Horse Agistment is a term derived from the old English laws of agistment, where a cattle owner pays a land owner to graze cattle on their land. This practice first began way back when the King would charge the people money for grazing their cattle on his land. These days, however, horse agistment is simply when a horse owner pays a land owner to keep the horse on the land and allow it to graze. Having said that, there are also a lot of variations to these agreements.

The services offered by the different horse agistment operators can vary greatly, and offer plenty of benefits to both the horse and owner. These can range from things like spelling agistment, small group agistment and riding agistment all the way to things like full care agistment. Before you decide on where best to place your horse, there are some points to take into consideration. For example: paddock size, quality of pastures, seasonal range of grasses so that your horse has feed no matter what time of year (this will save you a lot in extra feed expenses). Is the fencing going to do it’s job and not fall apart? Will it withstand the elements and keep your horse in its allotted field? Also, don’t forget about sheltering, natural wind breaks and then things like shade and stables.

Quite a few horse agistment land owners will request that your horse be kept worm free prior to and during its stay so you need to also look into having that done on a regular basis. The land owners themselves will often carry this out for you as part of the contract. Likewise for things such as the horses dentistry and the like. So when it comes to horse agistment, factoring in all these things can take a huge burden off the horse owner, and if your lucky enough to find one, some horse agistment operators even offer some fun services to get the most of out of owning a horse. These include things like riding days where you can take your horse out for a ride with others.

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.

So when it comes to horse agistment… whether your are a horse owner dealing with a land owner or a land owner dealing with a horse owner, there is plenty for you to think about before signing any contracts. The contracts themselves are the most important these days. Make sure you cover things such as each parties responsibilities, the costs involved and the pricing structures, procedures for things such as illness or injury to the horse and then things like natural disasters and emergency procedures for floods and bushfires.

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.

Tags: Horses