Going from owning one horse to two...

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jaffa2311

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I am not planning on getting another one any time soon but am just curious about your own set ups really!

Does it cost double the amount or a little less? (Obviously I would expect livery to cost double!)

Does it take double the amount of time to do them morning/night?

Does anyone have two horses (or more) and a full time job (not at the yard where the horses are) and do it all themselves/a little assistance?

Do you keep them on livery or your own place?

Do you have two of everything, especially if they are the same size? (grooming kits/rugs/bits/bridles/competition kit/travelling stuff/numnahs/haynets etc)

Was it a big jump in costs/time in going from one to two horses?

I am just curious as lots of people that I know and on here seem to have two horses or more and I am always left wondering how they can afford it and how they have the time to look after/exercise two, particularly if working 37.5 plus hours a week.

share your stories!
 
hi there, I have 3 horses! i didnt really plan it that way i just sort of aquired them! cost wise it is pretty much double the cost (for 2 that is) as its twice the livery, feed, shoes, hay, bedding. Obviously your fuel costs for visiting the horses are the same however many you are doing. Timewise i find its not quite double the time but then i only ride one of my 3 so i suppose if you were to ride both it would be double the time. I work part time (24 hours) and i have 2 young kids and i am very lucky that the days i am working my parents will put out and muckout for me. I would say 2 horses is do able but 3 gets more complicated as in i can lead 2 at a time to the field but not 3 so need a second trip!
 
Hi- Ive non intentionally gone from 1 to 2 (plus two ponies but my daughter does those!) I find it quite tough but then thats partly because i also work with horses and tbh after work sometimes id like to put on clean clothes and have nice nails ;-)
Money wise yes i guess its about double. Im lucky in that i rent a small place and its up to me how many horses are there so the cost didnt alter for livery.
My farrier knocks money off as he is doing a few and he's a friend. Buying wormers, yearly jabs, teeth and backs etc are the bits i find most painful! Otherwise i can leave them out a bit more to cut down on bedding and feed- There are ways to lower costs.
Riding i struggle with Im the kind of person who's happy to ride 4/5 times a week certainly not twice a day! so ive found a sharer which is ideal.
Time wise to do them....since moving from a livery yard im like lightning! No sitting round drinking coffee in the tack room and i find i almost do all 4 stables in winter quicker than my one before!
Poo picking's not that much fun!
 
I agree, two horses are 'doable', but yes you have twice the costs involved, there is no getting away from that.

I never intended having another horse, but long story, i ended up with a second one, and yes i do find it extremely hard work, i also find that i dont have as much time as i once had for riding, which is a 'bummer'. So think long and hard before you take the plunge, do you really want another horse? Why do you want another horse? What would you do with a second? Would your riding time suffer? And mainly can you afford it???

I dont think that i would have taken another horse on, if i had thought long and hard about it, but hey ho, thats just me. I've got her now, and i love her, so i will muddle through. But take a good long time to think about it, before you do anything, is my advice.
 
We have 3 now (don't quite know how we managed it!), but the third one is just a shetland for a companion. We have them all at home now so don't have to worry about livery costs! Our first horse definitely costs more than the others, but then he has shoes and the others are unshod, and he is bigger so eats more!
When we got the second one we spent a bit less on equipment- they share saddlecloths (washed between uses), share the roller and lunging equipment, they are the same size bit so share some of them, and they share a show bridle (although the buckles need some adjustment!)
I think it depends on what you buy as your second horse, I know someone that has 2 dressage horses and they each have their own stuff completely separate, and they are both on livery so they do cost double, whereas I got my second one as a 3yr old, not done anything, and so he didn't need rugs/clipping/shoes etc, and I was determined not to spend too much on him, so found things that 'would do', and a shetland yearling costs even less- and won't need rugging or much feeding! :D
 
I've gone from owning one horse to 4 in the space of a year!! and they are all different sizes!!

Rugs- They all have there own rugs being the fact that they are all different sizes.

Grooming kit- I tend to have one GIANT grooming kit, with at least 3 versions of the same kit in it (i found 8 hoofpicks in there the other week!!!)

Buckets- They all have there own buckets.

Kit- They all have there own as i dont agree with things like saddles and bridles being used on multiple horses. Every horse is different and your equipment does mold to the horse, whether people agree with me or not. They all have there own bridles, headcollars, saddles and numnahs!!

