Is it possible?

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SaddleUpSin

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Does anyone or has anyone kept a horse without owning/driving a car? In my day to day life I don't need a car at all. My work is 0.1 miles from my house, loan pony 1.5miles so walkable in about 25/30 mins each way. I know that with my age for insurance, all lessons and purchasing a car and doing tests I'll have to wait a good couple years after to afford to buy my own horse. Thats the catch 22! The one thing I would need a car for is to get to my future horse, I have no motivation to drive, nobody in my family drives and been walking/catching buses since I was 11/12 and driving has never been a priority.

Do you think it will be manageable to have a horse with only a 125cc bike and shanks' pony? I do worry sometimes, but I've waited my whole life for a horse and never once desired a car!
 
Unfortunately things in life change and my advice would be to get a driving licence before you consider buying a horse.
Being able to drive is an essential skill these days.
Good luck.
 
As long as you can get to and from pony when public transport etc. is down, I think you're fine! I know a few girls who just drive their mopeds to the yard, but if you can walk that's even better :)

My car pretty much is a tack room, so at least it'll minimise the temptation for storing jods/socks/gloves/headcollars/saddlepads in the footwells and back seats :P

The only thing you might struggle with is travelling stuff like feed, bedding and hay. But if you've got that sorted, you should be ok...
 
I do intend to get a car eventually, but currently my bike is a lot more cost efficient, I guess the only issue would be its inability to carry more than small loads in the top box? But unsure what I would absolutely need to be able to carry on a regular basis that couldnt stay at the yard?
 
I have owned a horse since 1992 and never had a car. I get feed and hay and bedding delivered, ride a bike to the yard and walk on the occasions it is too snowy or icy to cycle,I live about 2 miles from my horse.I keep my tack at the yard in the tack room. In my bike bags I carry waterproofs, and I just take a little bit of milk to the yard to make coffee daily, and my clothes to change into for work.I can buy most things online. My husband has a car and at the wekend he sometimes gives me lifts to the yard, but I am not dependant on this. Edited to say that when I got old I bought an electric bike which is wonderful. The hardest thing may be getting around to look at horses when you want to buy one, also you will be limited to working and keeping your horse near to home.
 
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I did it a few times and honestly I'd never do it again. When it was pi$$ing it down it was dreadful.

I used to walk 20 mins to the bus stop, get the bus for 40 mins and then walk about ten mins to the yard at the first place. Then it was a bit worse and I had to walk 25 mins to the bus stop, get on the bus for 40 mins and then walk 30-40 minutes to the yard. This was carrying hat, saddle, bridle, and my work bag too. By the time I'd got to the yard I couldn't be bothered to ride!

I've only recently started riding again now that I can use my OH's car - like you I live and work in the city so didn't want to spend £££ for nothing.
 
Yardbird said:
I have owned a horse since 1992 and never had a car. I get feed and hay and bedding delivered, ride a bike to the yard and walk on the occasions it is too snowy or icy to cycle,I live about 2 miles from my horse.I keep my tack at the yard in the tack room. In my bike bags I carry waterproofs, and I just take a little bit of milk to the yard to make coffee daily, and my clothes to change into for work.I can buy most things online. My husband has a car and at the wekend he sometimes gives me lifts to the yard, but I am not dependant on this. Edited to say that when I got old I bought an electric bike which is wonderful. The hardest thing may be getting around to look at horses when you want to buy one, also you will be limited to working and keeping your horse near to home.
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This gives me hope! Intend to be on full/part livery also (likely more towards full in winter, yard manager flexible and does pay per service/day :) ) so hopefully I'll be covered for mechanical fault etc!
 
Full livery is expensive, maybe go DIY and use money saved to pay for driving lesons. Just because you then can drive does not mean that you cannot still mostly cycle.
 
SpringArising said:
I did it a few times and honestly I'd never do it again. When it was pi$$ing it down it was dreadful.

I used to walk 20 mins to the bus stop, get the bus for 40 mins and then walk about ten mins to the yard at the first place. Then it was a bit worse and I had to walk 25 mins to the bus stop, get on the bus for 40 mins and then walk 30-40 minutes to the yard. This was carrying hat, saddle, bridle, and my work bag too. By the time I'd got to the yard I couldn't be bothered to ride!

I've only recently started riding again now that I can use my OH's car - like you I live and work in the city so didn't want to spend £££ for nothing.
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Luckily for me I'm fairly rural but in a town, theres at least 5/6 yards minimum within about 10mile radius of my house and the ones I prefer about 4 miles away max! I just detest the idea of throwing money at a vehicle I don't want and having to wait even longer for my horse!
 
