Anyone taken a horse to Uni

[OohhhhhBigStretch]

My daughter is considering attending Hartpury university to do an equine degree. She’s considering taking her horse with her, as they have livery spaces. Has anyone done this, or know of anyone who’s taken a horse to uni?

I know Aberystwyth Uni lets students do this!

Yes I did to Myerscough

Hartpury is the perfect place to do this though there are other unis where this is possible. In my days at Cambridge one of the vet med students came with her pony which she kept in a nearby field - suffice it to say this was not a competition horse and she rode when time permitted. I am also coaching a French student applying to study engineering in the UK and she will be bringing her top level Showjumper with her. Apart from ruling out the London unis, most all unis have a riding club/equestrian team and some students do bring their horses (not loads, of course).

Back to Hartpury, they have amazing facilities and I would go for it. The stables are right there close to the dorms - you can probably roll out of bed and be mucking out in ten minutes flat. Not sure where else you could get this level of comfort for horse and owner

How did you find it? Any pros and cons ?

It was fine TBH as I was used to doing GCSEs etc with a horse. They had morning feed and turnout available for a small charge so I used to do that sometimes after a night out!
it helped me make a lot of friends as we would spend time together at the yard

I would suggest that she actually goes and views the livery facilities at whichever colleges she is interested in. When I was at uni, they had very very limited turnout, and very strict yard rules. A lot of horses went loopy. Suggest she also looks at nearby livery yards.
You would also do well to ask about this topic on the Horse and Hound forum, as there are a lot more active members there

Thanks @britnay we are going to go for the open day in a few months time, and will spend a lot of time looking at the facilities. It’s not a deal breaker for her, but she’s spent so much time working to buy this horse (a 5 yr old), and training her to the standard where she now events, that leaving her is something she doesn’t want to do. Plus it’s muggins here that would end up having to go to the yard to sort her out twice a day!

From the students we know at Hartbury who have taken their horse, there is very little turnout. This has led to behaviour issues with one pony so the student is leaving him at her old livery yard where he's happily turned out in a herd 24/7.

I did but facilities weren’t available onsite at my university even though we had an equestrian team. I used a local livery.

That’s interesting about the turn out, her horse isn’t a fan of being stabled and prefers to be turned out (although have is stabled in the winter at night currently).

I would definitely organize to look around a few local livery yards when visiting these colleges then.
Honestly, college facilities look great on paper, but they don't priorities basic needs, such as turnout.

A quick google shows lots of liveries within a short drive, so she should be able to find somewhere: we’re going for an open. Day in a few months time, so will make sure we’ve had a proper look around

I did, university livery yard agricultural campus. It was great fun, very sociable and the only time in my life that I’ve ever fully enjoyed a livery yard. Very happy memories. The yard was just a couple of minutes walk from my halls. It was completely DIY which could be a bit of a pain when you were hungover etc. but it didn’t really bother me, I could take the lack of sleep back then. Several occasions I fed and turned out on my way back from a big night out in the early hours before going to bed for a lie-in! We had year-round turnout,

I don’t think I would have liked to have been on a separate private livery yard. It would have felt too segregated and isolated from uni life, and wouldn’t have been anywhere near as jolly imo!

I’ve visited hartbury either my ds for a business course & saw folks with horses on campus from the business room! Certainly made a change from Manchester etc!!

The turnout at Hartpury is shut for most of the winter months and the horses get very limited turnout the rest of the time. Most people I know stabled their horses at local livery yards.

Definitely other livery yards with good facilities very near to harbury
lovely area

I’ve also heard that turn out is an issue at Hartpury.

I’m pretty sure University of Lincoln also allows it, my daughters friend had a horse there.

at my yard we have a lot of students from the local equine university and largely they’ve chosen a smaller independent yard due to the lack of turn out at the uni livery.

We definitely need to check out the turn out, my dds horse doesn’t cope well being cooped up.

She likes the sound of only being 10 mins walk from the stables. But we may look at private liveries if the turn out isn’t great.

Heard a lot of bad things about Hartpury, the staff are bullies and they treat local residents and farm owners like shit. Their students are always speeding on country lanes and have caused several bad accidents including on one occasion a car ending up through the wall of a farmhouse. I think they're too big for their boots.

I took my ponies to Lackham for college back in the day

I don't think Hartpury has much turnout. i've competed there and seen the students walking all the horses in a big circle on the yard - presumably to get them out the stable for a bit