Horse Agistment – How To Choose The Right Property

The phrase horse agistment comes from English law where, to agist, meant to take cattle to graze, for a remuneration. Back when agistment first came into practice it referred to the proceeds of pasturage in the king’s forests. But for us, horse agistment basically means when a horse owner keeps their horse on land owned by someone else, for a fee. However, the terms, facilities and services of horse agistments vary widely.

Many horse agistment properties offer excellent care and services for horse and rider, ranging in services from spelling agistment, riding agistment and small group agistment through to agistment with full care. When looking for somewhere to place your horse, you should be sure to consider the following: are the paddocks large enough to accommodate the number of horses, will your horse be kept on improved pastures that are weed free, regularly rotated, slashed, fertilised and irrigated where required. As an extra, are winter active grasses sown to ensure your horse has feed all year round saving you from expensive feed bills. Does every paddock have horse safe fencing that is either post and rail or post and plain wire fencing only and are all well sheltered with either natural windbreaks and shade trees or quality man made structures.

Keeping your horse worm free is another point to consider so some property owners offer this service as well as things like horse dentistry. It is these kinds of services that should help you in your decisions in order to make the process as hassle free as can be. A lot of horse agistment places will also offer the added bonus of organising riding days and social events where owners can bond with their horse, and with other horse owners, while getting the horse out and about and burning off some energy.

By doing your own personal inspection of the horse agistment properties you are considering, you can get a good idea of the kind of staff who will be looking after your horse. You should make sure they are properly trained and have enough experience to provide you with the advice you need and your horse with the care it needs. If they are passionate about their job then you can safely assume that your horse will be looked after correctly. The surrounding ares are a good thing to inspect also. The more places to ride the better. Look for places with plenty of national park or riding trails nearby.

Whether you are agisting someone’s horses on your land or agisting your own horse on someone else’s land, there are some important things you should consider. These include the responsibilites of each party in the agistment agreement, terms and amount of fee payment and contingency plans for disease, illness or injury of the horse, and for emergencies such as fire or flood.

Learn more about horse agistment. Stop by Michelle Rudge’s site where you can find out all about horse agistment and how to make it work for you.