A little bit of research...

BigYellowHorse

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Hello!

I'm looking to gather as much information and opinions as possible regarding livery.

My family and I are looking at a piece of land near us, my nanny very sadly passed away 2 years ago and we have inherited her estate, we would like to invest the money into either property or land and recently approximately 20 acres of mature grazing has come on the market very close to us.

There's no buildings or stables and planning is certainly something we need to look into, as we would put stables and arena in eventually, but I'm really looking for advice on the land. 50% or it is flat which is split into 2 fields, the other third field is the largest however is on a fair gradient. Im not talking yorkshire downs gradients, and it's a relatively gentle gradient. In some ways the gradient isnt a bad thing as being on clay it will help it to drain down to the stream at the bottom.

For me I don't mind the gradient, certainly having youngsters it will be some lovely natural exercise for them and would be good for people with youngsters with the sticky stifles! But we need the land to work so would need liveries.

I have my opinion on turning out on hills but would love to hear the point of view of others. Would you mind turning out in such a field?

Additionally; the hacking from the field is brilliant loads of off road tracts linking into a a massive bridle way that goes across several counties and the views are pretty stunning.

Also, as we wouldn't be putting stables/facilities in straight away, what would you want from grass livery? There would be water and electricity and sure we could put some hard standing in so people have somewhere dry to groom, tack up etc.. We can supply haylage and straw too and I'd be happy enough to do checks if people needed them.

Thank you for any feed back - good and bad!
 
If you could put up a field shelter and organise an area for schooling, I think people would be very keen. Good hacking is key for many people, so you're probably onto a winner. Stables would be ideal, I think, maybe for use in emergencies if you're going to concentrate on grass livery.
 
If you could put up a field shelter and organise an area for schooling, I think people would be very keen. Good hacking is key for many people, so you're probably onto a winner. Stables would be ideal, I think, maybe for use in emergencies if you're going to concentrate on grass livery.

Oh yes, definitely could get a couple of field shelters and a grass schooling area would also be fully possible, I've got jumps coming out my ears at home from poly blocks to 6ft wings so they'll all be fully available for people to use.

My main concern was the field being a little hilly - I know people can be worried especially during the wetter weather about horses have a burn down a hill and slipping ending in nasty consequences :(
 
I'd be quite happy with a hilly turnout field if it was well maintained.

Personally I'd want a stable at hand, but for grass livery if you have hardstanding, water and leccy it sounds fab. Perhaps a field shelter?

If you could get planning for a few stables and some sort of school then you'll be well away :)
 
Although I live on top of ridge at 1000ft, my land is all flat but drainage is good, my neighbours have fields which slope on the side of the ridge, and one neighbour always used her field with the steepest slope as her winter grazing as it stayed reasonably free of water even in wetest weather. She had to make a schooling area in order to have a flat space to ride.
 
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