Moving house, moving yards and having a baby!

[kitkat321]

All at the same time!

I'm due to move home at the end of October, baby due early December and due to the distance we are moving the pony will have to move too.

My current yard is by no means perfect but the horses live out from May to December and then he's on full livery for the winter months while stabled overnight.

Unfortunately I'm struggling to find anything similar in the new area.

I've so far got 3 options.

Option 1, move him to posh competition yard right next to our house but it's very  and I'd need to put him on working livery to cover the costs. Even DIY is  so when I am mobile again it would still be very pricey and their grazing isn't great although yard is well run albeit very busy.

Option 2 is to move to a yard about 6 miles away. DIY yard but other liveries offer livery services for cash but it's all very informal. Yard is nice, good grazing and hacking, arena is ok.

Option 3, chuck him in a field at my friends and she'll look after him for me for a few months. Cheap and cheerful, about 10 miles from me through so not easy just to pop over and not child friendly as it is just a field but I know he'd be well looked after. Hacking is good, there are other facilities nearby that I could rent if I wanted to ride.

I just don't know what to do as I have no idea how much my life will change when baby comes!!!

[Acolyte]

I would go option 3.
The last thing you want to be worrying about is his care when you are out of action and you seem to be able to trust your friend.

Once you're back up and running with baby in tow, you can reassess and move to a livery more suitable to your needs then.

[frostyfingers]

Option 3 for me to. I think you'd feel pressurized to do more with him if you were paying lots of money, and until your baby arrives you have no idea what time you'll have available. May be you could look in to finding someone to part loan for a while so he's not twiddling his hooves!

[mrslaughan]

I would do option three, and when you are ready to start riding, look again at option 1.

I would be concerned with option 2 that you end up getting let down, you have a newborn and a horse your supposed to muck out , turn out etc.

[Booboostoo]

Option 3 and then rethink in the spring when the weather will be better and you will have figured out things with the new baby. No one wants to be out doing a DIY pony in January with a newborn in tow.

[feekerry]

option 3.
i have had 2 babies in the last 2.5years and tried to keep my horse on livery but honestly most yards do not like babies/prams etc on yards. i had an awful time at last yard where i was asked not to bring baby on yard 4 days after i moved there (even tho i checked with them before i moved) but apparently other liveries complained so i had to move a week laterm. total nightmare.
in the end i found a field with a friend. my horse now lives out 24/7 (never done before but he loves it!). field is cheap. and best of all i get loads of riding done as just rock up, tack up and go!! i have sectioned a bit off to park pram etc. kids can be as loud as they want. i hire a school up the road once a week too.