full livery - is it worth it?

Another on part livery and I have never missed the 5.00 alarm to do mine and friends horses.

Ask at tack shops for recommendations, look in the boxes to check how much bedding is used. Check the fields and how much turnout there is. Confirm how much bedding and hay/haylage is included in your livery. Check to see if there are extra charges for things like farrier and vet visits. I was on a yard years ago and YO charged me £1 for every extra section of hay..very expensive extra when they were not feeding sufficient hay to start with. Supplements are not normally covered (which is fair) and ask about the hard feed as well. Full livery in Surrey means everything is done, including exercise, part (which I am on) means I ride, groom and clean my own tack.
 
One of mines on full livery while he recovers from an injury. He'll come back to my yard when he can have proper turn out again but for now it's well worth the extra cost knowing he's safe & well looked after. I like to think he misses me but I'm not sure he cares really as he's happy as long as he's got plenty of food! I do have another horse who's on diy at my usual yard so that keeps me occupied, if I didn't have him I would miss doing the day to day stuff.
 
I guess the thing is I've always been on yards that are mixed diy, part or full so there is no difference in things like turnout or at 3 yards bedding and hay as that was included in diy livery.

So the only difference for the horses is who does the chores day to day.

OP if this is for your health then go for it. You have to look after yourself first so you can look after your horse so don't worry about it, just find a yard you trust and who think the same way on your most important points.
 
I've had periods of having horses on full livery for various reasons. There are huge advantages & if you are on a good yard it is wonderful for both horse & owner.

The last time I did get a bit irked when things weren't run past me. I.e shoeing date changed, vaccinations done & a supplement fed. But I'm used to having my horses at home & being in control of everything so I suspect this was the problem
 
wench said:
It's a god send. I don't know why there is some kind of demented view in here that unless you have your horse on DIY your a bad owner!
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Is there such a view?! How odd, if so ...

The reason why full/part livery didnt work for me was that I was having to pay part/full livery costs, plus additional feed (as horse couldn't have the feed that was included), extra forage, extra bedding as he's quite dirty so the 'included' bedding didn't last, plus his whole host of supplements on top of as well as all the usual horse-owning extras.

To be fair, the yard wasn't entirely run as I was promised it would - when I first moved, I could use straw but then suddenly I couldn't & had to buy additional shavings, but only from the yard. I was promised I could feed ad-lib, but then I only could at an inflated cost. Feed & supplements weren't lasting as long as they had done previously ...

Living in the S/E of England, it wasn't exactly cheap to begin with & I decided I'd rather reduce my costs & go back to DIY with assistance. On paper, full/part livery wouldn't have been a great deal more than assisted DIY if I had a horse that didn't wee and poo for England, need a specialist diet & didn't crib if he ran out of hay! I certainly didn't think I was a bad owner for moving to full/part livery ... just poorer!
 
I have mine on livery that includes everything but exercise, grooming and tack cleaning. We buy our own feed so can use what ever suits our horses (I struggled when previous YO used to supply feed as most were cobs or natives in light work and mine is a poor doer who is in medium work). We can supply our own hay or haylage but most buy it from the YO as if you buy a bale the mark up isn't bad.

I couldn't manage without at my current job and my horse benefits from a consistent routine. The staff really care about all the horses, know their quirks and treat them well. They are also generally pretty good at knowing which owners want them to just sort stuff and which like to be involved and consulted.

There are compromises. You are unlikely to get a pristine white bed of shavings with no waste as staff have to work quickly. Things may not be done exactly as you would but on a good yard your horse will be well looked after even when you can't make it there yourself.
 
Horsey Sophie said:
Is there such a view?! How odd, if so ...
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The is a small group of people (both here and also on yards) that seem to think that if you are not taking care of your horse yourself you are somehow failing them. They may be a tiny percentage are very quick to express the opinion that there is no point in having a horse if you are going to pay someone else to look after it.

The result is that sometimes people feel a bit guilty when moving onto full livery.

I found full livery saved me money in bedding/hay costs as I have a very wet dirty horse who needs massive quantities of hay and having to buy it in as I needed cost me a lot. Plus I have been at 3 yards where the livery includes hay and bedding for both DIYs and Liveries. At the one that had an unrealistic allowance, they were flexible with the full liveries as they made more money out of them and wanted to keep them; however they were very strict with the DIYs and charged if they used extra.
 
criso said:
The is a small group of people (both here and also on yards) that seem to think that if you are not taking care of your horse yourself you are somehow failing them. They may be a tiny percentage are very quick to express the opinion that there is no point in having a horse if you are going to pay someone else to look after it.

The result is that sometimes people feel a bit guilty when moving onto full livery.

I found full livery saved me money in bedding/hay costs as I have a very wet dirty horse who needs massive quantities of hay and having to buy it in as I needed cost me a lot. Plus I have been at 3 yards where the livery includes hay and bedding for both DIYs and Liveries. At the one that had an unrealistic allowance, they were flexible with the full liveries as they made more money out of them and wanted to keep them; however they were very strict with the DIYs and charged if they used extra.
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I used to be adamant to be on DIY but having seen the impact on my health my body can't take the constant early starts and long days around studying and working, something has to give! I used to think I couldn't afford it either but it's not actually that different in comparison - I always end up with poor doer TBs anyway!
 
