How do you manage a baby plus a horse?

ladywiththebaby

ladywiththebaby

Active Member
Mar 6, 2007
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Cambridge
Hiya

I just wondered how people managed when they had a young baby plus a horse. I have a 15 month old and would like to have another next year, but would ALSO like to get my own horse (cake and eat it? Me?! Never!)

Is it possible? How do other people manage it? I would definitely have to pay to get someone else to feed the horse in the mornings, but I'm hoping I'll be able to manage the rest by leaving the baby with her dad in the evenings?

Am I being realistic?:confused:
 
Having a baby and planning another is hard enough without the responsibility of a horse ;)
I have 2 children aged 6 and 8 and my own horse, my husband is a horse widow which means he walks in from work and I walk out, with a quick 'dinners in the oven luv' !!

I can take my kids to the yard now they are old enough (which I will have to do now they have broke up for the summer hols) but what will you do with 2 little ones in the winter days when you want to ride, do you have someone who could look after them?

Have you thought about sharing for a couple of years, that way you only have a couple of days that are 'horsey' days and if you find it too much then you havent got the worry of looking for a new home etc for the horse.
 
hi I can totally understand where you are coming from, i have a 16 month old and got my first horse when he was 8 months. It is hard work I can only have a horse due to the fact I live next door to the stables.
In the winter I get up before the baby and do all my mucking out hay nets etc then see to her in the evening when hubby comes home. We have our own business so my husband doesn't have to be at work dead on 9 so I have help in the mornings. You need to have a very supportive partner who is good with the baby and doesn't mind being a horse widower.
I also hope to have another baby next year so I am just in the process of changing my horse for a more suitable one, eg one that could live out if need be or be easily loaned/shared.
I have the farmers daughter helping me when needed she has a horse on the same yard so its no bother for her and she is glad of the money.

I would say the yard needs to be very close to you and also have people to help out there is usually always a teenager who would be willing to help for some pocket money or rides, choose the right horse easy to do versatile etc, and make sure your partner is happy to help with the baby. How it will work when i'm pregnant i'm not sure but now I have a horse i'm hooked so i will have to find a way to have my cake and eat it!!!

Good luck

Louise
 
It is very tricky. My experience - I already had my own horse when I got pregnant with my first child - in fact had the horse before I met my OH. Unfortunately I had a difficult pregnancy which meant I couldn't ride - I got a sharer who rode 3 times a week. Then when I had the baby my husband used to look after the baby when I rode. This worked fine as I was only riding 3-4 times a week. Then 3 years later I was pregnant again. I knew then that I would not be able to manage even the 3-4 times a week so I sold my horse to my sharer (who was lovely btw and loved him as much as I did).

I then had several non-horsey years. My kids are now 10 and 7 and I share a horse (I know I still don't have the time for my own) and I also share a pony for the kids (same owner, same yard, same days so really convenient). I now ride mainly when the kids are at school and the kids ride after school on the same days. OH is not very supportive or horsey - that would make a big difference.

It's not impossible but OH needs to be supportive and yard nearby.
 
I have 3 horses and am pregnant now, before falling I made sure that everyone around (who I know are very supportive already) would be ok to help me out, me and o/h have a farm with my parents, they live in the farmhouse and we live in the cottage basically we are neighbours with the horses on-site, my mum will look after baby when I need to do anything with the horses and partner is really supportive, I think the key sometimes is those around you.
 
When my son was born I had 3 horses at the time and also worked (albeit 3 full days as opposed to fulltime)

It can be done. I had them on part livery so didn't have to go down in the morning. Would put baby in pushchair asleep somewhere quiet in the yard if my husband wasn't around to look after him in the evening.

Things are easier now as horses at home and son at school - well, the horse family has grown somewhat - upto 6 and counting!:rolleyes:
 
I think it depends on the person you are and the help around you. Someone i know ended up selling every animal she owned but it wasn't a problem to her doing that.

With me on the other hand i did loads of training with dog so my little girl fitted right in and with my horse i moved him to a yard that allowed him to live out. Not much use cos 3 weeks after my little girl was born by c-section, they had to be brought in due to bad weather.:eek:

I have parents and in-laws that don't work so can look after her whenever, great people at yard and i work self-employed so can work it round my horse and childcare::)

With planning it can work though its knackering! I still long for a lie in but the only sympathy i get from OH is "he's your horse".:rolleyes:
 
ladywiththebaby said:
Hiya
I just wondered how people managed when they had a young baby plus a horse
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I have no idea :rolleyes:, but I may be about to find out................:eek:

However my mare is already on full livery, due to my work. All I have to do is go up and check her once a day to make sure she still has four legs and no problems! I also pick her feet out daily.

Ironically, I ended up with my loan mare because her owner had had a baby :rolleyes:
 
I have a horse and 3 kids and a lovley hubby who looks after the kids most of the time I go up the yard. But we have a livery on our yard with a two year old who runs riot around the place including by the horses. So please if you get a horse and you have to take little kids to the yard strap them in a pushchair. It keeps then kid safe and stops other people having heart attacks.:)
 
My children are 5 and 2. They have been used to going to the yard since they were tiny - wrapped up to the nines in the frost and covered in factor 200 in the heat!! They just accept that mum has a horse and that is part of life. I did conceed to buying my eldest a pony at 2 and half though!

