Best country to have horses? Just for fun!

I worked with horses on the west coast of Australia in my 20s which was pretty amazing. BUT no local vet (within a 7 hour drive) & the local snakes & spiders were scary!
 
This should be a very serious post and then once confirmed where the best place is I am going to move there Brrrrrr!!!!!! :( *as long as its not here!*
 
Lots of America and Canada is freezing in the winter!!

Tbf I think the UK - competitions are a short drive away (in the US people have to drive several hours and stay overnight, even just for unaff dressage), most places have turnout, loads of specialist vets, general knowledge of horse owners tends to be okay etc...
 
Pigeon said:
Lots of America and Canada is freezing in the winter!!

Tbf I think the UK - competitions are a short drive away (in the US people have to drive several hours and stay overnight, even just for unaff dressage), most places have turnout, loads of specialist vets, general knowledge of horse owners tends to be okay etc...
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Nooo you were supposed to name somewhere hot and magical and sunny that isn't here ;) haha!!
 
SaddleUpSin said:
Are there pros to being in Australia? Did you immigrate? :)
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Born and bred here. I dream of immigrating to the UK!

As far as having horses goes, there are differences but I don't see any advantages. You have a far better horse culture in the UK. So much more is available to you, from saddlery to riding facilities to competitions of all levels. The horses you have available are diverse and I think generally better quality at good prices. I window shop on UK horse buying sites all the time, we have nothing like the choice you have. Horse ownership seems to be open to more people, where here it's much more the preserve of people who have their own land.

Weatherwise it's probably just trading one set of problems for another. Where you have cold, rain and mud, we have heat and humidity making things challenging and uncomfortable. I'd rather rug up and face the cold. I can't bear Australian summers.
 
I would take riding in the freezing cold over heat any day. When I lived in France I would wake up, see the sun shining and get really annoyed.

I think I had the opposite of winter SAD out there!

Being out on the XC course in the mid-day 40 degree heat, with hat, BP, leather boots and chaps, was horrible! Then having to untack all sweaty and dirty.
 
Having had horses all over the world I would agree with the "grass is always greener" view: I'd rather be cold than too hot, but anywhere that has less rain, mud, mould, damp, midges and general muck is fine with me!
 
Cortez said:
Having had horses all over the world I would agree with the "grass is always greener" view: I'd rather be cold than too hot, but anywhere that has less rain, mud, mould, damp, midges and general muck is fine with me!
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I like this! Just a little ress rain would be great. Don't mind cold if its cold and dry!
 
I would take cold over hot any day of the week.

For me the UK is the only place I would want to live, so many climate options around the country - apart from boiling hot :D
 
I think i'd probably have to agree UK too from the sounds of it! everywhere is close to travel which is good (says someone who rarely leaves the yard) and we have too much choice in horses over here. The climate generally suits I think - apart from the rain. If it just rained less and stopped making everything muddy I'd be happy. A bit of sunshine is great and I LOVE warm weather but I couldn't deal with doing horses all the time in the hot hot (and J would hate it!).

I did spend a year in Australia (I love that country so would've loved to have answered that!) but I don't think they have as easy a horse culture over there. I did work on a farm in the hunter valley for 3 months into their autumn time (so warm for the UK but a nice temp for over there) and it was just lovely. They owned lots of land and we used to go on trail rides all the time - fantastic to be riding alongside wallabies and the like (though if you were leading you had to get used to getting a face full of cobweb!). We used to go down to the neighbours olive grove and gallop between the trees. All great but i think the UK has better options for getting out and about and ease of horse care :)

If you wanted to go to a feed shop there you had to travel a while! Same with vets.
 
Amye said:
I think i'd probably have to agree UK too from the sounds of it! everywhere is close to travel which is good (says someone who rarely leaves the yard) and we have too much choice in horses over here. The climate generally suits I think - apart from the rain. If it just rained less and stopped making everything muddy I'd be happy. A bit of sunshine is great and I LOVE warm weather but I couldn't deal with doing horses all the time in the hot hot (and J would hate it!).

I did spend a year in Australia (I love that country so would've loved to have answered that!) but I don't think they have as easy a horse culture over there. I did work on a farm in the hunter valley for 3 months into their autumn time (so warm for the UK but a nice temp for over there) and it was just lovely. They owned lots of land and we used to go on trail rides all the time - fantastic to be riding alongside wallabies and the like (though if you were leading you had to get used to getting a face full of cobweb!). We used to go down to the neighbours olive grove and gallop between the trees. All great but i think the UK has better options for getting out and about and ease of horse care :)

If you wanted to go to a feed shop there you had to travel a while! Same with vets.
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That sounds amazing! I want to visit!
 
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