Juggling work & horses

J

jagmadir

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Afternoon all!

I'm just wondering what you guys do now that the nights are drawing in. How often do you ride a week? What time do you get home and actually relax?

I find myself exhausted by the weekend and find it quite difficult juggling full time, intense job, a husband, friends and a horse.

What are your coping mechanisms? I wouldn't change my life for the world, but like everyone else I wish there were a few more hours in the day!
 
Oh my word I can so sympathise.

I get up at 4.15am and have a cup of tea. By 4.45 I am at the yard feeding the boys and muck out as they finish eating. Then I'll chuck tack on one, ride for probably around 45 mins, tack up the next, ride for 45 mins, rug up, pop them in field, and finish the stables.

Then I walk the dog, go home, drop dogs off and get changed, go to work, finish at 5.30, go home, pick up dog, get to yard, bring boys in, ride the 3rd, and then spend the rest of the evening giving them snuggles and cooing over them. I get home at about 9pm. We do have a 4th and a 5th, the 4th is retired and the 5th is a foaly. 4th and 5th go for walks at the weekends :) I also make sure the yard is swept and silly things like that.

I am SO lucky as other half is horsey, he is a truck driver so doesn't have time to do the horses on the whole, but being horsey he understands the late nights and smelly fiancée!

I would also state I am EXHAUSTED!!
 
oh my goodness that is serious hard work ! I wont moan again about walking to my yard to feed and haynet 2 at 6am before I go to work !
 
I get up at 5.30 go to yard muck out do hays and water, quick groom ride for 30-45 mins rug and turnout go home get changed and freshened up and go to work for 8.30 finish at 5, back to yard bring in feed and spend a bit of time with him then home by about 7 ish.

I too am exhausted but good thing i love him!!
 
Don't ride enough!
Oh what i'd do for that indoor menage!
usualy lunge the days im working and do my hard core schooling at the weekend!

up for work 5.30 home at 5pm ish.
Do the horse home by 7.30pm ish oh and have a large glass of desperados... that helps! LOL

Do sympathsize with everyone feeling knakered :(
 
I can't complain compared to most. At the moment they're still out 24/7 (too much grass to let it go to waste!) on the hay fields. That's a 5 minute walk from the yard down a narrow slippery track so I check on them in the morning rather than doing it in the dark. I'm lucky in that the farm is 5 minutes from home and work is only 15 mins the other way so I get to the yard by 8 to give them a token feed and check on them and leave by 8.30 so I can get to work in time for a good wash of the hands and a spray of body spray to hide the smell before starting at 9. Yesterday I was awake by 6.30 so went up to the yard by 7 and rode before work - first time ever but I did enjoy it, it was very peaceful and a lovely morning, although I literally just brushed off saddle and bridle areas as wouldn't have had time otherwise. I was home by 8.15 to jump in the shower and still at my desk by 9. Lucky I can get ready in 20 minutes!

Once they're in overnight, we have a rota for turning out so I only have to do 1 day a week (a Thursday) I get to the farm by 7, feed and turn 5 out then muck out my horse's stable and my share horse's. I get everything ready for the night to leave by 8 and then go home for a shower. Thursday is my evening off (or rather my evening for working late) as I've done the morning so someone gets them in. On the other nights I go straight to the yard from work so get there at about 6, muck out and get the boys in. If I've got the time/energy I ride, if not I don't and I don't stress about it.
 
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Thankfully my boy is on full livery.

I usually get up for 6am and leave for work at 6.30am. Arrive about 8 and then go to the gym ready to start work at 9. Finish at 5.30. I usually make it to the yard sometime between 6.45 and 7.30pm depending on traffic.

I try to alternate what we do, so I'll work him in hand one day, ride the next and then go for a walk on the bridleway the one after. I try not to make too many plans as all it takes is an accident on the motorway to scupper everything! I tend to be home between 7.30 and 8.30pm, have tea and then I'm generally in bed for 10.30ish.

I wouldn't cope if I were on DIY because the traffic is too unpredictable.
 
My work and my horse are right next to each other which is really handy but are about half an hour from my house! so my usual routine is up at 5:45 feed cats, and have a shower. then off to yard arrive around 7 feed 6 and turn out 2. then muck out my stable, sweep yard. get to work around 7:45 change and wash hands ready for work at 8! I don't actually start till 8:30 but I like the 30 minute head start as it means I can get things done without interruptions!
then finish work around 6 back to take the horse in and ride so home around 8:30 - 9
 
BeingKate said:
Oh my word I can so sympathise.

I get up at 4.15am and have a cup of tea. By 4.45 I am at the yard feeding the boys and muck out as they finish eating. Then I'll chuck tack on one, ride for probably around 45 mins, tack up the next, ride for 45 mins, rug up, pop them in field, and finish the stables.

Then I walk the dog, go home, drop dogs off and get changed, go to work, finish at 5.30, go home, pick up dog, get to yard, bring boys in, ride the 3rd, and then spend the rest of the evening giving them snuggles and cooing over them. I get home at about 9pm. We do have a 4th and a 5th, the 4th is retired and the 5th is a foaly. 4th and 5th go for walks at the weekends :) I also make sure the yard is swept and silly things like that.

I am SO lucky as other half is horsey, he is a truck driver so doesn't have time to do the horses on the whole, but being horsey he understands the late nights and smelly fiancée!

