Going from DIY to Full livery

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WeeBrown

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Has anyone been on DIY first and then gone to full livery (no exercise/grooming done though)? Did you love it or hate it? What pros and cons did you find and did the pros outweigh the cons? If you did it the other way round do you miss full livery?
 
I was always on DIY, went to a full ivery yard, and after about 6 months went back to DIY! Hated it - felt like I wasnt in control of anything - if I wanted to put an extra bale of shavings in, give him extra hay etc. Just didnt feel like it was "my horse" as someone else was doing all the work. Im sure some yards are fantastic for full livery, and it also depends on your personal circumstances I suppose if FL works better than DIY - but not for me!
 
I went from DIY to full to DIY again in the space of about 6mths.

I thnk alot depends on the yard that does your full livery for you, but i began to really miss silly things like mucking out and although i did all the grooming etc and i came down every night even if it was just to check on him i felt i was neglecting him, although he wasn't being neglected at all.

I just had problems, like they didn't put the right supplements that he needed in his feed ( he had arthiritis and needed cortaflex ) they didn't put the 'right' rug on or didn't turn him out when they said they would. That kinda thing.

So i decided i was better doing it myself, i'm too much of a perfectionist to let anybody do anything for me. Wo betide my partner trying to help me decorate the xmas tree this year, he knows i do it!!! Maybe its only child syndrome, i'm very possessive over things
 
Yes, and I had to be very careful not to drive the YO mad! I still clean out her drinker myself and will skip out if necessary.
I go to see my horse every day even if not riding (unless I'm away on business) and like to fetch her in from the field, wash off, rug up etc but always ask if it's OK to do so - very wary of not treading on anyone's toes!
Pros are more freedom - OH is really pleased that it's less of a performance to get me to go away for a weekend and I can concentrate on my work a bit better.
Our house is no longer covered in bits of flax, altho I still have lots of stinky coats from handling rugs. Also meant I could choose a yard a bit further away rather than in the same village.
Cons are that I have put on weight as not doing as much exercise, and I actually miss seeing the sun finally come up as I finish mucking out or tucking her up for the night (although I often ride late afternoon so I've got an excuse to do this!)
 
Well I just moved onto full livery yesterday - after about 5 years of being DIY.

Its too soon to comment on how i'm finding it of course, but the key is to do your research very carefully anf ind somewhere you are happy your horse will be looked after well.

The things i am most looking forward to are:
- Not getting up at 5am to turn out
- Having a lie in on a weekend!
- Not trashing my poor little car by transporting bales of hay / shavings in the back
- Being able to spend time grooming my horse / riding rather than 45 min mucking out / doing feeds / hays etc
- Not having to rush back from whatever I am doing on a weekend to bring my horses in
- Not rushing to the yard when it snows (only to get stuck in said snow) to bring in.

I'm sure there's even more things I'm going to find wonderful!
 
I loved it, less stress and more time to spend with your horse. Peace of mind that shes being cared for when your not there, ofcourse you still worry and i liked to tuck bridie in every night and redo her bed! now im owning long distance its really tough, but she is at a fab yard that are brilliant and really listen to what i want (when i visit on the weekend)

I might have to move to DIY for a bit next year as the Full livery is costing me a bomb!
 
i was consideing it but couldn't do as i felt i wouldn't have a horse i would just be riding, like it was at a riding school and i couldn't do that as i want to bond with my mare and couldn't bare the thought o someone else having a better bond with her. (selfish i no) but it does work for some people
 
I went on full livery during my A levels, and went back to DIY for my gap year. Now he's on 5 day livery while I'm at uni in the week, and I do him myself at weekends.

I get on really well my YO, it's a very small yard (3 liveries) and I trust her with my baby - there's not many people I would!

Communication is so important, as is remembering it's your horse, you pay a lot of money for him and you need things done how you want them to be done. If your YO won't do things your way then it's not a good livery service.

It's amazing how quickly you lose fitness - I have put on quite a bit of weight because of not mucking out every day!

In Winter it is lovely to have a long lie in
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and like to fetch her in from the field, wash off, rug up etc but always ask if it's OK to do so


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I can't believe you feel you have to ask!
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I kept my first horse on DIY quite a lot - although he was on full livery some of the time.

In my experience, the success of full livery depends entirely on the yard, the YO and the staff.

