when you own one horse why do you want two ?What makes you finally take the plunge ?

T

thinlizzy

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 June 2010
Messages
766
Visit site
I have a horse im happy with, for months ive sufed the horse sales sites and a particular youngster has caught my eye cheap enough two year old and im ..:eek:really want to buy dont know why i feel like this or wether i condone it im thinking im mad as have a lovely youngster i wouldnt sell but i think id love to have two ?This one will need a lot of work i know that it will grow a few inches bigger than current boy but im quite taken by her and simialr breeding lines too maybe im thinking shell be similar to my ned , temperment and boldness and beauty
Do you think this ?Have you done it and whats your story ?
Thanks stop me someone !
 
Hmm I was in the same situation as you a year ago and took the plunge. Last week I was thinking what's the difference between 2 and 3 and I now have a project pony too :rolleyes:

Don't do it! Once you have more than one it never stops... I now have 4 dogs for the same reason...
 
I bought a youngster to take over from my oldy. That was the plan anyway.

I ended up having to ride both of them as oldy was no way ready to retire!

In the end youngster was PTS very shortly before oldy. So it didn't work as I had planned.

I'm not sure why but having two horses seems to cost more than double and take more than double time to do.

It's highly unlikely I would do it again tbh!
 
Well I went up to two a few years ago when I was switching from ponies to horses. I kept the little jumping pony going and then started loaning my 15.2 horse so I could get used to riding a big horse. When I sold the pony, I waited a while before getting another one as I was (and still am) extremely happy with my boy, but I like riding with my Mum and my friends so I bought my lovely Welshie :D

There is no doubting that it is a lot more work, but if you have the time to keep both healthy and excercised that I don't see why you shouldn't ;)
 
Had one - still have her and love her to bits, perfect girly in so many ways. Then she was on grass livery and the other person sharing was leaving, so she needed a companion or would have to move - so got second one. Second one did at least cost peanuts to buy, and is cheap to keep (native). Was fun having two - seemed more social somehow. OH then slowly took over the second one, so effectively I only had one again. Was like that for a few years, then got a project pony last winter to play with. Was going to sell her this summer but didn't find the right people, and she's far too fun anyway, so she's still here for now, and happened to pick up one more who I saw advertised at a fab price and will hopefully fulfill my long shelved dressage dreams. So now 4 lol! Hopefully will go down to 3 again next spring.
 
I wanted to get a young Sec A to bring on, show in hand then sell on but let myself be blackmailed into getting Cop instead - love her to bits though :)
 
I moved from DIY to rent my own field when I got Harvey. He was ok on his own, but I often thought he looked sad, so I looked around for a companion for him. That's how I ended up with Nemo. Apart from poo picking, it isn't any more work really, as they both live out. The boys bonded really quickly, but I am really lucky that neither gets too upset if the other leaves the field, so I can happily take Harvey out and leave Nemo alone (he is only 2, not being ridden yet).
Have to admit to still scouring the ads for another! 2 hardly any more work than one, so what harm would another do?!
 
Got the second as first was share with OH, and wanted to do occasional hack together, also we were going to be moving to have horse/s at home so our chap needed company, and finally I wanted to get something young to back with my RIs help.

Its all worked out very well, although old horse is a bit at a loose end as OH works away in the week and hes not good to hack alone. But hes going on 18 so not a disaster to be semi retired. Youngster is now seven, and brilliant!
 
I moved my mare home, and got a pony as a companion. Son started riding pony. Husband looking after both mares. My mare htes him and bullies him! Bought my husband a nice hunter gelding. Son then grows out of pony, and we are offered another too good to miss at a very cheap price. End up with all four for another year! Sold first pony and am looking forward to day that son grows out of new pony and can share our two horses!!

What I will say, is the more you have, the less attention each one gets. I used to ride my mare for long rides, now I end up riding my husband's too if I'm off work mid week, so they both get shorter rides. Also the tack doesn't get as much cleaning, and there's always something that needs clipping or trimming! Until this year they were all doing different activities - one youngster, one BE, two PC! This year at least the youngster should start eventing too, which will be easier.

Also, the obvious one, they cost more. Another set of shoes, more insurance, more injections/teeth to be done...etc. Much more time doing jobs too...

Think very carefully or you'll end up like us!! (Although we love them all!)
 
I bought another because I thought mine was going to have to be put down and Icouldnt bear to be without a horse. He rallied and the second horse is being a big problem, but I ve fallen in love with him so keeping both at the mo. Might change my mind when gone through winter with two.
 
Mine live at home & for ages I've had one in work & my old retired mare who is now 37.

The one in work, Adrian, had 'something' wrong with him which eventually turned out to be EPSM, & we did the rounds of the vets trying to get a diagnosis & not getting very far. I was getting very bored of not competing, so got an ex-racer to keep me busy.

Then we found out what was wrong with Adrian through someone on here, so he came back into sort-of work, & OMG it was so hard riding 2! I work in the City & there were just not enough hours in the evenings. And paying for 3 lots of shoes, having to separate all for feeding cos A couldn't have anything with sugar/grain...

