Full time jobs and horses

Work 830 -5

My horse schedule varies depending on what i feel like.

For example:

Option 1
Up at 615, at yard for 635, (horses fed at 6) turn one out, lunge one then turnout, hang haynets for afternoon, make feeds sweep up and leave at 715. Home for 730. Quick wash, change breakkie leave at 810.
Either YO or parent gets them in at around 3. I finish work at 5, at yard by 520 - muck out, do hays etc home by 7 absolute latest.

Option 2:
Times all same as above in morning except i turnout both straightaway then muck both out ready for evenings.
If YO brings in at 3 i tend to go back and skip out etc. If parent brings in I don't go back so have evening off.

Option 3:
Up at 555, at yard for 615, muck two out and hang haynets for afternoon, make feeds. Turnout one, lunge other, turnout. Leave at 715 again. Evenings are again dependent on who brings in.

Options 1 and 3 are generally in place mon, tues, thur and fri.
Option 2 is always weds as yo always bring in weds afternoon.

We have no lights so i have to make use of the natural light available in mornings. Which means i only get to ride at weekends :(
 
I work a couple of different shifts but in general I start at either 8 or 9 and finish at either 4 or 6. I work somewhere between 40 minutes and 80 minutes from home (depends which branch I'm at and how traffic is that day) and it generally takes me an hour or just over to get to the yard after work so the earliest I ever get there on a night is 5 (on the rare occasions where I finish on time) but is sometimes as late as 7.30. In winter I'll likely have other liveries turning him out on the days I start earlier and am hoping that there's at least one person this year leaving their horses out fairly late so he can stay out til his bed's ready
 
This is my first winter with 3, and they are in two different places! My two OAPs live out in a field a couple of mins from where I live and arnt too much bother.
My new 5yo is 15 mins from home and 15mins from work.
I work alternate hour each week 8.30-5.30 or 8-5, but I am a nurse and rarely live work on time.
I am bringing my 5yo back into work after he has had a couple of months off and would much rather just be hacking him, but I am struggling with the lack of daylight in the morning and tbe gas guns the farmer seems too have put around nearly every hacking loop!!
I am aiming ro ride at least 4-5 times a week and defo at the weekends. I have some holiday left, so I am going to try and take a couple of afternoons off, so I can hack him during the week.
The pain is he is a bugger to bring in, and I can't expect anyone else to lead him so I have to go back to the yard at lunch to get him in as he goes mad when the others start to cone in understandably.
It is very hard work, I'm knacked, smelly, muddy and sleep deprived but I knew it would be like this when I got him and strangely enough I'm the happiest I have been in a long time! :) bug please roll on spring!!
 
I work full time too but have taken the option of skipping my lunch hour and finishing at 4pm :)
So I leave just after 7am and get back at 5pm.
My horses live at home here, so do them myself.
Its fine fitting in all the basic essentials, feeding, mucking out, turn out etc (I also feed calves, walk and feed the dogs, the cat etc etc before work) but the worst bit, at this time of year, is not being able to keep them fit.
Doesn't it just drive you insane if we get a rare day of lovely winter sun whilst you are at work but its bloody pitch black when you are home! Only seeing your horses in daylight at weekends - grrrrr!
How do any of you manage to keep your horses fit in winter (unless of course you have the luxury of an indoor school or flood lit menege - beyond my pocket unfortunately!)?
Oh well just another two years and then I'm going to give up work and do B&B and riding holidays (thats the dream anyway ;) )
 
I work 9-6 and ride, muck out, turn out etc before work (get to yard for 6.15am) and bring in after work about 7pm.

I wouldn't have it any other way!

I do at least 45hrs a week at work and 30hrs a week with horse (inc travel). No wonder I'm tired though.
 
I work 8:30-4:30 and I'm on DIY with 2. I am up the yard by 6am and I muck out and turnout and then back on the yard by 5 to bring in and ride
 
Mine are on diy, but only round the corner. Turn out & do jobs in the morning, evening put beds down & do water. Most of the year they're out though, so its check in field, rug, hay etc mornings. Daughters does her own pony now, & even as a toddler always 'helped', I just do anything heavy. Eg when muck heap path way a bog like now I empty her barrow. No school, so evenings we ride in the fields when dry, up & down a lane closed to vehicles, & lit up for 20min spin through a housing estate. Mainly though when its dark evenings, I do stable management type stuff with pony obsessed daughter. Eg plaiting, different tack items & how they work etc. So far this year she's rode mine up & down drive, round yard etc learning double reins. Also wants to learn stable bandages & long lining this year. And spends ages playing with hers, grooming, plaiting, lattices, taking dolls for rides etc.
 
I work 8am-5pm. I leave home at 6am, Neddy is turned out around 6.30am. I muck out, fill nets etc, then go to work (yard is on the way). I'm back at the yard for 5.30, he's brought in, ridden / lunged, fed, faffed with and put to bed. I'm usually home for 7-8pm.

Gotta love 14hr days :) *cough*
 
I work four 12hr shifts then off for four days. I start at 6 30 am or 18 30pm (nightshift) with a 40 min commute.
At the moment mine get a small haynet at night in the barn, outside access 24/7 at home, At 5 15am I'm down the barn feeding the hens, if the horses are in I unrug the mare if forcast is nice and check both horses over, if they are out I check them over from the fence going up the drive, back home, I hang nets and give them toast n marmite, the mare has bute in hers, rug mare up, skip out and sort beds (deep litter), lights out up to house.
Nightshift, home 7 40am, feed hens in barn, check horses, unrug mare if possible, give half a carrot up to house, awake by 1500hrs, down the barn, hang nets give toast n marmite, rug up mare skip out and sort beds, lights out off to work. Easy peasy when you have a routine, I poo pick fields first day off tidy barn and ride on days off
 
I'm very lucky with my hours. I do 8.00-3.30 or 10.30-6.30. When I start at 8am a fellow livery puts out my horse and hers. I then bring both horses in after work. When I start at 10.30 I put both horses out and she brings both in.It works brilliantly. We both only go up once a day :)
 
I work 8.30 to 5pm but am very lucky that it is close to home and stables (about 15/20 mins commute).

I have young children though and my OH works 1 hour commute away so need to go out in morning and back before 7am, which, on a day when I want to ride too means a 5.20am rise! I never ride in the evenings in the winter. I go up the stables straight after work and bring in - then off to grab kids off childminder.
 
I work 9 until 5:30. Have 25 minute drive to and from work but new yard is on the route (ish). Go down at 7:45 to turn out, normally manage to get most of mucking out done and then he comes in just after 6. He's on DIY livery.
 
Top