House with 3 acres for 3 horses?

[JGC]

So, we have been pondering a move to have the horses at home for some time. House prices have slowed up a bit, so we've seen a few things come up that could work. We're going to see one later this week. Originally I was looking for 5 acres plus, but actually everything that came up with that amount of land was either too expensive or too far from work.

What do you think of 3 acres for 3 horses? Basically, there's a big barn next to the house that we could leave open to them with hay and we would stabilise a paddock coming off that land for winter, then have some kind of paddock paradise for the rest of the year. There's a bit of up and down on the land by the looks of it and that area is usually good draining. Natural shelter with trees on one side. With this property, we could afford to supplement with hay all year round if necessary.

Obviously all just based on plans and photos, plus what the agend said at the moment, but I'd love thoughts on whether 3 acres is enough land? Currently have two but would need a companion so one is never left alone.

 

[meleeka]

If you’ve got a good hardstanding it could work. I’d worry more about mud than lack of grass. I only have 2 acres and had 2 horses and 3 ponies for a while. I always seemed to have too much grass in the summer despite what it looked like the rest of the time (there’s a track from Spring to Autumn to give the middle a rest). I do have a large hardstanding area and free access to the yard, so the mud wasn’t excessive, but I imagine if I didn’t have that it would have been truly awful.

 

[Squeak]

Agree that I think mud would be the biggest issue. If you were able to invest in some sort of all weather turnout for the winter, I think you'd be able to get away with it.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Unless the grazing is on clay it should be ok. We had 4 from 14.3 to 17 hh on about 3 acres for yrs. We did rent an acre or so in summer from a neighbour for several years until that house was sold and the land used as a market garden. Most recently we have put mud control mats down and they have been a godsend
Eta, we only have 2 horses now and have a few pet sheep to keep the grass in good heart.

 

[Maxidoodle]

Your key is to not run the acreage as a whole. Hardstanding is so helpful if you’re not on Sandy soil, rotate your paddocks frequently. We did in overnight throughout the year and the land held up fine.

 

[oldie48]

What size horses and are they shod? As others have said, it's doable but the ground will need careful management and three horses out 24/7 can soon completely wreck the ground. Do you need a third? I managed with two for years but it completely depends on how well the horse that is left behind copes, mine were fine even if I took my main horse away for a training camp but I did stable at night. If you haven't already seen the ground, now is a good time to assess as it's been pretty wet.

 

[MagicMelon]

Depends on your soil type / how draining it is IMO. I have 2 horses on 1.5 acres, 3/4 of it is really well draining and its not clay etc. I put in a hardcore area with a stable block on top, I leave the doors open all the time so the horses can use their stables as they want. I have a round bale feeder on the hardcore yard out the front of the stables and have a bale in it all year round. They pick at it through the summer and obviously use it a lot through the winter. Works well as they tend to stand on the hardcore out of the mud most of the winter which saves the field.

 

[SEL]

My land is too wet - 1 horse and 2 ponies have trashed just under 3 acres over winter (I have 7 in total)

My friend managed 3 on 2.5 acres but lost her oldie last year and said 2 is easier. She has an open stable area on hardcore with a large sandpit (about 1/3 size arena). Her paddocks are split into 4 and the wettest two are shut off completely over winter. From the paddocks up to the stable area is a hardcore track so when it is really wet she shuts off the paddocks and they can mooch around the hardcore track - laid for vehicles but useful for horses - and access the stable, haynets and sandpit. She is on heavy clay but the grass comes back really quickly and that has worked for her.

 

[paddy555]

perfectly doable. Just needs planning and imagination to get the best out of it. Hope it works out.

 

[JGC]

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated. My instructor is close by and thinks the drainage should be pretty good, but will need to assess properly on the visit.

Sadly, although one of mine would stay on her own OK, the other definitely wouldn't. In any case, they are both 16, so another one is the future. One is shod, the other not.

