I do (2 competition horses and a companion pony), and work full time. But, DH and I share the yard duties and we now hire a local kid to do the weedwacking (I’m horribly sensitive to poison ivy so I just can’t do it). And I liberally use herbicides on my fencelines to keep the weedeating down. Yard and electric fencelines get mowed mostly weekly. Weedeating is less regular, and I don’t have fancy landscaping. A huge help has been the zero-turn mower that makes quick work of the yard mowing and some of the pasture mowing for part of the year. I rotate my grazing and don’t look to have manicured pastures, so the pastures only get mowed or bushogged every other month or so as the horses come off of them.
The only other being in my household is the cat & he is pretty useless (aside from snuggling). 
I have to travel a lot for work, usually my neighbour feeds the horses while I am gone. She is a trainer so she is basically always home & I have also made friends with several of her boarders, who on occasion will throw food for me too. One of the reasons I bought this property was because it has other horse properties on both sides & happily everyone turned out to be friendly. Since I don’t have any money, I barter with them for tasks – I’ll help fix things for them or help with their animal care or other trades.
Retired people are also very handy for this, so I recommend hitting up neighbours even if they aren’t horse people (and aren’t terrible). I designed & built my place specifically so it was easy to care for – no stalls to clean & horses can be fed without touching them. A half-trained monkey could cover it for a couple days. I don’t have a dog anymore (because of said travel) & cat can take care of himself. I prep & label everything so they just have to walk in, dump food & it takes about 5-10 mins (including a basic eyeball if horses still have all limbs attached & are breathing). Keeping it super simple also means people are more willing to help out because I’m not asking for much time or effort.
You can also ask around at vet, farrier, hay suppliers, trainers, whoever you have a good relationship with – they often know folks who are local & trustworthy.
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I ride and show. This summer, I hired someone to come in for 6 hours/week to weed whack (my back can do dressage OR weed whacking) and mow. I usually have to do 2 additional hours a week, and I bush hog the fields every 2 weeks. I also use the vinegar/salt/dishwashing liquid mix to control weeds. It works well, so no Roundup on my farm.
I do! I have one horse boarded at my trainer’s that I ride 5-6days/week and two at home that are just starting their education (so ring work ~3 days/week). We’ve got about 4-5 acres that is on a weekly mowing schedule (I wish this rain would stop!!). I mow probably 3 days/week after work to break it up. Also work full time from home. it’s exhausting but rewarding. And no, I’m not winning any Southern Living Farm Of The Year Awards but it’s presentable to say the least!
I’ve given up weedwacking except for around the house. I have a great recipe for a non toxic plant killer…it really works and works fast!
1 gallon industrial white vinegar (not the cooking kind. You can find it on amazon)
2 cups Epsom salts
1/4 Dawn dish detergent
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We have about 20 acres we have to maintain regularly, maybe another 40+ we have to maintain now and then. The rest is left more or less wild. I don’t do any of it lol. I also board my horse 30 mins away. Double lol.
I greatly admire my BO and anyone else who does it all and still finds time to ride. Because I am not even close.
