When people find out that I own horses I often times hear “That’s so cool. I’ve always wanted to have horses.” In reality owning horses is really cool and rewarding. Horses are fascinating animals who have unique personalities, behaviors, and habits. Additionally, they are exceptional athletes and have the ability to build very strong bonds between them and their owner, but there is a lot more work involved in caring for horses than most people think. Normally, the first thing most people think about is the cost of purchasing the horse, but that should be one of the last considerations because once the horse is purchased where will it be kept, what will it be fed, how will it be transported, how do you keep it healthy, and what will the horse’s job be? The first consideration should be where the horse will live.
In regards to keeping or housing a horse, the owner has a couple of options. Horses can be boarded at a facility or the owner can construct fencing at their residence or property if livestock are allowed. The horse owner may have another location where the horse can live that they do not manage, but for our purposes you can either board or put up fences to keep them at your location. Boarding horses has a lot of advantages. When boarding there will be an agreement between the facility and the horse owner as to what services are offered, but it is a great option if you do not have property to keep a horse yourself. Horses are herd animals, and boarding offers the opportunity for your horse to have interaction with other horses. Also, the facility will typically feed and see the horses every day to make sure your horse isn’t sick or injured. The disadvantages are that the owner has to travel to visit with or ride their horse, and, depending on availability and location, boarding can be expensive. Again, specific services provided by a boarding facility are dependent on the facility and what both parties agree upon.
On the other hand, if you have enough property you can certainly construct fences so that the horses are on your property or at your home. A good rule of thumb is that a single horse will need at least two acres of grass to graze on or be able to consume two percent of their body weight in forage per day. Therefore, the owner will either need to have established grazing or provide hay in order to reach the two percent per day. Fencing is also very important when keeping horses on your property.
The fence certainly needs to be able to contain your horse, but it needs to be safe as well. Common fence wire types are woven wire/field wire, electric wire, or barbless wire. Woven wire with a couple of strands of electric wire provides a great level of containment, but prevents the horses from rubbing and damaging the woven wire as well.
The owner will need to provide clean water and some sort of shelter for their horse(s) to provide shade or an area to escape severe weather. Also, horses defecate on average nine times per day, and the manure will need to be spread or removed in order to prevent reducing the viable area of grazing and an increase in the fly population that lay eggs in fresh manure.
This is just the first step in a long list of steps needed to provide a horse with the environment it needs, and this information is merely scratching the surface as to what it takes to own a horse just in regards to providing it a suitable living space. For more information about horses or other agricultural issues, please contact the Jones County Extension office at (478) 986-3958 or email brennan4@uga.edu.