If you are thinking of sharing the kit, then may i suggest you puchase the Cavallo English All purpose saddle pad. Bit expensive at a £80 but by far been my best purchase ever... It smoothes out any blemishhes in your saddle and along your horses back, making it pretty much able to fit ay saddle to any horse, ideal for people who want one saddle for multiple horses really.

hope this helps.
 
I have two of different sizes - double the livery cost but neither gets hard feed. One has a fly rug but the other is always unrugged. One is barefoot, the other is shod but will be going unshod once we've got her feet sorted. Different saddles/bridles/headcollars but only because they're different sizes. There're ways of making two less than literally double :)
 
6 with a more than full time job 30-50mi from the yard depending which mortuary I was at!

2 ponies, 1 light hack, 1 sick and 2 in full work!

Only 1.5 got hard feed.. Livery was £472 a month sole let yard on a farm.. 1 with shoes..

Other costs were 6x wormer, jabs etc at a time..
 
I had two from time to time when I was in my twenties. I found it was okay if only one needed riding (like when the second one was a yearling), but if two needed riding I found it a bit of a slog in the winter, to say the least, also double the cost. I often used to recruit a friend to ride the second one out with me, also got good at riding and leading. I thought owning two would be twice the pleasure, but it was really just twice the work.
 
I have 7 ponies :o I keep them at home and I work from home so I have no travelling time/cost but I do everything myself.

Some things the ponies share, grooming kit for example. Feed/water buckets, headcollars, rugs etc they all have their own, although some rugs are hand me downs. My 3yo filly has outgrown her rug so she's getting a new one for this winter and her 2yo brother will get her old one, it's pink and has flowers on but I'm sure he won't mind :D The ones who are in work mostly have their own tack. I'll chop and change the odd thing, eg I only have one pelham for showing but I use it on 2 ponies.

Mine are all good doer native types so I don't spend a fortune on feed. They are all except one unshod which keeps the farrier bill down too.

I guess I afford them because I never do anything else :o I have my 7 ponies and 3 dogs and that's it. I can't remember the last time I spent money on anything not horse/dog related :o And time, I often wonder what people who don't have horses do with all their free time :o
 
I presently have 3. 2 ridden and 1 retired. I ride both 6 days a week and graze the other in hand 6 or 7 days a week too so she gets some fuss. It is possible but hard work. I find it harder as I get older but really enjoy having 2 such different ponies to ride. It is double the time sort of. Poo picking is not 3 times as long as I still only do one trip per time with the wheelbarrow but I also cannot just leave it for a day otherwise it would quickly overwhelm me. Feeding does not take 3 times longer either. Riding does take twice as long. Travelling is the same.

I mostly have separate kit but they share long lines and lunging kit. In practice I use the same headcollar on 2 although I have one for each of them.

As someone else said you do need to consider the time and cost involved before having more than one. Circumstances change over the years and to do it the horses have had to be top of my list of priorities in the sense of what I do for a living, where I live and work, that my OH can cope with that in terms of my time and what I spend my money on. While that would have been affected with just one two or more really does magnify it.
 
Does it cost double the amount or a little less? (Obviously I would expect livery to cost double!)

It does cost double livery etc but neither of mine are hard to feed or look after so this might make a difference, if I had 2 poor doers I'd notice it a lot more!

Does it take double the amount of time to do them morning/night?

Not really, biggest prob is that they have to do in seperate fields so had to take a 'friend' on each to t/o and bring in so they're not alone. They are next door though, if they were at opposite ends of the yard it would be an issue. Also neither are ridden much (old horse, hacked. 3 year old getting ready to be backed)

Does anyone have two horses (or more) and a full time job (not at the yard where the horses are) and do it all themselves/a little assistance?

Yep, full time PhD student and often part time job to supplement income, as and when work really liek copywriting, tutoring etc, complete DIY both ends of the day and I also work 2 nights in a nursing home for extra cash.

Do you keep them on livery or your own place?

Livery about 3 miles away

Do you have two of everything, especially if they are the same size? (grooming kits/rugs/bits/bridles/competition kit/travelling stuff/numnahs/haynets etc)

Was concious when i got the youngster within reason to share stuff or re use stuff, try to keep things like grooming kits seperate but will often chuck headcollars on etc. Buy second hand a lot of the time or sale items.

Was it a big jump in costs/time in going from one to two horses?

Not especially, will probably notice it more when riding. WOuld be a bonus actually if they were in the same field as don't have to rely on others.
 
