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The tack room

Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.

Original poster

Oh dear - horse & newborn!

9 replies

Scheherezade · 05/09/2011 01:33

My horse went out on loan earlier this year, however he's coming back this week as loanee has cancelled the loan. I'm due to give birth in weeks to my first!

This could be a complete nightmare - would love to hear success stories of people with babies and horses!

OP posts:
kayb123 · 05/09/2011 10:11

it just needs extra planning, i used to stick baby in carry when doing things mucking out, groomig except ride, you could offer free riding to prehaps a college student studing equine.

i now let my daught happily play in the schooling area (she likes to pretent she is a horse too Hmm, while i muck out the field. - thankfully everyone at my yard has children, so one on these rare kid friendly yards :o .

LisaD1 · 05/09/2011 10:26

I have 2 children, 11 and 3 and have always had horses on DIY, in my experience the newborn stage is the easiest as you can at least leave them in the pram or sling while you do jobs. The hardest time I found was the crawling stage when they do not want to be in a buggy.

We have survived though and still here to tell the tale!

Things are much much easier now the youngest is able to understand instructions. We're on a small yard and the children are very much part of it. My little one spends hours down there with me and loves it.

The key is planning, try to get at least one visit in without baby if you can, I used to do this on Sundays and would make up all haynets for the week/poo pick so that I coudl get things done quickly if needed the other days. I also roughed my horses off in winter so they remained in turnout rugs 24/7 so that there was no faffing with rug changes.

It can be done :-)

annieapple7 · 05/09/2011 11:58

Yes it can be done, as LisaD says, it is easier at this stage as the baby can stay in carseat nearby. I would advocate looking for someone to share your horse - that way you have to visit the horse less and can share costs too. That was what I did - my two friends and I shared so we did 2/3 days a week each and probably only rode once each and could swap around to help each other if we were stuck. All my children are now in school from today (sob/shriek with excitement) and a few months back I got a horse all to myself again.

Booboostoo · 05/09/2011 15:37

I keep 3 horses and 1 pony. Pre pregnancy I used to ride two a day pretty much everyday, now 3 months after c-section I can only ride one every other day but the horses have adjusted and are happy. I don't know what it will be like later on but for the moment I work everything around breastfeeding and some days I have to give up on doing anything other than bf!!

dappleton · 06/09/2011 17:25

I'm in a slightly different situation (I assume) in that i am very lucky to have loads of help with both my baby and my horses, however when I did have to take him with me last week all was very uneventful, the fresh air sent him into a deep sleep and he spent several hours asleep in the tack room in his pram, when he did wake up there was no end of people perfectly happy to keep him entertained. Just accept help from everyone who offers, try to find a sharer for your horse if you can and i'm sure you'll find a way to make it all work.

Pixel · 06/09/2011 19:42

Has anyone bought a second pram to leave permanently at the yard? I think I would do that if I had any more children as I can see lots of advantages.

  • It would save lots of cleaning as you wouldn't be transferring hay and mud into your car all the time from the pram wheels.
  • You wouldn't have to go shopping with a pram with poo on the wheels. Grin
  • It would save time when getting ready to go to the yard and if the weather was bad you could just dash to and from the car without having to struggle with the pram too.
  • You could have a deep cosy old-fashioned style pram and be able to get on with chores knowing your baby was warm and dry. I always wanted one of those but never had space indoors or in the car and it wasn't practical for the bus. It wouldn't matter if I didn't have to take it home! In the warmer weather an older baby could sit up (with a harness) and play with toys so hopefully wouldn't get as bored.

The only problem I can see is how you would avoid it becoming a magnet for rats or the stable cat.Hmm

Original poster
Scheherezade · 09/09/2011 14:50

Thanks for the advice! Booboos - I recognise you from H&H Grin

Right, well thus far the plan is for me to dump LO on hubby and disappaer off to yard. However it depends on whether I have to have a c sec, and how bf works out.

I like the idea of an old pram to leave at the yard, or dp has his carrier so he can hold on to baby & take dog for walk.

ATM it's very hard as I have spd, can barely do anything and feel useless when I go up. have offered to do all the tack cleaning!

OP posts:
Earwigg · 09/09/2011 15:02

I have juggled a newborn with two horses so it can be done. Mine live out 24/7 and I have a drive alongside their field so often just turn up and throw feed/hay over the fence while DS watches from his car seat.

Then when DS is with DH I do all the other jobs and ride. When he was younger and napping in the day he often napped in the car or buggy and I did extra jobs, never brave enough to ride though in case he woke up!

Booboostoo · 24/09/2011 21:30

LOL, yes it's me! Luckily I can bf and type so I am spending all my time online!

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