working in an office and horses?

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Just wondering, does anyone else work full time in an office all year round, with only 4 weeks leave and a few bank holidays as leave, and have horses? Are there enough hours in the day to do this? How do you cope? Especially in winter?
 
before i had my break from horses i worked full time in an office and had 2 horses! like you, i only had 4 weeks holiday and bank holidays. At the time i still lived at home, but i managed quite well, just meant i had to get up a bit earlier and plan my time but i never felt like it was a struggle. I've now moved out, got married and have a 2yr old boy, i work in an office (i'm a Licensed Conveyancer) 9-5 mon to fri and am looking to buy my next horse (in fact going to view one tomorrow). I think as long as you're committed and have an understanding family there's no reason why you won't be able to cope, don't get me wrong its hard work but then no-one ever said owning horses was easy! if you're dedicated you make it work ;)
 
Hi, I work full time in an office with 4 weeks leave. I find I have plenty of time during the summer, although the winter is a bit of a struggle due to lack of daylight hours. I am at a yard that has a floodlit manege so this makes riding a lot easier in the winter.
 
I do. I have 29 days holiday a year plus bank holidays. I work 35 hours a week and have about 3/4 hour drive to/from work. My yard is approx a mile from home in the direction of work.

In the summer my horse lives out and I go up in the morning to feed on my way to the office and then back the evening to ride and feed.

In the winter I get up at 5:30 to muck out and walk dog before leaving for the office. I am lucky that a friend brings him in for me in the afternoon. (I turn her horse out in the mornings!) I then pop up to the yard to check him, change rugs, groom.

In the winter I only ride at the weekends or if I have a day off.

Hope that helps.

Pilib x
 
Hi!

Yes i'm a full time 9-5er and get 20 days off a year (plus bank hols). It works really well I think, in the summer you're free from 5pm for riding and you've got 2 days at the weekend for competitions etc.

During the winter your riding time is really restricted to just weekends unless you've got a floodlit school. In terms of turnout etc it works really well, my winter routine is up at the yard for 7.45, turn out, muck out, lay fresh bed, do haynets, do waters, soak feed. Then I go to work, leave work at 5, at the yard for 5.15, bring horse in, stable rug on, feed him and then go home.

If you are on a yard where there's no electricity I strongly suggest you invest in a generator and some form of lighting as trying to rug up a horse with nothing but a head torch is a nightmare! :)

Also I have a 1hr lunch break so if the weather's bad (like today with the rain) I can go to the yard in my lunch and bring the horse in etc etc.

So for me it works really well!!
 
I have worked in an office for 6 years and had horses throughout that time. At one yard i was on assisted livery, which meant i didnt need to be there to fetch in/turn out, and i would go to the yard every evening. I'm now on DIY and until recently had two horses to see to. I just had to get up a bit earlier (as I tend to do all my jobs in the morning), to allow me to ride in the evening...
 
I am very lucky and work flexi-time. I can start between 07.15 and 09.30 and can leave any time after 12.00 (although I do have to make up any time I lose on another day). It's very horse-friendly working, especially in the winter. (I also should add that I am slightly part-time as I do 30 hours a week).

My friend (who works here too) is full-time and has 2 horses (I have 1). She doesn't get to ride much at all in the winter apart from weekends although she does try and take one afternoon off a week to ride.

I think the only way you could reasonably do it in the winter if you work full-time is to have your horse at a yard where there is a school with lights.

I would like to have more money but I wouldn't like to ride my horse less :rolleyes:
 
I work 8.30 til 5, monday to friday, have 25 days + bank hols leave per year.

I find it's not too bad... I ride at weekends and once or twice midweek depending on weather and what I'm doing with him at the time. I use odd days for hunting and so on, but usually I just need to plan my time and get stuff done around work!
 
Hiya,

I work full time in London, and my commute to work is just over an hour each way. I too unfortunately only have 4 weeks leave, bummer!

I managed to bring on my foal and eventually back him while working full time so it is definitely doable! These days, I manage to ride about 4 times a week during the summer, but in the winter I only ride on the weekends or if i have a day off. On the other days i go up once a day to groom, feed, put hay out and poo pick his field, the yard owner checks on him in the mornings luckily so i only go up after work!

