Owning a horse and living in London...

[tasel]

... so after all these years of having left London's inner circle, we may actually be moving back this year. Problem is, I now also have a horse.

For those of you who live and work in London and have a horse: which stable are you at? DIY/Part/Full Livery? How long does it take you to get there? How much does it all cost??

 

[coen]

I no longer live in London but I do work in London.
I suppose it depends on whereabouts in London you live and whether you will be driving to the stables or getting public transport.

When I lived in London I tried various areas, epping, swanley in kent, upminster essex, lee valley in leyton.

I lived in east london and several friends who still do are stabled at Harwood hall in upminster.

 

[Divasmum]

There are many livery yards in the suburbs in various areas of London. The prices vary enormously even within particular areas.

 

[tasel]

Thanks for your reply. In terms of transport - we do have a car, so hopefully by that time, I will have taken some refresher driving lessons and be able to drive OH's car.

I know there are plenty of livery yards up the Hertfordshire side of London - so we are thinking about that, too. Someone I knew used to live in Hampstead and got to the stables in hertfordshire within 25 minutes. But we were actually looking at places further west or at least easier to get to from Central London without encountering too much traffic... which seems a lot more difficult.

 

[Peacelily]

gosh I don't envy you having to find a place for horses around London - that must be crippling in cost! I hope you find somewhere

 

[tasel]

@Peacelily - Yes, that's why I will no longer be looking in the Wimbledon/Kingston/Richmond way... when I enquired there when I bought my girl several years ago... it was like £800.00 pcm!!! No doubt it's more now!!!

 

[PeterNatt]

There are all sorts of different exciting places to keep a horse in London including Central London. Depends what facilities you require and if you and your horse are happy hacking out in Central london There are even little pockets of grazing land to rent in and around Central London as well as a number of inner city farms and yards.

 

[tasel]

PeterNatt - Tell me more... I haven't come across too many places that are actually in London.

My horse does need grazing. She gets a bit grumpy otherwise. Will need good facilities such as school, etc. and hopefully no rule such as closing at 5.30pm - I do have to work to be able to afford this hobby...

Many thanks!

 

[black_n_white]

I'm a country bumpkin but one of my friends works in London and lives in Rickmansworth. She keeps her horse here: http://www.chapmanequestrian.co.uk/.

 

[a_e_d]

I'm out in this neck of the woods too, if its not too far, pm me and I can give you details of where I stable my boy (if you are driving from central london, possibly too far though)

There's also a place in Harefield near Northwood (not too far off the A40) I can give you details of that too.

 

[R2R]

It depends on how in gear you are....I am mad (!!!) and only living in London on the promise I get my house in the country in 2 years !!!

I have a full time job in London, and run a DIY yard outside of London, with 12 liveries all on pure DIY, and 2 freelance people who make a good enough living doing the bits people cant do.

I have a fairly complicated system, whereby I pay a someone to do either end of the day for me. It works out cheaper than part livery (even if I added on what I charge for livery)

This week, for instance -

This morning I got up and went to work. Tonight I will drive to horses and drive back (its their day off)

Tomorrow morning I am riding at 7am, I will ride for 30 mins trot work, then get the train at 8.50, leaving my car by the stables and commuting in.

Wednesday I will get train back after work, shove horse in lorry and go schooling for an hour

Thursday morning I will drive to yard, muck out, then leave car at stables and commute in. I will commute back out on Thurs night and take ned schooling up the road for an hour.

Friday I have the day off!!!!

Then I pretty much work all weekend at the yard.

 

[tasel]

R2R -

Yes, you are officially classified as mad

Will look further into this and pm people later tonight...

How nice would it be to use Hyde Park as paddocks... only in my dreams, sigh.

 

[Lollii]

Blo*dy Hell R2R, that is a mad life

What job do you do in London? I hope it is a job that you can sit down all day and recover

 

[xmariax]

theres lots of horsey places in west london around hayes/uxbridge area

 

[ChunkyMonkey25]

as everyone else has said, depends which side of London you are. My boys are kept on part livery monday-friday but at a yard with indoor and outdoor school so it doesn't matter what time I go up to ride as I can use the indoor with the lights. Takes about 25 mins from me in the car. PM me if you want yard details - we are SW london and the horses are in Surrey.

 

[cheekywelshie]

I bought my horse from a dealer in London and kept him at that yard for about 8 months - you can do full grass livery for 300 a month- expensive but that's london! Included rug changes and feeding twice a day. It was called Lower Morden Livery and was near Motspur Park (1 or 2 stops on the train from Wimbledon)

 

[little_flea]

I live and work in east London and keep my horse on part livery in Essex. Takes 30 mins to drive if the traffic is good. Me or my sister, or usually both of us, go to the yard every day and muck out and ride. Rarely get back before 10 at night but it works. Yard has the option of full livery when we need it as well - often utilised on a Friday.

 

[SO1]

I think if you work in central London eg W1 then it is going to take you at least an hour to get to any sort of yard which has decent turnout - personally I would not want to keep a horse anywhere were turnout is very restricted and most of the inner city yards will have little or in some case no turnout.

You won't be able to drive to work if you are in central London unless you are willing to pay the congestion charge so you will be needing to take the tube or bus and there can sometimes be delays due to signal failure so you may need to be on a yard that offers you assistance in case you get stuck on the way home. If you run a car as well then that will put the costs up - my travel costs more than the livery and I don't run a car as I can walk from the station to my yard (although it takes 20 minutes to walk it does save money and I don't have to go home first to collect a car).

There are quite a few yards around Mill Hill on the Northern Line price from £80 a month upwards and there are some yards in Harefield near Northwood and in Enfield, Cuffley. Elstree.

I am on grass livery and it costs £130 excluding hay but there is a waiting list at the moment at my yard and it does take me an hour and half to get there after work as it is near the end of the Met line and I work in WC1. I normally get home about 8.10pm but I live in Middlesex not London, there are quite a few people at the yard I am on that work in London but they tend to live near the yard and do the long commute.

 

[Riding With Rhi]

I know this is an old thread, but for anyone who (like me) was looking at it - i'm currently sharing my experience of part-loaning a horse in London on YouTube and Instagram... feel free to join me for the ride + if you part-loan too, let me know! Always nice to know others in the community.