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Tips for advancing w/in discipline while working really long hours

I know there are people on this forum who work 60-80 or more hours/week and still show at a high level. I know time management skills are a huge factor. I suspect some of you are able to do it because you had an excellent education in the saddle and rode at a high level when you were younger, which means you’re not “learning as you go” in a sense.

What else makes the biggest impact on being able to do this? Supportive family? Work from home and/or keeping horses at home? Outsourcing housework/yardwork? Financial security (I’m rapidly catching up on where my retirement account should be at my age, but am not quite there yet)? Administrative support at work? Horse in training program?

One way to do it is have your horse in a full training program, so that you only need to turn up on the weekend to compete on a fully tuned up horse. Obviously having the cash to do this is necessary.

At the minimum you need to be in a boarding barn. I can’t see anyone working 80 hours a week plus maintaining acreage or even doing self board. Many people who take their horses home find they ride less often or ride with less focus because there is no trainer, no arena, no camaraderie, etc. Indeed riding alone in am isolated home arena might not even be that safe.

40 hours a week is 9 to 5 five days a week. 60 hours a week would be 9 to 9 five days a week, and 80 hours? 9 to 9 seven days a week?

If that’s a year round working schedule I don’t see room for a major hobby. Some people have jobs with busy and slow times or long vacations.

If you are an intermediate rider you probably need your butt in the saddle at least four days a week to make any progress, and the more hours the more progress.

What would make the most impact would be cutting out everything else besides employment and focusing on the riding. Obviously not everyone is in a position to do this.

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If a person is averaging 80 hrs a week working, they probably aren’t riding horses all that much. As Scribbler detailed above the numbers just don’t add up. Ask me how I know!

For a slightly less hectic schedule, I think some big contributors would be flexible work hours, ability to keep horses in full training, relative proximity to desired show venues, minimal family obligations and a boat load of self discipline!

As with any luxury hobby, financial backing is a big deal.

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Yeah, overshot with the 80. Was not thinking when I posted, though I have done in excess of that for short periods depending on project requirements.

I have a friend that works 12 hour days for about ten days in a row, then gets a break. Techie in film. She started having a lot of trouble with her new horse that got resolved when she was off work because of Covid lockdown. Now she’s back at work she’s moved to a place she can get training rides as needed.

It’s doable but not easy. Most people I know who are devoted to work/career yet still compete at a high level in a given sport or activity are those who are very financially well off and can outsource many daily/weekly tasks that, in aggregate, consume a lot of time for the average individual, both within the sport and in their daily lives.

While these people work a lot, they are in a position to be able to flexibly structure their work around their sport so they aren’t necessarily constrained by their work/career, even though they pull long hours. They also have means to faster means of transportation should the need arise to suddenly travel for a day or weekend.

So to your questions, from my experience, the biggest assistance to doing this is a very strong financial base of support. Everything else is really secondary (assuming you’re healthy/in shape, have discipline/work ethic, etc).

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I guess it depends on a few definitions as well. What do you mean ‘at a high level’? I legitimately and regularly worked 60-65 hour weeks as an adult while raising two children. I have competed on ponies/horses since I was 6. I am now 57. I have owned ponies/horses my entire life. I competed and campaigned my breeding stock including my stallions during much of my riding career/hobby. Having a supportive family was and is key to my ability to juggle it all. Having horses at home and a lighted arena so I could ride whenever I was able to make the time was/is also key. I didn’t have the luxury to outsource housework or yard work until the last 5 years. I’ve not put any of my horses in a training program except for the months (a total of 2 separate occasions due to having two children) that I gave birth. I’ve earned bronze and silver medals and a few awards along the way. During the time I was actively breeding and campaigning my horses I showed (an average) 12 recognized shows a year and 10 or so schooling shows a year. My kids both rode so to an extent that helped but it also added to our show schedule - as in about 5-6 competitive trail events on top of all the other stuff. I didn’t sleep much in order to be able to fit it all in to be honest. Obviously I was hard core into my hobby. I spent and still spend many hours in the saddle. I spent many hours at the end of a lunge line without stirrups or reins to work on my seat, another key factor. I’ve taken many lessons and participated in many clinics. I’ve ridden many different horses (most I owner/owned but also some I didn’t). All of these things have given me a wealth of experience. I’ve now scaled back significantly due to divorce, family ailments, deaths in the family, etc but I am still training (start and back my own) 2 horses and show a couple of times a year - much less hectic. and easier of course and is what I can afford. Now the kicker is that as I approach retirement, my situation isn’t all that ‘guaranteed’. It could be worse but I will be working (though now just 40 hours a week) long past retirement age due to having to take care of an aging/ailing parent and adult children who still occasionally need my help along with my pets and 4 horses (one pasture puff and the other a good ole soul who is kept for others to ride). Much of what someone else might have saved for retirement went into living my dreams over the last several decades - no regrets because I’ve been happy with what I’ve been able to do over the years and as long as I can throw my leg over a horse will continue to do so. There will be very little to pass on to my kids when the end comes. High level? successful? I guess it’s all in the eyes of the beholder…

