Horses + Uni - Yes or No?

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XxIDontKnowXx

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Hey everyone,

So I'm enrolled to start university at the beginning of October and I'm having a sudden complete dilemma regarding what I should do with my horse.
Ideally I would love to take him with me, I'm going to a uni in a quite rural area with livery yards relatively close by, I drive too. However, I've also read that taking a horse to uni is not a good idea due to it impacting on the time you have studying, socialising and everything else included in the 'uni experience'.
However the idea of not bringing him with me makes me want to not go to uni all together. I rely on horses a lot as a way to relax and take a break from stress etc.

Any advice would be much appreciated :)
 
Tough call. I'd say most people will say to leave him at home, to let you get stuck in to your course, making friends and taking advantage of everything uni has to offer.

It's the fact that you say it's making you not want to go at all, that made me think differently.

I sold up when I went to uni and missed it more than words could say. I dropped out and got a job working with horses, such was the withdrawal. Ended up going back to finish my degree but by then I had another horse and I did as little time at uni as possible, coming home for the rest of the week (250 miles each way :eek3:)

What's your course? if it's something very demanding in terms of contact time, then maybe you need to adjust to the idea of leaving him at home and making the most of your holidays. If it's not, then perhaps view the first semester (or 2) as a chance to get yourself settled in and do some local research into yards etc. You may feel differently when you've seen how much time you have and the other activities you could do.... or you might find there's a thriving horsey scene ready to slot you both in to.
You have probably left it a bit late to get something organised to take him straight away either way, but it won't hurt for him to have a holiday while you find your feet.
 
I would say do what feels right and not what you should do!! I also hated leaving the horses behind when I went to uni but also wasn't fully enthralled with the uni experience. I enjoyed it to a point but I'm not a city girl and needed my own space. I was involved with the riding team in the 1st year but in the second I traveled home most of the time for the horse and the 3rd commuted completely 200 mile round trip.

I agree though it depends on the course but you could always think about a sharer or part livery
 
I bought my current horse at the start of my second year :o. I can't say that it impacted on my studies at all but I only had 20 hours a week contact time, so there was plenty of chance to do horse stuff.


I'm an unsociable nightmare at the best of times (ASC) so the whole uni 'experience' (getting drunk every night, blowing your student loan on booze and drugs by the end of the first month) didn't tempt me in the slightest and I never felt like I was missing out on that side of things due to having to do the horse 2x a day. I've also noticed that with £9k a year in fees less and less people go to uni for the partying side of things; a lot of people took their courses v seriously and those who didn't usually dropped out by the end of the first year. I know it's what the media sells you but the whole 'university experience' you see on TV and in films couldn't be further from the actual reality for 90% of students.
 
I have my horse at Uni, you need to have your parents on side to pay for livery. Preferably full livery, but part livery if not. I have found that I have time to go see my horse most days of the week, but usually between lectures. I would not choose a yard more than 40 mins for your Uni halls, and don't forget if you are competing now, will you be able to continue competing? Parents close, someone to share lifts with.

People do, but you realistically won't be able to do Uni, horse and a job. So don't stretch yourself. I also found it helpful to send my horse on holiday for the first month of uni, gave me a chance to get into the sprit of uni life without worrying about the horse.

Your other option is Uni Riding Teams. Really good fun, you get to ride every week for about £25 per week. But also get to go to competitions, it also improves your riding no end. Getting to ride loads of different horses.

I also know quite a few people that sold there horse for Uni, then promptly brought a new one after first year.

P.S I have 16 contact hours a week.
 
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I just finished my uni degree this year. I managed to do it with 5 horses, a job, 60 mile round trip to uni and a high maintenance bf that lived in the opposite direction to uni so required yet another 60 odd mile round trip for 4xweekly visits Lol.

I'm a total introvert and the idea of living at uni made me quite nervous so stayed at home and didn't really socialise. I had a small group of friends and it was such an enjoyable experience as I found a good balance.

If you have too much on your plate with horses and uni you'll be throughly stressed out but then if you don't have horses you could end up miserable. My advice would be take pony, it's the first year all you need to do is pass as (not sure if this is all courses) first year marks don't count. It's the perfect time to find the ideal balance for you.