160 acres, 2 of us. “Retired” to being full time farmers. 45 acres of hay fields. The rest is house, lawn, hay barn, indoor arena, and paddocks and pasture. No box stalls, a couple of run in shelters usually used in winter only. He does the lawn mowing around the house and is a mountain biker and fishing fiend, I mow around the gardens, plant and weed veggie gardens (2), and mow pastures with tractor and brush hog. (Pastures had to be first cleared and cleaned up of 80 year old logging slash, building burn piles (I still burn 20 big ones ever winter) stumps, logs, beaver damage, deadfall, and general detritus- that took a number of years to accomplish to the state it is currently in- you can’t mow it if you can’t drive over it). Paddocks are picked twice a day, pastures are harrowed and mowed. Horses consist of a small herd of “retirees and pets” which are on full time turn out, year round, in full retirement. A few in training, ridden when I have time and energy, but I’m not on a regimental program about it. I organize and hold riding clinics here, bringing in a qualified coach, for local riders who do not otherwise have access to quality instruction, and for me, to keep me in some sort of shape with my equitation, techniques and skills in my old age… otherwise, I ride alone, set my own jumps. I take myself to horse shows a few times a year when I feel like it, but it isn’t like I can go “on the circuit” for weeks on end, or want to do that anyway. If we want to go somewhere, we usually leave one of us at home, and the other goes, we trust no one to house sit. But we can go away together too for a few days if we want to, just put horses out in our large pastures, with plenty of grass, access to creek for water, and they look after themselves, no problem. “Farming” means never having a shortage of things to do! We are “semi-remote”, with all it’s perks and problems. One learns to adjust to this reality. The isolation of “covid pandemic” is just regular life for us… you know you are anti social when a global pandemic results in no change in your lifestyle. This project has been going on for 13 years now. Wouldn’t trade it for anything.
I am almost ashamed to post on this topic as I have a mere 5ac - probably near 3 in pastures - & currently 1 horse, 1 pony & a mini.
I am done showing & compete only rarely. At Fair & local rinkydink shows just to get out.
I do try to attend drives with my Club & the National Drive every Fall.
When I worked - 4/D/W - I had 2 horses and did the mowing myself, Pastures got mowed maybe twice a year, lawns every other week.
I have a high threshold for unkempt acreage :rolleyes:
Horses do me the small favor of keeping a 2’ perimeter along the fencelines “mowed”.
2yrs ago I threw in the towel & hired a company to mow the lawns.
Neighbor bushhogs pasture in the Fall & does the same for the open area on each side of the barn/attached indoor (where, in hindsight, I should have allowed horses access).
He is also my hayguy & cuts & bales an L-shaped area around my pastures & acreage - giving me a civilized-looking farm & room to ride & drive the mini once it’s baled.
To answer your question @Annandale I am alone here, but do travel to see family & have had some Euro & Asian vacays as well over the 16yrs I’ve been here.
My current (& for several years now) farmsitter is a guy who works & is part-owner at the local feedstore.
If he had not volunteered when I lost the last of my local farmsitters - she moved to another city - I would have asked my vet for suggestions.
My tip: it is difficult to have neighbors fill in unless they are horseowners as well & you can reciprocate.
Like @wildlifer my place is setup so anyone can feed w/o touching horses - except for opening stall doors from inside the barn to dump grain & hay & top off water buckets & outside trough. Horses are out 24/7 with free access to stalls from the sacrifice paddock that surrounds the front of the barn. In the past I did have non-horsy neighbors & friends feed, but that always had me worrying a bit.
I’d rather pay someone who can spot NQR than have to worry - especially if I am on another continent - about what’s going on at home.
When I will be out of town, I call my vet to let them know who is authorized to call for help if needed. I’d rather pay for an unnecessary farm call than have an injury/illness go unattended.
So, it looks like the answer to your question is that VERY few people ride, compete, and do a lot of yard work.
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Its exhausting but I do it as well. We have about 40acres fenced for horses and another 240 that is crop land. We do all the maintenance on the horse side and hay fields ourselves. We invested in a kickback mower attachment that hits my fence lines and its a SERIOUS game changer. I only have to weed eat the barn area now and I have not been this happy since we got heaters installed in the auto waterers! I do all the horse and general menagerie care myself but my fiance and I both ride and handle the maintenance side. Ive got my 3 at home and hes got 10-15polo ponies at any given time. We also both have real jobs. It makes for some longgggggg days but its worth it in the end!
Can I ask what kind of under fence mower you use? I have been looking at various kinds over the years, but was leery of purchasing. And what kind of fence posts and fencing do you have, so mower is successful and not breaking the posts? I have killed a couple push weed trimmers, my present one is trying to die. Might be better to get this kind of mower to keep my fences clean. Thanks.
