Fitting Your Horse in Around A Demanding Job

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LittleSoph

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Just wondered how often all of you work?

At the moment I'm working mostly 7 days a week which is making seeing my horse very difficult. He is on full livery but I do like to get down there every day, even it's just for a half an hour groom. In the week days I usually manage to get down there at about 5.30 after work, but by then most people have ridden and gone home.
What time do you do your horse in the evening? Are you on a livery yard and if so, what time does everyone tend to leave and go home?

Also, Does anyone work weekends?
Do you find you miss out on your horse sometimes? I feel like everyone at the yard makes the most of weekends and this is when they hack out/show/etc. and I am missing all of this.

Just wondered how other people will full time/demanding jobs cope?
 
I don't get to my livery yard until gone 6 and everyone has gone and I love it. No kids screaming around and noone to have to share the school with. Can be a pain in the winter as we have no lights but my horses have all got used to being ridden in the dark bless them.

I used to work shifts though and when my days fell over a weekend I hated it, especially in the summer when everyone was out competing! I'd never work my weekends again now though unless I really loved what i was doing.
 
Hi i work mon-sat and i go to yard 6am every day to turn out and muck out then go to work get back to yard by 6.30pm (most people have gone home so lovely and quiet) then i will do rest of jobs and ride/lunge 1 or both of mine every day. On a sunday if im not at a show they both get hacked out. I am lucky i have loaners that do 1 weekday and saturday which gives me a rest. If i go to any clinics/lessons i always go to evening ones. Its hard work and i have a VERY understanding OH!
 
I work full time - but I work from home and home is the yard so it is a bit easier for me!!
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However I do have to go away with work quite a lot so periodically I have weeks and days were I don't see my neds. Sadly it is a fact of life - in order to pay for my 2 neds and all their needs I have to work so I also have to accept that there are time when they are very expensive pets!!
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The bonus of living at the yard means that I can use the school when the others have gone - especially useful in the winter when you have the after frenzy to use the school!!
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I work Mon - Fri 9-5 and keep my horses on a DIY yard, when they are out in the field 24/7 i go and check them before work and ride after work. In the winter i turn them out and muck out before work or muck out and ride after work.
 
I work full time - but, like having a child, I'm afraid my horse comes first. If I need to work extra hours do it in the morning or work through lunch - ocassionaly comming in at the weekend.

I finish bang on time - and have made it clear for many years that finishing late is not an option.

I don't live to work - I work to live.
 
I somehow have (pre babies lol) fitted a demanding job (and my life come to think of it) around my horse, rather than the other way round. Have to say, ive only been at 2 livery yards both for 3 years, and it was 6pm esp in summer months before most people got there. In the winter I started work a couple of hours earlier in order to finish by 4 and get to my boy before dark.
Try to remember the perks of full livery, and although I can completely relate to you wanting to get there every day, I would maybe try to not go there one or even 2 days a week, get other things done on the home/work front, to enable me that little bit more time on the days that I did go there.
Well done you for working 7 days a week, it must be tough sometimes, but try not to be too disappointed when you hear about other people's excursions, your time together will come.
 
it must be hard for you. I work full time. I am lucky that I work near where i live and my horses are near where I live so it all sort of falls into place. I pop down quickly in the morning before work to feed and turn out. I get back down there after work about 4.45. So i finish the horses at a resonable time with a little time left for me. Some days i feel warn out but couldnt image life without the horses.
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I have two jobs totaling about 50 hours a week, I have 3 horses (well a horse and two ponies)

At the moment all 3 of them are kept at one of the places I work. I don't get there till 4 in the afternoon but do get to ride my horse whilst I am 'working,' they also get fed, groomed etc during working hours. If I need to get the farrier, saddler etc I have to finish my other job earlier so I can get to the horses in time for the appointment.

During Winter it is very difficult as they come home and are all stabled overnight and also 3 days during the weeks, I don't get home from work till about 8.45pm so by the time I have got them in/mucked out, fed, rugs changed etc it could be 9.30 - 10pm. In the winter I am like a walking zombie!
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My cousin and I have hit upon the perfect solution.
We both have very demanding jobs that often require us to travel away or live-in the office from time-to-time, so we share the horsey responsibility!
We keep our horses together on livery and between us we manage to get to the yard at least once a day to check up on the horses (and the livery staff to be honest). It also means we can have guilt free holidays and paying for them is cheaper as an added bonus!
I would definitely recommend finding someone to share the care and responsibility with. Win-win!
 
