DIY Livery- what's included in the price at your yard?

teasle said:
For diy we get a stable, space in a field to turn out, use of school, secure tack room and a bit of storage room. Services are extra or liveries help eachother.
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This ^^ although the tack room is not locked :( Lots of fencing is barbed wire and whilst my boy doesn't rip his rugs, a mate's mare does, big time, which makes life expensive. There is onsite hacking, no need for road work, huge bonus and the atmosphere is lovely, which makes you forget everything else. :smile3:
 
I pay £135 per month, for stable, field, good outdoor school with use of jumps. We have a secure tack room, a cubby hole each where we keep feeds, hay etc, and straw is included in the livery. Turnout is all year round, 24/7 in summer if we want it. We have to buy hay off YO, £5 a bale, but can buy haylage in if we want to. Feeds are left outside stable overnight, and first one at yard feeds them all in the mornings. Hay is left outside too, but not in nets, as it's usually myself or 2 particular others that are there early, and we don't have time to tie up 15 nets or so. There is a groom who will do any extra, turn out, bring in etc. £2 each way including rug change.
 
I pay £200/month . . . for that I get an indoor stable (small barn) 14x14, individual turnout (although Kal has a little companion pony), use of all-weather/floodlit outdoor arena complete with BSJA-grade showjumps, use of the walker, use of the washroom/solarium, space in the tackroom, rug-hanging space, space in the feedroom and free lorry parking. I can manage my turnout as I wish - I could leave him out 24/7 if I wanted (and it suited him) and YO's OH mends fencing/repairs gates, etc. for free and very promptly. YO's OH (who is a builder) is putting in a toilet/tea-room for us. If we want anything hanging, installing or mending, etc., we have only to ask. YO's OH has just built a field shelter for the resident mini shetties so YO, her daughter and fellow livery will be having a painting party once the weather warms up/dries out enough.

There is no formal "help" available, but we all help each other (there are only four of us - YO, her aunt, one other livery and me) when needed. First up in the morning feeds (feeds left in feed room). We all order for each other from the farmer (hay, straw and haylage) as and when. Last up may be asked to add an extra rug (especially at this time of year when the temperature drops off a lot between late afternoon and late evening).

Honestly, it's heaven and I never want to leave :).

P
 
Mine is literally DIY, I get a stable, outdoor school although you pay to use the floodlights, paddock but no running water at the fields, you have to take water down. You do everything so things like bringing in, turning out, feeding, etc you have to pay for on top. I pay £140 a month.
 
Mine included stable, field, turnout/bring in once per day which for the price of it is fine. I can buy hay and straw on site or outsource and how I manage my horse is up to me.

Semit retired happy hacker so don't need facilities but 100m up the road is an indoor I can hire for cheap and within an hours hack is an equestrian centre that does dressage and jumping comps all year round so should I fancy doing anything it's all there. Miles and miles of countryside hacking as well so suits me just fine.
 
Im curious by this thread, to those on DIY is it worth it these days with the cost of hay and straw on the up?

Ive been Full livery now for the last 4 years I guess and I guess I must pay only around £100 more a month on full as i did on DIY and only of late did I discover how much more straw is now to what I uesd to pay for it.

Also adding to this the extra fule driving to the yard twice a day every day and the stress of ruishing back to the yard after work if its a cold wet winter evening to bring in.

Im not critising please do not think that of me just curious, whats the average cost a week for DIY including all feed, hay, bedding if you dont mind me asking?
 
On my yard, DIY includes stable, space in tack room, storage space, use of grooming area, and turnout (24/7 in summer and all day in winter, unless the weather is very bad or the ground is very wet (they have only been in for one day this winter).
Extras include poo-picking, turning out, rug changing etc. Liveries can help eachother out and organise that between themselves. However sometimes this doesn't work out - some people do take the piss and expect others to do their horse more often, or sometimes it seems that people "forget" about the arrangements...
Liveries can buy in their own feed and bedding or buy from us, we don't mind.
 
Like most of the others, we get stable, paddock, storage and secure tack-room - first up in the morning feeds all horses, and we pay extras for anything else we want doing. Field/fence/stable maintenance is all done by YO.

stacey_lou said:
Im curious by this thread, to those on DIY is it worth it these days with the cost of hay and straw on the up?

Ive been Full livery now for the last 4 years I guess and I guess I must pay only around £100 more a month on full as i did on DIY and only of late did I discover how much more straw is now to what I uesd to pay for it.

Also adding to this the extra fule driving to the yard twice a day every day and the stress of ruishing back to the yard after work if its a cold wet winter evening to bring in.