My horse is on full livery, and I'm very happy with this. Because of a stupid illness I am not able to visit very often at the moment, but I have complete confidence in the stud manager and her staff to look after him beautifully.

And believe me, I am as much of a fussy perfectionist as any DIYer. I rather resent the implication one sometimes hears that those of us on full livery don't care as much about our horses! The people looking after my horse are highly qualified, very experienced, very dedicated and very kind. They treat him like their own most precious horse, and undoubtedly do a much BETTER job of caring for him than I ever could.

I would say that providing you have found the right yard, the pros of full livery will outweigh the cons. You will be able to spend much more time actually riding and playing and 'bonding' with your horse, as you won't have to do all the tedious mucking out and making up feeds and lugging haynets about and so on.

Livery with no grooming sounds more like part-livery than full livery to me, though - grooming is normally included in full livery. But as long as you can get there every day to groom, then this shouldn't be a problem.
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Mine is currently on full livery, I spent 17 years in UK working with horses, mostly sole charge, so I find it difficult sometimes as I think everyone has there own way to do things and I definately have certain things I like done a certain way... made worse by the fact that the English definately have different ideas to the Germans as to how to keep horses (turn out being a big discussion point for me!).

Unfortunately I have no option other than full livery (without brushing or riding) as I have to leave for work at 6,30am every morning and am often not home until 6pm - my OH (non horsey) would not put up with me being gone any longer than I am already (I ride every day) and as yard does not open until 7am and the turn out is very restricted, the poor boy would not go out in the winter if I had to do it myself.

I do not feel that I have less of a bond with him though, as the yard guys are only doing the basics with him (mucking out/feeding/turning out) . At the weekend we turn them out ourselves and at least the time I have got, I can spend completely on him and not on running around wth a wheel barrow. He is definatly a 1 person horse, and greets me every evening so I still feel that I have a good relationship with him and he definately still knows who Mum is
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ideally of course the OH would have alot more money, I would not need to work and could do it all myself
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I have gone from full livery to DIY. Always been on FL as working long hours, but have now got more than one horse so cant afford it and changed jobs to one with more time!

However I do find that DIY really ties you down and I would love a lie-in now and again.
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I have obviously had some really good full livery yards compared to others where I felt completely at ease and knew they would look after my horse like their own.

If and when i get back down to 1 horse again I would go back to full livery (no grooming/riding) as sometimes feel I spend so much time looking after them that I often dont get around to riding as much.
 
I was on DIY, then full, then on part, then on full and now I am paying for the price for full, receiving their equivalent of part and am actually on assisted.

If I could go up every day I would have them on assisted, but there are some days that I cant be there, so they need to be fed, rugged, turned out/brought in and mucked out. If you are going on full, there are a couple of things I would point out:

1. Have a look at their beds - this will tell you how well they are cared for and how much bedding they use (I do a full muck out every night for mine as otherwise their beds would be filthy)

2. Check that they will feed the brand of food that you want and not some "equivalent" i.e. (mollased) sugar beet is exactly the same as speedibeet ... not.

3. Check if the horses have enough hay - good trick is to go down at night, about 8pm and see what they have in their stables. Most of the rubbish yards I have been to see have said that horses dont need hay after 8pm and that's why there is not a scrap of hay in the stable and the horse is eating its bed.

4. Dont tell them the times you will visit, and turn up at odd times for the first couple of weeks. You will soon find out when they have turned your horse out without his boots etc.

5. Dont be afraid to speak up - so many times I just ended up mucking out or filling up my own haynets. I really ought to have said something straight away.

6. Be prepared that nothing will be done to your standard but always set the basic minimum of what you can live with. For me this is AYTO, clean beds and ad lib hay. I have 1 out of 3 at current yard (full livery 7 days without groom/ride).

I find the best way is to be on DIY and then just get them to do services - this is the ideal situation and if I could find such a yard with AYTO tomorrow then I would there in a shot. You dont have to worry about how much bedding you are using (or buy more, like me) or how much hay they are getting, if they are getting the right feeds etc.
 
