I have trouble mentally prioritizing when I work from home, and have had the same issues when we’ve kept our horses at home. That may not be a consideration for everyone.
I know something who has been hauling out 4-6 days a week for 15+ years & loves it. A move into her step-down towards retirement career coincided, though.
I do it. I keep my horses at home, on about 3 acres of cleared land (a large dirt lot, a large grass pasture on a hill, and a small dirt sacrifice paddock). For about 5 glorious weeks of the year, I can actually ride in the grass pasture – the remainder of the year it is too muddy or the ground is frozen. To keep them in shape, I do trot sets on our gravel driveway and hack often. They get November-Feb off, because footing is too icy for anything beyond a walk and I do not want to truck in/trailer and hit black ice or snow. If you are in an area where there is snow or you need an indoor to ride in the winter, keep in mind you will have a very hard time getting any meaningful work done if you have no access to an indoor.
Having done this for the better part of 20 years, I’d change a lot if I could. While you might save a little keeping your horse at home, that is not the true reason I do it. I do it because I am in full control of my horse’s care and schedule – they are happier here than they’ve been at any boarding barn, with a whole herd of horses to live with 24/7, with unfettered 24/7 turnout access, and a roundbale. This is just impossible to replicate in the NE without sacrificing quality/knowledgable care, or something else. And those things are invaluable and frankly, inflexible for me - I do not want to board at a barn where my horse is stalled 12-16hrs a day, where they are not turned out with other horses, and where they live in dirt lots with no free choice hay.
Yes, your riding will plateau if you don’t have a ring to regularly work in. Yes, your riding will plateau if you are not in a consistent program. I have brought along several horses independent of my trainer’s program now – and while I’m happy with their progress, I know they would progress much faster if they were in a consistent program where a ring was readily available to me. I can work with the grass ring I have – but believe me, it is so hard to have to constantly be fighting against footing or slope while teaching a horse something new, like rebalancing at the canter, to shoulder ins – having to always have to set yourself up before going down the hill is both a blessing and a curse - it is just so much easier to school the flat in a groomed ring.
To offset this, I do truck out from May to late October, once to four times a week. Keep in mind this is not much cheaper than boarding the horse, at least here – I have to pay yearly membership fees to several places ($175-275/yr) and at others, pay truck in fees ($10-50 per visit) on top of lessons, if I have them. Then there is the maintenance of the truck and trailer, diesel, etc. So it is a trade-off, and I wouldn’t consider it an economical one that “saves me money”.
A sad reality I’ve learned is that no matter your rapport with the barn or trainer, if you are not a boarding client you will always come second. I have had many lessons rescheduled or cancelled because of it. Those boarding clients are much more meaningful to your instructor at the end of the day than Suzie who trucks in and keeps her horses independently. It can be hard not to take this personally but you have to remember it is a business.
You may find you lose that sense of “barn community/family” too. If this is valuable to you, I would not keep your horse at home if you are happy with your barn otherwise.
Hauling out after the 8-5 is such a PITA. I try not to do it, between traffic, chores, and getting home after dark (and having to do the chores in the dark!). Most days I’ll haul out on my short day at work (Fridays) and the weekend - but this eats a lot of your free time that could be devoted to other things, like home/yard improvements, socializing, or just plain relaxing… You can get burned out from this quite easily.
If you were to seriously go the route of bringing him home, take that money that you might save and make a ring. It is the only thing I would change about my life; I love having my horses at home, even though they’re a lot of work and some days I resent having to go out when it’s 5F and blizzarding. 
Thanks for this. Great to hear from someone who is in the same situation. Unfortunately, most of my property is unsuitable for riding. The ground is too uneven with hummocks and lots of blackberries (the bane of my existence) to really get some meaningful work done. Plus is sloped and in the rainy season, has standing water in the lower section. We don’t get much snow here and low temps are generally in the 30s during winter. I’m going to stay put for now and see if I can get that arena installed during the rest of the summer.
@beowulf gave me an idea. What about boarding during the cold months & bringing him home in the summer when it’s light out later, fields aren’t a sea of mud, etc?
I used to have to do this. I always considered the hauling back and forth not much different than me getting into the car and driving to see my horse had she been boarded where I rode. Key things have already been touched on; but, I’ll reiterate - have everything packed and kept in your trailer for hauling and riding on the fly at all times. Keep things very organized so easy to find whether dark or not. I had lights in my trailer so no real biggy when it was winter and always dark. I also ended up over time building up to have 2 of everything so that my trailer tack room was a duplicate (almost) of my ‘barn’ tack room. My horses over the years have always been fantastic at loading, hauling and standing for long times on the trailer without issue. I never allowed this to be any thing but and this included the stallions I’ve had over the years. Even they would load, haul and stand in a trailer with mixed company and never utter a peep. I would often wear clothes to my job that I could easily change into/out of for riding (ie, make sure the shirt/top I was wearing could go straight to the barn and all I had to do was pull on breeches). I kept a pair of riding clothes in my truck/trailer along with boots and gloves. I kept my truck and trailer hooked up so it was already to load and haul once I got home. On the days that for some reason I simply could not get over to the riding arena, I would still work in hand. It wasn’t too hard to get an area suitable for lunging (even in the dark with mag lights) while I waited (took a couple of years) to get my ‘real’ barn and outdoor lighted arena built. During that time I was able to keep horses in work and train/school/prepare for competition without too much disadvantage. I will admit though it was a godsend once I had my place suitable for riding.
