To move or not to move?

nicolenlolly

nicolenlolly

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I need some advice please?

I am pretty new to this forum so if I have done it wrong then I am sorry.
The problem that I have is as follows:
I have 2 x Section A's and a big hairy wus of a cob. Currently we rent 7 acres behind our friend's house which has a fresh water supply and just the poor side of average grass but it is ok and the boys dont seem to suffer on it. They are not fat but they have plenty to take them through the winter and they are not worked that hard.
The field next door is 110 acres of ragwort and so it is a constant battle to keep it at bay. Other than that, we dont have a field shelter, hard standing or anything useful like that! The riding round here is mainly on the road or down the byway as they turned the rest of the area into 3 golf courses but we enjoy it and enjoy them. Come the winter though...some of the field will flood, the boys will be filthy, we wont be able to ride except the odd weekend that it isnt raining and we will be dragging haylage into the field with a tractor making huge ruts which we will struggle to get rid of and which are still there from last year. It sounds horrific but it is not that bad honestly and it is cheap as chips, cheaper in fact!

The littlies are only 3 years old and we bought them to bring on for my 4 year old daughter. She adores them and rides them at least once a week, they are the most reliable, loving little things and I think they are actually in love with her, they follow everywhere and if heaven forbid she cries...they mother her like nothing I have ever seen before. Whatever she has got, it works on all animals, they seem to be attracted to her and trust her no matter how difficult they are!

I digress. I am assuming that part of their training will require lunging (I dont know I am not that familiar, can they be taught without?) as currently they are always on a lead rope but they will need to understand commands when she is riding alone and the field is not flat enough to lunge. My next door neighbour has just bought a yard with 20 boxes and has offered us stabling in return for services - hubby is agri engineer - she wants walker, new stables, lighting etc etc BUT I am worried that the boys will be lonely if they are in stables. They have lived together for almost a year with me, the little boys are brothers so have never been parted and big hairy wus has lived out with others prior to us so I dont know how they would cope all cooped up in a wooden box with no one to snuggle up to - am I being over sensitive? They are very nappy, which I know is not ideal but they love each other and that is nice isnt it?

Also if the work stops for OH and she puts her prices up, I am done for as I have just been made redundant :(

Hubby is old school like the farmers and sees a horse as a tool to hunt/play polo. Not a pet, not something to have any emotion about, you look after it like you would your car and maintain it well so it works properly so I cant ask his advice. I am bringing him round and he does cuddle now just not cooing lovey dovey!lol

So what would you do? Move to the better facilities and hope the friend does not get offended or stick with the field - maybe it is winter blues a little early!?

Thank you for reading this and I hope you can help. It seems normal to offer choccies at this point...I have a load of mini rolls if that is any use? :) xx
 
Could your OH build a field shelter on your current field? Also maybe ask new yard if you could use their facilities (to lunge etc) in exchange for your OH's work.

I would ask what the rent would be in new place if your partners work is no longer required, so you can factor that into it.

Probably not much help but something to muse over perhaps :)
 
We are not allowed a field shelter unfortunately, the yard that is behind our field put up 5 in their paddocks and the council told them that they werent allowed them although they were on skids so dont know why. The distance from field now to possible new yard is quite far and we just sold the horse lorry as we didnt have enough storage so that could be tricky. let the musing commence! but thank you :)xx
 
Ah I see. Perhaps as they didn't apply for planning permission,and put 5 up the council took a dim view? Perhaps if you applied to put a non permanent structure up they may be more flexible? Worth calling the planning dept maybe?

It's a tough one, but if you think you won't be able to afford rent for the stables if your partners work dries up, then you need to consider that carefully.

I forgot to say that your daughter sounds like a little angel :)
 
I would check with your council on field shelters - that advice seems wrong. It may be that 5 were too many ( I work in land use planning). I think 1 field shelter constitutes permitted development. Council officers are also sometimes (gasp!) actually wrong.

Seems to me if you could keep the field but maybe find something nearby to use as suggested would be ideal. Horses are fine outside, and if you are not sure about finances, keep the costs down.

If council officers useless, you might look into the BHS web-site for advice. Also some insurors run a hot line on legal advice; I am pretty certain a field shelter is ok - unless your area is covered by something called an Article 4 direction which rescinds all permitted development rights, but that is pretty unlikely. PM me on this if you get no joy.
 
jaquelin said:
I would check with your council on field shelters - that advice seems wrong. It may be that 5 were too many ( I work in land use planning). I think 1 field shelter constitutes permitted development. Council officers are also sometimes (gasp!) actually wrong.

Seems to me if you could keep the field but maybe find something nearby to use as suggested would be ideal. Horses are fine outside, and if you are not sure about finances, keep the costs down.

If council officers useless, you might look into the BHS web-site for advice. Also some insurors run a hot line on legal advice; I am pretty certain a field shelter is ok - unless your area is covered by something called an Article 4 direction which rescinds all permitted development rights, but that is pretty unlikely. PM me on this if you get no joy.
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Thank you so much, I will call them now and see what they say. I have started working on a small project which if it kicks off will be great and back earning again but with things the way they are, you cant count your chickens! As I say I am quite new to this and have been blasted on another thread and then read so many things that were negative on here that I was worried I would just get told off for something! Thank you for easing me in gently.

As for the daughter being an angel - errr I will thank you for the compliment! lol She does love her animals though and I have certainly never seen anyone who can approach an animal like she does and it trust her. Even in Dartmoor, the wild ponies come up to her...then scarper if either of us try and go near!
 
Does the other yard offer turnout? Not sure if I've read your post wrongly or if they would be in stables permanently? If that's the case I wouldn't move at all, if I've got it wrong and you're just worried about them being lonely while they're in overnight etc then it's a bit more tricky.

I wouldn't move them without a proper contract that your hubby is expected to do an average of xx hours per week. Therefore if he works very hard on fencing / horsewalker etc for a whole week, that enough to see you through for 4 weeks livery and they will guarantee him enough work to cover the costs. (There's always something to be fixed on a yard!) I know it's a friend who's proposing this, but you need protection that there's enough work for you to cover the horses' keep and you need to make sure they don't take advantage and effectively make your husband work for the equivalent of peanuts.

If you stay can you put in a field shelter as others have mentioned and maybe take about half an acre of the field next to the gate for hardstanding where you could put the hay to stop the tractor tearing it up and to stop the horses churning up around the hay as well? That way when you want to lunge them when the weather's better you would have a decent area of field that's rut free? I would have thought it would be fairly easy for your husband to do this with his job?
 
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