Breastfeeding and fitting in riding

[Megan2018]

Hi all
Has anyone on here had a horse on livery and been able to exclusively breastfeed?

I have a horse on assisted livery - once baby is 8 weeks plus I am going to need to be back in the saddle at least 2-3 times a week as horse needs regular work (only quiet hacking but exercise required due to laminitis risk).
I'll be paying my RI to ride for me in late pregnancy/first couple of months but can't afford it long term. Sharer/loaner not an option as horse is semi retired due to many injuries and operations and is therefore fragile so I don't want anyone other than my RI on her). I am far more precious about her than I am the idea of leaving the baby!

Baby will come to yard with me for short visits to feed etc as I can park right in front of my stable, but will stay with DH when I need to ride. Due to distance from house to yard, each riding visit likely to be 2.5-3hrs.

I can't see how this will work if I don't use bottles - and if I have the faff of expressing for bottles then not sure if it might not just be easier to go with formula feeding instead?!

I know can't decide anything until baby is here as might decide against BF anyway - but in the interim curious to see what other people have done.

Hi
My baby is 8.5months and I have a similar sounding horse to yours. I am ebf and baby will not take a bottle no matter what (I have bought many!) so I have had to accept that really I can only ride for a short period of time at the weekend. Now I can leave him for a few hours but I wasn’t able to really do that until he was 5 months old as he often wanted to feed at really random times and I didn’t have him on a feeding schedule was just feeding on demand.
I found with my horse that so long as I kept him a bit lean it was easier to manage and I felt less worried about not being able to ride as frequently. I was also lucky that mine is good to tow so if sometimes ask a friend who was plodding round the block to take him with them whilst I went home.
Sorry, I know that doesn’t really offer any practical solutions!

Thanks @SBDB
That’s useful to hear and is what I fear tbh. I can’t risk a bottle refuser so reckon we’ll have to FF from the off. Then they have no choice!
I’d like to BF but not if it means risking my horse (and my sanity if I can’t leave the house alone), I was FF as my mum tried and failed BF and I’ve turned out well so not worried on that score.

I already do everything possible to manage her weight, out overnight muzzled and in by day with weighed soaked hay. But she has to have regular light work for hock arthritis and annular ligament injuries and to keep weight reasonable (very good doer Welsh Dx). She is ridden in double reins though and has zero traffic sense so not a good candidate for ride and lead-tends to spin and bog off.

I am reminded why I’ve put off babies for so long! It’d better have some positives

I breast fed but DD wld take a bottle so cld do the occasional expressed one. I rode really early whilst baby asleep & DH wld either bring her down to yard for my return to feed her as I’d be getting a bit sore by then. Is that poss for you?

I'm in the same boat.... I've bought kit for expressing and I'm just hoping he'll take a bottle! I don't plan on using formula.

I was told by the midwives to wait until 10 weeks to try expressed and bottle and I honestly think it was too late really! He liked boobs too much by that point!!

Both my kids were predominantly BF - I went back to work when number 1 was 4 months..... I could never express enough so he had breast milk and formula. A baby nurse (with probably 30years experience ) said to me I needed to introduce the bottle before 3months - I think I introduced it sooner. My son BF until he was 9months old (obv not exclusively) and my daughter 12 months
Personally if (once you have established BF ) I think it's a great thing to introduce a formula feed as it gives such flexibility.
On the plus side of BF - it is so much easier than formula- it's always there.......no need to sterilise equipment.

Also - once you are back riding (which you could have stitches or have a c-section so won't be straight straight away) there is plenty of time to ride between feeds ........ you should be able by 8weeks to have at least 3hours b/w feeds.

I think you say it's your first? Believe me - as hard as it is to imagine, you will need to go with the glow abit.... you can't really plan for something you have never experienced, I would say have an idea of solutions to problems, options of how to manage things, and then see what suits you when your at the coal face.

I honestly can't remember BFing getting in the way of riding, but lots about the way I did things needed to change.

Firstly, I was very precious about who got on my horse before babies. Afterwards, I realised that I'm not the only person in the world who can ride and allowed some very carefully vetted people to ride my horse regularly. He would have gone nuts if not ridden frequently enough, and it was worth allowing someone else to ride him rather than have to deal with an 18hh fire breathing monster if he missed a couple of days.

Secondly, I realised that having an 18hh fire breathing monster who needed riding every day and 2 very young children was not a match that was going to work. Gigantohorse was found a new home where he had lots of servants and fuss and was much happier than he was living in my muddy field. I got a new, much smaller horse who is the same whether he is ridden daily or not for a week.

