Just Wondering

NoviceNic

NoviceNic

Sexy Dressage Pony
May 7, 2003
10,180
2
0
On my horses back...
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At present I keep my horse at my friends private yard. I am currently looking at moving him. I feel as if I want more, to be honest I always want more.:rolleyes: I want to hack out in company or solo. I want to jump and do dressage and have a RI on hand for lessons and generally give me something to work towards. I want to talk horses to people all day long. I want to get my daughters lose of interest re-sparked. So I am looking at a yard very near to me. But as I am near to completing my house, my dream is to own a small house with about 3 acres. Get some stables put up and have my horse at home. Unfortunately this dream is not cheap and the best way to do it would be to down size on the amount of land. But then I am compromising on having others around me and back to solo hacking blah, blah, blah. So I am not sure it is a good idea. Then what if my OH loses his job the mortgage payments are hurrendous these days. God only knows how first time buyers manange with mortgage repaments near on £1000 pm. But it is my dream. :confused: Have any of you moved to get your dream and then the bubble has burst?? How did the bubble burst?? What problems did you encounter??
 
The thing is Stella 2 I could take it further and say.... If my OH loses his job we only have a small mortgage. I could up my hours and put Captain on share/loan for a temporay time. This would be easier to find a sharer at a livery yard. But if I were to buy house/land then it is probably the house and horse we would lose. I just wish house prices werent so ridiculous. My parents say go for it. If anything has ever gone pear shaped I am resourceful enough to find a way around things. Which is easier if I have more land and then get liveries in to pay for the mortgage. Or I could just buy land and set up a mini livery. :confused:
 
Nic, I've got mine in the back garden. At first it was great, muck out when I felt like, ride when I wanted. After 6 years of being by myself I'm really lonely on my yard. If something goes wrong I cant grab the YO and ask for help and with OH working away I have to deal with everything myself. I've nobody to ride out with and I'm finding my motivation to do anything with my horses is rapidly waning.

Angel is off to foal at Holidays next week and as I've only got two at home Buzz is having to go as well as he wont stay in the field or stable by himself. I'm really looking forward to it, somebody to chat to, jumps, a menage, lessons, I cant wait. I've discussed it with the OH and if I carry on working full time I might get the best of both worlds. Angel and the new baby at home, Buzz in livery.
 
Liz 0- Thanks for that. It didnt dawn on me until I started looking around at prices of houses/land that I could only just afford one with enough grazing for 2. Thus meaning I wouldnt have any human companionship. I keep him at a provatge yard at the moment and I have lost all enthusiasm so I am looking at moving him. Maybe I should see how it goes at a new yard and then decided if I really want to have him at home on his own. Anyone with good feedback welcome to join in. :D
 
Like Angle2, I'd love it at first but I'd soon get bored and lonely. No-one else to talk to, to help set up jumps in the school, to go out hacking with:( You'd need to build yourself a schoolif you were wanting to ride during the winter, need to build stables, a yard, somewhere to keep the hay etc.
 
I keep at home, but this is recent. I love that I can just go out and enjoy them - and if all I do is brush them and chat with them and go back in.. then whatever I havn't travled to get there, I don't feel any guilt at no ridding. However I am SURROUNDED by other horses. Friends just sho up on the driveway and say "grab somemone lets GO!" I have 3 major stables within 5 mins of me with indoor arena's I can use and an outside track/arena that is open for anyone's use year round just up the road.
I could see it being very disheartening being on my own tho. Although as my goal is endurance, I am quite used to logging miles and miles by myself or with one of my dogs.. and of course my faithful I-Pod ;)

As to the mortgage etc.. life is FULL of what if's and if you What IF? yourself to death.. you will never acheive anything!
 
I did this, moved out of town to small house with land, lived in caravan for a year doing a re-build, built stable and tack room in the back garden, and pay rental to graze neighbour's field with his ponies (which has a gate to our garden). It is the only way I could manage at present, with a 1 year old. Even if OH isnt about and I cant ride, I can nip into the garden after my daughter is in bed and play with Oscar.

It does have it's downsides. The biggest is that, with no facilities, I cant ride when the evenings are darker, and work full time so oscar will only be ridden at weekends, unless I find someone to exercise him for me during the week. It can be lonely, but I am meeting more and more people who ride in the area. I can hack 30 mins to my RI's yard, so still have lessons and back up. I have access to a blaze football pitch that I can school in, but cant ride in the field due to the other horses in it.

It has worked out very well so far though!
 
I looked around at getting my own place and someday I still hope to achieve that but for now that is on hold and my livery yard is nice.

It's smaller than I've been on before and so I can keep myself to myself or I can be sociable and no-one seems to mind that much.

