keeping horses at home?

[brightbluegentian]

Would you? If you could?

I am thinking of moving and one of the options would be to a house with some land. After I lost DHorse I swore I’d never have another unless I could keep them at home... but now I have my doubts?

I have never found a nice livery yard (can’t manage the politics) - but I have always benefitted from the facilities (stables, manege, vet/farrier/dentist visits etc and the options of part livery when needed.

If you keep horses at home what are the issues? It would be a couple of native ponies, field kept. So relatively low maintenance ( hopefully).

Also how much land would you think would be optimum for 2 native types 15h max.

I'd say 3 acres assuming they're living out all year and that it's decent land. More if its rough grazing, less if they're stabled at night. Downsides are riding alone, no - one around for a second opinion or to help out when you want a night away. Full call out fees for everything. Fences, water, poop, field health etc all your responsibility.

I had mine at home for a while and loved it! I did miss the facilities, like the school etc and having someone around if I had a query, but loved the lack of bitchiness!

I guess the things you’d be responsible for would be general maintenance of things like fences, stables (if you have them) poo picking etc, but all do-able.

They say an acre per horse. Native types should be good doers but I would still say a minimum of two acres but would probably want 3-4 so I could rest and rotate them (if I could afford/find somewhere like that).

I have mine at home. It’s lovely that you can set everything up to suit your horses. I’d recommend having a freelance groom one day a week so you’re on their books as a regular and they’ll hopefully then cover you for holidays or illness. Be aware that while it’s lovely it means you are responsible for all maintenance and it takes a lot of time and money. You probably won’t save money! But it is lovely. I’d ideally not want less than five acres for two personally.

I always dreamt of having mine at home but when I did I really missed being on a yard. Missed having other people around and I'm not particularly sociable & prefer to ride alone.
I lost my motivation to ride and missed the 'me time' where I could disappear to the yard for a couple of hours. When you have them at home there's always other things you could be doing, jobs in the house so I never felt I got away from that.

I have 6 at home. Nothing beats looking out of every window and seeing horses!

Have to agree with many others on here that while it's easy to see the attraction, it probably wouldn't be for me (which is a good thing as houses with enough land for horses around my way would literally cost millions!). Being on livery does drive me mad occasionally but I don't think I could cope without the facilities, especially a floodlit school, I do love to hack and ride in the fields but for me it would be impossible to ride in the week in the winter without the school as with work etc I can only ride in the evenings. Plus although having lots of other people around is deeply annoying a lot of the time, you're never short of hacking/competing buddies on a large livery yard, and it can be invaluable having experienced people around to lend a hand.

Also, don't underestimate how much maintenance 2-3 acres takes (the minimum you'd need for a couple of ponies, more if it's rough land/unlevel) - fencing, weeding, trimming hedges/trees back, poo picking, rotating the grazing, reseeding/harrowing/rolling, sorting the muck heap, maintaining field shelters, water troughs etc., it can all really add up both in terms of time, effort and cost - unless you can afford to pay someone to do it all for you of course but I imagine that would be quite pricey as it would need to be someone with all the right kit... If you would want to add some basic facilities e.g. stables, hard standing/tie up area and a small school, you can then certainly add ££ price tag onto initial purchase costs/set up plus then ongoing maintenance?

I think my absolute ideal would probably be livery on a very small/private yard very near my house, sharing with just one or maybe 2 others who I get on well with, a few friends have this set up and it sounds pretty idyllic, so long as you get on well with the person sharing with of course! Could you maybe look into this as an option?