Thirdly, BFing every couple of hours only lasts for a few months. I would say between 6-8 weeks (or whenever you start riding again) and 8 months is not long. You could learn to lunge your horse. I became the queen of the 20 min hack - 20 mins every day was enough to keep the big horse sane. Why does a riding visit take 2.5-3hrs? Half an hour for stable duties, an hour to ride, that means you live half an hour away at least? Could you not move the horse to a stables closer to home? When DD and DS were babies I could get 2 stables mucked out and my horse ridden in under an hour if I really needed to although standards had to drop. And that's the thing that will be different after having your baby - right now you can't possibly imagine either letting someone else do your horse or letting your own current standards drop. Once you've had your baby you'll realise that something will have to change. You can't plan months worth of baby-feeding schedules around having to do the horse, the horse will have to fit around the baby.

My standards dropped a lot, but if it helps it taught me to let go of the things which aren't so important. Eg it's not going to ruin things if I don't have perfectly trimmed fetlocks!

@backinthebox
Thanks - but most of what you have posted not applicable.

My horse is 21, semi retired. I have several people who I am already happy to have riding her - but I have to pay them. I can only afford to do this for the last months of pregnancy and for up to 2 months afterwards. After that I need and want to ride. Horse would happily never be ridden again - she has to be ridden only for her health! Are you familiar with metabolic issues?

She cannot be lunged - as I posted before she has hock arthritis and has had annular ligament surgery recently. We can only hack.
She is laminitic and cannot live out but can't be fully stabled either due to the arthritis so she needs very careful management.

I have very low standards - don't clip, don't groom more than the basic now we no longer compete.She is semi-feral already.

She needs more than 20 mins work - she needs 45 mins to one hour 3 times a week minimum as she needs slow warm up. I can't go anywhere in 20 mins - the bloody farm drive is 1 mile long!

It is a 30 min round trip to the yard, it takes me about 30 mins to do stable jobs inc walk to field to catch, 1 hour to hack, then time to untack, turnout etc. Minimum 2.5hrs assuming I can catch her straight away.

She is already at the closest yard to my house. I live very rurally - she is 3 miles as the crow flies but 6 miles by road. It is 13.5 minutes unless behind a tractor. I love my yard - we are the only one in the area with unlimited winter daytime turnout. She gets fed and mucked out Mon-Fri with the essentials so I only need to go for 15 mins after work if not riding. We have amazing hacking, a floodlit school, fab owner and all for £50 p/w inc hay and straw. The yard is absolutely fecking perfect. Not that I asked for your advice on where she lives!

I just wanted to know about feeding. But decision made, FF it is.

No, you asked if anyone has kept a horse on livery and exclusively breastfed and how they did it. The answer from me is that yes, I had a horse on livery and exclusively breastfed and I told you how I did it.

If your horse can't be in and can't be out due to her several health issues, have you considered a track system? You haven't asked me about that either but I'm going to suggest it because it may well help you even if you are snippy. And yes, as the owner of several small fat old ponies I am familiar with metabolic disorders - and no, they didn't stop me breastfeeding either.

Right..... so you wanted us all to say - BF impossible - you have to FF......
you don't- completely doable. I went back to riding 6weeks after my son was born, and my horse was an hour away - and I didn't take my son with me........
If you don't want advise, or other people's experiences - then just don't ask

I breastfed and formula fed. The trick is to NOT wait until 6 weeks to introduce a bottle. The midwives will tell you to wait until 6 weeks. If you leave it this late you will almost definitely have a bottle refuser.

OP the choice isn't between breastfeeding and formula..... you could express

Not for riding, but I left my DS with his dad every Wednesday evening 7-9:45 when my son was 13 weeks old. I exclusively breastfed and he never had a bottle. When I wasn’t there he knew it wasn’t available. His dad carried him in a sling a lot. He’d feed lots when I got back. It can be done!

You seem very concerned about your horses health, may I suggest you fully research the benefits of breastfeeding some of which will affect you child long term. Both mine couldn’t tolerate cow milk protein and I had to take dairy out of my diet completely.

