A few months back I was able to attend a photo shoot for my mum and Cloudy. This turned out to end up in last months Your Horse Magazine in the news section. Super proud of these two making it there.

Due to living in the area of one of the busiest ports for transport over to Ireland, we see a lot of people changing over horse transport on the side of the roads. Some of these roads are single lane back roads or on the side of duel carriage ways, both to me are just as dangerous. Many horse lorry's come to the Road King truck stop for a break from the road or waiting for the ship if they arrive early or ships delayed by the weather. 

As my mum works at Road King which is owned by Bedfred, when she had the idea of making something safer for these horses when being exchanged. 

In result of this they are going to make a 'horse hotel' which will be a set of stables which will hold 12 horses. 

They will be able to have the horses in there overnight, for a few hours rest or while to ships are delayed. 

I really hope this idea works out and increases the safety of the horses in the area as it's something that could be greatly valued if used. 

Changing the laws on fireworks

With the fireworks starting as bonfire night is approaching there has been a petition circulating around. This petition is to stop unauthorised firework displays such as back garden fireworks. This has come around due to the amount of distress it's causing animals when their owners aren't notified and are able to prepare themselves and the animals before hand. 

Personally I feel that this petition is something that everyone should be signing, and not only horse owners all animal owners. It's not only horses that are getting distressed from the random firework bangs and noises, dogs and cats are too. Owners who like to have their animals kept in for the fireworks, when the bangs are at random and days before bonfire night this cannot be done. 

Over the years I have had to see many pictures on Facebook of the consequences people have had to deal with from others actions. I've seen barns been burnt down which has been full of peoples winter stock of hay and straw due to a firework landing on it, I've also seen this happen from chinese lanterns. These people do not only lose out on the money they have spent for the winter stock they have to rebuy again and build their barns back up for storage. The other day I seen a picture of an aborted foal in the field due to the stress fireworks caused the mother. This isn't seen as a financial loss like the barns but more of an emotional one as it was only just forming. I've heard of horses loosing eyes because of fireworks, being burnt etc. I'm not going to add any images here because they can be distressing for some, but I'm hoping if you're an animal owner or even just a lover you will sign this Petition to finally get something done. Currently there is just under 30,000 signatures on it but to make the government consider a change in a debate we need 100,000 signatures. We have until April 2018 to get all of these and I'm hoping it will make a change for next years bonfire night. 

Header Image Credit

How Much Does A Horse Really Cost?

As I was scrolling through Pinterest the other day I came across this post called 'The Real Cost of Owning a Horse',  and to be honest I was shocked with the prices that this post had put up. 

I feel that if I was a person looking into buying a horse this would be daunting to me and be a big put off. 

Up first they did the initial costs to start up, then the first big expense on this was the horse, which okay is dependant on the skill and experience of the rider and what they want out of the horse, but it's been awhile since I've seen a horse sell for over £2,000, even for a well schooled all rounder. 

The next is stables at £1,500, I'm guessing this is livery as that's not on the regular costs list, this would be too cheap to be buying your own stables. Again I'm finding this very high for a livery cost even if the horse is on full livery. If you know what this actually is please say as I'd like to know. 

Stable accessories can be done cheaply and still have some good quality equipment, to start out I would say you'll only need a wheelbarrow, stable brush, bedding fork and if you wanted to a muck scoop and fork. I would say this would cost no more than £100. This would be higher if you're planning on buying hay racks, tie rings etc. 

Stabling and feed equipment can also be done for a fraction of the price shown, I would say depending on what buying under stable accessories this shouldn't be more than £50-£60 for some feed buckets and scoops. 

I'm guessing that tack has been included in riding equipment to explain why they have priced this so high. All I'm going to say is I definitely didn't spend £2,000 on riding equipment even including myself when I got Legacy. The Misc costs is totally down to the new owner, although the passport should come with the horse and this shouldn't be an added cost. I don't have a horse box myself so I can't comment on the price but I'm guessing this is for a new box, and these can be bought for a fraction of the price second hand. 

