EquiTeam member Carolyn Macdonald chats about having her horses at home and discusses if it is really all she thought it would be.
Eight years ago, I embarked on the adventure of moving house to a property with 12 acres, an arena and 3 stables, and then moving my then three horses home.
I was so excited, this was it; I would ride every day, I would be schooling, my dressage would improve off the scale, and my horses would love just me!
The first few weeks were equally terrifying and amazing. I had to get new fencing done and make it ‘horse safe’, inspect the fields for any hidden treasures (ragwort, wire any other surprises), buy water troughs and decide on plumbing options.
Top Tip – Get the biggest trough you can, you will be grateful for a big trough full of water when it freezes in the winter.
I also had to source hay and haylage and get bedding for the stables. I was hoping my horses could continue to live out 24/7, but being 1000ft up on top of a hill, I wasn’t sure what gifts the winter weather would give and at that point the field had no natural shelter.
We moved in first and then the horses followed a week later. That first night I couldn’t sleep; would they be OK, would they still be there in the morning and what if they escaped or were stolen, should I lock the gates?
You can imagine the inner noise going on in my brain at 3am in the morning!
It was wonderful to see them out my living room window, but I was also so sad to leave my lovely livery yard. I had been there for 12 years, and it was just the best set up with amazing support and a wonderful group of friends.
Eight years on; reflecting back, has it lived up to that dream?
Oh, my goodness it has been hard, it has been lonely, expensive, many sleepless nights and it has also been a massive learning curve!
I really missed the camaraderie and support of my old yard and was lonely all by myself. It turns out I quite like being with people and am a sociable sole, who knew!
I also found my motivation to ride was really reduced. When you arrange to meet people at a yard for hacks or lessons and arrange groups to go to venues for competitions it is all quite inspiring.
You feel like you are part of a team and are all in it together. Being on the yard by myself I felt like everyone else was out doing stuff and forgetting me, there were days where I just cried and really wished I hadn’t moved.
I felt guilty for feeling like that and externally I pretended it was all amazing and was full of the joys of this new living the dream life.
Being on your own
It’s hard work being on your own; poo picking, land management, arena and field maintenance, they all take time and effort and when I mixed that in with a busy full-time job (and in those days commuting five days a week, imagine that!) I was shattered and riding felt like a luxury!
I also found trying to find people to do work on the fields and stables challenging, I just didn’t know where to look. I had a contact list of plumbers, electricians, and joiners, but didn’t know where to start to get people to fix drainage, spray fields, lay hard standing, fix fencing, and build field shelters!
I was quite daunted by the field management of my 12 acres, and after the first (very muddy) winter I realised that would need to change the configuration that I had to allow horses to live out happily.
A new arrival
When I got Bobby Brown it all got a bit worse!
Here I was with a rising four-year-old baby horse, after a positive start we had some issues, and I was feeling so alone and low. I was scared to talk to James, my other half about it as he had made this move to let me do my thing and I didn’t want to tell people the truth as I felt stupid.
I had drifted apart from some of my friends at the old yard (it turns out that ‘out of sight out of mind’ is a true adage for some people) and I really felt quite desperate.
In the background I even worked out the numbers to stay living where we were but also have my ridden horse on livery. You can imagine James’s reaction to that idea!
I would like to say there was one big event that turned it all around for me and made the dream come true, but really it was about me being honest with myself and with James about how I felt and starting to take baby steps to improve things.
I paid someone to poo pick for me a few hours a week, I took the pressure off myself for everything to look ‘perfect’ in the field and yard all the time.
I befriended local farmers and contactors and built a trusted network of people I could get good ‘land management’ advice from. I was lucky to be able to invest in some hard standing and a massive field shelter and that took a huge strain off, no mud to worry about and somewhere to put the horses if work was being done on the fields.
I got some help with naughty young Bobby from both a wonderful freelance rider and local friend and coach. I tried to arrange something horsey every weekend, either lessons or meeting up for hacks with friends, and I found a lovely girl who is now a great friend, to come and ride my other horse and we hacked out weekly together.
I organised regular lessons at home and went out to clinics at other places. I also found EquiTeam Confidence Camps and going there with Bobby on a yearly basis has been a great support and I’ve built up a wider network of horsey friends, some of them even local to me!
So, eight years on, would I go back to livery?
It’s a definite NO – I do like the control and the access to my horses (rugs on/off is super easy when they are outside) and I love my home. Seeing them outside my window is very special!
My top tips to anyone thinking of embarking on their own would be:
- Be honest with yourself about what matters to you in your horsey life; hacking, company, lessons, time, doing things with friends. Whatever it is, put the steps in place to make sure that is still there for you in your new place.
- Make plans, have goals, and surround yourself with people who are your support team (you need cheerleaders not people booing from the side-lines!)
- Don’t make massive field / stable changes all at once. Live with it for each season, watch the horses, where do they stand, where do they poo, where do they shelter, what area gets wet and what stays dry? Plan any changes around that.
- Befriend the local farmers, they are a godsend. Mine clears our driveway in the snow, makes our hay, limes my field, and lets me ride around his hay fields!
- Find a trusted person or people who can give you horsey grass management advice (farmers who raise cows have very different ideas about grass!) The Land Management page on Facebook by Dr Lisa Schofield has been a godsend to me.
- Build a network of good contractors who will do work for you and keep them sweet – they are always in demand!
- Enjoy it. Stand outside, look at what you have done and your happy horses and give yourself a big pat on the back. It’s not easy!
- Join EquiTeam Connected – I have now have the best livery yard of the most supportive and knowledgeable people in my phone. It is wonderful!
