Horses and lie-ins ...

Mrs B

Mrs B

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Do you? Can you?

At the moment, Mon to Fri, I've got a 5.30am alarm to get to the yard by 6ish, to ride out by about 6.40 so we miss the traffic ... I also then bring in and feed another livery's horse and, one day a week, another one.

Tomorrow, being the weekend, it's just mine to do. As he's out in his field and all I have to do is go up and feed/check him, I SHOULD be able to have a wee lie in. At least until 7.30 ...

But can I? Can I Hell. :mad: I just know I'll be more wide awake at 5.30 tomorrow than I am for the rest of the week and it's NOT FAIR :mad:

So. Can any of you lie in and to what time? ... and if so, how do you manage it without feeling awful and twitchy until you've checked your horse is ok? :o
 
Have just had this discussion with OH. He said he needs a lie in tomorrow as he is on a night shift tomorrow night. Horses are out 24/7 and have plenty of grass but I will wake up at 7am feel guilty and go and feed, poo pick etc :)
 
I never feel guilty about having a lie in especially if hes in the field.
If hes in the stable then I just make sure he has extra water and hay the night before.
You have to give yourself a break or you will probably end up resenting your horse!
 
Well, my horses are in at night all year round, I turnout & get to the yard at 8.15 the mornings I work but on the mornings I don't work & weekends I give then a couple of sections of hay to go in with their breakfasts so I can get there layer.. I struggle to sleep in though yet on days I work I struggle to get up.. It's all in the mind!!
 
I often do and my horse has not yet withered away because of it! :p:D

I just make sure she has ad lib hay and an enough water to last.

That being said, she isn't a stressy horse with regards stabling. She is pretty chilled about the whole thing and never seems bothered what time I get up there as long as she has plenty to eat.

I suppose it all depends on the horse and how they cope with stabling. If they are out in the field however, then I just get up there when I can, no time specifics. Though I always make sure she is checked morning and evening at some point.
 
Totally agree with Snooples and part of the reason why my horses are on full livery, alongside the fact that I work odd hours. I didn't want to end up resenting them if it became non-stop chores. It's meant to be fun so don't beat yourself up if you are a little later some mornings, chances are your horse won't care especially if he is in the field.

Having said that, I get up at 7am every morning so I can ride at 8am before the mob arrives :D but then I don't have the pressures of making it to work as I work nightshift and then from home in the afternoons.
 
snooples said:
I never feel guilty about having a lie in especially if hes in the field.
If hes in the stable then I just make sure he has extra water and hay the night before.
You have to give yourself a break or you will probably end up resenting your horse!
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*Smiles* I've kept them for about 4 decades and never resented them yet! But I would like to know how to have a guilt free lie on one of these days, without calculating the odds of it being ok to do so ...;)

(Doesn't help that I've found (over the years) a smashed knee, a badly cut eye, and a fatal colic when I've arrived half an hour later than usual :()
 
It's the dog we have to get up for! Ponies fine until 8am if required but we are up for the dog before 7 so usually feed all the animals then. The ponies do tend to shout at 6.30 as that's when we feed during the week but they will go back to grazing if we ignore them.
 
Mine live out all year so they don't expect me early unless I am going out early, or they have rugs on and I want to get them off, or if ice needs breaking or they need an early feed in addition to what they normally have. I tend to check them quite late in the eve as well.

I'd find it hard to adjust to having a horse that is always stabled at night, and sticking to other people's routines on a yard so my horse wasn't left in or out alone.
 
cheeryplatypus said:
It's the dog we have to get up for! Ponies fine until 8am if required but we are up for the dog before 7 so usually feed all the animals then. The ponies do tend to shout at 6.30 as that's when we feed during the week but they will go back to grazing if we ignore them.
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i have a Bengal cat that does that for me too - at this time of year, she's up with the dawn at 4am saying that the birdies are singing and breakfast would be nice ... I can usually stall her until the 5.30 alarm goes :)
 
Mrs B said:
i have a Bengal cat that does that for me too - at this time of year, she's up with the dawn at 4am saying that the birdies are singing and breakfast would be nice ... I can usually stall her until the 5.30 alarm goes :)
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could you pay a friend, or a mobile service thing maybe once or twice a month? So you at least get somebody responsible and so can relax and enjoy a snooze!:D
 
I don't know what your talking about??

I'm up at 5.30am 6 days a week and the one day I do have off, if someone very nice offers to turn mine out, I'm still up at 7 wide awake!!! Grrrrr
 
horsesatemymoney said:
could you pay a friend, or a mobile service thing maybe once or twice a month? So you at least get somebody responsible and so can relax and enjoy a snooze!:D
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Nice idea, HAMM, but I guess (thinking about it) it's a rhetorical question - cos I'd just wake up with a start, wondering if the 'cover' had arrived!

Don't get me wrong, I have lovely fellow liveries who will look after him if I'm working and I trust them implicitly, but I would feel sooooo guilty if I asked someone to do him because I was in bed (and not in danger of death!) :o
 
I love a lie in :) me and my friend take it in turns to do mornings so we both get a lie in at least once a week. Sunday will be 9am wake up at the earliest :)
 
I get more of a lie in for Ned, than I do for work! Sometimes I have a 6am start for work, but Ned doesn't care if I don't get there until past 9!
 
5 : 30 starts are common, however now they are living out I'm usually up by 7 am, the latest I will get up is 7 45 ! I can live on 5 hours sleep easily :)

However if I get the chance, I have a 2 hour nap in my very comfy caravan at the stables !
 
I would desperately love a lie in but can't have them!
I have to wake up just before 6 in the week, and my equine-alarm wakes me if I attempt the slightest lie in - she's very routine orientated and has a ridiculously accurate sense of time, and knows if I'm trying to have a sneaky extra 30 minutes. She's stabled right outside my window and literally screams at me and throws buckets around demanding attention until I go out there to give her morning feed. She always has haynets left over, she just wants breakfast! High maintenance - the geldings couldn't care less!
 
Yep I get lie ins because she's out 24/7 now :D I just rock up after I've dropped the kids off at school to whip her fly rug off. I've just made sure I've turned my alarm off for tomorrow so I can wake up naturally for a change ;) x
 
I'm off to sleep now and intend to sleep until some despicable late hour... Monday to Friday I get up at 8am and go straight to work, weekends, I get up when I want or need to. YO dose my baby in the mornings:p:cool:
 
Nope rarely have a lie in although 730 to me IS a lie in compared to 530/515 weekday alarma. I once had a lie in one april and woke up to find a heavy covering of snow and couldn't get to the yard! Sums up my luck!
 
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