Mary Allen
Balancing the time-consuming hobby of horses with a job, partner, children, and household are not always easy. There are a few tricks and measures on how to use the available time as productively as possible.
Actually, a long ride was planned. But then something comes up again. The long ride becomes – if at all – a hasty lap through the forest, marked by a bad conscience: towards the horse and towards all other obligations that one did not meet again that day.
Apparently, many horse owners feel the same way: A representative survey in Switzerland showed that horses are only ridden under the saddle or harnessed to the wagon for around 4 ½ hours a week on average. This study is almost 15 years old, and a lot has changed since then, especially with regard to husbandry: More and more horses are living in open or free-range stables and can also keep themselves busy during the day. However, the duration of daily contact with horses may not have increased significantly since then.
The needs of modern people in a largely mechanized world have changed significantly – those of the horse, on the other hand, have remained the same. Sufficient movement and thus variety and occupation is vital for the running animal horse – it suffers physically and mentally if it cannot move enough or is not moved enough. Responsible horse owners are aware of this and therefore find ways and means to ensure that their four-legged friends lack nothing. They usually fall by the wayside themselves, they are overburdened, stressed, no longer have time for themselves – and horseback riding turns from a beloved, relaxing hobby into a burden.
Before things get that far, the emergency brake must be pulled and action taken. The magic word is “time management”, i.e. optimizing the use of the available time so that in the end there is enough left over for yourself – and for the horse. Efficient time management helps to set the right priorities and eliminate unimportant “time wasters”.
Time management begins with a very personal and honest inventory in the areas of work, family / private life, and horses. It is best to list all activities and tasks for a day or even better for a whole week. Anyone who does this with up-to-the-minute information gains important insights into where the hours have gone and why there is no time at the end of the day to be able to enjoy your hobby of riding in peace.
Learning to Delegate
The recorded activities are now sorted according to the criteria of importance and urgency. This can be done, for example, using the so-called Eisenhower method. All tasks are divided into four categories: “important”, “urgent”, “important but not urgent”, and “not important and not urgent”.
The most pleasant of these groups is the last: activities that have been on the “to-do list” for ages but are neither urgent nor important and therefore superfluous. In the “horse” area of life, this includes baking treats, looking for a saddle pad that goes with summer breeches, or painting a name tag for the stable door. These tasks can be done on days off or during vacations.
The “important but not urgent” category is about planning as well as possible: is the farrier due in the next few weeks? So don’t wait until the last moment, but make an appointment in good time that fits into the daily routine and ideally can be combined with something else.
The important and urgent activities at work and in the private sphere are those that you have to take care of immediately and yourself. With regard to the horse, these are the basic needs of the four-legged friend, such as food, water, a clean stable, care, regular exercise, and exercise. They must be guaranteed on a daily basis. If you can’t do it yourself, you have to learn to delegate. Anyone who has taken care of their horse themselves and is now doing a new, time-consuming job should consider giving the horse to a boarding stable where basic care and grazing are guaranteed.
Recognizing & Eliminating Time Thieves
The same applies to moving the horse: If you don’t have time for this every day, you have to get help, for example, a reliable riding partner who takes care of the horse and you yourself on agreed days – without a guilty conscience towards the horse – Provides air for other activities. This is also done by service providers such as “horse sitters”, who drive from stable to stable and move the horse for a fee. If you drive to the stable several times a day to take the horse out to pasture or to cover or cover it up, you should consider delegating these tasks to a stable maid for pocket money or joining forces with other horse owners who can share out the tasks.
If you have gained more time for yourself and the horse by setting priorities and redistributing everyday tasks, you now have to defend it. The best way to do this is with a detailed daily plan or a “to-do list” on which all pending tasks and appointments are noted – including a few small-time cushions for unforeseen events. Incidentally, an amazingly simple trick is to create a “not-to-do list” on which all the things that you don’t want to waste time on that day are recorded. For example, constantly checking social networks or chatting away in the Stallgasse. Once the secret time thieves have been identified, they are easier to turn off.