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| Just had a baby, he is 7 weeks old. He is awesome! I thought I was going to have time to ride, but I have been so busy with the baby. Any advice on getting time to ride! |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
  
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | Hire a babysitter?  |
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Go Get Em!
Posts: 13503
 
Location: OH. IO | Take time to relax and heal your body.Get to know your little one..then make some deals with dad so you can have your time;) |
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 Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | What's your family like and do they live around you? I had a hard time squeezing time to ride in last year but I just asked my hubby to watch our daughter for an hour or two while I took a trail ride and he was usually more than happy to take a nap with her. Grandma also lives very close so I was able to ask her to babysit once a week or so and that helped as well. |
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A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | If you have family close by asked Grandma or sister. Or ride in the late evening hours and have hubby watch baby boy for you so that you can get some me time. If all else fails get a babysitter for a few hours once a week. |
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Location: Not Where I Want to Be | two words
Dog Kennel
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 Expert
Posts: 1395
Location: Missouri | I was just thinking about this topic today. Due with #2 in Sept and wondering how the heck I'll make the time to get back into it this fall.
Like someone else mentioned...Let your body heal. Some people are ready to get back on at 6 weeks, some aren't. Personally it made me all kinds of sore. By 12 weeks, it was much better.
Are you comfortable with using a video monitor? Like is your riding area close enough to your house that you could ride during nap time and take the video monitor with you? I'll admit that it took me til DD was about 3-4 months and napping a bit more consistently before I was ready to do that myself. If the weather was appropriate, I'd take her to the barn in her stroller and brush and tack up about 30 min before nap. Take her back in, put her down for nap, and take the video monitor out with me. Then if she only napped 30 min, I still got a little ride in.
Other than that, I called my mom for help a lot. Do you have family nearby that would love to snuggle with baby while you have you time? |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| A lot of churches have "mother's day out". You might check into that. |
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| Thanks for ideas, yes, my Mom does live close and she will babysit. I guess I need to start tracking when he is sleeping, it seems so random and I can't predict if it will be a 30 minute nap or a three hour nap. I do have a monitor that will make it to my arena, I may use that when he gets a little older and a little more patterned. I try to get some of the housework done when he takes his longer naps. Getting saddled while he is still awake is a great idea too. I guess it will take some time to get adjusted to trying to fit stuff in inbetween naps :) I think my horses are loving it though!! |
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 Expert
Posts: 3815
Location: The best kept secret in TX | I have a friend who takes her Pack and Play to the arena. Baby lays in the pack and play on the opposite side of the fence so she can hear her. If baby starts to cry or wake up she has her right there. She doesn't have to stop what she is doing, and go inside the house, or worry about what to do with her horse before she goes inside.
It works really great now that she is older. Her little one enjoys watching her mom ride. |
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| My husband and I made a deal in the afternoons when my son was born all the way until 1 1/2 years old. We both work full time jobs and we both ride so, it was hard for us to get anything done. We started picking days. He would go outside and work or ride on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays and I would go Tuesdays, Thursdays and we would both take turns on the weekends. It gets easier to ride with a baby as they get older. We would also wait to ride when he took a nap. We let him nap in the car beside the arena or took a baby monitor. Our son is now 2 and he goes to the arena with us. I have toys for him to play with or a rope. We still take turns riding but we are all outside in the arena now. We are trying to get lights put up in the arena so we can both ride at night once he goes to bed. Late nights and early mornings for us!
Edited by GrahamKayleigh 2016-06-06 10:08 AM
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Regular
Posts: 68
| I hate saying debbie downer stuff but just keep in mind if something happens to you while riding and your baby is in a pack in play, the baby will be alone until help arrives. I hope you can figure something out. Its no fun feelings restrained.
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | I'm due in September. I sold all of my horses except for a 3 year old. She will be sent off to be broke in September, so when she's broke I'll be ready to get back in the saddle and finish her. I've always broke my own, but not a chance I'm willing to take with a young baby. Also... I know I personally will be wearing a helmet because I'm not willing to take a chance on my life for the sake of my family. |
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 It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | My mom IS a huge help and my son is going to be 4 in July. When he was first born, I would bring my stroller right up to the side of arena with a bug net on it while I worked my horses if my help was busy. It was was easier to park them when they are immobile, haha!
