Land management

I am becoming fully fledged in farming and land management. With acquiring animals such as chickens and a horse in one year, I have quickly been introduced to different types of fencing and housing suited to the needs of each animal. I am now regularly browsing the internet for the best deal on a type of fence and I can be found traipsing across a piece of land, measuring it as I go. Then, standing still and looking contemplative, making notes. It helps to picture this taking place on a soggiest day and I am always wearing wellies or boots – actually, I seem to wear them regardless of the weather.

There are big fields – one for mares and another for geldings – that are free to use at our yard, but they are a fair walk away from the main stable building, so they tend to be used for longer term outings like a whole day, not just a few hours, as getting there and back takes probably at least 20 mins in total. I wouldn't take Rainbow there while I muck out, for instance. So, if I can, I let her out in the back school for a bit when I clean her box. But, due to the number of horses using the back school, it needs to have a quick turnover time, giving Rainbow only about 20–30 mins in there, which I don't think is enough. It doesn't quite satisfy my ideals of horse keeping and the fact that I'd like to give Rainbow as much as outdoor time as I can, hence the idea to rent a smaller paddock field near the stables has been brewing for a while.

They're not super-cheap, but work out at around £1.36 per day if you rent one (£500/pa). Personal fields are a bit like gold dust at our yard, as you can only really get one when someone moves yard. But, we have managed to snap up one and it will be half the cost, as a friend and I have decided to go into cahoots to rent one together! We both only have a horse each, both are mares, and they have spent time together in the big field, so they should get on. The field will be mainly used as a horsey weekday pied-a-terre, so the girls will still get to use the big mares field when they are having full days or weekends off, but this smaller field will be handy for shorter outings during the week.

With a new field we've quickly had to acquire some equipment: although the field does come with solid fencing around it, we've been asked to put some electric fencing around to protect the solid barriers from potential crib biting, etc. Part of the field is also a bit soggy at the moment, so we are likely to split the field up an let the horses only in one part of it, especially over the winter, to avoid over-grazing and the ground becoming a complete bog. Land management, you see.

So, there was me, yesterday afternoon, with Denise and her partner Ian, traipsing across the new field, looking at the condition of the ground, checking the fencing, calculating the electric fencing needed for the whole area. It was soggy, we we wearing wellies, and we all looked contemplative.

But yay! our girls are having their own field! Never, ever thought that a fairly flat piece of grassy land would excite me quite as much as it does.