Fitting in professional visits while working full-time?

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Orchard14

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Hi everyone! I'm not necessarily new to the forum as I've been reading through posts as a guest for years but this is my first post as a member.

My question is for those who work standard full-time hours Mon-Fri and have horses on DIY livery. My farrier is happy to come to us on weekends but how do you manage to fit in vet visits, dentists, physio etc. assuming they won't come on weekends for routine work? Do you have to take annual leave each time you have an appointment?
My manager in my previous role had horses so was very understanding if I needed to "work from home" one morning or afternoon while someone came to see to the horses but I am starting a new job next month and I don't think I'm going to have that sort of luxury anymore. Visits over lunch hour not an option either as it takes 30 mins from work to the yard so the hour is gone just from travelling.
My yard offers full, part and flexi livery so there is an option to pay to have the YO be there for these things but I like to be there myself and get the information on my horses first hand.
Just interested in how other people manage this.
 
Take holiday or flexi depending on the job, and the timing/length of time of a visit. Same as I do for my own appointments really!
 
I was lucky that I was on flexi time when working full time as a PA. This was the only way I could fit in most farrier visits, tbh before that I had to arrange visits out of hours which was not always possible so used a lot of holidays
 
I used to try and arrange for 8:30 am and just start and finish work late. Part-time makes life a lot easier!

You have to prioritise which appointments are the most important.
 
Either appts at beginning or end of the day and make up time, or ask really nicely for a couple of late starts and add the time together to make a half day holiday.
I used to do the latter when in 1 local job: go in at 10am one day instead of 9 (had farrier at 8), then finish at 2.30 another day for vet visit, thus making half day in total.
Or just set aside approx 4 days leave for 8 half days hol - had to do that in another role.
 
I can usually scrounge TOIL or a/l depending on appointment times, but first thing in the morning or evenings where possible. You might be surprised and your new job will become more flexible in time!
 
Annual leave, flexi, leave an hour early etc.

For routine visits I try and get everything done in 1 day so I might organise injections, teeth and physio all on the same day. Others I fit in when I'm already on leave where possible or take half a day here or there when I need to
 
I usually use half days or make time back. I am lucky that work are cool & know I have a pony, but I will always make time back.

"Boss, can I take a last minute half day?" "Hmmmm, sun's shining, we're not too busy, I guess you want to go riding?" "Yup." "Go for it"

I get the same for vet / farrier requests. I do try to make sure I am ABSOLUTELY up to date in my work though.
 
Same as everyone else, schedule for first thing AM or late as I can PM, use Flexitime or AL time otherwise. Last resort is getting someone to be there to attend as like you, I prefer to be there, but sometimes life gets in the way!
 
I am a teacher, so routine things like jabs, farrier and dentist I tend to fit into the holidays. Feb half-term is coming up and I have farrier and dentist for both horses, plus jabs for one. It's trickier if one of them needs the vet during the school week. Last year there were a few days where I could get away early in the afternoons, but this year my timetable is a bit more awkward. I needed the vet a few months ago and had to email the head in the end asking if I could take Friday afternoon. I told him what it was for and actually he was really nice about it. I think as a one off he didn't mind.
 
Annual leave. Commuting in the middle of the day would take just under two hours, luckily my boss will let me take half days and work from home the other half, otherwise it would be awful and I wouldn't be able to have many lessons. This is for vet (6 horses so this uses up quite a lot some years), farrier, dentist, lessons and hay deliveries. 25 days soon disappears.
 
I work up quite a lot of over time and providing I don't clash with manufacturing schedules I can be flexible taking an hour off here and there. But sometimes I will take a half day but make sure it's 'worth it' by squeezing in lots of things!

My vets do 'after 5' appointments which work great for me. There's a high rate of cancellation as that time of day emergencies creep in and their running late but I don't mind that for follow up/vaccination appointments as we are seen within a week.

My farrier comes in the day time but yard staff happy to bring in for me for him to crack on by himself.

Physio I will schedule an end of day appointment but we share with friends so always someone around and then can chat on the phone if any issues.

I always keep a day off spare for emergency vet appointments. I have to be flexible at work staying late and working weekends so I do expect a level of flexibility in return. I have changed Physio before due to them only being able to come middle of the day, could it be worth you shopping around a bit if there's anyone who can offer you a more flexible service?
 