I rode in a field for a year before I got an arena, and some of my friends have never had an arena at home.
Also, dinner? We either eat before I ride or at like 9pm.
You have to be structured and motivated at home, I ride less at home than when I boarded because it’s easy to get sucked into “well one more project before I ride” then I’m tired and skip riding.
Exactly, I have a good sized flower garden that needs regular maintenance and watering so that’s another time suck. Eating dinner at 9 pm is a no go. But I can put together dinner and put it in the oven and DH can eat whenever he wants while I go ride.
Oh yeah. It’s a rare day that I ever sit down at my own dinner table before 9 PM. By then SO is in bed (plumber, he’s up early). I usually scarf down leftovers - forget cooking. Cooking does not happen on the days I ride. I offset this by making huge meals during the weekend and freezing them.
There’s pros and cons to everything. Whether it works, is up to the individual.
Horses love blackberry bushes. Just sayin’.
Oh yes, I know. My old gelding used to come in with a purple lips and little pin pricks from thorns when they were in season. For some reason, my guys aren’t eating the blackberry leaves, wish they would.
When I had horses, mine devoured out berries, roses and had a go at the fruit trees. They are good at controlling the elm trees too. and they hoovered up every single fallen leaf. As good as goats, they were.
When I got my land it was mostly barren (spindly pine trees, “wire” grass) except for thick, thick blackberry bushes which the horses mostly ignored.
We put my horses in a new paddock, a little clear area with the rest with the blackberry bush jungle. We got some good, fragrant hay, and the first night we just threw it on the blackberry bushes at the edge of the tiny clear spot.
The next day there was a super highway going into the brambles. We continued throwing hay on the black berries. The berry patch shrank day by day until it was mostly gone.
And even though it has been years since I had horses those blackberry bushes have not come back much.
It sounds like the reasons for him to continue boarding far outweigh the reasons to bring him home. You may save a few bucks but the hour+ you lose very time you have to haul him to an arena to ride is crazy.
I did this for a few years, with up to four horses, back before we had our own place. I field boarded mine where they could be turned out 24/7 (with a run-in shed) on a large pasture, in an area where I could trail ride (the pasture was hilly, which helped keep them legged up, too). I had a set of cavaletti, and I would work my horses in-hand or on long-lines there, as well.
Had a friend about 10 minutes away with a large outdoor arena that was rarely used. She generously invited me to haul over anytime, saying she was happy to see someone ride in it. There was also a set of jumps available at her place.
I hauled over there most days of the week, and became very fast at hooking up my gooseneck trailer. My horses loaded/unloaded great, and would stand quietly tied to the trailer, waiting for their turn in the arena. I didn’t have to worry about turning my rig around, or backing, at the friend’s place, but where I boarded I needed to back around a curve to park my trailer.
For free and so close, in our climate without mud or snow seasons, with my particular horses, it was very workable. Change any of those circumstances, probably not so much.
I did this for a few months this spring. The indoor where I board collapsed over the winter and I had to start hauling out to keep my young horse in work. I was extraordinarily lucky that my best friend, who has her own facility, allowed me to haul in 5 days/week to ride. Also extraordinarily lucky that her place is about 2 miles from where I was boarding.
As others have said, it’s doable, but gets old. I could not stay hooked up 24/7 because my truck is also my daily driver. I did leave all of my stuff (grooming supplies, tack, helmet/boots) in the truck almost all the time so I always had everything with me. I have a flexible work schedule so I worked 7:30-3:30 and then picked up the horse and went to ride. Even so, hooking up-loading-driving-riding-untacking/hosing-loading-driving-unloading-picking trailer-unhooking-driving home took me about 2.5 hours. And that’s with only a 15 min commute between home & the barn and a 4 mile round trip hauling.
It got exhausting after a while. Horse is in full training at a different facility right now and it has been a very welcome break. But, if it meant the difference between riding and not riding, I’d do it again without question.
I’m going to keep him where he is for now and put him on pasture board to save a few bucks. He gets fed the same and I’ll still have all the amenities on site.
So, it can be done. I have my horses at home and do not have an arena. My schedule is a bit crazy but I make it work. There are two arenas I mainly ride at. One is at a friends house and is a decent size. She does not always drag, so what I can do is limited at times. It is 10 minutes away so I go there when I am short on time. There is another arena 20 minutes away. It is huge, mostly gets dragged and allows me to work on whatever. I try and haul to lessons on Saturdays. On days I cannot haul, there has been a lot of rain or I am being lazy, I long trot around my property. I usually haul out 2-3 days a week, which includes lessons.
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