I went from DIY livery to full livery and back onto DIY 2 months later. This was partially because it turns out that my horse is injured and has had to be retired for the foreseeable future. The main reason for going onto full livery was to save time so that I could ride more so it makes sense now that I'm not riding to do her myself.
However I have to say even if I could ride her I think I would have gone back to DIY. I hated the feeling of full livery, I hated that although she was very very well looked after and the staff were brilliant, I didn't get to be 'mum'.
They even groomed her etc when they brought her in and because I could not get there until after work in the evening, I couldnt tell them to leave her out on her own just so that I could bring her in and put her to bed. I really missed the putting to bed routine! I have moved her to a yard thats two minutes from my house so I can go back to DIY.
I would say though that if she wasnt injured I think I would still do winter on full livery even though I dont like it, because last winter I did not get to ride enough because I was spending time doing jobs. Good luck with it x
 
I've been backwards and forwards between DIY and livery throughout uni although now I have mine on livery as I'm working. I've had two on DIY for many years before swapping and it was difficult to let someone else 'take control'. It took three attempts to find the right yard but my current yard is perfect. They do as you ask, rug as you ask, feed as you ask etc. You can chuck in hay when you go donw, turn out. bring in or skip out as you wish. The horses are well cared for. I have a say in what he is fed. They are lovely. It's all about finding the perfect yard.
 
Have always been on either part livery or full livery. On our last yard, we were on part livery. The YO did not really care too much for our horses or us to be very honest. They have gone bust now and have been sold (what goes around, does come around!). My two horses were not that well cared for - yes they were clean, but you were only allowed one bale of shavings a week and one flap of hay in the morning and the same in the evening - she was convinced all the horses on her yard were fat! They had a very poor feed of a handful of chaff, some mix and speedibeet. My cob was hunting regularly at the time and lost weight. They also had restricted opening hours and had to be gone by 8.00 pm Mon-Thurs, 7.00 pm on Friday and 6.00 pm on Sat and Sun. The horses were locked inside a dutch barn. Loads of other things went on - she had 45 acres of turnout and our horses werent allowed out as she had 'to manage her fields', I could go on.....

We are now on full livery, which costs the same as part livery at the aforementioned place. My horses are well cared for and I have even seen our YO kissing them - we have even bought a horse she bred and broke as well. There is 24/7 turnout, you can come and go as and when, you have your own yard keys etc. They get well fed with good quality ad lib hay and feed. They are the picture and health and are very happy.

I drive my YO mad with my 'ponies', but she runs a private event yard and is more than happy to excercise my horses for me and my daughter. OK, there has to be some give and take, but I am on full livery as I work full time and work long hours and I dont have the worry of looking after horses on top of everything else.

I dont think you dont bond with your horse. I have never been on DIY and both my horses definitely know who mummy is.
 
Have done this, have been on DIY last 6 or so years, and I mean every day of the week, giving myself only a few days off a year. Had to move to yard further away so put him on part livery, absolutely hated it due to lack of control I had regarding him and of how he was looked after (yard was run solely as a business and didn't care how the horses were looked after)

However, I'm not at uni and having him on DIY was not an option as car is not allowed on campus. Moved to Norwich and looked around a dozen yards before finding one 30 mins away that looked perfect. Have had him on full livery for 3 months now and love it! He's is kept to such a good standard, whenever I go up he has a thick bed, haynet and is generally happy. His personality has come back out now and he is looked after incredibly well, YO is very fond of him aswell. Not sure if it's just a Norwich thing but the YOs have been so lovely to me and understand I'm at uni and can't come up often, so they give me updates on him and I'm able to decide what rugs he wears etc what he eats, I'm still fully in charge of when he's shod and has his teeth done etc.

However, in 8 years of hunting for a yard like this near where I live at home (London) I've not found one that truly gives me piece of mind, so yards like this are a rare find. I'm even going home for a month for xmas safe in the knowledge he will be well looked after, although xmas day will be a sad day without him. It's definitely possible - he still very much knows who I am (CBAnglo can vouch for this!)
 
In an ideal world would like mine on assisted DIY but have gone from DIY to full livery due to work commitments and not being able to find a DIY yard that had all I wanted in it. You just have to find the right yard and have confidence in the people there. Before I was getting very tired and ratty due to being worn out looking after two horses. Now because I don't have to muck out or tack clean or groom, I can spend that time riding and cuddling the pony! Not sure the bank balance likes it that much though, can't remember when I last bought any clothes!
 
My daughter has just put her horse on full livery after being on DIY and she loves it.
She has got my old show jumper and to be honest I was relieved when she did as I was worried he wouldn't be kept to a routine if she was late off work or similar.
I think if you can afford it and trust the yard staff to do a good job the horse is much better off.
 
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