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I tried for 7 years and gave up. I fully acknowledge that it just became not worth it to me. It’s an incredible commitment when you add husband, child or children, keeping the horses at home and doing all the care and riding yourself; plus job and for me, a ridiculously long commute - nearly 700 miles a week. The job pays for the things I want to do and the commute is because land is cheaper south of the city I work in.

Yes, I could have done it smarter: 1 horse, in full board training with my instructor. I would have shown up to ride, lesson, school and show, and not tried to do everything and with multiple horses.

It probably cost me less though to keep them at home and pay as I go. I had three show horses; riding one as primary and bringing the other two along. I liked having them home. I like having the property and spending time at MY barn. Neither my husband nor daughter are riders. We have the mini farm because I wanted it. Husband helps with maintenance, but day to day care of the horses is all on me. For a bit there, I was horses, horses, horses. I felt like I lived 3 separate lives: Work; family life; horse life. My family was supportive, but it was incredibly tiring and stressful and after seven years I let it go and just trail ride. I felt like I wasn’t being as good a Mom as I needed to be for my daughter who is now 15 and busy with school and Marching Band. So now, I trail ride in the area I live in most weekends and then me and a girlfriend take one trip a year with the horses and go to the beach or mountains and spend entire days riding. I miss the sense of accomplishment with showing, but not the stress.

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I think the nature of the work can make a big difference in someone’s ability to pull off a heavy work schedule as well as being able to show at a high level. (For discussion purposes I will define “show at a high level” as the ability to show at rated shows / perhaps pursue year end awards at that level.)

I spent years very routinely working 70+ hours a week, but that doesn’t mean I was sitting in an office (or even at a desk) for a specific number of set hours every day. I did as a general rule work 7 days a week, but that often meant getting up pretty early on the east coast to do a few hours of work with European clients, then a few hours with east coast customers, then a break to go ride, back to work with west coast accounts, break for some dinner, and then do a few more hours working with the teams in APAC. (Then glass of wine, sleep, lather/rinse/repeat.)

I had (have) a lot of autonomy with respect to my schedule, so if I wanted to go to a clinic or a show or something, for the most part I could stack up meetings on other days and organize my work on other deliverables around the clinic or show schedule. I’ve taken lots of conference calls from hotels at shows (or the car, or in the top of the stands for that matter. I can work anywhere that has a laptop and internet - or worst case a cellular connection and a smart phone.)

At that time I did travel extensively all over the world and chose to do full board / training so my horses’ schedules stayed consistent whether I was there to ride or not. Sometimes I’d be home and ride 5-6 days in a row and other times, I might step off a plane and head to the barn (or a show) before even heading home.

These days I keep my horses at home and I find it affords me more riding and training opportunities than I had when I boarded; I can ride even if I just have a free hour between meetings without having to deal with commuting time back and forth to the barn. It also allowed me to have better options - being able to retire my older horse the way I wanted, for example, or having more horses than I could have had if I were still paying full board for each horse.

I love having my horses at home and being able to manage their care in a way that was not possible when I boarded. But having the horses at home doesn’t mean I am adding hours of manual labor to my schedule. I typically do the barn on Sundays and I do generally feed in the evenings; I love being the one who does night check along with carrots and cuddles when they get tucked in for the night. But most of the heavy lifting is done by my excellent help (and a very supportive spouse whose hobby has become growing tasty grass for the ponies, LOL.)

