How much time do you spend with your horses

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

other then the normal feeding cleaning watering and other maintanece chores.. how much time do you spend daily with your horses grooming, working, training ect?

I must admit in this heat we are down to about an hour or two of actual non chore time- in the fall which is my favorite time of year it increases to 3-4 hours on top or chore time.

 

[Jill]

With us, it depends on what else is going on that day.

Almost every night, we go out around dark to check on everyone and I make a point to pet and hug each of them. It melts my heart when they come to meet me to get their daily dose of love, scratches and sometimes, cookies.

As to actually doing "constructive" time with them beyond the feeding, paddock / stall cleaning, and hoof trimming, really only the show horses currently are being conditioned, which only amounts to lunging 20 or so minutes every other day. With my two yearlings, on "work days" where they are lunged, I spend < 5 minutes on setting up split between before and after lunging working on setting up for halter.

At this time, we have 14 horses here at home, and some others off the property (loved from afar).

 

[chandab]

Not nearly enough, but I do so enjoy having them here and seeing them everyday.

 

[shane]

Im really lucky that im with mine A Lot, i spend about 4 hours a day with mine, and when i get my new stables built out back,ill be with them nearly all day....i cant wait!!!!!!!!

 

[Buckskin gal]

I really haven't thought about it in hours of how much time we spend with them but hubby is out with and around them the biggest part of the day since he is retired and does a lot of fixing up on one thing and another and they hang out with him. I spend a lot of time just admiring them for all their beauty and of course they all have so much personality that I get my laughs for the day from them. I often bring some up into the yard to hang out with me.

:

: Mary

 

[LindaL]

Since I board ZZ, it's never nearly enough time. I'm not able to get out there every day, but when I do go out there, I'm out with him for about 2 hours or so, but that does include grooming time, too.

 

[wade3504]

I spend about two hours with mine daily not including the feeding/cleaning. It's more if I go on a trail drive but that's on hold right now.

 

[Miniv]

That's a hard one to answer because it varies from day to day. I also will incorporate extra time with them during our standard feeding time or trough watering time. Since the heat has hit us, we don't tend to mess with them too much during the middle of the day, but I would guess about 4 hours, not counting the hour it takes for each feeding.

MA

 

[Leeana]

Well, generally i am out in the barn for 30 minutes in the morning to feed and i always just sit out there for about 10 minutes and watch them eat, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Then around noon i go out and work the horses that i need to work and then turn them out, generally taking about 40 minutes, i do some other things as well.

Then around 3'ish i go out and pick throughs talls, clean water buckets, water ..stuff like that. This is around when i work on driving stuff ext. Then i feed them around 7'ish and that takes 2hrs as i feed them and then groom/pick hooves ext. Normally if i am going to jump them i do that before i put them up at night or after its cooled off, makes it more comfy for me and my jumpers.

I go out to the barn randomly throughout the day just to check on them. I spend allot of time just sitting out there watching them

.

On days that i strip the stalls completely and clean the barn, i am a neat freak ...everything must be clean just incase someone decides to stop over, you know what i mean? But if i strip stalls completely, all of them, wash buckets and trouphs and get cob webs ext ...i am out there nearly all day. I do a full barn clean about 1x per week

.

 

[Keri]

Generally 2 hours a night training 3 horses. The more horses I have, the more time I have to spend. But with a new baby (human), I've had to cut my time back right now. So its 2 hours. Sometimes the horses go without being touched if I don't get enough time. They don't mind. :bgrin

 

[keely2682]

i spend at least 2 hours grooming hooking up and driving each day

 

[Chamomile]

I'm with Keely! I usually spend at least 2 hours a day hooking and driving my horses. Most of the time it's a lot longer as I have 5 horses here that I drive, if not every day, then every other day. I spend time each day with my one and only baby, Rose as well. (Today I trimmed all four of her feet, just me and her and she acted like she had done it before, which she hadn't. She was like that for clipping too. What a JOY!!) I just love to be out there listening to them eat and watching them play and interact with eachother.

 

[alongman]

Out in the barn before 7am, grab a quick lunch, then back out in the barn until dark. Not sure how many hours that adds up to, but it seems that there are days when it's not enough. I'm so glad that my mom and I work on the horse projects together. She covers the days that I have to work at my "real" job.

 

[Marty]

Apparently not enough !

A couple weeks ago I got to a certain two for bathing, holy cow it was like they didn't tie anymore,

they didn't know what a hose was anymore, and when we were through, it was paw, paw, paw until I had

big holes dug and the dirt kicked up all over their legs and chests. I was like "What is wrong with you?"

So back to basic ground school manners we went every single day, just those two for a week, every day.

They bounced back really quick too and are back to normal good little horsies.

I have been bathing daily and clipping every week. I'm doing about 3 a day and just keep rotating them. That takes me about an extra 3 hours a day or so, not counting cleaning stalls or feeding or doing turn out and turn ins. I haven't been exercising anyone or setting up and standing anyone either. I suppose that wouldn't hurt.

I set aside an additional 30 to 45 am and pm to handle the baby fillies and work with them on halter and rope, giving feet etc.

I figure I have to spend this kind of time while I can because when winter hits, I hibernate.

 

[tifflunn]

:bgrin We have been getting an hour a night for training for 2 in training- Minus Mondays and friday( work) but then we usually also have a slew of kids that come out in the evening and they basically pick a horse and or donkey and get leading practice and obstacle, brushing, loving :bgrin

 

[wade3504]

Hey Marty-Bring on the scrunchies!!!!!! :aktion033: :aktion033: :aktion033:

Amanda

 

[Devon]

I have to baord mine but I get up etleast 4 times a week in the summer and stay from about 8 in the morning untill 8 at night!!! I train love and groom them . Ill usually drive jump clip if I have too lunge I do pretty much everything

: Also do stalls and clean the fields.

 

[keely2682]

my driving horses are hosed off daily too

i hate leaving sweaty harness marks on them

 

[Izzyantheminis]

I guess around a half hour of interaction beyond the chores. Somedays a little more. Just enough for hugs and kisses.Our paddocks are close to the house and I often talk to them from the windows through out the day.I tell them that the house is the human's barn. And when I talk to them from my bedroom window I tell them that I'm in my stall. :bgrin

 

[Irish Hills Farm]

I spend about 2 hrs each morning in the barn, usually out there around 630 am. I feed everyone, clean stalls, and paddocks/pastures. I than work a couple of horses in the round pen and the weanlings/sucklings practice leading, setting up, etc. I like to work the horses in the morning when its nice and cool, the humidity usually isn't to bad early either.

At night I go out around 7 to feed at night. Mine usually stay out all night unless we are getting a storm.