Pros and cons of having your horse at home?

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piaffe

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Just wondering really as we are moving October and are taking my youngster with us.

Biggest difference will be no school but there are 2 livery yards within 4 miles to hack to.

So just wondering what your experiences are?

Also, do you think 4 arces wll be enough for 1 horse (and later on a possibly a pony) all year round?

I can only really think of the good things lol so some negatives wold be goo to balance me out a little.

thanks
 
Firstly, good luck with your move and I hope you'll be really happy.

Secondly, 4 acres is plenty, if you don't cut some for hay you will have trouble using it all.

Thirdly, I cannot think of a single bad thing about having horses at home......Sorry.
 
I have mine at home and the only bad things I can think of is that you are now responsible for your grazing and looking after it. Muck heap disposal can be difficult. We use flax which rots down really quickly and can be used on the gardens but if you are keeping them out 24/7 it will just be pure poo and you may find a local farmer to take it away for you. The other thing is you get a bit lazy about when you ride as you end up saying "I'll just do xxxxx first and ride after" but end up getting sidetracked and the main one is not having holiday cover. When you are at a livery yard there is always somebody willing to do your horse for you if you have a few days away but at home it means somebody making a special trip.
Overall, I would highly recommend it and could never go back to a livery yard again now.
 
I really like being on livery (it took me a while to find a good yard though), I get on with 90% of people at the yard. I like being around people. Always someone to hack with and help. I hate compeating on my own, so there is always someone to go with.

I also like being able to tell YO that something is broken and it is magically fixted the next day.
 
Having had horses at home...then my only thing was that I lacked company,not having someone to 'bounce' ideas and problems off........having said that,the plus side is you don't have to put up with yard bitching.....at the mo,I'm only a minute from my horse and the yard has only four of us,and we get on...Bliss!
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We have seven acres and cope,so can't see a problem if carefully managed!
 
4 acres should be plenty, will you have a stable? The only things I can think of are; If you only have the one horse you may have to much grass, but you should ask a local farmer if he would put some sheep on it for you throughhout the summer, this will keep the grass down and help with worm control, also sheep eat the bits horses won't so it will keep your land in good condition. You could let him graze his sheep for free in exchange for free or cheap hay to get you through the winter. The only other problem I can see is that keeping a horse on it's own is not ideal, even if the horse doesn't mind been on its own its still nice for them to have company.

I have my guys at home and would never go back to livery, good luck! xxx
 
Ditto hollyf. We have four at home, only drawback is that you spend more time on maintenance, which you aren't usually responsible for at Livery. Also going away is difficult, we can't really have a family holiday any more, if Mum and Dad go away I house and animal sit.
We are lucky because we have a school though, our ground is clay and gets bad and I wouldn't be able to ride for a lot of the time without it. So I guess facilities might be a problem.
Four acres should be fine, you can split it into two or three paddocks and have winter and summer grazing and then rest what you aren't using. We have 5/6 acres and work it that way without any problems.
 
I keep mine at home and generally it is brilliant.
I can control how much or little grass they have, when they are turned out etc, and there is no "yard bitchiness"!
My daughter loves being able to come down to the yard at weekends and muck out in her pyjamas if she feels like it!
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The downsides are organising and paying for removal of the muck heap. Being totally responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the fences and grazing.
There have been times when I wished I had someone around to help out when something went wrong, or just to ask for advice.
I am lucky, because my daughter's instructress now keep her horse with us, so I do have advice and help, and on the rare occasions when I go away, she takes care of my horses for me, and I return the favour when she is away.

I know I am incredibly lucky to be able to keep my horses at home - it is something I never take for granted.

Good luck.
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I keep my 2 at home & it's fab!! I've got a school as well.

I don't have anyone to hack with, but it doesn't matter as o/h comes with me on his mountain bike. Our muck heap doesn't get too bad cos we harrow a lot instead of poo picking, so it all disappears.

I love being able to pop out & change my mind re rugs etc, & look out of the bedroom window & see what they're up to.

I've just found a good horse sitter who can do them if we're away & who doesn't cost the Earth.

