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Member
Posts: 11
| For those of you who work full time.. how do you manage to work during the day, get home to ride multiple horses & cook dinner? What's you afternoon routine to get everything in? |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 460
| Thank goodness my bf doesn't mind eating dinner at 9-9:30 haha 'cause that's the earliest I can make dinner happen! It's tough, that's for sure =p I go straight from work, to the barn to ride 3/4 horses. Then straight there to home, where I (hopefully) remembered to thaw something out in the morning and get started on dinner =] Weekends are reserved for barrel races...laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning etc. Hope that helps! |
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
 
Location: Pacific Northwest | I just do everything really fast.
Also crockpots are your friend. Although right now my GF works out of town during the week, and I survive just fine off top ramen because I guess I'm still a teenager at heart. That probably doesn't fly for married people with kids though.
ETA Once I have my horses legged up, they don't need to be ridden as strenuously during the week. I can do a 30 minute lunging session and call it good. I usually only ride one or two horses, so I only spend at the most 2 hours riding, if I choose to ride instead of just lunging them.
Edited by livexlovexrodeo 2017-05-09 4:56 PM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 575
| Gym at 5:30
Work from 7-4
Ride until it's dark.
I tend to make 1 or 2 HUGE meals and then eat leftovers throughout the week. There's no way I could get everything done and still be able to make dinner every night. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 507
Location: Lost in the corn of Iowa. | I work full time plus do a call rotation one week a month. I have 2 head that I ride, I ride every other day and then on the off day I do normal wifey things, like cook, clean and what ever. When the kids were little I would cook larger meals on my days off of riding so that all I had to do was re heat left overs a few nights a week. I wish I had more time to ride during the week without feeling overwhelmed, but this has been my routine for a few years and it's worked well at keeping a happy balance with home life and horse life. |
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 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | I live by myself with 3 horses, teach full-time and have a 25 minute commute to & from work. Typically, I cook two nights a week and eat leftovers the other 2 nights that I'm home. On Fridays, I usually leave as soon as I do chores and take the horses to my boyfriend's place for the weekend.
On a M-Thurs, I leave for work about 7:05-7:10 a.m., get home about 4:30 p.m., then feed horses, go inside and relax for a half hour or so. When I say relax, I use that term loosely. Most days I'll either do laundry, start the dishwasher, or check my personal email. Sometimes I get dinner cooked then and go back out about 6:30 to ride. Other times, I'll ride a horse, then feed, then cook, and go back out around 7:30 to ride 1-2 more horses. If it's a leftovers night, I usually zap leftovers in the microwave while horses eat and ride about 30 minutes after that. I also have to clean part of the barn a couple times a week, buy groceries, horse feed, and try to do other household chores.
I find that if I do 1-2 household chores per night, I can get everything done. I'm not afraid to start the dishwasher or washing machine and go back outside to ride either! Typically I don't ride each horse for more than 25-30 minutes once they're legged up, and on nights that I'm really crunched for time, I'll ride one and pony one to save time. Tonight might be one of those nights.....I got home at 6 from a high school softball game and still haven't gotten to start riding. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Story of my life.
Right now I have an hour and 15min commute. So up at 5 for chores out the door between 6 and 6:15, home between 6 and 6:15. I at least try to ride my good horse or pony him off my backup horse. I ride in our pasture a lot and right now am really working to get him as aired up as possible so we cover a lot of ground in 30-40min. If I pony him I try to also ride one of our rope horses and pony another. Right now my SO is working late as well, once he gets off earlier he'll help ride. Or we breakaway practice 1 or 2 nights a week since it's faster to get calves up and rope than steers we save them for the weekend.
By the time everyone is tucked in, fed, and we take care of any other things that need done outside it's usually 8:30-9pm. We do a lot of quick meals like tacos, spaghetti, I usually pressure cook a package of chicken breasts to shred for salad all week and will do fajitas out of that. Crock pot meals when I remember. Admittedly we keep a couple frozen pizzas in the freezer and had hamburger helper tonight.