I would also state I am EXHAUSTED!!
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I'm tired reading this!

I've got 3 to ride too - I usually ride after work and have got used to not getting home until stupidly late, however new yard is close to home so planning to see if I can get up in the am before work. Thankfully it will only be a 6am start....
 
I am just moving to DIY from part livery so having to adapt my schedule! up at 5.30 and at the yard at 5.45, turn out, then home, shower, work and back up the yard at 6.30pm so am bringing them in when it is dark... feed and home, luckily my OH is mucking out at the min to help out.. this will become a regular thing :-) as he works shifts but wouldnt change it at all
 
Yay a work/horses moan thread, nothing like a bit of solidarity.
there’s no riding for me during the week, no arena and dark roads by the time i get home. I sometimes but rarely manage an early morning hack.

I feel like from now on i do everything horsey with a head torch stuck to my forehead, in 17 layers of clothes and mud everywhere. It really is all a bit of a slog.
But one bright sunny dry weekend and a long hack in frosty air on a Saturday can get me through another week of slog. My hardest part is doing it all by myself, no horsey family or horsey support so it does all get a bit ‘why am i doing this to myself?’ But from now on i look forward to Christmas which for me is a week of daylight horsey time and after that i slog until the clocks go forward in March.
 
I whip their shoes off, chuck them in the field, and let them have a break over winter. I hack at the weekends if I feel like it, but I don't put myself under any pressure to ride them. They seem perfectly happy with this arrangement
 
I get up at 5.45am and leave for the yard at 6.15 ish. Ride then turn horse out and then prepare stable for the night. Go straight to work at 8.15am. I get her brought in and rug changed, for £1.75 it's a life saver! So great to be able to come home after work, sort dogs and then do marking, house work etc. Only disadvantage is that time is tight to ride and I have to really crack on doing chores. Still, it's a pretty time effective way to do everything, I find if I go up after school the yard is super busy and I spend way too long chatting.
 
Up at 5.15 and on yard by 5.30 ( yard is less than a minute from my door)!! Dogs come to help!! Feed both boy's. One finishes breakfast much quicker than other so I pop him out then muck him out, hay and water. By the time first stable is done the second horse is ready to go out so pop him out, muck out, hay and water. Leave for work at 7am. Get home just after 4. Bring boys in. Poo pick field whilst still light. Ride the youngster in the school or in hand pole work. Both boys get a groom. Skip out. Then back out again about 8.30pm to skip out, top up hay, do rugs, feed and kiss goodnight!! In the summer I ride before work and they are out 24/7. Not sure how I will manage when other horse comes back into work!!
 
I'm SO grateful come winter, I'm just a pleasure rider with a hairy native pony that couldn't give two hoots if he's ever ridden again :D

I get up at 6.15 & leave my house at 6.45 (I have a cup of tea, do my hair & make up in that time).

I get to the yard about 7.20/30. I feed, muck out whilst he eats, turn him out & finish his waters/hay. I leave the yard about 8.10 having got changed & get to my office about 8.40 - I start at 9am, but touch up hair/make up, have a quick bite to eat & ready to start work at 9am.

My YM brings him in for me & I get to the yard about 6.15. Somedays I groom & ride/lunge or do some groundwork, give him his tea, skip out & put up night haynets for him. Other days I just groom & finish him off. I don't stress too much about it either way.

I save my hacking & schooling for the weekends, which keeps him ticking over until the Spring.
 
I work evenings ... Best way to balance work life... I don't have a social life as I have young children so I work 6 til 2 sleep for 5 ish hours kids to school, do horses for as much of the day as necessary ... Sleep in afternoon occasionally if totally shattered, pick kids up and do kids things quite often with the horses .... Hubby comes in at 5.30 I go to work... We don't see much of each other which leads to a very happy marriage ;)
 
blitznbobs said:
I work evenings ... Best way to balance work life... I don't have a social life as I have young children;)
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I work in an office but start late and finish late which gives me daylight to ride in the mornings. I also don't have kids - serious respect to those with young kids and a full time job and horses in work ☺
 
Definitely won't be complaining as much after reading some of these!

Up at 6.45, get into yard stuff and pack clothes/make-up for work the night before. At yard by 7.30
Now the clocks have changed, am able to fit a quick hack in before work (have a mountain of a hill, all off-road and forested) at the back of the yard, so usually just a quick pootle up and down that. Back from riding at 8, brush and rug, then chuck him out, then two babies to put out. Muck out mine, do haynet and water, get dressed for work in the stable while filling up water bucket. Leave bed up so floor dries during the day (v wet!), then off to work!

Work 9 - 5.30 and yard is two mins away. However don't have a school or lights so riding after work is impossible now - though looking to hire a school somewhere and box up once or twice a week. As yard is so close to work, am tempted to ride on my lunch break...

Private yard so is usually just me. Gets a bit lonely after moving from a busy DIY yard where my best mates were stabled too, but once they're all rugged up for the night and munching hay, I have a wonderful view to look over, and realise that actually it's not bad at all (even if i am always cold/wet/tired/covered in hay)

Have been offered a flat on the yard as well, so that is v tempting. Basically riding becomes just a weekend thing, with cuddles and brushing getting me through the week!
 
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