Livery Yards

[Bexy]

Our family is thinking of opening a livery yard and I've been asked as part of the process of setting it up to do some research into what people look for and what they want out of a livery yard. We have a farm and converting soe to horses, building some stables and an outdoor arena in the long run.

What do people look for in livery yards? And (if you don't mind) what would you be prepared to pay for DIY, Part and Full Livery? And what would your price depend on? What size arena would you be like? What kind of turnout? 24/7 turnout, mares, geldings, mixed?

IF you don't mind answering these about your current livery (if you have livery)...

How much do you spend in livery per week?
What livery do you have for that price? (DIY, Part, Full)

How much do you pay for turnout, feeding etc. just odd jobs when your unable to do it, or when you need us to do it, for example if you went out for the day?

What turnout do you have?

What facilities do you have?

How much hacking do you have?

What storage facility do you have for your tack, feed, hay?

Does you livery include bedding, hay/haylage?

Thank you in advance, really appreciate it!

[chalky284]

It hugely depends where you are but I can give you some ideas about what I have experienced;

I've been on a top end yard, fabulous facilities, fabulous hacking on the doorstep, regular comps of all kinds. Very good sized stables, walker, 1 indoor and 2 outdoor schools, horse wash, staff on site. £45 DIY, £70 Part, £120 Full inc exercising 3 x weekly, 24/7 grazing inc winter. 2 bales of bedding included in all livery, horses fed on a morning too.

DIY yard £35 per week, indoor school, decent stables, small individual storage, turnout up to 6 hrs most days, 2-4hrs a couple of times a week in winter, poor fencing, feeding rota. Hacking ok

Part livery £53 per week, that included feeding 2x daily and skipping out mon-fri. Stables ok. Turnout in summer non in winter, small outdoor. DIY weekends no feed, hay or bedding included. Hacking ok.

DIY livery £25 per week, good outdoor arena, good size stables, 24/7 grazing summer, daily in winter, hacking ok. Will do extra services for a fee (£1.50 feed change rug and turnout, £5 1/2hr exercise, etc)

I suppose it will depend on your facilities and location. The second and third yards were located in a very convenient place so despite not being aimed at horse welfare, are popular yards as they are easy for owners. I've had to go further to find the yard I'm on at the moment but it is really horse friendly, to me that is the most important. It's a great yard but if I could wave a magic wand and make it perfect I would add an indoor, and make the surrounding countryside have bridle paths! Other than that I can't fault it.
So essentials are:
Good turnout, small herds all year round
Good sized, light and airy stables dual aspect is perfect!
Good sized school with decent surface
Plenty of dry storage for hay and bedding
Individual, lockable tack rooms.
Good hacking

Any luxuries are a definite bonus and will increase the popularity of your yard, plan it out well and set some basic rules for the liveries to abide by. Good luck!

[mygingeisthebest]

Hi Bexy.

I am on a livery yard at the moment and its 30 pounds a week this includes, summer and winter turn out, individual tack rooms behind each stable, water, hayledge , outdoor arena and horse walker. Everything is included except for your bedding , which you can get your self or they provide.

Livery costs are £5 per horse for full livery. £4 for part livery (evening or morning) £1 for turn out/bring in and £1.50 for rugs changed.

In a morning what we have found works well is a feeding rota... A rolling rota with every one who's horses are fed in a morning on it, tho is good because the horses get in to a routine of all being fed together and stops any bad stable behaviour, and gives a chilled atmosphere.

Personally what I would look for in a yard is ... Winter turn out! Big seller for me. Summer turn out, good sized stable, an arena, individual storage and a nice atmosphere. X

[Toaster]

I dont keep my ponies at livery but if I did then I would love to find a laminitis savvy livery yard

I think there is a niche for a yard that has turnout without good grass, a surface would be ideal but even a well drained bare paddock would be ok. I see so many posts on forums where a YO will not allow paddocks to be sectioned and insists that small native ponies get the same turnout as bigger horses

My ponies have never had laminitis but I do know that if I had to move them to a yard tomorrow I would struggle to find one locally where I was happy with the turnout arrangement

[Kerbeck]

I have been on several yards, the first had indoor and outdoor schools, off road hacking and lovely stables, however turnout was atrocious, overcrowded in summer and non existent in winter! It was £45 DIY which included use of schools (if you could get in them for lessons RDA etc going on!) 2 bales of shavings per week and haylage, shared keypad tack room and barn

Next I went to a small well run yard with outdoor school (exposed on hill side so very very windy) good hacking once you got off the busy road and good turnout although not 24/7 in summer that was purely DIY only and was £50 a week including ad lib haylage and straw, shared tack room

Now I am on a fab fab fab yard! Just DIY with no school but I have my own 4 acre field to do as I please so very very happy ponies! Direct access on to moorland bridleway, just have to cross one road to get in to huge off road estate, excellent massive flat field to ride in (not once even had to share with anyone else in there whilst I am riding!) £25 a week and we buy all our own bedding and feed. Have a big secure barn to store feed and bedding in which is attached to YO house.

