Working-adulting-horse care - how are you finding time?

Have you talked with your Dr about the possibility that it’s something with your own physical or mental health that’s making you so tired? I’m not saying you’re depressed, but I have several family members that fatigue and feeling tired is one of their more prominent symptoms, other family members have said the same about various physical problems around this age (both my sisters developed thyroid problems in their late 20s). I am not a doctor, but if I was experiencing a significant decline in energy, I’d be asking my doctor questions.

FWIW, I am 34 and feel like I have more energy now than I did 10 years ago.

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I’m right around your age (32) and work full time 8-5 but am salaried so my schedule is fairly flexible. My horse is at a full care facility for the first time ever in both mine & his life. He’s sensible enough that when he lived a lot closer, I was only riding once a week or so and he was fine with that. My barn is an hr+ commute one way for me and is more expensive but i’m riding way, way more. Definitely worth the exchange in time & cost.

It is just my husband, myself, and our dogs in our 1960’s house. No kids, yet.

Here are some things that help!
-I don’t mean to be dismissive but get your vitamin D and B12 checked ASAP. Turns out my vitamin D levels were extremely low. Like, my doctor was a little curious how I made it through the day low. A presciption dose plus fairly regular blood work and I feel like a new person.
-I get up 5:30-6 every day and workout just about every other. Sometimes just starting the day with some adrenaline and that sweet, sweet dopamine is enough to get me through to ride time.
-I realize I’m in a full board situation which is half your battle here. However, for most of my life I’ve always had horses either at home or partial board. I’ve been no stranger to stuffing multiple hay bags at once (the slow feeds from SmartPak are a godsend). Even in full board, I still prep all my supplements in quart bags–that admittedly is a hold over from doing it myself for so long to save time and sanity.
-My husband is a literal, godsent saint. He pays for my lessons and when my horse first moved to our barn now, he covered the first month of training. Horses are basically my only hobby and he’s pretty clueless but comes to shows and the barn with me on weekends in exchange for a lunch date on the way home. He has his own hobbies–hockey (because why not have two expensive hobbies under one roof! :rofl:) and is a teacher so his time is about as equally filled. In fact, he’s also doing DRT with me because the exercises are great for what he needs, too.
a. As I mentioned, my drive to the barn is 2 hrs, round trip. The nights I go ride after work, I duck out of work a tad early and he either feeds himself or I have planned a dinner that’s either in the crockpot when I leave or requires little prep when I get home.
b. You don’t have to meal plan but working out a menu with your SO ahead of time is a huge time saver. Either batch cook or at least spend some time prepping. There are many a Sunday afternoon where I’m dicing onions, blending parm, chopping spinach, etc. all in prep for the week of dinners ahead. Saves myself time when I cook and my husband’s when he does. Leftovers (especially soup) go in the freezer and will get pulled out when we need something quick that requires no prep other than some pre-thought to thaw it.
c. Crockpot dinners are your friend! Throw some soup, baked potatoes, meatballs, hell meat for taco salads in there and half your battle is done when you get home from work and/or after riding. Eg. I have a lesson tonight and he has a PTO meeting after work so the plan was hot turkey sandwiches and fries. Fries go in the airfryer and are done at the same time sandwiches are. Will we be eating at 8 pm? Sure, but it’ll take under 20 min to finish.
d. Seriously, stock up on easy options you can eat in the car on the way to the barn.
-I know others have said it but it might indeed be time to consider just one horse. More quality horse time and barn time, more quality time with your SO.

Managing all the moving parts of being an adult is hard, there’s no doubt about that. But once you figure out exactly what those priorities are, being able to prioritize the time surrounding them becomes much easier :slight_smile:

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I don’t have any family to worry about and work from home, but I find I run out of time to get anything done in the afternoons without DH to pick up the slack. I hired someone to do my two stalls and paddocks 4 days a week and also have a girl, young woman, rider working my horse a couple of days a week so that does give me some breathing room.

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I have a more than full time job, 5 horses on self-care, DH and I cook every day, both of us train actively for ultras and adventure racing and plus we have a dog, several cats and foster kitties, oh yeah and a house with acerage where his aging parents live with us.
I get up at 4AM and go to bed at 8:30PM and I rarely stop moving in between.
Can you put your horses on field board and shove a round bale to them? I can feed and check my whole crew in under 15 mins. I have 3 huge water troughs, which means they only need filled once a week, I can haul 3 rounds at once which lasts like two weeks and takes less than an hour to accomplish (hay huts with nets), no mucking what so ever. They get their feed in the field and they all stand at their buckets and eat, so no bringing in and out. If I need to do blanket changes, I do it in the field- they’ve all been taught to stand without needing to halter etc. I usually ride on weekends and a couple days a week after work. Contrary to popular belief, most horses are fine not getting worked every day. DH goes home after work, starts dinner and does his workouts. I usually get home about when dinner is done. Cleaning/ housework etc? It’s honestly not a priority for me. I mean I don’t live in a hovel but if the vacuum only gets run every week or so, I don’t care.

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Giggle. You have a very short day. Four and a half hours.

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lol… let me go fix that one :smiley:

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First think I would look at is why you are giving your company 10.5 hours of your time. Can you do anything to adjust their expectations?

Four tens isnt uncommon, she may be factoring in commute?

Unfortunately this is actually low end for my industry (mgmt consulting) but currently I enjoy it more than the alternative opportunities that have come my way so I make it work. But if an equally well paying, equally enjoyable, and more sustainable option presented itself I’d take it!

I’m a service writer, in a small town auto repair shop, the ONLY service writer. Unless the owner himself is there I’m running the show all alone in the front. So from 8-5 Monday to Friday I’m committed.

Things have gotten a little bit better since I last posted. It’s just light enough out now that I can muck immediately after work. Which leaves me not rushing before work and stressing in the morning. Have been just not making dinner, BF seems to be coping thus far.
I still haven’t regained the energy to start riding regularly again …. And I need to. Got 16.1hh of chestnut, female, problem horse … who’s still a problem… that I need to deal with.
But that will come with time haha.

I think the seasonal lack of light and depression has really been a factor in this I think.
Ghad I hate winter !

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@Blueeyedroan, I hear you.
I gave up riding when I went to college and it took me 15 years to get back into it.
There wasn’t anyway for me to “do it” with the kind of job I had (travel, long hours, …). At that 15 year point, I decided to go for it or give up. I bought another horse and made things work with barn buddies, full board, full training, small facility, boarding at a barn in another discipline, etc.

Based on your comment: is there an option for you to winter your horses somewhere else? So that during the darkest, shortest days, your horses would just take a few months off and you would see them on one day a week? That might be a long drive, but give you some help. Here in the Phoenix area, people send their horses off during the summer and just give them the time off, or similar.

Yep the dark days get me down too, I factor in not riding because I don’t have lights and it’s generally too wet to ride anyway. I also appreciate seeing the sun as I leave work now in the last week, and it’ll speed up now that the darkest 10 weeks have happened. Maybe this will help :slight_smile: We are getting close!

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I have my guy at a self-care barn, work full time, up at around 5am and I go to the barn before work to feed him. He lives out but my previous horse was stalled at night. I would do his stall in the morning so that at the end of the day, I could ride. I don’t generally get to the barn in the evenings till close to 8pm but I still ride if the footing is ok. No indoor so it means riding in low light.

Is it ideal? No, do I get enough sleep? No but if I want to ride it’s what I have to do to fit it all in. Been doing this for many years.

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Well done tabula! How many hours do you reckon you save over the two week period by using hay huts?