What Do You Do With Your Horses When You Go On Holiday??

Eventer96

Eventer96

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As title really, what do you do with your GG's if and when you go on holiday?

I have been selected by the school to go on a trip to Lanzorote in April next year. So it will be at the start of the eventing season where a lot of the prep work goes in. I am thinking he will go up to my trainers yard for the week (if funds allow of course). Just wanted your suggestions of what I could do instead of the expensive option (trainers yard) and is there a way round giving him the week off? This would be an extremely bad idea as he is a big dumblood and needs all the work I can give him!

So.... discuss :D
 
Well before I'd read your post properly I was going to say "take him with me" as we go to Norfolk and take the neddy too. As you're off abroad this isn't an option! Don't you have anyone at home/ on your yard that can take on the duties/ fittening work whilst your away? Sx
 
Grandma doesn't ride him because of his size and his spookiness. She is also fairly fragile and I wouldn't want anything to happen to her due to his silly antics! :o
 
holiday? what holiday? we have horses doncha know?? :) :)

Don't have holidays - we have horses for other people who have holidays though!

Seriously.... do you have a friend who could hack/lunge/keep him ticking over for you??
 
Mine (and OH's) get left with friends on the yard - and vice versa if they go away.

They will be kept in their normal routine, and my ridden one (other is a baby) will either be ridden or lunged or roundpenned. Friend often uses her while I'm away as a nanny for her 4 yr old.
 
Our YO offers a holiday service for those on DIY, which are most of them. We are on part livery and mini TX is off to Spain tomorrow morning with her best mate and her family. Its down to mummy to keep Bonn fit. So its 2 or 3 days on the pessoa and the same either being hacked out by me or on a lead rein while I ride my horse. I will probably die as she is a feisty little minx of a mare. Mini TX is back on the 5th June and doing Moreton on 7th June!!! Not going to think of schooling her as daughter is a far more skilled rider than myself and dont want to listen to the abuse that mother has got it all wrong.
 
Thank you for responses so far. I shall ask around my friends (adult friends). This is when I wish more of my family were horsey. :rolleyes::p
 
Holiday.......whats one of those hehe!
Im on a very big DIY livery yard with 60plus horses, so on the occasions I have managed to scrape enough money together to go on holiday, ive been lucky enough to leave my horses in the care of good friends on the yard. At least that way, its not too much of a dramatic change to their routines. They are still fed, worked, turned out and looked after pretty much the same as when im there. The only problem is the foul temper from my coloured horse who thinks mummy has abandoned him....the sulking goes on for weeks lol xxx
 
i have a horse/house/dogsitter come here and live in and basically do my 'job' for the week, caring for all the animals. if you've got more than 1 horse it's the best way imho, not cheap but the animals are safe and happy, the house is secured, etc. I use SteeleyDan from on here, it's her profession, she's done mine a few times now and is absolutely fantastic, can deal with everything!
 
Horse is at full livery so they just get on with it. However when at DIY I did a mixture of things, either horse go to a yard for a week's schooling or friends at the yard looked after him/her. Is quite a good opportunity for the horse to have a week's schooling if it the right time of year and mine were never fussed about the change of scenery.
 
I plan my annual holiday from wales to devon to concide with him going on to spring grazing and the late september bloom of grass. This way I know that I can go away, knowing that he will only need checking to make sure his hooves are pointing the right way. I would not consider going at any other time of the year.
 
i either plan for them to have a holiday or leave mine with my family who can just about manage to move them from the stable to the field to turn them out, and muck out. i have had someone local come and ride them for me, never again!
if its desperate that they need work i send them to my trainer but i prefer not to as its ££££ and i have one who gets really unsettled by it and she hates him with a passion and tries to kill him so she would only get lunged anyway!

Can you get someone to lunge it? or someone to get some hacking into it?
whatever you do dont jeopardise your trip for your horse as your only young! (dont take that patronisingly!) (plenty of time for horses 100% later!)
 
With my old ponies a friend use to come in a keep and see to their needs. The last few years I only have one horse and she goes to the trainers yard who's pupil competed her and a get back a lovely tuned up horsey. This year she will stay home and some one will see to her and hopefully foal that I,m waiting for. If i were you as you are about to start the eventing season I would save up for horse to go to trainers yard for week.
 
If I were you if funds allow I'd take the opportunity to have GG beauifully schooled for when you come back ;)
If funds don't allow and you get a friend to ride him instead then make sure that they ride him a few times before you leave under your supervision to make sure they will be ok together.
Last time I went away a friend from across the road was looking after the horses for the few days I was away and I said if she felt like it she could take Remy for a little hack just walk and trot if she felt like it. My friend has had horses all her life, I've seen her ride hers and felt confident there wouldn't be any problems just plodding round the lanes. How wrong I was!! I got back to be told that Remy had reared up on the road and fallen backwards into the ditch, and nearly got hit my a dustbin lorry!!!
I haven't been away since (not for that reason though, just due to lack of funds) and when I'm away this summer she will go to my trainers for the week to be kept ticking over because it is safer for all involved even though it will cost a small fortune.

Sorry not meaning to scare you about getting a friend rather than a professional in but thought I'd share my experience.
 
shark1 said:
i either plan for them to have a holiday or leave mine with my family who can just about manage to move them from the stable to the field to turn them out, and muck out. i have had someone local come and ride them for me, never again!
if its desperate that they need work i send them to my trainer but i prefer not to as its ££££ and i have one who gets really unsettled by it and she hates him with a passion and tries to kill him so she would only get lunged anyway!

Can you get someone to lunge it? or someone to get some hacking into it?
whatever you do dont jeopardise your trip for your horse as your only young! (dont take that patronisingly!) (plenty of time for horses 100% later!)
Click to expand...

I definately won't jeopardise my trip and don''t worry, didn't take it patronisingly. :p Far too good to miss, a week in Lazorote in the April holidays to the world's number one sports resort, that means a very happy person! Horsey will be hacked by my friend and have two sessions from my trainer, then works out fairly cheap and he still gets schooled twice in that week.

Thanks for all the replies. :D
 
I feed them, groom them, drive them etc, whatever I do when not on holiday:D
 
I have a similar dilema, however because my car was recently written off (someone drove into me whilst I was stationary!) pony has had time off anyway, so I plan to leave her in the capable care of her field mates owner and will just give her another week off.

What about finding a freelance groom that rides as well? get them in a week before to ride him with you there so you have peace of mind.
 
I haven't found the perfect answer yet. I keep mine at home, which means no yard mates to help. My setup here isn't the easiest, and my horses can be very difficult to lead in winter, so I haven't found the right idiot/I mean capable and brave individual :rolleyes: who would look after them.

If it's summer then it's usually only for a weekend or something, and I have someone who comes in and house-sits. The horses then only get fed/checked. Last time I went away properly was for 3 weeks in November, so they went on full livery to a nearby yard. This gave me a bit more peace of mind but was v v expensive.

I'm actually considering setting up a business that deals exclusively in holiday livery! I wouldn't want permanent liveries, but I find it so hard to get my horses looked after that I figured others might be in the same boat?
 
Does four days away a year count as a holiday? We keep the horses at home, so if I go away sister looks after them, if she goes away I take over all duties :)
 
I just give mine the time off and a friend does the chores. They don;t loose much fitness in a couple of weeks.
 
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