not true that you can't ride after feeding. You can skip out while the horse is eating and ride.
.

 

[scats]

Normal winter for me- Mine don’t get breakfast, other than hay, so I arrive at 6.45am and put hay in. They munch while I do waters and skip out around them. Ride whoever is being ridden from 7.15-8am.
Turnout, finish beds, home by 8.40am.
Evening- arrive about 4.45-5pm, bring in, poo pick field by head torch, brush over and change rugs. Do nets and put Night hay in. Usually faff around talking to myself and tidying up. Coffee with the cat. Feed.
Finish around 6.30pm.

 

[mini-eventer]

I like to get as much as possible in the morning, so I have some none horsy time with my OH.

Arrive at the yard about 6.30am muck out/ride leave stables ready for the evening. Hastily get changed in the yard toilet and scrub up the best I can and go straight to work from the yard. I leave at 8:00.

So that is 1.5hours to ride and much out - I allow 30min for stables and an hour for riding / faffing. Probably end up doing about 30min in the school most days but when it is lighter I might squeeze a 50min hack in. I ride for longer in the summer and at weekends.

When I get back in the evening I just need to bring him in and feed, so it is a very quick visit.

If I don't ride in the morning I ride at night, but generally I do all the jobs in the morning or it feels like I am there all night. I try to ride 5 times a week in winter as they only go out in all weather pens December to Feb/March.

All the liveries help each other from time to time, so sometimes they chuck out / bring in for me which is a nice break

 

[MissMay]

My routine is slightly different as I have mine at home.
Arrive at 7 and ride straight away. Then after riding I'd give breakfast tied outside whilst I muck out and prep feeds and hay. Once breakfast is done I pop them out so in the evening I have to just bring in.
It means I can have an evening but still get horses done.
Usually takes 1.30/1.45

 

[Ossy2]

The main thing I’d suggest is consider what the horse is doing while your at work? Will they be turned out for the duration? Unless you have really good winter turnout at your yard that’s a long time between you turning out before work and bringing in after work and you may find they are first out or last in at this time of year anyway. If possible I’d arrange a bring in the afternoon by someone at yard.
Then work out if your a morning or evening person, where are you time poor, for me it’s mornings I just want to do as little as possible, so turnout, put hay in maybe skip out main poos and that’s me. Evening I muck out, ride and makes feeds as horse is brought in.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

At my last yard when we had a turnout schedule amongst friends I did a weeks worth of nets and hay bags at the weekend as I work mon to Fri 7.30am to 4.30pm and on my turnout/bring in days I could be doing 5–7 horses in/out. I also soaked feeds in advance by making a big trug if soaked feed so I was only adding a scoop to each bucket with the balancer and chaff. I also put a big builder bag of straw in at the weekend to the bed so I wasn’t having to do it during the week when time could be short.

It took me 45mins to put out those horses and do my bed and leave everything ready before work. I was up at 6am to leave no later than 6.50am to get to work. In the evening it was the same but I would ride so I was there longer. At the weekend I was a there a couple of hours riding and doing my weekly chores.

My last yard was over 30mins from my house so I had to factor an hours driving in as well which wasn’t sustainable anymore.

I have since moved to a yard closer to my house that cheaper and it means I have more flexibility so I don’t have to make up as much hay and feed in advance as I’m only 5mins away so I can bring in and turnout myself and can go before and after work as it’s not as much travel.

 

[Merrymoles]

I think establishing a routine is key for me and very rarely depart from it.

If you can buddy up with someone you trust, that is also brilliant but in my case it does mean I have two to do.

So, normal winter weekday routine is that I do mornings. Arrive about 6.30am, get any hay needed for field out of barn, feed both, and take their haynets down, take the hay out with the first one, take second one out, collecting new haynets on the way back. Wash their feed buckets and then muck both out, hay and water. Damp their evening feeds (unless it's really hot for some reason). The whole lot, including a fairly long walk to the field twice, takes me about an hour. Our old horses used to be fine to take together but the new ones still don't tolerate each other that close so it's not worth the grief, although I will be working up to it next winter as it would be a major time saver. The downside is that in the worst part of winter, the only time I spend with them is when I turn out. Both get too stressed waiting to go out for doing anything with them to be enjoyable.

Then in the evening, my friend brings in, poo picks the field, moves the fence if they need more grass and then does any necessary haynets and damps their breakfasts.

Occasionally, it differs like today when we have torrential rain forecast. So they both went out for an hour, properly mucked out, then brought back in for breakfast and are now presumably stuffing their faces with hay. I may try to nip up this afternoon and turn them back out for a few hours.

It does mean that if I want to ride, I have to go back in the evening because I don't have time in the morning but that is fine generally.

We sort out the weekends so that we can both have a bit of a lie-in on different days.

Summer is easy but I still do mornings, which is feed, poo pick, water, fly masks and/or repellent and have a chat with them. Friend then does the same in the evening if we're not riding.

 

[AntiPuck]

Mine is out 24/7 and I only go once per day, at the moment either arriving for 6.30 in the morning, or the odd lunchtime, depending on work.

