Horse owner feedback please

[kbarrett]

You have some good advice posted above.....I just have a few thoughts to add.
I agree with everyone that horses are happier & healthier living out but with adequate shelter. When designing your set up keep in mind that if your depending on your pasture to provide the bulk of your horses' diet during the warm season it will need maintenance and management. If you don't have a large ratio of acerage per horse you may want to run a fence down the middles giving you the ability to rest one side and prevent over grazing. Since you mention boarding, you also want to consider the feeding situation. When you're feeding a herd (even a small one) you have to monitor that each is getting their share and it can become difficult if a few are on supplements or maintenance meds. At work we typically have 5 herds living outside, yearling colts/fillies, each group averages 8-12, open mares 35-40, maiden mares 10-15 and during late spring thru early fall 2 herds of 12-15 mares and their foals. We feed 2-3 extra buckets so they all get a chance to eat. Not all horses do well living outside in herds, those low in the pecking order can get run off the food, run out of the shelter and generally beat up. You will have to monitor the situation, especially adding horses (boarders) that you don't know. Be careful who you board to..references should be a must as well as a carefully crafted boarding agreement. People are sue happy, not to mention all the nuts

not the good kind either

Pat hit it dead on, there are some scary folks out there that I would not want to have access to my home & property. Someone else mentioned having stalls or at least the ability to convert part of the shelter into a stall..this is very important, there should be an area you can secure a horse who is sick or injured, or if you have 2 horses and want to hit the trails and don't want the other to run the fence line (like mine does) it's handy to have a place to keep them. Overall I agree that keeping them at home is cheaper, as to the not having time...having a farm (even a small one) is alot of work, especially on top of a full time job. Be sure to set aside time for you to trail ride or whatever you love most about having your horse...there is a reason you do all the work

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

WOW! $18 A BALE??!! We pay $2 or $3 here. My dad complained when the price was raised from $2.50 to $3. Hmmm, I guess we should be more than greatful!

 

[CarriBrown]

Quote:
My hay comes from San Diego area, which is about 100 miles from here. With diesel at close to $4... it's no wonder it's so expensive. Then, of course, they tack on the automatic "It's California" fee...

PS. $18 is on sale.

 

[patandchickens]

It is possible those $18 bales are significantly bigger than the $5 bales... my understanding is that in California etc, 100-120 lb bales are common, whereas in the east, your basic small square bale is likelier to be 30-50 lbs (no matter what the hay guy says <vbg>). Still expensive no matter how you slice it, of course.


Pat

 

[living2ride]

I love, love, love my horses, BUT... my idea that it would be cheaper to have them at home rather than board them, and that I would be able to spend more time with them if they were at home, didn't quite work out as I planned.

Here are some problems I've encountered:
While you are not paying for boarding, you will still have lots of expenses. First, it depends on your set up at home. Do you need to build a barn, lean-to's, fence, run water to the barn, stalls? Those can be huge expenses, even done yourself. Materials seem to go up in price every single month. (Trust me, we're in the middle of about 10 projects ALL the time. LOL.) Do you have somewhere to store hay, or will you need to build a place for that as well? Do you have pasture that will need to be maintained? (Mowing, seeding, baling, etc.) Do you have a tractor to use for those things? Time is a huge issue. You will spend more time than you would think just acquiring hay, grain and bedding. You will need to load/unload all that hay, grain and bedding as well, or pay someone else to do it. (Which will be another expense.) If the place you board now handles scheduling and handling your horse for farrier and vet care, keep in mind that you will now have to do those things and be present for them. It's also much easier to accumulate MORE horses because you tell yourself, "Oh heck, what's one more?" Well, one more is A LOT!

