Different Income Streams for Yards?

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ponypets

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Hi all
I was just wondering what different services/events etc other yards offer to help boost their income?
Obviously there are the standard different liveries, assisted, full etc but what else can yards do to boost their income?

So far i can think of:
events,
clinics,
hire of facilities,

Any more?

Long term YO and HHO forum member here wondering which direction to go in after many years of just offering 'bog standard' livery etc! (held 1 show in the past, did it for charity though and was a lot of work for 1 day!)
 
It hugely depends on your set up an the impending hassle associated. our yard does not regualrly hire out it's facilities at certain times as it would interrupt the liveries, similar with clinics and events.

Our yard does clipping, tack cleaning (or baisclly anything normally 'horsey' at set rates. Backing and breaking, lessons.

All dpeends on the skills you have in house, the demand and the effort needed to put into set up (i.e. if you already have tack cleaning equipment then not a lot, if you don't have clippers purchase and running costs to consider)
 
Thanks for the reply.
Being only a medium sized yard with a lot of pet owners, clipping and tack cleaning would only being in very little.
We are wondering re rug washing (also for outside liveries), but there is a lady in the area who already does rug cleaning so would feel back to take custom from her (too nice i know!).
 
At the yard where my boy lives, we have excellent off road riding. They charge a daily fee for off-site people to use it. They also have "over-flow" storage available for people who need more than the allocated amount of space for rugs etc for a small fee. Other yards in the area charge for parking trailers/boxes, use of horse walker, use of Equisage/Solarium and other specialised equipment.

Have you thought of holiday livery? Short term "hotel" type service for folks who are going on hols for a couple of weeks? Are you any good at turning out for shows etc ... again, people may be prepared to pay for plaiting (I'm useless at it!), bathing etc? Not sure what you offer now, but we have a livery whose work and family demands mean her "horse" time is very limited. Hence the yard, groom and tack up her horse so it's ready for her to ride when she arrives (she texts an hour or so ahead of time) then take it over when she gets off to leave her free to leave as soon as she wishes.
 
We have some specialist equipment already which we hire out. We dont charge extra for parking boxes etc as that can have extra insurance implications etc.
Holiday livery etc either on or off site isnt much of an option as we have strangles in the area hence we have also put a blanket ban on any new liveries moving on (but at the same time could do with filling boxes for income hence my post for some other ideas we can put in place longer term).
Having a young family, i dont really want to be off getting other peoples ponies ready for shows plus it's years since i was showing hence will be rusty (but it does actually amaze me how many of the younger generation have no idea how to plaint and no desire to learn)
 
If you have a spare stable, what about boarding for rabbits/gpigs - a yard I know of did this, and they used to put them in the middle of the horsewalker to graze the grass down.

What about renting your school/field to a dog agility group/dog trainig group (on the proviso they clear up).
 
OOO - now there's an idea Hexx re the bunnies etc wonder what rules and regs etc there are for that type of animal boarding?

We were once approached by a dog agility team for using the indoor but the liveries we had on at the time were not happy with dogs being around so they found somewhere else which i believe they still use etc and are now quite happy there.
 
In the area we are in, owners wont let their horses be in isolation as no other yards do it, most wont even sign a contract as there are so many yards around here where they dont have to (most of which are not run by the book ie, the dont declare their income, dont have insurance etc), We have had people refuse to move on when they have been told that all new arrivals get wormed with Pramox and obviously have to stay in whilst that's working etc.
doing holiday cover wouldnt work as i certianly dont want to be going to yards which could have infected horses (as people sadly dont always do the right thing and go on yard lockdown) - but all of that is a whole other thread!!!!
 
Depending on what your facilities are like, could you bring in an expert to give lecture demos? Probably a bit easier to arrange than clinics as people shouldn't drop out due to lameness etc.
I went to a series of 3 at a nearby yard it cost £10 per session or £25 if you did all 3.
 
We had got one of these lined up (demo in the indoor) but obviously our audience is our local equestrian community, and with strangles in the area, we cant risk a gallery full of strangers who would be wondering off to our toilet etc. With the lay out it would be impossible to keep them fully away, and i dont think they would appreciate if it we sprayed them all with disinfectant as they arrived lol The vets class us as a low risk yard for such nasties, hence we dont want to put any of the current horses under a greater risk at this current time.
 
ok - so it sounds like you don't want outside horses or horsey people on the yard, that limits your options and you'll have to look at what other user groups would want to use fields / arenas etc.
Dog agility sounds a good idea as long as rules about loose dogs / poo etc are clearly drawn up and enforced. Puppy training groups could also be interested.
I'm racking my brains after that.
 
At the moment, ideally we cant have outside horses and people coming on really as we care for our current liveries and hence dont want to put their horses at risk, once it has cleared up though then these options can be relooked at.
Puppy training, now thats an idea we hadnt thought of, i might pop some trainers an email to see if they would be interested in the indoor etc. thanks.
 