There's apparently a possibility of renting more grazing, which would be great l, but I always think we'd have to be able to manage if the grazing got taken away.

The barn is 60 x 20 on the plans, with a big opening on the side. My current thoughts are mud mats or hardstanding coming off of that over a similar size area or track. So lots of outside access but probably wouldn't have them on the grass from December to February/March unless its particularly dry. We had quotes for that kind of groundwork for another property so we've included that in the budget.

 

[Squeak]

Thanks for all the advice, much appreciated. My instructor is close by and thinks the drainage should be pretty good, but will need to assess properly on the visit.

Sadly, although one of mine would stay on her own OK, the other definitely wouldn't. In any case, they are both 16, so another one is the future. One is shod, the other not.

There's apparently a possibility of renting more grazing, which would be great l, but I always think we'd have to be able to manage if the grazing got taken away.

The barn is 60 x 20 on the plans, with a big opening on the side. My current thoughts are mud mats or hardstanding coming off of that over a similar size area or track. So lots of outside access but probably wouldn't have them on the grass from December to February/March unless its particularly dry. We had quotes for that kind of groundwork for another property so we've included that in the budget.

Sounds really hopeful if you could rent more grazing and still manageable without, the only thing I'd query in your thinking is that I'd think it was probably only the best/ dryest possible years that you'd be off the grass for only dec - feb/ march. Realistically I think it would be more November to April.

 

[GinaGeo]

Yes very do-able and we’re in heavy clay. But you will need the option to bring them off the grass and onto hard standing.

We have four on just over 2.5acres. They have a surfaced track so still plenty of room to move and access to their stables Oct - April and live out on it.

 

[PurBee]

If youre willing to supplement by buying in more forage , and have a good sized hardstanding turnout winter/wet weather paddock, the 3 acres could work.
I have a kind of track system, but due to my rainy climate, i had to put down hardcore crushed rubble tracks to be able to be used all year round. Even in summer my grass track system got trashed muddy due to wet weather!
If you’re in a drier climate, you might not trash the track - or can choose to use the track in spring/summer/autumn and pull them off it for the worst wet weather over winter and have them on hardstanding+ 1acre ‘winter trash run area’ (which you leave to regenerate spring/summer)

With judicious management, it can work ok 1 acre per horse - but i think its asking a lot of the land if that’s 24/7 turn-out all year, hence the need for a dry-lot 1/3 acre turn-out area.

If 1 acre is a track using the circumference of the 3 acre total - that leaves 2 acres. 1 acre used for hardstanding pad + winter trash purposes = 1 good quality non-trashed/eaten-down acre left. You could take hay off that good acre if you leave it alone, a summer and autumn cut (2 cuts per year) could yield @ 3 tonnes hay, feeding 1.5 horses all winter+ supplementing summer. Reducing your need to buy-in so much hay.

If you choose the driest acre as a winter daytime trash field, that’ll not get wrecked so much in winter, enabling it to regenerate faster, and perhaps left to grow/re-seed spring, you could also grow hay on that area, increasing your self-made hay yield, while the horses are transferred to the track+hay spring/summer/autumn routine.

You can get contractors in to make hay for you if you dont have the machinery.

 

[JGC]

Lots of great info, thank you. Definitely going to make notes for our visit from all you've said. It's so tricky at the moment, we're definitely feeling the effects of climate change already and have drought every year, with big storms of rainfall punctuating. We were even under drought measures in February. So a big added concern.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

If youre willing to supplement by buying in more forage , and have a good sized hardstanding turnout winter/wet weather paddock, the 3 acres could work.
I have a kind of track system, but due to my rainy climate, i had to put down hardcore crushed rubble tracks to be able to be used all year round. Even in summer my grass track system got trashed muddy due to wet weather!
If you’re in a drier climate, you might not trash the track - or can choose to use the track in spring/summer/autumn and pull them off it for the worst wet weather over winter and have them on hardstanding+ 1acre ‘winter trash run area’ (which you leave to regenerate spring/summer)

With judicious management, it can work ok 1 acre per horse - but i think its asking a lot of the land if that’s 24/7 turn-out all year, hence the need for a dry-lot 1/3 acre turn-out area.

