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Rider Insider: Time for Horses


In a perfect world, you’d be able to spend all day riding, grooming and doting on your horse. However, real life doesn’t usually allow for that luxury. Most horse owners have to spend their days working for a paycheck in order to keep their horses fed and cared for. Finding the right boarding situation sometimes means there’s a long commute between your home or workplace and your horse. For those who keep their horses at home, a long day at work is often followed by an evening of barn chores with little time left over for actually riding or enjoying the horses.



Horse owners have to be resourceful with their time, whether it’s getting up early to ride before work, foregoing social activities to make room for barn time, or sharing chores to make the work go faster.



What strategies have you developed to make time for your horse, and how do you make the most of the time you have with him? Click “Submit a Comment” below and share your tips with other horseillustrated.com visitors. Some of the responses may be selected for a future issue of Horse Illustrated.

One selected response may be selected by the editors to win a monthly prize! If you would like to be eligible for the prize, please include your email address in the comment form (email addresses are not publicly displayed.)

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  • I cannot ride due to back issues, so my time with Thalia is more just hanging out in her pasture. I have two round hay feeders, and I like to curl up in one while she is eating from it. It is a lot safer for my baby brother to sit with me there than to be down on the ground with her where he might frighten her and get kicked. I like to sit with her in the evenings after school.

  • I make time for enjoying my horse in many special ways. It is my chore in the evenings to feed our animals. So I take this chance to be with my mare. Often I just admire her, and other times I bring her treats or else just trim her mane and tail. There are so many ways to make time for your best friend!

  • I spend as much time as possible with my mare. Some times between homework, other sports, and friends my time with her is limited but i always see her everyday whether we ride, lunge or groom. Make time for your equine friend. they will always be there and don't hold grudges.

  • I get to see my horse every day by just grooming or riding, but if I have lots of homework I sit in her stall with her and do my homework. Of course she does like to try to eat my homework occasionly or dumps hay all over me.

  • The way I spend time with him is first, I am home schooled, so I have more free time.Also, I try to get good grades and get up early so I may have more time in the barn.

  • Middle school and homework usually prevent me from going to see my horse on weekdays, but on the weekends I will spend all day at the barn playing and grooming and riding him.

  • I don't always get to spend time with my horse. I make time for him by doing my homework at school or on the way home. That way i'll have the rest of the day with my horse. No matter what we do we should always find time to spend it with our horse even if it means doing you homework outside or eating dinner with your horse!

  • I work on the night shift, which means I sleep all morning and wake up in the afternoon. So in order to get time in with Smarty I go straight to bed after work and head to the barn first thing in the "morning."

  • I work at the stables where my Possum is, so if there's a couple minutes where there's nothing going on, i take him out and groom him, clean his stall and buckets, or graze him. if there's only a very little time, then i run over and give him a treat and a hug. if you make use of every momment, then you end up with more time to spend with your horse :)

  • I'm homeschooled, and my 7 yo mare and my 2 yo filly are stabled at home, so I have a lot of time to spend with them. With my filly, Flicka, I usually try to at least groom her if nothing else. And I can get both horses exercised at once by ponying Flicka off of Sweet Pea. That saves time.

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