people that own over 10 animals

[Katiean]

A few years ago I had over 150 rabbits just to supply my show string. then I had my 4 horses, a dozen or so chickens, 1 goat, 8 cats and more dogs than I care to say.

The rabbits were sold after my car accident. The neighbors poisoned the goat and our big dog. Got new big dog. Now I have had to move my horses to a boarding facility. I have more stress since the horses have been gone. That is why I am up at 2:30 in the morning on the computer. I am so stressed that I take 2 Prilosec ( generic prescription strength) every day and cant lay down because of the acid reflux that I didn't have when the horses were still home.

 

[MBennettp]

I keep my animals because no matter how horrible my day at work has been, I can walk in the barn and am immediately surrounded by love. I wouldn't trade off any of my animals except some of the stray cats that seem to think they own the place.

I was having a really rotten day yesterday until I got home and went to feed. It's hard to stay depressed when you get all the attention from all of the animals every time you step in the barn.

I am now working way less hours than I used to, I am down to 40-50 hours a week now which gives me more time. If there isn't time to get everything done, prioritize it, do the important stuff and let the rest go until you have more time. I clean the stalls and the barn but deep cleaning is left until the weekend. If I have an animal that has to go to the vet, I take them and then go to work. To me it is having a family member that has to go to the doctor. I fortunately have a job where I can make up any hours that I miss because of taking a horse to the vet but I also don't use my vacation time so if I have an emergency, I can use it.

My hubby is able to feed part of the time but he can't clean stalls or haul hay or feed, that is up to me as well as fencing, repairs, mowing, gardening, and I just had to put up a lean to on short notice for the rescued Haflinger we took in.

I have 7 minis, 1 Shetland, and 1 Haflinger plus 7 cats that live here full time and a whole lot of strays.

If I didn't have my animals, the stress from my job and everything else would kill me.

Mary

 

[Norah]

I took the day off the day before yesterday , and devoted the entire day to the horses . IT WAS AWESOME !!! exactly what I needed to regroup , a day with the friends I enjoy most in my life .... my horses , they showered me with love , affection , and photo oppertunities ... I cleaned their room and shoveled the snow out of their playground ...I dont need to get rid of my horses , i need to spend more time with them , and less time at work . Our winter season is very difficult , with many tourists , the snow , and the extra long hours , just 1 more month to go and i will have 1 month vacation to play with ponys , and fill myself back up !!! thanks for the support , it made me take a hard look at my life with animals , and decide that I want and need those animals , all of them . The new horse that I decided to take in and help , as she was pretty thin , and sick .... is a blessing , she is the most appreciative , and loving horse I have had in a very long time . Her ability to overcome scary issues from the trust we have built in the last 2 month is a very warm , and fulfilling feeling ... I am greatful for these horses , without them I would feel pretty empty : ) spring will come !!! I love the spring and summer

 

[shorthorsemom]

I am married to a dairy farmer. We milk 50 cows and have 50 heifers. We have 6 dogs and 2 housecats and 12 or so barn cats and two mini horses. Up until this past December I worked a full time high stress job and farmed every night when I got home to help my husband until almost midnight and I farmed all day on the weekends and on all my vacation days. Now that I lost my job, I am full time farming with my husband and it still takes just as many hours, but we are happy, and together things are a bit easier to cope with these days...We don't have any help, we do everything ourselves.

Something I would like to share to this string is what we do when we have "one of those days"... like when the heifers knock off a water pipe at ground level and are running around making manure soup and the water is flowing everywhere, and when we are hauling buckets of water to 50 cows while waiting for a plumber after we get the water shut off... When a cow walks through a fenceline and lets everybody out and you are chasing cows in a cornfield in the dark and you finish milking at 1 am because of the time lost.. When your horses get out and you walk the farm with flashlights until 2 am.... Oh, I could go on and on,

you get the gist... For those horrible "over the top" days we walk over to the calendar on the fridge and "cross the day right off the calendar" with a big x and say out loud "glad that day is over". I guess if I ever looked at the calendar and there started to be more x's on it than non-xed days, then we might thing we should be doing something to fix the stress. Animals make me happy and I don't think I could have handled all those years of my high stress off the farm job without critters and a terrific family to come home to every day.

I did self evaluate not long ago my decision to keep three mini horses and decided I needed to make a change there. My breeder took back one of my boys and found him a great lease home. Now I have more time for the two minis I have... My stable and space and time is really only set up for two horses, so I feel good about my decision... I miss my boy, but know that it was the best decision for all.

A funny story..., right after I declared that I had enough dogs at 5 and would not be replacing my old guys when they passed and right after I told somebody "I could never live with a hound"... a basset hound was dropped off on our farm and became dog number 6. My husband says... "oh well, what is one more...LOL I love my man. Anyway... It really is a personal decision... when your xed out days on the calendar start adding up and out number the good days... then I recommend that you self evaluate and make some changes.

