Boarding your horse does have its benefits. Someone else gets to wake up early and feed your horse every day, arrange for hay delivery, and spread all of that manure. However, there's nothing quite like having your horse or horses at home. If you are in the position to start shopping for your own horse property so you can keep your horses on your own land, you should absolutely go for it! Here are four big benefits of keeping your horses at home.

1. You can keep a closer eye on their health.

If you board your horses and only go to visit them a few times per week, medical issues can go unnoticed for a while. Sure, the owners of the boarding facility should let you know if your horse seriously cuts himself or comes in noticeably lame, but since they don't know your horse as well as you do, they may not notice and report smaller problems. When you keep your horse at home, you'll notice medical issues sooner, so you're able to get veterinary treatment sooner -- which is often the key to successful recovery.

2. You can control their diet.

Boarding barns don't usually give their clients too many options in terms of feed. Maybe all of the plumb quarter horses in the barn do well on a 12% protein feed, but your thoroughbred looks thin with this diet. When you bring your horses home, you have complete control over their own diet and can experiment with different feeds as you see fit.

3. You can alter your own facility to meet your needs.

You can make improvements to the horse property you buy to ensure it suits your specific discipline. For example, if you ride dressage but everyone else at the boarding barn runs barrels, you may not find their large arena suitable to your riding sessions. But at home, you can build your own dressage ring and practice in style!

4. You can attend farrier and vet appointments easily.

Meeting the vet or farrier can be a bit of a hassle when you're at a boarding barn. You might show up a half hour early for a 10:30 appointment. Then, the farrier is running an hour late, and before you know it, you were at the barn all morning just for a trim! When your horses are at home, you have an easier time making these appointments and you won't spend so much time waiting around, doing nothing. 

Learn more about horse ranches for sale from a local real estate agent.