As title really, how far away from your house, in minutes, would you be happy to keep your horse for good facilities etc. Lets say for instance you could afford assisted livery too.
Very interesting results so far, my horses have never been more than 10 mins away so I have been lucky, but thinking of a little further to secure good facilities.
As i live in london my mare has always been at least 30 mins away, even on DIY. Now about 45 mins (hour in traffic) at terrific livery yard. I only see her two or three days a week and have a sharer local to the yard, but have superb level of care and good hacking.
My horses are in a different country - not by choice but by necessity. Financially it's very rewarding and has lots of holidays which means I can afford to keep my horses but only get to see them during holidays. I couldn't afford horses where I work.
I would only consider a yard that I would easily get to by walking/cycling. It limits me I know but that way if I don't have the car or like the bad weather we've recently experienced in winter, I know I can still get there. That and the price of fuel!
Preferably within 15 mins as mine is on DIY. I have had him round 1/2 hour away but he was on part, so only up there once a day. My previous yard was 15-20 mins, depending on traffic, current is just over 10, both on DIY.
I'm lucky in that there are train stations close to both yards (it was a big part of my consideration when choosing them) so I don't have to commute in to Cardiff by car in the mornings. I go up to feed/ride/turn out/muck out before work, drive to the station (5 mins), then back up the yard in the evening.
eta My new yard also has 24/7 turnout all year round, so if I need to I can see him once a day then boot him out I usually keep him in during the night in winter but it's useful if I am going out or on holiday, as he is happier out if not being ridden. I could keep him out 24/7 all the time if I wanted to (some ex-racers on the yard are) and would be happy to be a bit further away if I did this as I have a fab YO who knows her stuff and checks all the horses twice a day, plus mine is in a field surrounding her house.
I've just moved yards.
Roo was 20 mins drive away, on DIY, it cost me waayyyy too much in petrol. So I moved. Now a 5 minute walk across a field.
Saving money on petrol, and have more time for her as not driving 20mins each way every time
So now, I'd say 10 mins drive maximum
21-30 mins for me. When we had our horses on livery before moving and building our own set up, it took roughly 25 mins to get there. If you take twice a day visits and petrol into account - that would be as far as I'm willing to go.
I wish I was as lucky as the people who can say only 5-10 min. Unfortunately yards are few and far between where we live and we are lucky we have a good one but it is around 20 min drive. I would love mine closer but tbh I like where they are anyway and they get excellent care.
My boy is 40 mins away. Where I live there is NOTHING within 20 mins, and due to the this the closest yards are expensive and have little turnout. By moving him further out, he is out 24/7 365 days of the year on a lovely yard where they do everything he needs. It also actually works out cheaper even with the added petrol, as the livery cost is cheaper.
My yard is 19 miles away from my house and takes my 15 mins to get there and then due to traffic on the way back takes me 35 mins!!!
That's twice a day, 7 days a week.
When I lived in Dublin I had my horse on full livery and it took me nearly 40 mins to get there. I went 5/6 days a week. There were yards nearer but by having him where he was I had fantastic facilities, excellent trainers and lots of competitions on site and being that bit further out, it was much cheaper. Now I am i the UK and having my horses on DIY I have tried to keep them a max of 15 mins away as when you are having to go before work you really need to be as close as possible. Current yard is 7 mins away in the next village. There is a nice yard in my village but they have no school so I would not be able to ride during the week in the winter which does not work for me.
My horse is moving to his 'Summer' Yard tomorrow after spending the Winter at home. The yard is 20 miles/30 minutes away and my two other monsters have lived out up there for the past 18 months.
I work at the place I will be keeping them so have to go there every week day anyway. I only see them once a day but I know if there was a problem my Boss would let me know.
During the weekends I'll probably go up one day to ride and then on the other day he and I will both have a 'day off' and he will hopefully be fed for me by one of the Children.
It works really well for me and I have a great time when he is there over the Summer, over the Winter it was very difficult though as being a TB he needs feeding at least twice a day and rugs adding/taken off regularly, I found that when he was there for the Winter I just couldn't give him the TLC he needed, hence why he came home for this Winter. The other two have been quite happy living out 'o natural' up there all year round.
If it wasn't for work I don't think I could cope with them being more then 10 minutes away as it would make life very difficult.
I'm happy to do about 20 mins as the hacking is so much better if I just go a few miles from home. I might be prepared to do a bit further for the right facilities if it was on the way to work so I was only making a special trip at weekends.
Mine is 20-25mins drive away currently. Furthest away ive ever kept a horse but there is nowhere with good facilities any closer. I'm on assisted DIY. The yard does full livery and the girls that work there are very good so incase of an emergency he would be in good hands till I get there. Also I currently work 10/15mins away from there so the yard is on the way/on the way back from work also.
20-30mins is as far as id push it, in case of emergency and i needed to get there asap. Hopefully allowing up to half an hour from home you should be able to find a decent yard with good enough hacking too
20 mins is as far as Id want to go, mainly due to fuel prices and also wouldnt want to spend any more time in the car driving. Im going to a yard 5mins from home (when I get my new horse). It is more expensive than last yard but if you add it all up it works out cheaper.
My horse is diy so i would never keep him anywhere longer than walking distance - if i get snowed in in the winter and cant get the car out i need to be able to walk to him so id say no more than an hours walk away
I've been up to 30 minutes away with horse on part livery and 100% trusted YO for emergencies.
Now, I'm DIY and it's 10 minutes away and the yard I'm on is fantastic - I'm hoping to move so they'll end up being 20 minutes away BUT I like the yard they're on and they're both chilled so they'll stay put!!