Those who keep horses at home

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I'm going to be super nosy and ask what sort of wages you earn! I'm really lucky in that my horse lives in a rented field just meters from the house i live in. But like most people I dream of one day living in my own house with my horse in my own stables. I don't need a big house, and a fixer upper is fine as my OH loves a project, but I do want a couple of acres and good off road hacking. I can't see it ever happening so being totally nosy I wondered what people do for a living and/or earn and how long it took for you to get to a stage where you could contemplate your own place with horse.

Thanks!
 
you might have to clarify area. There are some places in the UK I could afford that right this second. sadly not the areas I can actually find a job in though :(
 
I am in lancs and between myself and OH we earn 40k, we have just moved to a house with stables and 3 acres. We are also looking into building an outdoor. The house is a 2 bed barn conversion and apart from needing a new boiler is in pretty good nick.
It can be done :-)
 
I bought and sold 3 do'er uppers before I could afford a small horse property. It is much harder to do now, as there are not so many of this type of property available. You need to both be commited to do the house up - not just leave it to your boyfriend.

My husband and I have what I call normal jobs, with normal pay. We went without nice holidays and smart cars for 10 years to climb the property ladder.

Oh, I am in Surrey.
 
Area is flexible! I know its hugely variable so this is a very generic question! My job is one that has offices all around the country so transferring locations wouldn't be too much of a problem. Joint income would also at this point be about 40k+ and I have reasonable savings. Think I could quite happily live in a caravan again as long as there were decent riding facilities. Its all just a pipe dream at the moments but wondered if it could happen...one day!
 
Well, if you can work most places I'm sure you'll make it happen!

I'm in Cambridge and our joint income of £60K leaves us quite poor. Stupid place.

(obviously the horses have nothing to do with our lack of money at all ;) :D )
 
Yep, Im cambridge too...definitely can't afford my own place here so am lucky to have what I do. If only I didn't have to ride on such busy roads id be happy as larry.
 
Unfortunately I live in south west herts, and I'd need almost £2million in order to buy a little house with about 5 acres attached in my village ....so it's not going to happen :(
 
I was looking into doing this and firstly we considered Cambridgeshire and we could comfortably afford it there, but it was a hell of a journey and I wasn't blown away enough by anything to make it worthwhile. So we have settled on kent and come to the sad realisation that will not be able to afford to keep the horse there so he will have to stay in livery. Currently live in essex and no chance of affording it here either. Damn working in London. Current joint salary £80-£90,000.
If location isn't a problem how about Lincolnshire? You get a lot for your money there. Also certain parts of suffolk are really reasonable.
 
KatPT said:
Yep, Im cambridge too...definitely can't afford my own place here so am lucky to have what I do. If only I didn't have to ride on such busy roads id be happy as larry.
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Oo. I didn't know that :) *waves* Where are you?

We're actually about to move as Cambridge is ferociously expensive and I don't even like it that much. I'll still have to drive to work here every day though :(

coen- Cambridge to kings cross is 45 minutes. That isn't a hell of a commute! Thousands of people catch that train every day (my OH did it for years) I know the fens are vile though so can see why you wouldn't be blown away by anything north of the city. South is nice though. Shelford is lovely and is on the main line to London I think (just for eg!) :)
 
I live in Kent but work in London, my current job pays well enough that I think I could just about manage to get a mortgage for a small place with a bit of land (nothing fancy!) to have my two horses at home - but the commute means that I wouldn't be able to get back to get them in in the winter until 7.15pm earliest and they'd have to go out at 6am. So I have them at livery instead which means I can ride every evening as they have a floodlit school and don't have to muck out. This makes me feel really lazy and like I don't have "enough" horse time because I feel like I'm always on a train :( But if I change jobs to work closer to home it would be an enormous paycut AND I wouldn't be able to afford my own place with land so they'd still be on livery, just DIY and I would always be worried that I would have to sell one of them.

I need a rich OH or an OH who has a farm - if anyone knows of one going spare please let me know, I am willing to work really really hard on the farm and/or I can do all the office admin, just please let me be able to give up commuting soon....?
 
Im abit further west towards st neots, but I teach fitness classes in cambridge a few nights a week. I love Cambridge but its definitely getting busier on the roads than when I moved here 5 years ago, and with my new lad who isn't the most reliable out hacking it just isn't as fun!
 
