Question for people with more than 1 horse/pony....

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Vicki1986

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(and i dont really mean people with studs, or that compete/breed etc for a living)

What made you buy your 2nd? What were your reasons for wanting more than 1? Apart from the obvious less time/money spent on each than if you had just 1 what were the other changes/sacrifices made?

I feel guilty even thinking about another haha not sure why my pony would love it if i spent less time with her i think!! x
 
Well we have 2 in the family me and dad share the big one (17.1/17.2ish)

My sis rides henry the small slightly mad one (15.1 tbx)
 
I bought my second horse because my first horse was in his 20's and coming up to retirement.
I bought my 3rd horse because winston now has ringbone and we dont know how long he will stay sound for and it takes the pressure off him slightly and he can go and do fun stuff without pressure.
Although horse no 3 should be being sold in the spring so I can get some money back - however, hes fitted in quite nicely and we've become quite attached.
 
second was bought as companion for the first, as i was renting a private yard, and to bring on for sale. 18 months later still with us. Third was companion before second arrived, went off on loan but came back recently..so now I have 3, and actually don't even need a companion as i am now at a livery yard with other horses.

Too many horses, not enough time, and very poor..time to sell something!
 
I wanted two so myself and my partner could both ride out together, he doesnt ride often due to work but it means I can hack out with friends who cant afford their own horse, nice company for me too.

Also I seem to have a bit of a thing for having of everything, 2 dogs, 2 rabbits, OH has 2 snakes LOL
 
Before I moved over here and bought tonnes of horses as part of my business, I lived in the UK. Over there I have always had 2 horses since I was a kid. No idea why really but I guess they were always different types so there were things I could do with one and other things I could do with the other. For example, for the past 12 years I lived in England I had one which was a western horse and the other was a competition horse.

I have no idea whether it made much difference to life - I don't see that it can be much more difficult whether you have one horse or two? I guess the cost would be more but as I've almost always had my own land, this has never been an issue to me.
 
We never intended to buy a second horse. Bo was originally purchased for me and OH to share, but turned out to be too much of a handful for her. The chance to buy Trike came along out of the blue, and in a fit of madness we decided to take him. He's now OH's horse
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I loaned a second horse and my horse was coming up to 20 and not able to compete at the (relatively) low level that I want to. But I have put my old horse out on loan as a happy hacker (he is sooo happy there) - so really only have one now... so that doesn't help!

My sister had two for a while (she still does, but one retired now) - and it was a lot of extra riding/ work at the time.
 
Well, I had Reashi and Afro, and Afro wasn't broken at the time. Sold Reashi, backed Afro, turned Afro away, then got tempted by a horse being sold by a friend, and he's been mine for a month now! Afro won't be brought into work until Spring time, so I've got time to get used to my new horse and bring him to an acceptable working standard (he's fresh off the track so he needs taming a bit!). Then I will juggle work, uni and two horses! I think I'll be able to time wise as we're heading into longer days. Luckily I only pay for one of them and my mum pays for the other one, so financially I can just about manage. I love them both and don't have favourites. I miss out on spending money elsewhere now, but for me its worth it, and I can always sell one and still have the other one if its too much for me.
 
Initially the second was bought as "something to ride" as my first horse was lame, did go back to having just one but currently have 2. Sometimes think would like 3 but know I could not cope with 3 competition horses and a full time job. Enjoy having two and if one is lame, not quite right takes the pressure off them and allows me to give the the time they need rather than rushing them because I have nothing to ride.
 
I took a second horse on loan because my mare was in foal (still is
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I do plan on keeping the seond one (so far that is) because she is turning out to be a little superstar.

The things I have found that I have sacrificed is grooming time...
 
I used to have a horse, then Fleur went out on permanent loan and then was sold and we just had Cairo to share. My OH complained that I was too bossy and taking over his horse!

I missed not having my own horse, and to be perfectly honest, as much as I adore the old boy, I wanted something I could do more with.

Enter the Stinker - now OH has Cairo to himself, though I still ride him, and I have my own little Stinker and end of arguments.
 
