how much extra work is a second horse??

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gemmahodgkinson

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Hi Everyone,
The opportunity has come up for me to have another ponio, a 16 yr schoolmistress who sounds brilliant for me because i have a 6 yr old at the moment who is a fantastic girl but sometimes knocks my confidence jumping and i could really do with something to have fun on while we bring my baby on. I would share the new horse with my best friend so the work load would be eased a bit, but i work full time and wondered how everyone else with 2 horses manages their time with a full time job? is it much harder work, or is it quite easy to fit a second in to your routine? thanks!x
 
I had two when I was a student and had loads of time to work them both, however, once I started working full time I had to sell one as i just didn't have the time. I ended up riding every other night and trying to ride both each day at the weekend. The riding became a bit of a choir rather than fun which is why I sold.

If you're sharing it would probably work better for you as the night's your friend rides you'll have free to ride the baby
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though you have to consider what will happen in the winter? Will you really want to ride every night come rain or shine? If you want to ride the baby 4 - 5 days a week (sorry this is how often I think horse's should be ridden, I know it's often not the case!) and the other horse 2 -3 days a week you will be riding almost every day! I like a day or two off a week for a little me time, selfish I know!
 
I work full time and have had two since I left school (purely through injury of competion horse). I found that I don't struggle time wise with looking after two but I do find it a struggle to ride two. I've ended up finding people to ride the youngster while I continue with the competion horse. Its been less than Ideal as the people who ride drive me insane weekly with lack of common sense and a lack of commitment.

It helps loads in the winter to have a least a flood lit all weather school if not an indoor. It is great though not sure I'll ever manage to go back to one.
 
I found it awful having more than 1. We did have four at one time. What was fun becomes a huge chore. Endless mucking out and moving hay bales from barn to field etc. I think you can only do this when very young and with no other commitments, like work. Even my daughter aged about 22 at the time found it hell of a lot of work. By the time you had mucked them out there wasn't much energy left for enjoying the riding.
A few years ago a friend asked if I could take her horse on field livery as he was unrideable due to injury, and although I felt I owed her a favour the thought of two wheelbarrows of pooh a day, and two lots of haynets etc etc filled me with dread, it would have been sheer purgatory!!!
 
Echo hellspells, I have two, and it is OK with working full time because only one is in full time work, the other I have just been keeping ticking over and can do ride and lead etc. My friend went away the other week and I gave my older girl the week off and did her mare and my gelding, so two horses in proper full time work, and it was so much harder work!! Trying to school two horses having got to the yard at about 6pm did make for very late evenings.
So it really depends on how often you would plan to ride I think!
 
I have two - they're both on DIY livery and I work full time from 9 til 6 Monday to Friday. It was hard at first but once I got into a routine it's been no problem at all - even over the winter when they're in all the time
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I have 4 at the moment and a full time job- all are on DIY livery! I am lucky in that I work at the yard where they are but I am not to do them whilst I am at work so it really makes no difference.
I have 2 of them out at night and in during the day and 2 in at night and out during the day at the moment meaning that I have 2 to muck out at each end of the day.
I ride one before work, 1 at lunch time and 1 after. My OH will then ride 1 of the others when he gets home from work. I try and make sure they are groomed as soon as I have ridden. I spend my day off on a Saturday trimming and tack cleaning and giving the beds a good going through. I manage but there isn't much time for anything else and going on holiday is a major operation!
 
I find it easier with two than one, I know that I can leave both of them out a bit longer as they are together. I would say it takes me an extra 1/2 hr a day for the extra one but what I do struggle with is working them both. I keep my oldie just ticking over and I would seriously struggle to keep two horses fully fit along with working full time and having a house to run.
 
It's a strange thing but two horses seem to take much longer than double the time to care for and ride, and, definately more than double the price to keep.

I don't know why, it's a conundrum to me!

Jo x
 
the looking after is not too bad , its the riding that i struggled with as i work full time , especially as was competing too , i'm alot less ragged now i just have 1!
 
I have three, all on DIY livery, kept out at grass all year 24/7 (although I do have boxes).
I worked full time and had another PT job, and managed to look after them all fine - but this year will be in the position of working more than one of them...and it's the riding/exercising time that I'll find hard...
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We have four between my Mum and I, I work but as a teacher so I have lots of holiday and my Mum works full time too but she is mainly based at home (where the horses are) so we manage OK. We are lucky because we have a surface so can work the horses at home.

I don't find it a problem working two but I realize I'm fortunate to have good facilities. Hacking is the most time consuming so I don't do as much anymore, just at the weekends. You just have to be organized and have a schedule.
 
I've just been offered another horse which is very green and young for a year to bring on. I went into a complete panic about it and have had to decline. Having 2 horses and a full time job is just too hard. Riding one in the dark before work in the winter is bad enough. Having to ride and lead would be a nightmare. I love just having one. 2 is a chore. I'm sure I will kick myself if something happens to mine and I'm without a horse but still!!

The cost of having 2 horses shod and fed over the winter definately adds up!!!
 
