Your daily Routine!

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geegee84

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hello to you all!

I'm revising my horses routine and am looking at how others fit horses in with life.

I have 2 horses a 4.5yr old and a 20 month old. both kind of poor dooers but don't really struggle like some horses do. but this does mean that they need feed and hay daily this time of year as the grass here just isnt enough.

so what time does your day start?
do you work? how do you fit them in around your working day?
do you have children? how do you fit them in around children too?

I just basically would like to know how your day goes :D

thanks in advance :D
 
I have 3 horses; a 28 yr retired TB, a 12 yr old section D and an 18 month old Lusitano colt plus my partner's 11 yr old Luso. They all live out on a paddock paradise circuit. I feed/hay/poo pick twice a day at around 8.30 and 6 ish. I work from home and have a holiday cottage so I only hack out once or twice a week at the moment (no school and very hot here in Portugal) but there's a part time groom starting in Oct so will be riding 4/5 times a week soon and starting a little education with the youngster. Can't wait :D
 
I'm on assisted DIY which means my horse is fed, rugged and then brought in/turned out both ends of the day.

Generally at the moment I get to the yard at lunchtime to give him his lunchtime haylage (he is currently out at night), I'll have a cuppa and a natter then I'll ride. Normally get back to the yard for bring in/turnout (all the liveries help with this, the fields are at the bottom of a secure lane so someone will go down to the field gate and let them into the lane, they bring themselves up to the top gate where we catch them and bring them in. Then we turn the night horses out into the lane and they take themselves down to the field.), then muck out and have another cuppa then get home for about 6pm.

In the winter each horse stays in for 2/3 days a week (minimum is 2 but you can choose to have them in for an extra day for cheaper livery) so I'll head down mid morning to ride him, then muck him out, have copious amounts of tea and then ride him again on his days in. After that he'll be skipped out again then put to bed.
 
I'm on DIY grass livery with 2 native ponies - good do-ers and not rugged.
I work Mon-Fri anywhere between 0700 - 1800, and horses are done after work.
I'll get home anywhere between 1530 - 1830 and ponies get fed, field poo picked, fresh water, hay put in (until they go to new paddock) and if I have time, I ride.

They stay out all winter, so this will stay as my routine, although if the weather is really bad, I'll go up and break their ice. They'll get ad-lib hay. - Yard is 5 minutes from house, on way to work, so no need to get up earlier.
 
I have 3 ponies which all have turns at coming in. Daughters new pony comes in after I've taken her to school at 9am he is a fatty so out at night with a muzzle on and in during the day with hay until about 5pm. I bring her Shetland in about 2pm to let him have hay, he is on a bare paddock as he's really fat too. He'll be ridden about 4/5ish and turned back out. My welsh is out 24/7 at the minute as he hates being in. I bring him in for a couple of hours if the weather is really bad but he just gets stressy and wants out again, can't win with him!

Ponies are sorted around school hours, I don't work so have all day to play with them all.
 
thanks for your replies,

I work 9-3 monday-friday which is fine but then I have the kids too.

I'm considering getting up the yard at 6.00am to feed and maybe do a bit with the little one and also feed them but just think it might leave me exhausted :/

I have chance to go up in the afternoon/evening but as the nights are getting dark I'm really feeling that I'm just not getting the good quality time I want with them, just feeding them that's it
 
My "student life" was a lot easier than my working one! When I was at college (3 days a week!!) I had plenty of horse time, could do everything at my own pace, found lots of time to ride / do horsey 'chores', everything fitted easily round college and had loads of extra time to do other stuff like shopping/going out with friends etc. It was wonderful!

Now I never rest :eek:
I have work at 8, get up at 5:30 to do as much horsey morning duties as I can, (feeds/rugs/water for fields/mucking out etc etc) then run inside, have a shower / do makeup so I look respectable, leap into car and drag myself through the door to work where I'm greeted by faces of surprise as they wonder why I already look exhausted. Work ends at 6 (usually a bit later) and I chase back to ride as my horse is stupidly high maintenance and needs daily workouts, so ride from around 7-8, do evening feeds / haynets etc, come inside at about 9, have another shower, put dinner in... and here I am at 10 with soaking wet hair and a rumbly stomach!

And this is my summer routine - not looking forward to winter!
 
I have 2 horses on DIY with services. When commuting to London:

5am: feed whole yard, then muck out, hay, turn out, get feeds ready for the evening. They're then brought in by yard about 4pm & fed about 5pm
7-8 pm ish: check horses, skip out, prepare feeds & hays for next day. If back "early" i.e. before 7pm may ride.

When not in London:
6-7am get to yard, feed, muck out, ride, turn out
4-5pm bring in, feed etc, may ride then instead of morning.

