To people with more than 1 horse, how do you manage??

Firewell

Firewell

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With time, money etc??

Im thinking about getting another horse. I have one at the mo and shes kept at quite an expensive DIY livery yard, which is lovely but costs over £200 a month and thats before feed, hay, bedding etc. In total my girl cost me £500 last month.

Now im thinking of getting another horse and im sure I could keep them both for cheaper. 2 horses at my current rate of spending would be £1000 a month!

How do you guys do it? Do you rent yards? Do you have sharers? Or are you lucky enough to have cheaper livery? Or am i being unrealistic to think it will cost less and that i should budget £1000 a month?

One day I will be getting a house where I can keep them at home in the not too distant future but I cant rely on that just yet
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Also how do you juggle jobs/familys and 2 or more horses? Do you have help or do you just get up ultra early.

I know its a bit of a vague post but some summarys on how you guys manage might give me some ideas as to how I could keep 2 horses without the costs running away with me! Also they are/would be both blood horses so wont be able to live out
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Thanks
 
I have 3 but they are at a local farm with next to no facilities (stables, field, that's it!) but on the upside it costs be £10 per week in livery for all 3!!! Obviously theres hay and straw to be added to that but all in, livery wise, I spend £25 per week tops for all of them.

I have help from my OH & my daughter but still have mega early starts all the winter and obviously no back up for holidays etc.

That said, I don't think I miss livery yards one little bit
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I think key to it all is being organised, though I have to say that £1000 per month for two horses seems a tad on the high side - are there other / cheaper yards near you?
 
I have two got the second one in jan this year. i keep both on diy £100 per month each as i work with horse (freelance) juggling them with work is easy and doesn't feel like extra work although in winter was getting up at 5 to fit all the morning lot in! in summer they live out 24/7 (one tb the other wb) they have very little hard food the newer one is a very good doer so that really keeps costs down. winter will leave out as long as poss hopefully end of nov (the tb has lived out in the past but likes her home conforts in her old age!!) dont have a sharer just try and work hard in summer they do cost under £1000 per month and they had better in winter too!!!
 
£1000! omgoshhh!
Were on a DIY livery yard, inclusive with straw, hay, stable, all year turnout, Good hacking jumping padock.
and its £85 a month. Also as we have more than 2 we get the other cheaper like a loyalty system
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If im honest it really isnt "double the horses, double the time" because mixing feed and things dont take much longer with making 2 feeds than 2.
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Im at a private yard which is a tad more expensive than my old yard (basically a farm, no facilities) but here i have my own paddocks and a big school.

Its £35 a week for 4 currently (doesnt include hay/straw) but one is an expensive lawn mower so im looking to move her to cheaper pastures.

Most livery yards around here cost approx £15 a week so £1000 a month for two is WAYYYYYY overpriced!

- I cope because i have no life
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At last count I own around 23 horses of my own and about the same amount of liveries. I have a big farm with plenty of grazing and we grow our own hay. Running the farm is my job and looking after the horses is just a part of it, so time-wise it is easy for me. Financially, well the livery business makes enough to keep us ticking over however hay sales and especially horse sales are what really keep the farm doing well.

All the horses here live out 24/7 so this saves greatly on the amount of time spent doing other jobs. We ad-lib hay the horses in round hay feeders. Most jobs here on my farm are mechanised so again saves on time.

You just need to work hard and save your pennies and buy yourself a nice farm.
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We're fortunate to have our our land and a couple of stables so I guess I have to thank our lucky stars. We don't have facilities to school/ride in the winter but we make do with borrowing neighbouring yard's schools etc if needs be. We have 4 horses at the mo but at one point we had 7 - nopt sure how we coped then!

Two come in at night in winter as they compete, the other 2 are out 24/7 with rugs on in winter as are 2 old men. They don't cost an awful lot other than the regular farrier bills, worming, feed etc but there is my mum, sister and myself who split the costs anyway.
 
