Keeping your first horse

Aine1230

Hi All, I'm a newbie. I have recently taken up horse riding after a 15 year break and I'm still dying to own my own horse. I have 2 questions.

1. If I bought a horse and kept it at my parents house and only rode at the weekends would this be OK or does a horse need to be ridden every day?

2. Is it suitable to keep the horse in a field where it will have access to a stable and water and will be fed but wont be ridden until the weekend?

Also if anyone has an idea on the cost of keeping a horse in this manner I would appreciate it. Unfortunately livery in my area would cost too much.

doctor evil

It depends on the horse, some can be gotten away with and others will hot up. What really would be of concern is the fencing/size/aspect/drainage/soil type of the field, how big is it? If it gets poached into a mud soap it won't be any good to you or the horse and will take time to recover. You may have to supplement the animals diet with ad lib hay. Horses generally do better with company, and then that company may need company for when your riding horse is being ridden If it's just one or two horses you may find it tricky to find a farrier so you might have to box them to another yard. A good farrier can pick their clients.

OP it may be easier all round if you find a share/half livery.

convert

Aine1230 wrote: »

Hi All, I'm a newbie. I have recently taken up horse riding after a 15 year break and I'm still dying to own my own horse. I have 2 questions.

Hi Aine, welcome to the forum!

Aine1230 wrote: »

1. If I bought a horse and kept it at my parents house and only rode at the weekends would this be OK or does a horse need to be ridden every day?

Is there any chance your parents would be able to lunge your horse for you a couple of times a week when you're not there? Even 5-10 minutes per day would be a great help as it would keep your horse relatively fit as well as keeping the freshness off.

When I was at school and regularly competing and hunting, my mum loose lunged my mare for me for about 15 minutes everyday and loosed schooled her over one or two small fences every day to keep her jumping muscles fit. It worked really well and meant that I could then compete/hunt (normally only stayed out for an hour or two, because she wasn't at peak fitness) at weekends, or take her for hacks around the road.

Aine1230 wrote: »

2. Is it suitable to keep the horse in a field where it will have access to a stable and water and will be fed but wont be ridden until the weekend?

It really depends on the size of the field. If you're going to keep one horse out, it's recommended to have at least 2 acres for the one horse. Is the field big enough that you could divide it up into paddocks and strip graze it? The problem with keeping a horse out during the winter is that there's very little, if any growth, so you may find that you run out of grass very quickly, as well as having the field turn into a mud bath. As Dr Evil said, you would probably need to have a constant supply of hay available for your horse, so it could feed whenever it wanted.

You say you have a stable. Would it be possible to stable the horse at night and for your parents to turn out the horse for a few hours during the day? That way you'd be able to save the field from getting too poached during the winter so that there'd be good growth in the spring.

You'd probably also need to feed some 'hard food'. If you're not going to be riding during the week, go for a relatively low protein (10-11% should be fine, but it might be a good idea to talk to a nutritionist/vet and get their advice) feed to stop the horse from getting too fresh on you during the week. It would also cut down on the chances of your horse getting azoturia when you go to ride during the weekend. If the horse is kept out, it'll be constantly moving around, so reducing the chances of getting azorturia. It's more common in stabled horses who are getting high protein feed and are usually in work.

Aine1230 wrote: »

Also if anyone has an idea on the cost of keeping a horse in this manner I would appreciate it. Unfortunately livery in my area would cost too much.

The cost can vary from horse to horse and area to area. It depends on how much you have to pay for the hay/feed, and on how much you're feeding, and what type of feed you buy. Vet bills, worm doses and farrier costs are all pretty constant and need to be factored in.

There have been a few threads on the cost of keeping a horse, but with the search function down at the moment, I can't give you the link. You could try looking back over the older posts in the forum (older than the last 2 months) and see if you find anything there that may be of help.

Aine1230

Thanks a million for the replys. I am at the very early stages of looking into owning a horse so just trying to get all the info so I can make my decision. We don't actually own the field. My neighbour at home owns a lot of land around our house and is allowing me access to this land. There would be no problem with my parents and family looking after the horse as far as feeding and making sure it was OK but I doubt they would lunge it as they wouldn't have any experience with horses. I am doing private lessons at the moment and to be honest I think it would work out cheaper to own a horse than to get lessons every week.