If 1 acre is a track using the circumference of the 3 acre total - that leaves 2 acres. 1 acre used for hardstanding pad + winter trash purposes = 1 good quality non-trashed/eaten-down acre left. You could take hay off that good acre if you leave it alone, a summer and autumn cut (2 cuts per year) could yield @ 3 tonnes hay, feeding 1.5 horses all winter+ supplementing summer. Reducing your need to buy-in so much hay.

If you choose the driest acre as a winter daytime trash field, that’ll not get wrecked so much in winter, enabling it to regenerate faster, and perhaps left to grow/re-seed spring, you could also grow hay on that area, increasing your self-made hay yield, while the horses are transferred to the track+hay spring/summer/autumn routine.

You can get contractors in to make hay for you if you dont have the machinery.

Goodness your grass must grow well! There is no way we could make hay off 3 acres and graze 2, let alone 3, horses, maybe 3 Shetland ponies. Ours is unimproved moorland though, really.

 

[Red-1]

I have 2 on 2 acres, which includes the house/yard etc.

It is easy because we have hardstanding and use the arena for winter turnout too. I usually have plenty of grass in summer. We tend to turnout in the field April to November, and bring in as soon as there is mud!

I am happy with this as it is mine and I can make my own decisions. My two are fine when left. I think most can be trained to be OK while the other is ridden out.

 

[gryff]

I have 2 on 2 acres, which includes the house/yard etc.

It is easy because we have hardstanding and use the arena for winter turnout too. I usually have plenty of grass in summer. We tend to turnout in the field April to November, and bring in as soon as there is mud!

I am happy with this as it is mine and I can make my own decisions. My two are fine when left. I think most can be trained to be OK while the other is ridden out.

I'm the same. 2 in 2 acres of the wettest, squelchiest disgusting blue clay ever, but it is my 2 acres. We spent a lot of money on putting in a hardstanding of about 40m x 15m. In this they have stables and a field shelter. They've been on her for most of the winter with access to a small sacrifice paddock. I've feed hay all year round. Mine are fine being left when one goes out.
I would say don't buy thinking that you'll be able to rent land from someone. I'm surrounded by farm land but nobody would consider renting to anyone with horses!

 

[The Xmas Furry]

OP, some v sound advice above, one other thing to add is to check the field acreage matches up to what its advertised to be.

Friend is house hunting, she found a do-er upper with 3.5 acres. On actually measuring, its actually a long plot, so deep front garden, house, back garden with pond.
The actual paddocks are total of 2.7. She might be able to shave off a bit of the rear garden to add a hay store, but not much. 2 stables in the middle of the field. She's dithering....

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Duplicate post...

 

[PurBee]

Goodness your grass must grow well! There is no way we could make hay off 3 acres and graze 2, let alone 3, horses, maybe 3 Shetland ponies. Ours is unimproved moorland though, really.

Yes, it really does vary by so many factors. The idea i was proposing is that if 1 acre can be used very minimally and left to be grown/improved/seeded thick with a nice mix of grasses - it’s possible to get 3 tonnes off 1 acre with 2 cuts per year.
(On the farming forum those up in Scotland have mentioned getting ’just’ 1 tonne 1 summer cut off of rough grazing moorland, so the yield is generally increased with better soil/grass species/organic fertilisers/better climate)
Then use 1 acre for the perimeter track, and 1 acre for hardstanding/shelter/trash field.

My grass grows quick but herds of deer also graze it! It’s wet here but mild most of winter so grass growth doesnt stop entirely as we rarely get below 5 degrees, except 3 weeks. Yet due to the high rainfall the fields are easily poached and trashed, so it’s a tricky balance.
My yield of hay is minimal until i deer fence the whole acreage….a dauntingly expensive and labour-heavy job
My smaller veg plot is deer fenced and i have 6-10inch lush grass growing in there even at this time of year! If only my fields had that much grass…i could have more horses!

