Sixth form, work and horses (2)

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itsapiebald

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A lot of you will have seen my post a while ago about managing sixth form, work and horses...

I've got a horse which my parents pay for, he's pretty much retired, I'm going into sixth and was thinking about having another which I would pay for...

This post is a bit of an update really. I've been given a conditional offer for the sixth form that I want to go to. And my parents have agreed to help me out financially with another horse, aslong as I pay as much as I can.

Those of you who have worked while being at 6th form.... how many hours a week did you work?

* I wouldn't be getting a high maintenance horse and it would be on DIY livery with my other horse*
 
I worked every Saturday from 8-5 and some Sundays with more in the holidays. I found it doable but only had a horse to think about from May in year 13 and that was only a few days a week. I did cut down on hours as exams came up though
 
yay good for you :-). I worked saturdays 8-5:30 and then one or two days after school 3-5:30 at an after school club. Still managed to compete most Sundays! But it is busy because that means no day off. The horse was on DIY livery and I went up most days before and after school AND cycled about 35 miles a week to do all these things. Thinking back, not sure how I managed, but manage I did and I haven't had a heart attack yet! I seem to remember that I did quite a lot of essays and revision during lunch/break times so I'd have more time after school, and I probably didn't socialise as much as others. The work paid completely for my loan horse (though I was on a mega cheap yard), and then I also secretly bought a four year old pony just before my A level exams, which might have been why I didn't do QUITE as well as I hoped, but whatever - I made it through and it was all fine. Parents weren't best pleased when they found out about the secret pony though.

I think it's really important not to focus too much on school work and to have another outlet, but it's each to their own really - obviously if grades or social life were more important to me I might think differently, but I did fine, got a good degree, good job etc so it didn't go that badly! If you want it badly enough you can make it work, but you're right to think carefully about it first. Good for you - horse shopping! so exciting.
 
I worked Sundays 11-5, with overtime during holidays. As long as you're sensible with organising studying/work then you should be ok. Remember that in 6th form you (usually) have a fair few free periods. Use them wisely! If you can get a lot done in a few frees during the day, that will save you time in the evening/at the weekend.
 
Thankyou for your positive replies! I'm planning on using all my spare time really carefully and getting as much work done in school as possible. As I already have to go to the yard twice a day to do my oldie my routine in terms of going to the yard shouldn't change much, I'll just need an extra 20 minutes in a morning to muck out. And in the evenings now I watch my sister ride as I don't have a rideable horse so I won't be getting back from the yard any later than usual :)
 
Whilst I was at sixth form I was working 14-20 hours a week plus dancing 4 nights a week (was having a break from horses!). It's definitely do able and I'm so glad I did it because it's helped me be so much more self disciplined at University! I made use of my free periods, kept my work/social/college balance as even as possible up until the couple of months before exams and then cut back on work hours so I could revise more. It also looks really good on uni/job applications if you can show that you're good at time management and multi tasking!

Good luck with your A Levels! What are you hoping to study??
 
My daughter does pick up a fair bit of work from others on the yard - mucking out, poo picking, bringing in etc when people are away, plus she does the same at another yard. She also rides another person's horse from time to time. She makes reasonable money at this. Thankfully she drives so I
leave her to it. SHe does her school work in her free periods.
 
I worked 1 evening (6-10) and Saturdays - usually 10-4 or something.

Also had 2 horses which I rode daily and competed most Sundays. I had to work hard for my results but I came away with good ones. I did work a bit less during my exams though.
 
It's good to see how other people managed it too :)

I'm hoping to take geography, psychology and biology. We have to take four subjects at AS but apparently if you find you don't like a subject in the first few weeks of year 12 then you can drop it and only take 3. I'm not sure what I'll take for my fourth option... I was thinking art but after hearing how much time it takes up I'm not so sure 😂
 
My college hours were Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. As for my job, I worked part-time on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. It's hard work, so make sure this is something you 100% want to do and enjoy yourself! There's nothing better than escaping your studies by spending time with your horses.
 
The honest answer is never again will you have so much time, if you can't handle the pressure in your teens forget having horses with a job (or two) kids, aging parents and a mortgage / rent + bills - enjoy it while you can...
 
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