Ive given it 3 months.. UPDATE almost a year

MrA

MrA

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Feb 8, 2012
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The job I mean. I'm settled in, know what I am doing and doing well (up 22% overall)

I just wish I liked it. So I am looking again but not in a hurry to do so because close to Ale so can't complain too much. I just can't hack 9-6 five days a week ( one day I do 7-6.30 actually)

So tell me to stick at it all you want but I just want something that finishes slightly earlier so I can fit everything else in. I'm happy to do 6 days a week if need be, but at the moment just feel like im wasting my life at work haha
 
Sound like a right brat and pretty much a pointless thread but need to tell someone
 
Id recommend waitressing you know. Min wage but I come out with 30 odd quid a shift in my arse pocket in tips! Today I dont start till half 4 so have had a horsey morning. Works well in winter as you get daylight hours
 
It always surprises me how folk at my yard can be ridden and done with their horses and heading home for tea when I'm just arriving at 6.30 having worked 9-5 but including all the travel I'm away from 7.30- 6 at night.
If you find a job that allows you better hours and you can still afford your lifestyle on that wage, I guess it's got to be worth checking out.


And then tell me what it is!
 
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My lifestyle isn't very expensive though as I save a lot of money from not driving and never buying new clothes etc.

And as I said happy to do 6 day week so would be the same amount of hours but over more days :)
 
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Flipo's Mum said:
It always surprises me how folk at my yard can be ridden and done with their horses and heading home for tea when I'm just arriving at 6.30 having worked 9-5 but including all the travel I'm away from 7.30- 6 at night.
If you find a job that allows you better hours and you can still afford your lifestyle on that wage, I guess it's got to be worth checking out.


And then tell me what it is!
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And me as well!! I am just the same FM. The yard is like the Marie Celeste in the winter and I am always there by myself. Must be doing something wrong I think - everyone else seems to manage to work part time and have a horse etc., but I seem to have to work full time!
 
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I know it wasn't, I wish I could afford a horse on part time work.

I leave home between 6 and half 6am and don't get in till about 8pm ish. Then by the time have done my other animals, washing etc its dinner at about half 9 and bed. Also fitting in about 100 miles of cycling and 10miles of running and boyfriend into this too. And I'm not even riding much atm, I don't think ill ever get home once I can ride ale again!
 
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Its hard fitting it all in at home - never mind on a yard with all the travel involved!!! When OH and I were running two businesses I really don't think it would have been feasible to have horses at all. Thankfully OH realised there was more to life than work !!!
I used to be last off the yard and first to arrive in a morning - I think people thought I had no home to go to!! Ale, could you do most of your washing and necessary tidying chores on the weekend? Its hard to find time for it all I know.
Maybe look for two part time jobs? With hours that work for you rather than a full block like you are doing at the moment?
 
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In reality, many people who own horses have the backup of either a partner or parents to help pay the bills. It's tough if you are on a single income and there is no choice but to work full time.

I have been in both positions, when I was in my 20's I loaned a horse for 4 years and I worked full time. I managed to change my working hours so I started work at 7am (meant leaving my house at 6:30am) and left the office at 3:30am. I then went to the yard for 3:45pm and finally got home about 7pm. It was a long day but I loved every second of it.

These days I work 16 hours per week (at increasingly random times!), and have 2 kids to look after. I'm lucky that I can now pay for part livery (with my husbands support of course) so I just need to squeeze in the riding part but sometimes that means 10pm rides in our floodlit school.

Most people on my yard either do not work, work part time in office jobs or are self employed and pick their own hours.
 
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I think you have to accept when you are your sort of age you really have to just get on with a full time job and make your way in life as best you can, like most of us have had to do in our early working days. I don't mean that as a criticism, just stating the facts of life for most people starting out in life.

At your age I used to just ride late evenings in the summer and not much other than weekends in the winter. But my horses were kept out though, so much easier than faffing about with mucking out etc. I'm afraid boyfriends etc. had to always take second place to my horses! :D I also went everywhere on a bike until I learned to drive at 21. Once I married and had children it was much better as I didnt work for about 10 years, but I was very fortunate.

Is there anyway you can make keeping Ale easier, by going for grass livery perhaps, or finding something nearer?
 
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I'm not sure how old you are or even what you do, but if it helps I'm 25 & for me, life is sadly, all about working 5 days a week 'office hours' & it probably will be for some time! In reality, taking into account doing Pete pre & post work, my days are more like 6am-9pm, without the days I work extra hours or take work home. I've had to start at the bottom of my company & work my way up (graduating in a recession was a shock, I'm telling you ...!) - that was harder, as it was rubbish-y jobs, but I'm in a fairly decent position now where I've made my own role & I can get on with it.

It's really, really tough & fitting everything in can be a logistical nightmare - but it is life, for most people my age.

I fully admit I'm working to live - I'm so lucky I've got a horse (well, most of the time - I do occasionally add up what I spend & think 'really?!' & convert that to non-horsey things) but hey, he's cheaper than therapy!

But, realistically, I've got a horse, a car, I pay rent at home & trying to save to move out in the next 12 months so can't afford to not work. Boring my job might be, but it's life.

