Nearly keeping horses at home

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FairyLights

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following on from the "keeping horses at home" thread. Does anyone else,apart from me, have their own land , but its not at home? We managed to buy our own house and field a few years ago. The field is about 15 mins walk from the house. I usually drive there TBH,5 mins. We divided the field into paddocks, and build field shelters in each paddock. Husband does the maintenance, in fact heres there now doing some fencing.
I've been horseless for a couple of years and am thinking about going back into horses again. I'm very undecided,they are a lot of work,it seems to me.
I cannot see the field from my house,cannot do the midnight checks or early morning PJ feeds. So its like going to a livery yard.Yet I dont have the back up that provides. I've had awful livery yard experiences in the past,mainly due to being on cheap livery yards because we lack money.
I'm really torn in two. I have the facilities,have spent a lot of money on fencing and shelters and other maintenance ,and am not using the field.
Liveries are not an option for various reasons I dont want to go into.
Sorry to ramble, I'm thinking of buying a youngster to put in with our sheep.
Very undedided. Dont know what to do.
 
I've just re read my post. It sounds very depressing TBH. Sorry, it wasnt ment to be. Just looking for support from others in the same situation.
 
I'm in the same situation except that I built stables in my garden and have the horses at home for the winter, which is wonderful in some respects and means that I actually ride more in winter than in summer. tbh when they are out in the summer if I want to do the trip up in my PJs I do!

My horses however are checked morning and evening. Midnight checks don't happen, I don't feed in summer either, I just increase the amount of grass available and swap horses from good doers groups to poor doers groups dependent on weight and grass available.

I personally hate the idea of it but have you sufficient space to rent out a paddock and shelter to another person who might be some company for you and take on some responsibility when necessary?
 
Yep, we have this. House in tiny village, 5 acres a mile away - we always drive as it's on the way to work, and there's always something you need to take/bring back. We've had the land nearly five years, and have poultry, three sheep and three horses, although all those numbers have changed a bit over the years!

Pros (I'm talking about having your own land as opposed to being at livery)
You can turn up whenever you like, divide the fields, rest, top and harrow them without haveing to nag YO, keep your horses on 24/7 turn out (we do) have as many or as few as you want without the cost of livery increasing, it is very peaceful as there is no one butting in... If you want to rearrange the tack room, and have 16 bins of feed no one will moan at you, if you don't muck out or if you're OCD about it, ditto!

Cons - no one to ride with. It can get a bit wearing always going out alone. You have to do everything yourself (Not that this has ever been an issue) but there is no option to ask YO to check the horses in daylight on a horrid winters day! You have to get your own forage/bedding in, you have to be there for the farrier/vet (well, I always was when DIY, but I guess not everyone is). The major one for me is the lack of incentive, I like riding alone, but not everytime!

I've never had horses at home, so doing midnight checks in PJ's isn't something I've ever had to consider.
 
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