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Full board and some training.

I have nine horses at the house and work 40-50 hours a week. I’m lucky if I can get them all ridden 3x/week. I do carve out time to go take a lesson once a week, and I’ve been trying to set up a second weekly lesson at the house.

I haven’t paid to show at a national level since I brought them all home. It’s just not feasible to spend hundreds-thousands of dollars to go to a horse show and compete against the horses who are in full training programs and ridden 5-6x per week versus mine that are being ridden half as much. I’ll show locally, and did this summer and loved it. But unless you’re playing with the big dogs by doing it that way, you’re throwing away good money.

Edit to Add: I do not have help. It’s all me, and the non-horsey husband. I appreciate my circumstances, as I’ve been able to offer more turnout at the house than my horses ever got boarded, and it costs me the same to feed my nine as it did to board two - so any injuries, my young foals, etc have been able to be added. But when everyone is healthy and old enough to be in a program, it’s exhausting. :lol:

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Let’s say for the purposes of this thread that “high level” means personal stretch goals based on a realistic/reasonably accurate assessment of viable pathways to achieve them (i.e. they are not total fantasy-land), and requiring a consistent nontrivial commitment of time/money/fitness. You guys are definitely hitting that mark. I definitely had some “moving up levels” and competition goals in mind, also lifelong investments (e.g. developing a breeding program or becoming a judge), but I’m happy to include stretch goals such as “ride a horse in every country of the world” as “high level” due to the ambition/commitment required to meet it.

I think it is the “consistent nontrivial commitment of time/money/fitness” that makes or breaks things in this situation. The reality is that there are only so many hours in a day, and everyone has certain guardrails to contend with - those could be work or family responsibilities, health related limitations, budgets, etc. It is largely a prioritization exercise. You can have it all, as the saying goes, but often not at once.

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@Lucassb, I agree totally.

I do get a lot of value out of people posting insights from their personal experiences, like everyone here has been. Seeing lots of examples of individual situations, trade-offs, and choices does help me get a sense of the scope of what is achievable within different guardrails.

So I hope people keep posting!

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These goals are pulling in different directions.

“Ride a horse in every country” sounds like fun. But I’m not sure it’s compatible with “moving up the levels” if you have any constraints of time or cash.

There are great options for pony treks on the moors, adult fox hunt “camp,” Rocky Mountain back country pack trips, dude ranch experience, or a month learning classical dressage with Portugese Lusitanos. Not to mention the Mongolian endurance race. I’m sure you could find adult polo camp somewhere. Etc.

All you need is a credit card and good vacation benefits. But these are all very pricey options, and they (a) take you away from your own horse and (b) quite likely don’t add to the skill set of your own discipline.

It could be a very reasonable goal to take basic lessons/ lease every winter with the goal of splurging on an exotic horse vacation every summer. But then you couldn’t use your vacation time for clinics and competition.

If you want to become a judge you need to accomplish certain levels in your discipline of choice.

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I’ll preface by saying I’m definitely not working 80 hours a week. Not by a long shot.

But I wake up early and ride or workout before work and make time for the other activity after work. If I had to do both after work I would not be able to.

I only have one show horse. I try to ride my older guy a few times a week to keep him moving, but I don’t feel guilty if I miss a ride on him and opt to ride the show horse. Show guy gets ridden 4-5 times a week assuming weather works out.

I keep my guys at home and saving time on that commute is amazing. If I have a half hour I can hop on bareback and still get a ride in. I also have my farm set up to be as easy as possible. Basically 24/7 turnout. Pastures attached to the barn.

Somewhat flexible job. The extra hours I work can be used later to take time off for a show or the farrier.

Supportive spouse who helps with farm maintenance and knows that dinner is usually pretty late!

Competing only a few times a year at bigger shows (other than this year). Then another couple local schooling shows. Regionals but probably not nationals (but that’s also money related). Knowing my progress is a bit slower than it would be if I had time for more.

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Yup! I’m a lawyer in a big firm. I work anywhere between 0 and 100 hours per week. When I have a short stint of 75+, I don’t ride. It’s just not possible. If I’m working that hard, I’m typically on site at a trial or arbitration anyway.