We have 3 between my husband, my daughter (aged 5 ) and myself-Me and OH work full tome mon-fri with weekends off- I do the mornings and we all go down as a family in the evenings- I ride most, Just got to the stage where I can go off-road hacking with my daughter - husband rides as and when, I havn't had just one horse to do for years, so I am used to it and we have a routine- although that said I'm not responsible for riding all 3 which is what takes the time up really ..
 
I used to help my mum out with her horse as well as look after and ride my own. I was on part-DIY and the horses were stabled next to each other which made it simpler, but it's still hard work. Doing the jobs isn't too bad, especially if you can fill up haynets at the weekend for the week, and skip out through the week.

Where it starts being hard is if you have them both to exercise - I was schooling my younger horse, and then trying to keep my mum's horse ticking over. Over the winter it was hard work and time consuming, and did become a chore.

Also, have a think about how you'd manage if one or both were injured. My mum's horse was unable to be turned out towards the end of winter, and so needed exercise every day, as well as having an extremely mucky bed, and I had to neglect my mare's exercise in order to get everything done and get home at a decent time.

My job enables me to be fairly flexible and I still struggled with looking after and exercising two horses (strictly one and a half!), and making sure my OH wasn't neglected.
My mum's horse has now gone on permanent loan to a riding school as I decided that I couldn't justify to myself (or the long suffering OH) the time and money involved with having 2 horses. I'm also loving just having one horse to do as I have time to relax and chat whilst I'm at the stables, rather than just rushing around
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oh no, im scared now!! will have to think long and hard about it, because i ride the baby 5-6 times a week at the moment and would want to ride the new one 2-3 times a week because it would be ridden on the other days by friend. it's so tempting though, i would love another one! might have to sit down and do a timetable!!
G x
 
i find the riding the hardest thing to sort lol, the extra work is not such a chore as mine are all out 24/7 even in winter. i think you have to be realistic about what you can do and not get carried away by the excitement of having a new horse, but it is possible to do if you are organised.... think thats where i fail lol, plus i have to allow time to take my daughter out on lead rein which eats into my riding time whereas i'm assuming you don't have that problem
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I have 2, and have done since August. I had a part time job until 6 weeks ago, when i got a full time job, so it was easy over winter, as Id turn them out and then go and muck out/ride etc after work. It is hard work, but definately worth it. As Shilasdair says though, it is hard making enough time to excercise both- although i do different things with both horse, I often dont get home til 8/9 at night.
 
I have 2 and have a full time job which includes working on Saturdays and Sundays (i.e. sometimes 7 days a week).

In theory I "share" both with my sister but actually I ride one of them 100% of the time and the other 50% of the time. They are on full livery so I just turn up and ride.

I seriously struggle with riding them both. They get ridden/lunged twice each during the week and both days on the weekend (usually hacking for min 1 hour and up to 3 hours) so 4 times a week, sometimes 5. There is no way I have time for competitions. If they werent on full livery, it would take me an hour to do them both every evening which would mean only 1 would get exercised if I could even be bothered after mucking out both (I cant just skip out I have to do a full muck out). Since I have been riding the second one 50% of the time, I have found riding to be quite a chore - especially if I am riding both on the weekends. I always think about which one I have to ride first - not which one I want to ride first.

Of course if I had to give one of them up I wouldnt be able to choose between the two of them. I was in the same position as you - had bought a youngster who needed a lot of work so we bought a schoolmaster to just have fun on. But if I could make the decision again, I would probably have just stuck with one and perhaps shared another horse so my sister and I could hack out together etc. Dont know if that is an option for you? Sharing someone else's schoolmaster so you can get confidence jumping, but at the same time not compromising on your youngster?
 
I have two (have only had the second for a month) and so far am managing. However, my two are both on full livery so I only have to worry about riding. I would struggle if I was also doing their daily care. I try to take two evenings a week off (for my own sanity) and usually manage to ride them each twice during the week and twice on the weekend. Some weeks I do manage five rides each.

I need to stay very organized at the barn and certainly my tack is not being cleaned as often as I would like, but both seem to be doing fine.

My job is busy and I am married but don't have children. I think that would make a really big difference.
 

I have four on DIY and I work full time - sometimes 8 - 7. I mostly have to work this hard so I can afford to keep them!
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That said, two of them are babies and one is a broodmare. Over the winter I had three and it was manageable but only one is in work. I was getting up at 4.45 every morning and not getting home until 8. If I had to ride the other one as well it would have about killed me.
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Only you know how much time you have and how much you will want to do. It IS a lot of work. If you do not want a scoial life or any sleep then you should be ok? good luck!
 
A second horse is the same as having one horse x two. Sorry, but it is. Well worth it though, especially if you have the opportunity of a schoolmaster to help with your confidence.
 
I'm just coming the end of my first 12 months with two. It does make it hard to find time to rde the 'senior one' but wouldn't be without him for anything. He gives me confidence and is a wonderful schoolmaster for hacking, travelling.

Having said that I've now got them on our own little yard and very grateful they live out!
 
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