How much or how little land would you need or like......

mocha911

mocha911

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Just wondering how much or how little amount of land you are prepared to have or need.

I currently have my own yard, (which I am grateful for). 4 stables, lovely sand school and 3 acres with a further 5 acres that do not belong to me but i have the use off when ever I like.
I look after all the maintenance of the yard and fields and love doing it as I can have it to how I like it.. :)

Downside... Is that my yard is 8 miles away from home, it takes 15 mins to drive there.. :(
My horse lives out 24/7 and when it's really cold and wet I just open the yard up so he can go into his stable as and when he likes. ( but he never does). I go down to the yard once a day.

We would like to sell up yard and house and buy something with its own land,

Problems is that for are price range I can only find houses with small acreage ie: one was only 1 acre another had just 2 acres.

Would you put up with a small amount of land to have your horse at home or have more land and stay put with yard and house separate..
Would just like people's thought on this. :)
 
Hmm I think you'd struggle with such a small amount of land. No room for an arena for a start. 4 years ago we bought our first rural house. It has stables right beside the house; my childhood dream. But we rent the land, and it's not beside the house, and it's a bit of a nightmare. No arena for a start is more restrictive than I ever managed (with a horse that needs constant work). And our land is very wet, so even though I have 10 acres they congregate near the gate and trash it. Also none of the farmers who own the land nearer my house are prepared to rent it out, so don't make the mistake of assuming you will be able to do this! Farmers can be a stubborn bunch :rolleyes:

Now on the other hand, I would never go back to not having my horses beside me; and I love going out to do bedtime stables in my PJs. So you need to be very aware of the limitations of the land you have, and what this means in practical terms.
 
Depends on how many horses I'd want to graze on the land and is there a separate manege or does that space need to be used for exercise as well. I currently rent a yard with (I would guess) just over 2 acres. That works for us with two horses but I also have an enclosed yard in front of the stable block which my agraphobic boy spends most of his time in.
 
Depends on how many horses you'll have and if you want them out 24/7. If I had to deal with 2 acres, I would make a small area as a trash paddock for winter, then save the rest for summer. Or have them in most of the winter, with a few hours turnout (on 1/2 an acre), then in the summer they could go out 24/7.

Tbh I could easily survive one 1 acre for my Welsh D, he only uses 3/4 of an acre, even though I have access to as mnay acres as I like. He has tiny paddocks in the summer (out 24/7) and then 1/2 an acre in winter which he only goes out on for 1/2 days for a few hours per week (he refuses to go out more ;)). So again depends on the horse(s) you have.
 
Hmm, thanks for the replies guys

I would differently need a to have or build a sand school, top of the list for me.
At the moment I have too much grass so I am able to turnout 24/7 and like the arrangement so does my boy.
I did think that if we moved and had less land I would have to stable more to save the grass.
I would love to do bedtime in my PJ's lol...
And look out of a window and see my horse in the his field... . Heaven...:)
 
I have a house with land, we have 4 acres split into 3 paddockd. we use them all as winter paddocks. One had been out of action for a few years due to work going on in it.
We rent another 2.5 acre field and another 1.5 acre field from neighbour we use as summer paddocks.
This is the perfect amount to keep my 3 small horses with good grazing all year round.
 
Is it just the one horse? You mention having four stables... Would also depend how much of the acreage is fields and how much is actually the "plot". Some of the 2 acres advertised will be the land the house, drive and garden are on. I think the BHS guidance has been updated from 1 acre per horse to 1 hectare per horse which seems a lot but need to allow for rotation. I wouldn't compromise on land and therefore turnout just to have them at home. Unless you can put some kind of sand/surface down to use as large pens in the Winter to keep them off the field but out of the stables when he weather is bad.
 
MegaBeast said:
Would also depend how much of the acreage is fields and how much is actually the "plot". Some of the 2 acres advertised will be the land the house, drive and garden are on. .
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Agree with this - especially with a manege etc thrown in too.

It depends a lot on the land - type of soil and drainage etc, and the horses - good doers or not..

