People usually start thinking about a horse as a “pet” when they’re weighing up a purchase, a lease, or a move from riding-school life to daily care at home. It’s a practical decision: horses can live for decades, and the routine is steady, weather-dependent, and hard to pause once it begins.
What matters most is matching the horse to your experience, then setting up the basics—feed, water, shelter, handling, and professional support—so small problems don’t quietly turn into emergencies. The notes below keep to the essentials, with Australian welfare guidance and plain, workable steps.
The reality of owning a horse
A horse is closer to a small grazing livestock animal than a household pet. They need space, company (most do best with compatible companions), and daily checks. Stabling can be part of a routine, but long periods of confinement without turnout, movement, and social contact is a welfare risk.2
Before you commit, be honest about what you can reliably provide in an ordinary week:
- Daily: water check, quick health look (appetite, manure, stance, any swelling or heat), feed as needed, rug/shelter check, safety scan of fences and gates.1, 8
- Weekly: paddock/stable hygiene, trough scrubs, checking for rubbish or toxic hazards, and a closer look at body condition and hooves.8, 9
- Ongoing: farrier visits, vaccinations and dentistry on a vet’s schedule, and a worm control plan that fits your area and your horse’s risk.7
Benefits (and what they depend on)
Horses can pull people outdoors and into regular, physical routines—lifting feed, walking paddocks, grooming, riding, and the quiet repetition of handling. The benefit is rarely “instant”; it comes from consistency.
The horse benefits too when the basics are reliable: clean water, enough forage, suitable shelter and ventilation, and calm, skilled handling. That’s the foundation that lets training and riding sit lightly on top.1, 9
Choosing the right horse (breed matters less than temperament)
Breed can hint at size, typical movement, or common uses, but it doesn’t guarantee suitability. For first-time owners, a sensible, well-handled horse with a known history is usually a safer choice than a “dream breed” with gaps in training.
When assessing a horse, prioritise:
- Experience match: calm in routine handling (catching, leading, tying up, feet handled).
- Soundness and comfort: willing movement, no obvious lameness, and healthy hooves.
- Management fit: can maintain healthy weight on your pasture and feeding setup (important for laminitis risk).5
If you’re unsure, organise a pre-purchase veterinary examination. It’s not a guarantee, but it can reveal issues you can’t reliably spot in a single inspection.
Feeding and water: the quiet core of horse care
Forage first
For most horses, pasture and/or hay should make up the bulk of the diet, with extra feed added only when needed for workload, growth, pregnancy/lactation, or poor pasture. Sudden feed changes are a common way to stir up trouble—change gradually.1, 10
As a broad guide used in Australian horse-care advice, total feed intake is often around 1–2 kg per 100 kg bodyweight per day, adjusted to the individual and the season (pasture quality can change quickly).1
Clean water, always
Water is not optional, and it’s not “set and forget”. Horses need access to clean, palatable water at all times, and automatic systems still need daily checks. In hot weather, intake commonly rises into the 25–45+ litres per day range, and can be higher with heat and exercise.1, 8, 9
Housing and paddocks: shelter, ventilation, and safe footing
A good horse setup looks plain because it works. Shade and shelter matter, especially during heat, wind, and heavy rain. Poorly ventilated stables can become hot and stale, so airflow and dust control are part of respiratory health, not just comfort.8, 9
If you stable your horse, aim for:
- Clean, adequate bedding and daily removal of manure/urine-affected material.9
- Ventilation without draughts, and as dust-free as practical.9
- Lighting that supports inspection, without continuous artificial light.9
In paddocks, keep fences visible and sound, remove hazards promptly, and manage pasture so it doesn’t swing between bare ground and rich flushes that can overload an easy-keeper.
Handling and training: calm repetition, clear boundaries
Training is mostly the daily small moments—leading quietly, standing for the farrier, loading, yielding to pressure, and waiting. Consistency matters more than intensity.
For behavioural issues such as biting, striking, kicking, or rearing, treat it as a safety matter first. Rule out pain (teeth, saddle fit, lameness), then seek help from an experienced trainer who uses evidence-based, low-force methods. Avoid “winning the argument” approaches; they can escalate risk and make handling less predictable.
Common health concerns (and prevention that actually helps)
Colic
Colic is a broad term for abdominal pain, and it can range from mild to life-threatening. Early signs can include pawing, flank-watching, repeated lying down/getting up, rolling, reduced appetite, and changes in manure. Prevention is never perfect, but steady routines help: plenty of forage, regular turnout and exercise, careful feed changes, and keeping water intake up.10
Laminitis
Laminitis is inflammation and damage within the hoof that can become severe. A common pattern is pasture-associated laminitis in horses and ponies that gain weight easily, especially when grass is rapidly growing. Prevention focuses on weight management, careful grazing, and feeding choices that avoid excessive sugars and starches.5
Worm control (deworming)
Routine deworming still matters, but “dose everything on a calendar” can contribute to resistance. In Australia, horse wormer labels commonly include resistance warning statements and advise seeking local veterinary guidance and using resistance testing (such as faecal egg counts) to guide treatment decisions.7
Building your support team: vet and farrier
A good equine vet and a reliable farrier are part of basic infrastructure. Ask local horse owners who turns up on time, who communicates clearly, and who is comfortable working with your style of management (paddock-kept, performance, older horse, metabolic risk).
Have a plan for after-hours emergencies, too. When a horse colics at night, you don’t want to be searching for phone numbers with one ear on the stable.
Para-equestrianism in Australia
Para-equestrian sport creates structured competition pathways for riders with a classifiable physical or vision impairment. In Australia, Para Dressage is the Paralympic discipline, and riders are classified into Grades I to V based on how much their impairment affects riding function, so competition is as fair as possible.3, 4
Riders may use approved assistive devices (depending on classification and rules), and events are judged on the accuracy and quality of the test movements. If you’re curious about eligibility, classification, or how to get involved locally, start with the national bodies’ guidance and pathways.3, 4
Final thoughts
Horse ownership is built from ordinary days: water checked, feed adjusted, hooves picked, fences walked, weather watched. When those pieces are steady, horses tend to settle into a rhythm that’s easy to recognise—grazing, resting, moving, and meeting you at the gate because the routine is familiar, not because it’s complicated.
References
- Agriculture Victoria — Basic horse care
- RSPCA Knowledgebase — Policy A8: Housing and environmental needs of companion animals
- Paralympics Australia — Para-equestrian
- Equestrian Australia — Para Equestrian
- Horseland — Reduce the risk of spring laminitis
- Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital — How to prevent colic in horses
- APVMA — Veterinary labelling code: anthelmintics for horses (specific requirements)
- RSPCA WA — Horse welfare
- NSW DPI — Animal Welfare Code of Practice No. 3: Horses in riding centres and boarding stables
- Colorado State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital — Tips for preventing colic (forage, turnout, feed management)
Veterinary Advisor, Veterinarian London Area, United Kingdom