It can get depressing in the winter but if you're commited, it's doable x
 
Me!

well had kelsey 11 yrs and up until 2 yrs ago I worked full time for the whole time of having her, I coped fine, she used to be stabled so i turned out before work then went up to muck out after work.

but now she lives out so poo pick either before or after work. For the last 2 yrs I've been at college, and working part time, so mostly I've had more time to spend with the horses. but I am going back to full time work on 30th July, and I'm so scared!

My mums offered to feed the horses in the afternoon in the winter, so I can just go up before work and feed and poo pick, saves me having to go up in the dark!

last summer, i was working 9-5.30 then 3 evenings a week in a pub from 6.30 til mid night, which meant that i had a 20 min drive home, rush down to the horses, chucked feeds out and had a 3 min mircowave meal, got changed and headed off to the pub, was sooo hard, and didnt help that my friend always wanted me to feed her horse as well! so half the time i was feeding for her when my horse didnt need 2 feeds a day :( night mare!
 
I have rarely had a problem coping but my horse is on full livery and I can use an indoor arena as well as a flood lit sand arena so riding is never an issue on cold, dark winter nights. I had him for a year, once, in a diy yard and found the extra work put about an hour more onto my time in the yard, but I still had use of an indoor and a flood lit sand arena. Most people in livery yards work 9 to 5 and easily manage to have time for their horse(s).
 
Yep I manage ok and my lad has to be stabled at night all year round. I get up early to ride before work in the light months and in the winter I am restricted to riding at weekends only. I have no electricity, so when it is dark I use a head torch to muck out etc...works fine.
You do have to be committed and enjoy your horse or it is a lot of hard work with a full time job.
 
I have a full-time office job, from 8.25am- 5pm Mon-Fri. I have four weeks annual leave, bank hols, plus 'extra statutory' days (I work in education which means my workplace closes for Christmas and I get it off as extra hols!)

I don't it too difficult to manage. I keep my girl on DIY livery and have teamed up with another livery so that through the week, who very kindly feeds up or turns out weekday mornings, so I only have to go once a day. I would find it a struggle if I had to go twice a day - I'd have to be at the yard by 6am to be done, home, showered and changed for work. It's doable though - just means my husband would NEVER see me lol

Winter can be a drag....endless weeks of mucking out and trying to get into the school can be tiring, btu summer is a doddle and I'd rather be outside doing my horses any day of the year, than stuck indoors watching rubbish TV!
 
I did work a max do 45 to 50 hrs a week, till my whole life changed when I lost my hubby to cancer, my then employer was v v fair and I had 3 months off at the end to nurse him, this was 3 yrs ago. I then had to change my life to fit arround family and horses, so I now do 4 day week and alternate weekends still 4 wk hols and bank hols, and had to put horses on part livery and DIY at weekends. Yard is super though, 5 min from home, on site owners, and if I am in a fix a phone call to someone on yard and my horses will be sorted till I get there, less cash available though, but we can't have it all.! I don't think I could have done it DIY full time as elderly parents live with me and they need help in mornings and evenings as well. I admire anyone who works full time and still does DIY for horses really don't know how they do it.
 
I do. I'm a single mum with no family support or contact with ex, went ft when daughter was 9months, now 7. Always had mine & had daughters pony 4 yrs. At one point she also had one on loan before hers was old enough to break & rode other peoples too. It's just really a case of being organised & getting on with it. You just have to get up earlier to turnout & muckout in winter. Yard is round the corner so am we bike round with the dog who goes for a run round while we do horses. I'm pretty quick at jobs as I used to be a groom, daughter sorts her pony. Most owners on diy work ft, its not really that hard if you want a horse enough. Tbh I've had one that long I can't imagine life without all the work & early mornings. But organisation really helps so early am everything is prepared as much as possible.
 
I did and it was perfectly manageable but now get more holiday and start work slightly later and finish later. The slightly odd hours mean I get paid less but I can comfortably ride 2 before work and keep on top of poo picking etc. This is both good and bad for my other half who gets his own time because he finishes later than me but we eat late because I have little time in the evening.
 
I work 9.30 -5.30 about 7 miles from where I keep my horse and slightly closer to home. (Yard is 20 minute drive from work or 10-15 minutes from home)

I actually think it is easier to manage horses when you are on a regular routine (having worked shiftwork before) as you know what your requirements are.

