Thread: wild horses to ride

I'm not a horse person, but my neighbours do that. The horses just graze on the pasture and they have a trough onto a water tank (which is on to a bore). The horses are (actually were, one fell to a snake so they gave the other away so that it would have friends) on about 8 acres.

Originally Posted by fatcat

hi all thinking about getting 3-6 acres in the bush and i am wondering will be able to have a few horses up there. will they handle not been feed each day. and then letting me ride them on the weekends.

p.s cant wait to build my own mud run, and use the defenders bull bar as a dozzer threw the tress, hope no greenies are reading.It would be a planned cull.

its depends on what sort of work your going to be doing with them... and it also very much depends on the quality of the pasture inwhich they are grazing on......as to whether or not you need to supplement there feeding..

but note you shouldn't just throw them a bowl of feed every now and again as they need a consistant routine....and a reasonably consistnat diet other wise you can induce colic
But could easily suplement with hay

also depends on how many horses you intend to get...

as me personally wouldn't have more than 2 possibly 3 horses on 3/6 acres

for large horse ideally should have an acre a horse and an acre at rest

and with only 3/6 acres i would say you may also need to do regular poo pick ups good practice to help with worm prevention but also it turns the grass sour if left and horses tend not to eat where they deficate...

i'm sure others will chime in with there thoughts also, these are justy mine

Agree with all the above. We are not horse experts by any means, but have had horses in the past. Might suggest you select geldings over mares...mares tend to get very tempremental if not handled often, and as you only want to ride on the weekends, I would definitely suggest a gelding.

Also, owning a horse can get quite expensive, as they do need certain maintenance - worming & food supplements, as Lou said, and also a farrier is required every 6 months or so, to keep the hoofs trimmed and clean. This, along with all the gear needed for riding.. tends to be a bit of a drain on the finances.

Our daughter went through the "I want a horse" stage when she was growing up, so we got one for her and she sort of lost interest, so I was the person who rode it most of the time. Anyhow we ended up getting rid of it after a year or so.

Don't get me wrong, I rode horses a lot when I was young and loved it, but there are a lot of responsibilities, as with any pet.

Mrs. B

Originally Posted by Bundalene

Agree with all the above. We are not horse experts by any means, but have had horses in the past. Might suggest you select geldings over mares...mares tend to get very tempremental if not handled often, and as you only want to ride on the weekends, I would definitely suggest a gelding.

Also, owning a horse can get quite expensive, as they do need certain maintenance - worming & food supplements, as Lou said,

and also a farrier is required every 6 months or so

, to keep the hoofs trimmed and clean. This, along with all the gear needed for riding.. tends to be a bit of a drain on the finances.

Our daughter went through the "I want a horse" stage when she was growing up, so we got one for her and she sort of lost interest, so I was the person who rode it most of the time. Anyhow we ended up getting rid of it after a year or so.

Don't get me wrong, I rode horses a lot when I was young and loved it, but there are a lot of responsibilities, as with any pet.

Mrs. B

6 to 8 weeks on average unless you have something that is good on its feet but generally this when they should be done

unfortunatly like mrs B is trying to say horses are not the sort of animal you can just throw and and forget about (not saying that that is what you want to do) but only seeing them on weekends etc
and if something stopped you getting over to see them you could do with someone dropping in on them to check them over. Vet bills fpr horses can be large.

I'm not trying to scare you off...but often I dont feel people full understand the comitment need for such an animal...

But what ever way you look at it even if you do have them in a field that you own horses are expensive! and anyone that thinks they are not is probably not caring for them at the standard they should be

Horses can eat around 3% of body weight per day. I doubt the area unless irrigated will support them. Cost of a farrier is around $160 to $200 per horse per 8 weeks. Then the price of good quality lucerne hay at around $14 a small bale for cold or dry periods. Horses are also selective crazers so if left in one place you will end up with a paddock full of weeds.
Just my experience but I only have eight of them. I call them Hay burners

Tony

I agree.... stick to riding cattle.

I would also surgest that you look at getting your pastures improved as well, because the native grass is quite low nutriants and you will need supplerment there feed more so.

1 donkey = 7 acres kept very short in 50% pasture/50% bushland in my experience - horses are bigger and more selective than donkeys though... so you will need either regular feed supplement or very very good pasture where you are.

farriers can be VERY hard to find as well - getting a slot in their calendar can be tough!

if it were me, I'd rent by the hour and when the costs regularly go over $500 a month per horse, consider to buy.