He went on loan last week & tbh it's a relief. I was v attached to him, but dreading doing winter with 3, even with them out 24/7. 3 lots of rugs to keep repaired, 3 to hay during a hay shortage, A couldn't have had haylage if I ran out cos of the EPSM...

For a couple of days I enjoyed having a 'spare' & was thinking about competing 2 when it was looking like A would go back to competing. Now I'm soooooo glad that I've only got one in work plus Jenny who's no trouble.

Talking of which, I need to do the late night feed, so best get out there.
 
OMG well, I was meant to be looking for an alrounder warmblood type and well....I instantly fell in love with a 15.2hh traditional irish cob and so did my stepdaughter. Not much of a difference eh? Well she's only 5 and so quiet for toots but such good fun for me. Well two weeks ago she arived and although Ginge isn't totally impressed he's coming round to the idea.

that really wasnt meant to happen not until we were actually ready to move....I was just going for a look lmao...honest :)
 
Started with 2 here, kind of levelled off at seven keepers - ish. :o

Why? Well, we needed 2 to ride, then I rescued a sad looking arabian mare, then I found the colt with the breeding and colour I wanted, and then I found a mare (ditto stallion) and then Charley came along and there's a foal here too right now. I am extremely fortunate in that I have adequate facilities and don't have to worry about paying rent - just rates, taxes, insurance, the mortgage, usual stuff.
 
My gelding was already broken when I got him, so I was limited with what I could do with him. When the opportunity came to get my current mare I took it, rightly or wrongly and definatly for all the wrong reasons, but I juggled so that i could keep her as the thinking was that she would take over from the old boy. When I finally lost the old boy, I had 3 equines as I had aquired a companion pony. Pony has now gone to a fabulous home, gelding to the great fields in the sky and I am now left with my mare who has by far surpassed my wildest dreams.
 
Well, I had one horse (my wonderful pony Charlie) for about 11 years and he is fab, perfect, wouldnt change a thing about him... Except his size! He is only 14.2 and is now 18 so also getting on a bit. I had wanted a youngster for a while and decided on a friesian so it took a few years to save up the pennies i needed!! But, i got her 3 years ago and she is great, im really pleased with her!

Two isnt really much more work for me as they're not stabled so i dont have to do lots of mucking out, when they were it was considerably more work of course. It would be nice to have another one so that there isnt a horse left in the field on its own when i take t'other one out :D

I think if you have the money and time to have two then go for it! :)
 
I always planned to get a youngster when my mare got to 16 to bring on slowly and to have when she retired. Unfortunately I lost her suddenly at 15 and went on to buy her unbroken half sister. She is quite high maintenance and slow to mature so whilst I am riding her now it's going to be a couple of years realistically before she's ready to compete. She's also a very mareish mare and suffers with her seasons which makes it difficult. Hence why when I had the opportunity to buy a 15 years old gelding for a low sum of money I went for it. So far i'm loving it even though they are at two separate yards and both in at the moment. However he will be going out 24/7 from the weekend which will make it easier. Of course ask me mid winter I may not be loving it quite so much. Although I work full time I don't have any other commitments and am happy to spend all my spare time with the horses. My only worry is if my circumstances change as if I still had my original mare I would have sold the youngster but now I have two horses I wouldn't ever want to sell. Hey ho cross that bridge if we come to it.
 
I was in the same situation however I bought another two!!!
I couldn't help myself they were tiny little 6 month old babies sooooo sooooo cute, I looked at the colt, fell in love then found out he had a half sister the same, age, breeding etc so I had them both! Don't regret it at all, learnt so much and I've thoroughly enjoyed it! x
 
Lol I seem to have had 2+ for a long time now! Started with mare, she was lonely so got companion pony. Then mare broke so after uni got my Arab, had the three. Then OH learnt to ride and got to point where mare could do what he wanted, so got him a big schoolmistress type. So at that point had 4! Then his mare broke and we moved house and went onto livery. Costs/ work added up (previously kept them at home) and had to make cuts. His mare went to a broodmare home, pony went to retirement yard in Wales. So down to two, and must admit was a relief! OH then decided after a two year break he wanted horse again so went and found youngster, but he lost interest after about 6 months by which time I had fallen in love with the youngster! So back to 3 but mare on loan to happy hacker, may retire in near future and will then live out at grass locally. Two to muck out and ride is more than enough!
So reasoning - well often for company, then reasoning behind keeping him now is that he is 10 years younger than my boy so hopefully will follow in his footsteps. As his workload increases older boy will probably slow down. That's the 'theory' anyway, truth is I just love him and despite prospect of a decent profit if we sold him I'm not letting him go!
 
