Riding in winter with a full time job?

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Megibo

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As title.
I might be getting a full time job soon, had the interview today (any vibes for that much appreciated! :P )
The hours would be 7 until 5. With the livery yard being an hour away I wouldn't be able to ride in lunch break so it would have to be either before or after work!
How many of you manage to ride before or after work?? Obviously in summer it doesn't matter as its so light but what about winter when its dark so early..?
Any replies appreciated. :)
 
Thats a long day! I do half eight to five and can hack before work off road in the gloom nearly all winter and we have lights on the school so after work in the school is always do-able :) it is motivation rather than opportunity I struggle with in winter!

Good luck, hope you get it!
 
Pity the yard is so far away but as long as it has lights in the arena then you will have no problem.
You can hack out on your days off when its nice and bright!
 
The last 2 years I have done pretty well. I have an arena across the road I can use, so I light the pony up like a christmas tree to cross the road and ride in the dark. As long as the surface is well maintained with no lumps and bumps it's not a problem. My horse manages to navigate his way around the field in the dark so I figure he's probably better at seeing in the dark than I am! I don't have to leave for work til 7:30am, so I either ride at 5am or wait til 6 or 7pm when the road is quiet enough to cross. Hacking usually has to wait until the evening once the morning light disappears. I usually manage to ride 5 or 6 days a week in winter, same as summer.
 
It's tough! And now I have a second one to exercise...

I was commuting to London but managed to negotiate a move to an office closer to home; I leave home now at 8.15am to get there for 9, instead of an hour earlier and now get home for 5.30! I plan to ride before work this winter - ill be realistic and aim to do 3 mornings a week as otherwise it won't be fun getting up super early! I don't have a school so can only do this whilst its light enough in the mornings/or the ground in schooling field is dry enough!
 
Blimey, that's a long day! I don't really ride in winter to be honest other than weekends as we don't have a arena so no real option to ride before or after work. I don't see the horses in the daylight during the week at all!
 
I don't bother riding after work in the dark from November - February. When I was at a big yard with a floodlit arena I rode 3 evenings a week. But as I'm just at a farm now with no facilities I have to accept that riding in winter is limited to weekends.
 
I'm with Amymay - have seen too many liveries struggle to ride at weekends in the depths of winter, let alone before/after work.

A friend of mine is a bank manager, and rides up until Xmas. She then turns her two away until March. It works really well for her - she has made the conscious decision not too ride so all the pressure is taken off, especially when the weather it is at its worse.

Good luck with the job!
 
I work full time, not as long a day as that but am usually at the yard for 5.30pm and try to ride 2 or 3 times a week after work. We have an arena with floodlights and quite a good drainage but when it rains like it does we normally have a few weeks every winter where it is unusable. At that point I hack at weekends and just give up mid week. My girl is 19 and in great health but does stiffen up so she certainly doesn't benefit from 3 months off so I don't even consider it.
 
I work 8am til 6pm (usually end up leaving later :frown3: ) and just have to ride round in the dark!! To be honest it was ok, we have a school and the horse can see even if I can't... I did put car lights on sometimes. I tried a headtorch but it freaked her out so had to stop - but this might be something to consider? But recently we've put up some floodlights so I'm very much looking forward to being able to see of an evening this winter! I only school in the week days though, hack out on weekends.
 
alsxx said:
It's tough! And now I have a second one to exercise...

I was commuting to London but managed to negotiate a move to an office closer to home; I leave home now at 8.15am to get there for 9, instead of an hour earlier and now get home for 5.30! I plan to ride before work this winter - ill be realistic and aim to do 3 mornings a week as otherwise it won't be fun getting up super early! I don't have a school so can only do this whilst its light enough in the mornings/or the ground in schooling field is dry enough!
Click to expand...

*waves* this is me too
I don't have a school but i manage to get in at least 3 mornings a week until snow or ice shut me down. It's hard but christmas is a good break mid way through the slog and then after christmas you're counting down to the light again. I live for 6 months of the year with a head-torch stuck to my head!
 
I dont, when it gets too dark to ride after work, i then only ride twice a week all winter. Just keeps him ticking over and sane really, he would like more (got an amazing work ethic) but i dont have a school with lights so i can only hack.
 
A horse doesn't have to be ridden every day - unless it is kept in all the time, of course. In the depths of winter just ride at weekends. If you have a floodlit school then maybe ride once in the week, or loose school or lunge, but there are times when the weather is so bad - snow, frost, high winds, fog, heavy rain - that you can't really ride anyway unless you have an indoor school.

Riding only a weekends will keep him ticking over, and then by the end of February it is light enough to ride in the evenings. Years ago, before arenas and winter competitions, unless you went hunting lots of people just used to turn the horses out and not ride for several weeks during the winter but it is probably easier to keep them exercised a bit.
 