 

[JGC]

Yes, the being able to manage them exactly how I want is very much the motivating factor.

Yes good tip about measuring. If we think about moving ahead with any place we will definitely do this.

While I realise that one should never say never with horses, one of mine is a known escapologist even through three strands hooked up to the mains if she's in season, which is a concern. I do think I'd be more chilled if she had a friend.

 

[Hallo2012]

i have 2 acres (clay) for 2 ponies(13hh unshod) and it works, just.

they are stabled half the time all year round(night in winter and day when its hot) and i have sand pens for when the fields get bottomless-this year they were in them all of jan and feb and also last week.

if its sandy soil you will be fine, if its clay you will need all weather pens or hardstanding.

barefoot will make it easier than shod and i doubt you will have enough grass for 24/7 turnout.

but its deffo feasible if you work round it as per above.

 

[ycbm]

By all means use the excuse to have a third , but I've had two for most of the last 10 years and never had a problem with riding one and leaving the other at home.

 

[JGC]

By all means use the excuse to have a third , but I've had two for most of the last 10 years and never had a problem with riding one and leaving the other at home.

That's not what's happening here, YBCM ...

 

[honetpot]

Yes, it really does vary by so many factors. The idea i was proposing is that if 1 acre can be used very minimally and left to be grown/improved/seeded thick with a nice mix of grasses - it’s possible to get 3 tonnes off 1 acre with 2 cuts per year.
(On the farming forum those up in Scotland have mentioned getting ’just’ 1 tonne 1 summer cut off of rough grazing moorland, so the yield is generally increased with better soil/grass species/organic fertilisers/better climate)
Then use 1 acre for the perimeter track, and 1 acre for hardstanding/shelter/trash field.

My grass grows quick but herds of deer also graze it! It’s wet here but mild most of winter so grass growth doesnt stop entirely as we rarely get below 5 degrees, except 3 weeks. Yet due to the high rainfall the fields are easily poached and trashed, so it’s a tricky balance.
My yield of hay is minimal until i deer fence the whole acreage….a dauntingly expensive and labour-heavy job
My smaller veg plot is deer fenced and i have 6-10inch lush grass growing in there even at this time of year! If only my fields had that much grass…i could have more horses!

The hardest part now is getting someone to cut, turn and bale it. My neighbour has 2 acres that she has cut, its someone with an old tractor, and it looks hard work, and never cut at the right time. My other neighbour has 30 acres, it's cut by a contractor that cut does huge amounts, and its in my shed three days after cutting, as its all done by tractor and loader, and in three years I have never had a bad bale.
It's the same with straw, my last load was from a large farm with all the modern kit, the bales must weigh 400kg, rounds that are round, as easy to move, clean and dry. The ones made with old kit tend to be light and loose, and end up the shape of an egg.
I have fourteen acres, in theory I should be cutting for hay, but it's just so much easier to buy it in and not have the worry.

 

[sarcasm_queen]

We’ve got 4 on 3 acres, works alright as long as you keep rotating them.

Other thing to think about-will you be wanting to use some of the field as a
riding area? If so, you might need to keep some of the field fenced off so it doesn’t get trashed. Which of course means you lose some of your turnout space (bane of my life at the moment!)

 

[JGC]

Other thing to think about-will you be wanting to use some of the field as a
riding area? If so, you might need to keep some of the field fenced off so it doesn’t get trashed. Which of course means you lose some of your turnout space (bane of my life at the moment!)

Probably not, as I'm not sure we wouldn't lose too much space and I think we wouldn't be able to afford it anyway, with all the other work we'd want. As the search is very much ongoing, if we found somewhere with more it would be on future plans, but realistically I'm thinking of boxing to lessons with my instructor regularly and we already do most of our work out hacking.

