Struggling to juggle horses with children? Here are some great tongue in cheek pointers to have a little giggle at!
Remember the days? You’d spend all weekend down the stables riding your own horses as well of those of your friends. The most complicated decision you had to make was whether or not to stop in for a quick ‘on the go’ Starbucks before heading down the stables for an enjoyable day with your four legged best friend. No more we hear you say, not since you had kiddies! Here are 10 things you’ll know now you’re a part of the ‘Horsey Mums’ group.
1. Riding will be a thing of the past as you watch your little cherubs gallop around the arena with not a care in the world, and you, the once six-day-a-week rider, are lucky if you sit on horse back once a year
2. You’ll turn up to the school playground sporting un-cared for hair (in a wonky top knot), jodphurs and wellies
3. Other parents turn up to drop their kids off at school in the latest white (and clean) Audi Q7, or perhaps a shiny black BMW X5, you however turn up in a once ‘has been’ wreck that is covered in mud, featuring interior that’s fit for a yard caravan
4. The weekly food shop isn’t complete until you pick up the horse feed from the local horse feed store (which costs more than your weekly shop)
5. It’s not the horses that get you out of bed before 6am every morning now, it’s the kids! Horse turn-out is relegated to 8.30am.
6. The early morning yard run, at the weekend, turns into a two hour manic episode of kids bikes, arguments, muck missing the wheelbarrow and x1 very stressed pony due to all the noise
7. You’ll be badgered into taking the kids for a McDonalds breakfast after said early morning yard run, as half of them aren’t horsey and they want rewarding for all the mess and noise they made while being somewhere they hate
8. You gaze in a daydream at all the kidless yard goers enjoying their morning coffee before hopping on board for a leisurely hack (what’s one of them we hear you say?)
9. The ponies safety is the least of your worries as your four-year-old ‘legs it’ towards the yard pond after his ball and you just freeze thinking ‘will he won’t he, end up in the pond’
10. You’ve put your horsey friends, who don’t have children, off having kids for the rest of their lives
You see, the struggle is real! Spare a moments thought for us once riders, now delegated to horse handler, mum and juggler of a chaotic life…
But hey, you know what?? We love our kids to bits so it’s all worth it!!
Suzanne Ashton, Founder of Everything Horse (Est, 2012), has a BA Hons in Marketing Management and a Diploma in Equine Science. Suzanne has ridden and owned horses all her life and has twelve years of experience in marketing, writing, design, SEO, and website creation.