Who owns their own land/stables that isn't attached to their home?

[cblover]

Just a general wondering really. I own 3 acres and we've built stables and a barn with planning permission on there but its 2 mile away from my house. Same town but the other side, takes about 5 minutes in the car to driver there.

Do you like having your own place? Is it better than livery but not as good as having them on your doorstep or is it better having them separate? Everyone thinks differently so I am curious really.

I'd like to be right next door to mine but I do feel very privileged to own my own place and its better than a livery yard...for me anyway. I have 3 horses and couldn't afford them on livery anyway. Plus hubby thinks of our 'ranch' as an investment for our retirement.

I'm aware of the security issues and we are as careful as we can be but you can never be 100% sure. My fields have a few houses around them and lots of friends often drive past and give me an update. When I have a think, I know quite a lot of people round here who own their own place but don't live near it.

 

[Asha]

I have the same. Absolutely love it.

Its 2 miles on the same road as my house, have about 6 acres. arena, stables, barn and block/steel agri building.

Its a fab haven.I can understand why people would want them at home, but for me I prefer it this way as it keeps all the mess and little furries at the yard and no where near my home.


Far better than livery, as you can do what you like when you like.

 

[cblover]

I love mine too, can't think of anywhere I'd rather be. We don't have as much land as you and no arena but I mainly hack and can travel to meet friends or go to any riding club event. I'd love to look out of my kitchen window and see them but I still feel very lucky having my own place.

I often say to people my dog is more work than 3 horses because she comes home with me and the horses are done as part of my daily routine so when I get home I can relax!

 

[*hic*]

I still technically own a house with stables and winter turn out but with grazing land further up the road. It worked well although it got a bit crowded with seven horse on a one acre plot during the winter and we lived like that for 8+ years but I always hankered after having the land attached to the house and I'm very lucky to have just moved to a place with the land adjacent to the house. I'm really happy to have everything in one place

 

[Spottyappy]

Yes,similar to you,about 3 miles from home.
Also love it,would never want to go back to having to do what suits other people.
It is hard work,with maintenance as it sometimes feels you spend all your time doing jobs and not riding. But,its all mine! Also,means I can collect horses,which I could not afford to if had to pay livery fees! We currently have 3.
It can be a problem when you are ill(I have just had major surgery,and finding a good,reliable freelance groom to help out when my daughter and OH are unable to,has been challenging. (A friend has stepped in to help now)).
I would also love to be able to look at them from the kitchen window,but this is almost as good!
Security is befriend the locals,dog walkers are great! Padlock and security mark everything.and,we use trail cameras for additional protection,lkie this:
http://www.trailcampro.com/scoutguardsg580mreview.aspx
The cameras are dotted about,and encased in bear boxes (from theUSA) to make it harder for anyone to remove them.

 

[Asha]

I love mine too, can't think of anywhere I'd rather be. We don't have as much land as you and no arena but I mainly hack and can travel to meet friends or go to any riding club event. I'd love to look out of my kitchen window and see them but I still feel very lucky having my own place.

I often say to people my dog is more work than 3 horses because she comes home with me and the horses are done as part of my daily routine so when I get home I can relax!

My dog comes to the yard too. He loves it, although he does like it a little too much, and ends up swimming in the brook, eating horse poo, and where possible a real treat of rolling in fox poo. So yes, hes more work as we end up bathing him before we go home.

The main problem i find is that its sooooo easy to just keep adding to the herd as there are no additional livery costs

We do some local shows, done a little bit of breeding, but mainly just love being with them all. I have just found that being on our own place has really made it a complete family affair. My hubby never got involved when we had them at livery, but now, well he loves them nearly as much as i do.

 

[Milkmaid]

I have had both. In some ways it is easier having them separate from the house as you tend to allocate time to chores and as someone else mentioned, the mess stays at the yard!! I tend to waste much time nipping out to skip, feed, tidy, poo pick, smooch etc.

......but then you can`t beat looking out of the window to see your neds grazing in the sunshine. (not so great when you see them having a hoolie tho! and very hard to resist going to grab them in!!)

I have stables and 0.75 acre at home which I use on & off all year and another 1.75 acres up the road (walking distance)
I also have 2 acres in the next village(a mile away) that I never use as I can`t bear them being that far away anymore.

I`d rather give up horses than go back to livery. I like to do as I please in a way you can only do on your own place!

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

I also have my own yard of stables & storage barn etc set in 4.5 acres but with no school, its about 3.5 miles from home on the shortest route.
Its also my haven for peace

Always a worry leaving them when I go home, so keep early & late hours there. Tack & going out stuff is all kept at home & everything else there is plastered with paint with home or yard postcode I dont bother locking anything up, except the main yard gate as if someone wants something badly enough, they will do anything to get it.

