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

3 horses (4 to look after 3 days a week)
2 dogs (not much help from OH tbh)
1 OH (could do with a 2nd to help with dogs and horses!)
1 9 -5 job
0 kids

I get up earlier than I need to so that I can ride and walk dogs before work every morning so that I can bring in after work and rush home in order to cook tea for spoilt inept partner (I cook, he washes up to be fair and he cleans quite a bit)

When we add kids to the mayhem, he will do the morning get up, breakfast, go to school/babysitter routine with them before work while I do my mad muck fork wielding woman routine, he will collect from school/child minder. I will do the tea, homework, bed bit after throwing feeds at horses.

Simples.

:)
 
Its a struggle!! i have a mare, foal & soon to be 1 year old colt! also a 9 month old baby, im in my final year of university, work part time as a sales assistant & also run a small craft business from home! & i have my OH, house 2 dogs & cat to look after.

Since baby has come along horses have been out 24/7 because i just have no time for them to be stabled! My mare will be coming in soon once i wean foal & will be getting her fittened up again to compete & i just dont know where im going to find them time & im starting to panic!!!!
 
Hi, 2 kids, 2 horses (but we started with ponies when the kids were 5 and 4many moons ago) work and no hubby, so feel pretty qualified to understand your dilemma!

Best option is to try and get/rent your own paddock. In winter I used to put buckets and half a bale in car and put them over field wall on the school/work run then check again/feed on way home. Riding you have to accept may be one day onlyy in winter at weekends. Summer in light is of course easier and you will prob ride more in evenings and weekend.

Downside is you can't do everything unless you are wonderwoman. Housework is on a need to achieve basis. I explained to keds that if we have ponies then i have less time for housework so they have to help and we divvy the jobs up.

My house will be tidy once the kids leave home and the horses are gone - but until then we are all having lots of fun:)!!
 
Could you share a horse first? That's what I do now, it does help that he's my best friends but I can do him when it's easier for me.

I'm a vet nurse and work just over 44hrs a week. So that's four 10hr days and then four+ on a Saturday am. Plus I'm on call one night a week and one weekend in six and do inpatients every night at 9pm and four times a day at weekends so lifes pretty manic! I have Wednesdays off so do him am and pm then, thurs am, sat pm and sun am and pm.

Have no time to ride him in winter so he has winter off.

OH looks after himself TBH and I don't do housework much! Work is where I clean ;-)
 
The house is the thing that gets neglected!!! & a slow cooker was the best thing I ever bought to save on time!

It's a little easier for me as the kids are a bit older -17, 15 & 13, but they all need running about here there & everywhere everynight! Also have just one pony for the daughter & its actually her that I worry about doing too much & fitting it all in!

She has revision for exams 2 nights a week, hockey training 2 nights, rides 3 ponies (hers & 2 of yo's) 4 nights through week, competes 1 weekend day & plays hockey the other. Add revision at home everynight too! Wish I had that much energy!
 
A sharer.........seriously. That was the only way I managed it, and even then I couldn't manage it as nursery was 10 miles one direction from my house, stables are 10 miles the other direction............so stables about 15 miles from the nursery.........and not enough hours in the day - and also a child that is v impatient and thinks I am going to leave her every time I sit on a horse!
In the end the share ended and my horse is now living with my friend as I realised I couldnt manage when my wardrobe was empty as all my clothes were in the huge pile of laundry that was on the floor to be sorted and my child hadnt had a bath in 3 days and was grumpy as she was missing me.

However, your two do sound about on ok age that they could amuse themselves (safely/quietly and not in anyone's way) whilst you rode - like get a portable DVD player or something.
 
Well I have a high pressure, full time job (45 minutes commute either way), 4 year old son, husband, horse, dog and chickens and until the beginning of this year my routine was as follows....
Up at 5am, feed dog, walk dog, let chickens out and feed/muck them out, shower, make drinks to take up to husband and son and get them out of bed. Once up I'd point husband in the direction of the shower and change my son ready for nursery. Breakfast then got sorted for all and I would go and do the horse then go on to work from there. Husband would take my son to nursery. I'd finish work at 5pm, go straight back to the yard from there, do horse and then head home normally getting in around 6.45pm. Make dinner, bath son and get him to bed then do housework after that. If I was lucky I might sit in front of the TV for 30 minutes before bed, if I was unlucky I'd sit in front of the computer for 2 hours working before bed.
I was making myself ill frankly and something had to give. A friend had just started a full livery yard at a lovely place 2 minutes from home and despite the increased cost I realised that I either did that or I sold my mare and the latter wasn't an option, I've had her since weaning and she is a very important part of my life. I still do her myself at the weekends and if I can get my son to bed early enough I can sometimes ride in the evening in the summer as the yard is so close to home.
My son has now started school and I take him and pick him up so there is no way I could have continued with the DIY livery as well as my son has no fear and is a total liability around the horses, it would be negligent of me to take him to the yard (there is no way he'd be happy to just sit and wait in the car)and unfair on other liveries to have him there either particularly at that time of night when there are horses being brought in all over the place and tied up on the yard changing rugs etc..
With my mare on full livery I can at least keep the house clean, have a dinner ready for my husband when he comes in and spend some quality time with my son.
 