Yardbird said:
Full livery is expensive, maybe go DIY and use money saved to pay for driving lesons. Just because you then can drive does not mean that you cannot still mostly cycle.
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She charges £8p/day on top of the weekly fee of £25 so could be flexible with costs depending on need :)
 
It sounds doable. You can't miss what you've never had. The bike will get you there most of the time and if it's too icy for that, chances are it'll be too icy for a car too. I wouldn't fancy riding it in torrential rain but I assume you already do that anyway.

Personally, I'd find it hard but I had my first driving lesson on my 17th birthday and passed my test 4 months later, I was desperate to drive and mum and dad were keen not to have to take me to the yard at 6am before school/work. I then had my own car by 19 and have had one ever since. I do walk to the yard in the summer, it's 1.8miles through woods and across the fields so I take the dog and kill 2 birds with one stone but in the winter, the woods are very dark and spooky and I always seem to be in a rush so always drive. If you're used to it though it should be fine and being on full livery should mean you don't need to buy and transport your own feed and bedding.

I'm not sure if you have one where you are but have you thought about a car club? You register with them and can then use a pool car for a few hours at a time for a fairly reasonable fee. They're picked up from and returned to certain parking spaces and you have a combination code to access it and start it. It might be useful for you to run some of the errands that always seem to need doing with horses. Of course, you'd need to learn to drive first!
 
Yes, I do cycle down a unlit track for aout half a mile , ut I do not find it spooky, ut I never watch horror movies! I always tell myself that the ogeymen are in ed after a hard nights evil doing.The letter after a has just stopped working on my computer ut I epect you can work out what I mean.
 
I personally wouldn't want to as I am in such a rush to get to and from work most days that I would not have time to walk or get public transport to a yard. But I think it would be manageable for some people provided you are ableot get feed, hay and bedding delivered.
 
When I were a lass I used to walk 3 miles carrying a saddle or walk 3 miles, ride home bareback, tack up, ride, untack, ride back bareback or carry the saddle home again (house on massive hill!)!
 
I know it's possible, but I couldn't live the life I live without my car... It is to me an essential where as a horse is a luxury... I take my hat off to those who can manage without a car tho... don't know how you do it.
 
For a long time I had a choice: I could afford either a car or a horse. Guess which one won? The horse of course. Where there is a will there is a way as they say.
 
I did it for years with an 80cc bike and a lot of hi viz! Learn to ride it defensively (out towards the middle of the lane, not squashed over to the side, for example), so as to be as safe as possible. Cheap as chips to run and actually good fun.
 
Thing is, its easy to say that yes you could easily go back and forth to the horse on your motorbike. However, what about basic stuff like taking it horse feed (if you need to, I dont know what sort of livery you're on) or even just taking basic stuff to the horse that you might need to buy - it'll always need to fit into your bag. If you buy a saddle for example, how are you going to pick it up and take it to the horse?! I think there'll be the odd time where its just impractical not to have a car, especially in the depths of winter if there's snow on the ground - I wouldn't fancy taking a motobike out in that!
 
I used to carry a saddle often. If you are in a livery yard, someone with a car is always going to be carrying food.

It's easy to say for me because it was easy to do :)

It was a horse and a bike or no horse and a car. No contest!!
 
SaddleUpSin said:
Does anyone or has anyone kept a horse without owning/driving a car? In my day to day life I don't need a car at all. My work is 0.1 miles from my house, loan pony 1.5miles so walkable in about 25/30 mins each way. I know that with my age for insurance, all lessons and purchasing a car and doing tests I'll have to wait a good couple years after to afford to buy my own horse. Thats the catch 22! The one thing I would need a car for is to get to my future horse, I have no motivation to drive, nobody in my family drives and been walking/catching buses since I was 11/12 and driving has never been a priority.

Do you think it will be manageable to have a horse with only a 125cc bike and shanks' pony? I do worry sometimes, but I've waited my whole life for a horse and never once desired a car!
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For several years I did without a car, it's possible but not much fun.

For a start you're restricted to yards on public transport routes, probably only being able to get up there once daily (due to time constraints) so having to have mornings done by the yard so you can get to work on time. Going everywhere carrying a bag full of stuff all day, off to work in the morning with yard clothes in a bag (leaving boots/hat at the yard), plus your packed lunch (because you're too skint from horse owning to eat out every lunchtime), then travelling home carrying your work clothes. Just because a yard was on a bus route didn't mean it was on the road. Dark, deserted, long, muddy drives full of puddles that soaked my feet and shoes twice daily. Having to travel on public transport covered in mud where I'd fallen off or just knowing I stank of sweaty horse/wet bedding doesn't make you feel good either.

