For those of you with your own land...

Q

Quantock-cob

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Just wanted to pick your brains. I am desperate to move to a property with my own land. I keep my horse on a nice farm just next to our current house. Horse has lovely big 6 acre field, and the hacking is great. However, I just get frustrated by little things on the yard...bitchiness between the other three girls (all in their early 20's...I am in 40's), untidiness, etc. The usual stuff.
So, I keep looking, but we live in an expensive area of Somerset and have a limited budget. I have now seen a house I love but it only has 1.2 acres of land. It has a lovely yard with stables and a big barn, which I could convert to a turnout area. Great hacking and convenient for work and daughters college.
So, from your experience, would this be enough land for a 15hh cob (very good doer) and small companion pony. He is currently on restricted grazing in a small corner of his large field and in for part of the day. I know I will have to be careful with the land in the winter and spring, but am prepared for this and hope to be able to use the turnout area to save the grass.
My OH thinks we would need at least 4 acres - but I know we will never be able to afford this. Hence lots of arguments.
Thanks for your help.
Liz x
 
Hi..lucky you, this amount of turnout won't keep the horses but you can manage on whatever you choose to in reality. You will need to feed hay but in terms of turnout, people manage on much less
 
I have 4 horses on approx 4 acres. It's clay soil so they only get field turnout through the drier months, they have hardcore areas for the wet times. They are out 24/7 over the summer and in overnight otherwise.

It should be possible for the situation you describe to work, what type of soil is it? And how well do the fields drain?
 
I say go for it - we managed 1 large horse and 1 14.2hh and a companion pony on this size for years. You just need to be prepared to feed extra hay and we used a small sacrifice paddock in the winter so that we saved a large paddock for summer grazing. It worked fine managed carefully :)
 
that sound fine. you will probably have to supplement their diets with hay/hayledge and manage you grazing by regular poo picking etc, but for a good doer cob and a small pony that sounds fine. especially if you plan on using the barn area for winter turn out.
 
yep go for it!
you will need to section field down & designate an area for winter trashing, but it will be worth it.
the money you save on livery will go on hay to supliment grazing but the peace & quiet are worth every penny!
 
Lots of people will disagree but I think it would be doable. It depends a lot on the ground and how it drains, soil type etc. If it were me I'd use a track system and save the middle as much as possible,I find it a great way to keep the fatties' weight under control, and allows the middle to have grow well. You could either let them into the middle for a few hours a day, or move the electric fence a little every day or so. I think you would probably need to feed hay for most of the year, possibly not much in the summer though. The barn turnout will also be a huge asset. You may also be able to find a small field to rent maybe for a few months in the summer to give yours a rest,maybe a hay field once it has been cut or something it is always easier to find these sorts of places when you are a local and get to know folk I think :)).

I would certainly give it a go if it was me.
 
I would do it, plus you never know once you move there there may be additional land nearby you could rent for the summer and have horses on your land for winter ??

:D
 
Definately do-able. We keep 5 on 5 acres (have had 6) mainly stabled at night but sometimes out 24/7 in the summer. Sometimes you have to work around the land a little particularily in the winter but having your own place far out -weighs any downside. Good field maintenance i.e. poo picking is essential though.
 
You will have to make sure you fertilise it every year so it doesnt get grass sick. If you ensure they have hay etc then it is doable. Just. Is there any land next to it that you could possibly buy at a later date?
 
orbie said:
I would do it, plus you never know once you move there there may be additional land nearby you could rent for the summer and have horses on your land for winter ??

:D
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This - consider your own land as turnout rather than grazing and having a home base gives you so may more options. Rent land, rent summer grazing or just us a tape to strip off so they get a bit of fresh grass.
 
We have 2 horses on 2 acres of land split into 4 parts and they do just fine going from one to the other throughout the year to keep the grass going - 1 ISH and a TB of course they get quite a bit of hay in the field when the grass isnt too good and its not ideal but the important thing is they still have enough area to have a blast in and play horses and grass to graze. managed well it should be fine. good luck! :)
 
That's plenty enough land for a cob and a companion, especially if one requires restricted turnout. I've known a dealer's yard with 36 boxes and 2 acres - they just went out in a rota!

As others have suggested, much depends on how the land drains and the type of soil you have as to whether it will cope well or need careful managing.

Having a smaller turnout area in the winter to save the majority of the grazing would work, but if you don't need loads of grass, then just use the whole field, don't worry if it gets a bit poached in places as it will grow back, and put hay out all year.

That's the beauty of having your own land - you can put hay out if you want, use electric fencing to save bits, and generally look after it.

You could try to find temporary grazing every so often to rest yours, but unless you want it to look like the village green, I reckon you will be fine with 1.2 acres. It's more per horse than I have actually!
 
At my old house We had a just over 1 acre paddock for a 15.2 TB and small devil pony ;) The TB came in at night in winter (stable looked out onto field) and the pony went in a small corral next to stable that got moved about when it got boggy with hay and natural shelter. In terms of grass we used to split the field in two and graze it 1 week on 1 week off, but from about August time we also used to leave hay out in the field too. I used to put straw down in the muddy bits so gate ways/field shelter entrance to try and ward off mud. At one point our neighbour kindly let us graze in her field for a month or so in the summer which was great to give the field a rest but it was still do-able without this :) I hope my rambling makes sense!
 