I have 7 horses and have exclusively breastfed 2 babies. I’m back in the saddle by 7 weeks postpartum and back competing within 6 months. I’m still feeding my 9 month old now. She comes to the yard with me most days and I do jobs while she naps in the car after school run, I feed her and bundle her up in her pram and school one. Then her dad has her of an evening while I finish off and school some more. Breastfeeding is so much easier than faffing with formula and bottles. I do express once a day, takes 10-15 mins and there’s a bottles worth to go in my freezer stash. I recommend you look into a nature bond, it means you can express while feeding and job done. Congratulations on your pregnancy and good luck 😊

I’d say getting your baby into a routine will really help give you the window you are looking for. Routine doesn’t appeal to everyone but I like The Blissful Baby.

My 1st DC was mix fed (supply issues) but my 2nd DC only breastmilk 90% direct & rest expressed.
Agree completely with introducing a bottle pretty early - around 2 weeks worked for me. You don’t have to just BF or FF

I have ebf both my children and worked it around my three horses. Slightly different because they are at home but I’d say by 8 weeks you could have enough of a routine to be able to leave for a couple of hours and hack. I was definitely able to go out for an hour or so when mine was 12 weeks old. Didn’t do much before then as I was just so tired. It was easier with my first as I had a bit more sleep and so I got back in the saddle more quickly.

From my experience I’d say trying to bf would be good. Don’t wait long before introducing a bottle (no more than 6 weeks, likely less). Plenty of people I know combination feed too so it’s very possible to do both.

The benefit of bf especially at a yard is that you don’t need to do anything to be able to feed. For the rest of the week when you’re not riding it’s probably easier. No faffing with bottles, sterilisation, warming milk etc just feed anywhere and everywhere without planning. For me, that combined with the health benefits meant it was worth it.

I Exclusively breast fed, I timed riding in with feeds. I breast fed before I left and if baby needed a feed while I was out there was always a expressed bottle in the fridge ( Madala pumps are amazing ) Over time I built up a supply So there was always some in the fridge or freezer if I wasn't about. Breast feeding and having horses isn't that hard and can work!

I exclusively breastfed. I had horse #2 by then who could more easily be left than horse #1. Horse #1 was much more like yours - laminitis, cushings, arthritic and the sweetest mare you could ever meet. Sadly she died a few years before baby came along, but I can tell you what I did with #2 and what I would have done with #1.
#2 I taught husband to ride so he could hack her. #1 he sat on but was too close to being too heavy for her for a novice. With #2 it made the last months of pregnancy much easier.
Both mares lived out as much as possible - #1 was on a sympathetic yard where she had suitable unfertilised grazing as she wouldn't wear a muzzle.
I would never have done this with #2 as too silly, but if I'd had #1 post baby I would have put baby in a sling and led her out in hand for a hack every day. I would have long reined her (and probably no other horse in the world) around the yard with baby in a sling.
Husband and I love walking together so we hacked #2 together with me on the horse and him carrying baby in the sling. Baby was maybe 3/4 weeks when we started that. I could feed before and after riding in the car. He also used to bring baby to the yard and have her sleep on him in the tea room while I schooled once I started that again. I fed before and after while he did poo picking.
OP feed formula if you want and that's the best thing for your family, but if you do want to have a go at breastfeeding there's no reason why it can't be compatible with giving your best friend the best care.

I EBF and was back regularly riding at 4 months PP. My LG wouldn't go down in the pram before then. I just made it work I guess. She spent a lot of time in the car asleep as would try and time riding round her big nap and would turn up to yard with her asleep. Literally hopped on and rode when I had the chance. Now it's able breadsticks and rich tea biscuits being given to her so I can ride (9 months now)

Hiya, my situation sounds a lot like yours! I have a 24 year old, arthritic, laminitic who needs regular exercise to keep him going!
My baby is now 7 weeks old, I havnt rode yet as had wound complications following my c section but have been expressing so my hubby can feed him while I’m at the yard. Luckily he has taken to feeding from the bottle, I havnt really been gone for longer than an hour so far though.

May I just say, you know how you feel about your horse now? You will feel like that about your baby times a thousand. It doesn’t mean that you won’t love or care for your horse, but it won’t be the same and compromises will not feel like that anymore - says person who went from three horses in work, two competing every weekend, training with Olympic riders, etc to riding twice a week if the weather is good!

As for BF some babies are fast and infrequent feeders, some are attached to the boob, some women can express efficiently, others can’t, some babies mix feed happily, others refuse all bottles, etc. you won’t know until it happens. Aside from BF, there are colicky babies and high needs babies which can’t be left with anyone other than their mum for months on end. I had an optimistic ‘baby fits into my life’ approach until DD was born and refused to be removed from my breast for more that 2 minutes at a time! But DS was very chilled, so you never know.