Expensive??? + Pregnant!?!?!

chickeninabun

chickeninabun

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I'm getting a pony (FOC) from a friend for me to look after and my little girl to ride. The same friend is going to be renting a field and a yard (which is just literally a yard at the moment - no stables or anything) where I am going to keep said pony.
Found out yesterday that friend will be paying £400/month
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for field & yard (field about 2 acres & yard is about half acre with grassed area, hard standing and open dutch barn with concrete floor) and she is going to charge me £150/month.
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She is going to re-fence the field in post & rail, build stables in the barn and tidy the whole yard up, although she needs "manual" help from my hubby and father-in-law but friend will pay for all materials.
Is that a tad expensive?! Although I do not doubt that friend will help a lot with pony, like bring it in, especially during winter whilst I work, and feeding etc, plus I can ride her horse too and I am getting use of half the yard, etc.
AND I found out yesterday I am pregnant with my second child!!
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Which is great but not at the best possible time!! Do you think I'll be able to do most "on the ground" things with the pony whilst pregnant?
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I think it sounds fairly expensive if pony is low maintenance type i.e. doesn't need loads of hard feed, shoeing etc. - £150 equates to approx £33 per week. It really depends if you are going to be looking after the pony entirely, or if she is going to be doing most of the work. It sounds like you are paying for what she is planning to do (i.e. stables etc) rather than paying for what is currently there (i.e. no stables, no proper fencing etc). What is the standard DIY livery rate locally to you?
 
yea that is expensive, also depends with pregnancy how you fill i know with my daughter i was mucking out 4 stables a day and working full time and doing all my horses myself. this time round i just don't have the energy, glad mine are out 24/7.
 
I'd say £150 pm for stable and grazing is pretty steep if it's DIY - I pay £130 per month livery for DIY with good grazing and a large manege. It depends on your agreement really though and how much of the work she will be doing, who will pay for feed and bedding etc - ie would it constitute part livery? If so it's probably not a bad price.
 
What do you get for the money? I'm on DIY and pay half that for excellent grazing, nice yard and big stable. Feed etc is all extra. Will you be expected to do a lot of work or will your friend do the majority of the mucking out / feeding?

Congrats on the pregnancy though! yay!
 
The feed is going to be extra, but fat ponio so won't need much and bedding & hay, we are going to go halves, eg she buys one bale and I buy next, etc. But they'll only be in over the winter, out 24/7 in summer.
I will be mucking out my own and feeding, turn out etc when I'm not working but she will do it mostly in winter when they are only out for a short time and it's dark when I go to work and dark when I come home. Plus we will be covering for each other whilst on holidays, etc.
Friend is also a fountain of horsey knowledge so it's probably not too bad a deal, just more than I expected and you know when it's a friend you can't really say anything, especially as she's organising the FOC pony for me.
 
If she's just renting this place but plans do all this work with it, costing a lot of time and money, does she have it in writing that the owner wont 'want it back' when she's finished?
Or that when the 'agreement' (if there is one) runs out, the owner wont terminate it then and decide to sell or rent to someone else for more money?

I'm probably jus being skeptical but she might want to check - you don't want to be left with nowhere for your horses, esp with your 2nd child on the way (congratulations by the way).

As for the price i'd say it was quite steep.
Does it include hay, straw, feed, maintenance etc?
I know it's a financial agreement as such but surely to a certain degree it's a case of : you do the horses this morning and i'll do them tomorrow morning? a bit of give and take?
 
[ QUOTE ]
The feed is going to be extra, but fat ponio so won't need much and bedding & hay, we are going to go halves, eg she buys one bale and I buy next, etc. But they'll only be in over the winter, out 24/7 in summer.
I will be mucking out my own and feeding, turn out etc when I'm not working but she will do it mostly in winter when they are only out for a short time and it's dark when I go to work and dark when I come home. Plus we will be covering for each other whilst on holidays, etc.
Friend is also a fountain of horsey knowledge so it's probably not too bad a deal, just more than I expected and you know when it's a friend you can't really say anything, especially as she's organising the FOC pony for me.

[/ QUOTE ]

In that case I would say it is far too much money! You should be looking to pay somewhere in the region of £100 per month I'd have thought for DIY, especially if all feed etc is extra. Might be worth bringing up the subject of your new baby on its way and telling your friend that you can meet her halfway with payments of £100 rather than £150. Good luck!
 
Hmmmm, I'd be thinking again if I was you! When you have friends asking that much money it is bound to cause a fall out eventually & yes 150 a months for glorified grazing is expensive! In Gloucestershire if you smile sweetly at a few farmers you can get grazing for as little as 10 per week. I have my horses on DIY with nice stables in a barn, decent grazing with access to fantastic riding for 15pw. A small pony doesn't cost THAT much in hay, straw feed etc... Me thinks your mate is trying to cash in at your expense!
 
Sounds like quite a bit of money to pay to me...I pay £80 a month for stabling, bedding, grazing, a woodchip lungeing arena thingy and use of an outdoor school, jumps, lights and 400 acres of off road hacking.

But you may have to grin and bear it if she's organising the pony and is a useful source of knowledge (which is worth a lot really)

Congrats on your pregnancy!
 
that is daylight robbery TBH, sorry but a friend shouldn't charge any more than the going rate let alone more than the going rate!! i pay £16 a week for my 2 and it would be an extra £2 per stable a week, but i dont stable mine.

i would expect a sandschool etc... and part livery and food all inclusive for that price!!!
sophiexxx
 
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