Horses @ Home or livery yards?

muckingoutmum

muckingoutmum

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We are thinking of moving, now we are less tied to the "good" schools.
I'm keen to find somewhere to have our horses at home and the freedom to turnout/leave out when I like etc etc.,(plus the opp for me to have a "project pony") my OH (not horsey) would prefer to look for a better house and have my daughter's pony at a yard (no maintenance etc).

I am sure that a lot of HH people must have strong opinions on this subject! Come on then, what are the main pro's and con's of each decision and what are the hidden things that you don't think of until you dive in headfirst?
 
For me, riding is tied in with my social life and it's handy to have a groom/helpers on a yard. There's always someone about so if there are injuries, someome can notify everyone else. We also buy feed/shavings etc in bulk, get the farrier and vet and dentist together in groups and they seem happier to do more than one horse at a time!

I can't really comment on having a horse at home except to say that I would be concerned about him being alone.
 
We hav just recently moved to a house with land and love it! It is so nice being able to go out and do them whenever and not have to worry about them. Can spend way more time with them now as well which was nice and keep an eye on what they are doing. Not to mention the freedom from rules!

Disadvantages are that it takes a lot of time and energy to maintain. It is a bit lonely not seeing people and being able to go on hacks which is why I come on here more! Also bear in mind being horse by themselves so depends if they are ok by themselves.
 
My first boy i had was kept at a livery yard which i loved and then got a job down there helping the yard owner with their horses.
Pros: People to talk to.
Other horses if you can only afford one
Can ask people for help
Other people can do your horse if neccesary
Cons: Fall out with people
People talk behind your back
A lot of people seem to do the same thing as others, copying which can be good and bad!!
People use your things

I now have 2 horses and 3 miniature shetlands and i am very lucky to have my own stables.
Pros: Do what i want
No people to fall out with
Have your own horses
Cons: May not have your own school
No one to chat to

Hope this is some help x x
 
Hi We are in the process of moving (having a break from packing boxes!) at the moment and having ponies in the past wanted a house with a paddock, after months of looking at prices locations etc we decided on a house with large garden and when we get a pony we will put him in a livery yard the reason being new area helps to make friends, no maintenance etc someone to look after in case for any reason we couldnt get there. But I know lots of people would prefer their own place
good luck with whatever you decide:)
 
We have ours at home, and I love it! I've always had horses at home, so find livery yards a nightmare (guess I just got spoilt!). Its so much easier not to travel to a yard, and being able to pop out whenever you need to. You can see if rugs have slipped in the fields etc. You yourself decide what hay they have etc, which field they turnout in... We did try DIYs for a while, but missed the peace and privacy of our own yard.

The down side is that it does NOT save you money as you are responsible for the grassland management, the fencing, the maintenance - the creosoting of stables, the weeding etc. We feel like its never ending. The other thing is that you always have to be around. We are lucky in that we have two girls that work for us - one that is an AI who rides my eventers ad hoc when I work away (weekly) and the other is her 15 yr old sister, who mucks out and feeds on a Sunday so we get one lie in a week. That is the best money we spend! They cover us if we go away too, and their mum is a very old friend and my instructor, and their brother is a vet, so they have a very knowledgeable back up if need be.. You could do with finding someone reliable and trustworthy like that yourself..
 
I have 3 horses and 3.5 acres of land. The ponies are kept on our field and so was the TB last year. The TB is now at livery and its been the best thing for her and me by far, we have access to a lovely menage, full set of jumps, she gets turned out and bought in and i can relax knowing that shes being chercked on 24/7 (she often did silly things in the field -shes accident prone!) so its great for the TB. Down side is the bill every month!
The ponies are doing fab living out and they live on fresh air!
 
i keep my pony at home as i have a small paddock and a stable and tack room, sadly we cannot afford to have another horse especailly as we dont have enough land so if you only have one horse that gets lonley easily a livery would be great for that another bad thing about keeping him at home is that i have nobody to hack out with cos my family are not horsey but it is very convenient and nobody can think what you are oing with your horse is "not correct" which is a good thing :) hope this helps
 
Until I left home, I kept my horses at home on my parents farm. Now (living near London) I keep my boy on livery.