Onto the regular costs these prices are down to the trainer but these are priced at £30 if you were to have one a week. 

The insurance price seems to be quite good at £33 a month for horse insurance as I've seen some people pay upto £50 a month for theirs, this comes down to what you will be doing with the horse.  

The price of the feed comes down to paying £90 a month, on an expensive month I'm paying this for the 2 horses, so this can be cut down quite a bit, although again this depends on what type of horse you have. Good doers you won't be paying barely anything for compared to a bad doer or performance horse. 

Bedding is a good one as I can be known to spend a fortune throughout the winter on bedding for Legacy as at times you know she can go through a bale of shavings a night. I've calculated this on 6 months of stabling which is around how long Legacy is in depending on the weather. If you were to have a horse as dirty as her and have them in all year around you probably have more money than sense or no all year turn out and your crying at the bedding bills. 

Healthcare is a good one, as your average farrier visit is going to be £60 and this will be averaging one every 6-8 weeks. After this you have worming or worm counting up to 4 times a year. Then there's flu & tetanus jabs including vet visit, and dentist visits either from the vet or a equine dentist. There's also the options of chiropractor visits a few times a year. 

As I've previously said I don't have a horse box so I can't really personally comment on the price of the insurance, annual testing and maintenance of these, but I can imagine the prices being somewhat right as the box would need to be looked after well for the safety of the horse. 

What are your opinions on this post from Vale Stables and their pricings of a horse. Do you find them just right or slightly too high like me? If you'd like a post with a breakdown on how much Legacy costs me a month/year let me know.

Save Money While Shopping...! [Discount codes]

I've recently teamed up with Equestrian Co. to give my readers a great deal.
This is a great site I've found which offers pretty much everything but the horse & tack. They have really expanded and even offer products for not only dogs but cats & rabbits too. If only my cat would play with toys, I would have somewhere to spoil Legacy & My cat at the same time. They actually have some great items with some great savings on in their clearance section, I actually have my eye on a few things. The joys of Christmas being right around the corner. Buying yourself the presents with the money received. 

They've been wonderful enough to offer my readers some discount codes.
The codes are as follows:
Legacy5 for £5 off a £50 spend or more, and Legacy10 for £10 off a £100 spend or more.
What's great about these codes is that they work on the sale items, so you're saving by buying sale items then saving more with these codes. Win - Win all around.

You can visit their website here; Equestrianco

Starting a New Blog...

As I already have a beauty and fashion blog, the idea of this blog is something that I've been thinking about since I got Legacy in August. The other night I thought to hell with it and decided to start one up. Before I go into any other details about Legacy or myself, I'm not and will not be claiming I know everything. My main experience with horses has been a 2 year BTEC Level 3 course, yes the college life was sheltered to the real world with horses but there was some out of the ordinary experiences I had while I was there. Before that I had only been taught to ride when I was little, Having a horse is always something I've wanted but never been able to afford and the time has finally come where I can have one.

So this blog is going to be about my life, struggles and accomplishments since having Legacy. She's my first horse and I understand people will say why have a thoroughbred as your first horse never mind an ex racehorse. We had one in college and I fell in love with her, When I was out looking for a horse this type was not what I was looking for but neither was a cob that will do everything I say and want. I wanted a project but not something to break in as at the time of buying I was still planning on going to Americamp for the summer of 2015, that soon went when I got Legacy. As I say I don't have a lot of experience I have 2 people helping me along the way to do have the experience which I can ask for help when needed.

Writing this blog will help give me time to reflect on anything that's happened, in a way to reflect on things and when I'm writing I might think of other ways to approach a situation and help me and Legacy come out the other side.

To anyone that reads this I will be grateful for any comments of help or advice when I come across any problem or struggles and likewise if you need any help I will also be happy to help and give advice with my little experience.

P.s Yes that is her up in the header :)