Space at home for horses

Enfys said:
I have kept 2 horses on half an acre perfectly well, it is quite adequate. Where I live it is completely normal for horses to live on much smaller areas than the BHS suggests as preferable, but then, we feed hay year round and do not rely on the acreage to sustain the horses.

Obviously it will basically turn into a dry lot and forage will need to be offered year round. That said, if the ground is clay or something that floods then I would say no, because it will be a bog in the rainy season, on sand, or well draining soil then it will do.
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It's obvious from this post that you haven't been in UK for sometime, Enfys. This has been such a wet winter that it would be difficult to find any land dry enough to keep 2 horses on such a small acreage, here.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
It's obvious from this post that you haven't been in UK for sometime, Enfys. This has been such a wet winter that it would be difficult to find any land dry enough to keep 2 horses on such a small acreage, here.
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Mines on considerably less than that and I've been able to walk across the field in trainers most days. Its never got any worse than a bit squelchy and sticky round the gate. They've only been out in daylight hours admittedly, but we also dont hay them on hard standing or anything.
 
if you get the chance go for it.

if you can work the horses on a regular basis, mix with bit of lunging and hacking, the attention you can give them will be second to none, they will be fitter and healthier for not scoffing too much grass and being away from home which involves you having to travel, if fact you could do a nice little work session in that wasted travelling time, plus the petrol.

the down side is making sure you have a good supply of forage, you may need a little barn, also though very often people will offer bits of grazing to eat down in summer, with electric fencing its no problem to move.

making a riding surface and hard standing with pathway to riding surface is needed to make it work.

i don`t see any problem with it as long as its not a bogland
 
oh and on the cost, its never going to be cheap really anyway is it with horses?

so write it all down, all costs involved at home or livery, you might be surprised
 
I have similar land amount-about an acre of grazing. I also have a large hardstanding area and interior stables plus a good sized hay shed. So much depends on your land, I cannot keep two here over the winter as they'd be confined too much and I also can't exercise them daily-my land is very wet and unsheltered. If I had an arena it would be different but it turned out to be too expensive to do. So I rent grazing from a friendly farmer-it took time to find him!

I would also say, that if you are reliant on forage and bedding, you must budget for years when there are poor harvests and crappy winters-I can at least turn mine out on enough grazing without the worry of not being able to source tons of hay or spending masses on bedding or my muck heap becoming enormous.

eta its perfectly possible to keep horses well on smaller acreage (although I prefer mine to have space to hoon and move about) but its harder work to do it well and surprisingly expensive imo.
 
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Thank you all for the great advice.

Currently, we are considering trying a nearby livery yard for 6 months - 1 year, and maybe then building our own place on our property. I don't want to rush in or do anything wrong, but at least after that I'd have a horse (will be my first) who I'd know could cope (or not) on my home set up. :) Still very much open to suggestions.
 
I wouldn't say that's enough land. We've got about 3.8 acres (that's just the field, the stables are in addition to that) and that's only just enough, with very careful management, for our two (both 16.2hh+). They're stabled overnight for about 8-9 months of the year and out overnight and stabled in the afternoon the rest of the time.

We are on clay soil which gets VERY soggy in the winter, and don't yet have any hardstanding/all weather areas as an alternative to turnout when it's really wet.
 
Rather than having a turnout, have a look at some of the track systems on tiny areas - it would give the horses a longer space to move around keeping them healthier, but might compromise your arena (though someone here earlier suggested a track around the arena which could work well). There's a good fb group for track systems that has a lot of good ideas.
 
It depends on the horses, their size and type as to how much land they need. As a rule of thumb you need another acre minimum so that you can manage the grazing properly, more if your horses are large. Love love love having my two at home. I rent extra land nearby to manage the grazing and my girls love the change of scenery too. Would like more land though.
 
We keep 2 horses on 1 acre, but one of them is my old boy who doesn't eat grass very quickly (mostly eats soaked hay replacer). We have a largish barn opening on to an area of 20m x 12m all weather turnout & a 3/4ish acre paddock - the grass paddock is reserved for dry weather & daytime only in winter. It takes a lot of careful management to not over graze the paddock, but is perfectly doable. When the sad day comes that my old boy isn't here anymore, I think the most sensible choice of companion will be a mini.
 
In all honestly I'd rent some decent acreage nearby and then use your own land to build a couple of stables and some hardstanding for just bringing them in for short periods, eg riding, grooming, messing about. Older horses need the turnout as much as younger ones for their joints, and it will make your life a lot easier. Ours are out 24/7 but I can bring them in to a half covered yard when I want to and it's just so easy.
 
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