Leaving horses when you go away...

charlie76

charlie76

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who looks after them for you?
do you just give them the time off?
do you worry about them being groomed ect or just let them rough it for a couple of weeks?

I am going away for 2 weeks soon and I have never left them this long and its starting to stress me out!
 
I'm going away over the summer, and he'll be turned away for two weeks - with a twice daily check from a friend.

In the winter he went on full livery, but not worked (only a week).

Couldn't give a monkey's whether he get's brushed or not - if he did, it would be more than I do:p
 
Turned out and checked. Or if its winter, stabled overnight and mucked out and fed. Don;t worry about anything else, they won't!
 
I personally ask close reliable friends to look after mine, even though on a yard which offer all assistance for holiday relief. I am not fussed about the yard mucking them out, happy for that to happen. However like feeding/grooming/handling to be done by close friends who I know I trust 100% with mine.

However I am such an anal pain in the backside, I generally do not go away very often. Bit of a control freak and I know they will be absolutely fine, but hard sometimes isn't it. But have a fab time when you go and just ask trusted folk to keep eyes peeled and generally when you come back, they don't even notice you have been away. horses sometimes like a holiday away from their owners.
 
As mine are at home we usually a house sitter who does the horses, dogs and cat. Of course noone can look after my horses as well as me so I do worry!! They are always fine and the housesitters we use are excellent and do everything exactly as I ask.
 
I'm off to Africa on a riding holiday in a couple of weeks. Mine are looked after by the other lass at our private yard. I know she is very capable and all she has to do is feed and check, and chuck a rug on if the weather is really bad, but I still worry endlessly! I don't ask anyone to brush etc, just check feet and make sure all legs are attached. He will have time off - he was rebacked in March so will have done 3 months work, I think the break will do him good.
 
I generally only go away in summer, when he's out 24/7 and just get a friend to check on him every day. There are only a couple of people I'd trust to ride him tbh, he can be a bit of a handful, and I'm very protective of him lol.

I went away for a week a couple of years ago and came back to find him lame :( he'd been stepping slightly short with one foreleg for a couple of weeks but wasn't actually lame, farrier had a look and said to ride him lightly as long as he stayed sound. I'd done that, he kept sound and was improving. I went away, and left strict instructions with a friend on how much he was to be ridden (30 minutes max, mostly walk with a short trot on level ground) ... she took him out for over an hour, and he went lame on the way back. Result - damaged check ligament, 3 months box rest and 9 months before he saw a field again. I was livid.
 
Usually leave him with another person on yard. He's usually living out over summer so just needs checking twice a day & picking out & he's happy as larry. Would rather he had a week off than have someone else work him.
Interestingly I am away this weekend for the first time since last year & I am leaving him in the capable hands of my OH! :eek::D under the watchful eye of another owner on the yard. I think he'll be just fine as he helps me out every day usually anyway.
But generally I am not very good at leaving him with anyone. No one else knows him like I do.
 
Go away? What's that?! I may give myself a little hol this summer, but would worry about the ginger beastie constantly. Oh dear, I need to get a life outside of horses.
 
NELSON11 said:
I personally ask close reliable friends to look after mine, even though on a yard which offer all assistance for holiday relief. I am not fussed about the yard mucking them out, happy for that to happen. However like feeding/grooming/handling to be done by close friends who I know I trust 100% with mine.

However I am such an anal pain in the backside, I generally do not go away very often. Bit of a control freak and I know they will be absolutely fine, but hard sometimes isn't it. But have a fab time when you go and just ask trusted folk to keep eyes peeled and generally when you come back, they don't even notice you have been away. horses sometimes like a holiday away from their owners.
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OMG are you a long lost relative?

I'm exactly the same. I get my best horsey mate-and-sometime-instructor to do mine as I just couldn't cope otherwise :rolleyes: And I just hate leaving her, although last year I was away for 5 days and I don't think my mare gave a toss :D
 
My mum has been helping me out and getting into horses again after being away from them for about 40 years!!
So she looks after Paddy when i am away.
My YO does all of the turn out and bringing in etc. So mum will change his rugs, much out and groom him etc.
It works very well as that way she doesn thave to lead him in and out etc....even though he is a saint on a lead rope.
And my YO is brilliant and will check on him and if there was a problem i know i could count on her to sort it out and look after him for me.
I went away a month after i had got him and paddy was fine and mum did a fab job.
 
