Yes I am probably insane but I am thinking about buying a third horse. Just two of us in the family ride regularly but I hate to pass this boy up and I am not sure I can part with my mare. How do you make time for more than one horse per rider?? Of course paying board on that many is a whole other issue.

Oooo 3's a charm! Well I have 3 horses, possibly a couple more on the way and I have time to ride the one.... only have one ridable horse lol! 2 minis and a tb haha! But I guess If I had time to ride two a day, I'd ride one then the other a bit later. If not, maybe set days for each to be ridden? X gets Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, Z gets Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday... but then since your getting 3, maybe X gets Monday and Thursday, Z gets Tuesday and Friday and C gets Wednesday and Saturday or Sunday? Then there is one day off for you?

Make sure you have a goal for each ride on each horse everyday. That way you can get on work at your small goal for the day, accomplish it or at least improve and you're done. Perhaps alternate days who gets the longer more intense ride so all are ridden every day but you aren't killing yourself doing hard stuff on more than a horse or two per day. If you are barely able to make time for two then obviously a third is either not going to fit in or is going to take away from the others. If you have plenty of time for two then a third may not be hard to sqeeze in. Just depends on your schedule and how much barn time you are willing to have each day

I don't! haha! I have 3 rideable horses, one of which is hubby's. The other 2 are mine. But I don't ride much, I just enjoy spending time with them.

As to the minis and driving, we have 3 driveable minis, 1 is hubby's. THe other two are mine. I use them for different things. One for drill team, one for competition driving. That helps me get use out of them

Jessi

I don't know if this would help you, but on a 6 day a week schedule, 3 horses get: Mon& Thurs, Horse A ride, Horse B lunge; Tues & Fri, Horse B ride, Horse C lunge; Wed & Sat, Horse C ride, Horse A lunge. That's one person working 3 horses, 2 per day, 6 days/week with each horse getting exercise 4 times/week. Each time period is 30 minutes so the rider spends one hour/day riding and working a horse. If we get off the schedule, we just get back on the schedule whatever day it is, and if there is a horse who gets skipped too often, we rotate him back in on a second day leaving the most experienced horse out. It's work, yes, but it can be done. Also if you are at a boarding facility, sometimes you can ask other people to ride a horse with you and save time. BTW we own five with 4 riders. A friend of mine owns 6 with 2 riders. Did you say you wanted a life?

I've got 2 horses. Only one is 'rideable' because the other is being backed... But they both need working everyday.

So I generally ride my mare for about 40 mins and then work my gelding on longreins for half an hour (40mins if you include 10mins ground work at the end).

Basically, I have a super strict routine which I stick to... I catch in both horses when I get to the barn, then quickly groom and tack up both horses. Storm waits in his stable with his tack whilst I ride Polly (I like to leave him tacked up for a little while because it helps him to 'chill out' in his tack). Then i untack and feed Polly and work Storm whilst she is eating. When I've finished Storm I untack him and wizz round with the anti-sweetitch cream/fly spray/bug rugs etc. Then I just turn them out and clean their tack. Takes about 3hrs (2.5 on a good day).

On weekends I do all the fancy stuff like sweeping out the stables, scrubbing feedbowls, thorough grooming, change numhahs etc cos I have more time.

Acutally this is a bit sad really! But I couldn't manage 2 jobs and 2 horses without a strict routine I don't think!

Well, I think I have my job pretty easy! I own 10 horses, 4 of which are for sale, (Because of hay prices!)

BUT... I am a full time trainer! So I ride any where between 8 and 10 horses a day! Only 1 of them is mine, and she is off this month!

So my advice is... Quit your job and become a trainer!

sorry can't help ya there!

I have two horses myself, and there's only one of me that rides in my family. I generally alternate which horse I ride. I ride Shooter one day and Pistol the other. They probably each get worked about 3 times a week. I know there is too many horses and not enough time, but what are you going to do? Good luck with it!

I prefer to ride twister over shadow so thats easy.(and It's a climb to get on her....) I guess I try to plan which one I ride first but I guess I never really think about it.

If you can swing it I think 3 horses is a great number to have. As for riding...just rotate them. If you ride horse A on Monday then ride horse B on Tuesday and horse C on Wednesday. OR Shorten your riding time for each horse so you can ride them all in one day say 25 minutes each in the round pen. OR Lengthen your riding time per day.

Obviously the easiest thing to do is rotate the horses.
Have Fun!! As another poster mention 3 is a charm.

I guess Im fourtunate that my two horses are finished and Lena actually is better the less the ride her...I ride once or twice during the week and on the weekends..with a full time job, a 5 year old son and a ranch to take care of, oh, and 100+ temps into 9PM at night, riding can be diffucult, but we make it work and my placings have not suffered..my girls might be abit fatter then I would consider ideal..

Just purchased a weanling so I'm learning how to manage 2 horses! I don't pay board, fortunately, as I live on a farm nowadays. My 8 year old has navicular and is perfectly rideable right now but that may not be the case at some point so that's my excuse for a second horse!

Right now, working 2 jobs with shift work and 1 of the jobs changing--new computers, centralizing everyone, different job descriptions--it's a bit stressful. I come home as quickly as possible to make full use of the still longer days and usually greet my weanling then go in and change. I then tack up my mare and ride for however long the weather/bugs dictate on that day. If she's sore, or I rode her several days in a row, I might skip a day. Then I head over to the weanling and take her for a walk. As she gets older, I plan to kill two birds with one stone and pony her! Then she gets a lesson in tying which can be done while I clean her stall, clean her pen, whatever. Then she gets her feet handled and back out to her pen for a bit. Then I usually have various other chores to do just keeping the farm up. Forget reno projects!! (althought I still have to squeeze them in somewhere . .) Then it's pitch black outside--9:30 ish--and time to bring her in for the night. She gets another lesson in tying while I spread out the shavings in her stall and give her fresh water/hay. Handle her feet again and in the stall for the night. Check on the mare who's usually got her head in the door watching, and go to bed to get up at 0515 again the next morning. Feeding and medicating everyone falls in there somewhere obviousy!

As the days get shorter, not sure how things will work out. The only good thing is that my shifts are supposed to change and I might be home most days by 3:30 so I'll still have a BIT of daylight left. If you have access to an indoor arena, at least you'll have more time!

Simple answer - I don't!

I only get to the barn on the weekends anyway, so it's good that Annapolis is more or less retired and Star is happy in her role as a pasture potato.

After I move the horses to a new place this weekend, both of them actually might see a little more action. Annapolis will get to go on gentle trail rides with his new pasture buddy, Donin. And Star will probably get some more ground work and long reining because the lady I'm going to be boarding them with loves drafts and has offered to help with her.

Easy- I work from home! I'm semi-retired, only taking a couple of clients every week, so I get to spend most of my time working around the barn. Oh the joys of getting old!

I used to work from home til my boss bankrupt the company

It was sure nice to go out and ride on my lunch break and run out to check water, change blankets,ect if I needed too