# horses in spain



## nuttymare01 (24 April 2014)

We are thinking of moving to Spain. We have had a good look around at equine lifestyles out there and there are some surprising differences.
1. Horse have little or no turnout - those turned out are usually sand paddocks not grazing. Due to this the amount of energy they have if heavily influenced by what they eat. Being stabled all day, you dont want a fizz bomb.
2. The diet is mainly a mix of straw and alfalfa (which is bought baled - similar to hay in the UK)
Do any of you have any experience of keeping horses in Spain and if so can you share your experience with me. 
Thanking you


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## freckles22uk (25 April 2014)

Hi Nuttymare...

there are a lot of differences if you are at a yard, I have mine at home, so I do tend to keep the the english way (sort of)... mine live out 24/7, even my stallion who is in a paddock next to my 2 mares (one being his mum)  a lot of horses here are stabled due to them being entire, as a lot of mares are kept for breeding only.. not a lot of grazing depending on where you are, so no need for large paddocks, though I am very lucky and have neighbours that let me use their land to graze on (free of charge too) 

Hay is hard to get, as most comes from up north, and can work out expensive, I feed mine straw at night (in slow feeder nets) or my mares would be the size of a house!... I also have forraja, which is like wild grass/oats that is baled, and I have to feed hard feed all year round, though the horses are much more laid back than they ever were in the UK (though the stallion was born here, and hes so laid back hes horizontal)  

Vets I have found are very good, with one of the best horse hospitals being in Alicante, Farriers, as in the UK can be hit and miss, though I now have mine barefoot (something I thought I would never do) 

Hacking is good, as you can tend to ride where you want

The thing that did surprise me was the need for rugs in winter as It can get cold (where I am, inland)


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## Booboos (25 April 2014)

I've kept horses in Greece and the south of France which are both similar to Spain.

The turnout is a personal preference. If there is no grass anyway you do not need massive paddocks and can happily keep horses out in much smaller areas on dry sand. The heat and flies can be terrible though so most horses will want to come in during the day or have field shelters - you have to think a bit about how to construct these and where to place them to have shade and take advantage of any breeze there is.


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## Marika (2 May 2014)

No   but I have just moved my horse to Malta from the Orkney Islands and found the change from grass to sand o.k.


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## Milanesa (13 May 2014)

Hi again it depends what area of Spain you are thinking of as to lifestyle, turnout etc.


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## Crackajack (19 August 2014)

Marika - interested that you moved your horse to Malta...it's where I live 

What stables are you at?

Im surprised you didnt find any reactions from your horse taking him from Scotland climate to here with 40 degrees plus! Most horses who come from a different climate tend to react anything up to 6 months down the line hence why I didnt buy my new boy from bk home in UK...I opted for Spain.


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## Crackajack (19 August 2014)

Scotland Ornkey or Norwegian Ornkey?? Hmmm.....


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## tomas (22 December 2014)

I keep my horses on dry sand in Valencia (Spain) and they are perfectly fine.


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## andy stackpoole (17 January 2015)

Hi. We moved our horses to Spain in April last year. On looking for a Full livery stables in our area south of Alicante, we could not find anything we liked! There was a lack of turn out and only 2 or 3 feeds a day (not great for graziers). So we opened our own livery yard with stables, shaded corrals and auto water feeders. After all, we can't be the only people who think this way? We used John Parker for the transport of our horses who were fantastic and the horse arrived a few days later perfectly happy. There is a lack of quality hay in the costa blanca south, but the Alfalfa is good, and used for lunch and in slow feed nets at night, with wet feeds of sugar beet and piensos for breakfast and a high fibre wet feed (imported from the uk). the horses are fine! Although I think they still miss their lush green Devon field!


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## Ash Kan (15 November 2021)

andy stackpoole said:



			Hi. We moved our horses to Spain in April last year. On looking for a Full livery stables in our area south of Alicante, we could not find anything we liked! There was a lack of turn out and only 2 or 3 feeds a day (not great for graziers). So we opened our own livery yard with stables, shaded corrals and auto water feeders. After all, we can't be the only people who think this way? We used John Parker for the transport of our horses who were fantastic and the horse arrived a few days later perfectly happy. There is a lack of quality hay in the costa blanca south, but the Alfalfa is good, and used for lunch and in slow feed nets at night, with wet feeds of sugar beet and piensos for breakfast and a high fibre wet feed (imported from the uk). the horses are fine! Although I think they still miss their lush green Devon field!
		
Click to expand...

Hi Andy,
We're thinking about moving to Alicante from Poland. We're used to massive green paddocks so moving my mare to a Spain scares me a bit. There's no way I'll keep her mainly in a box. I'm looking for a stable with more "natural" approach. Do you still have your stable in the Alicante area?


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## Pinkvboots (15 November 2021)

Ash Kan said:



			Hi Andy,
We're thinking about moving to Alicante from Poland. We're used to massive green paddocks so moving my mare to a Spain scares me a bit. There's no way I'll keep her mainly in a box. I'm looking for a stable with more "natural" approach. Do you still have your stable in the Alicante area?
		
Click to expand...

You might not get a reply this thread is 6 years old and those posters probably don't come on here anymore.

Maybe start a new thread there are some people on here in Spain or have lived there previously that might be able to help.


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