How you spend your morning can have a large effect on the rest of the day. It’s been said by many experts that your morning habits can contribute to your productivity and satisfaction the rest of the day.
So how do you start your day taking care of yourself and your horse? Here is what I do every day.
When you are an equestrian, your morning routine can look a bit different than the average joe. Depending on your horse keeping situation, you may need to take care of your horses in the morning or prepare yourself for a trip to the barn later in the day.
While your day probably looks a bit different than mine, I wanted to share what my morning routine looks like. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, I do work from home almost every day so things have changed recently for my morning routine. I used to wake up at 5am and rush out of the house to be to work no later than 7am.
This is the best change to my routine to happen, probably since forever!
I’m not the type of morning person who sits around with a cup of coffee in the morning, but if that’s your thing – do what makes you happy!
6:00am/6:30am Wake up.
I don’t have to set an alarm anymore since I’m able to work from home. And since I don’t HAVE to wake up at 5:00am, I get to sleep quite a bit more than I used to. This pandemic has been bad in a lot of ways, but it kind of forced me to start living the life I always wanted.
6:00am-7:00am Feed the Horses.
I don’t stick to a strict time to feed the horses (ever) but they do normally get fed about 4 times a day (minimum 3, max 6 times a day, just depending on what we do in a day). On the weekend, I don’t usually go feed until 8am, and guess what – they are just fine!
Pro Tip:
I fill tubs with the horse’s late night and morning feedings the day before, so all I have to do is dump their tub for in the dark at night and for breakfast. *This saves me a lot of time and hassle of getting hay everywhere in the morning. I already have the amount measured out and ready to be fed.
While I’m out feeding, I also do the following:
- Check the horse’s water. In the winter this means checking that the water is not frozen, or breaking ice/plugging in a heater. In the summer, I make sure the horses still have clean, fresh water available – make sure they have enough water for the day as well as no poop or foreign objects in their trough.
- Put on fly masks/fly boots. My mare, Dede, gets really watery eyes once the flies are out if I don’t put a mask on her. So she wears one every day – the Cashel Fly Mask with Ears. Some days, I put on the horse’s shoo fly leggins too.
- Check out my review of Shoo Fly Leggins here.
- Look the horses over for cuts/injuries. I always like to make sure that my horses don’t have any injuries or cuts/scrapes that need attention.
- Pick both horses’ feet out. I like to try and keep up with hoof health, and I realized that if I picked my horse’s feet in the morning while they are eating breakfast, I get it done and don’t forget later in the day.
- Want to improve your horse’s hoof health? Check out the top 6 things you can do to improve your horse’s hoof health.
6:30am/7:00am make breakfast.
Some days I am not so great at drinking water (adult problems, ya know?) So I try to start the day by drinking a full glass of water before I eat breakfast. This way, I start the day by drinking water. Being dehydrated can lead to a lot of problems, so drink up people!
As far as breakfast goes, it depends on the day. Lately, I’ve been obsessed with homemade bagels (this is the recipe I use). They’re not THAT hard to make, and they are delicious. My favorite seasoning is everything bagel seasoning. I usually start working while I eat breakfast. I like to get to work no later than 7 so I can finish by 5 at the latest.
6:30am/7:00am Start Working.
10-11am Feed the Horses again.
I love being able to feed the horses several times throughout the day, so I go feed the horses again before lunch time. I fully believe that feeding horses more often is better for them (if you can give them 24/7 hay that is great too). So I split up hay into 4 ish feedings a day.
There you have it, my morning routine for taking care of myself and my horses. I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love waking up and taking care of my horses every day. How do you start your day?
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