A selected friend do my two. Just a feed in the evening and check of horse and water. I leave her tack so if she wants to ride she can. And I do her dogs, cats, chickens, four horses and fish when she goes away.
 
I go away for two weeks every summer and the horse lives out, is checked twice a day and fed once, and is ridden occasionally if my friend fancies it.

However, for the first week I worry all the time waiting for the phone to ring. And for the second I stop worrying so much but still keep my phone on me all the time just in case. I wish I could stop worrying!
 
Mine go onto livery.

I have total peace of mind that they are looked after, but I worry about the TB's behaviour, as when he doesn't get worked for a few days on the trot he tends to get harder to handle, and these are the times when he causes injuries to himself from acting the fool in the field, and then it takes me a while after I do get back to get him into a sensible frame of mind again.

I have in the past paid for an instructor to exercise him, but that is very expensive. I don't have the courage to advertise for a person to exercise him while I'm away incase he dumps them and they decide to sue me???

Not sure what to do, apart from instruct the yard to cut down on the feed, increase his fibre, turn him out fully booted up, and let him get on with it.
 
mine are on full livery and are looked after as normal, but they both get signed up for schooling 3-4 days a week whilst i'm away. TBH, they tend to be much fitter and better schooled by the time i get back!
 
I am really lucky - my boy's previous owner looks after him. She owned him for 5 years before I bought him and she knows him inside out. She doesn't school him on the flat but hacks him and jumps him, depending on the weather and what she feels like. I usually get back to a very tired, very happy lad (she is a lot bolder than me, so does more 'fun' stuff with him).
 
In summer I get someone at the yard to check him and give him a feed every day. Yard owner can see him from the house and I know will keep an eye out as well.
Winter, someone at the yard does a basic muck out, feeds, turns out etc. I return the favour when other people are away.
As long as he's warm and fed he doesn't care about anything else!
 
My girl goes onto full livery if I am away - depending on the time of year, and for how long - if it is just for a week and she has been working hard then will give her a weeks holiday - otherwise full livery where she is hacked out 6 days a week and groomed, but everything else remains the same. Very lucky in that very fortuante to be at an amazing yard, where I can go away and know that the girl is being looked after very well.
 
I'm off on holiday for a week soon. My OH doesn't do holidays so he looks after horse and dogs. He knows nothing about horses but is capable of getting him in and out of the field ( Horse comes in at night to restrict grazing). A good friend will check twice a day. OH cannot pick out feet or groom but a little neglect will not kill him for a week. Vet tel no's left all over the place with minute instructions of how much to feed and some intensive training has been done on mucking out! I will still come back to a totally spoilt, brattish pony with muck up to his fetlocks but, at the end of the day he will be happy. And OH very pleased with himself for having managed!

Jane
 
My novice OH and an experienced friend do her. She lives out anyway, so stays out, and OH checks and feeds twice daily. He lunges her a few times a week too anyway, so does this whilst I'm away too. Anything he is not sure about, he checks with experienced friend.

I leave written instructions that in the event of an emergency, she is fully insured with XXXX, and also, should it be awful, the vet and my friend are to come to the most humane decision, even if they can't get holf of me, to put her out of her misery ASAP if it should come to that.
 
My sister or brother looks after my mare when im away. They both know her well, i leave a list of duties (poo/hoof picking etc) and so-long as shes fed & watered then im not really bothered about her being groomed or ridden - she can have a holiday too! :)

If your going away for a long period then asking someone to exercise them may be a good idea, espeically if u expect to get straight back into the saddle(& start where u left off) when u get back!


always leave details of your vet, farrier and insurance..just incase, (god forbid) the worse does happen.
 
We ask a freelance groom who regularly works for the people along the road for us to check ours when we are on holiday. She doesn't ride, just checks they are all OK and have everything they need. We leave a contact number for us and she knows our vet, but fortunately has not had to use either so far - touch wood!
 
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