 

[Sunshine]

We do. Have 7 acres, stables, hay barn and arena about a mile away from home and have owned it for over ten years now. It's been hard at times, especially when there was so much to do to to get started or when we wanted to go on holiday abroad, but I do prefer it.
We have had a few issues with light-fingered visitors, several of which were proven to be a supposed friend who keeps her horses further down the lane. From bales of hay, pony nuts, buckets, wheelbarrow and headcollars to a rug off a pony's back (the most spooky and wild pony that could never be caught and wouldn't go to anybody it didnt know) and my laminitic pony's cavallo support boots. I know these small item thefts happen on livery yards too but this was more upsetting to me than the one time we did have a proper break in because it was someone I had trusted. She also helped her 17 year old son to drive off after he had crashed his car into our hedge, without checking that the fencing was intact. It was the neighbours who saw them and called to notify us, but she tried to deny it had happened so that he didnt have to pay on his (her) insurance.
It is a small price to pay for the ability to do exactly what suits me and my horses.

 

[Asha]

I also have my own yard of stables & storage barn etc set in 4.5 acres but with no school, its about 3.5 miles from home on the shortest route.
Its also my haven for peace

Always a worry leaving them when I go home, so keep early & late hours there. Tack & going out stuff is all kept at home & everything else there is plastered with paint with home or yard postcode I dont bother locking anything up, except the main yard gate as if someone wants something badly enough, they will do anything to get it.

We have security, it wasnt massively expensive and well worth the peace of mind. Have all stables / barns etc with individual sensors. So if someone opens them the alarm goes off. The alarm then rings my mobile.

My next job is get to broadband, as would love to see in the stables when im not there.

 

[Spot_the_Risk]

We do, we live in a tiny village on the edge of Dartmoor and our land is 1.1 miles away along a lane. Five acres, a barn and three stables (but all very tumbledown and tatty, earth floors no electric etc) and a few other little buildings, chicken shed etc. I would love to have house and land together but can't warrant the extra £150,000 to do it! We have no arena but I am a hacker anyway, from our gateway I can directly off road on either a bridleway or a byway, or ride the very quiet lanes. It's unusual for me to meet any vehicles on an hours hack. Pros and cons of course, not sharing duties, having to pay for someone to check the animals when we're away (so never then!) but the plus side of never having anything go missing, liveries 'borrowing' a scoop of feed, or trying on your saddle, or your horse being beaten up far outway the negatives. I do also have four horses now - when I was on DIY livery I had one! I am trying to get down to two though!

 

[carthorse]

We have 7 acres a mile from home. Love it but hate paying non business rates on it and not allowed liveries on planning. Also my husband is ill and been finished at work and we cant claim for anything as we own land. We dont own a house as we live with my daughter

 

[JillA]

I do, mine was 6 miles from home, straight easy road, easy for a once daily visit, bit of a chore to visit twice a day. It was still much much better than livery or renting, I could (can) improve it as I wanted and invest in it. I did try to sell both house and land and buy the two together but the recession had hit and I never got a sensible offer for the land (13 acres with manege and buildings). Sold the house, went into rented then chewed my nails down to nothing before my current house came on the market. It is 300 yards away from the yard!I do think being on site would be better, I could nip in the house for a cuppa or a meal, and do evening stables in winter etc but it does give me that separation that means I am not at the beck and call.

 

[Highlands]

Yes three miles away, 1/4 of a mile and 3/4 . The nearer ones are up the lane.

 

[doriangrey]

Started off at livery and were totally ripped off. Me and husband bought horses off them and when we moved them were charged for months of hard feed despite this being summer and they were on grass livery! Luckily hubby pointed this out in no uncertain terms. Then we moved to DIY on a 'managed yard' which was rented from a landowner. There was plenty of grazing, enough for us to have a consortium and produce our own hay. Stabling was maintained by each horse ower, but the bitching, stealing, god-awful hassle was perhaps even worse. Moved about 13 years ago and have 5 acres grazing plus stables and barn right outside the door. At our most 'horse-heavy' have managed 5 horses (including a stallion and youngstock) but had to buy additional hay in winter. We only have our lovely mare now (for the time being!), but being able to be in charge was an absolute god-send, even if it's not outside your back door. I do understand from my own experience that it's not always possible, though.

 

[moana]

I have land that I have had stables and barn built on. It is about a ten minute drive, slow road, not actually that far away. I would never go back to a livery yard - freedom to do what you want when you want, with nobody to answer to. Of course, it does mean all maintenance is down to you!

Just wish I could live there, but it is geenbelt, so no house building.

 

[Singing Dawg]

These threads are very interesting but i do think they offer theives a great source of info. People show their tack, their stables, yards etc, tell when they are at the horses or at work, going to shows. its not hard to work out where people are if you just pick a profile and go through previous posts, blimey you know all this, the HHO detective agency covers all corners of the land... and probably the world!