Routine at the moment is arrive, do haynets for track, catch horse, feed, and then if I were riding or doing any groundwork I'd do it then. I do faff about a lot, so a day of just chores takes about 40-60 min, then riding time on top.

 

[sakura]

I work 8.30 - 5pm. I arrive at the yard around 7.40 and muck out, do haynets (2), tie one up for the day and bed down a day bed if she's in. I also pick out her feet and apply medication as she currently has a cracked hoof.

In the evenings I get there around 5.15-5.30 depending on if I left work on time or not. Muck out day bed if she was in, refill the haynet she had during the day (if in), tie up the other one I did in the morning, soak grass nuts and add bute and brush out her mane and tail, pick out feet and reapply medication to her hoof.

It takes me less than an hour each side of the day, usually less.

She is semi retired and I never ride during the week.

 

[donkeyindisguise]

I've got 2 on complete DIY no assistance available, and work 8:30-5:30 often running over that plus 30 min commute (not the longest but adds to the day!)

I have a set routine that works for me, and quite frankly stresses me out if I stray from :')
I get to the yard at 6:15 change their rugs if necessary (sometimes they stay in turnouts overnight) then go grab their breakfasts from the tack room.

I'll skip out the first stable while they eat, then turn both out together, once back from field skip out second stable, do waters then go home to get changed for work.

Usually takes me about 50 mins but most of this is because our field is a 15/20 minute round walk!

Time saving wise I have a thick shavings bed on mats so I can just skip out in the week then do a full muck out at the weekend

I make their breakfasts with their teas the night before, and although I use haybars, I will fill a week's worth of haynets at the weekend so I can just grab one of an evening empty it in and be done! Poo picking is also done at the weekends.

This way I have time in the evenings to give them a groom and ride etc (when the weather isn't too vile anyway) or if I'm WFH I'll turn out the retired mare first and go for a hack in the morning on the youngster as we have a quick route we can get round in the time it would usually take me to get ready and get to work so I can still be logged on for 8:30

Our yard is VERY rough round the edges but it works for me cause it's so close to home and we're largely left to our own devices so my girls can stay out until I've finished work and there's no pressure to have them in at something silly like 3pm which just isn't feasible when you work full time with no support and they go out rain, shine or snow if you want them to, I am lucky though that they're not the types to fence walk/stand churning up the gates waiting to come in as soon as everything else does.

 

[ycbm]

Ah, rugs.

Never take off a wet rug at night, the best dryer is a horse.

Leave turnout rugs on as stable rugs (I have 2 and they get swapped just before he goes out to change the pressure points.
.

 

[9tails]

I arrive around 6.30am, I have one horse but put out her and her field mate. I change rugs if not in turnouts, neither has breakfast, then take both together to their field. Then I muck out mine, refresh water, add pre-prepared hay net and go home. I return around 5.15pm, bring them both in together enticing them through the mud with treats, wash the legs of mine. I give mine dinner and add a section of hay for the other, fill her ball with treats and change rug if it's dry or necessary if overnight isn't cold. I add water to the following day's dinner and go home.

 

[Birker2020]

Needing to take the plunge from full to DIY and looking for people to share their DIY routines so I can get a clear picture of exactly what I need to be doing and at what times. The yard I’m at is 15 minutes from my home and I also work full time starting between 9-10am and finishing 5-6pm.

I’d really appreciate if anyone can give me a good run down of exactly everything that is done in the AM and PM and how long it takes you, what time you usually get up to sort the horses, anything I can do to make things easier as I know it’s going to be a shock to the system, and also keep the costs down.

I have autism if you’re wondering why I need such a organised list, and I’ve never had my horse on DIY before. Thanks in advance

I'm on assisted DIY and have to be at work for 7.30am and the horses on our yard don't get fed until 8am and turned out normally between 8.30-9am, so I couldn't do that part myself. On a Saturday (and sometimes Sunday) I go up at 6am and turnout mine and a friends horse. I go up that early so I can take my dog with me as she's not very sociable around other dogs, and no one is there at that time. I also like being on my own every now and then, just me and my horse.

Weekdays, in the afternoon after work I get to the yard for 4pm and all the horses have normally come in then but I've asked the yard to leave out my horse and his friend and then I get them both in to save a bit of money for us both. I then muck out, do water, hay, feeds, rug, put to bed (he's not ridden) and then go and extend my paddock fence and leave hay overnight for the next day. I can't ever do my horse in less than an hour and quarter to an hour and a half, it's almost impossible. If I was able to ride him, I would probably ride three weekdays out of the five and would be an extra hour on top. I bed my horse on pellets which is very labour saving, I put one bag down a fortnight and one bale of shavings on top of the pellets in a week on average.

I don't groom mine very much either (other than what is absolutely necessary) because he's going to be retired and so I don't want to take the oils out of his coat so that's a job I don't have to allow time for but I am anal about foot care and apply frog oil twice a week and wash his feet and legs from mud.

I like to be organised and have a routine as I thrive off that so I know how you feel.