Kids/OH/Job/House and Horse....How do you do it?????

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Sam Wileman

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As title really, been looking at buying/loaning a horse for a while now and have seen some nice ones ideal for what I want to do (mainly hacking), but I worry how I am going to fit it all in. Work full time, 2 kids (7 and 3) husband, housework...my nearest yard is only 2 min drive, but only full livery and in at night all year round and I now it sounds contradictory, but I cant see the point of having a horse if someone else does all the hard work. Nearest DIY yard is quite poor for access to hacking across a very busy main road.

I have waffled on, but my question is what commitments have you got and how do you fit in a horse (or 2:D)??
 
I have 2 ponies, 1 child aged 4, 1 dog and a OH. Life is full and hectic I work for myself full time too and never have 2 minutes to myself. Ponies are on diy but still living out at the minute. My little girl goes to playgroup and nursery and the dog gets her exercise at the yard! You learn to survive on no sleep and the neighbours get used to the hoover going at midnight at the weekends!
 
I keep my horse on DIY about ten minutes away from my house, and work is another ten minutes on from there. Like tinselunicorn, I don't have any kids or an OH (although as a teacher, you could argue that I have plenty of kids to contend with!). I get up early and do the horse before work, leaving the yard at 7 to arrive at work by 7.15 (change of clothes in the car to change at the yard). I leave work between 5.30 and 6.30 most days so I ride after that, having got all the jobs done in the morning and put her out, so literally all I have do is bring her in and ride then put her in her stable, rug up and feed. I even hang haynets in the morning so it's less to do at night (I always have planning/marking and more work to do at home). Housework/tack cleaning/those sorts of jobs get saved for the weekend and preferably school holidays.
 
I work full time, own my house and am married with a baby on the way. My horse keeps me sane!!! I love nothing better than to ride or even just muck out after a busy day at work. My job is very busy and can be stressful so the horse grounds me, I can thoroughly unwind with the horse. OH is happy with me having horse because he has hobbies that take up plenty of time.
The key is finding a management routine that suits both you and the horse. I struggled at DIY livery because I would get there much later than the fellow liveries and it made things very hard to get him exercised enough, plus turnout was very limited in winter. I have found it easier having the horse on a farm near to work where he has 24 hour turnout in summer, though I only get to muck out in winter and not ride due to dark nights!
You always find the energy to ride even though you have had a tiring day, your body adjusts to it I think.
I have had to find a sharer to help me because I have a baby on the way, but I have no intention of giving up my horse and hope to continue our share arrangement.

However in hindsight, marrying a rich man so you don't HAVE to work to pay the mortgage would certainly be the wisest option!
 
Sounds like your all super women!!!! I agree a horse helps keep you sane, I feel so much better after a "fix" :D but feel guilty before hand that my time should be spend with kids/housework and often talk myself out of it!!! OH has hobbies and spends time in gym/boxing and doesnt feel any guilt...maybe just a woman thing...
 
I have one horse and yard is literally next door. OH and I both work stupid hours, so my horse is on full livery in the week, but DIY at the weekends (like the OP, I can't see the point in having a horse if I don't do the chores at least some of the time). Also have 3 dogs, but no kids. Housework comes somewhere far down the list!

If you went with the full livery yard, they may be flexible - I was on a yard once on part livery, but the staff were only too happy for me to muck out when I felt like it! Also they let 3 of us leave our horses out overnight in the summer, even though it wasn't something they advertised as being available.
 
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I am a single parent with 2 girls - 4 and 8 - and I work from home. My horse is on part livery.

I get up at 5 to do my work, and then work again in the evenings when children are in bed. But then I get to be with horse when the girls are in school. And I still find that time is tight, in terms of other commitments - elderly mother, housework, etc.

If I didn't have the degree of flexibility I have, and if I didn't have part-livery, I don't think at the moment it would be sensible to have a horse. I would be pulled in too many different directions. I would consider sharing or helping until the children are of an age to be a bit more self-sufficient. Sometimes I still think i should have done that now.
 
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I have no kids but work shifts and have an OH.

As i start anywhere between 2am and midnight have had to put mine in full 7 day livery. I miss looking after him but i don't think he'd appreciate getting turned out at 3am on my way to work!!

Plus it means the days i have off or have time i can ride him. Before i was too tired after working all night, then mucking out, poo picking etc to ride.

How people do it all and have kids is beyond me. They must be super women! Hats off to you all!!!!
 
I work part time, have 2 children (6 and 9), OH, horse and dog. I agree that horses keep you sane! I love my time up the yard and out riding. My horse is kept on grass livery and so is out 24/7 which saves me a lot of time.It's easier now the children are both school age because it frees up a bit more guilt free time. My job is hectic and the housework is last on my list but it all gets done eventually! My motto is that "life's too short for housework". I have a very supportive hubby who encourages me to go out and have some "me" time. I'm a lucky girl. It is possible to fit it all in even if it sounds impossible.
 
I work full time, often working away from home. OH, 2 children (3yrs and 5yrs), 2 cats, 1 dog and 1 horse.

Full livery! The horse doesn't give a fig who mucks it out. I go to the yard as much as I can, quite often every day. If I can, I'll bring her in, give her her tea, groom her. Otherwise I have no guilt whatsoever over not mucking her out.
 