@goodhors It is an attachment for our big tractor. I can’t think of the model off hand but I can snap a pic later! We have 4 board fence with standard wooden fence posts. We did have to move up the bottom board in some spots as the existing fence was a little tight. Other than that its been fabulous!
A picture and name brand of mower would be wonderful to check out. Thank you!
I was doing it all but now my boarder and her husband do the yard maintenance in exchange for keeping her retired horse here. She just pays for feed and cleans her stall. I turn out/in, clean his paddock, and feed. Our property has never looked better.
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I do, with lots of help from my husband. I work FT, when we aren’t quarantined I travel within the state a good bit but these last couple months I haven’t. He also works FT, an hour away from where we live. I usually ride 5 days/ week and that means hauling out to a local equestrian park 30 minutes away or to a trainer for a lesson. I’m an active eventer (last year did 5 recognized HTs, this year will probably do the same) and we both compete in CDEs. My farm is extremely hilly, which is excellent for turnout for the broodmares and babies, keeps them active and strong, but is useless for getting meaningful preparatory work done for competing. The only flat spots are where the house, barn and pool are.
I have 24 acres, probably 1.5-2 are the yard and area immediately around the barn. I like to mow but won’t weed-whack. Thankful that my husband does it. We try to bush-hog the pastures every 4-6 weeks, depending on the weather/precip, and that project is spread over several days. Mowing around the house/barn only takes me maybe 75 minutes, and that’s usually weekly.
LOL at your thread title. Working FT, this is impossible 😪
Same. When it starts to drive me crazy enough that I’m thinking about skipping riding to mow, I remind myself that it’s all going to die off in the winter and I’ll be able to try again in the spring. 
There will always be more maintenance chores that need to be done, but there are only just so many years left to ride and if I don’t keep at it there will be even fewer.
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Several years ago the DH and DS bought a bigger, more powerful string trimmer, and as it turns out it works better for me too, because it takes down so much more so much faster that I don’t have to run it for as long.
ME!!! I love mowing but hate the weed whacking thing!
I do too! I live about 30 miles outside of the city and commute in (or did before Covid- they’ll have to drag me back into that commute kicking and screaming). I have two at home plus chickens and ducks which take little effort but are very fun. My husband and I do all the yard work ourselves- the other men in the neighborhood give him h*ll for putting them to shame- but the day starts and ends with the horses. I do all the barn work myself, two at home. In addition to them, I have my competition mare in a boarding barn with my trainer and commute to her 6 days a week- I compete my mare in the jumpers with an eye on upper level. We do all the care for our home two, all yard work, and still manage to have a beer on the deck most nights. I’ll say its really satisfying to look out at all you’ve accomplished and say for the 90th time, wow that flower bed looks good without weeds in it. Covid definitely helped with the yard work… commuting time went straight into projects that we’ve wanted to do. What we don’t have tho is kids…maybe someday, but right now, I’m not sure how we could do it all plus little ones…
I do too! I live about 30 miles outside of the city and commute in (or did before Covid- they’ll have to drag me back into that commute kicking and screaming). I have two at home plus chickens and ducks which take little effort but are very fun. My husband and I do all the yard work ourselves- the other men in the neighborhood give him h*ll for putting them to shame- but the day starts and ends with the horses. I do all the barn work myself, two at home. In addition to them, I have my competition mare in a boarding barn with my trainer and commute to her 6 days a week- I compete my mare in the jumpers with an eye on upper level. We do all the care for our home two, all yard work, and still manage to have a beer on the deck most nights. I’ll say its really satisfying to look out at all you’ve accomplished and say for the 90th time, wow that flower bed looks good without weeds in it. Covid definitely helped with the yard work… commuting time went straight into projects that we’ve wanted to do. What we don’t have tho is kids…maybe someday, but right now, I’m not sure how we could do it all plus little ones…
