Cost of Keeping at Home Vs Livery 2022

[Miss_Millie]

I know that this type of thread has been done to death, but I thought it would be interesting to create one for 2022, with the cost of living crisis/inflation etc in mind.

I'm personally on livery at the moment, and the biggest downsides are the cost of filling the car to drive to the yard, the time it takes to drive there/back again and the cost of bedding for stabling (don't have the option of out 24/7). Another big 'cost' to me, although not a monetary one, is not being able to manage my horse in the way that's best for her wellbeing and health. Right now we're on the best yard possible for our circumstances, but it still isn't ideal. On the flip side, I'm sure I take for granted all of the behind the scenes management/maintenance stuff, that I'd have to do myself if I were ever in the situation to be able to keep her on my own property.

I'd be interested to hear from other forum members, what are your biggest costs at the moment, whether on livery or at home? Do you think that one is superior to the other? And do you think that affording horse ownership full stop, is going to become harder for the average equestrian?

 

[honetpot]

It depends what at home means, how much land, what sort of fencing, is there a surface already there.
I had a small paddock( sometimes a swimming pool) that I used in winter, with stables, the most I kept on it was three small ponies. I fed hay, bedding, a small amount of electric and extra water on the house supply, and had to replace the odd rail. All 'work' was done on the road or hacking.
I now have a lot more acreage, hedges, fencing, but I have a lot more animals, but the basic running costs are greater. My water bill is huge. I still would not invest £30K on a surface.
If you are keeping them at home a must is a big shed, because what ever forage you buy you usually get a better deal if you buy more, and if you are collecting 30 bales, it's not much more in fuel, and time. We could get about thirty in a Rice trailer.
Yesterday I almost danced a jig as I had twenty four round bales, delivered and stacked, so that is my hay worries over for the next nine months

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

The additional amount you would pay in interest on your mortgage per month would negate a lot of the additional fuel cost I would imagine (I live in the South East, it might be different in a cheaper area), not to mention the additional water costs, electricity, fencing. grass management and other misc repairs/maintenance.

The main differences would be non-fiscal I would imagine.

 

[Peglo]

I’m so lucky that my stables are on my property and I have free use of my aunties fields (with the assumption that I look after my cousins ponies when she’s away) I get to choose which fields they go in, what parts I want to fence off etc. they maintain fences but also means they choose what kind of fencing is used. We get 24/7 turnout in summer and stabled at night through the winter with no complaints with the state of the fields.

my biggest cost is feed for the oldies. Also costs £120 to get 3 trims but after summer I won’t have 3 horses and money won’t feel so tight. I couldn’t afford livery so I feel so lucky with my set up.

 

[Goldenstar]

I keep four at home we have a nice barn conversation stabling for six a surface a schooling field it’s 25 acres that includes the garden and 8.5 acres of wood land .
I don’t it really a saving it costs a lot to maintain in money our Labour and Labour you have to buy in .
As an example hedge care comes in a £500 a year and there’s lots of things like that What's priceless however is being in charge of everything that happens to your horses .
I have enough acreage to only stable at night for the very worst (wettest part of the year )last year that was only six weeks for me that’s priceless .

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I keep my girl at home and have a couple of DIY liveries; no way could I afford to keep a horse otherwise.

Yes know I'm lucky, but the livery hardly breaks even after you've taken into account the additional insurance needed plus maintenance etc.

 

[SEL]

Mine are on my own land but it's some distance from my house so fuel is about the same as it would be to get to my old yard.

I don't obviously have to cover inflationary increases in yard worker pay (OH gets bribed with cake!) & I don't have electric so that's not a cost rise. Fully expecting hay to go up this year and I suppose because I manage how much they get it might be less than a set livery charge.

Biggest issue is local farmers technically can't use red diesel for horse properties and I need a field topping.

