DIY Horse Livery

[Goc Man]

I am looking to start a small livery yard, completely DIY.

I was wondering the people in here that have done so and anyone that has been on DIY livery how much turn out do you let them have?
Going to put up semi-permanent electric fence paddocks hooked up to the mains but not quite sure how much to let them have. Will be rotating the paddocks every 2\3 weeks and no turn out over winter when its too wet.
Also how much do people in the South West charge of DIY livery? reasonable hacking, arena with show jumps and would look to put in a walker as soon as I can afford one.

Thanks for any help and not interested in any horror stories of horsey people please

 

[Glass half full]

we have 1.5 acres per horse, you do need to give some winter turnout. rotating paddocks wont work in my experience as liveries are a nightmare for that sort of thing. give them there own individual paddocks (winter and summer) remember horsey people don't like rich grazing so even trashed fields with a roll, harrow and fertilizer in spring will be fine. i would not bother with walker.

 

[Wheyibuggermair]

I am looking to start a small livery yard, completely DIY.

I was wondering the people in here that have done so and anyone that has been on DIY livery how much turn out do you let them have?
Going to put up semi-permanent electric fence paddocks hooked up to the mains but not quite sure how much to let them have. Will be rotating the paddocks every 2\3 weeks and no turn out over winter when its too wet.
Also how much do people in the South West charge of DIY livery? reasonable hacking, arena with show jumps and would look to put in a walker as soon as I can afford one.

Thanks for any help and not interested in any horror stories of horsey people please

Thats a shame, I have a cracker and it's just caused me to lose any ambition to let any of the buggers anywhere near my land

 

[Chasingmytail]

they'll go mad with no let out over winter. This could be a continual 3 months in with the wet winters we are having now.

DIY basic £25 - £30pw. thats livery & grazing.

Shut ours best thing we ever did.

 

[Welsh Farmer]

...... i would not bother with walker.

Those would be my thoughts as well.

1. I wouldn't bother with the expense of purchase, set up and on-going costs
2. You are creating for yourself an unnecessary liability if some one or their horse(s) got injured in any way

.... so why bother and create that headache for yourself if you don't really need to.

 

[muppet]

Most people will want to turn out during the winter, but you can still make the rules to suit you ie when it is a bog, they are not permitted to turn out, no feeding in paddocks, if they have individual paddocks then they must poo pick daily etc.

I do know of a yard near me that was very fussy about winter turn out, and people accepted it. You would be more likely to get the hunters/competitive riders than the nightmare fair weather happy hackers.

Don't bother with a walker unless you need one for your own use anyway.

£25/30 p/w sounds about right locally, but if they have an arena to use, then maybe charge more. Just make sure they pay by standing order a month in advance! Get references where possible from previous yards, ask which farrier they use etc

 

[RandomsRanch]

Think hard about starting livery.... the horse world is a very hard place to be, that's comes from 17yrs experience!!!
depending on what area, what clients you are looking to serve depends on what you should offer.

1 - grass livery, 24/7 turnout nothing else, a lovely big field to pop their pony in and come visit as they please, many now prefer this as living out is becoming more common. kids ponies and adult riders sometime prefer this to keep costs down. they buy a rug and their away. no hidden costs. water should be available and hay as needed during the winter months at extra cost (usually divided by no of horses) weekly cost of £10-20

2 - the bog standard family with kids and a couple of ponies will want cheap grass turnout most of the year, use of a stable if needed with hay as and when, an outdoor secure space to play/work and better still an indoor 1 so the kids don't whine their cold..... no chores (field picking etc) being able to buy their hay/straw/shavings/feeds as they desire. weekly livery of £10-20 grass turnout or £25-40 with stable and extras

