ICE The elephant in the room

[Ajierene]

When I was younger I wanted my own place but now that I’m older it is nice to just sit in the house in really bad weather. My sis-in-law was talking about a former coworker that retired and THEN bought her own farm to keep horses at home…were I younger when I started, sure I’d have horses in retirement, but not starting that now!

My horse is only about 5 miles away and on 90 acres. I’m there almost every day but sometimes if the snow is really bad or if it is pouring out my friend will text and say she already fed, don’t worry about coming out. Then I stay in the house all warm and dry and happy.

[ParadoxFarm]

^^
I have my horses at home, too, and in this crappy weather, it sucks all the fun out of horse ownership.

This blog post was recently posted here on Chron. https://www.chronofhorse.com/category/blog/?_gl=1f20nav_gaMTA3NDk5NDM0OC4xNjYzMjQ0NzUz_ga_3Q593VP376*MTczOTk5MTY2My4xNTE1LjEuMTczOTk5MjU4OC4wLjAuMA…

[RMJacobs]

I loved having my horses at home. But I was only doing about one percent of the work. DH did nearly all (he was a stay at home dad), and I only needed to cover if he was out of town, or once when he was trapped on the floor for several days with a bad back. Wouldn’t you know that was when we got a huge blizzard. My job was far easier–I just earned the money to support all of us.

Rebecca

[avjudge]

@RMJacobs

DH did nearly all (he was a stay at home dad), and I only needed to cover if he was out of town, or once when he was trapped on the floor for several days with a bad back. Wouldn’t you know that was when we got a huge blizzard.

Last year (January 2024) my husband went to visit family across the country for two weeks - and while he was gone we got 3 storms of wet snow (up to 15") topped by rain (which soaks in and makes the whole mass much heavier). I can’t run his snowblower and my father’s 1980s Bolens seems to finally be beyond repair. So I hand-shoveled the bank the plow threw up, plus enough of the drive to get cars in & out, and was also carrying hay up the hill to the horses (which we do on foot, don’t plow a track). I tweaked my bad SI joint (usually quiescent) and it hurt the rest of the winter.

He is no longer allowed to leave home in snow season!!!

[RMJacobs]

Yep, that would definitely make me veto winter travel plans!

I could run our plow and actually enjoyed plowing the driveway. What’s not to love about zooming up and down a long steep driveway on a small John Deere? It felt like a sports car, until I’d accidentally bump the brick on the front of the garage with the plow. That would reverberate throughout my body. Somehow I always ended up doing it on sunny days, which was a world of difference from DH being out there in a blizzard. This pic was taken from the second floor deck, with the first floor windows completely covered in drifts:

I don’t think he misses plowing, or maintaining that land.

Rebecca

[Aussie_2020]

I always had horses at home and occasionally one stayed at the trainers. But once I sold the property and bought a house in town I realized how nice it was to have my horse at a full care stable. No more frozen water buckets, no longer stressed about bad roads if I needed to get my horses to the vet, no more frozen face. The older I got the less fun it was to have them at home. I do really miss having a horse, I really, really do.

[RMJacobs]

@Aussie_2020

I do really miss having a horse, I really, really do.

Me, too. I tried taking driving lessons for a while to get my horse fix, but it just wasn’t the same. I was OK when I had to retire each driving pony as the relationship was the most important part to me. But when the last one died, it was truly the end of an era for me.

Rebecca

[oldernewbie]

I tried a grand experiment in horse care this year. My sis and I bought out the family farm from the other sibs. I board my horses at a very nice local boarding barn - whose only fault is that they keep the horses in muddy sacrifice paddocks during the winter. I got the bright idea to bring the boys home for November - March 1 so that they could have a real pasture and no mud for the winter. We even had hay made last summer so that I didn’t have to buy it.

Now here it is, a week away from March 1 and how would I rate the experiment? I really do enjoy taking care of them even in spite of the fact that we’ve had the worst winter in a long time. They enjoyed their pasture. Except for a few snags, everything has worked out great. But! They are definitely going back March 1 because a) I want to ride (can’t do it at the farm as I don’t have a ring and also would have to deal with one horse in the barn being an idiot while trying to ride the other) and b) I do want a bit more flexibility in my schedule which is kinda hard to have when the boys have to eat.

So back to the boarding barn and I’m pretty sure they will come back to the farm again November 1, assuming we have a decent hay year and my body is still somewhat functional

But I cannot imagine how hard it would be to do the work for 25+ horses. It’s a young person’s job. I always respected our barn help but I have a new appreciation for them now.

[Pennywell_Bay]

Unfortunately, the reality is that in immigration (and other RW places) “skill” is equated with level of education (formal) required of the job. It’s actually skilled/professional/unskilled. With professional have a degree that related to the job they do and unskilled job require less than 2 years of experience or training. The nuance of what makes a groom amazing may take years, but it doesn’t take years or special school/training to do stalls etc. I am pro groom/pro immigration but people on here aren’t realizing the legal classification of immigration.