Keeping Horses at home, living on own and working full time

ElectricChampagne

ElectricChampagne

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I've always liked the idea of having my own space to keep my horses and now that I am in a position to possibly buy - and probably will not end up getting anything anyway as I'm a single person, on my own with a relatively low budget. (To be read as I really can't afford a regular house in the current climate in Ireland so what am I thinking!!!!)

I'm starting to think that I am totally bat brained as I have two horses, and I am sick of livery here, its atrociously bad.

If I do buy it will be a good hour if not more drive to work, and I would be living on my own.

Someone please slap me and tell me I am off my rocker to even consider such an option. Cos I am totally!
 
well one of the things about having them at home is that you can decide how you want to keep them to make life easier for yourself.

Mine are mostly out, in the summer at least, and stabled / hard standing in the winter. This does save a lot of time plus no driving to and from the yard of course!

I am not on my own though and it's the things like fencing needing fixing or jobs that need doing that inevitably can be done alone but are much easier and quicker when there are two of us. Also - whilst I am not ill often, I have had a couple of times when I was ill / injured and needed some help etc.

I work full time with an hour each way commute and so I don't get as much time as I would like with the horses and it can get very tiring in the winter but I would still rather have them at home rather than livery.

I wish I could talk you out of it, but I'm afraid I can't :)

when I first moved to this house I had two horses - It is a big commitment buying a house with land (expensive) but I decided it was better to put my money into a larger mortgage than pay for livery fees.
 
Oh no!!! Damnit!!!
I've found a couple of houses but they are a good drive away from work and in two opposite directions. I've not got the nerve to look at them at all though.

Someone has to talk me out of it! please!!!
 
Umm... nope, I can't talk you out of it either!!

It's hard work, and a bit lonely at times (OH doesn't offer gossip/chat nearly as good as another livery would) but I love having them at home. It's trickier in terms of having to be off work for farrier, vet, hay delivery etc, but we're slowly building up a network of folk who we trust to get on with the job when I'm at work. The to-do list is never ending though....
 
Wheels has pretty much said what I would, if you get the set up right, shelters and hardstanding rather than stables then it may well be less work than livery, unless you have full livery, you make your own decisions, do them in your own time, minimal during the week, make up for it at the weekend, the only issue is cover for illness/ holidays but if they are low maintenance and have grass and water most will survive perfectly well with a few checks each day, it is getting them low maintenance that is key in my view and exactly what I am planning to do when I move in a few weeks time.
 
Although I am in Australia and we have way better weather, I am on my own, have been for over 10 years. I would never never go back to being on agistment (livery). I have two horses, my set up is they have access to their stables 24/7 and access to paddocks during the day (they come and go as they please) You just have to be organised. Saturday is horse day, the weeks feeds are made, super tidy through the stables and as many hay nets made as I have. Muck trailer emptied (it just does the week) I have a 45 min drive to and from work, so up at 6am, 45 mins do horses 45 mins do me (breakky and shower) 45 mins to work. and then reverse it all in the afternoon. I am lucky I have automatic lights in the stables for am and pm. Fencing is checked monthly and anything I can't do myself I get a contractor in for. GO FOR IT.
 
I love my home set up.
I have a footpath running between my fields- it's a bit of a pain, but at least someone will probably notice me if I'm on the floor in trouble- being on your own with horses carries risks if no-one is expecting you home
 
I have 4 at home.
I spend a lot of time doing maintenance. I have a very hand husband but I do try and do as much as I can alone... they are my hobby after all!

It is great to be able to keep them how you want.... However.....

Finding a good farrier to do minimal horses, even if shod, is a nightmare! They just don't want the work!
It can be lonely - if something goes wrong there is no one to ask for a second opinion or just be there to bolster/support you.
You need to find a reliable freelance groom to cover if you are away or ill.... and don't think you won't get ill! I had kidney stones last year - I was at work one minute, in hospital the next. Luckily my husband is capable of sorting the horses for me.
 
Oh god this really isn't helping me...

I would be moving to a new area where I don't have many contacts either, so hay delivery, farrier, (mine are barefoot and had been debating doing a few courses to try be able to do maintenance on them myself at some stage and get one to just keep me in check)

My two are relatively easy to do, gelding is quirky, but we have an agreement, and my little mare is a dream. quiet and easy to handle. However she is getting older now.

My family would be an hour or more away, and I wouldn't really know anyone in the areas I am looking. Other issue is that in another year or so I would need to find a new job, due to bad luck my curent role of 7 years is being closed. So I would need to find another job

Freelance grooms aren't really a thing I have heard of over here and would love if that was an option..
 
Think I would be investigating the help angle at the same time as looking at property. If you know you have some backup it will not seem so daunting and, yes, you may have to pay for a regular day to be covered to make it worth someone else's time to come to you but it would still be better than livery. If funds would stretch, get enough land/shelters/stables to offer a livery to another person so that you can cover for each other.
 
The issue here is (due to mad rules) that the bank I am approved with only allow a maximum acrage of 2 - is that too little for two horses?

Trouper, yep I agree I think I am bat brained.

I think I should just stop on the house front at all and sort out the job thing first, which is the way I was thinking originally.


Yep I am beyond bat brained - enough said :)
 
I am moving to a new area where I have no contacts and for various reasons have made no effort to find any yet, I did see a girl riding when I viewed the house and stopped for a brief chat which was useful as she freelances, the rest I will go with the flow, horses are not in work so will have to fit in around the house being gutted/ fencing being done etc and I will hope they are as easy there as they are here.