I'm semi retired now but my husband still works a 60 - 70 hour week, he works in Austria during the week and earns around £70k ( he works very very hard for this lol and travels a lot too ) It still seems to disappear and we are always broke :D

We bought our farmhouse with 12 acres 11 years ago in south Leics, not too expensive an area ( its now worth around £650k ) I think you get a lot for your money here, we have lovely stone stables, a barn, four garages and an annexe.

Had to work hard and waited until I was getting on a bit to have my dream :) we've had to sacrifice quite a lot ( mostly holidays, but who has them anyway when you have animals! )

Lincolnshire is still very much a bargain area as is north Notts/Doncaster

MY friend comutes from Market Harborough to London daily and has done for years, hell of an expense though!
 
3 bed semi detached cottage for sale in our village in east yorkshire, 5 stables some are unfinished house has been done up to nice standard. Small Miliking parlour needs re building in places and approx 1 acre post and rail in two paddocks £180k
 
We live in a hilly part of Lincolnshire ,have a 3 bed cottage,and 3 stables, 2 acres of grazing and work as nurses in the nhs so not hugely well paid. Lincolnshire is pretty good for horsey property ,ours had been empty for ages and has taken ages to sort garden/ field etc but worth it...
 
Lincs/East Yorks do seem really cheap for equestrian properties, but even though they have great outbuildings or stables, they only ever have an acre with them, which is never enough for horses!
 
I live in Surrey in 3 bed semi with 6 acres and planning permission for yard, stables, arena and extension to house.
I am currently on long term sick leave (3yrs) which was a result of an allaregic reaction to headache medication. We are only able to afford our house because I had an insurance policy for income protection. I get 75% of my salary until retirement age or I'm well enough to return to my job. I would urge anyone who is able, to take out a similar policy, you never know what may happen particularly in a 'dangerous' sport. If I hadn't had this policy then I wouldn't have been able to keep my horses let alone buy an equestrian property. If you can afford to buy your dream home make sure you won't lose it through illhealth.
Not quite what you asked but hopefully useful.
 
All useful information, thanks guys! Gives me hope that one day, if I keep working my butt off, I might manage it. Think given grazing adds masses to the cost though its time my pony went out and started earning his keep!
 
Ours is a barn conversation we bought it as a barn after we got engaged it has around 13 acres of grazing which we bought at the same time we where very lucky we where in the right place at the right time we did up the barn put up wooden stables divided the land into two and a starvation strp in time we added a large shed then a 40 by 30 outdoor school then a small field shelter then we put an extension on the house to give a new kitchen and utility room and two extra rooms that we use as studys but could be bedrooms.
Next we took a flattish area it's about 120mtres by 70 drained it and levelled it and turned info a grass working surface.
At the moment we are relaying drains and building a log store because we managed to buy an eight acre wood in an old quarry adjoining us .
Basically we have spent money on it all the time I don't regret it it was my dream and I have lived it but I seriously underestimated the cost and time it takes to maintain your own yard I simply never considered it things like the cost of maintaining the grass surprised me I never thought about I was just hell bent on getting our own place.
I love it though next year it will be wholly ours as in no mortgage I can't wait .
We could not have done it farther south but I could easily livery two horses on the running costs of the yard.
 
We're in a very expensive area, prime desirable commuter area, excellent schools - but we've lived in the area for all our lives so don't know any different. We don't drink, smoke, go out, eat out, waste money on ready meals or take aways, go on holiday, so despite earning below average for the area as we've always saved and spent on the house - overpaying the mortgage when we can to pay it off sooner so we now (in our early 50s) own our own home with no mortgage (and solar powered on the higher feed in tariff, so is quite cheap to run), grow our own veg and keep 2 ponies on 3 acres. We reckon the ponies cost us £2.5K/year including all the pony club events & camp/instruction/car costs + fuel taking daughter to events. It's cheap because we bought ones that live out, barefooot. Only had the ponies 2 years, never wasted money on ponies or riding for me, these are for daughter.

We're both self employed now, I work part time and earn enough to only pay a tiny bit of tax, and OH will pay tax but definitely not higher rate this year. Can be done, you just have to prioritise what you spend your money on. Couldn't do it from scratch on what we earn today, no-one would give us that kind of mortgage on what little we earn, this has been a lifetime 'in progress' to get to this point.
 