Do you have an indoor school? The one I have lessons at hires it out to local rugby / football clubs for indoor training in the winter. Instructor teaches until 8 and it's then hired out for an hour to 5 different clubs every weekday. At £35 an hour that's a decent income for him doing nothing.

Rather than go for big shows, why not go for more regular but single discipline things and maximise your use of the equipment to get the best effort-money ratio? e.g Show jumping. You could put a course up on a Friday, and offer clear round, then run a competition on the Saturday. You could then offer it for hire the next day if people want to school round a full course or bring an instructor or you could even arrange a clinic with an instructor you've sourced - or combine the two, do a few hours of your clinic then open it up for hire.

You could do the same with a dressage arena set up on grass, a competition followed by clinic / hire of arena etc. We're always saying we don't get enough opportunity to practice dressage tests on grass.

ETA: Just seen about the strangles - maybe for the future?
 
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How about chicken hotels? Sounds crazy but I know of one not very far from me and you have to book your chooks in weeks in advance because so many people want to use their services. Lots of people like me have a few feathery friends in their gardens these days but they aren't the sort of thing that neighbours are very keen to care for.
 
We did think of indoor football when my sons team were struggling in the rain in winter but TBH i am not sure how they would find it on sand but i guess if someone else does it then it must work.

Chicken hotels, we have a lot already around here and we rehome ex commercial hens so again, have to be careful as wouldnt want any with mycoplasma etc coming on but i think in the area, that market is already saturated.
 
I know a couple of yards that let people store their caravans on site for a fee. Not sure how you can go about this insurance wise but might be worth looking into.
 
Car boot sales? Charge £10 a car. I imagine people would like an indoor one, especially in winter as they could put their stuff out on display without fear of it getting rained on
 
The dog training/dog agility ideas are very good I think. I hate walking our dogs on wet miserable dark winters nights and have often thought of hiring an indoor for the job!
 
Car boot and caravan storage would be out as we rent the facilities (have done so for 16 or so years) but i dont think the landlord would approve of those options.

I also wondered about if any of the local dog walkers would be interested in a 'dog proof' paddock. Years ago at a yard i was stabled at, a lady used to rent a paddock and would collect dogs locally, for them to go and have a good play and run around in the paddock etc.
 
ponypets said:
Car boot and caravan storage would be out as we rent the facilities (have done so for 16 or so years) but i dont think the landlord would approve of those options.

I also wondered about if any of the local dog walkers would be interested in a 'dog proof' paddock. Years ago at a yard i was stabled at, a lady used to rent a paddock and would collect dogs locally, for them to go and have a good play and run around in the paddock etc.
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Yes! Absolutely! We have a beagle that can not be allowed off the lead as he legs it! Our garden is tiny and we are struggling to find anyone who will sell us half an acre to use as a dog run. Again, i have often wished I could pay someone to use a well fenced field to let him have a good romp.
 
Hi, I havent read the replies so sorry if these suggestions have already been made;

Chicken hotel
Small animal hotel (rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets etc)
Dog exercising area
Dog training ( especially popular in small paddocks and indoor arenas
5 aside football (in the indoor)
Trailer/caravan/horsebox storage
Carboot sale
 
my friend hires a secure field to let her husky off the lead she says loads of people use it for their huskys. Its on one of the fb sites. this is a really good idea and there is only one or two dogs at a time using it.
 
Do you know what kind of fence they have Kaylum - height etc? Fun Times - with your dog if you had chance to use somewhere like this what fence would be your ideal?

Thanks again all :-)
 
I will have a look on the internet and see if I can see it advertised anywhere. I wont see my friend until Monday.

I have found it I will pm you the link.
 
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On my yard there is an evening table top tack sale every so often run by our RDA group, they charge £5 a table and do coffees and cakes which brings in quite a bit as people like to stand about and chat over a coffee. I'm in a similar position and would like to run some things for some extra income but it's quite hard to find suitable things. We did do clinics but I didn't charge for the use of the indoor school and in hindsight I should have done for non liveries. A couple of people round here are running pony parties (my idea of hell), they have small shetland types and the kids get to lead, groom and cuddle the ponies (no riding). One does it on site and the other takes the ponies to the party venue - they let the kids put sparkly hoof oil and also coloured hair spray on the ponies so it's very much like my little pony - I think their ponies much be very tolerant! Once the strangles clears up you could consider clear round nights or a series of low key dressage competitions with a points league.
 
Now i do have quite a few shetland ponies from my youth and for my children, all of which are wonderful around children but i can imagine the insurance for pony parties would be through the roof.
We already have a few places around us that do the tack sales etc but it is def an option once the area has the 'all clear'
 
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