Good, bad and ugly of having a livery client at home yard?

VRIN

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 February 2008
Messages
2,528
Visit site
Another for don't do it. However nice people are, no one does things quite like you and its the little things that drive you crazy eventually!!
 

MiJodsR2BlinkinTite

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 February 2009
Messages
11,027
Location
Slopping along on a loose rein somewhere in Devon
Visit site
We live on site and only have room for ONE DIY livery.

We started in 1992 and in all that time have only ever had ONE really bad livery - who (thank god) only stayed for a month, and was a nightmare: she shut her poor pony in the stable and then went off for the weekend, leaving me to go in there and feed it and muck it out. I had no idea where she'd gone or when/if she'd be back. But thankfully she took herself off after that (taking her keys with her and not returning them, which meant we had to get the locks all changed :( ).

I have had some lovely people, fantastic precious horses, and made some super friends.

No you won't make a bomb out of doing it. Don't expect to. But the rewards will be: someone to chat to about horses, someone to ride with if you've got a youngster and/or are feeling a bit wobbly, someone to go to comp's with, go horse searching with, someone to do yours if you're stuck etc etc.

If I had my time again, I'd do exactly the same thing.

Hint: be very VERY fussy. If you are not 101% happy with someone, then they don't come onto the yard. Ditto horses: if you don't want/won't have stallions, mares, Sweet Itches or crib-biters on your place, then say so and don't apologise for it. With DIY you need to decide how you're going to operate, i.e. are you going to state that it is "Strictly DIY" and therefore you won't touch their horses, or whether you're offering "assisted" or whatever. I tend to go for the "strictly" DIY, much easier, and the lines are much better defined, having said that if there's an emergency like snow or farrier/vet coming unexpectedly, I don't mind mucking up/haying up, and/or holding a rope when required! But you do have to decide what you will offer, and what you will not. And stick to it. If you can, get someone who's been recommended to you rather than someone who just turns up out of the blue; and ask for references and/or contacts from their previous yard - AND research their horses as well! Like, if you're keeping them on the same ground as yours, you don't want something riggy and/or a kicker do you.

An empty yard is better than a yard with a livery in residence that you cannot stand and dread going on to the yard to do your horses because of atmosphere/friction; this is on YOUR place and you really need to be happy with them (and their horses) as it is on your back yard. Here I keep livery's horses and mine totally separate - we can do that here easily, and I find it is the best long-term solution TBH.

Having said that, be prepared to be flexible and reasonable if you can: if they say their heartstrings are being pulled by a little horse that's a bit of rescue and is it OK if they bring it home, then try to accommodate them if possible! Keep fences, drinking troughs, hedges & Pasture up to date and sorted as well, this goes without saying. Take an interest in your livery and their horsey activities too: you might just learn a lot from them and their success will feel like your success!

When we started doing livery you couldn't give it away here, a lot of farmers had started offering livery and people just weren't interested! Which sounds unbelievable now, as where I live there is a now town sprung up and DIY livery on a small yard is like hens teeth to find!

I have the perfect livery right now, and hope she stays forever! I would define a good livery as being like a good horse: hellish difficult to find but once you've found them, you never want to let them go!
 
Last edited:

Sussexbythesea

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 July 2009
Messages
7,763
Visit site
If you’re an uptight person that wants everything just so don’t get a livery. Even with the best will in the world people will not or sometimes cannot meet your personal standards. Nor is it fair for someone you’ve invited to be on your Yard to be constantly treading on eggshells for fear the muck-heap isn’t the correct angle. I’m not talking about the extreme of being disrespectful to you or your property.
 

chaps89

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 July 2009
Messages
8,518
Location
Surrey
Visit site
I'm a livery on a private yard and I love it. Me and YO have fairly different routines which works. We share things like haying in winter and will help each other out in an emergency but otherwise it's total DIY.
I tend to do the tidying, fencing, cleaning water troughs etc. That stuff and general tidiness doesn't seem to occur to her. I accept that and try not to hassle her about those things as I know she's not interested.
I've only ever been in the house once and that was the first day of the beast from the east when everything caught us out by freezing and I had to go in for water- but that was only after I text to ask if they were in and it would be ok.
I've been there 2 years with this horse, 1 with a previous horse so it can work and we aren't all nightmares :)
 

siennamiller

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 July 2005
Messages
2,417
Location
west sussex
Visit site
I was the sole livery on a private yard, and it worked really well. I was diy with mare being fed and turned out or brought in once a day, I did everything else, but they used to do her for me if I was (rarely) away without charging extra. We got on really well, she used to come and find me at shows and help me warm up if she had finished with hers.
I was always very respectful of their house/space, I can’t believe people would just walk in! If I ever got up there and they were having a family barbecue or something, I would feel really awkward even thought they didn’t make me feel that way, so I would be in and out as quickly as possible.
I think it helped that in the mornings we were both quite quiet and got in and done as quite as possible, but used to wait and turn out together to make it easier for gates.
It is possible for it to work, but you have to be completely happy that you can live with that person basically being in your life on a regular basis.
 