3 - family with eventing/pony club horses want all year round dry daily turnout, a stable for an evening, hay/straw provided in costs, an area outdoors to exercise and work an area indoors for when its cold. A secure tack room for their expensive equipment, parking for their box or lorry.... lots of space for all the rubbish they have their parents buy including rugs and mucking out equipment. A warm room to sit and chat in (or slag each other off) a paddock each or small groups of ponies who belong to their friends. again no chores! And lots of people to admire their ponies all washed and pretty each weekend for shows lol. weekly livery of £35-50 depending on extras

4 - adult riders, happy hackers to eventers want a yard with only polite children, daily turnout, stable for evenings, hay/straw in price, in and outdoor arenas if possible, parking, tack rooms, wash area, tearoom, left to do their own thing unless they go on holiday when they expect you to care for their loved equine to a 5 star level for little extra cost! weekly livery £30-60 depending on extras.....

if you can get your head around that, find a group of liveries who can actually agree to disagree with each others ways, find equine owners who can actually afford to keep the equines their children demand to have so they can pay on time every time, then your on a winner

Rotating paddocks 2/3weekly will drive most liveries nuts as its extra work, they prefer winter/summer paddocks. No turnout is a definite no go as that would drive the horses nuts..
small paddocks of 2-3acres would suit 3-4 horses for a couple of months before needing resting, depending on current land condition
A walker would be an asset to eventers, adult riders but I don't no many others that would find it a benefit they were prepared to pay for.

Its a very lucrative market if you can bite your lip and give them what they want. good luck and I hope I haven't put you off. Mandy

ps. I have owned horse 17yrs,have a current herd of 12, living on a track system 24/7, 4 teenage daughters and we finally gave up and now have land of our own where we do our own thing without interruption from other equines lol

 

[Welsh Farmer]

Post removed re @4course message if that is ok by everyone.

 

[YorkshireAndrew]

Hell hath no fury like a livery scorned. [emoji17]

 

[4course]

Hell hath no fury like a livery scorned. [emoji17]

yep your right on, its a shame the op doesnt want to hear any horror stories as a we could have had so much fun enlightening folks

 

[Welsh Farmer]

im sure the tax man and vat inspector and local rating officer will thank you for your efforts on their behalf .

..... are they on this site then

 

[Welsh Farmer]

big brother is everywhere plus his helpers

OK post removed if that helps

 

[Janovich]

I wouldn't even look at your potential yard if there wasn't all year turnout I'm afraid. I'm lucky in that I've at last found a yard (small, quiet and only 6 liveries who all get on!!!...Yeah I know,...bloody unheard of, but we do!).

Echo @RandomsRanch as on the whole it's covered pretty much everything!

We do I must add, have a horsewalker in situ on the yard as it's a viable piece of kit for the owners horses (12 of them) and as such, the liveries can and do make use of it too on a regular basis. I do and my boy goes on it a couple of times a week at £3 a time. It's useful for me to know that (as well as his turnout all year round), he's had a good session on the walker when I know I'm gonna be pushed for time to exercise him myself on certain days of the week.

I'm not in your area @Goc Man, but round here DIY would be around £35 a week (with the opportunity to pay for 'extras' if needed).

My yard is Part/Full/Holiday/Schooling/Sales Livery now as they've done away with the DIY aspect of it as it was all too bloody fussy.

Hope that helps a little.

 

[rob1]

I wouldn't even look at your potential yard if there wasn't all year turnout I'm afraid. I'm lucky in that I've at last found a yard (small, quiet and only 6 liveries who all get on!!!...Yeah I know,...bloody unheard of, but we do!).

Echo @RandomsRanch as on the whole it's covered pretty much everything!

We do I must add, have a horsewalker in situ on the yard as it's a viable piece of kit for the owners horses (12 of them) and as such, the liveries can and do make use of it too on a regular basis. I do and my boy goes on it a couple of times a week at £3 a time. It's useful for me to know that (as well as his turnout all year round), he's had a good session on the walker when I know I'm gonna be pushed for time to exercise him myself on certain days of the week.

