Transition to living horse-drawn

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Lacuna

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This is a very random subject - I have agreed to help a friend learn about horses, she can work with my very forgiving gypsy cobs and generally learn about care, management and riding/driving.

She is already living in a van but wants to transition to being horse-drawn within the next 3-4 years. She's not horsy and is fairly realistic about the time/investment it will mean. I'm just looking for ideas of what she will need to think about/know about/ 100% required to have for such a lifestyle. She has connections to a lady who can teach her to drive (I only ride but have a harness for my bigger boy)
 
Does she have access to fields/stables for when the horses aren’t working? You can’t just stay in random laybys or car parks.

Does that include a place to park up the wagon and live in it without pissing anyone off?

Is there a point? Travelling from a to b in a horse drawn carriage on most UK roads would not be my idea of fun. Obviously I ride on roads but just small local ones to get to hacking. No way in hell would I take horses on the main A roads.

My ex lived full time in a bus for many years. I know a bit about what the lifestyle entails.
 
She needs to know first aid; foot care; fitting a harness; how to train a horse to tether (and how to correctly fit a tether); how to build a horse's fitness up; how best to pace them, what distances daily to do, etc along the journey. She'll need a hell of a lot of contacts so she has places to put the horses at night, as well as plenty of knowledge of the areas she's travelling through (need to know which vets/farriers she could call on, where to source water, how safe the roads are). Also, what would be her plan if one of the horses was injured and couldn't continue travelling?

Realistically, she needs to speak to some travellers who're living on the road with horses. They'll be the best placed to give advice. There's also a place up North somewhere that does camps teaching you the necessary skills for thru-rides - that might be of interest but I can't remember the name. (She might also be interested in the information on the Long Riders Guild's website.)

All credit to her if she goes through with it and keeps the horses safe and healthy, but it sounds like an incredibly stupid idea to me unless you've got decades of experience with both horses and travelling with horses over multiple days.
 
If you mean travelling place to place and on the move every few days then farriers- vets - a horse that tethers- places to tether the horse -water supply -additional food supply for the horse in winter- fuel for the queenie stove in winter-food supply and keeping it fresh for herself- not sure about a base address being needed or not, how she would go on re her own medical care. It's suprising how far a fit horse can travel in a day, best time to travel is daybreak or to finish a journey at dusk to avoid the traffic.
 
I don't think many people do it all year round any more. They tend to go on the road in summer for a few weeks then stay put in winter.

stangs said:
There's also a place up North somewhere that does camps teaching you the necessary skills for thru-rides - that might be of interest but I can't remember the name.
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Are you thinking of "Equine Unlimited", in Dunkeld ?
 
I had a short experience of travelling on horseback many years ago in Summer. Horses and humans were fit and sound at the end of the two weeks. BUT it was Summer, the humans were horse people, the horses were all very experienced at all kinds of situations, strongly bonded to us and to each other, and fit from months of daily work. The hazards and hardship for a lone woman out in all weathers with horses nowadays would make it a complete non starter for me, even if only out of consideration for the horses' welfare. You would make yourself and the horses such an easy target for people with a stupid or cruel streak.

Do it for a holiday after a lot of planning and preparation but as a way of life? Stay in the van and if you love horses keep them out of it.
 
It's a bit like living on a narrowboat, and then deciding to make it a horsedrawn one rather than one with diesel propulsion. Just because you can doesn't make it a good idea. We do see some groups of horse drawn 'new age' travellers (for want of a better term) around here, but only ever in the summer. I really can't imagine how awful if would be trying to find somewhere to stop on a cold wet dark winter's evening. the logistics of the lifestyle would be so trying - it's now not just yourself, but another living breathing thing you have to maintain and keep safe. She would do better to spend the money going horsedrawn would cost her on upgrading her current living conditions.
 
Where will the horse live?
Presumably in 300 different places a year, mainly tied up or harnessed to something, and with no routine, equine company, or daily liberty.

She can choose this life but the horse can’t (and I strongly suspect, wouldn’t). Harsh maybe, but this is the most important thing she needs to consider in my opinion.

Is this a life any horse would want?
 
Years ago I was going out one evening and saw a horse and wagon stopped on a main road
Going home a couple of hours later (in the dark) they were still there but a truck and horse trailer were parked up next to them
Who knows what was wrong - horse lame, wagon broken? but I've always thought it was a nightmarish situation to be in
 
Tough enough keeping horses in a normal environment over winter (which in the UK feels like that’s at least 10 months of the year!), but imagine doing that on the road. At least we can get ours into a dry warm stable/ shelter to attend to them. The thought of having to unharness/ harness and tend to your horses needs exposed to the elements daily - with rain and gales for days and weeks at a time sounds like a thoroughly miserable existence for both horse and human. You’d want to take out shares in Equidry as you’d be literally having to live in one.
 
Lacuna said:
This is a very random subject - I have agreed to help a friend learn about horses, she can work with my very forgiving gypsy cobs and generally learn about care, management and riding/driving.

