How do you keep your horse/s?

At home in Surrey. I have 6 acres and they live out at the moment but the stables are being built in the next couple of months. We have had an arena put in recently and v good off road hacking.
 
2 ponies both kept at grass on my dad's farm.No stable at the minute,but free field,free hay,parents will feed them if we are away and 100's of acres of fields to ride over.No school,but we can hire one a 5 minute hack away for £3 an hour.

We are very very lucky.I do help out on the farm in return for having the ponies there.We are in Leicestershire.
 
ExmoorHunter said:
At home with stabling and turnout in glorious Devon (where it rains 8 days out of 7!)
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LMAO - also in North Devon - also keep the horses at home (I'd be useless on a livery yard because I am so finickety about sweeping and keeping everything tidy, other liveries would drive me mad) and yes its rains - a lot! :D
 
Have been on what was an assisted (in winter) livery yard of 16 horses. Suited me fine for 8 years but now services/facilities aren't the same as they were so more or less DIY now which doesn't suit me now as I'm working full time again and will struggle next winter so am on lists for other options. I was also working self-employed for the last 4 years which meant I could do more myself as ha d more time for the horse but no longer.
 
It's described as grass livery, but it's effectively paying for control of a field - there are three liveries, 4 horses and 9 acres. Within reason we do what we like with the field - decide when and how to section off in summer, when to open up in winter.

We don't have a field shelter - which I would like - just natural shelter, and although I tape off the gate areas in winter they still get a bit muddy. Some hardstanding would be ideal too for tacking up, getting horse's boots on etc. and running water would be good too. The field is watered by a natural spring (which never dries up in summer, and so far has never frozen in winter even down to -15).

So it's almost ideal, just needs a couple of minor extras to make it very good indeed - and it's 5 mins drive from my house.

I am working at creating an all weather turnout (i.e. a small track system) with shelter at my house (we have about three quarters of an acre), but it's slow going :D Aim is to be able to take horse off grass when the grass is too much, as well as to have turnout with shelter for the worst of the winter so he's not standing in a bog.
ETA - re your original question - if someone offered a decent all weather track system locally, horse would be there in a flash. There seems to be no understanding that sometimes you want a horse off grass but with plenty of turnout and movement. Everybody seems to think turnout = grass - I want the horse to have space to move, socialise, get exercise, wear his hooves - but without grass. I'd pay better than grass livery if I could get it!
 
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I kept mine on a lovely, really friendly small D.I.Y yard but now we've all moved to my lovely boyfriends farm!! which has the pros of free hay, straw and shavings but I do really miss all my friends. However I can now hack straight onto the beach so can't really complain!

forgot to say that it also meant that I got to own my little mini as a friend for mine and she is definitely worth it!
 
My own little piece of Cornish heaven..three and a half acres,three stables,loads of storage..Horses in by day and out by night now..Land not attached to my house but only a few miles away..
 
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