I'm doing a course this weekend which is all about owning ur 1st horse so I'm hoping it'll answer a lot of my questions. But thanks again for the info.

Dilynnio

Aine1230 wrote: »

Hi All, I'm a newbie. I have recently taken up horse riding after a 15 year break and I'm still dying to own my own horse. I have 2 questions.

1. If I bought a horse and kept it at my parents house and only rode at the weekends would this be OK or does a horse need to be ridden every day?

2. Is it suitable to keep the horse in a field where it will have access to a stable and water and will be fed but wont be ridden until the weekend?

Also if anyone has an idea on the cost of keeping a horse in this manner I would appreciate it. Unfortunately livery in my area would cost too much.

Hi Aine,

I was in the same position as you at the beginning of the year! I bought a horse, kept it in livery for awhile and then brought it home to a field.

I was only home at the weekends while in college and it was very unfair on the horse. They really need to be worked everyday if they are to stay fit and healthy. He got lonely and depressed although my parents fed and watered him everyday. I eventually moved him closer to where I was living but the cost of keeping a horse is enormous......livery, tack, insurance, feed, supplements, worming, farrier, dentist, vet fees, back specialist....all adds up!

I decided to sell him a few weeks ago.....I made a huge loss on what I had put into him but he is very happy now....being riden everyday and schooled and is really excelling with his new owner who has the time and dedication that is needed to own a horse.

I thought it would be easy.....leave him in a field with food and water and ride him at the weekends. I believe a person needs to commit 100% to horse ownership. you really have to take into consideration the welfare of the horse and for exactly what purpose you want it.

Thats my experience anyway. Its a huge relief to have moved on from horse ownership, its a massive responsibility with a massive bill.

Anyway thats my experience, I wish I had someone to have told me this before I had purchased one. Its not as easy as you may think.

I wish you all the best in making the right decision for you.

eddie12

Hi Aine,
We keep two mares and we only ride them on weekends and the odd morning during the winter. In the winter they are kept behind the house on 2 1/2 acres, fed nuts morning and evening and have a round bale of hay in their feeder all the time. It has worked out grand for us the last few years anyway. Luckily, there are no problems with freshness. Personally, I wouldnt keep a horse on their own. You could get a donkey or pony for company.
Good luck whatever you do

doctor evil

Aine1230 wrote: »

I am doing private lessons at the moment and to be honest I think it would work out cheaper to own a horse than to get lessons every week.

You may quickly find that is not the case! Horses are a black hole when it comes to money.

The access to land from your neighbour, do you have this in writing? It's just that horses can poach land quite badly, what shape is the field in now. Is your neighbour a farmer.

silverfox88

loaning or sharing!! because of the cost of keeping horses and the recession etc, a lot of people are having trouble paying their livery bills. i know in my case, it was both the time and the money that it made it prohibitive for me to keep my horse all by myself. i know have a lovely woman who shares the livery costs and rides my mare for me at the weekends and pretty much any time im not able to. the great thing is that theres no risk of situations such as those like dylinnio described - particularly with your first horse it is definitely wiser to share or loan to see how you cope - im on my 6th horse and horse ownership is stilll a learning curve with each one even after all these years! i share part of my livery costs with my sharer, basically she pays about 35 euro a week which is about the price of lesson (as far as i know, i havent taken lessons in years!) but she gets the horse for the weekends and an evening during the week. i still pay the farrier costs etc but its a welcome break for me and a great progression for her as i knwo that plodding around an arena week after week and not really getting any further can be very frustrating! a friend of mine is actually looking to share her horse at the moment now that i think of it, he's a dote of a horse, a little 15hh lad who would try and jump the moon if you asked him to, i dont knwo where your situated Aine 1230 but it could eb a viable option if your interested, pm me for more info! either way, id really recommend looking to share - theres a sharing thread here as far as i know, maybe take a look? juswt be aware that taking on a horse is a HUGE responsibility, even with mine in full livery as she is she takes up a lot of time and you also need to remember that horses are herd animals - if you were to keep one at home on his own chances are you would soon find him not to be a very happy bunny at all! best of luck!