Hello all, toddlers and horses again I know there is no magic solution to this but wanted to ask about people's experiences. I have a 7/8 year old sports horse who I have had since he was 4 and just started. My horse is very genuine and safe but also a competition type really although certainly on the lower maintenance side of that. In summer can get away with riding once a week and good in traffic etc. He is very talented and a lovely sort and I love him. I also have a just 2 year old and work part time. Last winter was really hard with going back to work in a new job and 👶 . We don't have family around to help and my husband is supportive but can only really help at the weekend minding so I can ride. In all honesty am too tired to do much in evenings and my daughter does not go to bed easily! I kept going until this spring and then there was a chance to put him on loan to an ideal family, he did well with them but through no fault of his own they do not think it will be long term and he will be coming back to me in about a month. I have really missed him and carried on riding when I can about once a week. In my head I want him back full time but I know that is in reality very draining financially and on family time and my energy. He is also as I said full of untapped potential and in his prime. I am unlikely to find another loan home half as good but if I sell it part of me will regret it forever I think he is such a special horse, I did always want him back just more in a couple of years, we would like more children but unlikely as have been trying for 7 years and got one and I am getting older, don't know what to do, heart says have him back and head says what will you do when your toddler is running around a stable yard dangerously and you are trying to manage a horse too :(
Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.
The tack room
Feel your pain OP. I juggle my TB with my nearly four year old DD. Some days I feel like I'm losing the plot. She is pretty horse obsessed and rides herself but has developed a phobia of larger horses coming close to her and has run screaming from my poor non-plussed boy. Meanwhile everyone is asking if she's ok and I'm usually telling her to be quiet in case she scares the horses! For me I always have help on the days I work. I used to do full livery those days when she was tiny. Now I get a friend to turn out and bring in and I do the rest.
It is a massive drain on family time and DH is very long suffering. He mucks out over winter while I groom or ride but DD gets very cold easily and can be a bit whiny so we just muddle along. I personally couldn't do loan or share but I am obsessive about my boy and prioritise him way over what some owners would. He is the light of my life 
not that DD isn't oops
But I would get as much help as you can afford and work out a routine you can manage and find a sharer to lighten the load. It's so hard to juggle - I know very few mums with small children at yards I've been at.
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.