How many 'field ornaments' do you have - and what is the criteria ...

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canteron

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...................... for keeping them?

I have 3 equines lolling about in fields enjoying themselves (OK 2 are donkeys) and a third who may possibly be heading that way.

I am lucky I have the grass and facilities (and finances) to look after them ..... and as I can see them all from the house enjoy looking at them ... but is 4 too many - OK I know I am too soft to look at the alternatives, but this one is only 12 so that could be 10/15 years of retirement! and the donkeys could possibly do another 30/40 years!

So, is anyone else out there as stupid as me?

One more to go, if that breaks I am deffo taking up golf instead!
 
only 1 at the moment, out of 4! he's been nannying the 2 babies for years though so he's had a job really. he's still here because i keep getting utter timewasters to see him, he doesn't put a foot wrong, they say he's ideal, and then i don't hear from them again. argh. what is it with these people?!
 
Just the one *touch wood* I know if anything happened to my other he will definatly be kept as a field ornament after that I think I will have to just ride at a local riding school as I live in fear I will eventually start collecting them
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Just one- A Shetland pony/ Houdini who is companion to the wannabe field ornament.
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Having said that, she does do little bits in hand and light lunging (she's still young) as she enjoys having a "job" and it stops her feeling ignored.

Otherwise the most attention she would get, other than the usual daily checks, are swearing at her when I drag her back in from the winter grazing paddocks
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I have two, one has been retired for 11yrs due to lameness ( he is paddock sound ) and is now 23. The other is mad and has been a field ornament for 2 yrs and he is now 9.

I too have them at home and am not sure I would be prepared to pay livery costs for them if I didn't have my own place.
 
Well sort of 2 out of 3 at the mo. sort of.. one is recovering from lami so she's a stable ornament!! The other is a shetland, am hoping to drive him next year though!
 
Two - old boy with navicular and a 4yo donkey. For a while it looked as though there were going to be three when my other horse damaged a tendon, but so far it looks as though he's coming back into work OK. And the donkey doesn't know it yet but he's going to be broken to harness sometime soon ...
 
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Two long term retired OAPs and one useless eight year old. I won't keep any more in retirement unless they manage ten years or so of work for me, then I'll think about it.
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I've had two pts that were young and unsound/unhealthy, and the eight year old would have been going the same way but she's got a place at the blood bank next year so at least she'll get some more time and be of use.
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ONE I've 3 ponies and 1 horse. horse and 1 pony are ridden. another pony is a companion and I have a surplus to requirements 12.3hh approx 4 yr old who is for sale.
 
I have 2 actual and 1 wannabe. 1 of the actual field ornaments will always be that as (as far as I can see) he's taken several beating in the past and is extreemly nervous and not really handleble, plus he has twists in his front legs so cant be ridden. He doesnt mind, he's just happy that he's got a safe field, a nice warm stable, rugs and gets dindins every night. The midget is one at the mo, but as soon as i can afford it (and now he's old enough) i'm going to break him to ride and drive as he gets bored really easily. D on the other hand is a wannabe, always unwell or injured or without a shoe! you'd think he was trying to tell me something... but i dont ask for a lot and hours riding (at most) a few times a week. Think he's just p!ssy with me at the mo as I wont let him jump coz he's being an ass, so is punishing me!
 
Of my 5, the 2 mares (25 and 29 respectively) are field ornaments. The oldest one was a brood mare all her life and I took her on once she had retired (I needed a companion at the time). The 25yo is my retired riding horse (retired 4 years now). They are both healthy and with good quality of live and for as long as they stay like that, they deserve their well-earned retirement with me.

My three boys are all still in work.

The only way I can afford to keep more than one horse at all (let alone the 2 field ornaments) is because I am lucky enough to be able to rent 8 acres and 2 stables of my own at a reaonable price, and they live out all year round. If I had to move them to livery (even DIY livery), I would never be able to cope - either financially or with regards to time.
 
2. An old riding pony (32) which we could never part with and is nanny to the babys and my sisters old riding horse (30) who keeps my 4 yo company.
 
Well I'm proud to say I beat you all!
Out of my three horses, three, yes three are field ornaments.
Tally is my retired pony who I outgrew. We put her out on loan but she was too much of a handful and now she's stiff. I feel at the age of 25 she's earnt her retirement. She is also nanny to below.
Chapulin is my new yearling. He'll hopefully have a useful future but for now he's in with Tally and using all his energy to grow far more than I want!
Jesper has been a field ornament officially since February but in practice quite a bit longer. He has long term collateral ligament and suspensory issues but is field sound. He lives the life of luxury.
All of mine are on livery - the two ponies are field kept and Jesper is stable kept and loves his life. We would have had him pts but he's too happy. Mum and I must be mad!
 
I have one field ornament, but he's actually a very beautiful box ornament at the moment awaiting surgery. He will be a field ornament at my in-laws' place, and possibly have a youngster to nanny. George, my 19 year old, sound as a pound (touch wood) cob, will stay at livery a mile from my house on his own until the youngster is old enough to come into work.

That's the plan Stan. Plans never actually materialise do they?!

So in conclusion, I have one.
 
I have 1.5 - one is fully retired due to OCD and the other breaks every so often so is semi-retired i.e. he gets lunged and then ridden for a couple of months, breaks and needs 2/4/6 months off and then repeat cycle. I would bother with bringing him back into work except the vets wont let me fully retire him as he has SI strain so gets very very stiff when he is out of work.

