A demand for retirement Livery?

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coco331

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Hi, Just a quick query, my employer and I will moving to a new yard at the beginning of August in the Falkirk area and will be running a small livery service. We have been considering offering retirement livery but does anyone know if there is a demand for it? I know of Duncrahill Stables, not sure if there are any more retirement liverys in Scotland that anyone knows of? thanks! :-)
 
I don't know about your area, but I think that in general there is a demand for retirement livery. I have a mare on retirement livery because she is young and otherwise happy, but can't be ridden. The owner of the place is a good friend. Another mate has retirement liveries at her place.
The problem is, owners often don't expect to pay a realistic amount. Even if an oldie lives out they will need plenty of hay when the weather demands it, probably some hard feed, supplements and drugs. They should be checked over daily and they need grooming and their feet need picking out regularly. That's not something you can pay the odd £40 a week for, but that's what many seem to expect.
 
Tinypony said:
I don't know about your area, but I think that in general there is a demand for retirement livery. I have a mare on retirement livery because she is young and otherwise happy, but can't be ridden. The owner of the place is a good friend. Another mate has retirement liveries at her place.
The problem is, owners often don't expect to pay a realistic amount. Even if an oldie lives out they will need plenty of hay when the weather demands it, probably some hard feed, supplements and drugs. They should be checked over daily and they need grooming and their feet need picking out regularly. That's not something you can pay the odd £40 a week for, but that's what many seem to expect.
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Actually I would love a retirement livery. I would want for our lad 21 year old ID retired due to arthritus in one hind fetlock. Tends to trip and you think he's going to fall down when ridden. I would require. Stable, water and lighting, good grazing with all year turn out and use of stable when I want it. I would only stable in winter at night.

I would clean my own stable and provide my own feed and vetinary products as and when needed. Would be nice for him to have company and me holiday cover for if I cannot get there or go on holiday.:D So £30ish a week would be good. But not really any livery yards round me as I would want to be able to walk if snow down.
 
I've had a scout around and there are some places down south, I'm just researching prices and what they offer although I think that different livery packages can be negotiated depending on the needs of the individual horses/owners. We've had a good few years experience looking after golden oldies and I know that there are some who are hardy sticks with little required other than good basic care but there are others who need that bit more, which is where a retirement home with experience of caring for the older horse is more preferable to some perhaps?
We are also looking into having a holiday home type let available for any owners who live further away and would like a place to stay over for a couple of days when visiting their horse, although that's projecting into the future a tad!
 
pastel do you remember Honey - the dun? He ended his days very happily and peacefully in your care. Retirement livery does offer a 'wind down slowly' option. Perfect for those horses lucky enough to have owners who are prepared to give their old friends time to be just a horse again, after years of service. Providing, of course, the horse is well enough to enjoy it.

I think of the old fellow often. He semi-retired with me, but needed what you have and I am as grateful as his owner for what you gave him.
 
Retirement livery isn't normally DIY, because if someone wants to retire a horse on DIY they just put them at a DIY livery yard don't they?

Retirement livery normally includes 100% care, whether it is for a grass kept horse or for one that is stabled. So the cost has to include feed, drugs, wormers, farrier and some staff costs. Some people make money by taking retirement liveries and basically chucking them out in a field and looking over the fence every day to make sure they are still OK. I think most would want a little bit more for their retired horse, such as hoof care and a bit of grooming now and then. Basic DIY livery costs £25 per week round my way, so I'd be a bit suspicious of a retirement livery for £30 per week, that wouldn't even cover hay on top. Obviously I realise that things are a lot cheaper in other parts of the country.

I had to find 100% retirement livery for my horse because the land where I was wasn't suitable for her, she couldn't live on a hill.
 
coco331 said:
We are also looking into having a holiday home type let available for any owners who live further away and would like a place to stay over for a couple of days when visiting their horse, although that's projecting into the future a tad!
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Thats a good idea as it will give you a much larger area to find your clients. I am down South (where lets be honest we are very 'price conditioned' with regard to our horses) and if I was choosing, the facilities of the yard and the care would be important over how near it was from me.

I would want somesort of monitoring system though - you could always have a couple of webcams and then I think that any problems with location would be limited.

Are you prepared to deal with possibly having relatively healthy horses PTS because the owners have lost interest, etc. I always thought that would be the hard bit of running a retirement livery!
 
My six year old has just been diagnosed with ringbone, I am sending him back to the UK to my friend who will work out a light daily work program for him and we will see in 6 months whether he has stayed sound if he has she will look for him to be loaned out of her yard. If not we will be looking at a retirement livery situation for him.

I would expect turn out in an age appropriate group, stabling when required, daily checks, rug changes, additional hay as necessary, feed, foot trims, drugs, worming.

Being realistic I doubt this could be done for less than £50 per week.

Pastel your site is bookmarked just in case things do not work out for him.
 
We have just retired from doing transport and are now running the yard on a Livery basis for DIY, Holiday and Retirement. A very good B & B on a farm is just down the road from us. Grass liveries are run on a herd basis with the option of a stable but the DIY have their own seperate post and rail fenced paddocks. At the moment we don't have a website but if you look on our transport one you will see pictures of our facilities.
www.horsetransport.org.uk

So as not to upset the mods please pm me for prices
 
pastel said:
caring for retired horses isn't just a case of turning them out in a field.......... care and knowledge and veterinary experience is neccesary as you will come across many more problems than caring for younger horses. We monitor our horses health and are very commited when they become ill with many sleepless nights staying up with a sick eldery horse.
www.happyhorseretirementhome.co.uk
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agree with you 100 per cent Pastel and thats what I offer and why I ask 370 euros a month. I never have any trouble filling the occasional empty box (usually because someone has popped his shoes.) I also have a waiting list which means Im doing something right:)
I personally hate seeing oldies who have been stabled and pampered all of their lives being put in a field 24 hours a day come sleet, snow, wind, rain, sun, midgies, horseflies et all. Poor buggers must wonder what happened to their nice regulated lives:(
 
There is a lot more to looking after a pensioner than putting it in a field.
We looked after a 27yr old while his owner was working abroad, we lost more sleep with him than we did with our children, we worked with the vet, who agreed he looked rough but was happy in himself, I warned his owner he looked like a bag of bones one day and ok the next, we both cried when she unrugged him for the first time in a year, despite the warning, yet he was still enjoying life, it was decided that he was unlikely to survive another winter, so had the summer with his friends then was quietly pts. My OH's first horse was 33yrs old when he was pts this year after a long and happy retirement, pensioners are heartbreakingly worthwhile to care for, but are hard work, after a lifetime of service do they not warrant a happy retirement

RIP Copper and Kes
 
Yes, I think there is a demand for retirement livery - particularly up in the North. I was going to retire my boy last year and the only place I contacted which I felt happy with was in Cornwall - mainly because he could be turned out (which is better for his arthritis). But a lot of the ones I looked at were just normal full livery prices - if I wanted that I would just put him on full livery!
 
I have a small number of horses on retirement livery with me in the Glos/Monmouthshire area, they take as much work as any other horse, especially if they're treated as part of the family as mine are! They don't deserve to be just thrown out in a field.
 
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