holly.91
Well-Known Member
Thanks everyone. Sounds like you all lean towards bringing him home!
horses at home with no facilities or livery?
- Thread starter holly.91
- Start date
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite
Well-Known Member
There's nothing in the world like having your horses at home and looking out, and there they are.
Just me, but I'd be putting in a Track system on that acreage as this would help with grass management.
Just do it. You know it's the best choice.
Just me, but I'd be putting in a Track system on that acreage as this would help with grass management.
Just do it. You know it's the best choice.
TGM
Well-Known Member
That doesn't necessary mean you won't get planning, we are in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and still got planning for an arena.
Tiddlypom
Carries on creakily
Worth considering. That’s what we did - compare hiring twice a week plus travel and time costs vs financing an arena. The arena made a lot of financial sense looking at it that way - it’s been in 13 years this year
.Don’t rule out getting planning even in a green belt.
Barklands
Well-Known Member
We had 3 on a similar amount of land with no arena, we electric fenced off an area to school in and schooled in that all through winter, it worked absolutely fine (apart from when ground is frozen like atm but in those cases we would just hack) and made them perform well when we were competing on grass!
maya2008
Well-Known Member
Having them all home would give you the opportunity to find a sharer/friend/paid rider to ride your adult horse out with you on the youngster, which would make those first few weeks of hacking infinitely more pleasant and less stressful. It would also give you more time.
But…inevitably, you will school/jump less, and therefore will progress more slowly. I have a friend a 10min drive away. I can use her arena whenever. It takes 2 hours from beginning to end - catch in, groom, tack up, load, drive there, unload, swap headcollar for bridle, walk into arena, warm up, ride, then untack, load, drive home, unload, rug up, back in field. So while I would love to go three times a week, it never happens. In the summer, less of an issue. We can flat school in the field more or less so then one proper school and one jump. But in the winter… my ponies haven’t seen an arena since before Christmas - the lorry decided to break…then the world froze.
In general I struggle to maintain canter fitness enough for a dressage test on a wax surface, or for a round of jumps at a decent height - we have to consciously work at it, rather than it just coming naturally like it did when we had an arena on site. I don’t have anything with blood in though - when my TB was alive and in work she never suffered from lack of fitness without having an arena - she just made up for it in the field!
If you can ride during the day in the week, so don’t need a floodlit arena, and have one that doesn’t freeze that you can access regularly, then there are also upsides. My lot are always going somewhere, so they are totally chilled about a trip out in the lorry, couldn’t care less about where and happily concentrate once arrived. That gave me a win and a second in our first ever tests with my NF - she was relaxed and chilled and that scores highly.
But…inevitably, you will school/jump less, and therefore will progress more slowly. I have a friend a 10min drive away. I can use her arena whenever. It takes 2 hours from beginning to end - catch in, groom, tack up, load, drive there, unload, swap headcollar for bridle, walk into arena, warm up, ride, then untack, load, drive home, unload, rug up, back in field. So while I would love to go three times a week, it never happens. In the summer, less of an issue. We can flat school in the field more or less so then one proper school and one jump. But in the winter… my ponies haven’t seen an arena since before Christmas - the lorry decided to break…then the world froze.
In general I struggle to maintain canter fitness enough for a dressage test on a wax surface, or for a round of jumps at a decent height - we have to consciously work at it, rather than it just coming naturally like it did when we had an arena on site. I don’t have anything with blood in though - when my TB was alive and in work she never suffered from lack of fitness without having an arena - she just made up for it in the field!
If you can ride during the day in the week, so don’t need a floodlit arena, and have one that doesn’t freeze that you can access regularly, then there are also upsides. My lot are always going somewhere, so they are totally chilled about a trip out in the lorry, couldn’t care less about where and happily concentrate once arrived. That gave me a win and a second in our first ever tests with my NF - she was relaxed and chilled and that scores highly.
santas_spotty_pony
Well-Known Member
Mine are at home and I don’t have a school. I ride in the field when the ground allows - it was dry enough now but currently frozen - and hack. I’d still prefer this over livery so I can give them the care they need.