More advice on bringing horse home please

[Snowy Celandine]

I've talked to a few people now and think I've got most things covered but, since this is the first time I will ever have looked after horses at home, or indeed anywhere, I'm worried there may be something I've overlooked?

I've got post and rail fencing in place and know where to get electric fencing from once I've measured up the size of the strips I want them to graze.

I've got a small herd of Lincoln Reds in there grazing the whole field down for me.

Field shelter is on order.

I've got a feed shed but it's pretty full with duck and chicken food and bedding so I think I can store a sack of chaff, balancer etc in there but not hay. How much hay do I need to have in? I have absolutely no idea how much two ponies eat. I was going to keep them in either overnight (my mare's current regime) or during the day. They are both good doers but I want them to be able to have a canter up and down and keep moving to stop my mare in particular getting stiff.

Do I put bedding in the field shelter?

What do I put water in? There is an automatic trough but like I said before, the cows will use that and it's filthy and not owned by me.

I probably have a million more things to learn so please can someone take pity on me and spell out the basics? Thank you

 

[Sparemare]

Do you have stables? You say you'd like the ponies in at night, so what bedding do you plan to use if they are stabled? Are they on livery at the moment?

 

[Snowy Celandine]

Sorry I forgot, I've changed the field shelter to mobile stables - I'm an idiot!!! I'm not allowed a floor in the stables as it would then become a permanent structure so, until planning permission comes through, the flooring will just be the field. I'm not sure what I'm allowed to put down in there really? I use BedMax for my poultry/waterfowl.

One is on livery currently and the other is a rescue kept out in summer with a field shelter and in a barn in winter.

 

[ElleSkywalker]

You can use rubber mats in the mobile stables to make a firmer base. A friend has equimats in hers and it makes mucking out etc so much easier

 

[Charmin]

Second rubber mats as a ground base - or even these mats, which allow water/pee to drain through onto the ground and don't require a concrete base so aren't considered 'permanent': http://www.hippotiles.co.uk/

Direction of the prevailing wind for optimal shelter placement, where they will stand in natural shelter, do a walk around the field for any nasties, check all plants for anything potentially poisonous. Mark out a site for a muckheap.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I would leave them out with access to field shelter 24/7 in the summer months, older horses need to keep moving if possible, We have been known to bring ours in overnight in bad weather in summer but they are generally out from April/ May to Bonfire Night. As for water, we have the biggest plastic trugs from B&Q/Wickes, which we fill with a hosepipe, 2 per horse, per field.
I would split your field into 2 paddocks with tape and introduce the ponies over that, without shoes to avoid injury from kicks as they get to know each other. I would say that it is important to get them into your outline as soon as possible. Ime, it helps them to settle, if they know what they can expect when, in their new home.
Hope that helps, exciting times!

 

[Fruitcake]

Hay wise, if you choose to leave them out and there's plenty of grass, you probably won't need much over the summer (but it always pays to have a few bales just incase). As the weather turns, you'll start to get through it even with just two horses. As a minimum, I work on 2% of body weight (assuming they're not getting hard feed) which for a 400kg horse is 8kg a day. Even if they get half of that grazing, you're looking at half a small bale per horse per day- more if it snows.

Before we started cutting our own hay, when we had limited storage, a local farmer used to deliver us 30 bales at a time. Stacked tightly, this doesn't take much room at all.

Good luck. It's lovely having horses at home!

 

[PorkChop]

I would also run a line of electric wire along the inside of the post and rail. You can get stand off insulators, this will stop them attacking the post and rail especially if you are strip grazing/restricting grass.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Sorry autocorrect on this tablet is a pain! Get the ponies into your routine, nothing to do with an outline!

 

[Snowy Celandine]

Thanks everyone I'm happy to work my ponies in an outline Pearl and I will also outline the routine for them, ha ha. I'll look for some big trugs for water. I think my pony will probably still want to be in at night but she can have the choice in summer. Despite being a HiPo she loves the comfort of her stable and is often laid flat out, snoring! They are both barefoot but I will introduce them gradually.

I'm currently investigating stable flooring options so thanks for the link charmin

I should have said that all the post and rail fencing has a strand of electric in front of it already, courtesy of the farmer who will be grazing cattle in the field for some parts of the year.

Thanks for hay advice Fiona I think I'll manage to store 30 small bales in my big shed. I just need to find someone who can supply them rather than the massive round bales.

If anyone can think of anything else that I might not know please don't hold back - all advice welcome