We have 16 acres and the two horses at home, but the land is clay and boggy, and we only actually use about four or five of the dryer acres, the rest just have sheep on. I fantasise about having four dry acres instead of sixteen that are not! I wouldn't want less than four.
 
We have three acres overall, one of which is garden and house and two for the horse area. I have two ponies and one horse. Luckily all are good doers but I manage fine. They are out all day and in at night - all year round. The only time I have ever put hay out is in the snow. We are on a hill and have good natural drainage. I was worried that it wouldn't be enough, but it is plenty. They get a small bucket feed (hi-fi lite and high fibre nuts) in the evening and hay/haylage overnight. I am constantly moving the fence line and close it up again behind if that makes sense so each bit of land gets rested for about 9 months by the time I get back to the beginning. They still have plenty of room for a run around and hooley as I divide the land up into longish rectangles rather than squares. I try to poo pick daily.

I don't have a school but I have an arena marked out (within the 2 acres). This just gets mowed and harrowed but not grazed (although one of my ponies gets an hour's 'treat' grazing on there every now and then). I am careful about how much it gets used but it's fine and copes well for schooling the unshod ponies and lunging all three. I don't school my shod horse on there often unless the ground is really good.

I do box out for hacking as we have busy roads close by but fab hacking just a bit further down the road. I also box to a school and for lessons a couple of times a week and then for competitions.

It's the first time I've had the opportunity to keep mine at home and despite the lack of facilities I love it and wouldn't want to go back to a livery yard. There are things I would do differently if/when we move to another place, but I can manage with what I have. In fact not having a school has meant that I have had to take my youngster out and about since day 1, otherwise it would probably have taking me a long time to work up to it.

Hope that helps. Good luck. :)
 
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This is something I've thought about a lot as looking to move because of work and therefore looking to find something where I can keep the horses at home. I currently have my dream house which has 10 acres of extremely well draining sandy good grazing with 4 stables and I keep 3 horses there. In truth, although the land is a godsend, it is a LOT of work to maintain 10 acres, both the grass and the fencing, and I don't really need all of it for the number of horses that I have. The bonus is that there is enough land for them to live out all year - they use a 4 acre paddock in the winter and I put large bales of haylage in the field with them which they eat ad lib. This means that there is a little bit of trashing around the haylage but the majority of the paddock stays in good nick and we only have to reseed the trashed bits in spring. The summer paddock is 5 acres and we rest that over winter.

I am looking at house now in the area I want to move to and having too much land is as much of a consideration as too little. I've seen one with amazing equestrian facilities with 19 acres but I don't want to take that on for the number of horses that I have because it would be pretty expensive to maintain and the running costs are as much of a consideration as the purchase cost. Ideally I'd have 6-8 acres for 3 and be able to keep them as I do now. The drainage is the real key though - I really hope to not have to deal with clay fields again as it doesn't matter how much land you have if its all a giant bog come winter!

In answer to you, OP, I would think hard about having too little land. It can and will get horse-sick and unless you're prepared to stable extensively in the winter, you'll end up feeding hay all year round. I think for 2 horses, 3 acres would probably be the minimum.
 
We've got 13 acres total; one field is 10 acres which is where the sheep graze. It's sub-divided into a little one-acre paddock plus another area of about 2 acres which is where my two horses graze year-round. I rotate them between the one-acre bit and the two-acre patch, but sheep can graze in all areas of the field, which is ideal as they pick up all the rubbish the horses won't eat.

Our DIY livery has a 3 acre (well, nearly four acres actually) patch which she sub-divides into three as needed. She has three ponies and they come in at night during the winter.

We both find that this amount of land is just right for our respective needs; just occasionally we could do with a wee bit more grazing, especially so at the moment with the ground so wet & muddy, but it does tend to work out just right for everyone's needs.

The important thing is to have the facility of sub-dividing it, either through natural means or by electric fencing. One huge large field isn't a lot of good with horses unfortunately. If too large they'll either hoon around in it and churn it all up so its no good for grazing, and/or you'll have the problem of it being too rich for ponies especially and you'll have a lammi problem.
 
