Taking a horse to uni!!!

[Sophia]

HI i decided that after tears and much worrying that im going to take my horse to uni with me, as putting him out on loan for 3 yrs is going to be to distressing for both me and him. (LOL im such a loser who would think someone could get so attached to nappy , rearing, spooky little pony)

Anyway i was wondering whether anyone took their horse to uni with them? and what happened when say you wanted to pop home for the weekend? Did friends look after your horse or do most uni's have like a part livery facilate where you can pay someone to look after your horse? really would like some answer as itll be impossible for me to travel my pony up and down the country every couple of months for a weekend as i dont own transport so will have to hire or borrow my friends!

[horse_em]

Hello
Was just reading through your thread... I went to uni and to be honest the uni I went to didnt have a liverly and I dont think any other unis have it up here (scotland). The only possible options is that maybe your are going to a university that speciailises in equine/argiculture, other wise it may be looking for a livery that is close to where you may be staying.

I wish you luck ... hope all works out

[JustJas]

I went to a uni near enough home to come back to my horse at weekends- would not have had time for her if I had taken her with me anyhow.........

[cvb]

Sophia

are you doing an equine course ? I am only aware of liveries linked to where you are studying if they are part of the course. Otherwise its just whatever normal livery exists in the area, and normal co-operation with fellow livery people.

[shandy84]

What course are you doing? I gave up my course partly because I had no time for the girls and they were too young to be ignored one day I could pick the course back up if i fancied it but for now it's not an option.

could you get a sharer to make it a little easier for you if you take your pony to uni that way you could each take turns etc also what happens at the end of term etc?

[eventerbabe]

i too picked a uni close to home in order to keep my horses. if i'd gone to my first choice (edinburgh) i think we'd have had to sell toby. i did know people who brought their horses with them but they had to travel a fair distance to see them every day and many got fed up by the end of first year and sold them. i did get a great deal of help from my mum, and still do. she mucks out/turns out on a morning even now coz i'm 20 miles from the yard, she's less than a mile away.

[Volvic]

I'm going to Hartpury College in september & will be taking a horse with me (have hopefully found one now :) ) I know someone who went to Hartpury a few years ago & she ended up keeping her horse off-campus because he hated the restricted turnout & she managed ok. If you arent doing a horse-related course, it will probably be more difficult for you to take a horse, especially as your friends probably wont understand why you need to get up early every morning (well early = before 11am for most students!) to go and see him & then go back later in the day to put him to bed.

However, given the choice of selling him or taking him to uni which may encroach on your social life etc, the horse would win every time for me!!!

Good luck :D - do you know what uni you're going to yet & what course are you doing?

[Esther.D]

I also picked a uni close to home, lived in uni during the week and my parents checked ponies for me (for which I will be eternally grateful) and I worked them at weekends. They were out 24/7 all year so could cope with just exercise at weekends, however I had to stop competing as didn't have time, much better than having to give up my ponies altogether though :)

[lynz+ollie]

i took my horse to college with me and it was great fun but very hard work it's great because all the things i learnt in the lessons i could practice outside of college day. and i was really nice to be able to go see your pony whenever you want. but you have to rmember it a totally different life, parties EVERY night and at first i did get really over tierd satying out all night then doing ollie in the morning, especially when i was on yards i had to be down at 6 to finnish ollie for 7 to then go and spend 1 and 1/2 doing all the college horses. then u had to do lecturs all day. then after you would have to do yards, then your own horse and i often didn't finnish untill 7 - 8 o clock so its a long day. but well worth it

[Sophia]

im hopefully studying animal behaviour science and i know that they ve got on campus livery there because i ve booked a stable and seen the yard( it looks really new and posh in comparison to were i am now). i think ill cope lol but its nice to know that other people are going to do the same thing.

it ll be really funny when i get there and turn up with my happy hack and everyone else arrives with there top quality competition horses! :D

[lynz+ollie]

yer one thing i found was that it seemed to be very competitive, and people would always go past and moan about the way people are riding and things. that was annoying,
people are always really judging you at my college, it really hard to impress anybody enless you like ride for GB

[rache]

I'm going to Hartpury College in september & will be taking a horse with me (have hopefully found one now :) ) I know someone who went to Hartpury a few years ago & she ended up keeping her horse off-campus because he hated the restricted turnout & she managed ok. If you arent doing a horse-related course, it will probably be more difficult for you to take a horse, especially as your friends probably wont understand why you need to get up early every morning (well early = before 11am for most students!) to go and see him & then go back later in the day to put him to bed.

However, given the choice of selling him or taking him to uni which may encroach on your social life etc, the horse would win every time for me!!!

