Dare we own a pony?

[Fudgeball123]

We live in the countryside and have a small field and are surrounded by fields.
The children (age 8 and 11) have been going to a riding stables for a year and 'sharing' so riding 2-3 days a week and at the stables for 7-8 hours per day. They love it and have made good progress with riding as they are riding 4-6 hours per week.
The stables is closing til Easter for the 'wet' season. And DD is getting anxious that they are planning to sell the ponies and do liveries rather than pony lessons.
So the children are asking about buying a pony / two ponies.
I totally understand that in winter they would only be able to ride at weekends in term time. The ponies at the stables are out all year round (with rugs) as there are no stables (they would need to build those to do livery!).
So I wondering if we have the land / can rent it directly behind our house. If we build a stable / tackroom / shelter but keep the ponies outside all year round. They can hack from our house to woods with paths. Of course we don't have a menage but we do know people a 15 min walk away with a menage so we could walk to that.
Our kids are currently spending some 16 hours a week outside in all weathers with ponies. I know a chap who sells small bales of hay for £3 each.
I realise the additional costs of farrier, vaccinations, insurance etc. And we would need a trailer for transport.
Is this a good idea or still a nightmare and a time sink? (Of course I will wait to see what happens with the stables as its my preference they continue with that).

I always had ponies as a child. Up to about 15yrs i think when i swapped ponies for boys.

I always had mine out all year, in a NZ rug, but with an open fronted, timber field shelter. I used to have to cycle outside of our village in the dark before school in the winter with some warm mash and a hay net for him, every morning. But i didn't care at all!

Never had a tack room, the tack and hay bales were kept in a shed, never had a horse box either as i only used to ride locally and attend local gymkhanas that i rode to.

The main expenses for us was field rent, 6 weekly shoeing and 6 week'y worming, plus winter food. Yearly vaccinations.... can't remember much else.

You CAN keep ponies reletively inexpensively, if you have to, or you can spend shit-loads of money, its up to you and what you want and can afford.

I do think its great for children, although when i was a kid, we wore ill-fitting hats, tshirt and jodphurs and just bombed off in large groups of kids across fields and woods, making jumps out of branches etc with zero supervision and it was great fun!

Thankyou softwonder. As we live rurally quite a lot of people have horses on quite modest incomes. I think it's different in London / south east where everything costs a fortune. a friend of mine's brother had a pony on their farm which we used to ride. It was out in all weathers. No rug. And we would ride it across fields unsupervised.

How big is the field for a start? Are you aware they can’t really live alone so you’d need two and I’d id say an absolute bare minimum of three acres, and a lot of careful management of that space.

Do you feel like you would be able to do the care? I’d never recommend a first time owner does it at home. Could you tell if the pony was 2/10th lame for example? Do you know colic symptoms, laminitis symptoms, signs the pony has ulcers etc?

How good are the children really? Non riding school ponies even the really quiet ones will be a lot more forward etc than riding school ponies. Are they good and balanced in all three paces? If not I’d not buy till they are. Also remember if you went down the ex riding school route they will be used to several hours of work a day and strict routine, you may find with a few hours work a week they turn into very different animals!!

Also building stables has really tricky planning implications - ie if the land is agricultural you technically can’t keep horses on it.
Also it’s fucking grim in winter, especially if you don’t have running hot water/hand standing etc.
How is the hacking to the ménage, does it involve much traffic? How is the hacking in general? It’s not really fair on the pony to expect to be ridden in the field it lives in and behave perfectly!
What type of soil are on you? Clay is an absolute nightmare in winter especially with horses churning it up.

Do you have a realistic budget for two ponies? With current prices and buying for novice riders (if they have only ever ridden at a riding school they will be fairly novice) you’re probably looking about £10kish for the ponies and tack.

I’m not saying don’t but If you’re not horsey I’d say go down the livery route than keeping them at home.

Also think about maintenance costs. Repairing fencing, putting in field drains, electric fencing, rolling rutted fields, getting rid of muck heaps, fertilising, re sowing, poo picking,. You either do it all yourself, or pay someone to do it.

lastqueenofscotland its a good point. We do have sheep but I think there is a high risk we would end up with 2 ponies. I read you need 1-1.5 acres/pony.
Its a good point re pony health and tbh this is my main concern rather than cost. It's whether you really 'know' enough? And there I doubt myself.
I think (?) the children are quite good for their age as they have gone so many times a week but I understand what you are saying and obviously its a new environment for them and they need to be more independent and confident. I totally understand you need to get a quiet pony. They both ride 'more difficult' ponies at the yard which are typically not used much as they are small and not used (as small people tend to need the more easy to ride ponies). So neither are on the ploddy ones but I understand what you are saying about expectations of the pony.
lastqueenofscotland all good points. I will look into the planning issue. Good point re clay. I would put down concrete outside the stable to try to ward off the mud... hacking to the menage would be very quiet. Wow the budget of £10k blows my mind. Friends of ours are selling a very glam, show jumpy pony for £10k and I wasn't thinking we would look for anything of that calibre. The stables typically sells them for £3-4k. Could there be a regional price delta?
I have enquired about horse livery but it would cost about £12k a year for two ponies - eek!
We have just had the field refenced though now my husband is worried about his apple trees .