Following on from GS's post I do have to pick up the cost of pruning two mature ash trees with die back and the hedge needs TLC. I'm another who leaves out as long as possible 24:7 in winter so that does save on bedding

 

[Polos Mum]

The keeping costs (hay, bedding, feed) change the same for at home or at livery. A pallet of wood pellets was £260 last year now out of stock at £399 !!
On a big yard the YO can buy in bulk to make savings vs. at home

The rest of your livery pays for :
Maintenance - again the increases are the same whether you're buying for yard or at home
Staff salaries - if you're not on DIY - hard to guess where these will go, but I imagine good staff will be able to get pay rises or another job and replacing good staff is tough.
Land cost - we have had an interest rate rise every month for five months - most "at home" people have a mortgage (I'd guess) so that has gone up (or will go up at next renewal) massively.

The only people who think keeping horses at home is a cheap option is those which have never kept horses at home !! IMHO !

Clearly the odd exception for those who own land outright or who's OH is a farmer and does all the horse stuff for nothing on the side.

 

[Tarragon]

I don't think it is necessarily a difference between Livery versus your own land. I think it is the way that you keep them that has the biggest impact on costs. I don't think that I could do mine much cheaper. I do livery and it is only £25 per week per pony DIY, so I am not having to pay for any additional land management. I also keep mine barefoot and out 24/7, so minimal horse management costs.
I remember when I first moved the ponies there, having kept them before in livery with similar rates but stabled overnight, and I was delighted to see my costs nearly halved because I wasn't paying for bedding or hay. Mind you, I couldn't share this properly with my OH as he never knew the original costs!! As you do

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Like SEL I have my own yard but it's not at home, so petrol costs for the twice daily commute.

That said, I can do what I like, so can leave them out 24/7 to save on bedding (saved a fair whack last winter as only in for a few nights when v v wet).

Less Fuzzies mean more grass (too much) which meant I used far less hay last winter and have about 55% left, which is ideal, only a small top up needed.

I still need to do maintenance tho, but trying to do all myself except for the worst of it.

 

[meleeka]

Mine are on my own land, but a mile away from home, so there’s fuel costs. My biggest cost is medication, which hasn’t really gone up in the last year due to my vets doing a price match. I’m waiting for the hay cost to rise which I can’t really cut down on (well I probably could but I’d then have possible extra costs for the ulcer prone one). I think I already keep them fairly simply so there’s a good cushion before I’ll struggle I think.

Lucky for me my neighbour is a builder and throws away loads of stuff like wood, so maintenance is usually free using something I found on his rubbish pile. I’ve just put a 50m x 5ft fence up and all i it cost me was post mix ?

 

[rabatsa]

I have 14.5 acres. Big costs have been building a barn, re-roofing and lining a tin shed, buying five stables, two in the tin shed and three in the barn. Mud control slabs to ensure that an area outside the barn is equine friendly all year round. Lots of wagon loads of stone, before I discovered mud control slabs.

Fencing, the whole kit and kaboodle had to be stock fenced.

That was one big inheritance spent. The next decent sized one went on equipment, tractor, quad, trailers and various attachments including a hedge cutter as we have over 750 metres of hedge to maintain.

This week we have spent 18 man & tractor hours mowing and turning hay, this has used 70 litres of fuel. A man came and baled the hay into 53 big round bales of hay, another man came and wrapped it for us. These two bills have yet to come in. Taking the carry over from last year I may have up to 15 bales of this hay to sell. I will be keeping 17 sheep over winter and will budget 15 bales of this hay for them, to allow for a long winter and bad weather. Some are housed in two of the stables as I lamb during February.

The sheep are great at keeping everywhere tidy and the grass in good heart.

Every week there is some maintenance to be done, somewhere about the place.

I have run out relatives to leave me money and the remaining ones are working out how much I will be leaving them.

If I could not keep my lot here at home then I would not keep any.

 

[millitiger]

I have mine at home on 7 acres.

Higher mortgage repayments as house value is much higher- also not all mortgage providers will lend on a house with land.
Higher house insurance and liability
Land management costs- hedge cutting, grass seed, weed spray etc.
Purchase of tractor, topper, harrow, slitter, forks etc.

