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.
Will the property organise regular worming (many require that your horse be wormed prior to arriving at the property) and will the property organise regular dentist visitations. When looking for the appropriate property, all of these factors can make your horse ownership as hassle free as possible. Some properties will even organise social rides, adult riding clubs, junior riding club, natural horsemanship clinics, fun games days etc.
It is in your own best interests to actually go out to the places you are considering and do an inspection of your own. This way you can talk to the staff and find out if they are properly trained and qualified. Make sure they are passionate about what they do and you can be sure your horse is in good hands… and again, make sure there are plenty of places nearby like national parks and riding trails to actually take your horse out for a ride whenever you can.
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.
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