Doing horses before work- how do you manage?

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bushbaby28

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Ok, sound like a spoilt brat above. I start work at 8.30 and looking at a DIY yard about 15 mins away from my house but don't know how I will manage to do horses before work.

Is it possible to recruit somebody to do horses in the morning? If you split my current livery down, i pay £5 a day per horse for feeding, changing rugs, turning out and mucking out. Could I pay an external person that much to come in to DIY yard and do that? (£10 a day as 2 horses) or is that completely numpty suggestion?

OR should i just accept that getting up at crack of sparrow fart in depths of winter is part and parcel of owning horses and tell myself to get on with it? Which of course I will.

what do other people do? Any time savings tips for mornings?
 
even if I could afford to pay someone to do it for me......I wouldn't, its part of the fun of having a horse and seeing my boy in the morning sets me up for the day!

I start work at 8 but need to be in and changed by then....I'm up at 6 and at the yard by 6.45 ish, feed, rug turnout and muck out and then run!!!!

I have haynets already done and feed already made up which saves a bit of time

go for it, you may enjoy it!!!!!
 
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OR should i just accept that getting up at crack of sparrow fart in depths of winter is part and parcel of owning horses and tell myself to get on with it?

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thats the short of it, yes!!
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time saving tips.. get feeds, water buckets (if you have spare) and haynets ready the night before. top up bed lots on Sunday nite so less need to do it during the week.. i'm sure there are loads of others but can't think of anymore just yet!
 
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OR should i just accept that getting up at crack of sparrow fart in depths of winter is part and parcel of owning horses and tell myself to get on with it?

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thats the short of it, yes!!
grin.gif

time saving tips.. get feeds, water buckets (if you have spare) and haynets ready the night before. top up bed lots on Sunday nite so less need to do it during the week.. i'm sure there are loads of others but can't think of anymore just yet!

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Agree, I get up at 5:30, at the yard for 6:30 to leave for work at 7...its hard but I cant afford to do it any other way!
 
On early shifts I have to be at work for 7am - until last week I had a 50 minute drive to get there too, but still managed to at least turn out before going to work - even if it was by torchlight.

Having moved closer to work I reckon to be able to muck out as well now ...it isn't so bad once you get used to it.
 
I am very lucky at my present yard, the YO is fantastic and offers assisted livery so I can pay for her to do my boy in the morning. I only do this because it costs me less to do that than it would for me to drive over there however!

Up until a couple of months ago I went twice a day, 7 days a week, and was usually up at 5.30 each day to do my horse before work. It is no big deal, it is just part of owning a horse
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Ah the joys of my horse being out 24/7 all year!
No mucking out
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YO feeds for everyone in the mornings, and we go down in the evenings to make up feeds, evening feed in winter etc
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I prob have it easier as i don't have to be at work til 9. in winter i'm up at 6.45, at the yard at 7.15 where I feed, turnout, muck out, and put his tea in if i'm not riding that evening. i then get home about 8 and get ready for work for 9. i have to pay to bring in as I don't finish work early enough. I enjoy seeing my horse before work and it sets me up for the day.
 
When I was working (at home with young kids now) I used to go to the yard at crack of daylight by bike as didn't have driving licence then got back home to shower and change and leave at 8am to catch train. For saving time, make up feeds in various buckets for a few days in advance and if you can do the same with haynets. And agree on topping up bedding well at the weekend... Also maybe there is an opportunity to share shifts with somebody else on DIY so that one can turn out on some of the days and the other brings in so you only have to go up once a day.
 
hmmmm ok so i'm seeing a pattern of thoughts above hehe. Ok, appears i need to start being an early morning person and get on with it.

Last year when i was in my final year of degree I had them on DIY and loved every minute. really set me up for the day and was only thing that got me up in the morning! Now i'm working i do really miss it.

The bit i'm going to struggle with is not on the cold days but the wet ones. Also what about when its too cold to turn out at 7am or weather changes so you rug up loads early but then by midday its boiling hot and they're dying of heat exhaustion.... hmmm maybe i need to quit and become a full time mum.
 
