The Pony Dad Diaries: Part 2 - Setup and Installation

So, we’d got a pony and a field, what next? Well, while Shetlands probably are hardy enough to live outdoors year round, we felt pretty bad at the prospect of leaving him out in all weathers. So some kind of shelter.

We also needed to be able to take him places, namely pony club events (more on those next time), so some sort of horse trailer. Which also means we needed a tow bar.

At least the field was secure and didn’t need any work, right? Well, it turns out that leaving a Shetland to munch through 3 acres of rich grass to his heart’s content isn’t a good thing. Not only might he explode, but I’ve now discovered that laminitis exists. That’s basically where the hoof wall becomes inflamed making it very painful and leading to lameness.

Orville the Shetland pony looking longingly at the lush grass after being penned in

The royal veterinary college say laminitis is linked to around 7% of equine deaths. While it isn’t fatal in itself, if it gets bad enough the only real option is for the horse or pony to be euthanised due to the pain. And one of the common causes can be digestive issues linked to over eating, particularly rich, sugary grass.

So, let’s add all the elements of an electric fence to the shopping list, so we can limit grazing access.

Then obviously there’s everything Rose needs to ride him and look after him. Luckily he came with all the essential tack: saddle, bridle, blankets. But that still leaves a helmet, back protector, all the brushes and tack care bits and bobs… At this point I’m getting ready to file for bankruptcy.

Thankfully, serendipity came into play and solved at least some of the problems. One of Ellie’s old riding friends had moved back up from down south a few years ago into the next village along. Ellie reached out thinking her eldest daughter might like to earn some pocket money by checking in on Orville the pony when we go away. It turns out she’d actually been thinking about getting a pony for her younger daughter but didn’t know where she’d keep it…

Orville with his new best friend, Mario

Jump forwards a week or two and we now had a field mate for Orville and someone to split the cost of a shelter and other essentials for the field, as well as someone to share the day to day responsibilities of checking on the ponies, mucking out and all that malarkey. The shared responsibility was probably the biggest relief really as I’d been starting to think holidays were going to be a thing of the past with a pony to look after. While we’ve got horsey family, they’re not really close enough to ask them to pop in every day while we go away.

The setup costs of installing a pony have still added up – a very nice field shelter and tack room were a couple of thousand (but now split two ways), an elderly Ifor Williams 501 horsebox was similar, plus about 1500 for a tow bar, and a few hundred more each for all of the other bits and pieces needed for the field and pony care. But now it’s all set up there’s not much of a running cost beyond the monthly field rental. Going with livery would have avoided some of the setup costs, but there’s no doubt it would’ve added up to more eventually.

Fantastic field shelter and tack room care of Fallen Oak Timber

There’s still other running costs, much like a car. The dentist and the farrier are the two regular ones – neglecting the teeth and hooves will just lead to bigger vet bills in the long run. But we have a space that’s ours, 15 minutes walk from home, and a happy pony, especially now he has a field mate. It’s all plain sailing from here, right?