I have 3 horses at home, a husband and a baby on the way and work full time - somehow it works! I think that like most hobbies, you fit it in around the rest of your life. The horses keep me sane - sometimes you just have to turn a blind eye to the dusting/hoovering/ironing ;)
 
Hmmm. I am also wrestling with this. I work full time, 2 kids (3 and 8) unhorsey OH and house.

I already feel I'm juggling stuff and doing a half-arsed job of all my commitments. Until youngest goes to school and nursery fees can go towards full livery I think I'm going to have to continue sharing someone elses horsey.

I'm trying to make myself feel better about this by having weekly lessons at a riding school so I'll be bleeding perfect rider by the time I get my own!
 
I have a 4 year old daughter (loves the yard and horses), OH (non horsey) and work part time. We have 4 horses between 3 of us on DIY and all help each other out. Its difficult considering my OH and other family members are and always have been non horsey people at all but our boys are well looked after and loved (they know it too ;) ) I think if you have a partner or children who are interested it makes things easier, I am still working on the OH to accept the horses are my babies too ;)
Maybe a share until you worked out how much more time you have to spend with a horse, that way you still get best of both?
 
Work full time, 9 year old son, 3 horses (well, 2 ponies, 1 horse) kept 10 miles from home, OH.

(ha ha, noticed I put the OH at the end of the list :rolleyes:)

I do have to keep pointing out to OH that horses are animals and need to be given priority over housework and DIY at home etc. 'see you when it gets dark' is a phrase which is used frequently.

Also we drag race motorbikes and juggling these events through the summer with shows / general horsey things is a nightmare but somehow things just work out.
 
I have a 4 1/2 year old daughter, 35 weeks pregnant, husband, I am a full time groom (husbands a farmer) three dogs and 4 fit ready hunters, all at home! Sometimes its a total nightmare and you constantly find yourself going from place to place but i wouldn't change it for the world! Needless to say after 10pm our house is very quiet...
 
Sam Wileman said:
As title really, been looking at buying/loaning a horse for a while now and have seen some nice ones ideal for what I want to do (mainly hacking), but I worry how I am going to fit it all in.., but I cant see the point of having a horse if someone else does all the hard work.
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Can I please be the first to point out the contradiction... you have said you have no time, but you want to spend 2 hours a day with the horse... I would have someone else do the hard work and just go and ride for 1 hour when I felt like it! It's not the time spent mucking out, its the waiting for the farrier, staying up with a sick horse, organising the hay that uses up most of the time. You won't have those problems with a horse on full livery.
 
I have three kids 17, 14 & 12. A full time job as OH and I have own business, which means that I would work 50 hours a week, some times I go in on a weekend.

The kids have ponies kept at another of our properties, 20 -25 mins away from where we live. they are on 24 hour turnout, so low maintenance, with automatic waterers, i harrow the paddocks and they mostly get hay (only hard feed if needs be - 1 in foal mare).

I have just got my drivers licence after 6 month suspension which will make life easier.

We have seven horses in total. We do not have a cleaner, although I have tried this once or twice. I hate housework.

I think I try and focus on work when I am there and on horses when I am with them etc, I sometimes cope really well, and sometimes everything falls apart. When I make a mistake I acknowledge it and try not to do the same one again if I can help it.

This weekend I caught up on all the washing, last weekend I did pony stuff and spent time with the kids, the weekend before I spent time at work. Next weekend, it will be a combination I think, kids, horses, work and maybe a movie. (But probably not the movie).

The only way I can squeeze horse time in for me is if I get up at 5.00am at the very latest, - jump into clothes left out the night before, jump in car, drive to horse, fit an hour in with horse, shower, change, drive back home (get kids ready), and then to work or straight to work (if abandon them to own devices). I invariably arrive a bit later than i should, but it is worth it once I get a routine established. Am looking forward to starting riding again.
 
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I have a horse, a dog, a bird, a rabbit, a daugther who's a year an a half and another baby on the way, an oh, a house, and a part time job with horses.
Also I'm studing for my ptt and stage 3 and starting a part time degree in september!
Its hard work and there's days u wonder why, but all worth it in the end. Plus I'm planning on getting another horse when both kids are school age! :)
 
No kids or OH, I have 7 ponies, 3 dogs, work from home and doing an OU degree too. Ponies are kept at home. I wouldn't know what to do with all my free time if I was a 1 dog/1 horse owner :o
 
Work full-time. Own company, plus two other businesses, OH, two children (teenagers), four dogs, two cats, four horses.

OH works from home, so helps out with the horses, etc. We get up at five-thirty four mornings a week so D1 and I can ride :D. My commutes to clients' sites are usually one and a half to two and a half hours each way.
 
I don't have kids yet but I work a long week min 40hrs, have dog, OH, planning our wedding next year etc so I now have my boy on full livery, he was on DIY but with him being 22miles away from my home (one way) it was getting ridiculous and if I had a lesson in the evening 9.30pm was early for me to get home then cook, eat etc. It's been a god send him going on full livery, when I can drive again after my leg cast comes off I will go up once/twice mid-week and both days at the weekend. But I trust my YO and other liveries 100% and even if he had the smallest scratch they would tell me straight away.
 
As somone else has posted if you can afford it why not consider full livery at least over the winter so that the time you spend with the horse is quality time and you can maximise riding and getting to know him. Again as someone else has said even on full livery most places are happy for you to muck in as well.

Then after the winter you can always look round for somewhere else if you think you can manage DIY or part DIY. The secret of DIY is good co DIYers who can help when you are stuck at work or have to take the children somewhere.
 
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