How much space?

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Shelli87

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Hi,

I have a small 11.2hh elderly pony she’s got ems and suffers with lami. We are looking for a property with a bit of land to retire her at home. How much land would you be looking for paddocks ect? We’d have a nice stable built and small muck trailer we’d empty and sort out ourselves. But what size paddock would you say is adequate for an elderly lami prone pony that needs restricted grazing? We are also looking for somewhere where we can take her out for little walks ect to keep her moving and fit so it’s not like she’s be stuck with not much room. I don’t want any welfare issues but she doesn’t need much space or she’ll be poorly.
 
I wasn’t on planning on her having a friend in all fairness she is grumpy in her old age she’s in a big heard now and although she’s okay she is Better on her own..but not against it if she needs a friend but that’s exactly what I was thinking roughly 1/2 acre paddock for turnout and stabled at night. If I can get an acre I’ll split the paddock for rotation.

I used to have a paddock just shy of 2 acres and managed well on that with 3 ponies we split it and roared every 3 months.. any more and they just used to get fat. They had more than enough space to run around and play..
 
Depends on what soil you have and she will need company.

I have a 13.2 and a 12.2 in 2.5 acres and it’s not enough, especially when it rains.
 
I rotate 2 ponies around 7 acres but that’s out 24-7/365 apart from the odd day in here and there, and I appreciate you’re saying you would bring in overnight.

With the extremes of weather we’re getting in recent years, which mean ground can swing from desert to mud bath, I’d be nervous of anything less than an acre per pony plus a bit for comfort. And as she will definitely need company, that’s 2-3 acres.
 
Thank you I appreciate everyone’s messages.. I think I’ll need more than I thought.. I’ll have to keep looking but anything with 2-3 acres spare is a good 200-300k more than what we’ll ever be able to afford..in our budget we’d be lucky to get an 1 acre, in the areas we’re looking and we can’t go further afield due to work. We shall keep looking but it may have to just be livery yard for life unless we come into some money or unless a gem pops up.. thank you
 
Maybe consider retirement livery yards, as financially might be more suitable if you are restricted to area, and land prices are high.
Or consider buying home and looking for separate parcel of land for sale very nearby….often that is much cheaper than home with land prices.
 
I have 2 acres for 2 full size horses and that is fine. The 2 acres includes the house, arena, driveway, garden etc.

For winter I have all weather turnout areas. I feed supplementary hay/haylage. That amount of land has been fine for two for the past 25 years LOL. That included when I had 2 competition horses doing BE.

As long as you have somewhere all weather (such as an arena) and supplement hay, then it is fine. We are on heavy clay so the fields are out of use for several months of the year.

I improved matters when I added a patio area to the rear of each stable, so even when they're in, they have space to roam outside.
 
Shelli87 said:
Hi,

I have a small 11.2hh elderly pony she’s got ems and suffers with lami. We are looking for a property with a bit of land to retire her at home. How much land would you be looking for paddocks ect? We’d have a nice stable built and small muck trailer we’d empty and sort out ourselves. But what size paddock would you say is adequate for an elderly lami prone pony that needs restricted grazing? We are also looking for somewhere where we can take her out for little walks ect to keep her moving and fit so it’s not like she’s be stuck with not much room. I don’t want any welfare issues but she doesn’t need much space or she’ll be poorly.
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My 12hh hand lami pony is in a paddock under an acre, split in three strips and strip grazed. they live in at night and have very little grass, and so far this year no flare ups. If pony is living in 1 acre is fine split into small ones.
 
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