Regrettably not many of us are usually fortunate enough to have our own property exactly where we could maintain our own horse or pony. In these kinds of scenarios, our only other choice if we would like to keep a horse, is to use horse boarding stables.
At the moment, I’m having to use horse boarding facilities for my own pony, but we have had our own property in the past, so I’ve been on both sides of the fence – whenever we had our own property we offered horse boarding for individuals, but I’ve furthermore had to use horse boarding stables on a number of different occasions.
Therefore exactly what do you need to try to find whenever you need to board your own horse?
1. Very Good fences – the very last thing you would like is your own horse wounding itself within low quality fencing, particularly barbed wire. Make sure that the fences & gates are usually intact with absolutely no sharp edges. Ideally, the fencing ought to almost all be electric or even post and rail.
2. Safe and sound stables & shedding – these have to be checked the same as the fencing. Make certain there aren’t any holes within stable walls, absolutely no sharp components of metal poking out or other things a horse could injure itself on. In the event that horses can locate something to injure themselves on, they will!
3. Weed free pastures – some weeds within virtually any horse pasture is actually inescapable, but avoid places exactly where the paddocks are usually just full of weeds (particularly toxic weeds) along with absolutely no grass whatsoever. Some horse boarding facilities don’t offer you paddocking (simply yards or stables) so if this is the case then you definitely don’t need to worry about this.
4. Someplace to ride – stop and think, exactly where are you going to ride your own horse? You certainly don’t would like to try along with ride your horse inside a 10 acre paddock along with 10 other horses running totally free around you…that’s a formula for devastation! At the very least you need a paddock that doesn’t have horses in it to ride in, or even quick access to quiet roads but the best thing can be a proper riding arena.
5. Stables or somewhere to place your own horse if they’re ill – if your horse will likely be inside a paddock constantly, you still have to be in a position to put it somewhere by itself if it becomes sick or even injures itself. Stables are perfect for this, but a really small yard might do as well.
6. A well-informed, horsey individual residing on the property – horses can become ill or even become injured anytime of the day or even night and if you live 20 minutes away, you can’t be there constantly to keep track of them. By the time you get there the next morning to feed, it can be too late! Somebody, who can call you if there’s a challenge, must live on the property.
7. Shelter in the yards or even paddocks – a good paddock shelter or plenty of trees is essential.
If you’re able to find a place that checks each one of the boxes, then count your self really fortunate! However, you may well find that you don’t need each thing listed above in your horse boarding facilities or perhaps are pleased to forgo a few of those facilities – it all will depend on your specific requirements!