I generally feel that it's better for them to be a bit cold for an hour or so than too hot for the rest of the day, they tend to move around a fair bit when you first turn them out too
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I generally feel that it's better for them to be a bit cold for an hour or so than too hot for the rest of the day, they tend to move around a fair bit when you first turn them out too
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yeh think your right. they can always move to keep warm whereas they cant do anything to cool down.
 
I'm up at 6 and need to be clean and well presented after mucking out 2 etc by 8.30. My yard is 20 mins away from home. I find it OK as long as nobody tries to talk to me in the morning......! Even a quick conversation for a couple of minutes can put my whole day back and make me late all day.
 
If I'm at uni or placement [for 9am start] I get up at 6 [i'm not really a morning person either
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] feed cats, hair, face cement etc and the vital vat of tea and a good breakfast, leave at 6.45 at yard at 6.50. Give horse bit of chaff, flick over tack up and school for 30-40 mins, untack rug t/o muck out, soak hay [mats and shavings] water etc. If I have time poo pick his paddock, quick change and off to uni!! PM finish my jobs from am and bring in etc then home for more study!! If I'm on a early shift at hospital [7am start] friend feeds and t/o as I have to be clean and sweet smelling at placement
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. For a late shift I do it all in the morning and yard bring in and feed in winter.

Opps sorry for essay... But it is do-able but not inviting getting up when it's wet and dark....brrrrr...
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erm well i see to my 3 before work - although this year only ONE is in so that will seem really easy!
i usually get up at around 6am- go down the yard, ride one, muck out and get everything ready for the evening.
get to work flat for 7.45 to get a shower etc before work at 8.30. although they are talking about starting at nine soon.....
after work get to yard for 5.30 and maybe ride one. poo pick and get everything ready for morning!
 
I get up at five-fifteen; at the yard just turned six; on ned by six-thirty; turn her out at just gone seven; quick change in her stable (and head under the water tap lol); in car and away by seven-thirty at the latest. At a desk in Birmingham (an hour and a half away, including parking and getting into the office) by just gone nine
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It's alot easier than you first think. I make H nets up at the weekend. My morning starts at 7, roll out of bed, jump in car. I change rug and t/o, have H on semi deep litter so just poo pick and relay bed in week. Make all nets up at the weekend. So only need to do water and feeds. After worki bring in and ride/lunge or if day off, put my feet up!

As i have rubber matting and shavings makes it so much easier. Just take out wet at weekend and put a new bale in.
 
I've swapped from Part Livery to DIY livery too recently. Normally I work from home, so no probs there, but having just taken on a part-time contract which requires me to be in an office which is about an hours commute away by 8am, so I need to catch a train at 6.20am, I have zero intention of trying to do anything with the horse prior to work on those days once he is in at night!

I am going to either find and employ a freelance groom, cost be damned, or try and swap help with someone else on the yard. TBH I don't think my bond with my horse is improved in anyway by a) sleep deprivation and b) shovelling sh1t. I am perfectly happy to pay someone else to do it on those days and make the most of what little time i have by grooming and/or riding.
 
oh the joys of part livery. time and petrol makes this a cheap option, money goes in one direction instead of petrol feed bedding hay and time! etc cost it out diy becomes expensive and you are knackered!
 
I start work at 9am, we have our own stables/field but my sister and I usually do them about 6am in the winter and as we only have one each to muck out and 4 in total to feed it rarely takes more than 30 minutes to be honest so isn't too bad and actually I have loads f time before work. My sister generally has to go to work earlier though.

You just get used to it I guess and actually sometimes it's quite nice early on a morning being at the stables when everything's 'waking up' around you!
 
I am up at 5.45 at yard by 6.15 mucked out, chucked out and changed by 7.15. Its what owning a horse is all about!!! the rewards are far greater than the sacrifice of early starts!! I am in bed by 9.30pm tho
 
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