Your job situation would be more of a concern as you do need to be able to pay the bills, it may not be the best time to stretch to a big mortgage.
 
Just seen your latest, my new place is 2 acres, less than ideal but it was the best I could find with my budget, I will have 3 on it but one is tiny and I expect to have them on hardstanding overwinter feeding hay, it will need careful managing but in some ways less than having too much land which comes with other issues to manage.
 
be positive said:
I am moving to a new area where I have no contacts and for various reasons have made no effort to find any yet, I did see a girl riding when I viewed the house and stopped for a brief chat which was useful as she freelances, the rest I will go with the flow, horses are not in work so will have to fit in around the house being gutted/ fencing being done etc and I will hope they are as easy there as they are here.

Your job situation would be more of a concern as you do need to be able to pay the bills, it may not be the best time to stretch to a big mortgage.
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yeah unfortunately the job thing happened after I got approved, which was really really bad timing. I think I am best let the whole idea slide.

Trouper said:
No not bat brained - just horse mad and excited at the prospect. Who wouldn't be!!
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ha, I don't think given my predicament, I am best placed anymore! so yeah I consider myself bat brained
 
Roxylola said:
I doubt you will get a mortgage when you know your employment circumstances are changing soon
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I got approved, then a month later got the notice I had 18 months left in my job. I have been saving for over ten years to get to this point, so its very disapointing to have to walk away as I doubt I will get aproval again.

C'est la vie I suppose.
 
How does the bank have the power to limit your acreage?.... Or is that due to the price?

The problem with being on your own is when you are ill/injured.
 
ElectricChampagne said:
I got approved, then a month later got the notice I had 18 months left in my job. I have been saving for over ten years to get to this point, so its very disapointing to have to walk away as I doubt I will get aproval again.

C'est la vie I suppose.
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Oh that is gutting - it is one of the questions they ask though. :(
 
If I were thinking about it then my priorities would be sufficient, well draining land that could accommodate mine + 1/2 others out 24/7.

I’d offer cheap/free grazing to someone so that I had company & back up.

Provided the land is right, horses living out 24/7, with open access shelter and hardcore area are low maintenance on a day to day basis
 
Roxylola said:
Oh that is gutting - it is one of the questions they ask though. :(
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Very. I was more trying to see if it might be viable in the future, but I don't think any house really is in my current state of affairs. Coupled with the seriously disfunctional property (and economy really) in Ireland I do think Its pie in the sky for me anyway at this stage.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Start looking for your new job now, go to view the two possible houses - we rejected loads before we bought our small-holding, at least you will know what ia available for your budget.
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Been doing that very unsuccessfully already, they don't even bother responding to you here. Been to a few interviews then.. nothing. Ghosted and no further contact after follow up enquiring emails to the companies.

I think I will skip going to look because it will just make me want them more and I won't be realistically in a position to buy, so a waste of time and more heartbreak.
 
My husband has occasionally suggested that we get our own place with land. My horse is currently at livery on a very busy yard which is also a riding school, so there is always somebody knowledgeable to ask, people to hack with/chat to, people to look out for my horse if I'm away, a pool of sharers to choose from when the current one moves on etc etc. I keep having to tell him that he shouldn't underestimate how much support we get from the yard and other liveries. If we had our own land I'd be worried that a horse would do something dreadful to itself and we wouldn't know until we got back from work that night. And frankly, the idea of having to go out in all weathers with a torch to check on them after getting back from a long day of work and commuting is not appealing. Nor is having to pay an instructor to come to us/ride alone/have nobody to chat to/arrange a freelancer when we want to go on holiday/persuade a farrier to come out for 2 horses..... So it's not going to happen until we retire, if at all.

I'm sure there are good sides to it as well, especially when the yard imposes rules I don't agree with or understand, or when the evenings are long and sunny and you imagine just being able to look over the fence from your garden at your horses calmly grazing.....but I'm equally sure that's a grass-is-always-greener perspective.

Does that help OP?
 
Ive had mine at home for the last 4 years and though I would not ever change it as I love love love having them at home, I don't get to ride even half as much as I did when I was on livery and didn't have to worry about hay deliveries, muck collections, maintaining of fencing, stables and grazing to list just a few. I have my husband here too but he isn't horsey at all so when I have had issues with a nervous youngster I bought it has been really difficult as although he has tried to help as much as he can, he cant see what's coming and react quick enough to keep us all 100% safe (although touch wood we haven't had any terrible accidents) and it would cost a fortune to have a freelance help as much as I really need them to get this youngster going properly. Its just going to have to take more time than it usually would to work through his issues but hey ho that's just how it is.

I work full time too but luckily not too far away but its still difficult to arrange for the farrier to be there when I can (I need to be there hold the youngster) and arrange hay deliveries. Holidays are an issue too as I worry that someone wont turn up while im away so other than a few weekends away here and there when I have just left them out and had my mum go round to do a leg and head count that has been the extent of our breaks.

Summer is easy as mine tend to live out too but winter can be hard although as Wheels has said mine tend to mill about the yard all day and have access to their stables as and when they want.

All that said, I wouldn't change it for the world. Just don't go in to it thinking it is the answer to all your horsey problems, in reality its an awful lot of hard work and you will have to compromise on your ideals like you wont have as much "quality horse time" as you do when you are on livery but to be able to muck out in your jammies and go and check they are warm enough at 10pm in the snow is the best thing in the world.
 
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