People think that because horses are so large they must be expensive to feed.  Surprisingly, that’s not necessarily the case.  While feeding horses can be expensive depending on what you feed them, you can reduce the cost of feeding your horse without sacrificing quality.  Here’s how:

1. Feed More Hay (Forage) & Less Grain – Grain feed is far more expensive to purchase than hay and most horses really don’t need the extra grain. Good quality hay should be all that pleasure horses need to keep in top condition.

2. Purchase Hay Direct From the Farm – Cut out the middle man (the grain/fodder store) and go straight to the farmer for your hay. You’ll find that the majority of farmers are quite happy to sell hay to you, and often in quite small quantities (5 or 10 bales at a time) if you don’t have much storage. Keep an eye out in the classified ads section of your local paper or agriculture/farming newspaper and you’ll see plenty of ads for hay.

3. Keep Your Horse’s Food off the Ground – Feeding a horse directly on the ground increases wastage through trampling (especially in wet, muddy conditions) and toileting! They’re not going to eat feed that’s muddy, or been urinated or defecated on. Try to place your horse’s feed in a hay net, an old bath tub, washing machine bowl, or a specially made feed container.

4. Worm Your Horse Regularly – If your horse has a belly full of worms, then each time you feed them you’re also feeding the worms. If you don’t want your horse to have to share his food with the worms, then you need to make sure they’re wormed every 6 to 8 weeks.

5. Rug Your Horse in Cold Winter Months – You don’t need to go and purchase half a dozen rugs from the saddler store. Just one warm, waterproof rug is all your horse needs to help keep them that bit warmer in winter. The warmer your horse is, the less food they’ll need. A cold horse will need to burn more energy (the by product of their feed) to try and keep warm, so by rugging them you’re reducing the amount of energy, & therefore food, that they need.

Feeding horses a good, well-balanced diet on a small budget is not hard to do. By following the tips above and being smart about what horse feed you purchase – not buying the latest supplement or grain feed just because the manufacturers tell you your horse needs it – you can keep your horse in A1 condition for a mere fraction of what many people spend.

If you are not lucky enough to be able to keep your horse at home you will need to find some kind of Livery. Here are the seven steps to choosing the right Livery yard for you

Step One: Know what you want to do with your horse and what facilities you will need
If you like to hack out and just have fun you may not enjoy a yard where everyone else is competing every week or vice versa. The available facilities are unlikely to match your needs and the price may be not what you expect.

Step Two: Decide how far will you travel
If you think that DIY livery is for you, the distance from the yard may be a deciding factor, but if you think you need a yard with lots of facilities then you may need to travel further.

Step Three: Talk to owners at some yards and get their views
Once you have a list of potential homes for your horse go to the yards and talk to some of the other livery clients. Are they happy to tell you how good it is, or reticent to be too gushing?

Step Four: Look at the quality of the facilities, including the turn out
Whatever facilities you want they need to be in good condition. Check how often they break down or are unusable. Try to see the yard in different weather and times of day. Check the condition of the turnout all year.

Step Five: What rules and regulations are there?
Some yards have very clear restrictions on when owners can be on site and what you can do, others are less prescriptive. Check that the rules will fit with your usual routine. Small details can seem quite innocuous, but six months later become problems or points of friction that if understood or resolved before the start of the relationship would not later be of any consequence.

Step Six: Compare yards standards and facilities
It is worth going to have a look at a selection of yards with a range of facilities and across the spectrum of prices. Only when you have a clear understanding of all the alternatives can you be confident that you are making the right choice.

Step Seven: What does the price include and is it reasonable?
Having looked at a range of different yards you will be in a position to make price as well as facilities comparisons. Like any contractual arrangement you should always read the small print. What does the price include and what will be extra to the quoted price?

These seven steps will enable the horse owner to ensure that when you have to choose a livery yard you will be in the best position to ensure you make the choice that is appropriate for you and your horse.

Every little girl and boy who takes horseback riding lessons from me wants his or her own horse. Sometimes their parents are amenable to such an investment, and sometimes they are not, but if you think you might like to buy a beginner horse for your child, it’s important to think this decision through. Too often, I see parents run out and buy the first pretty piece of horseflesh they find, only to discover later that is was the wrong choice.

For one thing, most parents of horse-crazy kids aren’t very knowledgeable about horses in general. They don’t know how to safely shop for horses, and they don’t know what qualities to seek out. Consequently, they come home with a dangerous or ill-mannered or incapable horse that send their child home in tears every night. To avoid this, it is important to follow a few guidelines for selecting an appropriate beginner horse.

1- Get Advice

Reading this article is a great first step toward choosing the best beginner horse for your child, but you need more than words on paper if you don’t know the first thing about equines. A trainer, instructor or equine professional can make your buying experience much more pleasant, and you’re far more likely to choose an appropriate animal. In most cases, the trainer at your barn will be more than happy to assist you, but may charge a commission fee for their time.

Even if you don’t know a qualified individual, however, there is guaranteed to be someone in your city who knows about horses. Look through the Yellow Pages under “Riding Academies” or “Stables” to find equestrian facilities near you, then contact the owner to see if he or she can help. Again, you might have to pay a small commission, but it’s worth it in the long run.

2- Buy Close to Home

It is sometimes beneficial for an experienced equestrian to look for horses across the country, or even on the other side of the world. When you’re buying a beginner horse for your child, however, look in a small radius, and don’t buy a horse you can’t visit beforehand. Not only will this give you an opportunity to “try out” the horse before purchase, but it is a lot harder to get scammed by someone who lives virtually in your own backyard.

Additionally, you might also try to buy from someone you know, or based on a referral from a friend or family member. Working with people you know and trust will take much of the stress out of buying a horse, and you’re almost guaranteed to get what you asked for. Unfortunately, the scams in this country aren’t limited to credit card fraud and identity theft; they also extend to the equine industry.

3- Ride More than Once

You should never buy a beginner horse for your child without riding it first, but I advise at least two or three rides before you offer up a check on a silver platter. One ride might be stellar, but your child might discover in subsequent rides that the horse is harder to handle than he or she previously thought. Other issues, such as lamenesses or bad habits, can surface after “meeting” the horse several times.

In fact, I recommend putting a down payment on the horse and taking it to your barn for a week to “try out” before paying for it entirely. Most reputable horse dealers are more than happy to accommodate this request, and it simply adds another layer of security to the process. Generally, you’ll need to give the seller at least 50% good-faith deposit before you take the horse from their property, and you’ll need to return the horse in seven days if you don’t intend to buy.

4- Conduct a Vet Check

Just because your trainer says that a beginner horse is the perfect one for your child doesn’t mean that this should be the end of the road. Horses, like people, are susceptible to injuries and illnesses that often don’t materialize for months or years. A thorough examination by a veterinarian will turn up things like navicular changes and parasites. Have your veterinarian conduct this examination (called a vet check) prior to buying the horse.

If you’ve driven far to buy the animal, however, you can always write a check contingent on a clear vet check. This needs to be placed in writing so that you can return the horse if there are any significant health problems uncovered by the veterinarian.

5- Pay Attention to Demeanor

Unscrupulous horse dealers will actually drug a horse before showing it to potential buyers, creating an extremely dangerous situation. When you’re buying a beginner horse for your child, you want an animal that won’t try to hurt anyone, and drugs can make the feistiest, wildest, most unmanageable horse seem like a school pony. Therefore, horses who are overly lethargic or dull-eyed should raise a red flag.

If you think that something “just isn’t right”, don’t buy the horse until you’ve called out a vet. After the vet check, ride the horse again to make sure that he wasn’t drugged the first time you tried him.