Im not critising please do not think that of me just curious, whats the average cost a week for DIY including all feed, hay, bedding if you dont mind me asking?
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Yes, definitely worth it for me - maybe I don't save a huge amount of money, but I love looking after my horse myself: I enjoy the exercise and fresh air, I get to know my horse a lot better, I have control over what and how much he's being fed. He's on full livery at the moment as I'm on box rest following back surgery, and I hate not being up there doing him myself.
 
Two of ours are at the most expensive DIY yard around here (that I know of). It's £35 p/wk, no discount for more than one horse (not that I would expect it anyway). We get:

Trailer/lorry parking included;
Use of school and lights. School is okay. We used to be able to free school in there, which was grand, but the fencing is decaying and it's no longer safe to do so;
No jumps, unless one asks one of the other liveries nicely, or I haul mine up there;
Water. No restriction, so we can hose legs properly and bath/cool off as much as we need to;
Stable. Purpose built yard;
Tea room and loo. Pay extra for coffee and loo roll;
Excellent hacking going off-site. Don't have to go onto the busy B road if one doesn't want to;
Mixed herds with plenty of field rotation. Fencing isn't brill, but usually adequate;
Small tack room per horse, but nowhere separate to store hay and bedding. I have two horses there so we make do, but I have to use Bliss as nowhere to store straw.

No services as YO isn't horse orientated. Liveries help each other. There's an instructor on-site and he's great at coping with requirements for help, either planned or otherwise!
 
stacey_lou said:
Im curious by this thread, to those on DIY is it worth it these days with the cost of hay and straw on the up?

Ive been Full livery now for the last 4 years I guess and I guess I must pay only around £100 more a month on full as i did on DIY and only of late did I discover how much more straw is now to what I uesd to pay for it.

Also adding to this the extra fule driving to the yard twice a day every day and the stress of ruishing back to the yard after work if its a cold wet winter evening to bring in.

Im not critising please do not think that of me just curious, whats the average cost a week for DIY including all feed, hay, bedding if you dont mind me asking?
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I think the cost of DIY is higher during winter months but as long as you have 24hour turnout during summer, the cost averages out over the year and makes it a lot cheaper than full livery. I am guessing if your horse is on full livery, he is in at night all year round? My clients don't have the cost of services ( apart from the odd occasion for farrier etc) no bedding costs, no hay etc, so in summer it means horses are very cheap to keep.
 
For DIY I pay £238 a month (at a competition venue). This includes:

Stable, turnout, use of both arenas, 1 25x45 "warm up" arena with floodlights, and the main competition arena 60x45. Full set of BSJA jumps available/dressage boards, hay ad lib, and bedding included. There's a loo on site, space to park lorries and trailers at no extra cost, and obviously regular competitions - which liveries get discounts for.

Turn out/bring in is £1 and includes rug changes, boot removal, feet washing etc. so not bad!
 
It's £35/ week where I am. This includes a stable with a small private "tack room" at the back for storage, turn out, and use of the floodlit school whenever :) We leave the morning feed and a wedge of hay outside our stables for the morning and the owner puts them in so that the horses don't start getting agitated when some have been fed and others haven't. For muck-out, hay and water it's £3, for a whole day it's £5 for everything!

But we have to buy hay/ straw from the YO and the prices are very high :/ Some people do bring in their own haylage/ shavings, but I have no way to transport them! :)
 
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Bit off topic, but I'm curious about the thing on some diy yards where the first one up sticks feeds in for all the horses. I'm in a block of stables that contains 25 horses, so there's no way I'd have time in the morning to do that. But equally, each horse knows who feeds them, so there's also no aggro when I go in to feed my mare early, and the other horses haven't been done - they'll sometimes pop their heads out to say hello (as I will do the odd scratch), then go back to whatever they were doing - there's no stress whatsoever.

I will however now know to ask if that's expected if I ever (and I really hope not as I completely love the yard I'm on!) have to look for a new yard as it wouldn't even have occurred to me!
 
SpottyMare, we have 16 on our block, just under 1/2 are full livery, and the rest are DIY. It's a pain in the bum sometimes, but having had a horse that got very stressy if he wasn't fed first, it works for me. All feeds are outside stables so it's just a case of chucking them over the door. I guess it just makes it easier for yard staff o they don't have to check who's on morning services before feeding.
 