Wouldn't have it any other way though (minus the crappy 2.5hrs of my day I spend in a vehicle). |
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 Porta Potty Pants
Posts: 2600
| I've conceded to a time out from barrel racing. Between work and driving my child everywhere, it just was causing too much stress, so I'm on a hiatus. My horse is now a 1D hay recycler.
Edited by azsun 2017-05-10 12:24 AM
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 Witty Enough
Posts: 2954
Location: CTX | I get up at 5am to feed, then out the door around 5.30am to get to work. I have an hour commute and work from 6.30am to 3pm. So get home around 4pm (if I can get away in time...) so that gives me time to ride and mess with the colt. Feed the dogs and chickens. Usually I can start my diner somewhere between 6pm and 7pm. Than spend some time on the couch and around 9pm it is time to hit the shower and get to bed.
I absolutely HATE getting up that early, I am not a morning person... (hence the name... hehehe) but even 6am would be too early, so I just deal with it because it gives me enough time in the afternoon to do chores, and if needed I still have time to take them to a vet or something without having to take leave.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 399
| Well we generally are busy all the time so I live with the crockpot always being used. We try to keep easy things to eat in the house like chopped lettuce and veggies so we can each just make a quick salad. I dont try and physically make dinner every night because my husband and i both would rather be outside. I get up about an hour early and do my laundry and dishes then and my husband does chores in the morning or if i do them i just get up alittle earlier. I also set aside a day for each task, for example mondays are sweep the floors before i get dressed for work. Every morning i throw a load of clothes in the wash. |
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 Party Girl
Posts: 12293
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming | My SO has be living off of turkey and PBJ sandwiches for awhile, he doesn't care. He would rather us be outside doing what we enjoy instead of in the house cooking or cleaning. I do try and cook at least a couple of times a week and we eat a lot of leftovers. |
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 Unknown Drip
Posts: 5624
Location: Back in MT BABY!!! | I guess I'm one of the lucky ones...my BF usually makes dinner during the week so I don't have to. I usually will cook on the weekends...when I do I will make extra so we can reheat during the week. I also have hired a cleaning lady to come once a month to pick up all the areas I miss. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 915
Location: SE KS | Get up 6:30 ish, feed, son turns horses out before he leaves for school.
Work 8-4:30, home change clothes ride for an hour do chores. Currently have adult
children living with us, so one of them usually does supper or husband will fix it.
Relax then off to bed! |
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 Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | I've been trying to figure this out and haven't done a very good job of it. I know how much I need to ride to get my horses in shape and keep them in shape, it just seems like with my job it is impossible to stay consistent. Some weeks I have all the time in the world, and other weeks I don't have any time to spare. Then when I get home I have things I need to get done there. I do board a few miles out of town, but not very far...It just seems like there aren't enough daylight hours, but I enjoy reading everyone else's response so that I can take some hints on how to get it done! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 380
| I ride at 6pm for an hour and spend a half hour grooming, organizing my tack area, filling my grain bin. Ride 5 days a week right now and it's driving hubby crazy lol. |
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 The Bling Princess
Posts: 3411
Location: North Dakota | It's tough sometimes with work and I only train/haul one horse. It's a lot of late nights. Usually not in the house until after 10 pm. Multi-tasking is my friend. Ill throw in laundry before I go out to ride, soak dishes, etc. Most of the big chores, like cleaning my house, mowing the lawn, etc take place on weekends when I have more daylight hours to get things done. I commend those ladies that have little ones, work a full time job, and still manage to get 3 horses ridden and hauled. Ya'all are super stars. |
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 It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | Love this thread, trying to find a better routine. I need to figure out more 'summery' crock pot things to make!
I try to do all my grocery shopping on Sunday to plan my weeks meals. Stinkin' job gets in the way of all the fun things thats for sure! |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | It's tough.
