New moms and horses at home

[Texarkana]

Congrats!!!

I had 5 horses at home when my son was born. He is two now. My setup and routines sounds similar to yours.

I was lucky in the sense that my husband got very overprotective of me and fed the horses for the first few weeks after birth. This was partly because I got really sick a week postpartum and had to be hospitalized. (Funny story- of all things I had an infection from the same bacteria that causes strangles)

It’s been tough. Two years later, it’s still tough at times. But I don’t think boarding would have made me feel better. Once I was feeling ready to get back in the swing of things, horse chores were a like a mini-vacation and critical for my sanity.

The hard thing about December is that it’s cold and you may not feel good about having a newborn in the winter weather for 30-45 min. But I don’t know how far your barn is from your house— for the first few months, babies nap a lot. Once I got over my paranoia, I was able to dart outside with the baby monitor and feed while he slept inside.

For the summer, I bought a fully enclosed playpen that kept the flies out and a clip on battery powered fan.

A lot of people have success baby wearing for horse chores, but my son was never into that. Plus I found it just made everything 10x harder.

Every baby is different. What worked for me may not work for you, but I promise you will find a way to make it work. You just do what you have to do.

[Texarkana]

@ladybugsbw

I am due in October with my first and have my horses at home. To be honest, I am most concerned about this because of blanketing and all!
I have a mini and my very old retired mare, so I will not be moving them to board. My mom will be staying to help for a week or two, then my husband says he doesn’t mind doing blankets. I have some horsey friends near me that have offered to help too.

I did get a monitor that has video and will reach to my barn (not far from my house) so I can run out during naps after I heal.

Blanketing was more of a problem for me when I was pregnant than after he was born. I was due in March and all 5 of mine were blanketed the entirety of my third trimester, then for about a month or so after he was born. Buckling blanket straps was the single hardest horse chore for me at that point, closely followed by picking feet.

I don’t think it will be a problem for you to blanket them with a newborn.

[Bebe_Falcon1]

@Libby2563

No advice specific to kids, but can you streamline your feeding routine at all so they don’t come into the barn? In the winter when my boys are out 24/7 I use feed bags for grain and it’s so much easier than schlepping them in/out and cleaning stalls.

I second this. Pare your responsibilities down as much as possible. Switch to graining once a day in a feed bag. Reduce the time spent picking the dry lot. Etc. Keep the stalls for actual emergencies or stall rest.

@Texarkana

Once I was feeling ready to get back in the swing of things, horse chores were a like a mini-vacation and critical for my sanity.

Also true. Horses are sanity when your life feels like a train that’s jumped the tracks. Don’t forget that!

[MadTrotter]

Congrats!

Please know the following is NOT meant to scare you, just prepare you!

So I would strongly suggest you get coverage for the first couple weeks at least. As a bunch of others said below, you could end up with an unexpected c-section and I can tell you, the doctors are NOT PLAYING when they tell you not to lift anything heavier than baby for the first couple weeks.

My friend gave birth vaginally and tore pretty badly, needed follow up surgeries to deal with scarring. She was in much worse shape than I was with a scheduled C-section (I had a low placenta that never moved so I always knew, and it was a piece of cake!) Moms are generally in the hospital for 5 days with a C-section.

Once I could hobble around I did wear my son out to do chores, but don’t be surprised to find your risk tolerance is drastically reduced. It was the most surprising things that changed for me as a mom.

Again, just trying to convince you to prepare Overwhelming likelihood you will be just fine! And then, you’ll have the luxury of those weeks of help and can use that time and energy on baby

[B-burg_Dressage]

Breastfeeding my 10 week old as I type this in the middle of the night.

I have two geldings at home. They come in twice a day for care/feeding. The run-in is attached to the barn and gets cleaned twice a day as needed.

I had a vaginal birth with a lot of tearing and a pretty long recovery that required follow-up care. Just getting up off the couch was a struggle for a good week with slow improvement after that. No way was I up for carrying bales or being jostled accidentally by a horse. Not to say I didn’t hobble out there to visit with them while my husband fed and I held baby. It hurt and was not fun, but seeing my boys was worth it.

We hired someone to take care of the animals and house while in the hospital (we live an hour away so too far to send the hubs home regularly). But other than that hubs did all the care. Those last few weeks of pregnancy were also poopy, so he helped me pretty much every night anyway and got used to it. He fed, did blanket changes as necessary, picked feet, and the run-in. He did all the chores for the first couple weeks. Then transitioned to just AM chores so I could “sleep in”.

Starting about 6 weeks in, I took over all the chores again. I just use the baby carrier (the type where he’s on my chest and I’m hands free) in the mornings and hubs watches him in the evenings. This means all the extra stuff is done in the evenings and morning chores are pretty simple.

