Options for moving the neddies

Jessey

Jessey

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Dec 20, 2004
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Suffolk, UK
I've been scouting about for options for the neds, I'm very lucky to have a few choices none are as ideal as where I am now but at least I have options :)

There is 7 acres right in the forest about 2.5 miles from home, I'd love it but it is remote, which is great for hacking but maybe not so great for vehicle access in winter or for a lone female to hang out in the forest. It has no buildings, no power, no mains water and a very ropey electric fence perimeter but its nice old grazing.

I'd need to replace the rope at least and work a way to power it consistently, put up a shelter and figure a way to collect rainwater off the roof and sort some storage for hay/feed and get some solar/12v/generator lighting as I work full time.

Someone used to rent it about 4 years ago but one of their horses went missing one night, it showed up the following evening loose in the forest, the gossip varied from someone tried to steal it, to it got loose, but since then no one has rented it.

I could put a long track round it, then maybe have the middle 5-6 acres cut for my own hay.

Last I heard he wanted £100 a month for it but I wonder if that might be more negotiable given its sat empty for so long.

Am I nuts considering it? I'm handy, I can build shelters/sheds myself and wiring up some lights is easy enough (and I have a sparky friend who would check my work)
 
Hmm not sure I'd like to be completely alone and so isolated myself.
I would worry about the horses and myself.
But I'm a bit of a wimp.
 
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What are your other options?

I would worry about my ponies if there is no one nearby to keep an eye out for them. My yard is 1/2 mile from home so I am not on site, but it is behind houses and I have two very reliable people who live in the houses who keep an eye out for me.
I think the actual set -up sounds great - like you say shelters could be built and power/ water can be sorted but it does sound a bit too remote.
 
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It sounds doable if you are handy with sorting shelters etc, would you be allowed to put things like that in? I would me more worried about the horses - not myself lol - have fork will attack!!!! But seriously, wonder if there is a reason safety wise for horses that nobody has already snapped it up? So where is the nearest residence? I sort of quite like the idea in one sense, being as it's private but maybe not altogether a good idea for the horses - if they escaped could they come to much harm??
 
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Does it have a decent boundary fence or is it just an electric fence and then forest? That would be a no for me but I'm sure you could make it work.
 
There is another horse property just a few hundred meters away in 2 oposite directions but no residence for at least a quarter of a mile in any direction. The other 2 sides are the track then forest and the forest then the river. I don't believe it has any rights to water from the river.

I've just been down for a reccy, its just electric fence boundary, the fence line along the track also has a 4+ ft dirt mound to the outside of the electric, the rest is just into forest, the nearest Road is a quarter of a mile away. There is a nice nook at the back corner of the field which is big enough to put a shelter and shed in which couldn't be seen from the track. The track is open public access mostly used by riders and walkers, the only vehicles permitted have to have a key to the gate up at the road which is forest rangers and people who own/rent the few little parcels of grazing.

Another definite option is the neighbouring horse property, she has a 2 acre field I could have, no buildings, no power, no water, though she has stables on the field she uses. I'm less inclined on that one because it shares 1 fence (crappy wire fence) with another paddock with someone elses horses in and Jess has been known to take out fences/gates if she dislikes another horse and 2 fences are right onto a well used footpath so on a 2 acre field I'd have to put a fence 6ft in on 3 sides loosing quit a bit of the field.

My back up plan is to move the horses back to our last livery, but they can only offer us a temporary space at the moment and all their paddocks are sand (no grass) and 20x40 ish which jess found very stressful before, but its a stop gap if I need it.

There are 2 other livery's but both have herd turnout and jess isn't good with other mares on the whole and the thought of children and less aware people going in with her worries me, especially after our little run in last week, she can just be a bit unpredictable in the field and I'd never forgive myself if someone was seriously hurt by her.

There is a lovely field a little further out of the village, maybe 4 miles from home, 2 cottages back on to it but it doesn't look like they are associated with the field. there is a quad cart lodge in the field and its currently empty though I've seen sheep on it in the past, its got a good perimeter stock fence so my mission this afternoon is to see if I can track down who owns it :)
 
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Good luck with your mission :)

The 7 acres in the forest sounds idyllic, but in practice I would worry about the isolation. I'd worry about my own safety (thinking back to that poor woman who got stabbed and killed a year or two ago) and I'd worry about someone stealing or attacking my horses - I'm never one to miss an opportunity for worrying :rolleyes:
 
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I don't know what it's like near you, but I used to know a lady whose land was down a gated track....she had horrendous problems with fly tippers continually blocking the access. Hopefully an irrelevant consideration and it all works out well for you!
 
No good point @Calluna, we do get fly tipping in the forest, but I've never seen it at this gate, the gate is just on the village boundary and the foresty commission office is just around the corner so I suspect if it did happen there it would be readily dealt with :)
 
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7 acres for 100 would really be a bargin even with no facilities. I'd make it work somehow. Water would be the worst issue. Although I know one person who survived for years with no water and use to take it in the car each day.
Re electric for fencing. I have purchased one of those solar panels and have it wired up to my energiser/12v battery. So far I haven't had to charge the battery. Normally I was recharging once a month.
We also have them in the cattle electric fence. Varying fence lengths. Through the summer it's fine. We have just had to recharge one battery on a long fence recently with the shorter days.
Just thought I'd say I wonder if you can get similar to power a stable/field shelter.
 
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I think it was a Gallagher one. The panel just pushes in the ground on a metal stake. They have different wattage ratings so for 7 acres you'd need a good one. So far we have been really pleased. On our high tensile cattle fence we were charging the battery every week. We started in April using the solar panel and as I say we've only had to do a charge once. Has saved us loads of work.
 
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Mission sucess, in that I found out who owns the other field, but failure in that it's some historic/listed site so horses are a no go on there :(

Back to the 7 acres, the longer I think on it, the more I want to do it. It is isolated, but I used to live out in the forest and it was the most secure I've ever felt, in town there's always someone about and you never know if it might be for a bad reason, out in the sticks you hardly see anyone. I've also thought I could get a trail cam I can access remotely so I can keep a check on the neds when I'm not there, maybe aim it in such a way to monitor the gateway too so I can see if anyone is paying the horses too much interest.
 
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Trewsers said:
I like the idea of the trail cam, now that sounds like a bit more peace of mind in that you can check them randomly.
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I am in that with that idea. I think its really good given where abouts in the field the horses are and no one is around ( like your current set up) You can ... nt sure how you would do it but you could have like an alarm near or around te field/ entrance so if anyone other then yourself went there it could alert you? Though sending that I reckon you have to be near by for that??
 
lauren123 said:
I am in that with that idea. I think its really good given where abouts in the field the horses are and no one is around ( like your current set up) You can ... nt sure how you would do it but you could have like an alarm near or around te field/ entrance so if anyone other then yourself went there it could alert you? Though sending that I reckon you have to be near by for that??
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You can get PIR shed alarms that you put a sim card in and it calls you and text you pictures, the difficulty would be where to put it so the ponies wouldn't set it off but prowlers would...
 
Jessey said:
You can get PIR shed alarms that you put a sim card in and it calls you and text you pictures, the difficulty would be where to put it so the ponies wouldn't set it off but prowlers would...
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Ooo that's good! Yes I can imagine it would need to be in a place they or hank couldn't get to it... Can you only get them for sheds? Like can they go on gates? Wooden posts?
 
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