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Should You Board Your Horses or
Keep Them at Home?
Here's what you need to know if you're thinking about keeping your horse at home.
1. Horses need to be fed at least twice daily.
That doesn't seem like a big deal until you decide you'd like to go on vacation or visit someone for the weekend. Then it is a very big deal. Before you decide to keep your horse at home, check out the boarding facilities close to you to see if they can accommodate short term boarding requests. Or see if you can arrange a reciprocal arrangement with a horse buddy--I'll feed yours when you're out of town if you'll feed mine. It will bring you peace of mind knowing you have options. Otherwise, you can end up resenting your horse because you feel trapped by the demands of basic horse care.
What to Feed A Horse
2. If you're keeping your horses in a barn or paddock, their stalls or paddock will need to be cleaned daily.
This is absolutely essential basic horse care. So the same problem arises as for feeding, and the same solutions apply. That means using a muck rake to remove all of the manure. If they will be in pasture, you'll need to break up the manure or remove it weekly.
3. Make sure your insurance covers liability for anyone injured by your horses.
If you decide to hire someone to do that work for you, be careful! If that person is injured on your property, you will be liable. Make sure your home insurance covers this contingency. Also make sure you are covered if your horse injures a visitor or a neighbor's property.
Protect Yourself from Liability with The Right Kind of Insurance
1. Horses need to be fed at least twice daily.
That doesn't seem like a big deal until you decide you'd like to go on vacation or visit someone for the weekend. Then it is a very big deal. Before you decide to keep your horse at home, check out the boarding facilities close to you to see if they can accommodate short term boarding requests. Or see if you can arrange a reciprocal arrangement with a horse buddy--I'll feed yours when you're out of town if you'll feed mine. It will bring you peace of mind knowing you have options. Otherwise, you can end up resenting your horse because you feel trapped by the demands of basic horse care.
What to Feed A Horse
2. If you're keeping your horses in a barn or paddock, their stalls or paddock will need to be cleaned daily.
This is absolutely essential basic horse care. So the same problem arises as for feeding, and the same solutions apply. That means using a muck rake to remove all of the manure. If they will be in pasture, you'll need to break up the manure or remove it weekly.
3. Make sure your insurance covers liability for anyone injured by your horses.
If you decide to hire someone to do that work for you, be careful! If that person is injured on your property, you will be liable. Make sure your home insurance covers this contingency. Also make sure you are covered if your horse injures a visitor or a neighbor's property.
Protect Yourself from Liability with The Right Kind of Insurance
4. Manure management is a BIG issue in basic horse care.
If you just leave the manure lying around or pile it up, your neighbors are going to complain big time. Horse manure isn't particularly stinky (like dog manure is) because they eat mostly hay, but it attracts flies. So ask yourself how you are going to get rid of all of the manure that your 1,000 lb animals are leaving behind. You can take it to the dump, have a farmer remove it (hog farmers have good used for manure), or find a tree nursery who would be interested in it. It makes fabulous fertilizer!
5. A horse is a large grazing animal, and needs a lot of space to move around in.
If you keep your horse in a stall or small paddock most of the time, you'll find that you have trouble riding him or training him. He will get sour, and will have a lot of pent up energy. Do you have the acres to keep a horse? One acre per horse is usually recommended. And keep in mind that horses graze all of the time if they can. So your green pastures will turn into dry lots very quickly unless you can rotate your horse among two or more pastures.
6. Horses are social animals, so they need friends.
Can your property accommodate more than one horse? The rule of thumb is one acre per horse.
7. Do you have enough horse knowledge and experience to safely handle the responsibility of horse ownership on your own?
Would you be able to tell if your horse were colicking? Would you know what to do if your horse injured himself?
Six Vital Horse Facts That Every Horse Owner Absolutely Must Know
Common Horse Ailments and How to Treat Them
If you decide to board your horse instead
Here are 3 vitally important questions to ask when deciding where to board your horse.
Happy Riding!
As long as you’re here, check these out!
Equestrian Products That Make Your Riding and Horse Care Easier and Better!
Training and Riding tips for Everyone
Copyright Denise Cummins March 2016; updated June 2, 2024
The Thinking Equestrian
If you just leave the manure lying around or pile it up, your neighbors are going to complain big time. Horse manure isn't particularly stinky (like dog manure is) because they eat mostly hay, but it attracts flies. So ask yourself how you are going to get rid of all of the manure that your 1,000 lb animals are leaving behind. You can take it to the dump, have a farmer remove it (hog farmers have good used for manure), or find a tree nursery who would be interested in it. It makes fabulous fertilizer!
5. A horse is a large grazing animal, and needs a lot of space to move around in.
If you keep your horse in a stall or small paddock most of the time, you'll find that you have trouble riding him or training him. He will get sour, and will have a lot of pent up energy. Do you have the acres to keep a horse? One acre per horse is usually recommended. And keep in mind that horses graze all of the time if they can. So your green pastures will turn into dry lots very quickly unless you can rotate your horse among two or more pastures.
6. Horses are social animals, so they need friends.
Can your property accommodate more than one horse? The rule of thumb is one acre per horse.
7. Do you have enough horse knowledge and experience to safely handle the responsibility of horse ownership on your own?
Would you be able to tell if your horse were colicking? Would you know what to do if your horse injured himself?
Six Vital Horse Facts That Every Horse Owner Absolutely Must Know
Common Horse Ailments and How to Treat Them
If you decide to board your horse instead
Here are 3 vitally important questions to ask when deciding where to board your horse.
Happy Riding!
As long as you’re here, check these out!
Equestrian Products That Make Your Riding and Horse Care Easier and Better!
Training and Riding tips for Everyone
Copyright Denise Cummins March 2016; updated June 2, 2024
The Thinking Equestrian
