Horse's eye view

If you were a horse, setting out to pick your ideal livery yard, what would be on your list?

For us humans, there are lots of important priorities - location, parking, a friendly atmosphere, good facilities, competitive prices - but, if you were a horse, where would those come on your agenda?

Livery yards often have fabulous selling-points - state of the art stabling, individual turnout, immaculate arena surfaces and paddocks - and when accompanied by gorgeous photos like these, they win us over.

But try putting yourself in your horse's position and assessing what is important from his point of view.

I know from both my own horses and the rehab horses that they enormously value being part of a herd. They have likes and dislikes but company and being with a group is valuable to them.

There is the odd horse who is a true loner but they are rare. Normally, even the singletons are happier when they are on the fringes of a herd.

 As for shelter...well, there is no doubt in my mind that horses like shelter - whether its woods to keep cool or barns to protect from the wind or rain...

But when left to their own devices, companionship is still key for them. Horses don't segregate themselves when they seek out shelter - I took this photo one winter night and its not uncommon to find 3 horses sharing this space overnight.

Look at horses in a field - they aren't spread evenly about but clustered in groups. 

Contact, communication and companionship - I reckon they'd be fairly high priorities for your horse if he were picking the yard :-)