Where is the BEST place in UK to have a horse?

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jen1

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As we are all so sad about the poor horses from Amersham let's find out what's the BEST place to keep a horse in the UK. May cheer us up a bit.

It's good to have a moan on here and get things of our chests but let's find out where it's really great!

I would think it would have to include the nicest yard, best facilities, good security, great YO's, fantastic other liveries, help when required, great hacking, lots of places to compete that don't take too long to get to, great feed merchants, saddlers, tack shops, vets, dentists, farriers, great riding clubs/pony club, etc etc in fact all the things that go towards having a happy, healthy and rewarding horse and hobby (or career if you work in the industry!)

By the way this isn't an advertising space, just wondered what part of the UK ticks all the boxes!

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Got to be where I am in Cheshire
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Close to Somerford Park and it helps that my sis in law is a YM there so get to use the facilities. Plus the main vets in my area have a horsepital there.

My yard is fab! Very friendly, great hacking, school is ok, very reasonable.

Quite a few Equine Centres around that have regular shows, so never very far to travel.
 
well for me East Sussex

We have lots of lovely yards and my yard has a lovely big indoor school as do 2 other yards within 15 mins from me. We have a guard dog so great security! We have hickstead, firle, pulborough, plumpton college and man other great places to compete. I have 3 tack shops within 15 mins of the yard. My vets are amazing cliffe vets have helped pickle so much.

And as for the hacking words dont describe it so here is a picture
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I think that somewhere like Exmoor or the New Forest would be lovely to live and keep horses.

And of course Scotland - all that open space..................
 
Well done Jen1 for trying to cheer us up, i was just thinking what would help! We're not forgetting about them though!
I've only lived in one place but i do love it!!! I live in Worcestershire just north of Worcester, semi rural and my horses are in rural location 5 miles away. It is my dream to move closer to them and eventually have my own yard, but we can dream! I just think rural worcestershire is such a beautiful place. But i do love Pembrokeshire, i've only been twice and i'm not really interested in the sea side like the rest of my family is but love the place. Prob partly becasue we befriended a man that worked at the shire horse centre and ended up going to his field to ride his own shires.
Also Worcestershire is in a good location for everywhere!
 
The hacking through the woods next to my yard is unbelievably great. We have beaches within 45 mins, indoor school currently under construction, very knowledgable and nice yard owner and other liveries, olympic sized outdoor school and no less than 6 equestrian centres/cross country courses within an hours drive. Not bad. Weather can often put an dampner (pardon the pun) on a lot of outdoor pursuits for those inclined to be fair weather riders though
 
i used to be based in Hartpury, Glos. super YOs (friends of mine), the college just up the road for loads of comps, great grass gallops nearby (free), good local xc schooling, very close to m'ways, lovely quiet hacking, fantastic hills everywhere, Cheltenham nearby for shopping (oh dear, i'm sad), lots of other venues, great trainers everywhere, loads of BE events close by. just wish i could afford somewhere over there now!
only drawback was living near the river, i have never had so many colds and coughs in one winter!
oh, and the fact that the field i turned my lad out into didn't actually have any fencing, so i just had to trust him to stay on the grass and not wander into the adjoining wheat, and intercept him when he'd had enough and wandered up the lane... i kid you not. i must have been absolutely crackers.
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The South Midlands, without a doubt.
Yes, we do have busy roads, rug and tack thieves and pricey livery, BUT there's just so many ways to enjoy your horses. If you can cope with a bit of road work we've got some great hacking, including hills for fittening. When we had our cobs, we used to go on a sponsored ride, to a hunter trials or hunting nearly every week - there's some lovely countryside and lots of jumping!
Now we're more into competing, there's so many venues to do all sorts of disciplines within easy reach. Being central means that even our western shows which are at fairly specialist venues are never more than 2.5 hours away.
It might not be as tranquil as some of the UK's beauty spots, but it's fun, fun, fun!
 
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As we are all so sad about the poor horses from Amersham let's find out what's the BEST place to keep a horse in the UK. May cheer us up a bit.

It's good to have a moan on here and get things of our chests but let's find out where it's really great!

I would think it would have to include the nicest yard, best facilities, good security, great YO's, fantastic other liveries, help when required, great hacking, lots of places to compete that don't take too long to get to, great feed merchants, saddlers, tack shops, vets, dentists, farriers, great riding clubs/pony club, etc etc in fact all the things that go towards having a happy, healthy and rewarding horse and hobby (or career if you work in the industry!)

By the way this isn't an advertising space, just wondered what part of the UK ticks all the boxes!
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Lancashire is'nt bad, apart from too much rain
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(On the Fylde side)
We have 6 competition centres less than an hours drive away
Beach 20 mins
great feed merchants, saddlers, tack shops, vets, farriers, great riding clubs/pony club
Yard facilities good, we have 4 with indoors and outdoors within a 6 mile radius of my house! Never found a perfect one yet thou! (not sure they exist in RL)
 
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I think that somewhere like Exmoor or the New Forest would be lovely to live and keep horses.

And of course Scotland - all that open space..................

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I'm lucky enough to have my horse on a yard in the New Forest and I categorically confirm it to be absolutely amazing
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I am v lucky indeed. Fantastic yard and facilities and the other liveries are awesome. Both my horse and I are very happy bunnies indeed!
 
For me it would have to be Dorset
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5 mins down the road we have heathland to hack over then if we cross the road we can hack all along the coastal path, miles of fields to canter across
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Or we can always go the other way and hack through the forest
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We have american barn stabling (yeah no getting wet), fab school and our own fields
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Tack shop and feed merchant 5 miles away

Equestrian centre in next village which holds competitions
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I like Scotland because its generally a cheaper to keep a horse up here in the way of livery etc. (I did say generally though!).

There is loads of space, however in my area we don't have such a thing as bridleways! We just have farm tracks which we're allowed to use (freedom to roam act) but they don't maintain them! There is lots of nice forestry about though I guess. We do however miss out on big venues. Theres LOADS of horses in my area yet we miss out on a lot. We don't have a lot of things England have such as Team Chasing and things like Le Trec and Jump Cross venues etc. are very spaced out!

I dont know where's the best place to keep a horse since Ive only ever kept mine here! But Id love to keep mine in somewhere like the New Forest or just somewhere with loads of decent venues round it!
 
I'll put in a vote for Wiltshire. My last yard had fabulous hacking over open downland and hardly any roadwork. It was so good I feel a bit cheated now I'm on Salisbury Plain as we have to share with the army! It still gives miles of off road hacking though.
Lots of good xc courses and shows around and the weather is sometimes half decent too.
 
In our case, we would say Newmarket because that's where (in our opinion) the best equine vets are! Thankfully we are only a few miles from them. On top of that, within a small radius there is Lordsbridge for show-jumping, Isleham and Ely Eventing Centre for Eventing, Fenning Fen for Affiliated Dressage and Suffolk County and Norfolk County showgrounds not too far away for showing the youngsters off.
 
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I think that somewhere like Exmoor or the New Forest would be lovely to live and keep horses.

And of course Scotland - all that open space..................

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Yes the open space in Scotland is lovely - when you can see it through the torrential rain we enjoy most of the time!
 
No contest - the New Forest. 90,000 (yes, that's NINETY THOUSAND) acres of riding where you like. OK, any jumping is only hopping over fallen trees and logs(if such is your thing) but . . . . . . ..

I have had discussions with people who only have bridleways and riding round the edges of fields - how awful . . . . and I get bored with riding with all Forest on my doorstep!
 
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