I'm usually up at 5:30 AM so that I can get myself ready for work, and get my 11-month-old to daycare at 7:00 AM (30 min commute to town) and get myself to work at 7:30 AM. I'm usually at work until 5:30 PM or 6:00 PM. Then I have to choose to work my 2 horses ... or go home and see my daughter before she goes to bed! I try to alternate. I board my horses so if I am working them that night, I go there straight after work and usually don't get home until 9:00 PM.
And of course, then there's trying to find time to do all those other things (cooking, laundry, mow the lawn, etc).
Thankfully, I usually do not work Wednesdays so that gives me a catch up day, or day for appointments, or whatever it may be.
Someday I will have my horses out my own back door instead of boarding, and while that will help a lot .... but it will also create more work!
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 Guys Just Wanna Have Fun
Posts: 5530
Location: OH | Can't help ya much, haven't been on my main horse in months. We are in a situation where we have built our breeding program up so much that the demands of it have overtaken the enjoyment of riding our own---it is a struggle. |
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It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | r_beau - 2017-05-11 10:52 AM It's tough.
I'm usually up at 5:30 AM so that I can get myself ready for work, and get my 11-month-old to daycare at 7:00 AM (30 min commute to town) and get myself to work at 7:30 AM. I'm usually at work until 5:30 PM or 6:00 PM. Then I have to choose to work my 2 horses ... or go home and see my daughter before she goes to bed! I try to alternate. I board my horses so if I am working them that night, I go there straight after work and usually don't get home until 9:00 PM.
And of course, then there's trying to find time to do all those other things (cooking, laundry, mow the lawn, etc).
Thankfully, I usually do not work Wednesdays so that gives me a catch up day, or day for appointments, or whatever it may be.
Someday I will have my horses out my own back door instead of boarding, and while that will help a lot .... but it will also create more work!
Sounds just like my life, except my horses are right down the road now thankfully. I only work half days on Friday's so that gives me a catch up on housework day usally! Or appointments too.
Still a balance trying to figure out if I should make dinner quick then go ride, or ride first and eat later. Still really haven't figured that out. Harder when little people have earlier bed times. Sometimes I sneak out after bed time to go ride :) |
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Party Girl
Posts: 12293
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming | Good example of how good my soon to be hubby is.
I am an office manager at our local Sale Barn. I sales are on Wednesdays and we never know when we are going to get out of here. Yesterday was a bigger day for us an I didn't get home until after 6. My SO had the horses out and was getting ready to saddle when I got home. We each rode a horse and I went for a walk after ( have a goal to workout everyday until our wedding, only 30 more days to go!!) and he cooked dinner.
Yes the pots are still sitting on the oven this morning but we will get to them when we get to them. Our house is a mess right now since I was gone over the weekend but it will also get cleaned when I have time. We are gathering cows tomorrow to brand on Saturday and I may have a few hours on Sunday to get some laundry done but we live through it. |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | My so will cook once in awhile and sometimes supper is soup. .lol...i get up at 530..feed and head to work..get home at 5 and go feed and saddle the snarky ones and go in and make supper...back out at the barn by 6..and i start riding...right now i have 4 going..but i pony my 1 old mare..and soon I will be on my 5yr old and get him going again..so busy nights ahead....on some jackpot nights the so will make me a sandwhich and throw it on the dash of the truck..lol. .....its all a balance.........m |
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Guys Just Wanna Have Fun
Posts: 5530
Location: OH | UTAHCANCHASER - 2017-05-11 12:59 PM Good example of how good my soon to be hubby is.
I am an office manager at our local Sale Barn. I sales are on Wednesdays and we never know when we are going to get out of here. Yesterday was a bigger day for us an I didn't get home until after 6. My SO had the horses out and was getting ready to saddle when I got home. We each rode a horse and I went for a walk after ( have a goal to workout everyday until our wedding, only 30 more days to go!!) and he cooked dinner.
Yes the pots are still sitting on the oven this morning but we will get to them when we get to them. Our house is a mess right now since I was gone over the weekend but it will also get cleaned when I have time. We are gathering cows tomorrow to brand on Saturday and I may have a few hours on Sunday to get some laundry done but we live through it.