In this day & age & job market, I'd really suggest keeping at it. Having a decent job on your CV that you can show progression & improvement in looks really good & does give you more freedom of choice in the future. Some of my friends, are still stacking shelves in Tesco or waitressing (there's nothing wrong with either of those jobs - but in 10 years time, I wouldn't want to do either of them just to have more horse time now).

You do get used to the boredom to some extent - it's always harder at this time of year when the sun is out & you'd rather not be at work, but the security & benefit that working brings, outweighs it.

I admit, I live for my weekends (I find using my weekends wisely, helps with the boredom of a full time job as it gives you something to look forward to) but it gets easier to suck it up, I promise. Three months isn't that long to adjust to a new job or routine.

For sure, I'd rather have more time with Pete - but you make the time you do have count. Same with socialising & boyfriends - you make time. Yes, it sometimes means lunging at 6am as I know I'm out for a date straight from work or going to bed at 9.30 as I'm knackered from a day of meetings, reports & difficult clients & last thing I want to do in the middle of winter is muck out after work in the rain, dealing with a horse on three legs doing his best to eat his poultice or that is too fresh from staying in due to bad weather & I'm the only one at the yard.

But, do you know what, it's worth it.

I couldn't earn the money I earn doing part-time work or relying on tips or whatever else. I'm not even that career driven or money orientated, but it does pay my rent & it does make the world go by.

I've probably gone against the grain & I do understand how you feel - I'm there at least once a week - but it would be my advice :) x
 
Its just so frustrating having to sacrifice the things I enjoy and am passionate about to stand around all day in a stuffy shop full of products I have no interest in, attempting to talk to people who have no interest in me.

I'm 24 and I'm a furniture department head in a shop. I'm not paid a great deal at 8.50 an hour and sometimes (every day) I just want to bang my head agaisnt a wall when every single little thing goes wrong.

I've done a few jobs in my time, worked full time on shifts which was okay but too far from ale. Then last year I was working 7 days a week, two long days and 5 half days. This was do able but in the end I exhausted myself taking on tons of overtime etc ( parents nagging me to save)
 
The only place this job I currently have is going to lead is to me becoming a deputy manager and they work ridiculously long hours, no amount of money in the world could make me do that. Their whole lives is work. I would go mad. I think you need to be a certain type of person to be able to commit to your job that much.

My horse comes first, even now, if I find him with a kick like I did the other day I have no problem in ringing work and telling them I will be late back, I offer to make up time but there is nothing that would make me leave him. Can't be a deputy manager and do things like that. I am rambling now haha!
 
I work shifts and part of me thinks I would find a 9 ti 5 job 5 days a week boring! But actually having weekends off and all fesival periods off I would love! Eventhough I work nights I have told them if sox was ill I wouldn't be coming in! The only problem is with my other job if there was a problem in the day I couldn't just leave as it relies on numbers. My current job is 5 mins away from the yard the job I am going for is 45mins from the yard but its what I want to go into , money is way better and its days x
 
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Hmm, well, you could always stop working and go on the dole, and then you could spend all day every day playing with your horse, and still have the money to buy him lots of pretty things that you can show off to your friends. I know a couple of people in their early 20s who do that and it seems to work well for them. I mean, they have no ambition or desire to make anything of themselves, and they'll probably still be living off mum & dad when they're in their 40s... but at least they have time to hang out with their horses all day, right?

Sorry, I am in a sarcastic mood tonight :p I know you don't fit into the above category. But seriously though, it is pretty much a fact of life that if you have a hobby or passion of any kind, you will have to be prepared to fit it in around your job - you don't fit your job around your hobby. Well, some people can, but they are very much in the minority... For everyone else, having a job and a hobby is about balance, compromise and sacrifice - especially when that hobby is something as time-consuming and obsessive as horses! Every time I read one of your job posts I just can't help but feel that you are living in a bit of a dream world. You want to be financially independent but you also want to spend time with your horse - now that is great, and that's how it is for the majority of us, and yes it IS possible, but only if you are willing to make compromises, and to be honest you just don't seem to be up for that. I think you have an idea in your head of your perfect scenario, and dismiss anything that doesn't fit that ideal, and that's why I'm not surprised when you say you're not happy with your job and are looking elsewhere (again), because I don't see how you will ever be able to commit to any job that doesn't allow you the exact lifestyle you're dreaming of. Unfortunately, the reality is that something has to give, somewhere.

Even when you have a job you love, you STILL have to be willing to accept that things can't be perfect! I'm one of those people who's lucky enough to have their dream job, and it's something I'm very passionate about and makes me a very happy person, but that still doesn't mean I have lots of time to spend with my ponies! I work on average a 60-hour week spread over 6 days, some weeks in the summer are even longer, and as you can imagine this doesn't leave me with the time or energy to do much else - I find it for my ponies, but it's not easy! I ride them on my day off, but if I want to exercise them more than that then it has to be before or after work. In the summer it's doable, though I still don't have a lot of time as I don't finish on the yard until 7pm or later... in the winter when it's dark at 5pm and I finish work at 6 then I basically just have to accept I'll only ride them once a week. In that respect, despite working with horses and keeping my ponies on-site I am still no better off than someone who works 9-5 in an office and has limited time for their horse during the week - in fact those people are technically better off cos they actually have a whole weekend free ;)
 
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