There are pros and cons to both, but for me the main con about keeping them at home was the loneliness. Being out there at the crack of dawn in all weather on your own, is harder than doing it when there are other liveries and people to chat to! Also, holidays and illness were harder to manage at home. Now I'm on livery all I need do is pop a note in the diary and my horse is sorted.

We had pretty good facilities at home, and my bedroom window faced their stables, so in every other respect I prefered keeping them at home.
 
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I keep my horses at home. I have a companion pony plus the horse I ride. It is much, much nicer to look after your own horse at home, you do what you want, the way you want. I cross my patio and feed my horse her breakfast, and then go indoors for mine. I can even get back in bed for a cuddle up on the weekends. There is no driving to the yard, no rules and no unpleasantness from people who do not know what they are doing.
 
Loads of really interesting ideas and views. I think I'd love the independence of having the horses at home even if it meant compromising on size of house etc., but wonder whether my daughter would be lonely without friends around - especially in the winter when there are no shows or PC rallies etc. What a lot to think about!
 
muckingoutmum said:
Loads of really interesting ideas and views. I think I'd love the independence of having the horses at home even if it meant compromising on size of house etc., but wonder whether my daughter would be lonely without friends around - especially in the winter when there are no shows or PC rallies etc. What a lot to think about!
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I'd rather have a smaller house and land too. If we can get away from London I'd like to go back and have my own place again. Get your daughter joined up to the pony club, and then the local young farmers club when she's older. She'll make lots of horsey, like minded friends.
 
We brought our own place with stables & land 7 years ago, it is idyllic .... until the winter! then I hate it, it is lonely, cold, muddy and I would prefer to have my horses in livery, get rid of my liveries and go and work in a warm office with people who know nothing about horses, talk about something else and not smell!!

It is nice seeing to the horses whenever you want to, but some times I don't get away from home/the yard or see anyone else for days - even my liveries go on holiday, I haven't had one of those for years!

Also my son is not horsey and his friends all live in the town (10 miles away) and he wants that now :o
 
We have our horses at home which is great until holiday times when we have to get someone to house-sit, but it is still such a worry that everything is ok. But I would never go back to a livery yard.
 
We bought our first 2 ponies (essentially for my now 11 year old daughter but the NF is chunky enough for me) last November. We got the (younger) NF as main pony - is very young for his age and needs work, and the older one is a semi-retired 20 year old reilably safe schoolmaster from friends of a friend as company. There are no ponies living adjacent to our fields hence we needed company, although the local RS and others hack up the road most days in the summer, and there's a field full of RS ponies just round the corner all summer.
The good thing about having two at home, is my daughter (only child) can invite a friend over and they have one each to groom, tack up, cuddle, ride or whatever. Obviously not all her friends are competent riders, some are, some have just ridden a bit at RS and one or two can ride but are not 100% 'safe' ie daredevil and will gallop about on hard ground jumping anything takes their fancy if my back is turned so I do give the appropriate level of supervision or hold the lead rein, but the really good thing is as a result she's very popular at school....! She moves to secondary in September and there's only 4 (non horsey) going from her primary, but I'm sure she'll quickly make new hopefully horsey friends. I'm sure if you have one for your daughter and one super-safe for a friend to ride she'll soon find someone to be friends with once you've moved.

We're extremely lucky that should we go away our RI has offered to come and look after, plus there are horsey people up the road who I'm sure would help if we were really stuck (when daughter was younger we spent most holidays dog walking and feeding cats and dogs when they were away)

I don't think I'd like to have to drive out to a livery yard 2 x a day when I can pop the kettle on, pop down to the paddock and feed them in my pjs before I get up, and we certainly couldn't afford it if we didn't have the fields and OH didn't have the tractors and equipment to look after our land. Especially in the snow in winter!
 