Having to find somewhere that will do weekly feed/hay/bedding deliveries (due to lack of storage for bulk buying at many yards) limiting your choice of products, and having to put up with substitutions when they run out of what you wanted. Then waiting around on the yard sometimes all day for it to arrive, so that was one day of the weekend gone every week. the times when the new driver accidentally delivers to the wrong place and you have to first find it (having waited all day for it not to turn up) then wheelbarrow it back to where it should be. The times when you're running late and they deliver early, so you arrive to find it stacked on the yard and another livery has stolen some, or it's water damaged from the rain.

Having to lug supplements/rugs/new tack upto the yard on the bus. Not so heavy carrying it to the till, but the joy of purchase wears off once you've carried it half mile up a lane and your arms ache before you've even started the horse. Having to clean tack at the yard, which is fine in summer but not so much fun in winter. Having to keep tack at the yard, with the risk of it being borrowed by other liveries or stolen in a break in.

At the time I happily tolerated all of this for a few years because having a horse was worth it, but if I was faced with a return to this now I'd give up horses. Unless the yard was at the end of my road and I could walk there.

ETA: your current set up doesn't sound too bad but you can't guarantee you'll always be in the same job or on the same yard.
 
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Decided I’m not even going to start looking until my yard space is reserved again on my old yard as it’s the only place practically possible and a lovely yard. Can get hay/shavings etc. dropped to the yard any time of day (prepaid over phone and they just leave it in your named space in the barn) I guess travelling feed would be the main need for a car but that could be monthly at most? So theoretically, could get help collecting it as the nearest feedstore is about 5 minute drive maximum! Everyone has ample allocated tack storage so wouldn’t need to commute a saddle unless I bought a new one, but there’s a bus on Saturdays so that could be an option!
I’d like to think I’ll be at my current job a while as it’s a training role and in theory as my qualifications and experience go up my wage will too so that a car becomes a reasonable expense rather than extortionate, especially as insurance drops a little as you age doesn’t it?
 
I don't drive, I did have a 125cc baby bike before my children and got on fine, now I have children it's a pain in the bum,
3 School runs and horses without a car is a nightmare!

I have mine on full field livery and will hopefully be driving by the end of the year!

OH does all the big stuff as he can drive, but it's the not being able to get to them that does me, especially in case if an emergency, I'm used to them being a short walk away, it's a loooong 3hr walk now or a 2 1/2 bus ride each way, or a 20 min drive!

Roll on driving!!
 
Yep. I never got around to taking my test (though I do intend to next year as we are hoping to move out to the country).

Work is less than a mile away, daughter's school is on the way. Takes me less than 10 mins to bike to my rented field which is right on the bridleway network.

I walk or cycle everywhere and can honestly say that I am very slim and as fit as a flea. In Winter though it can be very draining and when the rain is torrential I would do anything for a nice warm car to get me home as quickly as possible (would take about a minute and a half in a car!).

So yes....it is absolutely do-able but let's be honest, if I lost my field I'd be in real trouble as the nearest yard is a fifteen minute car journey away.
 
Thankfully children are nowhere near on the cards! Nice to see that, although hard work, it can be done! Looked after a friends horse who she gave to me for a couple months (dont count him as my first) a long while back and used to walk 8 miles a day around equine college to look after him and as much as I adored him it was bloody hard work!
 
I bought my horse at 17, I passed my driving test at 20! I got the bus to work and college and fortunately I have a very supportive mother who enjoys horses and would come to the yard which meant she was mainly my lift to the yard, any times she couldn't I would walk or cycle to the yard - whatever the weather! Cycling is much preferable to walking, saves so much time!
 
I used to bike everywhere as a teen, didn't learn to drive until I was almost 20. I would bike 20 minutes to the yard early morning, bike back home, get changed and bike 45 minutes to work and then home again and back to the yard. It was horrid when it was raining but invest in some good waterproofs and you'll be fine. When it was really chucking it down a kind livery would put my bike in the back of the car and drive me the five minutes home instead.

I now return the favour to a girl at my new yard who lives near me, if I see her walking I'll stop and give her a lift. The yard is just the other end of the village but it's still a good 30 minutes walk.

But now that I have a car I couldn't imagine not having one...!
 
Everything is possible if you want to do it enough. I didnt have a car when I bought my first horse, rode a bicycle, and found a field to rent only 5 miles from my house.
 
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