chocolategirl

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 June 2012
Messages
1,292
Visit site
DONT DO IT! If you do make sure you have public liability insurance well in place as should there be an accident, you risk losing everything.
 

willhegofirst

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 February 2008
Messages
639
Location
Wales, just.
Visit site
I am that livery client, maybe slightly different, there are no yards close to home in a small village, my horse was 10 miles away, we had briefly spoken to these neighbors a while ago, then due to the bad winter we have had, snow in December I couldn't get to my horse we asked if they would consider a livery, they have a very elderly mare and a slightly younger gelding, long story short we moved him there in January so their gelding has a companion when the mare goes. We are a similar age with similar interests, we try to fit in with them as much as possible, we turn out in the morning when they are at work, they bring in at night. So far it is still working very well, but we want to be there so are prepared to put ourselves out a bit and try our hardest not to be a pain, we have to fit in.
 

maisie06

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 March 2009
Messages
4,545
Visit site
Oh gosh, don't do it! I had one & OMG it wasn't good. Turned up at all hours of the day & night, didn't turn up at all for 3 weeks so got 'full livery' as I wasn't just going to leave the horse unfed, with the wrong rugs, feet not done etc. Never helped with jobs, griped over payment. I tried to sort out boundaries from the outset & she would agree, and then never stick to it.

Turned up with heaps of relatives in tow, turned up when we'd agreed she wouldn't as we were having a family thing on the yard, etc etc etc. It is nice just to shut the gate on the world & know that it isn't going to be opened 5 minutes later by someone who is going to cause some chaos & keep knocking on the door for nonsensical reasons. But then, I'm a miserable old bat!

You are not a miserable old bat - she was a disrespectful moron!!
 

Chianti

Well-Known Member
Joined
20 February 2008
Messages
896
Visit site
You also need to be aware that it can sometimes be quite difficult for the livery. I was on a private yard for three years and in lots of ways it was lovely. However, you can get drawn into the family life. I did sometimes get very embarrassed when the family would start having rows in front of me. The yard owner also started sharing her woes with me. I would arrive at the end of a hard day at work to find her relaxing by the swimming pool- she didn't work. I would then be told all her problems with the au pair,the cleaners or her children. I think in the time I was there she never once said ' How was your day?' It can also be quite lonely if there aren't other liveries to talk to.
 

peaceandquiet1

Well-Known Member
Joined
16 May 2010
Messages
1,879
Visit site
I did it once, letting a friend keep her horse at mine in exchange for help with the children, It was disastrous, she conducted an affair using my yard as a rendevous point, her horse got so fat it went down with full blown laminitis which she tried to ignore then once vet had been at my insistence she left the horse on box rest and barely came near it leaving me to deal with it while trying to cope with three under 5s and my own horses. I had to get rid of her but she loaded her horse and loaded all my hay with it.....never again...
 

Antw23uk

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 October 2012
Messages
4,058
Location
Behind you
Visit site
Life is too short. Don't do it!

I let a friend rent one of my paddocks off me when we first brought our land and stables. EVERYONE told me not to! She barely looked at them, hardly ever got there feet trimmed, they got so fat they were borderline lami and if it wasnt for me giving them water they would have died from a lack of it. Poo picking ..... both mares so they poo'ed in the corners of the fields which was great as very tidy but now i have big sour patches of grass my horses wont eat! She took FOREVER to get them gone when i asked her, to the point i sent a formal letter threatening legal action (this was supposed to be a friend!!)

I know there are some good stories out there but seriously, when the majority tell you not to do it, dont do it!
 

JoannaC

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 June 2010
Messages
792
Location
Staffordshire
Visit site
Well i'll go against the grain and say do it! Whilst there are some negatives I think the positives outway them. I like having someone to ride with and talk horse to. Also it means if you're ill or fancy a weekend away you have someone else to do the horses, obviously you then have to do the same for them but it's great to have that bit of flexibility. Just make sure you find someone who you get on with and will fit in with your routine. It definitely can work but I guess it depends how used to having your own place you are. My livery was actually already renting the land when we bought the house and i'd always been at livery prior so I guess starting with her already here means I never knew any different.
 

honetpot

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 July 2010
Messages
9,058
Location
Cambridgeshire
Visit site
Life is too short. Don't do it!

I let a friend rent one of my paddocks off me when we first brought our land and stables. EVERYONE told me not to! She barely looked at them, hardly ever got there feet trimmed, they got so fat they were borderline lami and if it wasnt for me giving them water they would have died from a lack of it. Poo picking ..... both mares so they poo'ed in the corners of the fields which was great as very tidy but now i have big sour patches of grass my horses wont eat! She took FOREVER to get them gone when i asked her, to the point i sent a formal letter threatening legal action (this was supposed to be a friend!!)

