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kerrysgold

If you have paddock are you allowed to let a horse graze on it if you are a few miles outside town but have neighbours quite close? could the neighbours do anything about it as long as the horse wasn't causing a nuisance? we have thick trees and hedging in between us and the neigbours that a horse definetly couldn't go through.

TheB

kerrysgold wrote: »

If you have paddock are you allowed to let a horse graze on it if you are a few miles outside town but have neighbours quite close? could the neighbours do anything about it as long as the horse wasn't causing a nuisance? we have thick trees and hedging in between us and the neigbours that a horse definetly couldn't go through.

KG. I don't mean to be mean but if you genuinely have to ask a question like this I would stick to a livery yard if I were you.. you would have help and support there.

To answer to your question - unless the animal(s) kept in the field caused a nuisance (by escape etc) your neighbours have no say whatsoever on what you graze on the land next to them. Please take a look at the many different animals grazing land next to / near neighbours etc all around the country for confirmation of whether you are allowed to graze close to other people..

In this day and age there are not many grazing areas that do not somehow connect with people and homes..

Bx

kerrysgold

well livery isn't an option and besides, I just wasn't sure if you were only allowed to keep a horse on non-agri land, a neighbour of ours got pets goats before and the neighbours said they had "made sure he was pushed out", but he was living in a rental house, so I wasn't sure if they could complain about it seeing as we own the house & land. We do have a good few horses living in fields adjacent to gardens around the area but they are agri land.

otwb

Can you give us a bit more detail? If you are in a house with an acre or two of gardens which are fenced off then its a completely different prospect to putting a horse down the end of the garden in a built up area...

How close are the neighbours? Generally as long as you are not planning on putting a muck heap beside their kitchen window I wouldn't see what cause they would have to object.

kerrysgold

It's about an acre with farmland behind (no houses) and there is farmland across the road as well but also neighbours fairly close on each side and a few houses across the road as well.

otwb

If its the acre ouutside town then I wouldn't see it as a problem personally. Am assuming that it's not a full time thing with just the acre though.

Have been looking at houses lately and there seems to be quite a few with the 1/2 acres and stables etc on them - so you wouldn't be the only one doing it.

eth0_

If it's only an acre I don't think that is adequate for a horse. Ideally you should be able to split your grazing into two sections, and move the horse to the other section every 2-3 months to give the land time to recover and let the grass re-grow.

Where are you going to school the horse? You are going to churn up that acre in no time if that is all you have.

All in all, this is not a good idea.

If you have farm land around you, why not ask the farmer if you can rent a field from him? And if you can't afford to rent a field then you shouldn't be buying a horse!

kerrysgold

I'll probably be renting a field across the road for the main grazing but I was planning on bringing the horse across to our own place for during the night and for riding and probably grazing as well for a while until the grass got low then I could put him back across the road.

otwb, I know, I saw a house for sale and it only had 3/4 of an acre but they had six loose boxes o.O I think the horses were only turned out in a tiny area though which isn't really fair, and they were probably boxed the majority of the time.

fits

Is this your garden in Kerry? I thought it was less than an acre.

TheB

otwb wrote: »

Have been looking at houses lately and there seems to be quite a few with the 1/2 acres and stables etc on them - so you wouldn't be the only one doing it.

There are loads like this - it took us forever to find a house with the right acreage (4.75 to grass).. it seemed like loads with the half acre and then loads with 20 acres but none in the middle.. but people do manage with just the 1/2 acre somehow.. but as Eth0 says it's not ideal..

We calculated for 1 acre per horse (2 horses and 2 minis) plus 3/4 acre "spare".. although the minis won't need a lot of grazing.. we are also lucky as there is a school too so grazing doesn't need to double as an exercise area..

I do know of 2 people who have 3 horses on half an acre but they rent summer grazing of 3 acres from May to end of September ..during the winter months their horses live in 24/7 - only being turned out for a couple of hours at weekends as they use the half acre to school on in winter too (has a sand track round the edge of the field to avoid the ground getting too turned up).. both horses have stable vices and the pny gets stress colic and lives on a calmer all winter..

KG - how come livery can't be an option - i.e grass livery ? No livery nearby ? (sorry if you've said before - I can't remember) What you describe below as the land you are thinking of using seems like it would be ok for horses. Tbh - as long as it's a suitable size etc for grazing and there are no covenants etc in the house deeds I'm not sure anyone can stop you grazing on it.. if it's yours.

kerrysgold

Fits, yep it is, we thought it was 3/4 of an acre but after measuring it it turns out to be an acre minus the bit in the middle for the house of course, and then theres a back part and a front part.

theB, that's sad about the ponies being kept in a stable all the time I imagine that's like torture to a horse!

Livery isn't an option because a) too expensive b) nothing close and c) most of the cheaper smaller yards that I've visited want the horse kept in during the winter and I want my horse to live out 24/7.

eth0_

kerrysgold wrote: »

Livery isn't an option because a) too expensive b) nothing close and c) most of the cheaper smaller yards that I've visited want the horse kept in during the winter and I want my horse to live out 24/7.

What's wrong with that? Why does your horse have to be outdoors 24/7 - you could turn it out during the day?

If you can't afford livery I fail to see how you can afford a horse tbh..

kerrysgold

I want to keep my horse as naturally as possible and being stabled isn't natural.

I never asked for people's opinions on whether or not I could afford to keep a horse, but just for the record anyway, livery is a minimum of about 50-70 per week and keeping a horse at home definitely doesn't cost that much! and anyway, there aren't any close enough so you can add petrol costs on top of that for having to drive about 40 miles per day.