Thing is, I know that in the long run I'll be able to work just weekdays and reap the benefits from my hard work now. But it's just driving me a little mad at the moment as I don't get to see him half as much as I'd like. Something always seems to crop up when I've arranged time off.
 
Hi
Pre babies I had my horse in livery - went down 3 nights during the week - usually getting there 6.30 ish. Would ride etc and be home around 8pm.

These days I work full-time, have a toddler and am pregnant! My boy is a DIY grass livery so I go down once my daughter is in bed and husband is home - about 7.30pm. Feed, groom & poo pick if feeling up to it and back for dinner around 8. Occasionally I go beofre work around 6 am. Funnily enough even when not pregnant no riding happens during the week!
 
yup just fit him in when I can, in summer I ride 6 days a week without fail, winter prob 4 if poss 5.

In winter I ride before work, go out at 1st light or ride in field (bout 6.30-7am) in summer some nights I finish at 7pm so on horse by 7.45, off horse 8.45 supper by 9 bed by 10pm! well I haven't got anything else to do, do spend a lot of time tired tho!

Have to say I will never work weekends again though, did once, rubbish show season!
 
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Something always seems to crop up when I've arranged time off.

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You have a choice - you can say no and pass the work/problem to someone else or carry on with what you are doing. I know it may seem like you have to say yes and do everything yourself but I promise you the world will not end if one weekend a month you say no and turn your phone off and enjoy some time with your boy. After all there is no point in building an empire if you have nothing to enjoy in the rest of your life.

Easy for me to say as I'm now in my *coughs* $0's
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- when I was in my twenties I did the same as you and ran around doing everything as no one else could do it like me/better than me etc with time you realise that the world will not fall apart if you are not spinning around in the middle of it for 24 hours and like most things in life being unobtainable actually makes you more in demand!! We all want what we can't get!!

Prioritise and time management!!
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I know what you mean slinkyunicorn but it isn't so much that I think the world will stop spinning.
I run the business and me and my Dad own it. My Dad works every hour God sends and I kind of fell that I have to live up to that. He doesn't understand the horsey thing but wouldn't want me to be unhappy. But I don't want him to think badly of me.

Also, because it's a new business I'm not being paid by the business itself yet, for the work I do in the week, so I only get paid when I photograph events at the weekends/evenings, so I HAVE to do these or I won't get paid. And the weekday work has to be done or orders don't get out, photos don't get on the internet and our photographers don't get work or know where they're meant to be and when. I just can't work out what bit I can cut down.
 
I work full time (but at home so I can pop to the yard at lunchtimes) and I have two small children and a husband that doesn't get home until gone 7pm as he has a bit of a commute. In the evening I don;t get to the yard until gone 7 usually, unless I take the kids with me (depends how they are and what day of the week it is re school). The only way I cope is that I have a sharer who does him twice a week so even if I'm having a manic week in work and only ride one I know that he will be ridden at least one other time.
 
I work full time so have to be at the yard to turn out etc at 5.30am and I don't get there in the evenings until just after 6pm. I have 2 horses but one is retired so I exercise the other and pop them both to bed and I'm home about 8pm or just after.

Sometimes it drives me nuts about not spending more than about 3 hours with my OH before its off to bed and the whole routine starts again!

Oh and it's DIY so I couldn't cope without help from my Mum for farrier visits etc!
 
I work full time and sometime on Saturdays, however used to work every Saturday day time and then work at the restaurant on Sat nights till 2am and then Sunday afternoons, it was a killer, inbetween that ride my own and 3 other horses during the week and weekend. My OH forgot what I looked like, used end up eating my tea at 10pm and going straight to bed, to be honest I was just tired all the time and lost a lot of weight (which was good...but for the wrong reasons) I don't how I did it and I was DIY with my horse.
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I work 8 - 5 mon-fri (thought that was alot, but not compared to some of you guys!). I work an hour from home so i leave 6.45 and return around 6. I have the ned on part livery, and ride 3 nights a week (the groom who is my friend rides him on the days i dont as part of the livery package (he is young and needs regular, varied work). I would prefer DIY, but the yard doesnt open until 7am so i couldnt do it anyway!

I have to work late and away from home occasionally too, part and parcel of my profession, but hey, it pays well!

if i ride i normally get home about 9 - which is fine in the summer, not so good in teh winter! I struggle to fit my gym in and uni (start my final year in Oct URGH!).
 
