Horses vs Work

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Witchy

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I've now had my first horse for 4 months and I was just wondering what everybody else does for a living?

I have a very tediously boring office job 9-5 and a few of the girls at the yard do various jobs such as bus driving, working in a restaurant to night shift work.

What do you do to help you get more horsey time? I really want to do something else that's going to change my working life pattern dramatically - I got an application form from Tescos last night as a starting point!

Work to Live not Live to Work!!
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It's a hard balance, I work 7.45-4.30 in the week and half days on Fridays woop so I work good hours and I do a quick ckuck out in the morning and spend at least a couple of hours there in the evening. I am tempted to do shirf work but need a good sleep at night! I am patient co-ordinator for theatre depart at hospital
 
Unfortunately not, one of the directors is a total nasty bastard and makes everyone's life hell and actually gets off on it..... Asking him for a bit of slack is like a red rag to a bull.
 
My job is very much seasonal as it's based around agriculture. I also have a 53 mile commute to the office (106 round trip) so that adds almost 3hrs travelling to my schedule per day. We are normally in the office from 8.30am - 5pm although we have been known to work from 4am-10pm on occasions. A few times I haven't got back home until midnight. I also have to stay away a bit too.

These hours are not great for owning a horse (let alone eleven) but I manage with the help of a superb OH, friends, and a weekend groom.
 
Hmm, whats a work life balance with horses? I do have a pretty good job - I am a Director of an estate/letting agency and do have a degree of flexibility, ie I dont have a vile boss to grovel to to get time off work to see the neds. However, I do have to have my two horses on full livery as work commitments can be very, very heavy. If the work is there, although I have two business partners, I have to get on with it.

Would love to have the time to look after them myself, but have a fab YO and m daughter does her fair share of it as well. On the positive side, it does pay pretty well and I dont have trouble getting time off to take my daughter eventing. On top of that my company sponsor my daughter pretty well.

Unless you have a very rich husband and are one of those 'ladies that lunch and do horses', I dont think there is a easy answer to that one.
 
Didn't like the hours when my daughter was born (worked for big multinational, at the time I was working out of an office in Bath which is 90 min commute although I generally worked a few days round to visiting clients etc or at meetings nearer home), so started own company, mail order, from home so now I work or don't work as I wish which is why I've taken up riding again after a very very long break
 
We have flexi start so you can come in between 8 and 10 and finish between 4 and 6.

This allows riding time in the morning, plus I have an elderly pony who takes an hour to eat his breakfast.

I say I can't face work until I have spent time with the horses, work say they can't face me until the horses have taken the edge off me
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As others have said, unless you are rolling inmoney, or have a rich husband, the vast majority of people have to work in order to pay the bills, and the more money you need, usually the longer hours you have to work. I do 8.30 to 5.30 5 days a week, but my horse is at my house and I only have a 15 minute journey to work. Recently I had to take a 20% pay cut, so now I only do 4 days, which is nice, but I no longer have enough money for lessons or competing, so it cuts both ways.
 
I work 9-5 which leaves little time for horse
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but that said it means my weekends are always free as are bank holidays and get a nice bit of time off over Xmas.

I am going back to education next year which will hopefully change my job sector completely, which I can't wait for!
 
I work 9-5 mon-fri ......which pays me well, I have weekends and bank holidays off.......winters are a bummer as its dark after work but you have to make do...if I didnt do the job I do then I wouldnt have the money to have the horses.

Plus I have children, and OH works shifts so its better to have one of us at home at 'normal' times lol.

I just have to get up early to do them, because they are all on DIY livery but OH chips in....for example he will nip down and put them out after his night shifts so I can have a lie in at weekends without the horses being stuck in longer than usual.
 
I work anytime between 8am and 7pm - prefer the early starts cos we get to leave earlier, but the later starts means I don't get home till 8! Thank god for an indoor school is all I can say.

Hoping to move to field sales so I can choose my hours!! Otherwise its ridiculously early starts to do Ted, or afternoons to do him!
 
I work one week of mornings 8.30 - 1.15 then a week of afternoons 1.15 - 6pm so i either pop in to horses in morning if im on early and feed turn out etc or if they are out take rugs off etc, then the next week i swap around do all my jobs in the morning and pop in on my way home to bring in etc. Im very lucky with my job it allows me plenty of horse time!!
 
I work in an office starting at 12pm and finishing at 8pm, Mon to Fri, so I manage to ride before I go to work and someone finishes them off at night for me.
I have three horses stabled overnight and in work, so i've done a days work before I even go to work.
 

I work 9am till 2.30pm in an office. I initially did those hours to suit my boys school times but now they are both at secondary school and don't need me at home so much I still do those hours for my horses benefit!
My friend on my livery yard has the perfect job! She is a science teacher so good hours and all the holidays off! how perfect!
 
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I say I can't face work until I have spent time with the horses, work say they can't face me until the horses have taken the edge off me
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That's me to a T
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[ QUOTE ]
I work one week of mornings 8.30 - 1.15 then a week of afternoons 1.15 - 6pm so i either pop in to horses in morning if im on early and feed turn out etc or if they are out take rugs off etc, then the next week i swap around do all my jobs in the morning and pop in on my way home to bring in etc. Im very lucky with my job it allows me plenty of horse time!!

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I do exactly the same and work the same hours out of interest which shift do you prefer?

A friend of mine works 8.00am till 5.30pm so she calls in on her way to work and turns out etc and then i do the daytime stuff like vets, farrier etc and she puts them to bed at night. It works really well. Hers is on box rest at the moment so i walk him during the day for her and skip him out top up his net etc which breaks his day up. I would struggle without her and she would struggle without me (we both like 30mins away) so it works out really well.
 
basicallly, i do either
8am-4.30pm
or 8.30am-5pm
or 5pm-2am plus on call until 8am for 3 or 4 nights.

neds on diy and seen before and after work
ie between 6-9am
and 4-7pm depending on my shifts.

ride at least one a day.
 
Me, i'm a nurse and work 8-4 on an early, 3:45-1200mn on a late and nights are 10-0800hrs! Pretty crappy times, but they are horse friendly......however, having been a nurse for 24 years, I would not encourage anyone to go into it now
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I work flexi time in an office so work extra hours during the week so that I can have every other monday off. I start at 8.30am every morning, which gives me time to feed and put out in the morning, then I finish either at 5 or 6, 5 when I want to ride, 6 when I'm just mucking out and bringing in. The extra hour at night doesn't really bother me as it's dark by 5 anyway so what's another hour really. I don't work weekends and my Monday of comes round pretty quick so I can hack out during the day then.
 
I work 9-5 Mon-Fri as an accountant. Luckily I can do flexi if I want as well. I actually recently changed my job as the one I had before did not make having a horse easy!

But what makes it easier for me is a floodlit school for those winter evenings when it's already dark when I get to the yard, and a fantastic yard owner!
 
I teach close to home. I can pop home at lunchtime if need be and can get home for 4pm some days although I then have to work later. I used to have a longer commute and tbh having no commute has made a huge difference. Plus the school is nicer!
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I do find I do school work at weekends though.
 
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