I would say go for it too, esp as they are good doer types. There might also be local farmers happy to rent nearby fields temporarily if you did ever need more grass or want to rest your land. That's how quite a few people around me do it. I have good doers too and despite having a few acres I only ever use about 1.5. Our grass is very rich though so I keep mine quite restricted.
 
I'd say that was plenty - I've got three - a cob, highland and a dartmoor and although we have six acres they never have access to anything like that much!! I use the extra fields to make hay with. At the moment they have about 3/4 of an acre (fanatically poo picked!) plus the menage - I actually prefer to supplement the grazing! We are on clay soil, but since putting the menage in the drainage has improved - but if its very wet they are restricted to the menage. I'd definately say go for it - you can't beat opening the front door and being greeted by your own ponies! x
 
Go for it. I have 2 acres- which includes the part the stables are on...I have 2 horses (arab and irish cob) and a pony (highland)- all good do-ers. They come in at night all year round. I have a small winter 'trash' paddock where I supplement with hay, and the rest is divided into 2 larger paddocks which I alternate grazing through spring/summer/autumn. I poo-pick daily.

Invest in electric fencing to arrange the grazing as you like....you have to be careful but to be frank I wouldn't go back to a livery yard unless desperate.
 
I'll add to the chorus of "Go for it!" Everything that's needed to be said has been said. Careful management of the land (daily poo picking, perhaps strip grazing, maybe track system) and it is so doable. If you fertilise, do be careful with nitrogen. I've known too many cases of horses being pts because of nitrogen-induced laminitis. Having your horses at your doorstep and not having to deal with human-generated daily irritations (if you get my drift) is worth everything. Good luck!
 
There is nothing better than having them at home!!! You will have to supplement their diets with hay so consider the extra cost.... but mine didnt need much extra and i had two cobs on an acre - About 4 bales a week between them.

Ive moved somewhere with 9 acres now... but cos they are good doers they are stuck on about 1 acre all the time anyway :-/ doesnt seem worth it!!! lol
 
I might check where in somerset, if it's levels at all then perhaps not if it is likely to get very wet! Otherwise if you see it as turn out rather than grazing as such I don't see why not!

We have two (14.2/15hh) and approx 4 acres. This does mean that they can have turnout all winter without damaging the ground much (they get it in 3 x 1 acre sections) and also means we can make all of our own hay as we have plenty of spare grass!

We have installed a track system round the 3 acres this year but they would normally have a 1 acre paddock for the summer and for the first 12 months that was the only bit we had fenced and I think we could feasibly keep them on it longer term if necessary.
 
Thank you to everyone for the positive replies. Think OH was expecting you all to say "no way". So I shall love sitting him down later to read this :)

I'll keep you posted if we decide to move. However, just the thought of it all makes me sick - we nearly bought a place 2 years ago and about a week before we were due to sign the contracts the whole chain collapsed, losing the seller for our house, so we couldn't proceed. It was just horrible :( So if we decide to go for it this time, I will be a nervous wreck until it is all finalised.
 
Yes you could.i have a 16.1 and a minature did also have another horse as well on 2 acres and managed fine. Mine are in at night all year round,i section off an area as a trash paddock in the winter,supplement with haylage and will actually have to restrict grass this summer. you may well be able to rent extra to rest yours if needed.go for it...
 
Hi Ester, no it's not on the levels - up nearer the Quantocks. Will need to check on the soil. It is very dry here at the moment (although it has just poured all night!) so not easy to check on drainage. Just have to take the owners word for it that it is OK.
 
how exciting :D

ours are highbridge way and some fields are much worse than others, and they tend to only come onto the market in the summer when dry ;)

I'm hoping some of our cracks may have gone when I go down later.. hmph just spotted it is raining again on my washing!
 
We've just moved to our own place and have 4acres for two horses. They have surprised me by stripping the first paddock very quickly and we have taped an isolation area to help manage it. I wouldn't consider less than two acres but you can feed hay obviously and horses are kept on less, I recon you would need a stable if less than two acres.
 
ester said:
I might check where in somerset, if it's levels at all then perhaps not if it is likely to get very wet! Otherwise if you see it as turn out rather than grazing as such I don't see why not!

We have two (14.2/15hh) and approx 4 acres. This does mean that they can have turnout all winter without damaging the ground much (they get it in 3 x 1 acre sections) and also means we can make all of our own hay as we have plenty of spare grass!

We have installed a track system round the 3 acres this year but they would normally have a 1 acre paddock for the summer and for the first 12 months that was the only bit we had fenced and I think we could feasibly keep them on it longer term if necessary.
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How wide did you make your track system? I was interested in this! Also did you put any hard standing areas into it? Thanks
 
We have three acres and at one point had 5 on it. They ranged from a 14hh native type, through to a 16.3hh ID. We are now down to three. One field is a mess, as we use it for winter turnout, the other is good. we have three sheep on it as well, they do wonders for keeping the weeds in check. We stable overnight for 4 to six months of the winter, depending on how wet it is, but that isn't for the sake of the land, more for the sake of the 30 year old cob. We tend to feed haylage all year round, but with good doers this is no bad thing, as it means those who need restricted diets get it!
I would say go for it if you are prepared to feed forage all year round. You will not regret having your own place, you couldn't pay me to go back to a livery yard!
 
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