 

[JGC]

The only thought I had was whether part of the winter dry lot turnout set up could be a school, but not sure how that would work in keeping it from getting trashed and hay in it etc.

 

[PurBee]

The only thought I had was whether part of the winter dry lot turnout set up could be a school, but not sure how that would work in keeping it from getting trashed and hay in it etc.

I’ve had similar thoughts about my dry-lot, and it comes down to suitable footing material that suits both jobs of being sound enough for riding/training on, aswell as being clean enough for hay nets/troughs to be moved anywhere in the area.

The trouble with sand in a dry-lot would be the risk of them ingesting sand as they graze from haynets/trough/floor, and hoover up the inevitable dropped hay.

I’ve used very fine/small round pea gravel as an experiment in one area, which, despite hand raking the surface frequently (of hay/leaves etc), the mid and lower levels of the gravel over time slowly compacted, then finally the whole lot compacted and it now looks like a concreted area!
I had a good 4-6 inch squidgey depth of small gravel, they did well on it, loved it, but it would need to be deep raked frequently, like a sand-school, to prevent it compacting over time.
My area is surrounded by thick trees, it’s lovely, but the leaf drop over the gravel means clearing-up leaves annually to keep gravel clean, prevent composting leaves mixing in with the surface, causing it to become muddier over time.
The gravel was quite slippy though when theyre trotting /cantering on a bend, so wouldnt be suitable footing for full riding paces.

I‘ve settled on fir tree wood chip medium size as my next experiment! I used large fir wood chip before, which worked well but too big for working the horses on. It lasted a few years, (laid on mud that time) and cost 400.
I now have hardcore and the wood chip laid in that would break-down slower than laid-on mud.

Opinions on here about wood chip arenas varied between them working for some, and others found them unsuitable and slippy. The variation is probably due to different size/type of wood chip.
If fir is used that rots far slower than other woods. It doesnt go as slimy when rotting down. Large pieces will slide together, whereas smaller pieces will knit together to form a stable and fairly bouncy footing.
It means horses can be safer grazed anywhere on the surface, even if they chew on some fir bits, it wont kill them, as they gnaw on branches and tree trunks/barks naturally. Theyre fairly accurate with hoovering strands of hay from chinks of stone or wood they dont want. Whereas sand sticks to hay/haylage, they’d not be so bothered about the gritty texture, so i feel sand is more of a risk.
The other advantage i think wood chip offers in this scenario is it can get pooped on, have hay mixed in, and after a few years 5+, if the break-down of it makes it too mushy, due to cheap cost of it, it can be scraped off when it gets too yuck, and replaced for fresh.

I considered rubber pieces, but poop clearing and hay feeding presented potential issues of them ingesting it, aswell as rubber bits being in the manure pile, as it would stick to the poop. I dont want to spread manure with rubber bits on my land, and i dont know many other farmers that do either, so removal of muck heap could be tricky with rubber pieces contaminating it.

 

[PurBee]

The hardest part now is getting someone to cut, turn and bale it. My neighbour has 2 acres that she has cut, its someone with an old tractor, and it looks hard work, and never cut at the right time. My other neighbour has 30 acres, it's cut by a contractor that cut does huge amounts, and its in my shed three days after cutting, as its all done by tractor and loader, and in three years I have never had a bad bale.
It's the same with straw, my last load was from a large farm with all the modern kit, the bales must weigh 400kg, rounds that are round, as easy to move, clean and dry. The ones made with old kit tend to be light and loose, and end up the shape of an egg.
I have fourteen acres, in theory I should be cutting for hay, but it's just so much easier to buy it in and not have the worry.

Yeah it can be tricky finding contractors depending on area. Especially if youve got just 2 acres wanting cut, as they’ll prioritise the larger acreages over the smaller at the end of june prime 1st cut time.

If i had a neighbour who supplied good hay i wouldnt bother making hay myself! Oh that would be a dream to have such a neighbour