Minimum acreage requirements?

[prose]

DH and I are going to buy a country property in a year or two, to eventually transition from NYC life to CT rural life. Initially it will be a weekend home, but we intend to have horses there eventually.

Most houses in rural Connecticut already come with a barn, but what kind of acreage would I need to keep two horses content? Does a three-acre pasture sound about right (presuming the grazing quality is good)?

 

[Tia]

Hmm I'd say you'd need more actually; mainly based on the heat in the summer and the freezing weather in the winter. The summer heat burns grass if it is too eaten down and you get Winterkill during the winter.

If I were you I would look at a little over twice that amount so that you can keep the horses in one field of around 4 or 5 acres over the late Spring to late Fall and then move them into a winter corral of about an acre or two for over winter. Ideally if would work even better if you had a winter corral, a decent sized paddock for spring and fall and the larger field for the whole of the summer.

Just my opinion, having kept horses in this environment. It's quite different from back in the UK.

Oh and best of luck finding something adorable!

 

[prose]

[ QUOTE ]
Hmm I'd say you'd need more actually; mainly based on the heat in the summer and the freezing weather in the winter. The summer heat burns grass if it is too eaten down and you get Winterkill during the winter.

If I were you I would look at a little over twice that amount so that you can keep the horses in one field of around 4 or 5 acres over the late Spring to late Fall and then move them into a winter corral of about an acre or two for over winter. Ideally if would work even better if you had a winter corral, a decent sized paddock for spring and fall and the larger field for the whole of the summer.

Just my opinion, having kept horses in this environment. It's quite different from back in the UK.

Oh and best of luck finding something adorable!

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for the information, Tia. I'm so excited

Poor hubbie. I've already cemented visions of a cob blob for him and a nice Connie x for me.

Did you bring any horses over from the UK or are yours all Canadian-bought/bred? The price of horses in the US makes me baulk

Are bears and coyotes ever an issue or does your lovely Akbash tend to keep unwanted visitors at bay?

 

[Tia]

Aw sounds ever so exciting!! There are some lovely places in Connecticut.

I only brought one over from England; my daughter's little 12.2hh Connemara

.

Yes horses are ridiculous prices in parts of the States at the moment, however there are many places where my types of horses are selling for peanuts, like hundreds

, in parts of the States whereas my ones are still selling for thousands, however that does not appear to be usual in my particular area; I just seemed to have slotted into my own niche here. If you are prepared to travel to buy them then you could easily find yourself a bargain.

Connemaras are very expensive up here. Actually anything advertised in an English saddle appears to be very expensive. All of the ones I have advertised using photos of the horse in an English saddle have commanded far higher prices than similarish horses advertised wearing western saddles. Weird huh?

We aren't bothered so much by bears. They tend to only be attracted if you have lots of fruit trees or live near a fruit farm. The only time I have had a bear down at the house was when we had all our plum, pear and apple trees in our back garden. The very next day I had the trees cut down and burned.

Never had a bear back since.

Coyotes are definitely a problem in my area; but then we have a lot of wild deer and domestic sheep and cattle in this area. I have a decent sized pack living on my farm and they do howl a number of times a day. I see them in our hay fields almost every day at almost the same time daily. They don't come up to the house but 2 days ago one came down to our arena behind the house. Yes my big Akbash saw it off with some help from my Malinois. I don't like the Akbash taking them on yet though as she is only 7 months old and is still a puppy. I am hoping that she won't have her first entanglement with one until she is at least 2 years old. If you are not used to hearing the coyotes calling, then you may find it quite freaky to begin with but you do get used to it.

You will definitely want to keep little Stella VERY close to home though. Coyotes view little dogs as snacks and are very good at luring them out to "come and play" and then they turn and kill them. I don't want to frighten you but you should be aware that this is a very real problem for people who live in the country and keep small dogs.

My big Malinois was attacked by two coyotes a couple of years ago when she was a puppy, so she is quite wary of them now and sticks pretty close to the house. The Akbash has absolutely no concerns whatsoever! She thinks she can take on any predator and one day she will be able to, but not right now.

Have a wonderful time searching for that perfect property.