I have been so incredibly grateful to ride TC for the last several months, as he’s taught me a lot about myself, and allowed me to have saddle time while I was technically horseless.
Aww TC
Even though I officially own my own pony right now, I’ve continued riding TC with the goal of hopefully competing at another recognized show at the end of July. Between getting to know Jack on the ground and in the saddle, and riding TC, albeit a bit more sporadically, plus of course the adult responsibilities like working a full time job… I admit I may be getting a bit burnt out.
What I would love to know is those that have more than one horse to ride- how do you prioritize? How do you keep yourself from eventual exhaustion? Do you feel that something eventually has to give? Or have you found a way to balance multiple rides with the rest of life’s responsibilities? Do you employ professional help? Or have strategies for keeping the rides fresh and exciting?
Red on the Right 
My new trainer wants me to continue catching rides on Walker after Dante gets to our barn. I’m pretty excited since Walker is hopefully what Dante will be in the future, well schooled, broke and a good ride for me to work on myself.
Honestly that’s why I have 2 people leasing the other horses from me. I don’t know how other people ride multiple horses AND work in a 9-5 job and some even have a family on top of that!! But for me, one horse is all I can maintain on a regular basis before I just burn out.
I enjoy riding horses who are more schooled than my own (this isn’t hard because he’s a 4 y/o off the track Arabian lol) because I definitely appreciate opportunities to work on myself, a lot, without worrying about a green beans next antics. I don’t know that I would make time to ride two green horses along with a full time job and two part time jobs. I think it depends on what your goals are and what the individual horses have to offer. If “horse #2” (I would define this as the one you don’t own, in your case) has a lot to offer then make the time, and do different things with each horse on different days. EG, dressage with TC, maybe jumping or a hack with Jack. Hack with TC, dressage with Jack, etc.
I prioritize which horse gets ridden and try to cut myself some slack if one ends up getting more time off than I planned. For example, right now Moiya has had at least a full week off because I’m busy with horse shows. She doesn’t seem to mind 🙂
I do the same; when I have Sully in addition to Dino, Dino gets my time first and I fit Sully in where I can and don’t feel guilty if I can’t get to him on any given day. I also shorten my rides when I have to do both of them in one day, and stick to about 30 mins on each horse instead of my usual ~1hr. It’s HARD to fit them both in, but it can be done!
I ride two. The mule actually does better she’s only ridden 3ish times a week, which is why I adopted Lev. He could probably use 7 days a week of riding, shoes progress is hampered by my splitting my time, but I’m okay with that as I have no big goals.
This is a lot harder for me now that I have a full time job and my boyfriend moved in. If I needed to tuck Ellie in the car for a nap while I rode a second (or third or fourth) horse some days, it was never a big deal. Now someone gets crotchety when I don’t come home and pay attention to him. Maybe I’ll have time in my summer “vacation”?!
I have three horses and I really suck at juggling them all right now. So I have no advice. I hope that once we purchase property I’ll be able to work part-time, so will have more time to get rides in.
For me, whoever has a closer competition date gets higher priority. I keep a journal of when each was worked and what we did, too, so that helps me see where gaps may be. Having multiple disciplines to work on helps balance things, too, because a dressage ride doesn’t take the amount of time a conditioning ride for endurance does. I can ride two horses one day and do a dressage or jump session on each and then focus on an endurance conditioning ride on a different day. In a good week when work and other life circumstances align, I ride each horse 3x. I also organize the actual workout for each to get the most bang for my buck so that no time is wasted.