A Day In The Life
There is no such thing as a typical day here, every one is different, so for the purposes of this blog post here’s what happened today…
5.30am Alarm goes off and I pop out to the yard, let the chickens out and feed the horses. All the horses get turned out first thing in the morning so that they all get some time to stretch their legs and be horses before their working day starts. All the stables get fully mucked out, hay/haylage and waters done and the yard swept. This morning, I film our weekly feature Monday Morning Mentions blog while I’m out on the yard.
8.00am Breakfast time - omelette courtesy of the chickens! The kids are now up, we get them ready for school/nursery - this is always a busy hour in the morning!
9.15am I’m back in the house and check emails and social media - scheduling the posts for today. I invest a lot of time in creating content and managing our blog, blog and so cial media channels and believe it’s a really important aspect of running the busi ness. It’s like our shop window, our chance to promote who we are, what we do, how we do it and how you can get involved.
10.30am That’s me ready to head back out onto the yard. I have Bobby to clip today so I bring him in, give him a groom (with the Alan Davies pack of course!) then give him a full clip. He’s such a good boy, doesn’t move a muscle so other than having little hairs EVERYWHERE, it’s quick and stress-free. While I’m a bit messy, I bring in the other horses who are working this afternoon, give them a groom and pop them in their stables to munch on hay for an hour.
12.00pm Lunchtime, and quick shower and change after clipping this morning! Today I’m have avocado toasts - one of my favourite lunches! I do another quick check of my emails/social media and reply to a few enquiries.
1.00pm Back on the yard and I ride Bobby, Ted and Diva. They’re all working really well at the moment. We also have 2 young horses in to be started under saddle from Lochlane Stud so we work with them too. They’re doing great, happily walking out with a rider on board so I’m excited to see how they develop.
5.00pm The horses are bedded down and fed and I pop in to the house. My parents have picked the kids up from school and nursery so they’re in the house waiting for me. I chat to them about their days, check that Cora doesn’t have any homework to do, and get tea ready.
6.00pm My husband Chris is now home from work to watch the kids while I catch up with Team KA. Every Monday evening I hold training for members of Team KA - our team of amateur riders just embarking upon their competitive careers. The team is very kindly sponsored by Jane Brindley of Horse Riding with Confidence Scotland, and once a month she does a mindset workshop with the team. Tonight she has brought local event rider Jodie Neill with her to chat about how she prepares for a competition and it’s really interesting to see how she builds both her horses and herself up for a big event.
8.00pm That’s me in the house, the kids are in the bath and Chris and I catch up about our days while we tidy round the house. Once the kids are dressed for bed we all chat together and ask “what was your favourite part of the day”. We ask this every night, it wasn’t a planned ritual but it’s become one and it’s actually really nice to acknowledge the good parts, particularly when you’ve maybe not had the best day. Chris and I alternate who we cuddle to sleep each night. Tonight, is ‘mummy night’ for Callan - he is the best snuggler! Eventually, Chris and I can sit down, catch up and watch another few episodes of Suits on netflix (I normally fall asleep 1/2 way through the second episode!
It’s been a busy but productive and fun day today, lots of exciting things happening at the moment and at times it can be a little overwhelming - if only there were another 10 hours in the day!
Karen x