I have a horse, two ponies, one cat, one house, one OH and a full time job. We don't have any kids as yet.

I don't ride all that much - only one is properly ridden. The other two are 30 and 24 and the plan (recent plan....) is to ride one morning a week before work and these oldies will alternate weeks so they each get out once a fortnight. They enjoy gettingout but the 30 yr is obv too old to do much (not that he realises this) and the 24yr old is rather short for me but still likes a whizz along the river bank every now and then. The third, 10yr old, is ridden at weekends in the winter (I have no school)

The BIG trick, is to have them live out. This saves an IMMENSE amount of time for me, and if you are havign a busy or lazy day, you don;t have to worrk about muckign out - I poo pick a bit each day.

I think if we have a child, OH will probably do the ponies in the morning for me, he is very good at doing this though recently I haven't needed his help so much as we bought a house last year and now I have house ponies and work all within 6 miles.

I think though if I were starting out like you are, i would look into a 3 day a week share, maybe until kiddies are both at school.
 
Full time job
2 kids and another on the way - well one who is 2 half and one who is 20 so actualy a help
2 horses at home (until very recently had 4 at home)
Mainetenance that comes with having your own land/stables
1 dog
4 chickens
1 very good OH

My secret is to train OH, dog and kids

Although I manage to do everything required - nothing gets done that well
 
I have 3 horses, three dogs, OH, full time job with anything between an hour and 4 hour commute!. Horses are at home and I employ someone to muck out and fetch in during the week, also have someone to muck out the house! A supportive OH who helps when he can is invaluable. It all works until something goes wrong - got one one controlled walking twice a day at the moment and that's stressful!
 
The answer is,if you really want something,you can and will do it!
Yes,its hard work,but only rarely wonder why- usually when trying to poo pick in dark when chucking with rain!
Have one teenager,self employed mostly unsupportive and anti horse OH( who also does nothing at home or in garden,so anyone who's OH does,cherish that person), work part time in ridiculously stressful job to pay for horses,have 2/3 horses and own my land (so all maintenance of that is mine too). And health issues so life is rarely easy on personal level either. Factor in ill,aging parents and it can be a mare. But,priorities are key. Like now I am choosing to sit on bed,with a cat on my lap rather than do housework!! Housework isn't priority. People can always wipe their feet when they leave!! Garden even lower down,as hate it. Why would I want to garden,when I have a small field to upkeep!
I was mucking out stables on the day I went into labour with my daughter, if you really want something, not much will stop you!
Good luck,enjoy your horse when you get it.
 
DifficultMare said:
If you want it badly enough you will find away!
Click to expand...

... yes, I must be the only mum who rides when my 2-year-old has his nap... in the car at the yard... yes, I sometimes feel guilty but on the other hand the horse is what keeps me sane, so my family knows that they have to live with her around.

I have two small boys, 4 and 2, have had the horse for over 8 years and always have had horses before. The only thing I did not want to give up for having children was the horse and I pretty much stuck to my guns. Kids have been coming to yard every day since birth, although number 1 now doesn't come up much anymore as he is in school and not interested in horses. I don't have family anywhere near here.

This winter I have someone turn the horse out in the mornings to save her waiting in the stable for me to turn up and saves me legging it up to the yard quickly. And as said before, I now go up at lunchtime when little one usually falls asleep in the car on the way and I get to do her in peace and get to ride in the arena. I get to hack out or go to odd show at weekends when other half takes the boys. He is relatively supportive.

In the summer they live out so that's great and easy so I just go up once a day when it suits, usually. I didn't have that luxury when pregnant or when the boys were tiny so did chores all year round then. SO much better now!

I don't work (only some projects and voluntary stuff from home) and OH does his bit but I do like to do most of the chores at home as he works long hours.

Tricky one but do-able..Good luck!
 
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