I guess i will be told i'm paranoid but in this day and age I think we should all be very careful what info we give away.

By the way i do own land seperate from my house but it is watched over by a very sharp eyed old barsteward!

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

We have security, it wasnt massively expensive and well worth the peace of mind. Have all stables / barns etc with individual sensors. So if someone opens them the alarm goes off. The alarm then rings my mobile.

My next job is get to broadband, as would love to see in the stables when im not there.

Regret I have no electricity & nearest source is over 500metres away from my nearest boundary. To take it to my yard gate & put in meter - the last quote came in more than a brand new top qual 2 horse lorry! (over 20k!!)

So, happy to rely on good old battery powered lights in stables, battery fencers etc, with generator taken down for clipping & if vet needs one etc

 

[Patchworkpony]

Milkmaid - how many horses / ponies do you keep on .75 acre at home? Does it work well or does it get very muddy?

 

[Charlie77]

i have just under 5acres 2 12 x 16 stables though planning for three, planning for 20 x 60 school, (school is coming this spring after having had pp years!) a huge old field shelter, i use as a hay stoor this also has a small stable at one end ,a shed that is my feed room, last year we got electric, 3 years ago we got water, i love this field would not change it for th world, this field is home to me, i grew up there and have had horses on it 26 years

The house next door to our field has 2 big noisy dogs i have an alarm on our shed, my field is closer to there house than there own fields!

I rented the field for years before the old lady who owned it died, eventualy my OH was able to bye it at slightly more than it was worth but 10 years on its worth a lot more, He was self employed at the time, this is his retirment fund, the field is in the village i grew up in and 5 miles for our house though i spend most time at my mum & dads or field than at our house, eventually we will move to the village but have not found the right one yet, a dream would be to build but thats only a day dream x

 

[weebarney]

We have security, it wasnt massively expensive and well worth the peace of mind. Have all stables / barns etc with individual sensors. So if someone opens them the alarm goes off. The alarm then rings my mobile.

My next job is get to broadband, as would love to see in the stables when im not there.

Do these run off battery or electric?

 

[Milkmaid]

Milkmaid - how many horses / ponies do you keep on .75 acre at home? Does it work well or does it get very muddy?

Hi
I have two natives atm, a NF and a heavy cob. They don`t graze at home all the time, I walk them up to the field up the road if its wet so the home paddock doesn`t get trashed. I can`t bear to look out on a mashed field! It`s literally a few hundred yds from the house so not too much of a pain.

My old place I had 2 acres, big stone turn out pens & stabling for two and wouldn`t have liked to have any less.

 

[Asha]

Do these run off battery or electric?

They run off mains electric, but also have a battery pack in case of a power shortage

 

[JillA]

I have Rottweilers for neighbours lol. My place is overlooked from all angles with what used to be the farm house very near with a noisy dog. I did have a break in a coupe of years ago, a padlock was cut but they must have been interrupted because they didn't even take the knapsack sprayer that was just inside the door.

 

[cblover]

Thanks everyone, glad I'm not the only one who loves having their own place even if its not right beside their house. Can't have everything I suppose and I feel very lucky to own what I do!

We have paid to have mains electricity put in and it wasn't cheap but well worth it and it will add to the value if and when we come to sell. There is a house for sale next door to our ranch but its nearly £400k and I'm looking to downsize and free up a bit of cash to travel and have fun now our daughter is leaving school. If we bought that place it would be amazing but i'd never sleep again with worry and never eat because I'd not have a single penny spare cash....just not worth it in my book. I hope a nice horsey family move in (but its so over priced and had no interest), that would be nice.

 

[JillA]

Make sure you keep all receipts for capital investement folks - if and when you do sell it will be subject to CGT, and money for improvements (as opposed to maintenance) can be offset.

 

[quirky]

I wouldn't have mine on a livery yard that didn't have somebody living there. For the same reason, I couldn't have them in a field that wasn't attached to my home.
I'd worry about their safety and health and I'm not generally a worrier!

 

[Rebels]

We have 21 acres 9 miles/ 20 minutes from home, watched over by a batty lady with a shot gun! No electricity, no arena, ace hacking once off the road, chalk grassland so fairly well draining unless we have another overly wet winter. I hate leaving them overnight but the livery yard we used to be on didn't do checks and if I have any worries I just don't leave!

 

[Tiffany]

Having own place sounds heaven and I suppose most peoples dream. Can I ask how you all found the land, stables etc to buy?

A friend of mine is looking and really isn't having much luck at all.

 

[cblover]

Ours was from a farm sale and we bid and won on a lot as part of a whole. It was offered as a whole but didn't get a bid. We'd tried for 15 years before we were lucky enough to get any!