They are both on full livery as they refuse to live out despite many attempts to leave them in a field (spoilt).

ETA: criteria? umm, bought the blasted things and they follow me home if I try to leave them in a field? actually OCD is quite young and only recently retired. He seems happy enough but the day he cant get up by himself I will have him pts. Semi-retired will be fully retired when he is too lame to be ridden and again he will be pts the minute he struggles.

I hope that I wont keep them on for longer than is dignified I wouldnt like to see them struggling to get up or too afraid to lie down.
 
I leave the field ornaments at my parent's place and keep my ridable one on livery!

My Mum looks after my old retired horse plus his 3 mini Shetland buddies.
 
I have a temporary one at the moment - my only horse. Hopefully he'll come sound after a break. He's perfectly happy in the field, it's just when he's ridden there's a problem. Until the last week or so I've been confident that he'll be ok, but I'm now starting to think "what if".

I definitely can't afford to keep him and get another and doubt a 16.2 IDx would make a good companion. Having said that, he's easy to keep - keeps a good weight all year round (doesn't gain in summer or lose in winter) unlike fat little ponies and would happily live out although I've never done that as he's always been clipped and so in overnight in the winter and he's everybody's friend so wouldn't cause trouble.

The alternative doesn't bear thinking about.
 
I have 2 a 24yo TB & an IDxTB who was retired at 12yo, he's now 17yo.
They both still live the same luxury they did when they where in work. I know i may sound like i have loads of money, i don't but neither of them owe me anything.
Plus i don't have enough land to do T/O 24/7.

Im just very lucky i do have my own land & stables otherwise i wouldnt be able to let my Field Ornaments have what they have now.
 
We have one old shetland companion aged 24 ish. We are about to have two as my mare is at livery now so the companion is alone! Unfortunately believe it or not we are struggling to find a companion for the companion without spending a fortune even in the current market!
 
Well we have 2 welsh d mares, one 10yo and one 16yo, one dales mare who must be nearly 30yo, and welsh d 2yo colt - but he does come in every day so kinda half counts as field ornament!
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I think Otto is about to become a field ornament depending on the results of todays nerve blocks etc.Just as well i've got the opportunity to rent my own fields in the next few months.He will hackable but nothing else and is a quirky bugger so cant just chuck anyone on him!
 
Nearly did and might still have a field ornament. My 14 year old mare has DDFT (God how I hate those four letters now)! tears in both front feet but is slowly coming back into work. Hopefully she will stay hacking sound.

Fortunately I keep her at my aunt's who gives me free grass livery in return for using my parent's holiday apartment a couple of times a year. If my horse was high maintenance and wouldn't live out all year I'd have to pay some livery, and that would get expensive. I really don't know what on earth I'd do if I wasn't so lucky to be in this situation. When my horse came back off loan unexpectedly last year I had nowhere else to keep her apart from aunts where my sister looks after her, unless I was going to put her on part livery closer to Bristol which I seriously couldn't afford.

I think if you end up with a couple of field ornaments, it must be hard to justify the cost of livery unless you're not bothered about riding. Having to explain to non horsey parents why you can't sell/loan a horse with issues like mine and justify the expense of keeping them is also difficult, in my experience.
 
2/3 are
the 3 year old hasnt been backed yet as shes got another year of growing
and the 19year old is semi retired through injury and ive had her since she was 4 so shes not going anywhere.i do ride her about once a fortnight though
 
I have two....out of two
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My horse has navicular and is too stupid for 'light hacking'
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My pony has damaged her cruciate ligament in her stifle.
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I did retire her for 18 months because i was worried that she would damage herself by her own actions of tearing about on rides, but i have started lightly hacking her out again because she is still so full of life and she is coping with it extremely well! Almost too well!
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She is 25 by the way
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I have two....out of two
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Lol me too... I have original field ornament who is on loan as 'the companion' and now my supposed riding horse has ringbone and we are deciding what to try with her in terms of treatment. I would keep her for ever as a big pet irrespective of whether she comes sound enough to ride or not. She's my baby
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Bit gutting to have nothing to ride though
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. My head tells me not to buy another one right now, at least until we know if she will come sound, but my heart keeps forcing me to go look on horsemart and H&H etc
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One, my old arthritic, laminitic forester. She is on livery along with my other 2, so it's not cheap to keep her, but there is no way I can get rid of a horse, just because they can no longer be ridden. I feel that I owe it to her to give her a good retirement. I would do the same for my other 2 too. I don't sell on my horses, they are with me until the end of their natural lives.
 
I've cut down quite a lot this year - sold 2. Im down to just 1 competition horse (normally have another one and a "project" on the go!) and 2 "ornaments"! My 2 ornaments are my 2 very first ponies! My 13.2hh is 21yrs and his companion who came with him is a 19yo shetland. I never sold my 13.2hh when I outgrew him as sadly he got very bad concussive lami as a 5yo and never fully recovered - has been plagued by foot problems ever since therefore does go lame sometimes so not much use for a Pony Club home or whatever and I was also told if he got laminitis again then that'd be it for him
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I just couldnt bare to sell him and then for him to get it, so I kept him and kept the lami at bay since
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