It is hard work, especially when working around feed times but that was the wonder of SMA Gold! I adapted quite fast to sitting on trailer ramps at shows feeding my baby. I am the sort of person who multi tasks well and I am organised. My hubby is amazing. I get up at 6 15 to feed and muck out in the winter (summer easier when they are out) and he gets the kids up and starts their breakfast, when I get back, I dress them and do the school and nursery run. Evenings are trickier, I often take them with me to feed / bring in etc. If they are with my mum in an afternoon, I sometimees fit in a sneaky lunge or take my eldest to ride. Most serious schooling gets done at weekends. I only work school hours as I am a teacher so holidays are a big bonus. The one thing I would say is that I found life easier when they were tucked up in prams at the yard than I do now as my eldest insists on doing EVERYTHING (which is very time consuming) my 2 year old is not so placid and wants to help but is the sort that would end up under a hoof as she is fearless so I have her still safely in her buggy at all times!!!(unless she is riding lol) Oh and my saving grace is I have an old pram at the yard to use for her so that hers does not get splattererd. Life is chaotic but I love having ponies and I love my kids and hey guess what - they love ponies too! (dad not as fussed though but very patient with us!)
 
I take the baby with me to do the chores.
duncanbarn.jpg

I love my Ergo carrier. It can carry babies from newborn to 65 pounds. My baby is 14 months old now.
I'd like to get my young horse started (she'll be 4 in the spring) and then when human baby #1 is age 2 we'd like to try for one more. I did ride my regular horse while pregnant with baby#1 but I don't want to mess with a green horse while pregnant.
So that's teh timing we've come up with.
I have the horses in the backyard though and I am sure there is a limit to how many babies I can strap to me and still shovel manure! ;)
So I think with baby #2 I will leave at least 1 of them at the house with dad.
 
I've just realised how strange i'm going to sound!

I have...wait for it.... 4 children. They are 2 boys and 2 girls aged 8yrs, 5yrs, 2yrs (just) and 11 1/2 months. I also have one pony, shortly to be two when my loan horse arrives this week and then will become 3 + as i have 4 section A's and a sec B yearling ariving within the next month!

I live about 5 mins walk from my own private yard (rented) in the morning i get up before the children (6.30am/7am) and feed etc. then i'm back there at 7pm on wednesdays, and fridays (will be 3/4pm in winter) and after school pick up with the children on mondays, tuesdays and thursdays. My hubby looks after the children in the evening when i ride and for a while at the weekends. I'm lucky that my children all like it at the yard and the yard is large enough for them to play there too away from the horses. (eldest two can play football etc, youngest two are often in a spare stable that is set up like a playpen with toys, music, bean bag lol ok, its there bedroom from bedroom!

I am very lucky!

It is hard work BUT when i suggested giving up it's my children that didn't want to! Also i get lots of help pooh picking! and grooming lol. There is SO much for children to do outside.

Admittedly i do cheat and keep only natives! (one connemara, one welsh B, one welsh B yearling, mixture of Sec A's)
 
i have 4 children aged between 4 and 12,ive had horses all the way through having the children i cannot remember it ever being a problem,they either came with me to the yard or hubby would have them whilst i had my "time out"!!!! i have to say that it can easily be done if your supported by your other half,on show days if hubby cannot be bothered to be up at the crack of dawn, then he stays home with children,i might take one child with me to take pics and act as groom,apart from that im on my own!!!:D:D when my youngest starts school in september, ill have from 9am-3.30pm god what am i gunna do with all that free horsey time.:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
 
NicP said:
Sounds like some news here maybe?!
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*whistles* innocently ;)

NicP said:
I have no kids but three Labradors - much easier as they can be left home alone with no problems!! :D
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You mean you can't do that with babies :eek:. I thought one could just go out and leave it with the dogs and cats to mind it until tea time :rolleyes::o
 
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I wouldn't be able to do it. My hubby doesn't have predictable hours in his job be able to give me the backup that having a horse and a baby/toddler would have needed. He is quite often away at a moments notice.

I only bought Joy after my little girl started at school and I have my horsey time when they are at work/school.

Weekends remain family time as we get precious little of that and I will not have my hobby encroach on this. I get up very early to do a fying visit and get back before they get up :)

Hubby and daughter aren't horsey and I don't want going up the yard to be resented by my daughter as was the case when we had to spend all day up there once because the farrier was very late and we were supervising my friends 4 being done too.

Love my horse as much as I do, my family still comes first so my time is worked out around them.
 
I'm another with four kids - mine are 3, 5, 8 and 9.

I found it fairly easy when they were babies (I had a carrier similar to Karin's) and toddlers (they loved being allowed to play in the trailer, loved filling haynets and helping me mix feeds even more) and it only got complicated when they got old enough to find that boring. Equally palming them off on friends in return for pony rides worked well.

It is hard work; but it can be done. :D
 
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