Has anyone used / would use a horse sitter?

[u04elw2]

Hi guys,

I'm looking into going into my own horse sitting business but I really haven't had a huge deal of interest from many people up here in Aberdeen.

As there's not really anyone else up here offering the same stuff I would be I haven't been able to talk to anyone who's used one to find out what they thought of the service etc.

Have any of you guys used a Horse Sitter or a travelling livery service?

What was good about it and what was negative?

WHY did you use it (ie no knowledgable family available, or late meeting in work etc)?

How did the Yard take to a "stranger" caring for one of "their" horses?

Any answers to these questions would help me get a bit of an idea of people's opinions on something like since there's no-one I know who I can ask!

 

[lauraanddolly]

I have used one, not long ago when i went away for 5 days. The lady i used was recommended to me by many people, although i didn't actually meet her until the day before i went away.
I used her because i was quite new at the yard and didn't feel that i could ask anyone there to do her and there is no one else.
I liked the service i got, everything was pretty much as i left it with a nice clean bed!(little bits of poo in shavings bed is one of my pet hates).
The yard were fine as the owners themselves do not offer any horse care with their livery - it's up to us to sort it out between ourselves or some other way, i did tell the owners i was going away and that someone else would be doing Dol, i offered to bring her up to meet them - but they said that was fine.
The only negative was that Dol wasn't groomed the night before i came home, though that may mean it was wet when she came in.
All in all i found it a positive experience and i would do it again.
Hope that helps!

 

[Murphy3]

I used a dog-sitting service run by a local veterinary nurse recently when we had to go away overnight and had to leave 2 dogs at home and was stuck for someone to come in to them. While she came to do the dogs she also fed my two horses in the field in the morning and checked they were Ok in their rugs. I left them out overnight when I was away and just needed someone to have a look (only gone for 24 hours so did not need any more done). It was really a small-scale experiment for if we go away again and have no one to house-sit but I was very happy that it went well.

I think I was very happy to have her because she is connected to my vet's practice and also a bit older - there are some local teenagers I could ask to check the horses but not sure I would trust them to do it! She made up a list of exactly what I wanted to be done and did it and obviously if there had been any problem she would have phoned me immediately.

I think these services are a great idea for people with a lot of animals at home as an alternatively to temporary livery/kennelling. I would rather someone came in and keep them in their own environment. Having said that, I'd be very choosy about who would do it, their knowledge, reliability, honesty etc. as in this case I was giving someone access to the yard and house.

Hope this is some use to you and good luck! Perhaps extending your idea to general house-sitting/pet care might help you find clients.

 

[u04elw2]

Great, thanks for replying guys.

Dols, its good to hear from someone that didn't know the sitter first - a lot of people say they wouldn't use someone they didn't know first, which I think is a little bit of an exaggeration as if I have good references (which I do) I'm sure they'd give me a chance

Also know what you mean about total DIY yards - ours is the same and sometimes you just don't want to ask someone else from there to do your horse as they're busy enough with their own!

Inmydreams, thanks for your comment also. I was thinking of doing a general pet sitting / house sitting service as well as horses and dogs. I like the idea of getting maybe a vet practice or other well known and respected company to recommend and endorse my business, people will trust them not to just pick some inexperienced kid and also I did 2 weeks of work experience and baby-sat, house-sat and pet-sat for one of the vets in the surgery who is very well known around here and so there's a reference in itself!

I think the point you make about making sure the person was knowledgeable and experienced a very good one as anyone could claim to be good with animals. Luckily I've looked after pets, horses and houses for several people just as a favour in the past and hopefully they will help spread the word to their friends too.

Argh, if only every horsey person gathered in the same place a few times a year, I could just rain flyers down upon them and be done with it lol!

 

[Petrie]

I think often these things are slow to start, then once you helped a few people, the word spreads.

They are like gold dust round where I am, and people seem to need them quite a lot.

I am using a pet sitter when we go away in January for the dog and cats, but she is not a horsey one. I use a freelance groom for the horses. She's been working for me for a while now, and I trust her.

I'm sure there'll be a few things that won't be done to my exacting standards (bit of a control freak, I'm afraid) but the main thing for me is that they're kept safe, fed and watered, and I can relax on holiday and not worry all the time about them.

 

[Tinypony]

Yes, we have a lady who turns out for us 5 days a week, mucks out some people's horses, and brings in 3 evenings. She does horse and pet sitting all around the local area and is in great demand. I think it might take a while to get going, could you do a bit of informal market research to see if there is interest? My friend has a sign written van, which does attract a lot of customers.