No time...😞

[beffyb]

So I have just moved down to the borders for a job in September and I took my horse with me. At first, it was ideal because I could ride my horse straight after work (finished at 4:30) and I rode him most days. My problem is that the nights are getting dark much sooner now and soon I won't have time to ride him before it gets dark. I could ride him in my lunch break but it would be a big rush and isn't that realistic to do that all winter for a few reasons.
My dad mentioned to me about getting someone to maybe part loan him which I can't make up my mind about. I have had my horse for 10 years and I am pretty particular about how he is handled and ridden etc. I would be very worried about what they were doing with him and if they were treating him as well as he should be treated and so on. It is also a quiet place where I live and I'm not sure how many people would be looking for a pony on part loan.
My other option would be to give him a holiday over winter and just ride him on my days off or whenever I have time. My problem with that is that I have done so much work with him this year and I wouldn't want it to go to waste over winter. I know I could just start again when the nights get lighter but that's quite a long time from now. If I did give him a holiday, I would feel like it would have been a bit of a waste of time bringing him all the way down here and paying all that money for livery.
I really don't know what to do because I feel so guilty for not having time for him. I also can't put him back home because there is no where for him to stay anymore.
This probably makes no sense I am just having a bit of a hard time deciding what is the best option for him.
Thanks

 

[AmyMay]

It's an issue that most of us face in the winter, even with a school.

I just rode on the weekends, and then on days off.

 

[DabDab]

What did you do before moving there? Did you have access to a floodlit area?

If you have off road hacking there are some quite good headlight type affairs on fluorescent breast plates available now. I used to hack in the dark a lot with a headtorch, but I've just bought one of these, and tried it out in the forest last weekend - plenty of light to ride by, it's great.

 

[Polos Mum]

I try to get through to Xmas with starting work late or getting home at lunchtimes and before the school riding in the field by full moon !!

Then give them 6 weeks holiday, it does them the world of good usually. Then you can start slowly again mid feb just doing a little a few times a week (when the light is noticeably better) and 6 weeks later you'll be back to where you started fitness wise. which is just in time for clocks change and much more light in early April

 

[LaurenBay]

Cant you just ride him on the weekends and give him the week off

 

[flying_high]

Keep him somewhere with a floodlit school?

Take a longer lunch twice a week, and finish later to work him?

Ride before work?

 

[Austen123]

if you dont have a flood lit arena i would hack before work, usually when you are on your way back from ride it's starting to get light. or i would work through my lunch break and ride after work.

ive changed my working hours for the winter to 730-430 (luckily my manager is very flexible) so i can rider in the evening at the moment. When the clocks change i will keep doing that for as long as possible and then switch to the mornings and start work later

 

[Tarragon]

I work flexible hours which mean I can start as long as I start before 10am I am ok. For most of the year I am up at six and riding by 7 and back home in time to get to work. As I do not have access to a floodlit school I keep this going as long as possible until the dark mornings mean it is no longer viable and I admit defeat and only ride at weekends. This is ok as I keep my ponies out in a field so not being ridden isn't a problem for them. If I had minimum access to turn out and being ridden was the only exercise then I would make more of an effort to ride and would be happy to ride in the gloom of the early morning

 

[Apercrumbie]

Some options:
Ask to start work an hour later so you can ride in the morning
Ask to take a long lunch break and leave work later/start earlier
Ask to do one of the above only twice a week
Realise that you shouldn't go too far backwards if you're still riding at weekends/the occasional morning.

 

[AGray825]

I work an hour away from my house (which is where my horses are) and I work from 8:30am to 4:30pm, and with the traffic I contend with it's more like 1hr and a half each way, so I know that come next week when the clocks go back I will be leaving in the dark and getting back in the dark.
So my general winter regime is to ride on the weekends (always both saturday and sunday and I make sure at least one of those days is a more intense schooling session if we're not having a lesson or competing)
And I try to save holiday time for this time of the year as well (I get quite a lot of holiday though and my work-year is different to most as our holiday resets on October 1st) and take off at least a couple days during the month
(and am I ashamed to say I've pulled the occasional sickie to squeeze an extra riding day in..... no I am not!)

Generally speaking it's worked pretty well for me and my horses, this will be the first winter in a couple of years though that I've had a competitive pony to get back to full fitness before the days start getting better though, so we'll see if this regime works as well for her as it used to for my old boy!
(I've also asked my mum, who works shorter hours than me, if she could lunge or give her a walk/trot ridden session every now and then for me if she finds she's got some free time.... but that's not always an option for most people)

 

[Pinkvboots]

Is there a school nearby that has lights you could box to a few evenings a week ?

 

[On the Hoof]

Echo others on asking for flexible working. I'm lucky in that I negotiated doing 5 days in 4, so my pony is on full livery on a Monday so that I can put in about 10 hours work , I take two half days to ride and then work late those two days when I get in. Even if you can only get one day a week to start late, you could perhaps pay someone to lunge on another day which would keep him ticking over . (Or better still find someone who is doing stage 4 BHS and offer free lunging practice).