Cost for yard staff holding for the dentist?

J

Jango

Well-Known Member
Joined
14 July 2010
Messages
615
Visit site
So I'm just curious if you have a horse on full grass livery/retirement grass livery and the yard caught them, then held them for the dentist and turned out again, what sort of additional charge would you expect to pay for this service (on top of the charge for the dentist)? The horse is fine to catch and well behaved. Thank you!
 
ihatework said:
On full livery I’d expect it to be wrapped up in the monthly charge a d not be billed extra unless it was specifically itemised as an extra within the contract. The latter, ditto the others - £10
Click to expand...
This, although full grass livery can often be very cheap so I might expect to get billed on top for that. Retirement livery I would expect it to be included.
 
Jango said:
Thanks everyone, this is completely in line with my thinking. I've been billed £25 which I think is way too much. Completely happy to pay £10 as I feel this is reasonable to cover the time.
Click to expand...

Depends what the member of staff's hourly rate is, the impact of that member of staff holding a horse has on the rest of the day for the yard/yard staff, poss admin fee, how long it was held for etc.

I can assure you it actually costs more than a tenner in business terms to bring a horse in, hold it for however long, and turn it out again. Not saying £25 is not on the expensive side, but from doing livery extras and pricing schemes, a tenner doesn't actually come close to breaking even!
 
teapot said:
Depends what the member of staff's hourly rate is, the impact of that member of staff holding a horse has on the rest of the day for the yard/yard staff, poss admin fee, how long it was held for etc.

I can assure you it actually costs more than a tenner in business terms to bring a horse in, hold it for however long, and turn it out again. Not saying £25 is not on the expensive side, but from doing livery extras and pricing schemes, a tenner doesn't actually come close to breaking even!
Click to expand...
This ^^^^ I would have expected £15 to £20.
 
teapot said:
Depends what the member of staff's hourly rate is, the impact of that member of staff holding a horse has on the rest of the day for the yard/yard staff, poss admin fee, how long it was held for etc.

I can assure you it actually costs more than a tenner in business terms to bring a horse in, hold it for however long, and turn it out again. Not saying £25 is not on the expensive side, but from doing livery extras and pricing schemes, a tenner doesn't actually come close to breaking even!
Click to expand...

Really? I’ve yet to meet a groom on decent wages, so say it was an hour, that would be around £10. What are the extra costs for?
 
meleeka said:
Really? I’ve yet to meet a groom on decent wages, so say it was an hour, that would be around £10. What are the extra costs for?
Click to expand...

Well minimum wage is going up to £9.50, and the employer has to cover holiday pay, national insurance, pensions contributions, sick pay and employer's liability insurance.

A freelance groom would need to earn enough on their hourly rate to cover their insurance, travel, time off for sickness or holiday etc. So anyone over 25 charging less than £10 an hour must be paying themselves a lot under minimum wage
 
meleeka said:
Really? I’ve yet to meet a groom on decent wages, so say it was an hour, that would be around £10. What are the extra costs for
Click to expand...
You are lucky to find a freelance for £10 per hour and of course freelancers often charge for travelling time in addition to working time. If fully employed with PAYE then there is NI/28days holiday/pension to contribute to the 'actual' hourly rate it costs an employer.

It is strange how grooms quite rightly wish to be paid a respectable wage but liveries do not want to pay for this.
 
I’d expect it to be included or nominal fee for a full livery situation. If horse normally on DIY I’d pay up £15-20, but not more unless it was an especially long appointment or horse was a nutter.

This is all assuming the staff are there already and it is not a freelance groom travelling specifically to hold your horse, as would obviously expect that to be more.
 
To be honest if I couldn’t be there and I was a field livery, I’d be massively grateful to someone providing a stable, a power supply, bringing horse in, holding it for dentist, turning horse back out. How far is field from yard? Do you have a stable or did you borrow one?
 
meleeka said:
Really? I’ve yet to meet a groom on decent wages, so say it was an hour, that would be around £10. What are the extra costs for?
Click to expand...

Looking at £10 minimum plus costs of PAYE for the groom, so realistically closer to £15, impact of visit on yard - our farrier visits can extend the day by 90mins if a long list, so have to pay staff for their hours, cost of admin time/staff to organise said visit/record visit/any info/billing time to clients (monthly invoices are one of my most time consuming jobs and it's all electronic), light supply for the yard, tea/coffee for the visiting professional etc. It all adds up.

Bring in/turn out to our furthest away fields is a half hour job, that's half an hour a groom isn't on the yard... I'm talking commerical yard here though.
 
Last edited:
I see they have to be brought in and out but does everyone actually hold the horse for the dentist? My dentist is my vet and I'm not sure he would even need me. I'm rarely in the stable at the same time. I am usually the one making the tea and keeping a supply of horses coming. .
 
paddy555 said:
I see they have to be brought in and out but does everyone actually hold the horse for the dentist? My dentist is my vet and I'm not sure he would even need me. I'm rarely in the stable at the same time. I am usually the one making the tea and keeping a supply of horses coming. .
Click to expand...

I think with us it’s a charge for tidying up, hanging about “just in case”
 
Cinnamontoast said:
I’d expect catch in/turn out if the horse lives out. Our dentist doesn’t want the horse held if it’s ok with him.
Click to expand...

But if the horse lives out, doesn’t have a stable, is brought in, borrows a stable, borrows the power supply, borrows someone to bring in, someone to keep an eye as most professional’s insurance requires a person on site to be responsible the horse being done, someone to turn back out.

It does rather depend if it’s full service retirement livery or renting a field for a retired horse? Or somewhere in between.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top