I've gone back up to 4 horses today.
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I can't afford 4, I can barely afford 1 but I'm lucky enough to have dragged my family into horseyness years ago so they help loads. My mum looks after my sister's retired pony on very cheap DIY grass livery. My probably knackered riding horse is now turned away on full grass livery. My old retired pony is on free DIY livery at work. My new riding horse is going in the stable at a livery yard vacated by turned away mare. I manage by having no other life!
 
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an expensive DIY livery yard, which is lovely but costs over £200 a month and thats before feed, hay, bedding etc. In total my girl cost me £500 last month


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I have no idea where you are in the country but the YO is taking you for a ride. You are paying £50 pw for DIY livery? & you have to pay for feed, hay etc on top of that? Even Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask when he robbed someone.
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You need to move to another yard urgently as the yard you are on is fleecing you!!!!!!!
 
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I have no idea where you are in the country but the YO is taking you for a ride. You are paying £50 pw for DIY livery? & you have to pay for feed, hay etc on top of that? Even Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask when he robbed someone.
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I agree! Please, if you can afford this much per month go and see your building society. We did when a plot with stabling came up and because we only have a small mortgage, they just let us extend it. The extra payments come to less than what I was paying for part livery and at a fixed rate and we own it at the end of the day.
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Ref. managing the two, they both live out atm but have a shelter each. There is ample grazing for both but stock the shelter with haylage when the weather is bad. I remove droppings daily straight into bags and drop it at the local allotment on the way home.

I work shifts so they've got used to me dropping in at funny times of the night to check them but as there's no house there am not disturbing anyone. Bit creepy at 1am though and the neighbour's pigs make some blood curdling noises so I just kind of run in, top up their hay and run out!
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We have plans to have a manege down soon so will be able to exercise them on alternate days as I was doing before the move. I get a bit fed up on days like today though, not because I have two horses but because there's always so much to do at the yard and the weather puts a halt to it.

BTW have no social life to speak of, a husband who knows better than to complain and can fix his own dinner!
 



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Even Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask when he robbed someone.

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Very true and bloody hell that made me giggle!!
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Perfectly put!
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Wow, no way could I manage 2 costing that amount of money.

I'm lucky that it costs me £200 a month for my 2 and that's including a field to myself, 2 lovely stables, ad lib hay/haylage and 2 menages to ride in. Bedding is just an extra £10 but I get my own free from local placey.

Timewise though, it is hard. I get up at 5:45 every day to see to them before going to work and that's them out 24/7 at the mo. Will be different in the winter. Go back up straight after work and don't usually leave til 8:30pm so no time for a life!!!!

No money either for those little luxuries that we enjoy now and again but I wouldn't have it any other way.
 
Wow, that is way over the top for DIY surely!? I haven't been in DIY for two years, but the most expensive was £25 pw, inc adlib hay/haylage plus straw, good stables, small outdoor school. The most I had paid before that was £17.50 no hay or bedding.

Now we have our own land, our three live out all year, with access to a barn, the downsides are doing all the repairs yourself, paddock maintenance etc, the upsides are not having anyone using/nicking your stuff and being able to do exactly what you want, when you want!
 
I am very lucky to have my own land and stables so I have five horses (one more on the way soon - hurry up foalie!) We grow our own haylage. Its not the financial burden but more the time element. I have a baby to look after as well. When they were are livery I would get a discount from YO but did cost me more than my mortgage each month!!
 
Well I currently own 9 horses and ponies, and own 2 yards about 5 miles apart. 1 pony is out on full loan with another going out on full loan very soon.... I work full time as does my OH. One of my daughters is 18 and drives and works part time and the other is 15 and is at school. My son is 13 and has no interest in horses whatsoever! lol

My collection of horses range from my own horse of 33 as well as my girls first pony now 21! Its not easy, we work 24/7 with everything but its worth it....

Now if I didnt have the horses I would have a brand new luxury car, holidays 5 times a year! lol and oh yes! be bored out of my brains! lol
 
DIY can range from 15 to 40 a week, sounds like yours is at the very top end.

but add on insurance, farrier, routine vets, feed and bedding, Sounds like you are at the top end.

