Those of you who work with horses and own your own horses...

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spotty_pony

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Do you work Full Time or Part Time? How often do you ride your horses per week?

I currently work Full time as an Equine Apprentice at a large Equestrian Centre. However, I seem to ride my own pony a lot less since I started working with horses Full Time. I am often too tired and so I tend to only ride him about 3 days a week.
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It's not that I don't want to ride it's just that I don't seem to have the energy after working hard all day, and I start quite early so riding before work wouldn't really be an option

Does anyone else have this problem? How do you cope?
 
I ran a Livery yard/Riding School for 8 years and owned various horses in that time but most reently Buzz my 16 yo ConnemaraxTB and Harley my 12 yo Welsh section D, Harley was easy as he hacks alone so i would ride him in my 2 hour lunch break as well as muck them both out, then after work i'd ride buzz as he will not hack alone nor could i ride nd lead with them, Some days i would lunge both at lunchtime nd do the rest after work, around sept last year i decided i would either leave nd take them with me or stay and sell them as i'd had enough, it all came to a head in jan nd i left the yard nd moved my boys, I am now much happier nd chilled out nd am enjoying them again, you will find a routine that suits u and once you have it will seem easy, Good Luck
 
I used to work full time 8 - 6 and in the winter i had to find someone to share as i didn't have the time to keep him fit and rode him on a sat when I hunted. My current job i work full time during term time (as i am now back at college) but in the winter i work 7.30 - 12 and get 2 hours for lunch which gives me enough time to shoot home (i work 10 mins from home) and ride to get back to work for 2 but i do work an hour later in the evening. in the summer i have an hours lunch and finish normal time but bcos of the light i have time to ride.

I did find when i first started full time i used to have no energy to ride but as i wanted to keep him fit for hunting it gave me an insentive (sp) but i really missed it when i only rode once a week.
 
I'm lucky I think I have a really great boss now and have lots off time given to ride my horse.
However when I was an event groom it was tough and I was exhausted most of the time!! It is hard juggling your own horse and your job but the only way I could keep mine was to work ithe industry. Try having a word with your boss and see if you can work a different routine out to allow you a bit more time. Also it takes time to adjust to the work load and for your body to catch up. Sometimes I used to work 17 hour days and thought nothing of it but now it would kill me!!
 
I work on our yard at home during the summer, 8-6 and rarely have the energy to ride after work so I can sympathise! We dont have a lunch break as such, perhaps 15mins sit down for cup of tea
 
I work technically part-time with horses (35-40 hours a week, plus an extra few hours a week freelancing) and have my own horse. She gets ridden about three or four times a week, and once a week by my mum. I have recently developed a social life though and she looks set to be ridden even less, sadly! She has an old tendon injury though and is only a happy hack, and it doesn't seem to bother her... she just lacks a lot of muscle these days. I find it difficult to ride my own on the days when I work half a day, let alone on the days I work 8am-6pm
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I'd really love to buy another (one to do dressage on) but realistically I can afford it neither in time nor in money.

I am training to become an accountant...
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Yes, my horse is kept at the yard where I work at. I work 9 hour days, 4 and a half days a week and I get an hour for lunch, so I suppose I could ride for half an hour but tbh I am ready for a sit down and a rest during that hour! I might consider asking my boss if I can change my hours a bit so I have more time for riding him. It's just really awkward! I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets really worn out though!
 
Last year I had my horse with me on 2 yards, one she was just another horse and I got time to ride her, worked silly hours though, 7 days a week and if I hadnt worked her in work time I would have never sat on her!!
The other yard she was my horse, allowed to ride her in work time but often felt pressured to do other stuff first, those days I admit she either went on the walker or a quick hack after work, or worked through lunch and got moaned at so I could get everything done inc her!
 
i used to work full time with horses and i didn't work my own as much as i wantd for the same reason really i either didn't have time or i was so tired i didn't feel like it. i got quite a decent lunch break where i came home but it was still difficult. i had my horse with me during the winter otherwise i'd never have worked him
 
I ride 5 or six days a week. But my job is with driving ponies and the work is easy, just very tying as there is no cover for me. I live in but my horse is on a livery yard so that's my escape for a few hours.
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I did,quite a few yrs ago,i worked on a yard full time,bought myself a youngster!
It lasted 3yrs and i lost interest in my baby
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,purely because i was with other peoples horses all day!I even put him up for sale because i just didnt have the time for him,my mum kicked off(thankfully)she wouldnt let me sell him!
I took a long hard look at my life and thought..i have my own horse bugger all the snotty nosed oiks that looked down their nose at me because i was only a groom
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,and i left working with horses and went in a factory,i hated every minute of it,but after every shift i went down to my boy and it made me realise why i was doing it
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So i did back him etc myself and i enjoyed every minute i spent with him after that
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Just my story and brief insight as to how it panned out for me!
Not in a factory now btw,life has moved on again,for the better
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I worked on a yard over a summer and after mucking out countless horses etc etc the last thing i wanted to was ride my own horse
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Made me realise that i didnt want to work with horses full time
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i worked with horses for 6 years after leaving school and ended up jacking it in for an office job as i totally lost motivation to ride my own horses after a day of riding other people's spoilt horses.

much happier (and better off!) now.
 
When I worked in a riding school I kept my horse at another yard and that was very tiring. Instead of a pay rise I was eventually allowed to bring my horse to the yard I worked on, had a great boss who let me use him to escort hacks on plus I let him be used in a couple of lessons. Even then, though, I didn't always feel like riding him on my day off.
 
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