Wistful plans of getting a horse

[Evelyn]

Ok, I've only riding for a month, and aren't planning on getting a horse in the next year, even., But hey, might as well think about it.

Here's some questions I have:

1. My garden is very big, I live in a rural area, I have a gimungous lawn. We don't take pride at all in our garden, though, so a horse trampling over it wouldn't be a problem. How much space does I horse need?

2. There's a stable in my yard, with a half door, nailed together with a bit of wood, easily unnailed, it's quite big, around the same size as the ones at the place i take lessons. How much room should a stable have , though?

3.Galadriel, can I have a link to your approximate horse care costs, I can't find it?

4. How much should actually purchasing the horse cost? Just the horse?

5.If I were to loan/lease a horse, how much should I expect to pay?

6. How much should boarding a horse cost? Roughly.

I'm sure I'll think of more questions, but that's all I have to ask for now.

Claire.

[Esther.D]

One horse really needs at least an acre and a half ideally and more would be better as it will get very muddy and mashed during the winter so you need to be able to rest sections for reseeding after the winter or just to give them time to recover.

[Big Ears]

If you wanted to keep a horse on a very small plot then it would be better to invest in an all weather surface, as that way you have something to ride on in badg weather and also the horse will not be standing knee deep in mud.

However, you really need to rent grazing as well plus one horse alone is generally not a happy horse.

We have about 1/2 acre of our own which is split 50.50 into sand and small paddock, but we rent 3 acres across road - this means that we have all year turn out and also we have the sand to ride on, keep them on in foul weather (so they don't poach the field) and also for injuries (one has been off with laminitis since April 04 and been living on the sand).

A garden would be fine for a shetland or even a pair of donkeys but if you have a horse with shoes on then they will just turn it into a mud bath, which isn't really fair on the horse.

[Tangle]

Agree with the above re. land for a horse - do bear in mind Big Ears point that horses like horsey company and do get lonely if kept by themselves.

To answer some of your other points:

A standard stable is around 12 ft square, although can be smaller for little ponies. You'd want to check it for anything at all dangerous (nails or other bits of metal, any wires, etc) and also that it was well ventilated - I did read that any cobwebs in the rafters should move. You'd also want to check that the construction was still sound - horses do buck in their stables ;).

How much a horse costs is a very open question. You can pick up native ponies with no training for <£100. Or you can buy a top competition horse or stallion with superlative blood lines for >£500,000. And there's everything in between. You need to define what you can afford (cos you'll easily spend more on a horse :p) and then look at what's available for that price and see whether you'd be happy - if not you might want to look at loaning.

If you were to take a full loan on a horse then you would be responsible for all the running costs. You'd need to cover feed, bedding, vetinary cover, farriers bills, worming, jabs, dentist and anything else I haven't thought of. The plus side is you don't usually have any up front cost, but otherwise it's as expensive as having your own horse. Leasing can be more flexible - some riding schools offer a part lease system so you can "own" a horse pony for 2 or 3 days a week. The cost will depend on the days involved and what you get - 24 hour access? mornings only? do you have to muck out? I think I was paying about £20 or £30 for a weekend where I could do what I wanted and didn't have to do any "chores" if I didn't want to.

Livery costs will again be very variable depending on what you get. Grass livery can be pretty cheap - you might get below £50 month month. The more services you add on the more the cost goes up. If you add in full schooling livery or hunter livery you could get up to £150 per week or maybe more.

Hope that helps - if only to refine the questions you need answered :)

[Lora]

There's a few things that I'm learning since I've been studying horse care for a year now. (second time around in my life)

1) wait for your first fall before buying a horse. I'm friends with a ton of rescuers on the yahoo groups that wind up having to save some horse from a person that fell and is now scared or the horse.

2) Read everything you need to know before checking out one single advertisement or offer. There are a wealth of online articles to consider before buying any books. But books are more thorough: Search google for horse care articles and you'll find lots of places.

http://www.dragonfare.com/Horsekeeping/

http://equisearch.com/care/

Also, consider maybe volunteering on the essentials first for a stable near you. It's important to pick hooves and tack correctly or bad things can happen. My stable wouldn't let students do it originally, they are paranoid about liability even though I'm a student there anyway. When I started to talk about boarding there, they suddenly changed their tune and offered.

I'm definately serious about doing it, I'm making sure of a few things before I plunge.. One that I can comfortably know all the emergency things needs, correct care things like floating, vacinations, ferrier durations, etc. Common illnesses etc. In addition to several grand for startup costs, plus an emergency 1000 for unplanned vet bills.

The first things are reading and learning and meanwhile getting that stable fixed up. There should be no loose boards, if you can kick it and it moves.. guess what they can do. Someone else mentioned nails. I know a horse now that seriously hurt himself on a nail, they're so right... What are the floors like? If there's fluids seeped into the dirt from a lawnmower, you'll probably want to replace that dirt, or make sure there's sturdy wood flooring, concrete, etc. Are you going to do pads and hay? or dirt and hay? (so many considerations)

Do you have a horseperson that can shadow you a bit the first month? That is really helpful if it's feasible.