Articles at Horse Nannies

Christmas Day 2015 started bright and sunny and looked set to be a relaxed and carefree day, spent with wonderful friends.

The table was groaning with food; wine flowed, and it promised to be a truly beautiful day!

I was 3,000 kilometres from home, and this was the first Christmas I had spent away from family, dogs and horses in over ten years.

I relaxed knowing there would be no rushing home at the end of the day to feed animals because I’d manage to organise a very competent young horse woman to visit the farm twice a day while I was away, to take care of all the animal’s needs.

Annie had diligently turned up twice daily. That was until Christmas Day when I got the dreaded text message. “I can’t make it out to the farm today – I have severe food poisoning”. I should have felt concern regarding her health, but my first thoughts were for the fate of my animals, especially the horse’s fresh water supply!

For the next few hours, I rang friends and family begging “please go and attend my horses”. Understandably, being Christmas Day, the answer was often “I can’t drive, I’ve been drinking” or “I have a houseful of guests”, etc. It had taken 3 hours and a hefty bribe before I found someone willing to attend to my animals for the day.

Unforeseen situations cannot always be avoided and is why Urgent Care Nannies earn my particular respect (and their extra dollars!). Obviously, if I’d nominated a backup person before leaving for my trip, I could have avoided all the panic and anxiety Annie’s non-attendance created.

I recall another time when I noticed 20 missed calls on my mobile phone. My neighbour’s husband had unexpectedly ended up in the hospital, and she couldn’t get home to care for her horses. She was most relieved to hear from me and of course, I went and fed, watered and rugged her horses. However, if I had not finally contacted her, those horses would have been neglected, at least overnight. Once again, this situation is when an Urgent Care Nanny would have saved the horse owner a lot of stress.

While no animal should be left for extended periods of time, horses are especially vulnerable when unexpectedly left unattended. Confined horses require regular feeding and risk health issues if they go without scheduled food. Conversely, horses usually bought in and stabled at night will suffer if left out in the cold. Routine is important to horses, and many will race up and down a fence should dinner be late, potentially causing themselves injury. Horse people are well aware of the demanding nature of horse care and so nominating a person as an Urgent Care Nanny, whether you are away on holidays or not, can be excellent insurance!