For that, do you get indoor school, off road riding, cross country course, etc etc?
If so, then you;ll miss those if you get your own place with grazing, and only be saving your actual livery rental cost.

We keep four (living out all summer, 2 shod, 2 not shod) on DIY for the cost of your one, if its about 5 or 600 every month.
 
i have 5
a full time job
and all are on DIY!

it helps that im totally mad - i have learnt to live in my overdraft and my OH has learnt that he only sees me if he comes down the yard with me!

i take the last bit as a bonus - unpaid groom!
 
Well (I haven't read the other replies so sorry if I am repeating - God I say that so often
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) I only have two now but most often have had 3 or 4. Its fine in the summer but in the winter I can't turn them out if the ground is really wet so have to exercise everyday regardless of the weather
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Luckily all the horses I have owned have been brilliant to lead from another horse (or learnt very quickly) so I can take two or three out at the same time. If I couldn't do that I would be buggered basically! I have a job and a family to run.

Its bloody hard work in the winter and sometimes I wonder why I have horses at all. Luckily for me though I don't pay livery costs. But the shoes alone are enough to cripple anyone! I would love to buy a £60 pair of shoes every 6 weeks!
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i have 4and a half
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lol farm livery is the answer, cheap and cheerful with 24 hour grazing which cuts the work load down immensely, time can be a problem in winter when it's dark early and you have no electric but it's all manageable. i have looked for a sharer before but didn't find anyone i wanted
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so now me, OH and 2 kids just do it all ourselves.
 
I have two on DIY (£34 a week for both, good grazing, stables, access to bridleway and floodlit school but have to help with maintenance). and work full-time and run my own home, I spend about £500 a month including lessons on my two and have to go without new clothes and hardly ever go out. Most nights I'm not home until 8.30pmso have to make a special effort to spend time with my other half. I'm exhausted and broke most of the time but it's worth it
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£500 a month for one horse on DIY sound like a lot - do you compete alot and spend money on lessons as well?

I know some yards where for that much you could be on full livery with money to spare.
 
i have 3 - on diy livery ( can be assisted ie turnout/bring-in )-

i manage by not sleeping....!

Its ok in summer, winter it can be hard work, we just have to be organised...haynets done the night before etc...just get a routine, also an overdraft...and be prepared to spend the majority of your time smelly. And knackered.
 
I keep five horses of my own for the same as one at DIY costs you.

However, I can only do this by renting 8 acres and 2 stables. I have no menage but can work perfectly well without one. I have everything else I need here and without the hassle of other people, and I absolutely love it.

My gang live out mostly (the only way I can cope, because of my working hours) but the two old girls will have to be stabled at night in the winter.

I work full time in an office, plus do about 2 evenings a week freelance work (typing etc.) from home, plus am a part-time Equine Bowen Therapsit, all of which helps to pay for my five, but there is still nothing spare at the end of the month (especially at the moment as OH is in the process of setting up his own business and the cash flow hasn't yet started to come through regularly).

I would possibly expect to pay that £500 (max) per month for one horse on full livery round here in the home counties, but I would never consider paying that for DIY .
 
I am going to disagree here - if £500 a per month includes hay, bedding and good facilities I think its reasonable

I have 6, but they are at home. Only 2 get ridden and competed, but that does near enough kill me. I don't get up that early at 7am. However I save the main work (mucking out) until later. So after I get home from work at 6.30pm I ride, muck out and do my jobs. Reality is my eating habits are weird as I am never in before 9pm and I have no life outside of the horses. I live in tesco £5 fleeces and my horse have wow saddles.... I save money by not going out, not eating much apart from 12p noodles and drinking value gin... yum
 
Well my mum and i have 5 horses between us on DIY. It is a struggle with time but not money as we rent a 9 acre field for £200 a month and two stables £60 each and we go halves. It is hard with time as we have three 5year olds and a 14year old and a 9year old. And it is hard as i am the only one who rides as mum prefers driving Jazz the 9 year old. Winter is the hardest but we managei don't think what we pay is that bad.
 
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