Essentials for me:

Good quality turnout - year round a must
Somewhere to ride
Good hacking
Secure storage (although always take tack home)
Owners on sight
Dry stables with good lighting
Somewhere to park wagon
Running water and electrics
Seperate mare and gelding turnout

I wouldnt want individual paddocks as my 3 like to play together and socialise


All the above also charged £5 per week to keep my wagon there.

I would pay the following for extras:

£5 per day Full livery for the odd day
50 p for feeding / hanging nets
£2.50 skip out
£1.50 bring in / turn out and rug changes
50p pick out feet / wash legs off
£3.50 full muckout

[conniegirl]

been on a few yards, my current yard is brilliant and would be utterly perfect if there was just a bit more off road hacking.

Currently paying £50 a week for Assisted DIY. This incluides Hay, 1 bale of shavings, basic feed, Pony fed and put out in the mornings (inc rug change if nessecary) and fed in the evening. We have a 20x40m floodlit outdoor scholl, a paddock to ride on for summer and all year daily turnout (come in at night all year round). It is a small friendly yard where everyone helps eachother.

full livery is £3 a day extra.

My last yard was £20 a week for a stable, paddock and 40x60m outdoor school, but winter turnout was sporadic, no help was available, you bought all your own hay/bedding etc the flood lights in the school often didnt work and going up twice a day was killing me and breaking the bank.

Before that I had anouther yard that was £30 a week for stable and all year turnout, very large outdoor school, smaller indoor school. Supplied the rest yourself. I would have stayed there but work took me to the other side of the country and a 400mile round commute just isnt going to be feasible.

[silvester]

With my yard, I have found people wanting a good quality school with lights and it to be well maintained. Second most important thing is good turnout, either individual or in pairs, with good maintained fields and fencing and a good management plan to allow 365 days turnout. Then I've found people want a good clean large stable, and a nice warm atmosphere! With competition horses this has all been far more important than price!

Then I've found the crunch is having nice extras such as a horse walker, hot horse wash and heat lamps as well as a toilet, a nice clean tack room and a well managed yard. The hacking is important to some but never been a deal breaker

If you can offer everything bigger and better than any competitor yard, then I'd say it doesn't really matter (within reason) what you charge! But ask around neighbouring yards and compare yourself and you will find your niche

[sparkysunny]

Okay, my turn. Our livery yard allows for all year turn-out, which is wonderful; can't imagine the ponies having to stay in for weeks/months on end. The hacking is pretty good once you get off the road and if you can ride when there aren't any children doing loopy things on the rope swings they've made on the common! Flexible livery arrangements, ranging from full to nothing and anything in between, which is fantastic for anyone working or needing ad-hoc services. Outdoor floodlit schools with super surface in one and manageable surface in the others. Small indoor school. Exclusive use of cross-country course on a massive field; disadvantages with this are that the field is on a huge hill and the local deer inhabit it, which puts the fear of God into my two ponies. Turn-out is £2.50 a time, fetch-in £3, muck out £5. Trailer parking £3 per week, stable rent £38 per week (ouch), hay £5.50 per small bale. We get our own bedding/feed. Weekly visits from local farrier/vet which we just sign up for when needed. Twice yearly visits from equine dentist - again, sign up when necessary. Nowhere is perfect and I have my gripes, but I don't really think we'd find anything better locally. It's a friendly, helpful yard and this counts for an awful lot. I have my criticisms but nothing major. If you're looking for three things that would set you apart from the rest I would say a) year-round turn-out, b) good surfaces in schools which can be used any time of day/year and c) good hacking.

[bryonycrossling]

After being on several livery yards for 8 years we bit the bullet, took on a giant mortgage and bought our own place. We have 5 liveries in and I charge £24 for stable (which are 16x14-v big!), unlimited year round turnout- though I expect people to be sensible in the winter and not trash the fields! Also includes unlimited use of outdoor school and small indoor, loo, washing machine, shower, trailer parking. Everyone gets their own hay/haylage, bedding and feed. I do like liveries to poo pick their own fields!! We keep to a working regime- worm counts are essential- it's easy for people to tell you they've wormed...! I think the key is being approachable and communicating well!!

[Bexy]

Thank you everybody for helping out, really appreciate the time you've taken for replying! Thanks again, you've really helped!