Also put in stables, arena and hardcored tracks and gateways- cost around £30,000.
Thankfully we already had a barn here for hay and straw.

I dont think you save anything at all having them at home, compared to DIY livery, to be honest.
However, I wouldn't change it for the world and adore the way of life and my horses and dogs are so happy with the set up, it is priceless.

 

[Red-1]

I keep mine at home and I would say it costs more than at livery. It is a stack more time and effort too.

Nothing beats the horses outside the back door though.

Obviously hay/bedding and feed is a similar amount to what it would be on livery, but I have to pay for maintenance of the place. Arena, yard surface, drains, stable repairs, weed killing, fencing, grass maintenance, strimming, tree cutting, hedge cutting etc etc etc.

TBH, I don't know how livery yards run and make a profit.

 

[GoldenWillow]

I have to go against the grain and say I have made massive savings keeping them at home. I'm also able to manage my cob, who has Equine asthma, exactly how he needs which wouldn't be possible on a livery yard. There is no livery yard in my area that would allow him to have the winter turnout I am able to do, most heavily restrict or stop turnout through winter. My forage and bedding costs are at least half than they would be in livery because of this.

I am lucky in that a neighbouring farmer does my field work, yes it costs but in total was less than two months livery. I have no travel costs which were a minimum of £60 (and often a lot more) per month and that was 14 years ago.

When I'd had them at home after 10 years I did the maths (honestly as well, no "forgetting stuff", which often happens when costs, horses and OH are involved) and I had made massive savings and have an appreciating asset in the field.

I don't have a school which is a factor in my set up costs being lower and it is more work day to day but I wouldn't change it for a livery yard again.

I do think if you have a good, the emphasis on good, livery yard that delivers what you need that makes a huge difference in how you view home vs yard.

 

[spacefaer]

Our costs are greatly reduced having them at home. Bedding, hay, feed - all the same as when we were at a diy yard. No livery charges, no mileage, no depreciation on the cars etc.... We do all our own fencing/field maintenance and have benefited from fallen trees the last few years for the sitting room fire.
We were lucky enough to move into my partner's family home which enabled us to move out of rented property and the world of the livery yard. I am forever grateful!
The only thing I haven't got is an arena .... but I can box to a big one within 15 mins, or hack 20 mins to a smaller one, so can cope for the very few times I feel the urge to ride in one.

 

[throwawayaccount]

I have 2 on DIY (sometimes I use services as an add on), my biggest cost is petrol. ? I work 3 jobs & go to the yard twice a day so it gets eaten up quickly.

 

[Bikerchickone]

We bought our own land 18 months ago and now have 10 acres, an American barn with 6 small boxes and 6 fields. We’re incredibly lucky in that our fields all have field shelters, a tree or natural hedging for shelter. Each one has hard core in the gateway and an old farm road goes to each gate way, so no muddy walks in winter. We’re having to pay for a new arena surface, quoted around £23k and I have invested about £1500 in electric fencing to do a track system and probably need to spend a further £17k on perimeter fencing. My barn roof leaks so we’re having to repair that, and 5 of my 6 boxes are 10x12’ so pony boxes and ours are all 16hh plus, up to my 18hh full ID. so we need new stables too.

All that said, yes it’s a tonne of work, but they’re right outside my window, they’re all much happier living out unless the weather is really bad and I have two hard standing areas for turnout should the fields get muddy. I bought 300 bales of shavings when we first moved in thinking we’d use them and we’ve barely scraped the surface. I probably have 275 still. This winter I only used 6 reels of hay between 4 big horses because we had so much grass. Feed is at a minimum because of the grass and the horses are healthy and happy. Maintenance and upkeep aside, I’ve saved an absolute fortune, we were on full livery in the south east before and moved to Norfolk so house didn’t cost much more than our old one and is amazing. It’s been life changing for us. I’m now trying to breed a foal as well, which I would never have done in livery. My only warning would be that it really is seriously hard work and it’s constant. I eventually got a freelancer to come in Saturday mornings and cover them so I could have a break, without her, I would really have struggled. Ultimately, it’s the best thing I’ve ever done, and without the big jobs above, it’s costing me around £150 per month averaged over the year for the livery type stuff, feed, hay, bedding etc to keep 4 horses.