I have finished with a first and am currently rewriting my dissertation so it can go forward for publishing. It has been hard work and the ponies perhaps weren't groomed everyday and I got behind on poo picking and they weren't always ridden during exam time, but we all survived and I remained sane thanks to their help over the years.

What I also wish I had done was work as much as possible first year and half of second year and saved as much as possible. My grades that counted were half of second year and all of third year, so it would make sense not to work that period especially with all the other stuff I had to do. Instead I continued to work until the last half of third year.

Good luck at uni, it's been an amazing few years for me :)
 
Mine stayed at home, and we bred from her. I went home every night possible for 3 years. Hated "student life". Scraped a 2:2, didn't enjoy and of it!!

Seven year post graduation, I'm doing an MSc, getting exceptional marks, keeping 3 horses and working.

In hind sight, the first degree was at the wrong time. I only went because it was painted as the only option after school!!
 
I think it depends how much you really want your degree!
I start my degree next week its for therapy and rehab so very in depth loads of written work and exams, I'm also 27 +2 weeks pregnant with my first child and just moved my mare onto full DIY livery on a yard with no option to go part or full. All whilst running a freelance equestrian business on my own ;-P

Do I want to defer my uni course until next year? No I've waited to long to do this so I'm damn well doing it!
Do I want to put my mare on loan or full livery? No I don't trust anyone with her anymore (bad history of loaners)
Do I want to quit my job and live off the gov (even if i would be better off financially if i did)? Nope I love working in dependently with new horses and plus I'm freelance I can change how many days I work If I need too!

If you have to think about bringing your horse chances are you will be best leaving them at home, I took my gelding because the first year I studied away from home but I knew 100% thats what I wanted to do! Second yeAR I wasn't so sure so left him at home.
 
MaeBee93 said:
I think it depends how much you really want your degree!
I start my degree next week its for therapy and rehab so very in depth loads of written work and exams, I'm also 27 +2 weeks pregnant with my first child and just moved my mare onto full DIY livery on a yard with no option to go part or full. All whilst running a freelance equestrian business on my own ;-P

Do I want to defer my uni course until next year? No I've waited to long to do this so I'm damn well doing it!
Do I want to put my mare on loan or full livery? No I don't trust anyone with her anymore (bad history of loaners)
Do I want to quit my job and live off the gov (even if i would be better off financially if i did)? Nope I love working in dependently with new horses and plus I'm freelance I can change how many days I work If I need too!

If you have to think about bringing your horse chances are you will be best leaving them at home, I took my gelding because the first year I studied away from home but I knew 100% thats what I wanted to do! Second yeAR I wasn't so sure so left him at home.
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How the heck do you afford it all!? :O

I bought my horse in my 3rd (of 4) year of uni. I worked full time for that entire year (paid placement) and then didn't have to work in my 4th year to pay for his upkeep and my living costs..however I was certainly VERY low on funds when I started my full time job recently.
 
I've done 2 degrees- stayed at home for both and commuted (30-45 minutes each journey). During first degree I had 3 horses on DIY and second degree I had 2 on DIY.

I didn't join in on the uni life, as I wasn't interested in that side of it. Horses and uni was hard work, but I did it with no real issues.
 
I did a part time masters working 6 days a week with some nights working in pubs, with a horse and a bf to keep happy. It's totally doable, you just need to be super organised and disciplined.
 
I'm going into my final year of uni at Aberystwyth, and have had my horse at uni with me on diy every year of my degree, it really depends on what you want, for me, making friends was so much easier with Taz as I made friends with people who I had things in common with on the yard, I'm a pretty introverted person so that worked well for me. The first two years of my degree I didn't work along side my student loan, but my 3rd year an my final year I will be just to have a bit more cash, but I find with 15hrs a week of lectures plus 15hrs a week working I have more than enough time for studying and looking after my horse on diy, including getting to ride every day. I wouldn't have done my uni experience any differently.
 