My current job is a bit more flexible as I am pretty much left to myself to make sure I get my work done and if I have to nip off for a bit its not a big deal
Have had much more awkward ones in the past though.
I always made sure I made a really good, hard working first impression as that sticks! I have had to take A/L before, as above tried to organise a couple of things together to make it worth while, even non horse things for the rest of the day like my own dentist / doctor etc. Farrier was OK as I wasn't too worried about being there for that, but same as you I would want to be there for physio to chat to them as even the best meaning YO / friend won't ask the same questions I would.
I would recommend always booking for afternoons and taking afternoon off- nothing worse than vet / physio 'running late' and you watching the clock down to when you need to be in work!!
Many other people in work have kids who get sick and change last minute plans so I never felt bad about having to call in for last minute A/L for an emergency vet issue- horses are the reason I am sane and able to work hard at a good job and if they need me I am there. Most work places have understood.
 
My old job used to have holiday in hours, so I could take just the right amount of time off without feeling like I was 'wasting' my annual leave. I'm not sure if many company's do that now though. I'm lucky that I work 15 minutes away and can pop out when needed. I do make sure I make up the time though.
 
I've recently started working each Saturday in lieu of Tuesday off. I have the support of family/friends for appointments i cannot get to however. With regards to Farrier, i have AL booked for every 6th Monday until the end of the year.
 
From the other side, thank you, a great post. I work 3 out of 4 Saturdays but it's incredibly difficult with some customers, if you can only do Saturdays and have no floodlights then in winter I'm going to really struggle. I cover a huge territory so might only be able to do a handful of Saturdays in a year that would be in your area. I work evenings too, sometimes I don't get home until 11pm, having left home at 6am in most cases. And I can't just book people ahead on a Saturday because I need to be able to see ALL people in that area on the same day, I can't afford either the money or the time to only see that one person on that day. It is difficult on both sides. And I do feel that if your child has a pony then you may have to pull your child from school occasionally, I have one or two customers that give me a real headache trying to book them in because it HAS to be around school hours, (actually only ONE evening after school) or a Saturday, and no floodlights for winter evenings.
 
Or find a mug like me! As I only work part time I always seem to be the one around for for the farrier - he's coming out this afternoon so I have to go back up soon to get the horses in to dry their feet out and then go back up again while he's there. Perhaps I should get 'doormat' tattooed on my forehead!
 
asmp said:
Or find a mug like me! As I only work part time I always seem to be the one around for for the farrier - he's coming out this afternoon so I have to go back up soon to get the horses in to dry their feet out and then go back up again while he's there. Perhaps I should get 'doormat' tattooed on my forehead!
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Or just charge the going hourly rate plus travel?
 
I'm lucky that we have flexi time but also my working hours are 7-3 so I arrange appointments normally for 4pm (takes 30mins to get to yard from work) and we have lights too. Only gripe for working those hours is that at that time the school is full of kids after school lessons, especially in winter!
 
I used to rope in my non horsey mother :oops: I think people felt sorry for her and could tell she was pretty clueless so would lend a hand... this was back when I was on a very friendly yard 5 mins away from mums home.

I don't own at the moment for this exact reason... working full time with about an hour commute :( I know many people though that work through lunches/go in early/leave late I even know someone who occasionally gets the opportunity to work Saturdays in exchange for a week day off.
 
I'm lucky as the yard is only 10 mins from work so I can pop out for lunch appointments and although we don't have recognised flexi time the bosses are all reasonable about it as long as you make sure you put the hours in else where.
Last year I did use 5 days annual leave for vets visits and trips as they needed to be longer. My farrier fits me in , in the evening as I have to drive over to his forge, work are good about me leaving an hour early for that once every 5-6 weeks. I do make sure I work the time up in advance though. Plus we have an indoor school and flood lit outdoor. I know I'm very lucky.
 
I use holiday or sometimes WFH if it is a short appointment I can manage in a lunchtime. One thing I have found is that it is sometimes easier to organise weekend appointments with saddler, physio etc if there is more than one person using them on the yard e.g. almost making it into a Saturday clinic and asking everyone else on the yard if they also want to see saddler/dentist/physio etc. You normally get a few others to join in and it makes it more worth the supplier's time, especially if they have to travel.
 
i'm lucky as OH works from home, but could you club together with a few people on yard so you take half a days leave but see to farrier/teeth/etc for 4/5 horses and then they do yours when its their turn?
 