I have been keeping mine at home for seven years now, if I was to have to suddenly go on livery it would be a huge shock to the system.

I am the type that enjoys quiet time with my horses, playing my music whilst tack cleaning and keeping everything in its place. I get very irritated when my things move! A few years ago I was in the UK for a month on my sisters large livery yard, although everyone was friendly and there was a lovely sense of community I missed my 'own time'. The school not being free when I wanted a quiet schooling session, my things disappearing, lots of comings and goings.

Yes having your own stables means maintenance and field management but I would rather those things to worry about than yard disputes, and all the other things I already mentioned.

Nothing is better than going to visit the horses for a cuppa in the stables at night like I did earlier, just to say hello and mooch about. The kids are in bed so no driving just a walk outside and I am there :)

When lonely I have the option to go visit horsey folk locally, take the new horse for a private lesson at the equestrian centre or go to a show or event. Once the new tack shop (moved it 10 hours south 2 weeks ago) has been set back up we will have horsey folk on the farm everyday for a chit chat. We have a huge online presence in Norway but you can't beat having people visit the shop, have a coffee, talk horse, feed and equipment ;)
 
We had our horses at home when I was growing up and it was wonderful. However, we had access to a lot of trails and I was able to ride to my riding instructor's stable and get my lessons on my own horse. Also I loved being able to walk out the door and see my horses any time I liked.

Since I was just a kid, I didn't have to deal with the upkeep and expense but that would be a consideration for me and I'd have to do a careful calculation of what I'd be getting myself into if I were to get some land.

But I do very much like the social aspect of boarding (as we say in the States) and I like that my horse is exposed to a lot of situations and experiences she likely wouldn't get if she were at home. It's also convenient if I want to take a trip or be away for some reason - I can always find a friend to take care of her.

Plus I enjoy the facilities available - several arenas, access to trails, on-site schooling shows, trainers.

It would all depend on how much of that I could still access from home.
 
We moved into a property with land 2 and a 1/2 years ago, we dont have liveries, and have to say I love it. From being able to pop out anytime I like to see the horses to hearing them calling to me. I am lucky that we dont have liveries as I'm not sure I'd want people in and out all the time, but then it's not really set up for that as the stables are in the front garden. I'm lucky enough that I've got a sandschool. The maintenance is ongoing and there's always something to do and yes there are times when I'd like a break from the horses if I'm ill my OH will do them for me so am luck in that respect. I'm not sure that if it was only my daughter interested in horses that I'd want to have this property though.

When I've had horsey problems it would be quite nice to be on a yard but as the owner of 2 horses that were ruined by being kicked - one had to be put down - in the field by other people's horses I'm actually quite happy managing my herd, there's not often any problems between them thankfully.

Other things that you need to research is were to buy feed, hay and bedding and some farriers are a bit of a pain going to smaller yards, only wanting to take on big yards, again I have had no issues with that.
 
I keep mine at home and during PC days it was fine but now I keep hitting a wall with my reschooling/training as I have no one to talk to and no schooling facilities. I recently went training at a yard for a few days and that was the first time I had been on a livery yard and I actually loved it, having someone there to talk to/ride out with and my boy settled so well considering there was something always going on.

I'm actually thinking about going to a livery yard during the winter as that is when I really hit a brick wall, I just don't think I could cope with the bill every month.
 
Mine is on DIY livery (wish having her home was an option!), but one of girls liveries with us Oct-March & has her horse at home over summer.

Means she has company over winter, access to the school when it's too dark to hack after work, & best of all (according to her!) she doesn't have to look out of her windows onto muddy, trashed paddocks.

She lives about half an hour from the yard, so not too far to travel. Has done this for last 4 years I think, and works well for her.

Best of luck! :)
 
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