 

[Ali27]

We bought a 4.64 acre field last Sept and put stables on and have just got a bore hole! Probably spent around 100k but luckily paid cash! I’ve got two ponies, and hopefully getting a youngster soon! My costs per year are hedge cutting - £50, topping £40, muck heap removal £90, £30 per month for insurance. Mine were out 24/7 most of the Winter as had so much grass so only used around 15 bales of shavings and 50 bales of hay! My field is 3 miles away so 12 miles per day with two trips, I do try and cycle at weekends once when not having to transport tack. I’m saving money by having my own place but more importantly my sanity! ?? I love being on my own and could never go back to livery!

 

[irishdraft]

I have my horses at home and keep them very cheaply, my main cost is farrier. They live out all year and we make our own hay. In winter they have basic nuts & beet. We spent about 50k 20 years ago on fencing, water troughs and new school surface. We do all work & maintenance ourselves but my stables which are only used in very bad weather or emergencies are about to fall down so could be a big expense there if OH agrees .

 

[GinaGeo]

We wouldn’t have four horses if they were on livery. They live at my parents, and mum and I manage them together.

The big costs for having them at home aren’t cheaper for less horses ?

The machinery to maintain the land costs the same. The fencing costs the same. The tons and tons of hardcore cost the same.

My biggest monthly saving is not having to buy bedding in at all. They live out on an small all weather track in winter and the stables are free access and have EVA mats. They have other places to pee. Massive cost and time saver. The pay off is the cost of the all weather surface and the topping up of the gravel surface annually.

We also feed big bale haylage through winter. Which doesn’t save money. But does save time.

It does feel like we spend more time mowing, painting, maintaining, improving and repairing than we do in the saddle.

But we wouldn’t have time to do four daily on a traditional yard, work them and have some semblance of a life. And I am able to manage a metabolic pony with asthma. Which would be a nightmare in a traditional set up. Doing so does mean we bought him a metabolic friend, which is why the numbers have grown ?

If we were on livery we’d have a maximum of two. And the overall costs would definitely be less. ?

 

[ycbm]

Another one, massive savings from keeping them at home unless i include the £30k I chose to spend to install an arena. A lot of stuff that I see listed as costs doesn't actually need doing at all in a lot of cases, like topping, fertilising, harrowing, fencing (electric works fine on one post every 3 metres). If you have the right land they can be out more, saving bedding and forage. I would be spending £1000 a year in diesel now visiting a horse just 5 minutes away if we didn't have an electric vehicle.
.

 

[Widgeon]

Lucky for me my neighbour is a builder and throws away loads of stuff like wood, so maintenance is usually free using something I found on his rubbish pile. I’ve just put a 50m x 5ft fence up and all i it cost me was post mix ?

You are living my dream ? Nothing like the satisfaction you get from making use of something another person's chucked out! Particularly when it doesn't cost you anything...

 

[Meredith]

Everyone’s comments have made interesting reading.

I have put my pony in livery after over 40 years of keeping up to 5 at home. Obviously with more the total livery would have been exorbitant and I have saved i.e. not spent, a lot over the years.

Now OH and I are older we cannot do the maintenance and care needed.
I do not want any liveries as the stables are in our garden and parking is limited. Also I can fetch my pony home any time.
I have some sheep or cattle from a neighbouring farmer grazing the fields.

There are many reasons, not always financial, which affect the choice of either livery or home stabling.
Each to their own I think, providing horses, owners and their families are happy.

 

[paddy555]

You are living my dream ? Nothing like the satisfaction you get from making use of something another person's chucked out! Particularly when it doesn't cost you anything...

I've done that for years and some of the "rubbish" that people chuck out is often of far better quality than new stuff.
Possibly that is part of the reason I find keeping multiple horses at home to be pretty cheap.