I had my horses all through uni, and in fact had a third on loan for the last year. It was a little different for me, as I chose to live at home because my parents were helpful but not horsey, and I didn't trust anyone else to take care of them for so long. Selling them was always out of the question.
To be honest, I had far more time with them during those years than I did when I worked full-time, and they helped to keep me sane all through the stress of exams and dissertation writing and so on. I ended up qualifying with a 2:1 degree in Law from a Russell Group university. My horses kept me focused, and I don't know if I'd have done half so well living away and being without them.
People ask me sometimes if I'd still make the same decision in hindsight: the answer is always an unequivocal 'yes'.
 
FlyingCircus said:
How the heck do you afford it all!? :O
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Haha! Its not that expensive if you do some serious planning! I moved my horse really close to me so all I have to do is push bike down and I've taught key family members how to deal with her basics in case of emergencies. I only pay £17 PW to have her on there and she has her own paddock so I've managed it all year so she can stay out as long as possible and when she does come in it will be deep litter so save on bedding and time. Im also very good at using things non horsey to do horsey jobs ect. I only use my car to go to uni saves hugely on fuel and when I will have set times in the week to work on my studies. Im also one to find the cheapest way to do anything. My freelancing job gives me pocket money to spend on the horse and myself and my student loan keeps me covered for uni and childcare essentials as it has been made a lot bigger to accommodate small growing child inside me! My horse was a cheap project buy that just never got sold (oops!!) Plus in absolute emergencies I have a credit card and student over draft, not to mention an incredibly supportive family! they won't spend money on me unless I'm desperate but will pop and do the horse or help me manage my business when I'm shattered! This is whats keeping me working so long.
 
XxIDontKnowXx said:
Hey everyone,

So I'm enrolled to start university at the beginning of October and I'm having a sudden complete dilemma regarding what I should do with my horse.
Ideally I would love to take him with me, I'm going to a uni in a quite rural area with livery yards relatively close by, I drive too. However, I've also read that taking a horse to uni is not a good idea due to it impacting on the time you have studying, socialising and everything else included in the 'uni experience'.
However the idea of not bringing him with me makes me want to not go to uni all together. I rely on horses a lot as a way to relax and take a break from stress etc.

Any advice would be much appreciated :)
Click to expand...

I work at a rural uni, most of the equine students have their own horses and keep them locally (or leave them at home with mum and ride weekends only!)
 
I'm going to go against the grain here and say leave him at home. I will say that was incredibly lucky in that my boy was technically mine (long story but I bought him for £5) but his old owner was still very involved so I could leave him with her while I was away and still have him every holiday and the odd weekend I was home and I know this isn't an option for everyone but if you can make a similar arrangement or have a parent who could care for him, I would.

I've had horses since I was 12. I wouldn't change it for the world but I did miss out on a lot as a teenager - going out with friends, staying over at their houses, going shopping after school, always leaving parties early so I could get up in time to do the horse the next morning or go to competitions. My parents were totally non-horsey and although they'd drive me to the yard, that was all they did so there was no one else to do it for me.

At uni, with no horse to worry about, for the first time in my life since I was very little, I had no responsibility to anyone/thing but myself and it was lovely. It wasn't even about the work - you make the work fit around what you do anyway. I had quite a lot of contact hours but it was nothing compared to working full time and I manage that now as well as having a job where I take a lot of work home.

I could go out, get horrendously drunk (not compulsory but it did happen a few times ;)) and not worry about getting up the next morning. I could go to the local café the next morning for a fry up and laugh about everything we did or crawl into somebody's room and we'd die in there together watching rubbish TV. It wasn't all about drinking either although in some ways it's a big part of the bonding experience with new friends - the hangovers more than the drinking! I could stay over at other people's houses and not worry about how I was going to get to my car to get to the yard by 8 to turn out. I could go to the beach for the day at the drop of a hat if the weather was good and try lots of new sports and join different societies. I joined the student newspaper which helped me get the job I do now.

Where I was, the nearest yard was about a 35 minute drive so it would have been incredibly time consuming, not to mention the added expense which would have stopped me doing a lot too.

Those few years I had of just being a student were some of the happiest of my life. I made friends I still see 20 years later and I always look back on those days wit the big smile. They may have been the same with a horse but I doubt it.
 
It depends how intense your course is... mine was pretty much 9-5 every day for 3 years with practical's etc but some of my friends only had a few compulsory lectures a week.

Not to bias your opinion but I sold my event horse before Uni and I have regretted it ever since....
 
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