1.3 acres am I mad to consider it??

1.3 acres as a paddock is iffy. 1.3 acres with the remains of an arena and stables? I think there's your reason it hasn't sold. Our house plot is one acre. With the Barns and hardstanding there is room for chickens and geese and garden. I would only consider putting one of my ponies on it if recuperating from a severe leg injury. If you're happy to sacrifice having a grass paddock and instead making the arena good as a turnout option as well as work, maybe it's doable. For proper turnout, though, I personally wouldn't. That's from the perspective of someone with two unshod 12hh ponies!
 
I have an acre split in 2 for my 15'1 horse, he was out 24x7 all summer rotating between the 2 paddocks, he goes out allday in winter in one paddock with hay and in at night it gets a bit sparse in winter but never baron I have plenty of grass all summer I am lucky it is a gently sloping pasture with good drainage and our grass grows awfully well.
I poo pick every day tread in divots as he does like to hoon around but its always been sufficient for my one.
 
angel7 said:
That why I need some opinions.
Plan would be to rotate them between being in, on the arena bit one day, and out in the paddock another. Theres no other available grazing nearby, or the possibility of anything else coming up for sale, although there is a livery yard they could go to if it gets trashed. the ground is well drained on a slope but heavy clay.

I could live without main electric and water could be collected.I would feed forage all year round.
Its just so reasonably priced when nothing else is available it is niggling me all the time. Its been for sale for a while so I worry if its no good I would be stuck with it, but if someone gets planning for a house its cost will rise beyond my reach. (planning is a possibility as its the site of a former house and sandwiched between 2 other houses).
Security and commuting twice daily would also be a worry. Especially in bad weather.
I think I'm talking myself out of it....
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I was just thinking that it was a good plan, dependent upon price. If it's reasonable then planning isn't going to be granted in the foreseeable future BUT if it is REALLY cheap and you can afford to hang on until one of the neighbours wants to sell their house it might make an interesting proposition for one of their purchasers. Of course if you could go for replacement dwelling then it's a no brainer - but again dependent upon price.

It might also be worth chatting to the neighbouring houses about whether they are metered and, if not, whether you could negotiate a price for a hose from their land, possibly using then "well when you want to sell . . ." argument as a sweetener.
 
I have just under 2 acres for 1 17hh, 1 16.2hh and a mini shetland. The ground is a mix of clay/former forest so not great at all. They come in every night since we moved here and they have a woodchip turnout area (25m x 25m ish) and we also have an arena. The stables are massive as well so they can strtch out in there too. I have had to feed forage most of the time so far and my paddocks are trashed as the TB is a total hooligan. They are currently living in the woodchip area so I can try and nurse the fields back to life. I think your plan is doable BUT will be a hell of alot of work. I have to muck out every morning and poo-pick every evening, then exercise 2 horses every day and then take the pony for a walk. I love it and wouldn't change it for the world but they are in my back garden so no commuting and I live in the middle of the New Forest and have direct access. If you gave me the same options but with a commute, I would probably have to say no.
 
I would probably go for it. We have three horses and one pony on 3.5 acres of clay soil. Have made a hard standing turnout area for winter. As others have said it's hard work but I love it. Horses live out 24/7 in summer and come in at night in the winter. Don't forget hidden costs though, our council are currently trying to charge us non-domestic rates of £1800 per year for 4 stables and a sand school!
 
I think buying land is a good idea - after all - they're not making any more of it. If you accept that you'll probably have to feed hay all year and your expectations aren't too high I think it's do-able. I would want water but would go with some of the other suggestions for electricity. And if it really didn't work out you could always rent it out to someone with a couple of ponies or donkeys or you could sell it. Any improvements you make would increase the value.

If there's adjoining land that may be available for rent at some point or even come up for sale even better. And having your own land is bliss!
 
Although you may be able to make it work, it is doing it the hard way. Personally I would hold out for something bigger to come up. It is just that if you buy this then later find something better it may be harder to get that land if you have to sell this first.
 
Faracat said:
The old school bit might be worth turning into an all weather turnout area.
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I was thinking that too. My field is 2.8 acres but the bit that is reliably fenced for the sheep is around 1.3 acres and most of the year I can keep my small flock of sheep and goats plus my two 11hh ponies on it. my ponies have been moved to the bigger section for the winter. I couldnt imagine doing the whole winter on 1.3 acres unless I had an allweather turnout area
 
I think it would only work if you created a large enough all weather area to turn out during the winter and plan to keep them mostly on hay rather than grazing, plenty of track systems work this way and it depends on the horses as to whether that would suit them or not. - Then you need to consider hay storage - in addition to the two stables.

I wouldn't unless it was very close to my house :p.

I response to some others it is perfectly possible to keep 2 horses together and not have the one left behind trash the field, Mum's mare will go out quite happily on own, Frank is happier in stable. Sorted :p
 
I manage it!!! I have an acre with two wooden stables on it and my two are on there from December through to July when I manage to rent a big field down the road once the hay has been taken off it. I manage it by having them in at night and splitting the field in two so they trash one bit and get some grazing on the rested bit. It's clay so it does get wrecked in winter but always comes back with a bit of TLC. We have kept costs to a minimum - we ran water to the stables but I use lights rigged up to a car battery plus solar sensor lights. My OH made a roller out of a blue barrel attached to our ride on mower and I regularly remove the muck heap to keep things tidy and contained. It's hard work but definitely doable - my horses are happy and well fed and if the ground gets too utterly horrendous they get yard-bound for a few days which doesn't bother them as long as they have haynets!

We can't all be lucky enough to have loads of acres, you make the best of what you've got but is is nice to be your own boss! :-)
 
its better than nothing. No one can take away your own place, provoded its fully paid for, where as a livery yard can/farmers field can be sold, close down, people you dont like move in etc etc. I have my own fields , would never want to go back to renting again, and the rent paid is dead money.
 
do it. I am just doing similar on a similar amount of land, although it is attached to my house. Just be prepared as others have said, to put in hardstanding and to rent land nearby if you can-even if its just for the spring while your ground recovers and/or to give them a chance to have a proper hooley-especially youngsters. the less land you have, the harder work it is but it is doable.
 
I would go for it. Land is an investment. We have 1.75 acres at home, but the house and drive and garden and garage are on that too. So that probably leaves a similar amount of land for the horses - we have 2 huge barns - 1 with internal stabling and a 20 x 40 manege, a trailer park and a paddock which I always divided off with electric fence. The soil is very good draining and I managed a 16.3hh, a 14.2hh and a 10hh for years on this. We always had a winter sacrifice paddock and I invested in off the ground metal hay feeder mangers. If it was very wet the horses stayed in for up to 3 days at a time in the barn (big stables 10 x 20 each). My big mare was the only one I really wanted grass for so she had first dibs on the 'saved paddock' in spring.
We did for a time rent a 4 acres field locally to rest the land. It meant careful management and feeding hay all year, but it was easily doable. Now I have been lucky enough to buy 10 acres up the road, so the home paddock sits empty.
 
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