Shows vs training vs home life!

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wench

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Random ramblings for anyone that wants to read! I have been going out to a few shows and training sessions over the past few weekends, as well as being especially busy most evenings after work (gym and riding). I'm having a couple of weeks break from riding and the gym to unwind.

Spending a lot of time being busy has left parents a bit grumpy that I haven't been at home as much to do housework and other jobs they need help with, which is fair enough. I'm sure other people have similar issues with boyfriends etc

I'm keen to get cracked on with my horse after our break as I'm really enjoying riding her. Trouble is I need loads of lessons and loads of match practise (ie shows) as well, and fitting it all in is nigh on impossible! I never know what time I get back from work, and it's often late, so no lessons of comps after work.

Anyway pointless rambles want to up my game significantly, somehow fitting it in with home life, and not having to get up a stupid o'clock to go to places (as due to work I'm up early every other day and get tierd from long days and drives!)
 
I do housework while my porridge is cooking in the microwave!!! I set myself a task or three for the morning, so today I srted loads of post shoved to one side, vacuumed the stairs, put the sofa back together after the dog shoved everything off and didn't the washing up!!! Took about 15mins.

Makes me feel less guilty about going straight to the yard later!!
 
I'd speak to your parents and agree a rota/timetable of when you will do your chores around the house.

I work 7 days a week with 2 jobs, try and fit in runs every now and then, go to the gym once a week for yoga, have a husband which means he requires attention (haha), and have the entire house to clean as husband is pretty useless around the house and just about manages to empty the bins but that's it. My commute to my Monday-Friday job takes around 1/1.5 hours each way (2-3 hour round trip depending on traffic). Then I have my 2 year old horse on top of that who is on DIY so I'm up at 6.30am to get to work for 8am, finish at 4.30pm, straight to the yard to much out, groom etc, turn him out, then head home and do my run & cleaning/cooking/whatever else needs doing.

Its incredibly tiring but we choose to have horses, so if you are 100% dedicated to riding you simply find a way to fit it all in. There will be people out there much busier than I am, you'll find many horsey people are up at 5am and somehow still fit in jobs (often multiple jobs to afford our horses!), exercise, riding, and some sort of social life/husbands/boyfriends/wives/girlfriends etc.

If I were you, I'd prioritise your activities and act accordingly - so you live with your parents therefore you should be doing some chores to help out (after all the chores they'll want you to do are much less than what you'd do if you had a whole house/flat to deal with living alone). Get that rota done so you know 2 days a week you have to do your cleaning after the gym for example. Then schedule in your riding after work, you dont need a lesson or competition every day - I'd aim for a competition once a month on a weekend if that's possible, and a lesson once a fortnight if you can afford that. Then the gym should come last - riding keeps you reasonably fit, so gym 2-3 times a week is enough to keep you in shape and benefit your riding.

You have to pick what is most important to you, the gym or the horse - then schedule around that. Competitions are great but they are time consuming and expensive, so cut that down to once a month and you'll find it easier to fit in the chores and more lessons. If you can find a trainer to come to your yard that is even better so you dont have to go anywhere for your lessons, again saving more time.

An example schedule for you could be something like this - Monday gym & chores when you get home, Tuesday ride, Wednesday ride, Thursday gym & chores when you get home, Friday ride (or day off if 4 times a week is enough exercise for your horse), Saturday ride or lesson, Sunday ride or competition.
 
^^ yep all about priorities. Having a chat with your parents sounds like a good idea as those chores plus job are the absolute essentials. the rest is flexible.

If you really want to up your game, then a trade-off will have to be made somewhere ;) There's no magic solution unless you can afford to pay people to do the boring time consuming stuff like housework or poo picking.

My way to fit it all in is just to keep going until it's all done...it's very basic! if that means a 5am start and a 9pm finish, then so be it, because I *want* to get all my horsey stuff done and would rather sacrifice sleep or social life than horse time :) I feel frazzled most of the time but I choose to have horses so there's no point moaning :lol:
 
Well fortunatly my horse is esentially on full livery, so I dont have any horsey jobs to do in regards to mucking out and poo picking etc. I would like a nice rich man so I could play ponies and go to the gym every day, but hey ho! But I do have to keep fit for work, so the gym is an essential part of my life.

I have been prioristing as much as possible recently, although keeping horse going for BE event, and me trying to keep as fit as possible to get some mega good scores in a fitness test was hard work, hence the break now! I'm also going away with work for a couple of weeks shortly, so more gym, and less horse. (Pony is going away to be schooled for a bit, so will cut out some work for me!)

I do have trouble in finding instructors to come out to me - for example I would really like lessons with a really good SJ instructor, as I need to get better in this discipline, but the ones around me just dont travel.

The flatwork is coming along very well, just tends to go to pot when I go to a competition, hence needed to get out a bit more. Although I have some days holiday left to use up, so my intention is to get out to some training days at different venues to try and help!
 
I've had to make some compromises - I work full time and do 3 horses. I shamelessly offer horses out for other people to hack (people I know and have seen ride, don't worry!), and the two in competition are schooled weekly by our instructor to take some pressure off.

For chores at home...I cheat, we have cleaners. Best choice ever - not too expensive, lovely ladies, and I only have to do tidying/sweeping/the odd bit of vacuuming, which makes a huge difference.
 
...try fitting in very young children too! :-)

It's always a juggling act. My riding has had to be curtailed and competing is non existent for now. But I'm lucky to have them (children and horses lol!) and we manage (fab husband helps a lot!). You will manage what you can when you can. Good tips already re priorities from other posters already.
 
If you where not living at home you would have to do housework shopping etc or your life would grind to a halt .
It's not fair to expect your parents to shoulder your share of the burden of everyday boring stuff .
You have to make time .
 
