I wanted to post a poll & a topic to see if there were different answers... Here is my TOPIC:
(I've only been around horses for about two years.) I have approx half an acre of land where I live, it is not a "residential" area but there are other houses near me. In the back of my land I have a 2nd home that is basically a two-room concrete block building. For some time now I have been wanting to get my own horse but I am wary of boarding elsewhere. I want to know how much space does a horse need to live on? I have heard of places where horses are boarded in 10x10 stalls all day long, every day. I know these horses must get some type of exercise every day but of course there will be days they do not. On my land, if I tear down the second house, I have enough space to build a small barn with a 10x10 stall, a small tack room, and a run in shelter, PLUS the horse will still have a small "pasture" that is approx 50x50. Also, there are two big oak trees for shade. Is this too small? With it being at my house I will have time every day to provide exercise and can feed in increments through out the day. My best friend that is training me to be a horse person says it is not big enough, but she is one who prefers to board on an open pasture at a 30 acre farm 25 minutes from her house. I would prefer the horse have less space if it means it is closer to me and I can see it every day, anytime I want. Plus it saves money on boarding elsewhere. So where do the compromises begin to get ridiculous? How little is to little?
It sounds like its plenty of room for one horse. You said a barn stall plus a run and a turnout arena? Is your area zoned for horses?
I have 4 horses on my half acre and they do fine. My setup is the front yard, then the house with a patio and grass yard behind. After that the turnout starts, its probably 72' wide by about 40' deep. Then we have 5 12' by 24' stalls opening onto the turnout. I only seperate my horses during feeding time and I keep my yearling gelding locked up at night, just in case one of the older ones might hurt him at night. It seems to work fine. I live in SoCal and most of us don't have a lot of room to put our animals. Everyone I know has about the same amount of space and all our horses are fine. I do like to take mine up to the riding arena and let them run once in awhile.
What kind of horse do you plan on getting? Have you ever had one? I've had so much fun ever since I got mine.
Appylvr, I'm in South Carolina, I guess you meant S. California though... My area is zoned for horses. A neighbor down the street has one on a smaller lot than what I will have... I have never had a horse before and I only have minimal experience. So, as far as what kind: the slow kind. I want an old mare that is well behaved and knows exactly how I should be trained! My horse buddies tell me that the older, wiser ones will usually be gentle as long as they know I am boss. I guess from your screen name that you have Appalosas? I like Curly Horses, but I have only ever seen them one time in a parade. I will just have to select from what is available when I am ready to purchase, regardless of breed, though I don't want an Arabian. I hear they can be a handful. I figure I will probably get a mini horse for a pasture buddy. I think they are so adorable and I would like one of them better than a goat... Thanks for the reply!
I agree that it should be one acre per horse. Some horses do just fine but you have to sit and think in a minute. They are animals that had thousands of acres to run in with tons of horses. Then we ask them to be in our little pens. Horses get very bored very easily especailly when they are contianed in small pens. Horses that don't have much room to run in can developed bad habits like weaving, chewing or pawing. Especailly younger horses. If you are going to have a small pen, you need to be sure that you can take him/her out everyday for a long exersize, keeping in mind you need a little bit longer of a warm up than most people. But realistically, after the fun of a new horse has run out, you probably won't be taking your horse out for a few hours a day every single day. we get busy sometimes! Some horses are in 10x10 stalls all the time, you're right. A lot of these are breed show animals, and ( I probably will be attacked by for this) but many of them are not happy animals. Horses in stalls all the time are very energetic and usually need to be lunged before ridden. Plus you have to think about where to dump your horse poo, and mud, even if it doesn't rain that much, just a little bit of too much poo or a little bit of rain and the horse is in a mud pen. AND They are right, you do need a companion animal for when you are not home. They are herd animals. Ultimitly it is up to you but you have to think about what horses want, not what YOU want. I read that someone didn't feel like they were thier horses until they were at thier house... if you do your research there are probably PLENTY of cheap, smaller barns or even just a person that has an extra stall that do self-care. That means you do the cleaning, the feeding and exersize and just pay a small fee for the stall.
I do live in S. California. I have 1 Appy mare that I got 8 years ago. She was my first horse and she has been the best!!! At first I wanted a Thoroughbred, but my mom convinced me they were too high strung for a beginner. Then I wanted a black Tennessee Walker so bad, but it didn't work out. I ended up with Shy, my bay appy mare who is now 26! We still ride her and she's doing fine, just starting to get arthritis, but the more you keep them exercised for that the better they do.
I almost forgot I also have Coco, a sorrel AQHA mare. Baylee, a chestnut National Show Horse mare. Teak, Coco's baby Born last Feb.20th. I can't believe he's almost a year old already!! He's a B/S Palomino Paint, with hazel eyes. B/S stands for Breed Stock, which means solid At least he was born healthy.
I just got his registration papers and I got the name I wanted His sire is EYES A MEDISIN MAN and my mare is MISS COCO DEE. The dad's barnname is Mo and my mare is Coco, so I registered my colt as EYES A COCOMO.
My dad put DG (decomposed granite) in our horse area and it is so so much better when it rains now. Although we usually don't get the weather you guys do, so it works just fine for us. Once before we got it done, I went out to feed (it was raining) and my shoe got pulled off into the mud!!! I couldn't find it, so I had to walk back to the house with no shoe on. When we dug out the dirt to put the DG in a couple of years later we found it! We also have a manure bin that gets dumped every two weeks. A truck drives into our yard, picks it up and takes it out to the street. Then later, after it's dumped he comes back and puts it back in the yard.
well i live on about of acre of land (dead end street with houses) and my mom was thinking about putting my appy (had for 2 months) in out backyard....but we'd have to tear down our pool (has to be torn down anyway....and there is a hill....with a fenced off creek with a four foot drop down to it.) so i'm not to comfy about putting her in the backyard...but currently we have her stabled about 5 mins. away i pay 160 for stall and feeding and the only thing i have to do is clean the stall and take care of the horse (grooming, excrise, ect.) and i can even ride my bike there and they have a good outdoor arena and a good pasture that you can ride in.....so i am just content to keep her there...and she settled in so nicely and i love that she is only 5 mins. away i really feel like she is mine...and i don't think my dad would be to happy about stepping in horse manure when he needs to go out back... but i think i like her where she is, and i just can;t see her in my backyard.....
But it goes to show some people like different things for their horses
I understand what you mean, they are a lot of work when they're at home, especially if you have to do a lot of work to the yard to bring them home. It's cool that your horse is so close to you. It practically feels like she is in your yard, I bet. Where I boarded my horses was on the other side of my town I grew up in, and it was very hard for us to get there as much as I wanted. For one thing thinking of getting stuck in the traffic for who knows how long was usually one of the reasons. I'm just happy they're at home now and I can go out back and pet or talk to them any time I want.
Well, there is no place "close" to me where I could board. I am just outside of the city limits and everything around me is little residential lots. I have about the largest lot in my area. The closest place to board is probably 25 or so minutes away. Yeah, I know, you're thinking to yourself that's not far, but to me it is. And another concern I have is hours of operation. If the horse was on my property I wouldn't think twice about cleaning stalls at midnight, but on someone else's land I probably could not do that... Any suggestions on that?
Born last Feb.20th. I can't believe he's almost a year old already!! He's a B/S Palomino Paint, with hazel eyes. B/S stands for Breed Stock, which means solid 
At least he was born healthy. 