Plus, I find that with the horses at home, I am easily distracted from my horse time. I might think I'm going to spend the afternoon riding, but then when I get out in the barn, I find that the cats have knocked over the garbage and that my daughter left baling twine strewn around and our colt pooped in his water bucket which now needs scrubbing and the handle on the water pump is loose... by the time I deal with all that, my riding time is over. Whereas, if I were boarding, I would walk in, groom and tack my horse and go riding. My riding time would be just that - riding time. Home distractions would not enter in (people stopping by, ringing phone, other household chores staring me in the face...). Another consideration - are you used to hanging out with and riding with other boarders at the barn? If so, you might really miss your friends once you find yourself riding around all alone. Do you travel a lot? If you do, who will take care of your horse chores while you're gone? I love to get away, but it's such a hassle that I don't do it anymore than necessary, and when I do, I worry the whole time I'm gone that the animals are okay. There's also concern about someone else getting hurt at my place while caring for my animals. While waking up every day and seeing my horses outside my window is a truly wonderful thing, if I had it to do over, and I still had only one or two horses vs five, I would definitely be boarding my horses and saving myself a LOT of work and headaches.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Everyone's posts are great!! It just goes to show the diversity of all our experiences. For me, I wouldn't want to have myhorses anywhere else. We are pleasure riders/trail riders, and I am a stay at home mom. My animals are my hobby. We don't practice any disciplines, etc, and I never even thought about that when posting. In the simpleminded bubble that I live in, if I couldn't have my horses with me, i wouldn't have horses.

i have enjoyed reading everyone's posts. They have been very enlightening, and I hope you have all the info you need to make a decision. Whatever you decide to do, horses are a big investment-financially and emotionally. they have enriched my life so much!

Good luck with what you decide to do! and great posts, everyone!

 

[patandchickens]

I agree with living2ride's general point, and many of the specifics

... but I just wanted to point out that not everything cited is actually necessary for the backyard horseowner:

Do you need to build a barn, lean-to's, fence, run water to the barn, stalls? Those can be huge expenses, even done yourself.

Yeah, but some of this is a 'mind game'. Are you considering them costs of having the horses, and thus to be totalled up and compared to the horses' board bill, or are you considering them things you'd have anyways and/or 'capital improvements'. If I figured out the cost of buying and paying tax on 19 acres, with fencing and an old barn to maintain, building a big solid run-in, etc, and charged that to my horses' account as it were, then my gosh the horses are EXPENSIVE.

However, I prefer to think that we'd want the land *anyhow*, the buildings are useful in their own right (storage, chickens, etc), the fences need to be maintained to keep their value and anyhow digging postholes is good exercise, and the run-in shed is an improvement to the property. So I don't actually consider any of that to be costs of keeping the horse at home. Some might; I don't.

;P

Do you have pasture that will need to be maintained? (Mowing, seeding, baling, etc.) Do you have a tractor to use for those things?

You don't need a tractor for just 2 or 3 horses. (Not even for 5 or 6, often, depending on your land). Obviously a tractor is sometimes handy but you can get by fine without.

We don't have one. When patches of pasture get too tall with weeds and need to be mowed, I have a heavy-duty 'string trimmer on wheels' with which I spend a couple afternoons going back and forth. We do not make our own hay (for quality hay, most people are better buying than baling their own anyhow) and even though our pasture is rather weedy and compacted and, er, not postcard-perfect, the horses do just fine on it.

If we ever did have to rip it up and reseed, we'd just pay a local farmer to do it. (If you really want to grow your own hay, and have the acreage, you can do that with a local farmer too, either for pay or for splitting the hay with him).

I let our manure pile (what there is of it, since they're not stalled) compost down for 6-10 months then wheelbarrow it out and spread it by hand. All this is quite feasible for the small backyard operation.

Time is a huge issue. You will spend more time than you would think just acquiring hay, grain and bedding. You will need to load/unload all that hay, grain and bedding as well, or pay someone else to do it. (Which will be another expense.)

Again, it depends how you choose to do it. We get all our year's hay at once, usually in mid-October. It takes about 1-2 hours to put it in the barn. That's it til next year.

Once every month or two, I stop by the feed store, buy a sack or two of feed, drive the car up to the barn, flop the feed sacks into the wheelbarrow, take 'em to the containers in the tackroom, and that's it. Probably 20 minutes every month or two and that *includes* time driving to and from the feed store. I don't use many bags of bedding since the horses live outdoors, but if I'm low I pick some of them up at the feedstore while I'm getting feed, no biggie.

If the place you board now handles scheduling and handling your horse for farrier and vet care, keep in mind that you will now have to do those things and be present for them.

That is a very good point. If you have a flexible work schedule you are all set, but otherwise, talk with your farrier and vet now to see what you may or may not be able to work out with them.