Poo-pick every other day when there in the daylight hours :)
 
Gosh there's some early starts there :/

Winter is just the worst isn't it!
maybe an early morning start might be the answer.
they are both out 24/7 so no stable chores just poo picking.

and ride in the evening if there is time.

its just so frustrating, I really wish there were more hours in the day!
 
Usually I'm up the yard about 7.45 to ride, then I go striaght to work for 10. Then I finish at 2, go home or run errands for a couple of hours and back up the yard about 5pm.
The days I don't work and weekends I either have a lie in and get someone to bring in/turn out for me and then go up about 3 to ride and muck out OR I get up there for about 8am to ride and then go back again in the evening around 4-5 again.
My horse is looked after twice a day as he comes in during the day in the summer and in at night during the winter. He's a TB that is ridden every day so likes his routine :).
 
Up at 5.45 all year round on work days & out the door 10 mins later for the 4 mile drive to yard.
Depending on time of year:
Winter AM:feed x 3, put hay out in fields, rug change x1, turn out x 2, muck out x 2, tie in hay nets, make up evening & morning feeds, do water buckets, bugger off home - getting back around 6.45 in time to get DH up for work. Shower & head off to work myself around 8am.
Winter evening after work: pull them in, feed, check over & change rugs, poo-pick with torch if not tipping it down - bugger off home :D
Ride or lunge 4 days a week - lunging done sometimes with torch :)

Summer: AM Feed or carrot each, poo-pick 2, ride x 1 & bugger off home, shower & go to work.
Evenings: Greetings with a carrot or something, poo-pick paddocks, top up water tanks as required. Poss ride if havent done so in morning, or if its not too hot :D
 
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This will be my first winter with my own horse and I'm planning carefully. I work part time (all weekend and some weekdays) then college 3 days a week. When he comes in for the nights I'll be swamped!
I live closer than my friend so will be sorting my horse and hers weekday mornings, and she'll do weekends and holidays. I'm estimating I will have to go down around 6.30-7.00am to feed then turnout but will have a couple of practice runs before! In the evenings I usually go down around 5-6 depending on if I'm hacking out or what!
I think I'll also be filling as many haynets as possible on my days off so I don't have to worry about doing them last thing, in the pitch black and pouring down rain!

Am interested to see how everyone else does things or if anyone has any handy time saving tips!
 
I have just the one horse. Up until this year he has been in over night during winter. I'm in school from 9-3.30ish so my day would be: 6am-get up, change, go to the yard, turn out (only fed hard feed in the evening and keep his turn out rugs on), muck out (or just poo pick the bed and sweep back as am deep littering). If I have time I'll do haynets and water. 7am- home, shower, hair and makeup, breakfast, go to school for 9. 3.30- up the yard, either finish haynets and water, bring in, groom, ride/put to bed with feed and home for about 6 if ridden.
This year I'm planning on wintering him out as much as possible so will only be going up once a day. Yard owner put hay in the field in the mornings and evenings so I only go up to ride :D :D :D
 
Im up every day at 7, sometimes earlier if riding. Go straight to yard before work. Go back at about 7pm after work.

There is nothing better than a crisp, clear winter morning in my opinion :D
 
A good tip of your short on time, buy 7 hay nets (or 14 if they have two a day) and make them up on your quietest day eg Sunday. Then if your in a rush or short on time you've only got to run to the hay barn, grab one and stick it up. Saves loads of time and gives you 5mins extra in bed!!!
 
During summer I go up any time between 4 and 7 to check him over or ride. He's out on 24/7 turnout and is chuckled during day by other liveries. This is my first winter too and the plan is for yo to turnout in morning and then ill be up at 4 ish to muck out, feed and bring in. Plus ill school/lunge if possible. I have children so when there with me and not at their dads ill be aiming to only be an hour or so.
 
I am out anytime between 6 and 7.30am, depends when I wake up.

COFFEE, I do not function unless I have coffee first.

Make up goat formula and feed them first because they drive me nuts with their screaming otherwise, anything up to 30 - 40 goats on bottles or the bucket, grain weanling kids, could have 30+ of them at a time too. Feed cats first because they are more of a pain than the goats are.

More coffee.

My routine is extremely flexible. I do not clockwatch, horses are out all year round, they are not going to die if I am not there on the dot, they turn up at the gate when they hear me, not before.

My paddocks are arranged around the back yard with the barn in the middle, boys on one side, girls on the other. I start at my back door at the stallion paddocks and throw hay in to them if they do not have rounds, then 3 more paddocks, let the ducks out, feed rabbits, and put Goat out.

More coffee.

Check, fill water.
Check hay in mares fields and put out another round bale every 3 days or so.

Then in the late afternoon/evening, do the boys again.

It depends on what life chucks at me, what time of year it is etc, routine is roughly the same, they get fed when they get fed, usually something crops up to throw a spanner in the works. Summer when it is hot I stay indoors, winter time I spend a lot of time ploughing snow.
 
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