Mrs. Mighty Broke says that a clean house is the sign of a neglected horse---what's up with that ???? LOL |
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 Poor Cracker Girl
Posts: 12150
Location: Feeding mosquitos, FL | The only way it gets done is good planning and letting some stuff go. My house is never clean enough. My barn is a wreck. But, my horses are fit!
I adjusted my schedule so I work 7 to 330. That gets me home by 4. Change clothes and head straight for the barn. The trick for me is I cannot sit down, some days not even to put my boots on. My couch has magical powers that will suck me down into the cushions and somehow turn the Netflix on.
Then I'll ride, usually ponying one for the "long trot" portion, clean everybody up, feed, and I'm back in the house by 7/730. My husband generally cooks dinner though we switch off pretty regularly.
I also schedule my afternoons pretty rigidly - Mondays are gym, errands, and non-riding barn chores (trimming feet usually), Fridays are date night, Saturdays are for barrel races, and Sundays are for house cleaning, lawn mowing, grocery buying. I also do a lot of shopping on Amazon so I don't have to make time to go to the store. Also, because I am very lazy.  |
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 Half-Eaten Cookies
Posts: 2076
Location: Fort Worth / Springtown | I was feeling so accomplished on Tuesday - we have no DVR and there is only one 30 minute tv show that I get depressed if I miss and I've missed a lot, lately - The Middle....so Tuesday, during the first commercial, I put eggs in the pot to boil and caught 2 horses and tied them to trailer. Next commercial I saddled one - , next commercial I saddled the other. And before I went out to ride, I took the eggs out of pot to cool. Rode both horses and came back inside to make awesome salads for me and husband, ate, then went back out to feed and water the horses.
A lot of back and forth, breaking up tasks - heating something in the oven, hoppping off the horse to take it out of the oven to cool, then cooling horse off and unsaddling. My husband doesn't like to eat late, either...but if he comes home and starts mowing he stays out late anyway, so I try to work with that.
Before I lived with my horses, it was a totally different story. Crazy horsey married life 
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 612
| I struggle with the same thing. I usually don't get home from work until 5:30 or 6:00. I am like everyone else and will start a load of laundry before I go outside. I have solid enough horses that I usually only ride for about 30 minutes. I have a 10 year old son. It is tough to help him ride or run him to his other activities and get my horses ridden too. My husband is great and will saddle my horse, sometimes even ride him and run our son to activities.
I am a master at 30 minute meals, but now that it is nice out, we don't eat until 9:00 a lot of nights. If I can put something n the oven, I will do that as I come down from the arena - before I unsaddle. Otherwise I cook dinner in 30 minutes. We also do eat leftovers one or two nights a week.
I would like to get in the habit of eating before we go outside, but I haven't found a way to make that work. |
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Party Girl
Posts: 12293
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming | Mighty Broke - 2017-05-11 11:29 AM UTAHCANCHASER - 2017-05-11 12:59 PM Good example of how good my soon to be hubby is.
I am an office manager at our local Sale Barn. I sales are on Wednesdays and we never know when we are going to get out of here. Yesterday was a bigger day for us an I didn't get home until after 6. My SO had the horses out and was getting ready to saddle when I got home. We each rode a horse and I went for a walk after ( have a goal to workout everyday until our wedding, only 30 more days to go!!) and he cooked dinner.