I'm not in your area @Goc Man, but round here DIY would be around £35 a week (with the opportunity to pay for 'extras' if needed).

My yard is Part/Full/Holiday/Schooling/Sales Livery now as they've done away with the DIY aspect of it as it was all too bloody fussy.

Hope that helps a little.

I have gone from allowing all year turn out to some restrictions, not lost one owner yet as they like not having to wash legs when they come in after work on a dark winters night, going to put in some turnout areas for them this winter so they will be off the fields for longer, we do have a covered school though which they enjoy on wet winter nights

 

[Janovich]

I have gone from allowing all year turn out to some restrictions, not lost one owner yet as they like not having to wash legs when they come in after work on a dark winters night, going to put in some turnout areas for them this winter so they will be off the fields for longer, we do have a covered school though which they enjoy on wet winter nights

Fair play @rob1 ,..you're making the concerted effort to understand that horses do need to have a fair amount of 'out' time for the good of the soul, even if it is on manmade surfaces. Many yards don't have enough of this option if restrictions have been put on winter turnout in the fields. Good on ya.

Having an indoor for them too is always a bonus at this time of year as well. Sounds like you've got things covered pretty well for your liveries and you're doing your best to keep the customers happy .

 

[RandomsRanch]

I wouldn't even look at your potential yard if there wasn't all year turnout I'm afraid. I'm lucky in that I've at last found a yard (small, quiet and only 6 liveries who all get on!!!...Yeah I know,...bloody unheard of, but we do!).

Echo @RandomsRanch as on the whole it's covered pretty much everything!

We do I must add, have a horsewalker in situ on the yard as it's a viable piece of kit for the owners horses (12 of them) and as such, the liveries can and do make use of it too on a regular basis. I do and my boy goes on it a couple of times a week at £3 a time. It's useful for me to know that (as well as his turnout all year round), he's had a good session on the walker when I know I'm gonna be pushed for time to exercise him myself on certain days of the week.

I'm not in your area @Goc Man, but round here DIY would be around £35 a week (with the opportunity to pay for 'extras' if needed).

My yard is Part/Full/Holiday/Schooling/Sales Livery now as they've done away with the DIY aspect of it as it was all too bloody fussy.

Hope that helps a little.

you will need to be VERY Flexible if you want to keep liveries of any kind happy, aits best to find a 'type' happy hacker, kids, hunter/eventers etc and stick to it never try to mix them or its chaos lol

I have a personal herd of 11, 1 loan from a friend, a mixture of everything but now all our pets, they all live on a track/equicentral system so even when not exercised by ppl they move all day long live out with shelters even though I have stables etc. it has taken us 17yrs to get to having our own land and finally being able to do our own thing without others 'knowing better' x

 

[Janovich]

I was on a 'Paddock Paradise' type track system @RandomsRanch with my boy for a couple of years (and I travelled quite a way every day for the luxury of this set up).

Unfortunately the owner was off her rocker and quite seriously I do think she was a candidate for bi-polar, which was the opinion of one or two other liveries too.

I had to leave for my own and my horse's mental well being as the place became a nightmare to be at.

I adore this kind of set up and sincerely wish there were more yards with this system in place,.

 

[Glass half full]

i had a guy come out a few weeks ago from kent to talk about doing a similar system to that with tracks, sand and open pole barn shelter. its an interesting system and we are looking to go forward with it on a small average to start with

 

[suffolksmallholder]

We're pn a paddock paradise system too. Happy ponies!
SS

 

[rob1]

I was on a 'Paddock Paradise' type track system @RandomsRanch with my boy for a couple of years (and I travelled quite a way every day for the luxury of this set up).

Unfortunately the owner was off her rocker and quite seriously I do think she was a candidate for bi-polar, which was the opinion of one or two other liveries too.

I had to leave for my own and my horse's mental well being as the place became a nightmare to be at.

I adore this kind of set up and sincerely wish there were more yards with this system in place,.

How does this system work?