Some horses are happy with sheep, a lot aren’t, some even kill them… So I’d budget for buying two, hense the 10k.
Tbh if you couldn’t spot a lame or colicky horse I’d stop there with the notion of keeping them at home. They need to be on livery until you are more knowledgeable

And yes keeping them at home I’ve known some people say cost more with fencing and ground maintenance!

lastqueenofscotland ah sorry I thought you meant £10k each!

I privately rent grazing and have 3 that live out 24/7 but they have a field shelter each which the land owner put up for me (highly doubt there was any PP involved tbh) and one way to get round it I believe is to have non-permanent field shelters on skids so that they are, in theory at least, moveable without foundations etc.

As I rent I do not have to worry about muck heap removal, hedge cutting, fence repairs, harrowing, rolling and fertilising as the land owner takes care of all that for me and otherwise it could all work out a bit expensive! I am very, very fortunate that the land is extremely well drained and I only ever get one of two small areas of standing water even when it has poured for days. But even so there is mud (lots of it) round the shelters and gateways. And frozen water. And frozen ground. Winter with outdoor ponies is bloody grim, no getting away from it.

With such young inexperienced children I would think very carefully about taking on ponies when you don't have the support and knowledge of a livery manager and fellow liveries. Some else mentioned being able to spot colic and lameness. Not to mention seedy toe, abcesses, mud fever, thrush.

And finally, small ponies that are a Mother's Dream are not easy to come by and many change hands solely by word of mouth. And small ponies can be the absolute masters of taking the mick if they can get away with it should you mistake and get saddled with one that actually isn't a Mother's Dream!

How big is your 'small field' and how long have you had sheep? We're arable so I have a somewhat warped idea of a small field. If you have years of sheep experience your skills of looking after livestock are fairly interchangeable, so illness/lameness is easy to identify, even if you don't know what to do about it.

If your sheep are of the 'new lawn mowing' type, would it be possible to pay the person with the menage down the road to do a daily check on your ponies?

If they live out/have field shelter they won't take much time at all, but they are very tying - could whoever looks after the sheep while you're away also look after the ponies?

I'd recommend getting in contact with your local Pony Club asap - you'll be able to find your local branch online - make sure that you look for a branch (own pony) rather than centre (riding school). They'll know of anything for sale locally, and will have stable management, riding lessons and other training for your children.

RatherBeRiding we already do hedge trimming (cost circa £20 per year) and have to replace fences periodically. And we are on a hillside so it will be muddy in the winter but there won't be any massive puddles of standing water as it will all be heading downhill?

VeganVampire we're in welsh hill sheep farming country to our fields will be ALOT smaller than yours! You're quite right. Our field is about an acre but we could look at buying / renting more. My parents have 21 acres but we'd have to drive 15 mins for that and we wouldnt be 'on site'. We've had the sheep about 5 years but have less than 10 so they are lawn mowers - we don't breed them. We have someone to shear them but we check on them daily, feed them in the winter, check their feet, dag them etc. But they are pretty low maintenance.
Good point re finding holiday cover. We could possibly take them (with trailer) to friends who have horses. Pony Club is based 15 mins for us and very popular around here. We have lots of horsey friends including several with ponies for their children and you are right they pass the ponies around so I could put some feelers out.
I'm waiting to see what happens to the riding stables in the spring before I do anything more. It seems another of riding stables have closed around here due to not economically surviving COVID.

When we used to rent a field for horses back in the 1990s we had to take them off the field for two consecutive months each year - something to do with making sure we couldn't claim squatters rights I think but happy to be corrected. Make sure you have alternative accommodation for the ponies if you have to rent.

Having a pony is not a hobby it's a way of life. The costs are ongoing and expensive. The work involved is unbelievable. Worming, shoes, insurance bla bla holiday issues

I wouldn't have another after having them all my life

Others have made good points about the practicalities so I won't repeat, it does seem as though you are potentially well set up for ponies although you'll def need more than an acre to keep 2 on esp through winter if you want them to live out 24/7... If you don't want to stable or mess around with rugs etc (I don't blame you!) that does mean you probably won't want to clip the ponies winter coats, which in turn will limit how much the DC can ride through the worst parts of winter anyway, as if they do too much hard/fast work an unclipped pony with full winter coat with quickly get very sweaty and overheated. Plus if you need to hack down roads to a lit/flat area to ride in it will be a bit dangerous to do so in the dark...