Yes the pots are still sitting on the oven this morning but we will get to them when we get to them. Our house is a mess right now since I was gone over the weekend but it will also get cleaned when I have time. We are gathering cows tomorrow to brand on Saturday and I may have a few hours on Sunday to get some laundry done but we live through it. Mrs. Mighty Broke says that a clean house is the sign of a neglected horse---what's up with that ???? LOL
I like the way that woman thinks!!! |
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 Expert
Posts: 2674
Location: Silver Lake, MN | I work until 5-530 every night, home and go outside to start my evening process. I used to have 2 horses to ride and currently just have 1 plus a yearling. I like it a lot because I can ride, do my chores and not feel rushed. We still don't get in until 830 or 9 most nights. We are pretty good at putting some meat together and a salad that is a typical dinner for us. I get up before work and do a little work out and my SO goes and feeds everyone for me. I'm pretty lucky and have a guy that supports me even though he doesn't ride and does chores for me when needed. It is way less stress only having 1 to ride though. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 929
| TrackinBubba - 2017-05-11 10:58 AM
The only way it gets done is good planning and letting some stuff go. My house is never clean enough. My barn is a wreck. But, my horses are fit!
I adjusted my schedule so I work 7 to 330. That gets me home by 4. Change clothes and head straight for the barn. The trick for me is I cannot sit down, some days not even to put my boots on. My couch has magical powers that will suck me down into the cushions and somehow turn the Netflix on.
Then I'll ride, usually ponying one for the "long trot" portion, clean everybody up, feed, and I'm back in the house by 7/730. My husband generally cooks dinner though we switch off pretty regularly.
I also schedule my afternoons pretty rigidly - Mondays are gym, errands, and non-riding barn chores (trimming feet usually), Fridays are date night, Saturdays are for barrel races, and Sundays are for house cleaning, lawn mowing, grocery buying. I also do a lot of shopping on Amazon so I don't have to make time to go to the store. Also, because I am very lazy.
This! And we meal prep all meals on Sundays, too. So I either just have to throw something in the crock pot before work or pull something out of the refrigerator. Its a bit harder for me since I have a toddler, but once I figured out I need to have snacks in the car or in thr horse trailer for him, we do okay. He sits in his stroller while I ride and then I will lead him around on my horses to cool them out and everyone's happy that way.
I also do not cook on Wednesdays- it's fend fer yerself night (aka Whatever Wednesday) and everyone can eat cereal or cookies, pizza or something else I will not eat. |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | Mighty Broke - 2017-05-11 12:29 PM
UTAHCANCHASER - 2017-05-11 12:59 PM Good example of how good my soon to be hubby is.
I am an office manager at our local Sale Barn. I sales are on Wednesdays and we never know when we are going to get out of here. Yesterday was a bigger day for us an I didn't get home until after 6. My SO had the horses out and was getting ready to saddle when I got home. We each rode a horse and I went for a walk after ( have a goal to workout everyday until our wedding, only 30 more days to go!!) and he cooked dinner.
Yes the pots are still sitting on the oven this morning but we will get to them when we get to them. Our house is a mess right now since I was gone over the weekend but it will also get cleaned when I have time. We are gathering cows tomorrow to brand on Saturday and I may have a few hours on Sunday to get some laundry done but we live through it.
Mrs. Mighty Broke says that a clean house is the sign of a neglected horse---what's up with that ???? LOL
And the folks on here know where priorities are between horses and houses  |
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Total Germophobe
Posts: 6443
Location: Montana | Part of my trouble is I sometimes don't get done working until 8 o'clock at night, so it doesn't leave a lot of time for much else, so for me during the week it is hit and miss...and I wish it was more hit. I get to work my horses on Saturday morning and get other chores done then (like check the fence, spray pastures, etc.). The good thing about my job is if I have a lame or sick horse, I can take off about whenever I need to, to go doctor them and come back to work (or have a vet out, or whatever). Trying to get a balance...but this time of year is our busy time, so I'm not complaining, I just don't know how I'm going to get my horses in shape. |
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 I Love the Oldies
Posts: 3767
Location: Central Washington | Dinner gets cooked really late! LOL
I work full time, have 4 kids and we rope/ride at least 4-5 nights a week. There are nights I don't get to bed until midnight!
This week, we realized there wasn't a clean towel in the house...my laundry was that behind! 
Winter is my down time. haha...thats when people should come visit me, because my house is likely to be clean then! |
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 ...Dot Dot Dot...
Posts: 2062
Location: SW New Mexico | I clicked on this thread, hoping for advice..
