Home horse keeping

I am super lucky to keep my ponies at home (almost home). This hasn't always been the case, I agisted for many years, but dad wanted to retire on some land and I wasn't outgrowing horses, so Mum and Dad bought a horse property in 2009 and we moved in in 2012 after building. I have since bought my own house with Husband but the drive is 8 whole minutes and the amount of time I spend at the horses means I really only sleep at my house.

So, the ponies live on 3.7 acres in the Perth Foothills.We started out with just paddocks, but a few years ago I added night yards to reduce the stress on the paddocks. The horses get put to bed every night between 5 and 7pm (season depending) and go back out between 6 and 8am. The horses know the routine and happily put themselves to bed if they think I am being tardy. If I tell them it's time for bed they will also put themselves to bed!

We have our dam, which we use to irrigate the paddocks in summer. It takes up a heap of space but without it we couldn't keep grass cover year round, so it is quite important. Plus the horses and the dogs love it. The dam hold enough water to put the sprinklers on every second day from November to March, but it has yet to run dry.

While we don't have an arena, we have an almost level paddock that has 50x30m of riding space. It's big enough for me to flat and jump comfortably, although I do notice it's a bit tighter when I have a friend over to ride! Over the years, I have slowly added to my jump collection and now have 7 sets of stands and a heap of poles, so I can set myself up a nice little course. Mostly not having an arena is no biggie, as we so often compete on grass, sometimes on a slope but in the depths of winter not having a proper surface can be a bit of a setback.

Out the back gate we have access to trails. The bit of bush isn't huge by my standards (having previously has access to massive national parks), but we are yet to come to the end of it on some of our longer rides. I love having the bush just out the back especially for fitness work, or for the days where I'm feeling a bit unmotivated to do flatwork.

Dad built a giant shed and lets me share a bit to keep the feed and all my gear in. It is permanently a mess despite my best efforts! The horses are tied to the shed to be tacked up. The only thing that is missing is a cover for the tie up area, but mostly it's no biggie.