Full livery-but minus the hard feed

[GermanyJo]

Hi
Want some opinions.. especially from any of your guys who are currently running your own livery yard, or any one who has their horse on livery.
I am keeping my horse on part/full livery (in my day it was classed as part livery, but I think some people are calling it full)
Included is

Mucking out
Straw
hay (fed twice daily)
hard feed (3 times a day)
Turn out service (I pay extra for - 2 Euro's a day) weekdays

The choice of hard food is either oats (don't look great quality and stored badly), Nuts or Muesli (for which there is an extra charge of 20 Euros a month.

Mickey was getting the Muesli but it is bought in huge sacks and sits in the feed room open and presumably all the little furry friends we have visit for midnight feasts

- I am a bit paranoid about feed getting contaminated by rats etc, and so moved him onto Pellets which appears to be stored better. I have asked several times for the data sheet on the pellets so that I can have some idea of what I am feeding, but none has appeared yet and I never seem to be there when they are emptying the bags!
Anyway... to cut a long story short, if one of your liveries wanted to supply their own feed, would you make a reduction in the livery charges each month, or would you expect that if they don't want what is on offer then anything different needs to be paid for by the livery owner on top? I can understand both sides of this , but just interested in peoples views.
The problem is, I have mine own ideas of how I want to feed my horse ( I worked with horses for 17 years in England) and currently he gets only dry nuts.. the feeds do not get dampened, and when I make any suggestions re AlfaA sugar beet or chaff etc the guys here look at me as if I am mad (I think they all think I am the mad English girl anyway!). Horse is not looking bad at the moment, but he does run up light, the hay is not the greatest quality and I want to make sure that he does not lose too much weight this winter.

Sorry so long and rambling - let me know what you think or what you would do if you were me. I am not loaded with money, and would have to cut some costs somewhere if I need to subsidise the livery I am already paying (it is relatively high for the area here - near Cologne) but would be prepared to do that if I needed to

thanks

 

[HollyP]

I dont get a reduction....have to buy it in on top! its annoying!! but if i were you id definately be buying in!!

 

[Damnation]

I am on a large livery yard that offers full livery. If you want your own feed the yard will order if for you but will give you the bill to pay for it..

However our yard has quite a good selection of feeds so its rare that the full liveries have to order in.

 

[GermanyJo]

I thought that was going to be the case.. never mind, think it will be better if I just bite the bullet and get in what I want him to eat

 

[Marchtime]

When I opted to feed my horse a different brand to the one supplied by my full livery yard I didn't get a reduction. At my current yard I supply HiFi as they only supply other chaffs that simply don't agree with my boy. It might cost me more but my horse and I are happier and I get a good deal anyway.

 

[FRESHMAN]

I hate it when yards have a flat price for full/assisted livery. On my yard I dont quote a set price & most people ask why I dont provide this information. The reason being that each horse & owner are individual. As such they need to pay a rate that matches what suits the horse/owner.

 

[rebmw]

What a great way to look at it Freshman, I wish my horse was on livery with you!
At my old yard, my old horse would virtually live on fresh air in the summer. Out at night, a handful of hay to nibble on during the day and 3/4 scoop of pony nuts once a day. Bed was deep littered so had one bale in almost every two weeks. I understand why YO keep livery costs the same all year round but it's sometimes hard to swallow when 6 months of the year you know its costing them next to nothing.