I know there are some good stories out there but seriously, when the majority tell you not to do it, dont do it!

And I thought I had bad luck, I have had two out of two nightmares.
Honestly there seems to be an assumption that if you own your own place that you must be loaded, and if they see you doing your own you must have loads of free time to do theirs, so they needn't bother.
I have had potential lodgers families wander round my garden uninvited, the women who said a 12x16ft Loddon loose box may not be big enough for her horse, the Shetland women who was expected the next day who told me that she couldn't stand the stress of moving them so she had them PTS. Sent by text, if true very odd, if a lie what a awful one. Pl
It seems to attract every oddball that can not or will not fit on a livery yard. If you must it should be full livery with a contract and a good deposit.
 

Apercrumbie

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 November 2008
Messages
5,178
Location
South-West
Visit site
We have done this and it works very well - mainly because our livery is lovely and just great. In that sense we are extremely lucky, but there are aspects that aren't pure luck. It works well from a horse perspective because our horses need very similar management (ie. out 24/7, good doers) and we both are (or were in my case) happy hackers. This means that we have a good routine that suits everyone to a t. If her horse were a tb that needed bringing in every night and feeding up to its eyeballs, then it clearly wouldn't work as smoothly for everyone. We split the work so she does some days entirely and we do others - hugely helpful as everyone has jobs. I trust her to look after mine and she (well I assume) trusts us to look after hers. I think we must drive her batty at times as she is much tidier than us but it obviously works well enough as we are a few years down the line now.

To cut my ramble short: choose someone with similar horse management views and you should be ok.
 

Sophire

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 August 2013
Messages
552
Location
Berkshire
Visit site
I really wouldn't. I've thought recently about being the livery one a yard that is someone's home. Whilst the yard I am on at the moment has people living on-site, 3 houses and a few caravans, I'm not disturbing anyone by being there as late as I usually am. I can see it becoming very wearing on the owner should I move and wouldn't want to cause conflict with someone I currently get along with, nor burn bridges somewhere that I'd say I'm 80% happy at for the moment.
 

buzyizzy

Well-Known Member
Joined
30 April 2007
Messages
352
Visit site
We bought a place with the idea of having liveries from the outset, so I guess it was different. I had five lovely ladies who were only slightly cheeky (Can you feed Dusty tomorrow (Christmas Day) as I'd like to have a bit to drink) and another one who walked across the garden a few times before realising that actually there was another way. I guess I was very lucky. Never had any bad feeling, but did feel it was a loss of privacy. Having to be sociable and smiley was hard work LOLOL
 

MuddyMonster

Well-Known Member
Joined
22 September 2015
Messages
4,969
Visit site
I've been a livery on a private yard & wouldn't do it again, if you paid me! If you don't really want a livery, I don't think you ought to do it - for anyone's sake.

I've been on a few yards & generally, am a good livery - I've a reasonably well behaved & respectful horse, I pay on time, keep myself to myself but happy to ride with others & help out when needed.

However, being a livery on somone else's 'own' yard was tough.They wanted their privacy, which I understand - but then don't have liveries in the first place ...!

They'd routinely moan about the fact they even needed a livery (there were two of us) to my face, expected me to help out with their horse's (I used to get texts wanting their horses bought in or turned out when I wasn't even at the yard) but would never even consider mine - I'd turn up to discover all their horses in for example, whilst mine is out and stressing. They would routinely try to 'close' the yard because they had a family dinner or event on. Great, but I'm on DIY livery so why wouldn't I need to come up twice a day as a minimum ...?! You can't just close a yard for hours at a time on a whim.

They expected us to be available to ride with them when they needed it - e.g for baby sitting duties but would make the sandschool unavailable for hours at a time. They also felt it appropriate to let off fireworks on Fireworks night from the bottom of their garden - basically, one of the horse's fields - because 'their children love fireworks'.

They always wanted paying in cash (I couldn't bank transfer or even cheque) but never seemed to be about to pay when you needed to despite multuple texts or phone calls asking when is best for them to pay. I'm not about to leave hundreds of pounds lying about in an envelope ...!

I lasted just under 3 months before leaving for a commercial yard who realised liveries are clients!
 

Britestar

Well-Known Member
Joined
2 March 2008
Messages
5,322
Location
upside down
Visit site
My livery is my best friend. All the horses are 'ours'. We make decisions about everything together. We support each other, do the horses when one is away, and cry together if we have to make hard decisions.

My other livery is also a very good friend, who lives about an hour away, and trusts me implicitly with her horse.

I've had others and we've always been friends. Just pick very carefully
 

willhegofirst

Well-Known Member
Joined
6 February 2008
Messages
639
Location
Wales, just.
Visit site
It looks like the answer to this is you can be lucky and get a great livery, or unlucky and get a nightmare. The same as on any livery yard, I think in your case I would be very very careful who you take on if you decide to give it a go, try and do background checks to what they have been like elsewhere and do a contract.
 
Top