Good luck :D - do you know what uni you're going to yet & what course are you doing?


cool vovic, char (charlotte+jill!) is going there too in sept and doing equine and im popping up to see her on weekends- have been ordered to lol. So i will see you there with your new ned and scooby dude.

[lynz+ollie]

what uni are you going?

[Sophia]

Im going to lincoln its the only uni i could find that did my course if i could have found one a little closer to home i would have prefered it.
I gathered that it would be quite competitive (it always is on big yards) but thats cool im prepared for the snotty looks lol. I was talking to the yard manager and she seemed well unimpressed when i told her that i only do novice dressage, dont really jump that much and basically just hack.

[Volvic]

You're not the only one Sophia - I'm sure I'll get plenty of snotty looks at uni when people find out I do Parelli :)

[Sophia]

lol we will just have to be proud to be different.

[Evol_or_revert]

I put my horse up for sale when i decided on uni, instead he went out on lease the people didn't look after him so i got him back.

So I took my horse to uni with me. I got a job working in a stable near the uni so my horse is going to go live there at $50 a week :o not good for a poor uni student. I only have 18 hours a week in class time at uni :D which gives me plenty of free time, dont remind me that I should be studying lol.

Im trying to teach my bf who is at uni with me about horses just little by little so that he can look after him when i go to aussie at the end of the year. Luckly for me nicky is so quiet that he doesn't care how much the bf mucks around :p.

Having a horse at uni is great, since im not studying horses it's great for me to be able to get away and have some fun.

[jUmPingIsLifE]

Tahoe is comming with me to college!

i have to leave autumn at home which is breaking my heart but i can come home on weekends at least. usually boarding barns around your school are a lot cheaper then at the school its self so if you find a close barn that might be better then using the schools barn (some schools done allow you to bring a horse though, so make sure on that before you make plans) then you have to take into account how busy you many be and how easy after paying for uni it will be to take care of your horse. For me i came to the decision that during school i would be HALF leasing tahoe, that way we split the costs on him and split the riding time. so if i am busy he is still getting worked ect... and paying for him will be much easier!

goodluck i hope it works out for you.

[TT11]

When I took my arab to college with me he was a very green 5 year old. His schooling really came on during the time he was there due to the excellent facilities and instructors. I only ever did dressage to Novice level and hacks out. He had never jumped when I took him to college and we got him up to 3'6" however, he was very unpredictable with it so I never competed at any of the jumping competitions there. I found that everyone was very friendly regardless of who did or didn't compete and to what level. A lot of people knew me for having an arab though as most of the other horses there were TBs or warmblood type crosses.

[Sophia]

You sound just like me we do dressage to novice level and hack i do very little jumping as my little anglo arab is really unpredictable to. Lol its nice to here that you got on really well. It makes me worry a little less about the whole thing. I might get up there a settle in then once i know the area better i might look into moving to a cheaper yard. but saying that £35 a week i dont think is to bad it includes stable/bedding and hay and turnout.

[Yorkshire_Lass]

I've been reading all your replies to this post with a lot of interest as I am not sure what to do with my two horses when i start uni in september. I don't want to send them away on loan as I know from experience that can be more trouble than help a lot of the time, and i can't sell my pony due to her having headshaking syndrome and she is my first pony who i have owned for years and I couldn't bear to part with. I'm still debating what to do with my other horse, I bought him 2 years ago as a 4 year old to bring on which we have done and i would love to start competing him now but I don't know how much time i will have for things like that when i'm at uni so I am considering selling him on now, even though I really don't to but I guess it will best for him in the long run. Leaving them at home is not an option as I will be to far away from home to ride them regulary, which they both need.

I am quite conserned about how my pony will be acccepted onto the college livery yard, it is a well respected equestrian centre and everything on the livery yard is a big tb or warmblood type and my pony is a 15year old 13.2 new forest, but I love her very much and it would break my heart not to have her with me, I know I shouldn't worry about what people say but i think we all know it's not that easy. :( I am quite relieved some of you are having the same concerns as it means i might not end up being the only pony rider as other new students might be taking them too, i'll only find out when I get there, which I am getting more and more worried about!

YL x

[Volvic]

Where are you going to uni Yorkshire Lass?

[Lenvale]

Message deleted

[toohorsemad]

God I know a girl who sold her horse for the JC (I live in Ireland!) and I was looking for a horse at the time and I found it fine to ride and study at the same time but I am not in uni! I don't know if I would be able to handle it! I might let my sister mind my horse but I would probably loan him! I know it would be hard maybe I could balance it out! I am glad I don't have to make that choice just yet! :D

[Sámie]

I think its a good choice to take your horse, why should the fun stop now work has to be done, you shouldnt leave everything behind! good luck!