how much land do you need to have a horse at home?

[Jonesab]

Hi

How much land do you need if your horse was turned out 24/7?

Also,assuming you get planning permission for stables - how much would need if it was stabled at night?

I know we'd all love acres and acres - but what is a realistic amount you could manage with for one horse and a small companion?

thanks.

 

[conniegirl]

we have 4 on just under 4 acres all of them are out 24/7 unless it gets very very nasty. However we do get them off the land for 2 months every year and feed haylege in winter. I would idealy love 6/8 acres.

We managed fine all year round when our came in at night.

So an acre per phorse (our are ponies so we can get away with less) if kept in at night and 1.5/2 for a horse kept out at 24/7

 

[catembi]

We've only got 2.5 acres, but have managed fine with a sports horse & a pony. We're on sand so it drains well & doesn't get too cut up. Horses are out 24/7.

You just have to be careful to maintain the paddocks, spray nettles etc so that you get the most out of the fields.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

A rule of thumb is 1.5 acres for the first horse & an acre per horse thereafter.

 

[JadeWisc]

You can easilly keep a horse and a small companion on one acre but you will not have grass for long. You would have to keep it very clean and plan on feeding hay year round.

If you want to keep any type of grazing I would say 5 acres for 24/7 turnout and 3 acres for two horses put in at night.

Remember though that certain areas have different zoning laws.I have no idea about what it is like where you live, but I looked at properties where I live that mandated you have at least 40 acres to have ANY horses !

I moved an hour away and the laws became far more relaxed.

 

[Jonesab]

I am not sure we have 'zoning laws' here in the UK - has anyone heard of that?

 

[JadeWisc]

You may call it something different but I would think you would have them. Basically the laws or regulations set forth that decides where you can keep certain animals...especially livestock or farm animals. I thought for some reason though I heard that Horses in the UK are not considered livestock??? I may be wrong. Very strict here as to where you are allowed to have a horse though. The closer you get to the city the harder and more expensive it gets

 

[Eceni]

We don't have zoning laws - yet...

E

 

[Llwyncwn]

To get the best out of your land you will need to rest and rotate the pastures. For instance, if you have 2 acres, fence them into 4 half acre paddocks which means that you will be able to rest each paddock for 3 months of the year.

If you constantly graze one paddock it will get 'poached' which will encourage weeds and, in the long run will cost you more to feed and work the land. As they say, 'you only get out what you put in'.

 

[JadeWisc]

So you mean to tell me that you could keep a horse or some cows in the center of town...even in a garage stall????

 

[conniegirl]

jade they regularly do keep horses in cities, there are a few riding schools and livery yards in the centre of london. there are a few in the centre of edinburgh and manchester as well (cant talk about anywhere else as ive not investigated)

 

[Selkie]

We have 4 acres split into 3 fields for one horse and 2 shelties, they are all out 24/7

 

[mrhsaddler]

We have one horse, one pony and two donks on 5 acres and that gives us 24/7 living out without any hay needed. We have a large stable block 33` long by 20` wide that incorporates 1 stable 10` by 12`, 1 field shelter 14` by 10` and a carriage shed 33` by 10` that takes the landau, my cob`s gig and the donks cart, and soon hopefully a donkey sized wagonette that we just won on ebay and a victoria for my cob.

 

[mrdarcy]

[ QUOTE ]
So you mean to tell me that you could keep a horse or some cows in the center of town...even in a garage stall????

[/ QUOTE ]

In theory yes! In practice many houses come with restrictive covenants which prohibit the keeping of livestock. But these generally apply to newer houses. For instance my house is about 200 years old (and in it's former life was part of a farm barn but has long since been swallowed up by the city) so if I wanted to keep chickens/goats/sheep in my garden there are no restrictions. However on the opposite side of the road there is a newer housing estate (circa 1980's) and I would imagine that restrictive convenants apply to their gardens disallowing anything but domestic pets.

Incidentally there are two ponies in the small paddock next to my cottage and yet I'm five minutes drive from the city centre.

There are also nuisance laws that could apply - if you kept noisy cockerals or smelly pigs your neighbour could complain to the local council and they could demand you stop making the nuisance.

 

[kirstyfk]

I think 3 acres would be a good size, remember you probably want to fence of an area to ride in. We have 5 acres which at the moment is split into 2 paddocks. My loan horse's owner wants the horse separated. So each horse is getting about 2 acres each. We would happily keep 3 horses on it and once we did keep 4 (2 where 14hh and one 15hh) but the field was struggling a bit.