Move to the other yard closer to home for now and see how it goes, if you really feel the same way then look into it some more.

I do like being on a livery yard...most of the time:)
 
I have been on a livery yard since i bought my first horse, but i can certainly imagine how lonely it must be to have your own yard. Sure, it'll be nice and peaceful, do with anything how you want and basically do your own thing. But for me, i need people for support, for the 'horsiness' and the company for schooling and hacking. I can have confidence problems, and if i am on my own i feel alot worse.
 
I think I have the best of both worlds really. Cherry is about a mile down the road, 2 mins by car and about the same on a pushbike due to some cut-throughs. I shared a horse last year who was the only livery in a private house with stabling and I hacked out alone 4 times a week and yes, it was boring. I am far too much of a gas-bag (eh, HC? :p ) to be a solitary livery person. Cherry is in a yard which currently has over 60 horses and ponies. Yes there are times when you can't move for bods but on the whole it's quiet when I am there and I love the social side of things. With having Chez so close, I can nip home for a cuppa if I want, pop down to do this or that and I don't have the hassle of disposing of muck heaps, upkeep of stables and land etc. Yes, I could move Cherry to a cheaper yard but (a) it wouldn't be so close so what I gain in livery money, I would lose in petrol money (b) it might not have so many good facilities and (c) I would lose a lot of friends. And my horsey-friends are VERY important to me (which is why I'm also on here night after night :eek: )
 
I keep mine at home, all 3 ... but I guess it's different here. We have 'barely enough space for 3' with 16 acres LOL! I can ride from the front door, and although it is technically trespassing, I have access to hundreds of acres of beautiful unspoilt Smoky Mountain woodland and rolling meadows as they are bought up for bulldozing for WalMarts and such. Until they disappear, i have access to fleeting paradise. I never get bored. The key to that is having a nice active yard 10 minutes away by trailer, very easily trailerable youngsters, and plenty of goals to work towards with each horse. I think if I were 'just riding' then being on my own with them, I'd get bored .. but because we're always working towards one thing or another, it keeps us all motivated. After 30 minutes at the local barn - which is not actually that busy - I tend to feel a bit stressed and 'over talked'. Funny what you get used to isn't it, last real life I had involved a 3 hr a day commute into London, can't imagine doing that now !
 
Thank you for all your replies. I can do what I want to do and socialize with other horsey people all the time at this new yard. I am looking at putting Captain on part diy/full livery. I may find it a struggle to turn him out 3 morns a week. So I dont think it is unreasonable to pay an extra couple of quid for someone else to turn him out those mornings. The only disadvantage of a livery yard I can see is the schooling and back stabbing. When the school is free others will want to school as well. I am sure that as long as we are all sensible that shouldnt be a problem. There are 2 schools and a jump paddock. I have a choice not to get involved with the back stabbing by walking away. Plus I wont have the worry of paying a phenominally high mortgage for my dream home. I have spoken to my OH and he is overwhelmed that I have changed my mind about moving. Although he wanted to give me what I wanted. Bless him. He was very worried about such a huge mortgage. Plus he loves the house we live in and are doing up. So know he has promised me we can plan for all sorts of other things now.

Off to make my list....

New horse trailer
Conservatory
Holiday to Florida

:D :p
 
NoviceNic said:
God only knows how first time buyers manange with mortgage repaments near on £1000 pm.
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They bought a bigger house than they should have, in that case :rolleyes: I'm 23 and me and OH bought our first house last September, and our repayments are almost half that amount! Even though I've got the most boring, badly paid, part job ever... NB if anyone knows of any well-paid job vacancies loosely connected to admin/science/genetics in the Cambridge/Huntingdon/Ely area please let me know! I asked Ponies UK to send me some details about the job they advertised but the stupid fools told me to apply for the job. Yeah right, like I'm going to apply for a job I know nothing about... :rolleyes:

Anyway, back to the OP - if I were you I'd put the idea of keeping your horses at home on hold (especially as you want to ride out with others). Move to a new yard with other people and more facilities, and then you'll have hacking friends (which you will still be able to stay in contact with and hack with when you eventually do get your horses at home!). Good luck with the decision anyway :)

Just read all the other replies - it seems you are doing what I suggested anyway :) Sure it'll work out well :)
 
evilgiraffe said:
Anyway, back to the OP - if I were you I'd put the idea of keeping your horses at home on hold (especially as you want to ride out with others). Move to a new yard with other people and more facilities, and then you'll have hacking friends (which you will still be able to stay in contact with and hack with when you eventually do get your horses at home!). Good luck with the decision anyway :) :)
Click to expand...

Good plan B evilgiraffe. I like your way of thinking. I love to plan. :D
 
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