LankyDoodle
Well-Known Member
I'm unsure about what 'the right price' for DIY is these days. We pay £13.50 a week at a yard with next to no facilities, owned by an old farmer who just likes to have people around. We have our own large field for our own horse/s, a storage area for up to 100 bales of hay/bedding, a large area in the feedroom and a tack area for each horse. The stables are on the smaller side at 10.5x10.5, and it's an American barn where stables face each other with a 6' walkway between them, so not much space there. People are nosey and tend to not be very knowledgeable really. Our nasty builder and his wife keep their mare there, although they rarely come to see it. There's a legal dispute going on and I am aware that now nights are drawing in and getting colder, they will come over more to do the horse.
I have looked at a few other yards. One was amazing but the minimum livery was part at £85 a week. The good thing about that was the hacking but we just couldn't do that for 2 horses! The one we looked at last night is one we found by chance. I phoned a yard I want to move to and he had no spaces, but his farmer friend is converting an old barn into AMAZING stables - large, light and airy. There is a lot of work going on, but they have said we can have the stables as soon as we want providing we can put up with having to move our stuff occasionally until they are all set up. They hadn't discussed price as they aren't advertising yet, so I said to them that they could get back to us. I know his wife as when I was a nanny, the kids I looked after went to her son's school.
The yard has lovely stables in a barn but they back onto each other rather than face each other. They are large, light, airy and dry. There is level, hard walk to good, well drained grazing and we can have a paddock for our own horse/s again if we want. They are building a school which they have planning for but, because the owners are farmers, they are harvesting at the moment so it won't be built for a couple of months yet (this is better than the horror we have now). There's a lockable tack space and a large room they are going to use as a rug store (I think it was a milking parlour before) so we can have our rug drier in there and hang boots etc. We mentioned feed space to them and they hadn't thought about it but we are going to be able to have space for a few feedbins, about 30 bales of hay/bedding and we can buy straw from the farmer if we need it, when we need it. They will not charge for use of the school and I have my own poles to take, plus rubber matting to take as well. They will do things for us if we are away for the day and they have 3 horses of their own, with another 9 stables free for other people to come along when it's all up and running. They are lovely people and the kids are really polite and helpful; our builder is not there!!!! It has really good hacking with off-roading close by and nice hacks round their 150 acre farm. There are water tanks in the fields which are post and rail and there are taps and electric points within reach of the stables. Lighting is very good and so is parking (right in front of stable block).
They came back with a price this afternoon of £25 per week which is 108.50 per month, per horse. I do have an extra large stable for our possible 2nd horse who is 17.2hh, so they have been very accommodating there. Is this reasonable in rural South West? I am not sure what other places in this area charge. Our current yard, like I said, is very poorly facilitated and very cheap. Our last yard was £16 a week (7 years ago) but ANY extras were charged - opening the stable door and putting the feed bucket in as they walked past our horse in the morning, was charged at £1, and as it was miles away we did used to have them do either morning or evening routine for us. 10 years ago, though, we did pay £20 a week for DIY at a very snooty DIY yard. Seems a bit hit and miss really.
I have looked at a few other yards. One was amazing but the minimum livery was part at £85 a week. The good thing about that was the hacking but we just couldn't do that for 2 horses! The one we looked at last night is one we found by chance. I phoned a yard I want to move to and he had no spaces, but his farmer friend is converting an old barn into AMAZING stables - large, light and airy. There is a lot of work going on, but they have said we can have the stables as soon as we want providing we can put up with having to move our stuff occasionally until they are all set up. They hadn't discussed price as they aren't advertising yet, so I said to them that they could get back to us. I know his wife as when I was a nanny, the kids I looked after went to her son's school.
The yard has lovely stables in a barn but they back onto each other rather than face each other. They are large, light, airy and dry. There is level, hard walk to good, well drained grazing and we can have a paddock for our own horse/s again if we want. They are building a school which they have planning for but, because the owners are farmers, they are harvesting at the moment so it won't be built for a couple of months yet (this is better than the horror we have now). There's a lockable tack space and a large room they are going to use as a rug store (I think it was a milking parlour before) so we can have our rug drier in there and hang boots etc. We mentioned feed space to them and they hadn't thought about it but we are going to be able to have space for a few feedbins, about 30 bales of hay/bedding and we can buy straw from the farmer if we need it, when we need it. They will not charge for use of the school and I have my own poles to take, plus rubber matting to take as well. They will do things for us if we are away for the day and they have 3 horses of their own, with another 9 stables free for other people to come along when it's all up and running. They are lovely people and the kids are really polite and helpful; our builder is not there!!!! It has really good hacking with off-roading close by and nice hacks round their 150 acre farm. There are water tanks in the fields which are post and rail and there are taps and electric points within reach of the stables. Lighting is very good and so is parking (right in front of stable block).
They came back with a price this afternoon of £25 per week which is 108.50 per month, per horse. I do have an extra large stable for our possible 2nd horse who is 17.2hh, so they have been very accommodating there. Is this reasonable in rural South West? I am not sure what other places in this area charge. Our current yard, like I said, is very poorly facilitated and very cheap. Our last yard was £16 a week (7 years ago) but ANY extras were charged - opening the stable door and putting the feed bucket in as they walked past our horse in the morning, was charged at £1, and as it was miles away we did used to have them do either morning or evening routine for us. 10 years ago, though, we did pay £20 a week for DIY at a very snooty DIY yard. Seems a bit hit and miss really.
