Hi. I'm new to The Tack Room.
I have a fab pony and a 3 month DD (first child). I had my pony out on loan while I was pregnant and after much agonising I decided to continue this arrangement over the summer season. She's on full grass livery so not too much work involved but the yard is about 45 minutes away as it's easier to keep her on the club grounds than have to travel her to practices. Since DD was born I've been down to the yard about once every 2 weeks but not managed to ride once. I have no one who can watch her while I ride and she's EBF so I can't leave her with my DP while I go to the yard. I know it's early days and things should get easier but at the moment it just seems a bit too hard and I can't justify a full livery bill if I'm only going to ride once in a blue moon. Also, my pony is still quite young so I felt it would be better for her to be ridden and played regularly rather than stand in a field most of the time. She's still on my yard so i can see her whenever i like and there are some club ponies knocking around so it's not like I can't ride at all.
How did you all manage when your kids were little? Did you manage to keep riding?
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kirrinIsland · 26/03/2011 14:33
DD will take a bottle but at the moment I can't seem to express anything much to put in it! Hopefully that'll improve. I will still go down and watch some games but it's nice to know I won't be on the sidelines forever! Haven't ridden since last April so I expect I'll be nice and achey when I do get back on - hope I can remember what to do 
It might be worth trying a different kind of breastpump. I had a cheapo handpump with dd and expressed loads of milk quite easily but when I had ds I treated myself to a battery-operated one thinking it would be easier and quicker. It wasn't. I couldn't get on with it at all which was surprising. (I still had plenty of milk so that wasn't the problem). Also look at your baby (or a picture) to make your milk let down and get you started off, it really does work. 
I don't think I got much riding when mine were tiny. I remember getting up really early on sunday mornings once dd was sleeping through. I would leave her and dh sleeping and creep out, then I could have a quick ride and be back as she was waking up (it was summer so it was light enough). Once we had ds it was more difficult as he was a terrible sleeper and refused to take a bottle. I think with him I was just too exhausted to even think about getting up any earlier than I had to!
I didn't have a young pony though, mine was retired and I was just riding my mum's horse as and when so it wasn't the same situation as you. If mine had been younger I'd probably have made some arrangements for him to be ridden by someone else for a while as you have done.
I haven't tried having a picture of DD in front of me whilst pumping - will give it a go. I did pump once with her next to me and on reflection I did get a bit more than usual but I felt she was looking at me expectantly and it put me off a bit cos I felt a bit mean - obviously I know she wasn't really but my imagination can run a bit wild sometimes
How old were your kids when you got back into riding regularly, and do they enjoy it too?
Mmm well it's a bit complicated. I don't think I really got back into what you'd call regular riding but that wasn't just to do with having babies. It was to do with trying to run a pub, all our horses being elderly by then and not being able to afford to keep them and pay to ride elsewhere as well, the fact that ds is severely autistic and was literally hysterical if I left him. I did get a reasonable amount of riding when dd was small as my mum's horse was still rideable and dd was a very easy child. When she started at playgroup at 2.5 it got even easier as I didn't have to rely on dh or my mum, I just about had time to drop her off, rush off for a ride and get back in time to pick her up. Luckily dh was just along the road from the playgroup if an emergency had stopped me getting back in time but it was always ok. Ds was born when she was 4 and boy did I notice the difference!
Now I've finally got a nice young horse and time to ride him and I find my nerve's gone but I am working on it. Funnily enough it's ds who likes the horses, dd rode a bit when she was little and was quite good but lost interest and now couldn't care less. Ds has been out today on the shetland and had a lovely time.
In the morning, baby on one tit, pump on the other . Lots of milk. Sadly I had no horse to ride, but lots of milk.......
Ooh Labradorlover that sounds a bit too much like mutli-skilling - surely you need 3 hands to do that??
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