On days I don't ride I get up at 6-6.30 am have breakfast and get to the yard by 7.30am, muck out / do jobs then get to work for 9.30. On days I ride in the morning (which I prefer to do as the school is quieter, wakes me up nicely and it gives me more 'me' time in the evening) I get up at 5.30 am... I tend to ride 2 or 3 workdays a week plus weekends.

In the evenings I drive straight to the yard - get there by 6 generally do any jobs, fetch in, groom etc and generally head home around 7... if I ride I don't get home til 8ish...

I think you need to think carefully when selecting your yard if you do want to ride regularly - a lit school is pretty essential, although it is generally light enough to ride in the mornings on all but a few weeks of the year... you may want to get help one end of the day or the other too so somewhere that offers services may be preferable. I also prefer yards that don't restrict turnout so my horse can wait in the field until I get there...
 
Yes its definatly do able i work full time 37 hours a week - 4 weeks holiday like you said and i ride four or five times a week in the summer and then weekends and in the early hours of the morning when the daylight allows, or occasionally take the day off - I don't have anyone helping me out and can seem like a long day in the winter but I don't necessarily have mine out all the time in summer depending on flies etc so i still have mucking out to do occasionally all year round - i think its perfectly do-able and i wouldn't change it for the world - its takes a lot sometimes when you can hear the rain bashing in the winter but i love that feeling of coming home and knowing the horses are all happy and snuggly too.
 
I work 9-5 in an office, get 20 days leave plus bank holidays. My horse is on DIY livery approx 1 mile from home. My daughter's horse is at the same yard and she drives past the yard on her way to work so she checks them in the mornings. I get to the yard about 5.30pm. During the summer we ride most evenings plus weekends, but during winter we usually only mange to ride at weekends, although we do have a small indoor school so will hopefully be able to use that a bit more this year. Turnout for the horses is entirely up to us - individual or pairs paddocks - and ours are out as much as possible all year round, so no restrictions on what time we arrive to bring in/turnout.

I find that we manage quite well, but I do sometimes envy the other liveries on my yard that dont work or work flexi time, especially when I am sat in my office on a lovely summers day when I could be out riding :(
 
I work full time in the City and do reasonably long hours. The joys of London commuting means I have to add an extra 45 minutes each way to my day, and there are no yards near home or work. It take me 45 minute to an hour to get to the yard so I only go once a day. Couldn't manage personally on DIY, but I know his basic needs are cared for regardless of whether I'm there, so that takes the pressure off a lot
 
30 miles commute, 08.00 til 17.00-18.30 Monday to Friday, in a mortuary, 23 days holiday a year and 6 horses..
 
I work monday - friday 8:30am - 5:30pm live half hour away from the yard summer is great but winter is a struggle :(

Only 20 days holiday (plus bank hols)

Wouldn't stop it though coz I love my boy so much :)
 
I have two horses both on DIY livery, I work from 8am until about 5.30 Mon to Fri, with alternate Saturday Mornings I also have a secondary job which is 7.5 hours a week. I need the cash. I am mostly exhausted the whole time but I make it work as I wish to keep my horses, in a previous life I had one horse in full livery didn't know I was born....
Only last night poo picking in the blazing sun I said to my OH If I didn't have horses I would be rich and would not be sweating quite so much but I love them and I am determined to make it work!
 
Yup! 8-5 mon-fri and an hour's commute at either end of the day and 30 days leave including BHs.
There are 3 things that make this possible for me:
horse on part livery so he is sorted in a morning and brought in at night in the winter months;
floodlit arena for winter riding;
a very nice farrier who is happy to do the horse and maybe see me twice a year.
 
sophiebailey said:
Hannahharper1982 said:
i'm a Licensed Conveyancer
me too!! well kind of, i'll be qualified in 4 years i'm going through the ILEX route :) shouldn't really be sitting on H&H during completion day but hey ho :)
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Oh spooky, I only qualified in April after 7yrs via distance learning! Do you just have the one horse? My next horse is going to be field kept so I'm looking for cobby types plus have a poorly back livery is only a couple miles up the road and i only work 5 miles away. Where you based/ what company?
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Are you asking whether it is possible to have a full time 9-5 job and horses?

Because yes, obviously it is. Most people who have horses work full time I would imagine. How would they afford them otherwise?! Stoopid horses are very spensive after all :eek:
 
I have 2 on diy and work full.time and manage - had to laugh in work this morning tho when some said 'youve got hay on the backnof your suit' oops
 
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