From livery to own place - how did you find the transition?

cblover

cblover

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I've owned horses for over 20 years and always had them on a livery yard! My last yard was great! In 2008 hubby and I were lucky enough to buy 3 acre
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(2 fields) and worked very very hard to build 4 brick stables and a hay barn. So hard in fact that hubby lost 2 stone and I lost 1 stone!
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I moved my horses into our new place at the end of Sept last year, so things have really changed for me.

I feel its been a great thing and I just love spending time there but people keep saying to me things like 'bet you wish you'd stayed where you were?' and 'bet you've got no motivation now your on your own' and 'you've got no help now and don't you miss your friends'!!!

God, I could scream!
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The only thing I do miss is my good friends and with this weather I've not been able to box my horse and travel to them. My fields are in the same town as my old livery yard so travelling takes about 10 mins.

If anyone has moved from livery to their own land - how have you managed and how do you feel now you're on your own? Hows your motivation? I have to say, I talk to myself all the time now!
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I loved it for the first 12 months and then started to get lonely. It is a lot harder work with maintainance and bulding and in my opinion a lot more expensive.

I recently moved a girl over with me who keeps her horse for nothing at mine in exchange for helping me with mine.

It has helped my motivation as when I was on my own, the ponies were secondary to the land and building work ,if you know what I mean.

I adore it though, but every so often I feel like selling the lot, including my 4 ponies and horses, buying one cracking animal and sticking it on full livery somewhere............
 
It's bliss! Ok it's hard work and you never get a break - but it's so nice not to have any yard politics - it's relaxing and lovely!
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(oh and you can go out and see your horses in your pj's
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)
Kate x
 
I love it!! Mine were out at different liveries (3 brood mares + foals) + my daughters 2 horses. We have had our own place for 19 months now and I love the fact I can look out of my windows and there they are! Also doing 8 horses/stables everyday has made me much fitter!! Everything is where I left it and no one 'borrows, my stuff and I know my horses are getting all my feeds/supliments. Best of all last years foals are all my own work, handled my way without interferance (and a few hidings which I hated) and they are all easy to handle, good to lead,box + farrier.
 
Love it Love it Love it - no more weirdy women yard owners/ managers and can do exactly as I please. Also I have one very difficult horse and we would prob be chucked off normal yards tbh.
 
I moved from livery to my own (well, rented) land about 5 years ago now. I love it, even now, and have never looked back. I don't ever want to have to go back to a livery yard again.

I don't get lonely at all - partly because I do more than one job and work long hours and by the time I've finished I'm usually desperate to get away from humankind for an hour or so. But also, where my land is, there are several small private yards very close by, we all know each other and look out for each other, so it's no problem to drop by if you do happen to want someone to talk horse with.

I don't get (and don't miss) any of the bitchiness that goes on in so many livery yards. I can make my own decisions. I can keep the horses to my own schedule. Feed them what I want. Ride them when I want. I could even use my 2 stables if I really, really wanted (but much prefer them living out 24/7/365).

My own competition plans (mainly endurance or dressage) are enough to keep me motivated, but at the same time, there's no-one to pressurise me into feeling I ought to be riding, when actually I might just fancy having a day off!

So, for me, I have no regrets whatsoever - well, except perhaps that I don't have a menage - but the positives for me far outweigh that one negative.
 
Harder work (never get a break and doing all field maintenance, hay deliveries etc) but the horses become much closer to you and its much more flexible.

And H's mum says the best part is popping out in your PJs. In the summer I often sit in the swing chair at the bottom of garden right next to the horses, glass of wine in hand, in the evening sunshine watching my two, then they come over and pester me for treats. Or I wander round the field, watching the fox cubs or owls swooping, with the horses ambling after me... it can be quite idyllic at times.

Very handy if you just need to do a quick jon / forget something/need to keep an eye on ill horse etc
 
I haven't done it but I am pretty sure I'd love it! I'm one of the only people at my yard who doesn't mind being down there on my own in the dark and I rarely ask for help with anything but saying that, the only time I would feel isolated would be if I needed help...

I know when I broke my arm (in the field), I dealt with it all myself - phoned my parents to take me to A&E and then walked down the yard to put it under a tap but deliberately went to the part of the yard where there were actually people around, not that I wanted help but the moral support and hugs were quite nice!!
 
I guess the transition was easier for me as I had always had horses at home when I still lived at my parents. When I moved out, and to Kent (from Hampshire) I kept them at Livery for about 3 years until I found my own place.

I much prefer being by myself. I enjoyed having people around at the livery yard, and made some good friends, however towards the end it got very bitchy and I just did not enjoy going down anymore. My YO was very sorry to see me leave, as were other people so I know it wasn't just me that fell foul of the b*tches.

Anyway.....I spend most of my freetime now at my little yard, far more than I used to, and the time I spend is productive, rather than standing around chatting and then realising I had still got loads to do! There is something really nice about ambling about on a summers evening with just the horses for company!

There are lots of little pluses though, and life is so much easier not having to worry about what someone else is doing! I would struggle to go back to being on a livery yard now.
 
I much prefer it. The only problem is when we're away overnight or going on holiday, but between the horsey neighbours & the local freelance groom, we sort it.
 
Have done it and there are pros and cons. There is a lot more work with field and yard maintenance to do and it is definitely worth finding someone reliable to move your muck heap / harrow and roll the fields / clear ditches etc unless you will be doing it yourself.

Also I found that it is not much cheaper than having your horses in livery.

I am fortunate that we have enough land/stables so two friends of mine have their horses with me which gives me company/motivation/hacking partner/ etc and, more importantly, someone very reliable to help me with the horses which is especially useful when we go on holiday, etc.

The advantages however far outweigh the cons:

The horses are just outside my windows
I can keep them how I want - it is my decision what fields to put them in/what rugs to put on/what to feed, etc
Waiting for the vet / farrier is much more comfortable and not so time wasting!
I can check them last thing at night
It's easy to change their rugs as the weather changes during the day
No yard politics !!
and definitely sneaking out in my PJs to feed them
 
I've been looking after my own two for the last 16 months after over 20 years in livery yards. I much prefer it on my own and wouldn't want to go back. Over the last year or so, I've started building up a network of contacts locally for company and help if I'm away etc. Its amazing how many people you come across who can offer support and advice. The main thing I miss is the all weather school at the livery yard.
 
We moved into a house with land nearly 2 years ago, I had been on a few livery yards before that and couldnt understand why most of them were so bitchy. Now I'm the yard witch, yard gossip, yard whatever I want to be and I love it. Ok so sometimes I wish I had someone here for moral support when getting on my new horse and someone to admire my horse or take pics of me riding as my OH's photography skills aren't very good. But the pluses far outweigh the cons, I can go out in the morning and feed in my pj's and do most mornings, I can leave them in until lunchtime, obviously with hay, leave them out all night. I choose which fields they do or dont go in and best still I can introduce a new horse the way I want and so far haven't had any horrendous problems. It's easy getting vet out and can wait in the warm, I can go and cuddle my horses any time I'm at home and they seem so relaxed to. I LOVE IT.
 
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