Cheers everybody... be happy

 

[Marty]

I re-read what you are saying Norah and wonder if its your job or something else that is making you feel out of sorts and not your chores at the barn. Perhaps you have job burn out. I had a very stressful job once and did not want to even get out of bed in the morning for fear of what was going to happen there next. I guess I had "pre-anxiety" or something every morning and at night as I didn't get a restful sleep worried about that job so much. When I'm not a bundle of nerves, my coping skills with things that may go wrong at the barn are taken more in stride and dealt with a whole lot better when I'm at peace with myself. Best wishes and hope you find your answer.

 

[mydaddysjag]

Generally, my animals ARE my way to destress. Over the past few months, Ive been getting stressed. I feel like Ive gotten hit with one sick animal after another since September, we spent all of last summer building a new barn ourselves (no contractors), My health problems have gotten worse, and now my nearly two year old son is having some issues that are requiring more and more time for appointments. My husband works 12 hour days, with a 2 hour commute to/from work, so the animals are my deal.

Since September, I had a horse who was very sick, and required meds 4 times daily, special soaked feed concoctions, etc.

As soon as he got better, our new horse arrived, and ended up having the flu and an ulcer on his eye. He hadn't been handled before, so the four times a day of eye drops were miserable for everyone. 40 bales of hay I had delivered ended up with mold in nearly all of them, the hay guy wouldn't return my calls, A few weeks ago we finally had our show stallion gelded, he had violent seizures from the meds, and was in rough shape for a few days, another horse had a bad reaction to vaccines, had a horse go off of feed for a week...

Now that the horses seem to be all in good shape, our cat got sick, in two days racked up almost $400 in vet bills just to diagnose the illness, and send me home with IV fluids and pain meds that he gets 3 times a day, and he needs a $700+ surgery.

So, Im pretty stressed lately. Its not regarding the money, but mostly stressed that I always feed the best feed, I follow ALL of my vets recommendations, All horses are vaccinated against everything the vet recommends, I worm the yearling every 4 weeks, the adults every 8, hooves trimmed every 5-6 weeks by a barefoot trimmer, I feed excellent second and third cut hay, I use pelleted bedding to try to keep my horses living in the cleanest possible environment, I give supplements to those who need it, etc. I honestly take NO short cuts, and am very fussy about my animal husbandry. It seems like the more I do for them, the worse off they are.

That said, there's not one I could "give up" so lightening my work load means sending the yearling off to the trainer. One less horse to clip for shows, and he's the one who needed the most time put into him right now. The others are seasoned pro's, just need fit and walked in the ring.

 

[Norah]

Generally, my animals ARE my way to destress. Over the past few months, Ive been getting stressed. I feel like Ive gotten hit with one sick animal after another since September, we spent all of last summer building a new barn ourselves (no contractors), My health problems have gotten worse, and now my nearly two year old son is having some issues that are requiring more and more time for appointments. My husband works 12 hour days, with a 2 hour commute to/from work, so the animals are my deal.

Since September, I had a horse who was very sick, and required meds 4 times daily, special soaked feed concoctions, etc.

As soon as he got better, our new horse arrived, and ended up having the flu and an ulcer on his eye. He hadn't been handled before, so the four times a day of eye drops were miserable for everyone. 40 bales of hay I had delivered ended up with mold in nearly all of them, the hay guy wouldn't return my calls, A few weeks ago we finally had our show stallion gelded, he had violent seizures from the meds, and was in rough shape for a few days, another horse had a bad reaction to vaccines, had a horse go off of feed for a week...

Now that the horses seem to be all in good shape, our cat got sick, in two days racked up almost $400 in vet bills just to diagnose the illness, and send me home with IV fluids and pain meds that he gets 3 times a day, and he needs a $700+ surgery.

So, Im pretty stressed lately. Its not regarding the money, but mostly stressed that I always feed the best feed, I follow ALL of my vets recommendations, All horses are vaccinated against everything the vet recommends, I worm the yearling every 4 weeks, the adults every 8, hooves trimmed every 5-6 weeks by a barefoot trimmer, I feed excellent second and third cut hay, I use pelleted bedding to try to keep my horses living in the cleanest possible environment, I give supplements to those who need it, etc. I honestly take NO short cuts, and am very fussy about my animal husbandry. It seems like the more I do for them, the worse off they are.

That said, there's not one I could "give up" so lightening my work load means sending the yearling off to the trainer. One less horse to clip for shows, and he's the one who needed the most time put into him right now. The others are seasoned pro's, just need fit and walked in the ring.

oh gosh ! what a horrible year for you , and the horses . I am so sorry, and things like this happen, sometimes we have no control over it . I took the day off of work , and sat with the horses all day long .I decided that I loved , and needed each and every one of them for different reasons ...I decided to take more time off work to enjoy my horses : ) I really hope thing get better for you. I think you just had a very bad spell, and I think a LOT of us have been through this . Chin up