*whispers* I have 8 ponies :eek: :o :D Aged from 6 weeks to 26 years. I love having a little herd :D Although we are absolutely full to capacity now so will not be increasing further. None of them are anything particularly special to an outsider, I like taking cheap ponies that no-one else really wants and seeing what I can turn them into...my £35 pony has been placed at county level showing for example :) And the old mare I took on to stop her from going for meat last summer got placed county level this spring too :) I will not sell any of them on, I'm not doing it for the money. If they enjoy it I show them locally, if they are good enough they go further, if they are neither they just potter about at home :) And I can spend ages watching them all interact in the field :)
 
I had Tilly and when moved to current Livery yard, she was in paddock by herself (basically each owner has a paddock so several horses are by themselves) so I wanted a nice small companion Welsh b or something. Something quiet my very, young nieces could ride.

Instead I brought home Fidley, an unhandled 14.2hh. Looks like she may be my pony and I might lose Tilly to my nieces. :(

I've just heard of a welsh d/highland for sale that I know. Really tempted but again, he's not novice ride and 14 yrs old so would be another pony for me. Not sure I'd have time for him as well as an unbacked 3 yr old and keeping Tilly going. :(:(:(

Not one of these is the 16hh horse that I'd had in mind!
 
I have 3! I bought a mare with a 3 week old foal at foot :) Then last friday I bought a gelding because my mare had taken all the fun out of riding for me. I now enjoy riding her more now I have a sensible one too.
 
I bought Roo last October as a 'project horse' but completley fell in love with him (i'm no dealer - who was I trying to kid!!) he's so much easier and laid back that the other one!

I don't find having 2 too much more work than one tbh - by the time you've travelled to the yard I find it makes no difference. I also argue that having two is actually far easier than having one, if one can't stay out on their own. I no longer have the 'omg is Tiggy being left out on his own' panic at 4pm every day, and can leave them out/keep them in as it suits me, not his field companions. They are also completelt in love and share feed buckets and everything, so he's a keeper for ever :)
 
Four's the best number to have methinks (well, at least when they're living out 24/7/365 at a place with no-one else's horses, like mine do!). Four's great because you can lend one to a friend to ride out with whilst you're on another, leaving two in the field to keep each other company.

Story of the last 15 years... My very first horse was showing signs that her working days would be coming to an end, so I bought a youngster to run on until he was old enough to back and while the older horse was still able to be ridden.

However, the place where I kept my first horse, which I didn't want to move her away from, was at the same time completely unsuitable for a newly weaned youngster. So, I found some rented land very close to my house which was ideal for running on a youngster. However, the facilities on the land were non-existent, there was nowhere to hack and school - so I had two horses in two different locations. And of course, the youngster needed a companion, so I gave a home to his dam (who was going to be retired from breeding anyway).

Then I kind of accidentally on purpose bought home another youngster of the same age to run on in the same field (as it was so easy at the time!).

A couple of years later, OH expressed an interest in having his own horse as well - knowing that my two youngsters would not be big enough for him. So, another bargain yearling and we ended up with OH's horse. That made 5, in two different locations. As it was time for the first elderly mare to retire from work completely, we decided that she no longer needed to be at the livery yard and it would be far easier for us to bring our horses all together. That did mean finding more land, with better facilities as it was then time to start doing some training with the youngsters. Eventually we found somewhere and my herd has been together ever since.

Having lost one of the elderly mares a couple of months back, I'm now down to four. Four's perfectly okay, but I have no plans to go back up to five again.
 
me and my OH have one each, we both want 2 each :)
Both are youngsters who we`re working on so ideally we both want another horse which needs no work, which we can have fun on, not that the current two arent fun they are :)
My OH is also planning on breeding Roxy in the future so he`d need another to ride and there`d always be another for company.
 
Well the old (appaloosa) got arthritis and damaged suspensory so cannot do much really. Bought a pony for my boys and then spent months looking for a new hunter. Now have 3!! Hard work but I would not now go back to having just one. Go for it, you'll never look back.
 
I had a horse which turned out i could only hack in company, bucked in the school, went on strike out alone (not what i wanted to do:(), after a year trying to correct I decided i wanted to breed from her, looked into it all etc then realised it would be easier/cheaper to buy a youngster which i did (he was nearly 2).

Thats how i ended up with two, but then -

I sold her and had another on loan who i can do all what i wanted on with the idea in the back of my mind that when Monty (younster) was backed and could be ridden the loan pony would go back, realistically i knew i would get attached and a year later i was asked if i wanted to buy Mystic and i jumped at the chance, so thats how i ended up with two again :)
 
I've only recently done the opposite - after years of owning 2 or 3 (competing) horses, I'm now done to only 1. Also have 2 retired ponies, so for a few years I ended up with 5 horses in total. Competition-wise, I liked having 2 because I enjoy doing a variety of disiplines. For example, for the past few years I had my current horse who does BE & BSJA and a Welsh Cob who I did mainly M&M showing and WHP classes with as well as RC stuff - he was my "fun" horse whereas my current one is my "serious" one. I also had a 3rd pony every nown and again who was a "project" that I bought, backed, brought on and sold after a few months purely for the fun of it (I love youngsters).

I feel weird only having one horse (who's rideable) I must admit. Its odd not having anything to ride the day after an event (I always give him a day off)... I cut down purely because I cant afford or have the time really to compete more than 1 nowadays.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top