Does it cost double the amount or a little less? (Obviously I would expect livery to cost double!) -- a little less for livery as I only have one stabled and the other on grass livery. All other costs are doubled, hooves, wormers, jabs, etc etc makes certain times of the year financially painful!

Does it take double the amount of time to do them morning/night? -- More or less, when they are out 24/7 is doubled, when one is in at nights takes longer because I have to muck out etc.

Does anyone have two horses (or more) and a full time job (not at the yard where the horses are) and do it all themselves/a little assistance? -- Yep, thats me, I can have my stabled horse put out and brought in for me during the week, but I try to do it myself if possible by going up before work.

Do you keep them on livery or your own place? -- Livery

Do you have two of everything, especially if they are the same size? (grooming kits/rugs/bits/bridles/competition kit/travelling stuff/numnahs/haynets etc) Different sizes so two sets of rugs, when they were ridden, two sets of tack, basically two sets of the 'fitted' stuff, grooming kit is interchangeable as are hay nets etc.

Was it a big jump in costs/time in going from one to two horses? -- Yes more or less everything doubled, but as I only have one stable its not as bad as it could be.

I am just curious as lots of people that I know and on here seem to have two horses or more and I am always left wondering how they can afford it and how they have the time to look after/exercise two, particularly if working 37.5 plus hours a week. -- Mine are retired now, when they were both ridden I had to be very disciplined, organised and basically not speak to folk on the yard much and just get on with riding them!! Now I've got my own two to do and other peoples to ride so having to revert back to the disciplined, organised person I was before!

Basically I think when the time comes I'll be sticking to only 1 horse in the future.
 
We found that it was easier to have 2 than 1 on livery. If ours was the first out, or the last in, it was never on its own.
Obviously livery cost doubled but travel costs/time to yard didn't increase, of course. We increased our herd to 4 before we left livery, so then there were just our horses in the field. Admittedly as the number of horses increased, so did the number of people available. Sis and I both work full time long hours and she used to work residential shifts, so we could cover for each other. Now there are just the 2 of us, the horses live at home, we both still work long hours (although not shifts) and we have had 5 horses, albeit only 3 atm. I did find that when I personally had 2 riding horses, they seemed to be jealous of each other and we did have some battles royal.
 
I have 3! I rent a private yard with my friend and work full time (about 45 - 50 hours a week)

Time wise - I do every morning before work - but they live out so its just poo picking, checking the ponies etc. I then go back after work every day bar Monday (my friend does that day)

One of them is shared with with my friend and is semi retired. I ride him once a week just round the block. The other 2 I try and ride 5 times a week in the summer, mainly hacking and a bit of schooling.

Cost wise it is doubled for 2 - living out helps (my friend and I split the rent and hay as she has another pony also) She pays for the shoes of the horse we share, but I pay for his insurance, any vet bills, annual jabs, teeth, saddler etc) - as well as everything for my other two. I daren't even add up how much it all comes to each month!!

I enjoy having two in full time work - one is a real all rounder cob who is a dream to own and we go off hacking all over on our own. She is only 5 but turning into a cracking pony and we're going to do a bit of jumping/ xc as she gets older. My other one is very different but a great dressage pony - so I have the best of both worlds really.

(Just to add - I try to plan everything together to minimise call out costs but that made last month with annual jabs, the saddler and the phyiso a killer month & now I am broke!!)
 
Thanks everyone. It seems like it doesn't get easier! Very helpful replies :)

My horse is in full time work and an all round, low level competition horse (up to 3ft jumping, novice DR, xc, hacking, RC teams, showing, hunting and unaff ODEs) however has given me the inspiration to want to go a little further.

I would like to buy a very well bred, conformationally correct show pony (youngster) to try to take to the top (with help along the way) and sell on, and enjoy the ride as I go along! Or possibly lease a pony from a stud/breeder to show for them for a season at a time.

It isn't something that I'd consider at the moment. I feel my current horse has a lot of competition mileage left including a lot to teach me and wouldn't want to do her an injustice as she really is a top class allrounder who thrives on going out and about. I thought I could alternate competition weeks with two, concentrating on showing with one and unaff everything else with the other.

I am at an age with no ties, like children or husband, and therefore feel it would be a good time for me to embark on my ambition.

My current horse is my horse for life and I would never loan/sell. I guess I shall just have to wait until my circumstances give way to my idea (find a rich man), if that ever happens! I guess a show season lease wouldn't be so bad, now I've written it down, maybe in 2014/15!
 
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