I'll just add a point for you to ponder - your children sound like they really love riding at the school they're at now, how much will you be able to replicate that fun and learning at home? I had this issue when all of mine moved from lessons to riding independently on their own ponies, they all found it a fairly tricky transition not just because the ponies were naughtier/sharper than the riding school schoolmasters they'd learnt the basics on, but also because it's very different and in many ways much more boring riding on your own without an instructor telling you what to do the whole time - I found I had to be quite hands on with supervising them, one child just wanted to canter around at top speed the whole time, another would easily have stopped in the middle of the school not knowing what to do etc. And I found it a massive godsend that we were at a busy yard with good facilities and lots of other kids and parents around and even then it was often a struggle through winter and on dark/cold nights, I don't think I would have retained their enthusiasm if it had been a case of always riding alone or with their siblings or having to hack to an arena after a long day at school etc. I know you can replicate that social experience at pony club and so on but there's no substitute IMO for having a mum friend around you can share a tea and a whinge with while the DC ride or an experienced person you can ask does DPony look a bit 'off' to you or a gang of friends for the kids to run around with...

Hi, we are just going down the pony route with dc12…. Although we have the set up at home I’m a novice so the pony will stay up at the stables where it’s currently on livery until I’m more capable (it’s also more fun as there’s a group of U16s who hack out together etc). Also being based at the yard means the ménage can be used after school in winter (they take half hour turns and it’s scheduled)…Would it be feasible for you to but the ponies but keep them on livery whilst you acclimatise?

Have you considered looking for a share over the winter? I'm sure there are a lot of people that would be very happy to have someone help with their pony a couple of days a week, in return for riding and a financial contribution. That'd be a good way to gain experience of caring for the pony, before you think about doing it completely on your own.

In your shoes I would look and see if one native type pony used to living out is available for loan, preferably one that has lived without it ponies and is used to sheep. You're at a huge advantage if your children are already out in all weathers and riding the more difficult ponies. That means they have good nerves and won't refuse to get on a pony that's having a bad day. All the same, you need a pony that isn't green, a project or described as a second pony. It's a long shot but you can advertise on groups and see if anyone fancies a break from the drudgery over the winter. I feel you could manage with less land of you had a stable and a pony who didn't live out, but not with the kind of pony you need, you has to be able to vote outdoors all the time. You would definitely need a dry area to stand and an experienced person calling in once a week to direct the children and keep an eye on the pony's health and wellbeing. You can educate yourself a lot on what a healthy pony looks like and what they should be eating etc.

The 10 000 for two first ponies with tack is unfortunately accurate unless your children are extremely relaxed and happy to fall off repeatedly with a pony who can't be described as saintly! I wouldn't take any pony without their instructor's endorsement and wouldn't ever take them to try a pony for the first or second time. Too many are not remotely as described.

Incidentally I've noticed some posters here will always always tell you not to buy a pony if you haven't had one before. It's a difficult world to break into but it's not quite as difficult as has been made out. A hardy native pony on a simple diet with regular oversight is unlikely to drop dead from colic on your watch.

If they are going to be living out you need to go for Native breeds.

Dales/Fell type is a good bet.

Yes they are money eating macho as but I was lucky enough to have a pony from being 12 to 19 and it was the best thing my parents could have done for me.

He was ex riding school and cost the grand total of £100 😅 100% bomb proof.

If I had your set up I wouldn't hesitate.

*machine

I think people have to start somewhere. It sounds like your children are ready for it but obviously it is essential that you know what to do and signs of illness etc. I’m pretty sure there is a bhs course that you could do and definitely join the pony club so your children have some friends to ride with and can learn and progress as well as having fun. It’s hard work, especially in the winter but super rewarding and an amazing way for kids to grow up! Much better than being stuck indoors on computer screens. Good luck whatever you decide to do

@Eastridingclub

Incidentally I've noticed some posters here will always always tell you not to buy a pony if you haven't had one before. It's a difficult world to break into but it's not quite as difficult as has been made out. A hardy native pony on a simple diet with regular oversight is unlikely to drop dead from colic on your watch.

I would never say not to buy one but (I say this as someone who used to ride for a living and still does a lot of instructing) keeping a first horse at home is a huge leap of faith and it’s probably better for all involved to have the horse on a yard with lots of support - sounds like the OP doesn’t have enough land for a start and also no hard standing or anything to make winter slightly less shit

Oh and if the stables are closing would it be an option to purchase a pony that is known to them? However so be careful to find out how much work they generally do as a pony can change a lot if it goes from being ridden multiple times a day to a few times a week.

I don't think anyone is saying don't buy a pony if you haven't owned one before, more don't buy if you don't have the experience and knowledge to keep one, especially at home where there is no one else to advise or notice small problems before they get to be big ones. It is so easy for things to go wrong due to lack of experience and that can end in misery for horse and owner.