It takes a village to keep everything going I've found and I'm thankful for family! Good luck and congrats! |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9991
Location: Kansas | I always placed my daughter in a pack n' play and placed her in the shade. |
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 Hot Dispatcher
Posts: 10185
Location: Utah | I found a responsible teenager that wanted to ride. In trade for babysitting she rode my horses and used them for queening. It worked out well for both of us. She didn't have a safe horse and wanted to improve her riding I wanted someone to come with me to the arena to watch my kids while I rode. A living quarters helps a ton, I didn't have one when my kids were babies but the A/C when traveling with my parents was worth the trailer payment . Otherwise I rode late or early when I could get someone to watch the baby and as they got older they sat in the stroller while I loped circled around them until they were old enough to play in dirt under the bleachers or in the roping box. It does get eaiser as they get older. Now my kids are 7 and 10 and they love to ride with me, now the only problem is they are at an age to steal my horses. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 214
| I found that getting up early to ride before work while my daughter and husband were still asleep worked best for me. I didn't like riding after work feeling like I was missing out on time with my family so that helped me get out of bed extra early :) Now we are expecting little girl #2 in October so we will see if I can still juggle that early ride time with a new baby and a 2 year old when I get back to riding this winter.... Hopefully we get another easy baby! Congrats on your little one, they are a blast! |
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 "Hottie"
Posts: 1373
Location: Okemah,OK | Mine is 16 months old and I'm still trying to figure this out. She hated the pack and play at the arena ...... Screamed the ENTIRE time I would try to ride. The regular napping didn't come along until 6-8 months old. Typically, I have to use that time to get some stuff done around the house. Can't fit any in in the morning because she's up at 630. I'm going to try to start a few mid morning nap rides during the week or after she goes to bed (730-800) & use the video monitor that I know will reach to the arena and barn. Now I just have to find the energy and desire! |
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Expert
Posts: 1395
Location: Missouri | whiplashranch - 2016-06-06 9:59 PM
Mine is 16 months old and I'm still trying to figure this out. She hated the pack and play at the arena ...... Screamed the ENTIRE time I would try to ride. The regular napping didn't come along until 6-8 months old. Typically, I have to use that time to get some stuff done around the house. Can't fit any in in the morning because she's up at 630. I'm going to try to start a few mid morning nap rides during the week or after she goes to bed (730-800) & use the video monitor that I know will reach to the arena and barn. Now I just have to find the energy and desire!
'Now I have to find the energy and the desire.' Oh my word, can I relate to that! I had such a hard time with my first really getting back into the swing of things for that reason. I constantly wished for other moms to talk to who ride a lot (or used to/want to) so I'd feel a sense of comeraderie. Or accountability. Haha! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 602
| I use my husband, he helped create her, so he can watch her for an hour. He is a truck driver, so I don't ride the same time every day but at least we work around each others schedule. If you get 20 mins of riding, take it. Don't stress about riding 1-2 hrs 5x a week, that schedule is long gone till your kid gets older.  |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 678
Location: Canada | The Pack and Play is awesome. I used to take my son out in the morning when he napped and worked horses. You can get the shade and bug covers so I used both. If you're wanting to keep your horse in shape and your little one is still napping inconsistently I used a baby snuggie and lunged my horses while he snuggled me. Horse got worked, the baby got a nap and I got snuggles.
If you have a partner then I'd suggest you guys work out a schedule so you can ride. Things get MUCH busier when they start crawling, climbing, and walking so try to figure out something now so you have a routine down!
Congratulations on your baby... enjoy every minute of it :)
Edited by RunNitroRun 2016-06-07 1:53 PM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 679
Location: KS | I agree with something could happen while you ride and your baby being in the play pin until someone shows up. Maybe see if one of your family members, husband or even a friend watch your little one while you ride.
Edited by ACowgirlsLastRun 2016-06-07 4:16 PM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 929
| I am struggling with this, too. My son is also 17 months old and I am finding it hard to get my colt ready for futurities and keep an eye on the baby. I put him in the stroller but he starts to fuss when I get on. My husband works into the evening hours and I live about 30 miles away from my job, which starts at 7am....so no riding in the early am as I board and we don't have lights.
Sometimes I think about selling all my horses but not riding makes me not fun to be around according to the rest of the family. *Sigh* |
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 Certified Snake Wrangler
Posts: 1672
Location: North MS | I've got a 6 month old and started back riding at 8 weeks (csection). Now he is 6 months and I might not get to ride every week, but I get to work some if I schedule my chores right. I'm catching up on fence repairs/bushhogging/spraying that I couldn't do while pregnant. But I also take my mom to the arena with me. I go to shows early and she brings him along later. My horses are mostly at my parents house so she watches him a few hours most days. Hubby works 2nd shift plus starting back up his HVAC business so he is never home. I'm headed outside now to saddle a colt and then hook the tractor up to till a spot to practice. No riding today. |
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New Mom, no time to ride