coping without electricity at yard?

[Clarebear*]

Hey I posted about new stables yestersay, viewed today and I love it! Only issue is there is no electricity by the stables! Do any of you cope without electricity? And how?!?! Is ot just a matter of head torchs in winter? Working farm is behind them so there is obviously electricity there which I am sure we can use if we ask just not on our bit!
Am I being soft?

 

[Goldenstar]

Hey I posted about new stables yestersay, viewed today and I love it! Only issue is there is no electricity by the stables! Do any of you cope without electricity? And how?!?! Is ot just a matter of head torchs in winter? Working farm is behind them so there is obviously electricity there which I am sure we can use if we ask just not on our bit!
Am I being soft?

Solar panel to a 12v battery running led lights will do a good job.

 

[rowan666]

We dont have electricity and in 14years at current place i cab honestly say it dosnt ever bother me, generally i try to get everything done before dark (luckily work is flexible) and days i cant avoid dark nights as you say head torch and big headlight torch things hung everywhere! Ide rather have running water but we dont have that either!

 

[poops]

I brought these & they are very good
http://www.bedazzled.uk.com/LED_Stable_Lights.htm

 

[mairiwick]

A lady I used to loan a horse from had a small wind turbine attached to the top of her stables to generate electricity. There was also a rechargeable battery she would charge at home and bring up during winter. Head torch on standby was also essential during the darker months!
It was fine, if it all failed I would drive the car onto the yard and keep the headlights on ;-)

 

[Lammy]

Have electric now but I had to survive without for a number of years.
There are some great solar lights/battery lights that don't cost the earth and head torches are good for mucking out.
I think we got some good battery lights from Wilkinson's? for under £5 each and they would last all winter and 2 would completely light up a large stable (foaling box size). And you can do the same for an arena.

Definitely worth it for a yard you love!

 

[meesha]

Leisure battery which you take home occasionally to charge, powers lights.

 

[pansy]

As others have said
Leisure battery
Solar panels
Solar indoor & outdoor lights
Gas camping stove for coffees
Generator for clipping
I'd rather be on a small yard with no electric than some of the busy livery yards round by us where everyone seems to fall out with each other xx

 

[honetpot]

I brought these & they are very good
http://www.bedazzled.uk.com/LED_Stable_Lights.htm

I have these to. 20mins to put up, I keep the torch in the car so there is nothing to steal.

 

[Wiz201]

A lady I used to loan a horse from had a small wind turbine attached to the top of her stables to generate electricity. There was also a rechargeable battery she would charge at home and bring up during winter. Head torch on standby was also essential during the darker months!
It was fine, if it all failed I would drive the car onto the yard and keep the headlights on ;-)

then when it comes to setting off for home, you find your own car's battery is flat lol

 

[JustMeThen]

We had one year without and it was a mission, lanterns hung in stables to muck out, trying to find horses in dark fields etc... it was doable but when it really mattered was when my friend's horse cut her leg badly and we just didn't have good enough light when the vet came and was trying to stitch it... if you can get battery powered lights though, sounds like it could be a winner.

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

A friend of ours came and set up lights inside and outside that run off a car battery, total cost was about £150 I think. Money well spent! For hot water, so we can have a coffee and hot chocolate after all our hard work we have a gas camping stove.

 

[lhotse]

I have had my yard for the last 23 years without electricity. Doesn't bother me at all, I just use a headtorch in the winter and take hot water up in large flasks.

 

[Bennions Field]

I've had my own yard for nearly 12 years now, I've never had mains electric. I do have a great small generator, cost me just under £200 and has been worth its weight in gold. It runs both stable and yard lights, and a small travel kettle, all invaluable when I need to treat any injuries, and I was recently glad of the lights when I needed the vet to put around 20/30 stitches in a wound for one of the horrors !! I've also got a few solar powered lights dotted about in the barn they are amazingly bright and would easily work to much out with if needed, got them from maplins and they were very reasonably priced. I also rely on head torches, they help with locking up and finding my way back through the yard once all the lights/generator is turned off ;-)

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

We have no electricity, we do have a few caravan lights running off a leisure battery, which in turn is powered by a solar panel, or by the generator. The genny is used for clipping, power tools etc and mainly for powering the bore hole pump. Best investment is a head torch with infrared - doesn't spook or blind the horses.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Our yard is just outside the house but when we had the house rewired, the electricians forgot the yard.
We use solar-powered lights both on the yard and in the stables. Of course, if we need anything more we can run an extension from the house BUT the vet managed an IV injection in one of the stables at midnight last winter by solar powered light.

When we had our first horse at 'livery', we used a candle in a jam-jar!

 

[Talyn]

We have solar lights in each stable. They are plenty bright enough to muck out by and not to expensive. I think about £30 each for light and solar panel.

 

[Suelin]

We invested in a good solar panel last year and all the gubbins that went with it. It operates 10 lights without any problem for hours at a time if necessary. We also use it now to fire the electric fence which is brilliant. The whole job and someone to install it all cost less than £1k. We have a small cheap caravan with a gas ring on it for tea/coffee etc and a warm up in cold weather. Hot water on tap by means of a hot horse shower, marvellous piece of kit. Clippers are battery operated so no real need for mains at all and a whole lot cheaper than putting the mains on. We were quoted £15k a few years ago by EON.

 

[maccachic]

Hehe don't think I have ever had access to power in NZ never been too much of a drama, I have a battery powered LEd in my shed.

 

[stencilface]

We used to have Tilly lamps, then moved onto running off a car battery, then moved onto a generator/s - we had four of those stolen from inside a metal container before we got electric, it's bliss. Before then we used to boil a kettle for the farriers tea in the horsebox, now I boil kettles all the time for washing etc.

 

[Stroppy Mare]

I've had my own land for about 9 years now and never had electricity. In current place (been here 8yrs), my uncle has put up some small LED lights around the place (in the yard and in all the stables) which connect up to my old car battery. In winter we drive up, flick the switch which is easily accessible without walking far, and every where's lit up. They're not fool proof - not amazingly bright and I'll still use a head torch for getting down the field etc, but they work for mucking out etc.

And like another said - park your car in a position that headlights shine where you need them (for us it's usually up the field).

 

[exracehorse]

We have a generator which is great. Most fields are too far away from the main stable block for lights to reach anyway. Our generator powers enough for x ray, power tools etc. You do need torches in cars and stables, in fact everywhere! I barely use the generator. Turn out when light and get in by 4pm in winter. I would rather have water onsite rather than the electric if I hsd to choose

 

[dreamcometrue]

We used to have a little generator, about the size of a sewing machine, that lit the whole yard up.

 

[Seville]

Clarebear, many years ago when I bought my yard, I was in the same boat. I got a friend to wire up car head-lights in each box, and one ion the feed-room, and then run wires with crocodile clips to the feedroom...I then connected them to a car battery which I kept on the floor. It meant all the lights had to on at one time, but that's not a problem, I took the battery into the house to charge once a week......if you buy a lorry battery then you get more life out of it. And its cheap lighting!!

 

[pippixox]

got mains lights this winter and must admit i love it! however that was not till February and have managed a few winters with head torches and the little LED battery lights. used thermoses and in an emergency abscess my farriers used their headlights!