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We have are 6 at home 6 stables also we live in a bungalow with 3 beds and 2 bathrooms Farley new build (10 years old) we rent a field from are neighbours and are looking into buying it as sadly they are moving in the next 2 years!! If we buy the field we will have a school put in!! Mom has a 'normal' above average pay my dad is an entertainer so is above average won't go into details as I doubt my parents would be to happy going on about pay etc but I am 27 and know the ins and outs of things!! We are in Mid Wales/Shropshire border only thing is jobs are difficult to travel to but a beautiful area to live in!!
 
I live in central Scotland and had to wait till my 40's before I could afford a place with land. We were lucky to be able to move up the property ladder - bought our first place 25 years ago. We are on good salaries for round here although I work part-time to have time to look after the horses. It's not just the cost of a property but all the maintenance costs you have to factor in. We also had to build stables, fix fences and the house needed a lot of work. So it's not easy. Doubt if I could afford to do it if I lived down south.
 
It is possible, have faith but it's not easy.
We had some dumb luck, bought a repossessed flat in London and made quite a bit selling it only a year later, but to buy that my OH had to work in the middle east for about 6 years, being away for months at a time.
We searched for about four years to find our farm and found it completely by chance and in an area we had never considered before and didn't know, we are from Beds/ Herts originally, but we could never dream of being able to afford anything there.
My OH is jobless at the moment so I am commuting 5 hours a day into London from Norfolk to keep money coming in, all be it crap money (wish someone had told me being a designer doesn't pay).
But we have managed to buy 12 acres (of jungle) and a shell of a house outright, it cost ITRO £150k. We have years of work ahead of us to make it good, but it will all be worth it when I can sit in my living room and look out the window and see my horses grazing :)
There are ways and means to get what you want in life, even with a small budget, you just have to be totally determined and single minded, willing to compromise and I think have a little bit of luck on your side :)
 
I always had horses at livery until I met my partner who has his own farm and so I moved the horses to live at home.

This sounds bad, as though I decided to be with him because of the free livery :D

Can you find an eligible bachelor farmer? They are usually quiet types with minimal interaction with females outside the farm parimeter and so saying things such as, "My horse needs lots of field mates or he'll get bored" and "Yes, all saddles cost £1500" are believed, lol

Seriously though, there are some beautfil small holdings here in West Yorkshire but for one with a few acres and stables, you're looking at close to 1 million
 
I found my perfect property 10 years ago, 4 1/2 acres of land, 3 stables, triple garage and small flat above stables and garage. The house is a large 4 bedroom farmhouse style job, unfortunately its always been way over my budget. I used to dream about my horses grazing on the land, I got part of my dream as I now rent the land off the owners and the house is currently rented as a residential home for children. But when I win the lottery I will be on that phone as quick as lightening to buy it :D
 
I married a farmer. Which for the record is a CRAP way of getting to surround yourself with horses at home as most farmers are extremely Anti-Horse.
Mine are allowed (grudgingly) to live here but there are no proper stables so I will be saving up for a long time for those!!
Also PloughFeet and HayBurner (as he calls them) get the blame for EVERYTHING - every broken rail, bent gate and hoofprint out of place. The cattle and sheep of course are angels and never cause trouble - pffffft!

It's going to take many years of saving and working hard before I have my ideal horse set up, so anyone considering the farmer route - unless he's also an MFH I wouldn't bother! ;)

Luckily I married him because he is lovely and a total babe - and not for the land if anyone is thinking this!

Good job too...! ;)
 
Patterdale - what's an MFH?

Yes my farmer does get a little stressed about the "fields being a mess" but happily mucked out and turned out for me, I even had him changing rugs. All this was only whilst I was pregnant, mind.

I then sold my horse when heavily pregnant and am now looking for another. He doesn't seem to want to watch the kids while I go off to view horses though....
 
MFH - Master of Foxhounds!

I am pregnant and mine are just living out. He will help me reluctantly now if I need it to be fair!

Next question will be how to smuggle a small pony in for the baby?? I'm thinking just turn up with it?? I have a strict 2 horse limit but nothings been said about ponies.....? Ha
 
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