how do you cope

[katiebaba06]

Hi everyone I have very recently purchased by first horse as an adult. I have the best yard the people there are great and horse is on working livery as I have two kids one slightly older and one younger on. I also work full time so seemed to be the ideal option for me. How do other people manage to fit everything thing in the weekends are great but during the week i wish I could see her everyday but can't but feel guilty even though that's one reason why she is on working livery. As it's all new again I just wondered if anyone else has this and suggestions of how I could fit more horse time in. Thanks

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Don't feel guilty if she's being properly looked after by the yard staff then all's well. With working livery she'll be being kept fit too so it doesn't matter if you only ride occasionally.

I haven't got children but I worked full time and had a horse on DIY, like most people on the yards I was on. The yard would put breakfast in for the horses in the morning (we made it up the night before and left it outside the stable with a cover on), they changed rugs if necessary (for which we paid extra) and turned out mid-morning. Then people would come straight from work/school and get changed into riding clothes (which we left at the yard in our storage areas) in the toilet or the horses stable. Then home for a bath and our own dinner after we'd ridden and mucked out etc. Most people compromised on the jobs they took to get ones with suitable hours for looking after the horses.

People who didn't work, with young children, would leave them in the car sleeping or watching tv on an ipad or playing games on a phone etc. They'd park the car or the pram by the arena and ride quickly maybe 20min max and be even quicker with the stable jobs to get finished before the children got bored. Things were done but not to a high standard. Those with quiet horses and interested children, the children would help brush the horse and make feeds, fill water buckets etc to keep them occupied but those owners didn't get to ride unless someone at home looked after the children, or the horse would get a bit of work as a lead-rein mount for the child.

The trick to maximizing time is to have a routine at the yard and never walk anywhere empty handed. Many people had sharers to help with the financial aspect, help keep the horse fit if they couldn't get time to ride themselves one week and some appreciated the time to do other things on the days the sharer had the horse. If someone wanted to clean tack or bath the horse or tidy their storage area etc those things would be done instead of riding that day. Many people never had time for more than 1/2hr schooling or an hours hack and most people only rode 3-4 times a week. Having a horse is a lifestyle choice for many and lots of areas of life have to change or be compromised on in order to achieve time with the horse daily.

 

[katiebaba06]

Thank you that's made feel massively better x