Good luck!
 
I've had experience of both and I have to say I actually prefer being at livery.

Only if it's a nice yard though!
It was just me and my mum when we kept them at home and we only had a field and stables so I like the company on a livery yard and all the facilities.

Also, this is a bit pathetic, but when my young horse was PTS suddenly with grass sickness, I got a bit over the top panicky about the others and would regularly get up in the middle of the night to check them when I heard the slightest noise.
I prefer it now that they are at livery and someone else looks after them at night.
That is a stupid reason though but it is another reason for prefering them not to be outside my house. I might be better now though as it's been a long time.
 

Hi Piaffe, I'm sure you will love it (can't beat going outside and doing them in your jammies and slippers in the summer!). We have one 16.3hh, one 14.2hh and a shetland all out 24/7 on 3.5 acres so I'm sure you will be fine. You just need to look after the ground by getting friendly with a local farmer and making sure that every spring you chain, roll, top weeds/spray etc. Sounds very exciting!
 
Hi Piaffe. I have mine at home and I do really enjoy having them on my doorstep - it was a dream of mine for years. However, like most things there are disadvantages as well. There is nowhere to school (I too have yards within hacking distance but I have to pay to hire the school so it soon adds up, plus the surface is so deep I wouldnt use it half the time). The main thing I miss is the company - someone to hack out with and offer some encouragement when things go wrong. I suppose the ideal for me would be finding someone I liked and trusted as a livery to share. And yes, I agree with whoever said it would be nice to have someone else to pull the docks and mend the fences and move the muck heap and creosote the stables - there is a lot of maintenance involved.
The good things outweigh the bad for me though, and Im sure they will for you. Good luck.
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Having spent the afternoon weed cutting, with a strimmer as the front field is not accesable with a tractor, the dissadvantage is the amount of work. The advantages are many though, especially as I share with my sister which means that I have a hacking partner and instructor on tap, and so does she
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I can see the girls from the house, I can go out in any clothes I see fit to see to them and have no problem with YO. We have no school surface so have problems schooling in wet weather.
 
I keep my horse @ home. pro's feed in the morning in my p.j's daughter helps out 2 if i'm doing stuff, the sand school is all mine to play in, lol. come & go as i choose, blast the music out while i muck out ect ect, the down side getting board on my own... i would go to a small liverly yard.
 
We have our three at my parents place (my horse, my sisters and my mum's) and it works really well. We have a school so that makes things easier although the hacking is rubbish. My dad or my sister's OH maintains the fields for us - harrowing, rolling, re-seeding etc. My dad also does the maintenance on the fences and the stables. We've got three stables, a tack room and a barn. I've never been on livery but i like keeping them at my mum's. We can do what we like when we like. We can turn out 24/7 all year round which is lovely. If we want to change something we do it, we don't need to get permission or everyone to agree.
 
I have experience of both....and to be honest, they both have their positves and negatives. you say there's 2 yards within 4 miles of you, will you be hacking there for schooling?if you are....think about the depths of december....are you goin to be comfortable hacking 4 miles in the dark to ride? thats presuming you work of course, and have to ride early or after work. if not, then your sorted!!
 
I've never had mine in livery so cannot give a balanced opinion.

4 acres should be enough for you with two though. Certainly you'll have too much grass over summer, even with rotation and resting every few weeks. It'll grow away from them (if it's good quality grazing).

Will there be any opportunity for you to apply for planning consent and put a manège in at any point? If you are worried about winter grazing, at least you'd then have the school to turn out into for a few hours a day if the ground is extremely wet.

I love having mine at home. Yes, there is maintenance I wouldn't have to do if the were in livery, but I enjoy all these aspects of horse ownership. I hack to schools myself and find them cheaper to hire than the weekly cost of livery for all of mine would be...so I'm still on to a winner.

I would say it would all depend on how good your horse is to hack alone. Mine are all fine, but if yours doesn't hack alone you might be stuck.

I do plan to have a school put in....it's just I always seem to have other things to spend my "school fund" savings on.
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