I either would hack in the morning before work but only if its light or in a flood lit school at least 3 times mid week, then hack at weekends it can get boring but we did have an olympic outdoor and a smaller indoor so you can have a change, and at the end of schooling a few of us would walk round the big school together and have a chat and chill out, i am not there anymore and as i am tallking about it i remember how much i enjoyed it there, never got home before 9 most evenings though it can be tiring, good luck with your new job.

Also wanted to add i sometimes rode two in the evenings, i got into riding my sisters horse for her for quite a few months.
 
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We've got lights and I usually get there about 6.30pm ish and do usually ride twice, lunge once in the week; it's just the motivation needed to get on when it's pitch black and howling a gale, with shadows blowing everywhere!
 
It's do-able, but makes for very long days and takes a lot of commitment!

I work 8-5 and managed to keep my cob in full work last winter (he was tubby, even in the depths of January). My routine was to get to yard for 6am, turn out and get all stable duties done before work. Go to work, straight back to yard after work. Bring in, exercise (on weekdays, 2 days lunging, 2 days schooling, floodlit menege was a godsend), throw in stable, home for 8ish. On weekends, long hack of a morning (about 8am), then school again of an evening.

Do-able, but I wouldn't have liked to have thrown many other commitments into the mix.
 
I give up riding in the week in mid winter and stick to weekend hacks. To be honest when there's a raging blizzard it's not exactly a miss! Much nicer just to do rug checks, feed and then back into a nice warm house. They live out so I don't have to worry about exercise.
 
Agree it is tougher through the winter. I manage because she's on full livery and they have a menage with lights. So it tends to be in the school in the week, with hacking or other stuff at the weekends. Your yard is a long way so I wonder if you'd be better off trying to find somewhere closer and with a school or off road hacking. It stays fairly light from March-Sept but I am really conscious of chasing the daylight as winter draws in, have already started to notice it :(
 
Mine start training for endurance mid November so I have to ride every morning before work, weather permitting of course! I get up at 4am, walk dogs, muck out my three and ride for an hour in the dark with a headtorch. It's tough but worth it once it starts getting lighter and I've got nice fit horses to start competing on.
 
its as do-able as you want it to be.

hard work, yes but completely do-able.

im lucky and have floodlit menage so ride after work usually, around 5pm. But if im teaching im often still riding a horse, mine or someone elses, at 8.30pm, or i do mine before work and a couple for other people after work.
 
Thanks everyone, the current yard has top facilities just a shame it is so far away. There's a lovely yard closer to home but they have no winter turnout. They have walker she could go on once a day and they're allowed to be turned out in the lunge pen for an hour or two. The school there has floodlights too and its only 4 miles or so from home so might be an option to go there, just need to make sure she comes out the box at least 2 hours a day due to being in.
 
I dislocated my shoulder at the very end of Nov last year so my boy had till Feb off work and to be honest it was a blessing. Much less stress, I didn't clip him, he kept his weight well and was turned out in the day to keep him moving.

When I brought him back into work it was slowly for both of us for 4-6 weeks but we've had a great spring/summer since and it really did him some good to just be a horse for a bit. He's come back saner and calmer than I ever would have dreamed.

This year he will have jan and feb off and my boyfriend will get a bit more couples time (with the trade off that summer is for riding lol).
 
I also work full time and sadly only get to ride at weekends in winter just to keep them ticking over. I have no school or lights so can only hack, wouldnt like to risk heading out in the dark as the road i ride out onto is bad in the day let a lone at night in the dark even with lights and hi-viz just wouldnt be safe, is a lot of blind corners which people just love to speed round and teart like a race track :(
 
I also work full time, but am in the very lucky situation that the yard where I keep my horses is only 5mins from work so I can be on board for 6pm. I usually turn them away for a holiday from mid Oct to the New Year to give us all a break, then in Jan it doesnt seem that far away from the lighter nights. I aim to ride 3 times during the week and we have 2 flood lit outdoors and an indoor (usually fully booked though as most refuse to ride in a little bit of wind and/or rain) Weekends are saved for hacking to break the boredom of schooling.
My mum is the best help I could ask for though and will lunge or school during the day when she is not working so makes life alot easier only having to ride one in the evening.
 
Our small yard has an outdoor school with lights, so I can get on board in the week if I want after work. I work a very long day from about 7.30 am through to at least 6 pm, and I don't get to the yard until at least 6.45 most nights (sometimes later) and have two to sort out. However, to be honest, once it gets dark I pretty much leave riding for weekends. As long as the horses get turnout every day I'm happy not to put additional pressure on myself.
 
I couldn't cope with just riding at the weekends during the winter, I'd be bored to tears and fat! I work 8.30 to 4.30 but 20miles from home/yard, I'm on a yard with good facilities, we have an indoor but I only use it in the snow! For last winter I had a sharer who hacked him out twice a week when I was at work, then I'd school two evenings in the week and hack/compete at the weekend. If I don't manage to find another sharer I will probably school 2/3 days in the week and lunge once. Also I share morning turnout with my friends in winter so we all get some lie-ins!
 
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