Good luck,

Pat​

 

[WriterofWords]

I am paying about 6.50 a bale for a good hay, but I'm in New Mexico and every other person grows hay. I don't feed sweet feed or molasses oats unless it's cold or my horses are getting a lot of work.
I've never had to board but those I know who do pay a fortune for the stall and then also for cleaning and also for feed. It's much cheaper to have them at home.
I do have friends in NY who have horses, but they live on large amounts of land and are serious show people. From what they tell me the different in what you pay for boarding should make a large dent in a payment on a home.
I wouldn't give up my horses, they are friends and great therapy.
Kate

 

[s6bee]

Wow guys. Lots of helpful insight. I have to say that some of the advice is a bit more than the type of place I was thinking of. I am low key, my horses are easy keepers and IF I decided to board, I would be very careful and plan on only taking in older horses who's owners don't do much riding anymore. There is a big need for that around here. Folks don't want to deal with the high prices and issues of a show barn if they don't ride the horses any more. So that would be my targeted area. But that's a big if. I have a great circle of friends to watch out for the horses if I'm gone. I already do that for one friend. I hardly ever go away though and it's usually for just a weekend.
My hope for land is to have enough to rotate pastures. I thought the average was 1 horse per acre, though I know more are usually crammed in around here.
It's a lot to think about. We want land no matter what we decide to do with the horses, but I want to know that it's an option and to look for a home making it possible. Overall it sounds as if costs are less to equal as boarding. I currenlty am cleaning a whole barn and it keeps me away from home for a good amount of time and though I don't mind the work, I'd rather do it at my place, my way. I am a stay at home so I am flex. with dealing with vets, etc. I do it already anyway.
It's a lot to think about, I'll investigate some of the things mentioned and hopefully it will allow me to bring them home in the future.
Thanks guys!
Here at the pictures of our horses
The bay is my daughters Arab/QH cross ( the link is to a photgraphy company that took pics. of them this past fall, they were to decorate in a halloween theme )
http://photosbydangeorge.com/pd2007/14/index.htm
The b/w is my new Spotted draft mare

 

[patandchickens]

Hey, cute horses

IF I decided to board, I would be very careful and plan on only taking in older horses who's owners don't do much riding anymore.

Errrr, well, be careful, as IME these are among the people more likely to default on board and/or make huuuuuuuge unreasonable demands on (or criticisms of) your care. Perhaps I should rephrase that -- 'problem boarders' are somewhat more common in that portion of the horse-owning population. You know? And insurance is still just as important even if they're not riding much or at all.

My hope for land is to have enough to rotate pastures. I thought the average was 1 horse per acre, though I know more are usually crammed in around here.

During the spring and early summer, 1 acre can pretty gracefully support 1 horse for about 12 hours a day, maybe even 24 if you have really good pasture.

HOWEVER, during drier or muddier seasons, and if the horse is out 24/7 as he probably ought to be, one acre will get chewed down to dirt, trodden into horrible mud, compacted, and otherwise thoroughly thrashed, and not only will it provide insufficient grazing thru much of the year it will actually degrade from year to year with that much usage.

For horses in the Northeast, kept out 24/7/365 (obviously, they're fed hay during the non-growing season, which in W NY would be approximately November to early or mid April), you will more realistically need 2-3 acres per horse. If you have less than that, you will spend more money on hay, AND you really ought to invest $5k or so in an all-weather 'sacrifice lot' to keep them off the pasture when it is really dry or, most importantly, really muddy.

We want land no matter what we decide to do with the horses, but I want to know that it's an option and to look for a home making it possible. Overall it sounds as if costs are less to equal as boarding. I currenlty am cleaning a whole barn and it keeps me away from home for a good amount of time and though I don't mind the work, I'd rather do it at my place, my way. I am a stay at home so I am flex. with dealing with vets, etc. I do it already anyway.

It sounds to me like, since you're getting the land anyhow, you would indeed spend significantly less money keeping the horse(s) at home (although I am really skeptical that boarding 1 or 2 horses could support boarding-barn fees for your other horse), and it sounds like you would most likely enjoy it quite a lot

Horses in the backyard *can* be done on a considerable shoestring as long as you get a really suitable piece of land and make shrewd decisions. And it sure is nice to be able to look out the kitchen window and see what the horses are up to. I highly recommend it

Good luck to you,

Pat​