 

[GoldenWillow]

There are many reasons, not always financial, which affect the choice of either livery or home stabling.
Each to their own I think, providing horses, owners and their families are happy.

This sums it up perfectly!

If I'd needed to put in a school, needed frequent cover for care or wanted many more facilities a livery would probably work better. Again if there was a livery yard close to home (nearest is 20+ mins away) and yards in our area didn't tend to shut fields I the winter it would be different.

But having my own field means I can manage them exactly how I want, set up a sort of track system and has saved me a lot of money. A big thing is that I'm generally very happy with my own company.

Like so many things it is individual to everyone's specific wants and circumstances, there's no black and white answer, (but I'd hate to go back to livery ?!).

 

[palo1]

I think it must be nigh on impossible to compare home vs livery as there are so many permutations of both! My experience of livery included grim; really tatty fields with poor fencing and few facilities (but within walking/cycling distance of home) and all-singing and dancing with floodlit arenas, lovely old brick built stables and a xc course but 25mins drive from home.

Livery owners generally aim to make a profit so either some things have to be more expensive than 'cost' price or corners on maintenance have to be cut. I have found that at home, infrastructure maintenance is our biggest cost and on none of the livery yards I have been on would I have needed to factor in that kind of capital expenditure. We also look after our land very carefully and that isn't something that is universal on a livery yard. I have found few horse owners worrying about and dealing with soil fertility, ph balances, micro and macro minerals and defiiciencies at a land based level though in my experience, treating land well definitely saves money on horse feed costs.

On the other hand, having to fence a tatty field to keep horses safe is an additional cost but not a huge one (for one field for eg) where putting in your own decent, long lasting and safe fencing is a big cost and also time-heavy. We don't have an arena at home and it wouldn't make financial sense for us to put one in if we wanted one so that 'extra' available at a yard isn't really a cost I need but if I did, I could pay literally years of livery before I met that same cost lol!

Depending on what is or isn't stressful, there is no comparison happiness wise to seeing your own stock on your own land and being able to manage that how you wish. It is wonderful though you don't always have a 'perfect' mix of horses or stock even at home so things do have to be jiggled, but you still get to decide how to do that. Responsibility for either sourcing or making fodder can also be time-consuming and/or expensive. Just the wrap for our horses winter hay this coming year will be £200 and we haven't yet worked out the baling costs (even without the 'cost' of manpower) as diesel is mega bucks at the moment. Liveries will have some of that cost impacting on them but not the responsibility nor the time input to making and storing that fodder generally. However, depending on the yard set up they may have to accept high transport costs for fodder (if hay/haylage is bought in).

Extra costs at home include care/cover if you need help - that may be very minor or depending on work/circumstances, quite a significant cost. It's impossible really to compare I think...

 

[Miss_Millie]

Thanks for all of your responses everyone. It sounds like overall it can be just as if not more expensive to keep at home, with the chores being very time consuming. But the big positives are being able to have full control of how you manage the land, the amount of turnout the horses get etc. And being able to see them 'in the garden' must be fabulous.

 

[Landcruiser]

We bought a 4.64 acre field last Sept and put stables on and have just got a bore hole! Probably spent around 100k but luckily paid cash! I’ve got two ponies, and hopefully getting a youngster soon! My costs per year are hedge cutting - £50, topping £40, muck heap removal £90, £30 per month for insurance. Mine were out 24/7 most of the Winter as had so much grass so only used around 15 bales of shavings and 50 bales of hay! My field is 3 miles away so 12 miles per day with two trips, I do try and cycle at weekends once when not having to transport tack. I’m saving money by having my own place but more importantly my sanity! ??

Apart from the hundred grand...

 

[Ali27]

Apart from the hundred grand...

Yeah, but we class it as an investment and will only make money on it if we ever sell it! If we had to borrow the money, then would be different!
Haha, my husband used his retirement pay out so I’ve not spent a penny on it! ?? So I class it as free livery ?