If your horse is on full livery, then its your time management you need to look at.

My day goes something like this

5.30am alarm, wash load goes in

5.50am approx on the yard - 3 horses on DIY, all beds, hays and waters done

No later than 7am leave the yard

7.10am at the latest home, wash load out, breakfast in the microwave (porridge), whilst that is cooking, washing up or tidying, or sorting washed and dried clothes

8am at work

4pm leave work, home by 4.15pm and do one or two jobs like clean the bathroom or sweep floors

5pm on the yard, bring in, ride usually two a night, put to bed

7.30-7.45pm home to see husband before he goes to his night shift,make tea, put now dry washing from this morning upstairs.

8.30pm do any work or prep for the next day.

I manage to go out with the horses 2-3x per month by being so organised!!
 
I work full time with a 1hr commute each way, travel a lot with work, live out of home (which means household chores and cooking!), have a boyfriend who needs my time, and ride my horse 6 days a week.

She is on full livery, I make one day a week a non-negotioable date night and never go up. There are 16 or so waking hours in a weekend day when I'm not working, I make sure I use them efficiently. Riding is done first thing in the morning on weekends so I can keep on top of housework, and during the week my boyfriend keeps on top of cooking and laundry etc so I can go to the horse - I make up for it at the weekends. We plan to get a cleaner.

As a horsey person you get used to the lifestyle, it involves a lack of sleep, no money and zero social life! :)
 
GemG said:
...try fitting in very young children too! :-)

It's always a juggling act. My riding has had to be curtailed and competing is non existent for now. But I'm lucky to have them (children and horses lol!) and we manage (fab husband helps a lot!). You will manage what you can when you can. Good tips already re priorities from other posters already.
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I was going to say that! lol! It is a juggle isn't it. Thank goodness for awesome hubbies. Full time work sucks.

It was hard enough with no children nevermind with them some would think!

I would just like to impart one thing... I still show and school. I just pick and choose and keep the mare on a very very extremely strict regime of 24/7 turnout on a massive farm. Yep. With other mares to chase and generally do all the lungeing and keeping fit for me. (you can buy stuff from Gold Label to cover up teeth marks) I also have to manage her diet to the enth degree. I make sure she has nothing but grass. This involves almost daily checks with binoculars to ensure she is always "head down arse up". Husband also helps with his, as does toddler. It's hard work without them.

Due to this strict regime of neglect, we have managed to win and go champion a couple of times at regional finals. I did qualify for a national but I'm afraid, I'm too busy getting her fit for the dressage. The new "I'm **** scared of the pony" routine is marvellous. I would highly recommend.

Oh. Also, I hope you can find time to do this but... you must always never rug. It takes up far too much time and well... sweat dries.

I hope this helps. As you can see, it really works. How else would I have time to also impart such useful advice on HHO.

:)
 
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As others have said, you'll just have to find time! I work 6 days a week, Monday to Friday as a CRT teacher and Saturdays in retail, AMD ride 6 days a week. My fiance works hideous hours and also has a prior commitment at his Mum's property 3 hours away, so he spends a large chunk of the week there, before returning and working. He also is a full on cyclist. He has his own jobs that he does, and I have mine, so we do share the responsibility of managing the house. The key is to have a rhythm, and be organized so things don't get forgotten. We have a set routine for weekly meals, the majority of which are cooked in large batches every few weeks and frozen. This saves an enormous amount of thinking time (no wondering what to buy for dinner) and it's very relaxing knowing when I drag myself home late, there is a good meal waiting. Multitasking is imperative! I make my daily lunch when the porridge is cooking, washing goes on when I vacuum/tidy up, do a little baking and catch 20 minutes 'me' time while it's in the oven! I keep on top of the cleaning daily (simple things like wiping down the kitchen/bathroom) which keeps everything spotless and reduces the need to set aside 30 minutes to scrape baked on gunk off the stove top. We have one night that we make sure we are both home early and we spend the whole evening together, no TV, we have a coffee, cook dinner, and talk. Horse is on full livery, 24/7 turnout. I if I have to miss a ride, so be it, that's life! He won't drop fitness or forget everything.
 
tallyho! said:
I was going to say that! lol! It is a juggle isn't it. Thank goodness for awesome hubbies. Full time work sucks.

It was hard enough with no children nevermind with them some would think!

I would just like to impart one thing... I still show and school. I just pick and choose and keep the mare on a very very extremely strict regime of 24/7 turnout on a massive farm. Yep. With other mares to chase and generally do all the lungeing and keeping fit for me. (you can buy stuff from Gold Label to cover up teeth marks) I also have to manage her diet to the enth degree. I make sure she has nothing but grass. This involves almost daily checks with binoculars to ensure she is always "head down arse up". Husband also helps with his, as does toddler. It's hard work without them.

Due to this strict regime of neglect, we have managed to win and go champion a couple of times at regional finals. I did qualify for a national but I'm afraid, I'm too busy getting her fit for the dressage. The new "I'm **** scared of the pony" routine is marvellous. I would highly recommend.

Oh. Also, I hope you can find time to do this but... you must always never rug. It takes up far too much time and well... sweat dries.

I hope this helps. As you can see, it really works. How else would I have time to also impart such useful advice on HHO.

:)
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Ha ha !!! Brilliant!!! You're on my kind of wavelength too lol! Until you have young children, you have no idea (I include myself in that!). This summer we've have a stallion, a mare and a foal in he mix with my own bundles of joy.

Coming back from doing them with no squashed/bitten/wet/crying/trampled/electrocuted child is no mean feat :-)

I'm on DIY. Full time job although on mat leave.

Sorry, not much sympathy for op (don't mean to be mean), but just get on with it!
 
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