When we moved here our house was advertised with 1.75 acres. 0.75 was house, gardens buildings and a massive pond etc and that left just about an acre of 'paddock'. I had a horse and a pony at the time. We quickly split the paddock into 2 and we put a cheap and cheerful sand arena on one side and left the other half as grazing. During the summer the horses went out on the grass (topped up with haylage) and in the winter they went out in the sand paddock again with haylage. It's not ideal but it worked for me and my horses. Ironically I now rent an additional 9 acres at the back still have 2 horses (and 9 sheep) and the field is so waterlogged it's neither use nor ornament!
 
I have two horses and in total probably around 1.5 acres once I have taken out the menage. Part of this is not actually paddock either its what we call our spini where there are a lot of trees (hroses have to avoid the trunks but can't eat the leaves etc). Its really just about careful management. Mine are out 27/7 april - End of October and in winter are outside 7.30am - 5ish. In the winter we prety much leave them in the 'spini' as that is a drier area and give them haylage outside, if we get drier spells allow them on the grass.

The grass paddock is split and so when they are on it they get rotated before they ruin the grass, we carefully fertilise/spray/roll the paddocks when required also.

Obviously I would much prefer more grazing but it is do-able with the amount I have. I should probably mention that the paddock part is not 'great' land either and is wet however when we did the menage we had the field drained as well which has helped.
 
My husband wants 500 acres (don't ask), neigh on impossible to find in commutable distance to London unless you want it under a flight path or the house on a main road so we are looking to move to Virginia in the states to get what he wants. I hope he realises what he is getting himself in for! (If he thinks I am fencing for all hours god sends he is wrong...).
Tbh I'd be happy with 20... I think 20 is a good number as you have space to have a livery or two, space to rotate the fields, space for an arena an a jumping paddock plus the house and garden and anything else you might want. We have looked at houses with 9 acres to 150 acres and I def think 9 acres is small and any less can you do all the things you want/need with your horse like 24hr turnout and that sort of thing?

My horse and my mums horse alone are in a 2 acre paddock on a livery yard at the moment and that is only just enough to keep 2 horses on all year round...your little yard sounds lovely even if it is a drive away. Why don't you go to see some of the houses that are on only an acre or two? I think if you saw them you may realise it's nicer to have a nice house and a spacious yard that's seperate then have to compromise on space for you and the horses.
 
Forgot to add, the house I lived at growing up had around 2 acres. 3/4 of an acre was the house and garden and stables and the rest was the paddock. It was okish for 1/2 horses, but there was never any grass and we had to feed copious amounts of hay. We hacked up the road to use a school :). It wasn't ideal put it that way but it was nice to have them at home :).
 
kit279 said:
I am looking at house now in the area I want to move to and having too much land is as much of a consideration as too little. I've seen one with amazing equestrian facilities with 19 acres but I don't want to take that on for the number of horses that I have because it would be pretty expensive to maintain and the running costs are as much of a consideration as the purchase cost. Ideally I'd have 6-8 acres for 3 and be able to keep them as I do now. The drainage is the real key though - I really hope to not have to deal with clay fields again as it doesn't matter how much land you have if its all a giant bog come winter!

.
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19 acres would be fine- you could put field shelters in some fields and let them out, or make haylage for yourself and to sell... If its good land there are endless possibilities..
 
Well we have 5 acres and 5 stables down the lane from our house. Its only 500 yards away but never the less, its a pain in the bum to have to go back and forth 3 times a day. Its too far to carry your saddle if you walk and its a busy uinlit village road so its dangerous to bike along it in the dark.

Technically speaking we should have enough grazing for our 5 horses BUT we are on heavy clay that poaches up quickly and doesnt grow great grass.

I would love another 2 or 3 acres but the local farm manager wont sell anything near us (probably because it would increase our changes of getting a house up there if we could call ourselves a business or smal holding).

If I could get a small house with GOOD mature grazing, I would go down to a couple of acres just to have the 2 together in one place. It would mean converting a bit of it to all weather turnout areas for the winter but it would be worth it !
 
I have about 24 acres in total. 8 are the wrong side of a stream so just have sheep on them. 4 acres are rough grazing with boggy bits so I dont like the horses on it. That leaves 4 acres which is divided up and they graze that during the summer. The rest is grown for haylage in the summer then they graze it from Oct to end March. Ideally I would want 24 acres that I could use . I have 9 horses.
 