I had the in-laws come over for the first farrier and vet visit so I could handle things. But now I just baby wear if hubs isn’t home.

Feel free to PM if you want any other free advice of someone living it. Good luck! It’s really hard but I’m absolutely in love with our little boy.

[Luseride]

Is there any reason they could not just stay on turnout for a few weeks? I know we think sometimes they need all this care but really they like being out.

Do enlist help from your family but in my experience that only last for so long. Sleep deprivation is a thing so even if you can physically do the work sometimes mentally that work does not go very well. When the baby sleeps you rest, even if it is not sleep, for the first few weeks.

[SugarCubes]

You guys are a wealth of knowledge, thank you all so much!

I can definitely skip a couple of things to make chores take less time, but with a senior who requires 5lbs of soaked feed each feeding to maintain his weight (and daily previcox) it’s easier to bring him in since it takes him FOREVER to eat. The mare gets a handful of gro n win and I often just feed her in the dry lot. They can stay out pretty much 24/7 other than that though….I just pamper them and let them stay in since they prefer napping in their stalls

My hay feeder holds 3 bales at a time in a slow feed net, and my husband knows how to refill it and tie the net. So yeah, I can make it easier for a couple weeks if need be.

I don’t blanket in winter, and one priority before baby comes is a run in shelter so I don’t need to put them in stalls during nasty weather. So that should help too!

@Mallard Your comment made me chuckle. Yes, if I want to make it work, I’m sure I can make it work! But I’m NOT a professional and don’t need to be at the barn for my income! If hiring help makes my life easier, bet your a$$ that’s what I’m going to do ! I have a trainer that sounds like yours though, we have a staff to clean stalls at the barn, but she was back within a week wearing the baby and teaching lessons. All the props to them!! Doesn’t sound like something I’d want to do!

[candyappy]

@ladybugsbw

I don’t blanket the mini ever… that would be abuse!

The ancient mare has always been thin skinned, and she has unlimited hay / mush but let’s us know quickly if she needs a blanket. She has been with me for 17 years and I owe her the best retirement after all she has done for me
I do not blanket normally unless a horse absolutely needs it.

Throwing on or changing a blanket doesn’t add that much time and honestly if your baby isn’t colicky or fussy ( thankfully my 3 were not) you can run out to the barn w/ monitor even when baby is awake if you need to briefly.

If you are lucky yours will be a good napper. NONE of mine were!

[helent623]

Just wanted to add that if you do baby wear in winter, this thing is an absolute must.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/869744637/babywearing-cover-for-any-baby-carrier?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_a-accessories-baby_accessories-baby_carriers_and_wraps&utm_custom1=k_Cj0KCQjwzLCVBhD3ARIsAPKYTcTiPo4LR8ETo_xk4GDN53qrzlFhRLEbTqz1a_t43mfgkf4K2pOQUgsaArMqEALw_wcB_k&utm_content=go_12569670866_123170967481_507437821664_aud-1118323511478:pla-353125135569_m__869744637_112595273&utm_custom2=12569670866&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzLCVBhD3ARIsAPKYTcTiPo4LR8ETo_xk4GDN53qrzlFhRLEbTqz1a_t43mfgkf4K2pOQUgsaArMqEALw_wcB

[EADoug]

On that note, I had a winter baby in Montreal and had a lined thick insert for the zipper of my parka. Baby went on the cloth wrap against me and his head sat at my chin with a hat on. Snug as a bug in a rug even in -30.

[poltroon]

Absolutely, arrange for help now. Find someone, bring them out, get them trained, do it as soon as you can.

If things go brilliantly, all good, you have someone to chat with, and a little moment to relax, and you can end up shortening the time.

But: you do need time to recover - you’ll at best be low on sleep, you’ll be healing - and not having to do animals will be such a blessing.

And: remember that you are not going to be in total control here. You might end up on bedrest if there are difficulties. You might give birth early, possibly weeks early. If these things happen there will be enough going on without needing to make arrangements for the horses. Your husband might rather be with you than with the horses.

Consider training multiple people, putting up some signs with instructions, thinking about how your animals can be fed and managed with no one opening any gates or going inside the stalls/paddocks, etc. Think about the bare minimum you can accept - like if they can be out, no mucking maybe. This way you have backup.

I found that certain chores became really hard in late pregnancy - like for example I couldn’t get grain out of the bottom of a trash can by myself any more. It was also incredibly exhausting to go anywhere in the truck, with all the extra motion of a truck.

Once you’re healed and all is well and you get a routine going, you’ll have more options, but I highly recommend setting up Future You with help so you won’t have to worry about it later.

[MadTrotter]

You just reminded me of what it was like trying run the brush hog in late pregnancy…bladder was NOT having it.