Experiences of keeping their horse at home?

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Pally

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I really want to purchase a property with a bit of land so i can save money on livery and keep a horse at home.

I have just viewed a property, detached, seriously needs updating. It has a garden of just over 1/2 an acre, a long standard garden with a paddock at the end (the total of both is just over half an acre). There is plenty of space to build a stable, next door have built a small building and there is a shetland in the nextdoor but one garden.

If I build a stable and just turn out during the day do you think this would be enough room for say a 14.2hh horse?
 
Its a great idea but hard work keeping them at home. Personally I would say that half an acre really is not enough. It really would take a hammering and there wouldn't be any chance for it to recover. You would end up with a muddy mess. If you think of it this way, if your horse / pony were to be turned out, even for a few hours (apart from being a little unfair on your pony to stand in too long IMHO and more expensive - hay, bedding etc) it would be munching at your half acre. Very soon the grass would be very short and your root base minimal. Your root base is what holds the soil together. In the winter the grass will grow very slowly and would be damaged by lack of rest....

For my comfort I would say an acre at least. This way you can let your pony out during the day thru the year and hopefully have some grass in the winter. BTW, even if you were to put hay out in the field this would not necessarily help you as the pony is more than likely to choose grass over hay etc...

My advice would be to keep looking. It is a nightmare trying to keep horses without enough land. I really hope you find what you need.
smile.gif
 
Half an acre won't be enough. I have 6 acres (5 horses) and i am really struggling with a lack of grass at the moment. 80% of the time I love having the horses at home, but it can be lonely, I have to hack out on my own, and there is no one to help if I am held up anywhere, and holidays are a very distant memory!!!!!!!!
 
Keeping your horses at home is great. You dont have to travel to and from livery yards every day and you can always pop out to check on them at any time.

I dont think half an acre is enough unless you put it to livery over the winter but that defeats the purpose of buying a house with land.
 
i have 2 smalls (biggest is 11h3") & rent 3 acres, i have had to start turning them out in the bigger summer paddock because the small 1 acre paddock (divided into 2, to help rest it) is just a mud bath.

they have ablib hay 24/7 & very rarely charge about (too much like hard work)
end of march was when i was planning to turn them out into bigger paddock (in eleccy fenced sections) to roll,seed & rest the smaller winter one.
i would advise getting more land than needed rather than less.
 
It is brilliant keeping a horse at home - I do. I only had 1/2 acre and it is not enough, you do need at least one (per horse), otherwise it will end up poached and very muddy or a sand bath in summer. I persuaded my farmer who has land backing onto my half acre paddock to rent me one and a 1/4 and it is not heaven for me and my horse. Try speaking to the owners of the shetland and see if any more grazing nearby can be rented (long term) then you will be happy and so will the horse. If you don't ask, you don't get!
Good luck.
 
hi
1/2 acre will get mullered in no time. as other people have said, having horses at home is wonderful but hard work. land management needs paying for, muck heap removal, free lance people for holiday cover etc etc i'd tot up these expenses vs livery - take into account the extra mortgage, and i bet you're not saving much.
however if you go ahead - good luck and enjoy - me and my boy used to enjoy BBQ's in my folks front garden:)
 
I always thought the basic rule for keeping horses in a field was 1 acre for the first horse and then another half an acre for each horse after that?
 
I think the rule is 2 acres for first horse and one for each after that.
Half acre madly inadequate, even if property details make much of 'paddock' and 'stables'
Also horses need company. I think this especially if kept at home, as they may be used to the to and fro of a livery yard.
I moved ours from a 10 horse yard to a wildly remote place of our own (40 acres between 2 horses and 14 sheep!) and I wonder if big chap finds it a Bit Dull. Certainly wouldnt consider it without his pal, who I bought partly cos I knew we were moving here.
 
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I really want to purchase a property with a bit of land so i can save money on livery and keep a horse at home.

I have just viewed a property, detached, seriously needs updating. It has a garden of just over 1/2 an acre, a long standard garden with a paddock at the end (the total of both is just over half an acre). There is plenty of space to build a stable, next door have built a small building and there is a shetland in the nextdoor but one garden.

If I build a stable and just turn out during the day do you think this would be enough room for say a 14.2hh horse?

[/ QUOTE ]

Definitely not I'm afraid, firstly horses are herd animals and I would not keep one by his or herself. The BHS recommendation is, I believe 1 1/2 acres per horse, so you would need a minimum of 3 acres.
 
Right, I am prepared to get flamed here, but this is my opinion.

A half acre IS enough to keep a horse on, plenty of people do it IF you are prepared to feed forage all year round and IF you are prepared to work with the surface you have. You may need to lay drainage in the area and perhaps put in a section that will stay dry and can be fenced off and used exclusively in wet weather to avoid poaching and at night. As for company, a small pony doesn't take up much room and as long as it gets on with your horse, it will be fine.

Horses do NOT need an acre each if the land is not required to provide grass, they don't even need an acre to run around in. How many people have been using just an arena this winter to give their horses a leg stretch? That's all you need, presumably this is a riding horse so it will be getting out and about anyway.

During the winter I keep a stallion on an acre paddock, 3 ponies and a goat on a half acre paddock and 4 more over 14h on an acre and a half, none of them have turned into raving loonies or depressed hat racks, they run about if they feel like it, they aren't up to their hocks in stinking mud and they are quite happy to eat hay, tough if they aren't because my grass is sleeping and isn't going to wake up again for another 6 weeks yet.
It DOES NOT kill them to be on a smaller acreage, OK, so it would be lovely for them to have 10 acre fields, but that isn't always going to happen in the winter.

There are pros and cons to keeping horses at home, exactly as there are for keeping them at a yard.
The pros far outweigh the cons as far as I am concerned.
The only cons I can think of are possible lack of facilities that you may have access to at a yard, company for yourself and your horse, and someone to do your horse if you are ill or on holiday. There are ways around all of those.
 
IMO half an acre is not enough.
You won’t be able to rotate paddocks to maintain a supply of grass throughout the year, and you would have to feed hay much of the year to compensate for insufficient grass. You would certainly have to poo pick the paddock every single day.
Also, it is always kinder to let a horse have a companion. Ideally 3 acres minimum, and then you could either get a small, old pony as a companion, or advertise for someone to share the field.
 
I have my own land, right outside my back door, in fact, I can see my horses in thier stables right now as I am typing this.
I have 2 acres and 2 stables, big stables ( both are 15 x 15)
I have 2 horses and i have just got enough land to cope, with both of them,in fact..................this is only because i have a hardstanding that is fenced off and is about 80 foot long and 50 foot wide so i can leave them in on cold and muddy days.

half an acre is only a large garden in my opinion.

I doubt you could keep a horse on that small amount of land unless the land is level, pure and dry.
Even then, you would need to ensure to poo pick as it would soon build up .

I would not bother with anything less than 2 acres.
I could not cope with 2 horses unless I had the additional hardstanding (Play area) and I have 2 acres of field on top of this.
Hope this helps?
 
I have my horses at home. After my experience as a kid having our ponies at home, I also have a couple of horses on DIY who belong to good friends at home. This is for company and help.

There are many advantages but field maintenance is a big undertaking - speak from experience having spent 3 hours today repairing fences. It is definitely worth finding a local farmer who will take your muck heap away. You will also need to find someone reliable to help you as you cannot guarantee to be at home 365 days a year.

Also I would not be happy keeping a horse on his own. Not sure of the planning regulations re putting up a stable.
 
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