How early do you get up to do the horses?

What time do you get up to do your horses in the winter?

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5.30 when it was lighter but really only to make sure dog gets a decent walk before we go to work. Have horses living out at home so just morning check. Would love to and could ride in morning also but feel way to guilty about putting on my mega floodlights.
 
Wow im amazed at how many of us get up so early for the horses im the only mad one at my yard and they think im ridiculous for getting up early!! :D This thread has made me realise I'm not the only mad horsey lady in the uk dragging their ponies in before sunrise...!! :p

On average alarm goes off 5:15, up cats fed, cupa t in thermos ready to take, showered changed for work hoody / coat thrown over smart clothes, down yard by 5:45 bring in, change rugs normally undoing hers on move lol :D, stable, leave for work from yard, if the weather is particularly bad or I plan to ride first I'll go straight to yard excercise then home shower change and go to work, I'm lucky I can work from home a decent amount but do 3days on the road ie got to be in Bristol tomorrow for 7.30 meeting :eek: it's a 1.5hr drive so will be a 5am start tomorrow :rolleyes:

On the days I work from home I choose to get up and excercise early and normally in my office by 7am I tend to ride twice sometimes it's my chilling time after a stressful day.....:D
 
About 9! Ah student life... I always have a live out set up so they don't know the difference and morning is just a check unless winter with hay and feed needed. Have a lot of morning lectures this year though so will be more like 7.45 which I thought was quite early! I do not miss working full time, but I do miss money and it will come again one day, then I will pay for assisted DIY :-)
 
When one of mine was ill two winters ago it was 5.30 to cycle down, muck out, feed and cycle back home in time for school. :(

The yard turn out, feed and change rugs as part of my DIY package so I don't go down until the evening, but I did have to go down the other day at 6am and I like to generally go down in the morning if I can just to see them!
 
Really feel for those of you who get in the early hours!

Alarm goes and out of bed at 610 in car by 615, at yard by 630.

Feed, change rugs on 2, hang ready made haynets (do weeks worth at weekends) turn out, and muck out 2.

Home by 730, make lunches whilst eating brekkie. Get changed and out the door at 815, at work by 830.

Go straight from work at 5 so at yard by 520, get changed and ride one, done by half 6.

I muck out in mornings to allow time to ride in evenungs (alternating who gets worked each day) if i ride one in morning the day starts at 5.

Weekends try to be at yard by 8 but is often 9.

Theres 3 of us and we're all early birds so the mornings are actually more social as dont see anyone in evenings so actually nicer, and i feel much better going to work knowing they are already done so if i dont want to ride i can be home around 6.

Yard owner normally out first in mornings but if not i do creep around as their bedroom is very close to yard. Once viewed a yard where stable blocks surrounded house and my stable would have been a couple of feet from house - was a swift no!!
 
I used to be:

Alarm at 05:00
Up by 05:15
At yard by 05:45
Catch hoss and on by 06:00
Untacked, changed (in yard loo, hair damped with cold water in yard), and in car by 07:00
80 mile drive to site, taking anything between 1 and 2 hours.

Due to current site location (closer, but harder to get to) it's:
Alarm at 05:00
Out of house by 05:45
On site by 07:00 (if I leave later it takes upto 2.5 hours to get there!)
Aim to be at yard by 17:30/18:00 to ride. D gets horses in a couple of hours before I'm due home :D Do this three week nights as Mondays and Fridays can be pants travelling times.

When they're in at night the routine will change again. Not sure yet what it will be as D1 is studying hard. Luckily D can and will un/rug, turn out/bring in, and muck out :D The joys of him working from home (well, I find it a joy, not sure he'd agree lol).
 
I don't! She's out 24/7 in a 30 odd acre field with an automatic water trough. Atm I get her in after work for feed/hay and to ride, in the winter if she needs more hay I'll pay someone on the yard to get her in for some hay during the day :) One of the reasons I keep her on grass livery was I couldn't be doing with getting up at silly hours of the morning to muck out!
 
i dont do DIY cos of the silly o clock! BUT WHY do you all waste time and money changing rugs? buy good dual purpose in and out rugs! a F godsend!! a rain sheet, a middle weight a heavy weight sorted for all of the winter! i feed at 6 45 am and feed at 5 45 pm and do ad lib hay. hay in field. and work is governed by daylight hours though i do have selected jobs in the winter which are electric powerred!
 
This year 7ish, my earliest lecture is 11 (most days it is later) so I ride most days in the morning.

Last year was horrible with early starts and at a yard with very restricted turnout so had to be up early to exercise.
 
I am up yard by 5 when they are in but 5.45 at the moment as out. Quick feed, check over put hay and back home to get ready for work. Have say seems really dark this year!!! I don't mind getting up just not keen on being in dark yard on my own:(
 
Up at 5.15am to go to yard with dog and ride/groom/cuddle/feed, depending on light/time/weather. Leave the rest to full livery team, who are brilliant and utterly reliable. Do the morning routine in the evening. In the middle, I work to keep horse, dog and cat, and their staff in the manner to which they have become accustomed! Worth every penny, the lot of them!
 
This winter mine are at the farm on the way to work so on my early shifts it'll be alarm at 6, up at 6.10, leave house at 6.30 to go to farm, feed change rugs and turn out 4, get to work for 7.45 (take 40mins)
Don't finish til gone 6 so back to the farm on the way home to muck out and get everyone back in again (unless mum does it :p)
Lucky for me I only do 3 earlys a week, one 12 to 9 - so should be able to get everything done in the morning and a ride, just mum to get them in!
 
I have a smallholding and thirty odd pens of chickens as well as the ponies, in the summer I am out of the house at 6am, in the winter 5am and when we are lambing I run on empty for three weeks often not going to bed. I work full time an hour and a half from home and need to be at work at 8:30
 
Winter alarm is 5.45am, get up at 6.15am (I need a 30 min snooze!), get to yard for 6.45ish (turnout, muck out, soak hay etc) - back home for 8am for quick shower, then leave for work at 8.40am for 9am start. Yard is a good 15 mins away (8 miles).

Leave work at 6pm and go straight to yard (bring in, groom, ride, feed etc) and home for about 8.30pm. Dinner, wash up, watch a bit of TV and collapse in bed at approx 10.30pm. Permanently knackered!

Weekends I "lie-in" to about 8am though and get to yard by 8.30 latest, I put extra hay in the night before so she doesn't seem to mind too much.
 
Alarm goes off at 4.15am but I generally snooze until 4.30am.

I'm at the yard by 5am to feed, muck out two and turn out one of mine and my friend's two before riding at 6am. Normally hack for about an hour then turnout and walk dogs.

I generally leave the yard at 8am for work at 9am.

Leave work at 5.30pm, arrive at yard at 6pm and home again by 7.15pm.
 
5.30am :( have to be at yard for 6am and back by 6.30am so hubby can leave for work.

I could do it later, after the school run, but I can only just about bear doing evening stables with children round my ankles.
 
I put 6.30- 7am, but really I need to get up at 7am all year round, as in winter all I do is open the stables, and let them walk to the field gate, then open the gate for them, usually in work clothes and wellies.

I used to go down early, give them breakfast, come back to get ready, then go back down and let them out, but my horse never ate more than a mouthfull - he just wanted out. As he always has hay left in the morning, so is hardly starving, and his feed is fibre based anyway, I stopped giving breakfast last year and just let him out. He is the type of horse who nibbles his dinner over the course hours and hours, when in overnight.

At the weekend I usually go down at 7am or so, let them out / into the garden, then go back to bed. This year I am hoping my daughter can be trained to do it!
 
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