For £25 a week I get stable, all year round turnout (24/7 in summer), indoor school.
Feeding in morning and night and putting a net in/chucking a rug on is free.
Turn out and turn in £1 each.
To do them completely for a day is £6, straw is free, haylage is £4 a bale. I loves my yard! :)
 
yes DIY is much cheaper full livery round here is about £125 a week It costs about £25 per all inclusive for mine to be on DIY including feed and hay they live out 24/7 but I dont think bedding would be £100 per week so yes although it is much harder work having them out 24/7 it is cheaper to do DIY, Grass livery is 40 per week, more if they are poo picked for you
 
We get a stable, use of grazing (although not a set field), straw and use of facilities - an outdoor school with floodlights, tack room, and walker. Haylage is paid for separately.
 
WinkingWillow said:
Hi all just wanting to find out what you get for your money per week? Does yard owner feed in morning for example or hang haynet up so you can have a lie in etc? Do you pay for ALL extras like these? Does DIY really mean DO IT YOURSELF on your yard or do you get all these things included in the basic DIY price. Would like to hear from YO's too please!Thanks!
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They do pure DIY at my yard but I pay extra to have Ben fed and turned out every morning. I pay £175 PCM, this includes feed and turnout am, ad lib hay, stable, individual paddock, use of school, jumps and xc paddock. Yard tools are provided although I already had my own, tack room and feed area, room to store a lg bale of straw too
 
I'm £130 per horse per month for DIY livery - that incudes, stable, 3 acres turnout, storage, outdoor school, small indoor school, hard standing and YO feeds and hays in the morning if I need him to.
 
£108 for stable, field, 1 free hour use of school per week, large storage area for shavings, feeds, hay etc and they will also put your horses breakfast food and hay in for you, anything else is an extra, eg hay and straw is available to use from them but at an added cost.
 
I feel very lucky after reading this. I am on a private DIY yard and YO lives on site. I have 3 paddocks (1 small and 2 decent sized) for my private use, all joined together with gates in between each paddock so I can open it up or rest/rotate. It is on a hill so excellent drainage to the point I've kept both ponies out all winter with minimal damage to the field. A large stable with rubber matting, room in the hay barn to store 40 small bales of hay, a large tack lock up that I share with one other livery, a large space in the feed room which fits 4 feed bins, use of the sand school, access to excellent off road hacking, local show a 10 minute hack away, YO will feed/hay etc for free if required but I rarely take advantage of this. She also arranges and takes in the hay deliveries if I can't get there (tend to come when I am at work) which I really appreciate! She is a rug repairer by trade so she fixes my rugs at a very cheap rate and clips my pony in return for taking the odd fence battery home to charge. She does all the yard electric fencing but I put my own internal fence inside hers as I have two Houdini ponies who cause mischief. She is a lovely lady who you can call any time and she will sort your horses. Anyway, I have 2 ponies at the yard and my monthly livery bill comes in at £60 a month!
 
Mine is a new yard thats under construction. For £48 pw I get a American barn stable with big windows, rubber mats, automatic waterer and a hay bar that's never empty, a paddock and when it's built (very soon) unlimited use of a fully lit rubber n sand ménage with jumps. All shavings and hay are included in the price, my lorry is under cover, there's a good locking tack room and feed room.

if I need any help I ask and at the moment(only livery)there's no extra charge. I'm away for a few days next week horse buying and they're looking after my mare for me. It's seems a lot of money but I'm live 2 mins away, I'm in first and there will be a farm ride and XC as plans have been passed. I reckon they'll be a queue to get in to be honest.
 
HaffiesRock said:
I feel very lucky after reading this. I am on a private DIY yard and YO lives on site. I have 3 paddocks (1 small and 2 decent sized) for my private use, all joined together with gates in between each paddock so I can open it up or rest/rotate. It is on a hill so excellent drainage to the point I've kept both ponies out all winter with minimal damage to the field. A large stable with rubber matting, room in the hay barn to store 40 small bales of hay, a large tack lock up that I share with one other livery, a large space in the feed room which fits 4 feed bins, use of the sand school, access to excellent off road hacking, local show a 10 minute hack away, YO will feed/hay etc for free if required but I rarely take advantage of this. She also arranges and takes in the hay deliveries if I can't get there (tend to come when I am at work) which I really appreciate! She is a rug repairer by trade so she fixes my rugs at a very cheap rate and clips my pony in return for taking the odd fence battery home to charge. She does all the yard electric fencing but I put my own internal fence inside hers as I have two Houdini ponies who cause mischief. She is a lovely lady who you can call any time and she will sort your horses. Anyway, I have 2 ponies at the yard and my monthly livery bill comes in at £60 a month!
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Oh my God, that is absolutely brilliant!
I've got my horses on 2 different yards, both DIY though one is just my friend and I there.