I'm a collector.LOL!!
My OH bought me my first horse (after having a break to have children) for my birthday one year. He was 14 months old. I kept him at the yard of a friend of mine (who happens to be a dealer) and within a few weeks a lead rein pony came along. I mentioned it to OH, went upstairs, came down again and he'd bought her. A few months later another cob caught my eye. Call it an early Christmas pressie!! Then a month or so later a scraggy looking shetland mare and foal were part x'd for something so I though what the hell. A couple of years later, after visiting my friend (dealer) I aquired another pony for my daughter who had by now outgrown the first one who I have now retired!! Then, last year someone on here appealed for a temperory home for a rescue pony and he's still here -LOL!!
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Having a young family I purposely bought low maintenance neddies. They all live out 24/7, are quiet sensible rides that don't require regular riding, very little hay/feed, no rugging and basically are easy to do.
 
had to move up. hd 2 pponies and a horse at one point, now have one horse and a pony.
pony gets less attention, but he's not competitng, horse is.
only thing I find is that sometimes I lose the will to live with mucking out etc.!
 
One of my horses was a foal and whilst i was waiting for him to get to the right age for breaking i was given an ex race horse, i took him on because i had nothing to ride and i thought he deserved a nice home to see the rest of his life out in, as he raced from age of 2 to 13 and won LOTS, even ran the grand national and was trained by Jenny Pitman. lots of people said i was mad to take him on but i'm so glad i did his a little sweet heart. I've had him 7 yrs now and he is retired as i now have my youngster to ride who is nearly 8 so not really a youngster anymore! How time flys!!
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I had one who got ringbone and so could only hack out. i didnt want to part with him for something i could do more on so accepted that i would just hack. i then took over my sisters showjumper aswell, who i evented and so had two. i just about managed as it turned out that for a couple of years one was always off with injury so i could ride the other. however, once they were both ok i struggled to ride them bith as i didnt have time. it was costing a fortune to and i was going to have to move back into livery from them being at home, and i knew i wouldnt be able to afford two, so i decided i would have to loan out my horse with the ringbone as a happy hacker. i hated having to do this and would still have him back if i could manage but i couldnt. As it turned out it was the best thing i did as two weeks after he had gone on loan my other eventer and my old pony were killed by lightening in their field. if i had kept him he would have been killed too. i now have another 4 year old, and i would never have two again at the moment as i have neither the time or money for two. if my other horses loaner ever decides she doesnt want him anymore i will have to manage but she loves him to bits and he is more spoilt than when i had him so i cant see her parting with him!
 
I've always only had one up to august last year. Q was bought to event (& did in 2003/4) but when he came back into work after being ill in 2005, I started doing some dressage on him & he took to it and has been doing really well, so I started to do less eventing as I was concentrating on the dressage.
I wasn't intending to buy another but I saw Spider advertised on Horsequest loose jumping over a fence (a coloured 4yo who'd been broken 5 weeks!) & loved the look of him. I kept talking about him & a friend said if you don't go & look you'll never know, & if he's not all that you can put it out of your mind. So I drove to Dorset... from Essex, absolutely loved him & before i knew it I'd agreed to buy him.
My intension was that if he wasn't going to do the job I wanted, I could always sell him on after doing a bit of work with him. However I don't regret buying him for a moment. He has the most amazing attitude & has done everything I have asked of him so far. He's going to be big (that's why his breeder was selling him) He's 16.3hh now & I think he'll make 17hh/ 17.1hh so i'll be taking it slowly with him. however I'm hopeful he'll be a great event/ SJ.
So with out really intending to, I now have my dressage horse & my jumping horse!!!
I have no time & a lot less money, but I'm so glad I've got them both.
 
I brought Jethro for my OH as he loves shetlands and would like to drive him (though we'll prob get another and drive pairs).

I am looking at getting another horse to do fun stuff on while Amber has foal and is being backed, then eventually me and my OH can ride out together.
 