Honey08 said:
19 acres would be fine- you could put field shelters in some fields and let them out, or make haylage for yourself and to sell... If its good land there are endless possibilities..
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In theory, yes but until I had the 10 acres, I really hadn't appreciated just how much work it was to keep it in good nick and trying to rescue neglected grazing is expensive and a lot of work! Since I don't want to let it (too much hassle!), I'd really rather not have that much to contend with - a personal choice but one from experience!
 
i have 4 acres - 3 paddocks and 1 garden etc - and 2 horses - mine and a companion

i'm just sorting all mine out and boy its a lot of hard work! everything is old crappy grass - but then again the companion is a laminitic but has been ok (touch wood) since i've hed her here - so happy for it to stay that way and feed extra hay to my mare.

i graze my mare on my garden some of the time for extra grass too (ok - its an old fram house - so its not really a lawn type garden before you imagine her wandering between the roses ;))

and i'm about to split the paddock into 2 or 3 - havent decided yet...

she lives out 24/7 365 but i have put a big (size of 3 stables) field shelter up and that will be hardcored out the back for some mud free standing.

the last place i rented had one 2.5 acre field and one 7 acre field - i really liked 10 acres and would rather more now - but i can manage fine and lovely having her at home on owned land

however in an ideal workd i'd have 100+ acres - make my own hay and have a huge 50acre parkland for horses to run in - complete with river, woodland, shrubs, hardcored pathways etc - oh to dream eh?
 
In a perfect world I'd want:
a little country cottage with a nice smallish garden.
4 stables and tack room. One for mine, Three for livery.
arena and jumping field.
4 acres grazing.
In a nice location with off-road hacking.

...But this is probably not going to happen.

I'd settle for anything with enough grazing for 2 horses and an arena.

BUT I would prefer the two to be together, I'd be nervous about leaving my horse somewhere unattended/with noone living on site.
 
interesting thread.

When I moved in with Hubby and we decided to buy a house with land so I could have the horses at home instead of livery (I owned a shetland and a big horse at the time) we decided that we'd like no less than 2 acres and max of 10.

we decided that if we had 2 acres, then we'd build an all weather turnout area and an arena as well as two stables/storage. OH said that if we did have enough land he'd like to get some Hebridean sheep.

So off we went looking and ended up with 29 acres! long story but if we hadn't bought it all we'd have lost the house sale. And the 29 acres was less than buying 10!

It has taken 4 years to build the stables and arena due to having no funds to do anything, but we have loved living here.

The land is on a hill, with about 2 acres of reeds/bog but the rest is pretty well drained so we now have our sheep (lots of them) and are slowly dividing up the fields. so far we have 2 x 10 acre paddocks (1 is hardly used as no shelter and needs fencing improvements) and 4 long fields which are approx 2 acres each. I use one big field for winter turnout and the rest for summer. The plan was to have 2 horses in work rotating round the fields but because we have all this land, we now have too many horses! I have 2 big boys, a shetland and 2 yearlings. Which is too much work tbh and in the winter will make the horses be a chore!

In 2 years I will be selling either the yearling or Larry (depending on what they turn out like) and the other yearling will go to my friend so I'll be down to 2 big hosses and a shetland which will be perfect :) Don't get me wrong i'm very grateful that we have got the land we have. But we haven't needed to worry about grazing until recently - and now we have lots of sheep that they probably work out as the equivalent of 3 horses - these extra sheep have hit us quite hard so we are now struggling to have enough grass for winter for the yearlings.

Had we ended up with 2 acres, we'd have been like my neighbour who has 2.2. She doesn't have enough room to build an area (its a 2.2 acre field - house on seperate plot) but she does have a barn with 2 stables and has built an all weather turnout paddock. She does struggle for grass and has to provide haylage/hay for her horses all year round. She also stables them every night. (I stable mine every night but thats though choice not necessity).

Personally I think you'd have to have a minimum of 3 acres, esp if you needed to build an arena. you could manage that amount if you then built a winter paddock.

Its doable with 3 acres.

hope that helps!
 
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