I cant afford proper full livery here, as we would be talking £500+ and thats too much for me to justify for a pony who is really a pet. I've settled for 2 day part livery and assisted on the other 5 days. All poo picking is done, feeding and turning out every day, and 2 days a week its full livery so I get a break. I can also bump other days up to full for £5. They also do things like sort out farrier and saddler etc. Today the saddler came, they brought him in, stood him up, rode him before and after and then text me immediately afterwards to let me know the outcome. Its absolutely invaluable to me having that kind of trusted help! Its been a total revelation how much easier it is when someone else does the hard work and theres help on tap, so go for it!
 
I am on part everything but exercise, grooming and tack clean but can buy extra services such as exercise options are water treadmill, walker, lunging or riding.

Like some others I have a long commute to London and a demanding job. I don't have to worry about tube strikes or needing to stay late at work or being asked to travel for work or snow as I know all my pony's basic needs are being taken care of. He thrives on the routine and I am healthier too as I don't get so tired. It also means I can have a social life and spend a bit of time with my family as well.

Like others have said you do need to chose the right yard for your horse though. My pony is a very good doer and needs to wear a grazing muzzle if turned out on decent grazing and also is on soaked hay as well as a low sugar/starch diet. Some full/part livery yards are geared up for competition horses and are not always good at understanding the needs native ponies or cobs, whereas the yard I am on do a bespoke service so they can cope with all types. They also deal with farrier and vet if need be. Just having them organise and be there with the farrier has save me 6 days annual leave a year. However all this does cost quite a bit of money as they are doing a lot of work, but for me it is worth it for the peace of mind.
 
As others have said, the key is to find the right yard for you and your horse. For me, it has made horse ownership possible. I still spend about two hours a day for five days a week, at the yard, but that's all spent grooming and riding and cuddling. The yard are amazing, treat my horse like a princess and I never worry about her. Bliss :-)
 
My horse is on full livery. It's great.

I wouldn't be able to have a horse if he weren't on full livery. I work long, sometimes erratic, hours and get sent off to places where i have to stay overnight. I also live miles away from my yard, but that's a different story.

Although my horse generally just hangs out in his field in a herd and doesn't take much looking after it's worth the money because: they bring him in and work him if I can't come for a few days, he's checked on multiple times a day, all of his feed, bedding etc is included, if he's on box rest they look after him, muck him out, walk him/in hand graze if needed, give all medications, hold for farrier etc. It's invaluable.

In an ideal world I'd do 5 day full livery and DIY on the weekend, but I'm happy being 7 day full livery if it means being on that yard. It's the yard that is important. One of the reasons why I live so far away from my horse is that when I had to relocate for work I couldn't bear to move him because I trust the people at my yard to look after him as I would; you just can't trust everyone that way.
 
When I had my horses I had always been on 5 day part livery (everything included apart from riding + grooming). Weekends being assisted DIY with T/O and feed in the morning/evening included, but I mucked out, brung in). I work in London with a long commute, and I had a social life away from horses which meant DIY was just not suitable for me. My horses had a fantastic routine on part livery, were very well cared for, and it gave me more time to spend with them -riding, grooming, cuddling, whilst I could still enjoy other parts of my life. I did, however, really enjoy doing them myself of a weekend, but again I still had help with T/O etc. If part livery wasn't an option, then I don't think I would've had the horses to be honest, shoot me down for saying that, but I know many others who felt the same and doesn't/didn't mean I loved my horses any less, just meant that they were only part of my life, not my whole life!
 
In the good old days (when I got paid overtime and could book as much as I saw fit as nobody checked) it was cheaper to be on full livery and work an extra hour or so a day O/T on full livery. Basically my hourly rate was better than what the yard charged.
 
I'm lucky - yard is 5 miles away and on my way home from work. It's a great yard and some of the other liveries travel 30+miles each way and think it is worth it.
 
Yeah I know. They point out to me that I have that level of commute to work every day. And that it is much nicer driving to see a horse than to go to work!
Really good yards are in short supply round here. Particularly if you want good part or full livery.
 
I've had my horse on part for 2 1/2 years now and I wouldn't go back to DIY, although it's taken me 4 attempts to find the right yard.

It's expensive, but it's worth it for me - for the time saving but actually more for the freedom it gives me. I like that I can go away for a weekend, or stay late at work, or go out in the evenings without worrying about my horse. He's looked after, has a consistent routine and the time I spend at the yard is all with him, rather than doing chores.
 
It's an interesting thread, I think about this sometimes, I have a 120 mile round trip commute and have one horse on DIY. I have a good job that pays well and the result of a horse on DIY is I always have to shoot out of the office on time which doesn't reflect well on me when others in my position work longer hours. I am dreading winter and 5am alarms calls and of course the lack of opportunity to ride once the weather changes. So on both counts I would be better on part livery at least, thing is I like where she is but its only DIY, not even a regular person to do extras. I'm thinking getting some help in exchange for riding, even if I was relieved a couple of days a week it would help. Maybe I will research other yards, you've got me thinking now !
 
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