Yard 1, the farm. 7 acre field and a 2 acre paddock, low lying but thankfully not prone to flooding. Sole use of stable block, field and yard. Hay supplied by farmer for extra. Has electricity and running water in stable block but none of the troughs in the field are still operational. Hacking is not great and there's no school. Doesn't effect me as horse that lives there is turned away, main thing is that we're in charge of how we manage the horses and there's plenty of turn out Farmer isn't really that interested so we do our own repairs as well as we can and have to buy in our own straw and store it. £60 per month per horse


Yard 2, the livery yard (but also on an arable farm) brilliant off road hacking, stables in good repair, horses turned out in small groups, with all year turn out available, fields not overstocked, are well drained and fencing maintained. Some xc jumps available and a school though it needs a bit of work really. It's not immaculate (that would drive me mental) but it is functionally tidy and safe. Haylage and straw is supplied in unlimited amounts between Nov-May. Considering it's a livery yard you do have a high level of autonomy in the routine you choose for your horses, people either love it there or hate it there, I mostly love it. £120 a month per horse for that one.
 
At home £95.33 gets you a stable, grazing (excellent quality loads of it), masses of storage room including in the shared tack/feed room and use of facilities (outdoor floodlit arena).
At uni £266.50 gets you ad lib hay and straw (varying quality), stable and limited storage space in the feed room, tack room which is locked by 7.30 on a weekday (yard closing times) and 5 on a weekend. Use of outdoor horse walker, one outdoor arena (no lights) and 2 large indoor arenas (with lights), very limited turnout in terms of space and time allowed out.
 
I pay £130 - it includes a school, individual or small group turnout, 16x18 stables, feeding, a haynet in the morning, amazing hacking and a secure tack room...also late night checks as owner lives right behind the stables... I cant moan about it at all as she has taken on my stallion and does a lot to accommodate him and his needs
 
£90/m for stable all year round (incl summer). All year turnout- 24/7 summer, stabled nights in winter. Outdoor school and can have jumps in one of the fields.

Hay/bedding etc extra amd not supplied


Do everything ourselves, only thing dofferent is that whoever is there first in the AM feeds all of them (feed made up night before)

I love it- never been elsewhere though!
Ax
 
Ours is £30pw .. I get stable ,own field , own tack/ feed shed..own tie up..school ..trailer park up .. And unlimited straw .. Haylage and services r extra :)
 
Mine's now out 24/7 for £20 p/w with unlimited use of hay or haylage, water, and floodlit outdoor school with jumps (though my mare doesn't particularly respect the plastic poles so don't do too much jumping at home). Jumping paddock with fillers and wooden poles set up in summer which is great. Free trailer parking.

She has a field shelter and about 5 acres for up to 4 or 5 of them in the winter, then the same again in summer. Somewhere dry to tie her up to groom, space for feed and tack and to hang rugs as well as storage area for all our rubbish. She gets a haylage net put out each night by the YO and is fed in the morning when her field mates are fed as well.

Coffee and tea facilities and very sociable yard - everyone sits down for a couple of coffees and a natter every morning. Regular clinics (though dressage orientated, we're the only ones that leave the ground!) and just lovely people.

On DIY we had a stable, tack room space, feed space, unlimited hay or haylage, turnout and bring in every day (all horses were done in a certain order and had a strict routine) as well as feeding in the morning and evening - plus chucking haynets in whenever needed. Holding for farrier or vet. Clipping was extra, we had one rug change a day. Use of facilities. Think it was £35 p/w but this is more assisted DIY than full DIY.
 
diy we have 3 horses there they each have stable shared grazing own feed room use of new rubber 60 x 40m school , floodlights , no roadwork , cross country course , summer schooling and jumping paddock ,summer 24/7 turnout , daytime in winter without restriction , haylage and straw provided by yard owner at extra cost , its top quality so well worth it , hard standing for horse lorry included £18 per week yo will bring in turn out if stuck but we usually dont need help as theres myself husband and sons who all ride
 
Stable bigger than 12 by 12, storage room at back big enough for 30 bales of shavings stacked high! feed bins, storage cupboard. 20 x 60 ménage lunge pen access to toll routes good hacking round owners farm assistance when needed. Yard also has feed for sale, hay and all types of bedding. Tea room and toilet. Parking for lorries and trailers at a nominal charge. Turn out which is rotated three times a year, all fencing and field waters done by owner, all in all a fab yard! £35 per week.
 
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