Anyone in Aberdeenshire?

[ArabianGem78]

OH has a job interview in Aberdeen next week. Bloody long way from Devon, so I guess we'll be relocating if he is sucessful.

Can anyone tell me what the area is like for riding? And endurance in particular? How does open access work in practice? Is there a lot of off-road riding? How wet & does it really get in the depths if winter? Is 24/7/365 really viable?

I haven't even begun to think about job options yet. You can tell where my priorities lie!!!

 

[LKKB]

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I'm just about to move there and have been told the endurance scene is huge up there. It's a very horsey area, and I have discovered that there are hundreds of yards around, it just depends on what you want. I want an indoor school so it limited my options a bit.

The winters are pretty harsh and you will notice a difference coming from Devon (I'm moving from Edinburgh so I don't think I will notice it as much), but plenty of horses up there are kept out 24/7/365 so it's perfectly do-able....just depends on you and your horse.

 

[MagicMelon]

I'm in Aberdeenshire. Yep the horse scene is pretty big up here - apparently we have the second highest horse population (after Newmarket)! I don't do endurance but I know people who do and know there's plenty going on. You can in theory go wherever you want hacking-wise, it depends where you are but round me there's lots of forestry and a large wind farm to potentially go round. The only thing you have to watch is going round farmers fields which in theory you're allowed to do but most farmers don't like it, so make sure you ask your local one if you would like to (or risk falling out with them). There's also plenty of good beach riding. You'll find it colder of course than Devon, I don't find it too bad but then I've always lived up here The winters are quite wet but I've actually found the weather over the past few years hasn't been as wet as usual but the winters have been colder, about 2 years ago we had 2 really really cold winters where we had deep snow for pretty much 4 months solid and down to -20. But last year was fine, not much snow at all. Yes out 24/7 is easily doable. I keep all mine out 24/7 and always have done (including woosy Lusitano / anglo arabs / warmbloods etc.), as long as they're well rugged and fed they're fine. Its handy to have some hard standing in the field so they can get a dry area to stand on though if you can. If you want livery, I dont know of any yards who demand horses stay in all winter like I hear about down south. Most yards tend to have outdoor schools (we're tough up here, ha ha) but there's plenty of indoors about too. Prices of livery yards vary hugely depending on how close you are to Aberdeen (same with house prices obviously).

Job options wise, there's plenty of oil up here as I'm sure you know. Oil jobs are the most cushy, they pay very well even for basic stuff and lots of benefits I'm told by friends.

Feel free to PM me OP if you want to know anything else more specific about the area, I've been here a while!

 

[ArabianGem78]

Thanks for the responses. A lot of food for thought there to consider once we know the outcome of the interview. Marjorie is, as my log-on would suggest, arab. She has lived out for most of her 12 years with ample shelter/rugs/feed so I'm not too concerned. And it certainly looks like out in winter is more accepted than it is down here.

In terms of work, I'm a maths teacher, and have also had a number of years working as an analyst/statistician so shouldn't have too many problems finding something suitable.