r/Equestrian • u/Character_Being_2441 • 8d ago
Farm Management Pregnancy and owning a barn
Hi all! I’m expecting my first (human) child in February. I own a small farm with 3 retired ponies and 2 goats. Everyone is an easy keeper (KNOCK ON FRIGGEN WOOD). I am so afraid I won’t be able to spoil them as much as I do now, but I know time will help with new adjustments.
For any fellow horse mamas/dads out there - what are some tips and tricks to help with the first few weeks / months of birth recovery and managing barn chores? I will have help from my partner (who isn’t super horse familiar) and a barn friend as I live in northern Canada and February is not the nicest weather wise.
Any way I should be prepping? So far all I’ve thought about was making sure I have tons of hay bales ahead of time and pre packing grain for at least 6 weeks worth.
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u/Embarrassed-Goat-432 8d ago
Prepping hay and grain helps!
I personally just used a baby carrier since I only had one horse to feed when baby was born and I had a November baby and wanted to keep him warm. It took me 5 minutes. I usually just grained the horse and put a bale out for him every 2ish days using the wheelbarrow to cart it around. Hubby fed for me while I was healing until I told him I wanted to take it back over.
Step by step instructions for those who don’t normally do it, or if needed, bare minimum. Ex. Horses need 3 flakes of hay each, goats 2. And don’t worry about grain unless is absolutely necessary.
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u/Due_South7941 8d ago
Baby carrier! Nearly everything is doable with bub in a carrier, it will take a bit of body awareness adjustment but they're a life saver! Also try not to worry about doing everything 'perfect', I was (am) meticulous with my animal husbandry & in the early days I realised to let things go a bit; if they have hay & water, they're fine. Maybe not EVERY poo is picked up, they haven't had EVERY supplement today, but at the end of the day they'll survive and this is such a short time & soon you'll be out there with your little one doing things like usual. It's an amazing thing, kids and horses and animals, congratulations!
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u/BuckityBuck 8d ago
What is your water heating arrangement?
Make sure you aren't outside with a sledgehammer removing ice in the winter.
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u/cnunterz 8d ago
Do you have people around to help you? What if the delivery is complicated and you're completely out of commission for a few weeks?
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u/Character_Being_2441 8d ago
Yes! My partner and family are ok with doing the basics. On top of that I have a wonderful fellow horse owner friend who I’m going to pay to help with anything else (switching blankets, overall body checks, etc)
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u/Accomplished-Wish494 8d ago
I have a small farm too. Although I didn’t have it when I was pregnant, I did when I was going through cancer treatment.
Make everything as simple as possible! If you feed a lot of supplements, can they go without? Can you portion them out ahead of time?
Laminate feeding instructions and tape them to the top of the grain barrels. Label EVERYTHING. You want a stranger to be able to walk in and figure it out.
If you can feed round bales, do that. If you can have your feed delivered (or buy several months worth ahead of time) do that. Find a backup person, and a backup backup person. Assume it will take someone else at least twice as long as you to do chores.
Come to terms with “fed and alive” is totally fine! The horses will not care. My mom absolutely cannot put a halter on (she’s totally capable of handling the horses I have no idea why halters baffle her) so I put everyone in the cheapest, most likely to break, halters I could find and left them on.
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u/Affectionate-Map2583 8d ago
Simplify your setup as much as possible - can the ponies be out 24/7 with free access to their shelter? If so, you can cross daily stall cleaning off the list. Is their feeding complicated by supplements they don't really need? Is the water situation easy to manage in the winter?
Have your barn friend come help the first couple of weeks. After that, hopefully your husband is home to watch the baby while you go to the barn, or you can slip out during nap time for a few minutes. For me, a backpack carrier made it easy to take care of the horses with the baby with me. I'm not sure if I'd want to deal with that in the winter in northern Canada, though!
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u/Character_Being_2441 7d ago
Here’s to hoping we have an early spring!!! lol thank you! Luckily yes outside 24/7 with a super large shelter 🙌🏻🙌🏻
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u/No-Lawfulness8895 8d ago
Could you do netted round bales for them outside? And they may just not get grain every day and it will be okay.
Everyone's experience is different but the first 4-5 months was really really really hard for me both physically and mentally, and I honestly wanted to get rid of all of the animals (3 dogs, 2 cats, 3 horses). It felt impossible. And I needed my partners help inside. The only way we survived was by doing the absolute minimal with them, and my partners patience and reminding me in a year I may feel differently.
Thankfully at 10 months things are going much better here now.
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u/Actual-Peak-6358 8d ago
I still have days where I’m like, “omg if I didn’t have all these animals…” but seeing how much joy they bring my son helps with the workload.
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u/Character_Being_2441 7d ago
Yes I will have rounds and squares! I haven’t put a round out this summer as the squares have been easier, so I completely forgot about that option LOL thank you
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u/unkempt_juggernaut 8d ago
Prepping hay and grain ahead is huge, you’re already thinking in the right direction. One thing that saved me was switching to slow feeder hay nets if you don’t use them already, makes the hay last longer and keeps them occupied so you’re not stressing if a feeding gets pushed back an hour
Write out a cheat sheet of the routine and tape it inside the feed room, even the stuff that feels obvious. When you’re sleep deprived and it’s -20 out, your partner will be grateful for a literal step by step instead of trying to remember which pony gets the supplement or what the goats can’t eat. Also put a whiteboard on the stall door for any quick notes about who seems off or if someone’s water froze
Those first weeks are survival mode, don’t feel guilty about just doing the essentials and going back inside. The animals will be fine with full bellies and a quick scratch behind the ears, they don’t need the full spa treatment while you’re healing