Pregnant and poo picking

[poopicking]

Hi all

I have one gelding that lives out 24/7. DIY livery but just a field, no services offered etc.

I've just found out I'm pregnant with my first and want to get an idea for what I can expect of myself in terms of poo picking throughout pregnancy.

I expect that towards the end I will need to hire someone to poo pick but I wondered if anyone has any idea of how far through their pregnancy they felt like they had to stop.

I do have the option to fill a couple of wheelbarrows and leave them a couple of days and my partner can come up every 3/4 days and wheel the barrows to the muck heap so I would just need to fill the barrows.

I've no idea what to expect and of course every pregnancy is different but if anyone has been in a similar position, how long were you able to carry on poo picking for ?

Any other advice welcome, he lives out 24/7, very low maintenance and isn't ridden too often mostly hacking occasionally so will just give him some time out.

Thanks

I absolutely hate poo picking, but no reason why you won't be able to continue throughout, especially if you keep on top of it. Maybe the last month or so it might be a bit much of an effort!!

I am 35+4 and still doing all yard chores including riding. The only thing I occasionally struggle with is emptying the wheelbarrow but I have to push it up a steep wet hill so my DH tends to do that for me at the moment.
If your field is flat and easy to get to the muck heap then you should be okay with poo picking.
Heartburn may get to you sometimes when bending over so make sure you have some Rennie readily available to help with that.

I did poo patrol until the day before I went into labour (at 39+5 at 3 am). I also received my winter hay order a
(120 bales) and stacked it at 30w! My wheelbarrow is 85 lites and I have two horses. From about 36w I could only manage 1/2 barrow at once due to being breathless, so had to do 2 trips to the muck heap!
However I would have someone on hand to help after the birth. I had an emergency c section and am unable to do anything at the yard until i’m fully healed (Dr says around 12 weeks). And can’t drive until 6 weeks after either. I am itching to get back to it and it’s very frustrating not being able to do anything. If you are used to doing it every day there is no reason to not do it unless you develop a heath issue such as PGP etc🐴

Thank you all so much!

I don’t see any reason to stop whilst pregnant, obviously you may need help when recovering from birth

I had to stop poo picking (for 3 horses and 1 pony) at 6 months, because it was in hilly fields and I had pretty bad SPD and just couldn't push the barrow up hills any more. I carried on doing all the other chores, though I had help with mucking out as I was very slow by the end. The SPD meant that I was basically shuffling about. I was still out holding pony for the farrier at 40+2. Had my son on 40+3.

I did my back in pushing a wheelbarrow full of water (in one of those handy water sacks) at 5.5 months and suffered for the rest of the pregnancy because no physio would touch me. I’d be cautious.

Is there no freelance groom in the area who could help out by the hour?

I had an easy pregnancy and carried on doing all my stable jobs to my due date. I didn’t have to do poo picking though but I think I could have done small barrows through most of it.

I had 2 weeks off post birth though and I had an easy birth. You need a plan for afterwards in case you have a complicated delivery or section.
I’m on 5 day assisted livery and my horse managed to do a nasty wound injury just before birth and luckily the yard handled all the every other day dressing changes for me for 6 weeks as I was too huge to bend to do it (awkward place) and I needed to not get booted as I couldn’t move quickly!

I poo picked the whole way through pregnancy. It was much harder poo picking with a baby strapped to me!

It totally depends on your pregnancy, there is no way to tell what to expect. I had dreadful SPD with both of mine, the second from 17 weeks, I wasn't allowed to push a wheelbarrow (I did sometimes though). I was lucky as I have sharers and share a field with others who were able to help me out which I repaid in kind by doing other stuff.

Even if you can manage until you go into labour, you may have a C-section which would take you out for weeks.

Or you might be able to do everything right up until and straight after birth, some people do.

It's worth looking into options for help if you might need it just in case so that you are not left unable to look after dhorse with no backup as that would be very stressful.

@tiktoktik your comment about poo picking with the baby strapped to you made me chuckle, brought back some memories!