I use annual leave for the saddler, and for any appointments where I really do need to be there. Otherwise, I get the yard to do it for me (included in my livery package) - they provide any feedback or updates, and the reality is that I don't have to be there for everything.
 
Hallo2012 said:
i'm lucky as OH works from home, but could you club together with a few people on yard so you take half a days leave but see to farrier/teeth/etc for 4/5 horses and then they do yours when its their turn?
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I always seemed to end up being 'that person' who was there for 10 dentists appointments or pulling horses in for the farrier (even when mine weren't on the list). I lost track of the amount of times I was asked to hold a passport because the vet was coming for jabs and then realised that must mean get the pony in too otherwise the vet was trekking across 20 acres! It does work if everyone is prepared to do their bit but sadly a lot of people assume that because you're prepared to take a 1/2 day for the dentist you won't mind keeping an eye on their horse too.
 
Previously I could leave/arrive early/late or work my lunch etc but there's a corporate attitude developing and I'll be forced to take annual leave now.

It's utterly hypocritical as those with kids are able to leave/arrive early/late still...

Fortunately my farrier is great and just grabs them out their stable and sorts them out before I'm even home. He even sweeps up after himself!

Their physio is the same and super with my 9-5 restrictions.

EDT... Saddler... Jabs... That's annual leave territory from now on. God knows how I'll time them all for the same day.
 
nikkimariet said:
Previously I could leave/arrive early/late or work my lunch etc but there's a corporate attitude developing and I'll be forced to take annual leave now.

It's utterly hypocritical as those with kids are able to leave/arrive early/late still...

Fortunately my farrier is great and just grabs them out their stable and sorts them out before I'm even home. He even sweeps up after himself!

Their physio is the same and super with my 9-5 restrictions.

EDT... Saddler... Jabs... That's annual leave territory from now on. God knows how I'll time them all for the same day.
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You have to work out which ones you need to be there for (saddler!), which ones the yard could be paid to sort for you (jabs) and if you can get together with friends to take turns (dentist). I used to tell the odd white lie about a 'personal appointment' if I knew my horse had one first thing :D
 
SEL said:
I always seemed to end up being 'that person' who was there for 10 dentists appointments or pulling horses in for the farrier (even when mine weren't on the list). I lost track of the amount of times I was asked to hold a passport because the vet was coming for jabs and then realised that must mean get the pony in too otherwise the vet was trekking across 20 acres! It does work if everyone is prepared to do their bit but sadly a lot of people assume that because you're prepared to take a 1/2 day for the dentist you won't mind keeping an eye on their horse too.
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this, oh! this!

I am not a huge fan of my job but I am home based and have a role that I'm able to have flexible hours within reason. That's worth a lot when you have horses! I try to get visits/appointments at one end of the day to avoid too much disruption but I can make up lost time on the evenings or weekends without any issue. in addition if something urgent comes up while I'm at the yard waiting for the vet I can usually sort it remotely via my phone ;)

when I worked in an office I had half days or TOIL. I still take a half day if I'm going to be out of communication for more than a short time but it's quite easy to arrange.
 
My farrier comes at 8am and is happy to do them on his own and turn them out when he's done in winter. In the summer the fields are too far away so I pop back at lunchtime to pop them out unless one of the girls happens to be there and texts me to see if I want them put out as they're going down anyway. Work's only 15 mins away so I can stay until 8.45 in the morning or pop back fairly easily. Vet is very flexible and will let me take the boys to him after work as his yard's at the bottom of his lane. In fact I'm often waiting for him to get back rather than him waiting for me I can normally escape work an hour early if I have to! Things like dentist is a whole yard thing which I organise so I'll get him there early and get mine done first - organiser's prerogative! I might be a bit late into work but as long as I'm there by 9.30 nobody minds. Chiro is a friend so will come in the evening to do the boys and then we go for food and a drink! I have taken days or half days when I've had to for longer appointments or trips to vet hospital.
 
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