I'm inspired by everyone's drive, to get out there after work. I'm a service coordinator for developmentally disabled individuals.. I have 9 families....
I however am alone in this endeavor.. I'm s caretaker for my developmentally disabled sister, and share custody with the ex of my autistic 12 year old. I have zero help.
Nobody makes me dinner, or feeds for me, and I struggle to keep up with a aging sister, and a selfish son..
I cry on how hard it gets to keep the house,make meals, and I board 7 horses, which requires a regular routine of feeding and cleaning pens daily..
I've tried to barter feed for help, and aside from the older heavyweight women who board horses they can't ride, it's all me.
This sounds more like a vent, yes guess it is..
Just wish at my age life could get easier..
I have the best horse I've ever owned, and can't get away long enough ...or often enough to get him going the way I used to.. before the fire...that hit me and burned 3 outbuildings and a divorce that almost killed me..
Edited by jettster 2017-05-13 8:33 AM
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My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | jettster - 2017-05-13 8:29 AM
I clicked on this thread, hoping for advice..
I'm inspired by everyone's drive, to get out there after work. I'm a service coordinator for developmentally disabled individuals.. I have 9 families....
I however am alone in this endeavor.. I'm s caretaker for my developmentally disabled sister, and share custody with the ex of my autistic 12 year old. I have zero help.
Nobody makes me dinner, or feeds for me, and I struggle to keep up with a aging sister, and a selfish son..
I cry on how hard it gets to keep the house,make meals, and I board 7 horses, which requires a regular routine of feeding and cleaning pens daily..
I've tried to barter feed for help, and aside from the older heavyweight women who board horses they can't ride, it's all me.
This sounds more like a vent, yes guess it is..
Just wish at my age life could get easier..
I have the best horse I've ever owned, and can't get away long enough ...or often enough to get him going the way I used to.. before the fire...that hit me and burned 3 outbuildings and a divorce that almost killed me..
Bless your heart----hugs. . . . . |
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 Ms. Elvis
Posts: 9606
Location: Running barrels or watching nascar | Hour-and-45-minute commute and I work some weekends so I have to pick and choose where I want to run barrels. Ride on off days or before heading off to work. With entry fees, I can't be gone to a barrel race every weekend anyways so I pick the ones that matter. Also run during the week if my schedule allows it. To be honest, still finding the balance. |
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| This has been a struggle for me as well! I had an hour commute to work and a 3 year old son to drop off and pick up. I getmy 4 horses rode but sometimes I have to pick 2 then alternate for the next day. My son can now hang out in the area and be invloved some what. He doesn't want to ride but will play in the dirt long enough to get my two rode. THEN my husband calf ropes (TAKES WAY LONGER BTW) So we have to bring calves up and rope until hes done with his two horses. At this point it's 9pm, my kid is dirty, my house is dirty and there isn't any dinner cooked. Frozen meals come in handy. My husband and son could careless about whats for dinner.
I clean the house and grocery shop on Sundays. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 234
Location: Oklahoma | I have learned I cant ride everything in one night, I usually rotate through horses and ride them every other day. Its just to hard to try and ride 4-5 a night cook and take care of children. I do get help from my husband but most nights he doesnt get home till 8:30 or later at night. I cook every other night so we have left overs the other nights that helps a lot.. It is just a matter of shuffling things around and see what I can and cant get done.
I usually cook as soon as I get home and then go to riding, when it cools off so the kids can play out side. When its starts to get really hot in mid summer I get up before work and start riding at 5 then it gives me my evenings to go at a slower pace and play with the kids. This is my favorite way to do get it done during summer/fall, winter I have to go back to riding at night and under lights. |
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Expert
Posts: 1446
Location: California | My husband cooks a lot and I've got him trained to be able to pull my gelding out and have him tied in the arena, brushed and ready to be saddled. I work 12 hr shifts and work full time. My husband works 8 hr shifts and full time. Lots of give and take and having extra hands help me feed and take care of them. |
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Making time to ride??