I work two jobs. One as a groom 8- 10am, (So i do my horses between 6 and 8am in the morning) and another as a health care assistant where i start at 11:30am, and work untill 5pm. I then have a two hour gap to do my own horses and the horses at work, and i start my care job again at 7pm and work through untill 11pm...
Im nakered ALL the time, and things will have to change when my mare is back in work and foal is weaned but for now, I need the money
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I really don't know how people do it with families too... I work full time and my job is pretty busy so i get to the yard by 5.30 in the morning, muck out turn both out etc then shower when i get to work - at my desk my 7.

That does mean i can normally leave on time-ish, so I'm at the yard between 5.30 - 6ish then field clear beds down, ride, put to bed, feed and stumble home, normally home around 9ish - when if I can be bothered I eat!!!

I do 'quick' nights too though so I can see my friends and try not to feel guilty about just throwing them in on those nights!
 
I work 9 - 5 Monday to Friday and I've got two horses on DIY. One of them is ridden every day, the other is worked about 3 times a week. I go to the yard about 7am, ride before work and throw beds up if time, then straight to work from the yard. Then in the evenings I can sort beds out/clean tack/poo pick/tidy lorry etc which works out quite well.

Up until a couple of months ago I was working weekends as well which I did for 18 months - it just got too much though so I've given it up now - I don't know how I managed to fit everything in!

My job is pretty demanding and I do have to work late sometimes, but it just means I get home a bit later, that's all. My horses don't mind being left out in the summer and in winter someone would fetch them in for me.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I work full time - but, like having a child, I'm afraid my horse comes first. If I need to work extra hours do it in the morning or work through lunch - ocassionaly comming in at the weekend.

I finish bang on time - and have made it clear for many years that finishing late is not an option.

I don't live to work - I work to live.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly. This is my attitude, too.
 
I work full-time and have to work a lot of over-time at certain times a year.
I keep mine in a DIY yard and find I miss out on hacking in company during the week and don't see anyone at all during the winter as they are all finished up before I get back from work.
 
QR- i'm a teacher so DO get lots of jollidays but during term time (esp winter) it can be hard and i usually have marking and prep to do at weekend. i just sleep for about 5 hours and thats how i fit having two horses on DIY in!! and i have a sharer who exercises one horse and helps with jobs about 4/5 days a week....
 
I work full time 9-5ish- 3 horses on DIY and 2 kids.

Im up at 6am to do the horses- mercifully yard is only a mile away from the house....back home...shower and change- drop kids at school and head to work. After work either pick kids up from my parents, or if OH has finished work before me they will all be at home. I either go down to yard to bring in/feed/ride etc on my own or we all go down together to do stuff.

I dont work weekends or bank hols ...I dont work late or on-call....and I work not far from home/yard so I have been known to schedule vets vists in my lunch hour! Now thats time management
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My job pays me very well- I could get paid more but then I would have to probably do some work instead of being on HHO all day, I would have to travel further afield and frankly - I cant be bothered.
 
I work flexi as my yard is 1.30 hour commute from my work so I do two long days which allows me to leave early one of the other days and so I get to ride in the week at a reasonable time. It also takes 40 minutes to bring my pony up to the yard as his summer field is 1/3 mile from yard - winter fields much nearer.

My pony is on grass livery and YO will do field check and feed if necessary but TBH he does not need much feed due to be being a good doer - in the winter when they had hayledge we would take it in turns to put the hayledge out in lots of little piles.

I do not work weekends and I also sometimes take half days of leave to ride in the afternoon - I get 27 days leave plus we are closed between xmas and new year. I also have to take half days for farrier vet etc.

I could get a job nearer the yard but it would not pay so well and I have to cover the rent on my flat and also I am trying to save as well. I have managed to save enough money to keep my horse on livery for a year should I become unemployed I just now need to save enough to keep myself as well. I am cautious and as a single person I don't have a OH to bail me out should I loose my job and not be able to get another one quickly.

So as they say make hay whilst the sun shines - in this current economic climate you never know how secure your job will be so whilst you have work take advantage of it but at the same time take a few days off if you have the chance you don't want to work so hard that you over do it.

I definately would not work a 7 day week with no day time to spend with my pony unless I knew it was short term.
 
I decided to take a sabbatical from the horsey world for a few years, as I decided it wouldn't be fair on me or the horse to try and do both. I could keep a horse at full livery, but if I just want to ride once or twice a week, then I can do that without the costs and headaches associated with ownership. I watched some friends start to resent their horse, or regard them as a chore when work took over, and I would rather take a break entirely than sour my relationship with horses.

I am lucky in that I have a couple of friends with horses who welcome me to come and play ponies whenever I like, so I can still get my fix.
 
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