Paddock, what to do with it?

[soldieruk]

Hello all and congratulations on a fine forum.

I am moving house from a city to the country. My new place has a paddock attached about 150 metres long by 60 metres wide, just over an acre I'm told. The paddock has absolutely no use to me, it has good drainage and gated access from a tarmac lane. I would like to rent the paddock out, maybe build a stable. Water and electricity supply would not be a problem. My Solicitor advised me that planning permission for stables would not present an issue. Can anyone advise on the following?

Is the field big enough for one, two or more horses?

What would be the minimum I would have to supply for DIY livery?

What sort of return could I expect?

Many thanks.

Tony.

 

[Christmas_Kate]

Depends on the area of country as to what to charge, and also depends on what facilities.
If you were to provide two stables, a barn storage area, hard standing, and a tack room, rent out to one person for up to two horses I'd estimate about 40 pounds a week?

TBH I'd make sure THEY got their own hay and straw and you draw up a decent contract stating they have to repair anything they break and that they have to be tidy, and you hold no responsibility over the horses.
If you ran it as livery, ie rented a stable each to two different people, I think you'd need insurance, though how correct that is I don't know.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Before you get excited, I don't think 1 acre is big enough for more than half a miniature shetland! If you then had to take some of the land away for stables, you'd have even less. I'm really not an expert but I'd recommend getting a good book on pasture management and reading up on acreage/horse numbers, resting fields, field rotation, poo picking, etc, etc. I think the only way you could make it work would be to change the surface to all weather and and feed hay all year round. Hope it goes well.

 

[Thistle]

Sort of agree. This paddock wouldn't really be big enough for more than an overweight childs pony really.

 

[soldieruk]

Thanks for the quick response, horses and livery out of the question then. Any other ideas? May just extend my garden and lay the paddock to lawn.

Once again, thanks to all.

Tony.

 

[ihatework]

Agree with the others that 1 acre isn't really sufficient to maintain more than 1 small pony. In addition the expense and hassle of upkeep of the land probably wouldn't be met by what you could get in rent for it.
Incorporating it into your garden is certainly a possibility, check out with your solicitor about any 'change of use' you may need if you were to do this.
If you decide not to do this it might be worth talking to local farmers who might be willing to maintain the land for you in return for periodic sheep grazing or hay cuts, although I suspect you will find that for 1 acre it may not be worth their while.

 

[Chex]

If its 150x60m, I think thats actually 2.2 acres (although my calcualtions may be wrong lol). Still not very big though..

 

[Magicmillbrook]

If its 1 acre then you may get someone interested to rent it for a single pony, perhaps you could consider a mobile field shelter. In my area you would be looking at £25 per week - echo the contracts bit. If it is 2.2 it may be big enough fo two ponies or one horse (with careful management) and perhaps you could get up to £40.

 

[MagicMelon]

If it is 2.2 acres then you could possibly fit 2 little ponies on it. But I would get a mobile field shelter rather than build proper stables etc. since that'll eat into the space even more and as most small ponies are native jobs, they may well not even need proper stables.