Bought my first after a LONG break from riding, got conned and she has ringbone (seemingly, worryingly, very popular from reading above posts!) shes had to be retired at 9 yrs old (makes me cry) so after that i was gifted my boy from someone who was ill and hes an amazing ex eventer.

My OH really wanted to ride so we found him a 17.2hh ID and thats that!

My girl is having to go out on loan to a companion home as we cant afford the extra livery, she lives out but there rules state i MUST still pay for a stable for her which is a huge waste of money!
 
Hi Quarrybank, i was going to look at spider when i was looking for a horse! i saw him on horsequest and rang up and was going to see him but decided it was too far as i am in derbyshire!
its nice to hear how he's getting on though! he's really nice looking!
 
OK, so I have four, Moge (big old boy) was diagnosed with bone disease, so purchased Zara, already had my old pony who I was still doing comps with, then Millie came along, wild untouched yearling, she is 9 this year and lovely, then lost my old pony to colic, was very very upset, then three years ago friend offered me her ex-racer, well she came to me to have a few weeks on the grass and I didn't really warm to her, then all of a sudden I decided that I couldn't let her go and that she was a rather loving horse, so there ends my little story, I know own four horses and love them all, they all get worked, well Moge doesn't, he gets loads of TLC, time is a little short, but I am the one who misses out on things, not them and OH is very understanding.......
 
Thank you. How spooky....... isn't it a small world.
It was a long way for me to go. It took me about 4 to 4 1/2 hours each way, but I'm so glad I went.
He's taken everything in his stride so far, so I'm hopeful that he'll do a few intro's towards the end of this season. As I said in my post, he still has a lot of growing to do, so I'm not intending to rush him.
I presume you found what you were looking for, closer to home?
 
Got my 2nd horse as a 2yo to keep my first horse company while he was on field rest and to eventually bring on behind him competition wise.
First horse now unlikely to come back into serious work and 2nd horse a good 18 months of competition so seriously considering selling 2nd horse to fund something to compete.
 
Wasn't actually looking for a 2nd horse. Mac was on the yard where I kept Dolly and his owners were scared of him and didn't really spend any time with him. I started riding him once or twice a week and really loved him. Owners then moved him off the yard, and although I was a bi upset, got on with things. A few months later out of the blue, I had a text telling me he was for sale and as they knew I was fond of him, I could have first refusal. After a lengthy chat with OH, he said that provided I got a sharer to share costs and workload, then I could have him.
 
I'm planning to buy myself a second horse this year purely because my first horse is going to be semi-retired and we don't want to sell her, she's been in the family for 11 years and has a home for life.
 
I have 4 oldies, been with me since they were young. Two were my childrens who have given up, Two I still ride and I also Inherited a 10y.o. mare from my dad when he passed away so would not part with her.
 
I wanted to be able to wear my new top hat and small hunter people don't wear toppers very often! Seriously though, I had been looking for a cob for ages, and bought the small hunter in the meantime and am now going halves with a friend with the cob, so not having to fork out full livery by myself.
 
yes i got a IDxTB 4yo mare from cheshire in the end, which wasnt that close but not as far as dorset! i'm taking it steady too, dont see the point in rushing things when they are this age. She is the chestnut in my pictures.
 
We would love a second horse and despite being in the financial situation to afford one we are holding off and holding off. There are two of us that ride one horse and it would just make sense to have another - not so that we can have one each as we would both ride both horses. However we have tried a couple of loans and at one point had two horses that we owned but it was a lot of time as well as us both having very full time jobs demanding in excess of the usual 9-5 (I think it would be easier if it was).

I am currently riding our YM's mare, but she's not kept at our yard which makes it a little more difficult but on a Saturday and Sunday I can go and pick her up and we will be able to hack out together or take ours and the mare to a competition. She's fabulous and I just hope YM thinks I'm good enought to keep riding her. She is a quality horse and I don't think I would be able to afford to buy something like her - long may it continue. We have something in mind for a year's time and know we will be in an even better financial position by then - having had 2 horses on DIY in the past we vowed we wouldn't get a second unless we could afford a bit of help (if not part livery) so that when we need a break (a lie in
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) we can have one.
 
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