The rest of the time, I ride 5 days a week (trainer rides 1) and attend most vet/chiro appointments and training rides. My horses are boarded in full training. Monday is the only day I don’t go to the barn. Every few weeks I drive out to visit my retiree who lives in a much less expensive area outside commuting range. I can keep 2 - MAX - in work without giving up so much sleep that I can’t function. When I’ve tried keeping 3 going, things had to give - and they all got more training rides and less lessons.

My biggest help has been geography. I chose a firm that let me have my main office in the suburbs. I only go into the city for client meetings, etc. Our house is 10 minutes from my office. Barn used to be 10 minutes away as well, but is now more like 30 :frowning:

I’ve shown through the CDI-Amateur small tour classes, and am hoping that my new horse will be the one to break into the GP in a few years (fingers crossed!).

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I think it really depends on your goals, finances, and talent, but the BL is there’s no way to really squeeze more hours into a day or week.

The best way to meet competetitive goals, as others have said, is to have one, maybe two, horses in full board/training with a great trainer. The horses are kept fit and tuned, and so you can show up for a lesson and go right to work, and meet up at horse shows and have a good chance of success.

Having the resources to do that, however is not cheap. Neither is purchasing the talented, sound, and well trained, ammie-friendly horse that will perform for a rider that has had limited practice time.

If “advancing” doesn’t necessarily require competing, and instead is more along the lines of enjoying the journey, but willing to take some time to get there, it’s more doable.

I get moved to new jobs every few years. When I work long hours in my home state (45-50 hrs/week), I can still progress because I have dedication to ride after a long work day, lights in my arena so I can school before/after work in all seasons, and a trainer who’s willing to fit me in as our schedules allow. I am diligent about doing ‘homework’ and I take copious notes on our performance, with periodic video, so I can track our progress. This works if I already have the skill set and am developing a green or young horse within my comfort levels. If I was trying to learn new skills or advance beyond what Iv’e done in the past, I would need more regular interaction (via lessons and training rides).

Right now I’m working out of state (45-50 hrs/week), so I can only ride weekends. I don’t have the finances to have the horses in full board/training, so I accept that my progress (bringing along my 2 homebreds) will be slower than if they were getting ridden 5-6x/week

Many times I’m working out of country for months at a time (in excess of 80 hrs/week). Other than staying fit myself, and trying to stay motivated by watching videos and training seminars, there’s not much a I can do.

TLDR: So, absent the significant resources to hand off the daily work to someone else (work = daily care, training, fitness work, grooming, etc), you (generic you, not specifically OP) have to temper expectations. Advancement may be in fits and starts depending on a variable work schedule, but the trick is to own an appropriate horse, have the right support structure (trainer and family/spouse), and the dedication to fit in a deliberate/organized ride every single time you can.

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I boarded with a lady that was high level and had a high powered job. She had a lot of energy. She came to the barn after work and stayed late and rode. Sometimes she hired teens to tack up and groom, but mostly it was sheer dedication. She didn’t have kids and had a supportive husband, but she definitely put the work in. She also had long commutes everywhere.

I relate heavily to this- or at least I hope I do in advancing in my discipline. I work a big, demanding job and ride 5-6 days a week showing in the AO jumpers with the eye on climbing the ranks- I have three horses total, two retirees at home and one in training. My horse in training was never in a full care situation before and I was definitely one of those “I want to do everything myself” but wow the difference in time when I’m not having to tack and untack to get to work. I have a very supportive spouse and am lucky that with that demanding job, I am paid well enough to make it all work though I’m not buying a place in Grand Prix village in Wellington anytime soon… the big things for me is clear communication- with my husband, my colleagues, and my trainer on what my time can look like in a day. My work is flexible-ish but I’m usually doing calls to and from the barn which is a decent commute. Working from home has given me back a huge portion of my day too. We don’t have kids yet and I’m not sure how those will fit in but like everything else, communication and setting expectations will be key and I know that I want to step on the gas competition wise before we grow our family…I don’t expect to get to a high level, have a demanding job, and small kids all at the same time.

I do fully care for my home horses and my husband and I split house chores. It’s a lot but it is do-able