She is already living in a van but wants to transition to being horse-drawn within the next 3-4 years. She's not horsy and is fairly realistic about the time/investment it will mean. I'm just looking for ideas of what she will need to think about/know about/ 100% required to have for such a lifestyle. She has connections to a lady who can teach her to drive (I only ride but have a harness for my bigger boy)
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This is just an unrealistic rose tinted dream and she needs to keep it that way because the biggest loser if she doesn't is the horse.
.
 
There are a couple of bowtops come stay on a lane near us some summers for two or three weeks. Tether their horses on the verge. Have a nice time.
However it is their summer holiday and the rest of the year they live in a house 20 miles away, work full time, and keep their horses in the field.
 
You'd need a big support network. Even the travellers who do it for a few weeks in summer have friends and family & traditional stop-overs. They go the same route every year & know who will welcome them. . . .and who won't- she'd need a very thick skin too. It's considered OK to hurl abuse at Gypsies.

And if she's alone who would keep everything safe while she pops to the shop or vets? How would she secure everything at night, without 4 other wagons and a few big men with dogs? It isn't by accident that you always see a few wagons travelling together.

Get her to work out how much water she'll use a day & how much it would weigh! There's big difference in water consumption from one person to a person and 2 horses. You can't just pop in the leisure centre for a shower either - you can't leave everything outside in the car park unless there's another person with you! One of the travellers I see who goes on the road (in summer) pulls a second cart with firewood and an IBC for water. You'd need to fill it every couple of days - where? There isn't a horse trough on every village green any longer!- so we're back to support network!

So your friend finds herself alone and living in a van & she wants to make a romantic virtue of it. It's definitely a non-starter. Could it be she needs help but not of the learning about horses kind?
 
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Appleby Horse Fair which is held annually in Cumbria is over this coming weekend, and loads of horse drawn traditional gypsy caravans migrate from the NE across to Appleby for the Fair, and back again after the Fair has finished - I believe it takes about 3 days each way.

We used to live on one of the main routes in a village in Northumberland. Every year there would be camps set up around the village where the horses/ponies would be rested by grazing on grass verges for a day or two before moving on.

The old gypsy caravans are really heavy, and it takes a lot out of the horses/ponies especially some of the really big long hills (eg. Hartside Pass).

The ponies were generally well behaved whilst grazing and appeared to be used to being tethered with a collar and would graze away happily at the side of busy roads.

Hopefully it's possible to get more modern designs of caravan made with lighter materials so it's not so taxing on the horse/pony. This is all in the spring/summer though, but I can't imagine it's really doable during the winter months.
 
vickyb said:
It's a bit like living on a narrowboat, and then deciding to make it a horsedrawn one rather than one with diesel propulsion. Just because you can doesn't make it a good idea. We do see some groups of horse drawn 'new age' travellers (for want of a better term) around here, but only ever in the summer. I really can't imagine how awful if would be trying to find somewhere to stop on a cold wet dark winter's evening. the logistics of the lifestyle would be so trying - it's now not just yourself, but another living breathing thing you have to maintain and keep safe. She would do better to spend the money going horsedrawn would cost her on upgrading her current living conditions.
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Theres a reason that your not allowed to use horses to pull boats anymore, and at least on the tow path there's access to water points, bins and elsans to empty your toilets. Where is she intending to empty her toilet? And having kept horses at a place where there was no water, and having a big landrover and trailer to get water its still an absolute nightmare!

Go on to one of the travellers/off grid groups on facebook and ask them about it. You'll get a reality check from people who really know about a nomadic lifestyle. Its not even really feasible to live full time in a van now if you don't have a home base. People don't want vans parking near them, they struggle with water and toilet emptying and there's constant security risks. Thats all increased ten fold in a bow top with a lone female.
 
I mean what do you do when your time at one site is up and your horse goes lame? Choice - make lame horse pull all your stuff or trespass on someone’s hospitality longer or just trespass..
 
There are travellers around here that do a circuit and let their horses graze on the verge. They come round every so often and I see them in different parts of the county on my travels. I think that they might keep going all year round because some people were writing to the newspaper about the horses not having rugs in the wet weather. Bit of a moot point, I couldn't decide whether it was a good idea for them to have a rug or not, as they are tethered and couldn't get out of the rain.

However, they always travel in a group, there are 3 or 4 caravans/carts together. They may not all travel in a line, maybe two then a little further back another two. They are not alone to deal with the horse care and self care as your friend is thinking.

As others, suggest two weeks to a month in the summer and find out about all the practical difficulties. Farrier, sufficient grazing for the horse, hazards of travelling the roads, how to leave the caravan and buy supplies, get water for self and horse.

I suppose someone very determined might have a go, but it doesn't sound a great plan.
 
And another thing. Your friend is living in a van now, but I expect it is reasonably secure, and she can drive a reasonable distance at a time.

With a horse travel will be much slower and she won't be covering much distance in a day. It is surprising how many people are wandering around in the middle of the night according to my neighbouring farmer, who goes out with night vision glasses (to look after his pheasants I think). And they would soon hear of a horse drawn caravan (difficult to secure) and come to find out who it is. Although probably not dangerous, they would be quite happy to help themselves to anything left lying around that looks useful.
 
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