Help on choosing a livery yard and settling horse in

[anniepeace]

Hi
New (first) horse and new area!
Any tips on how to choose a livery yard? Apart for distance and price just not sure what to prioritise....
Also any tips on how to help my boy settle into his new home?
Any advice greatly received
P.S new to H&H too and think these forums are great!
Many thanks
Annie

 

[be positive]

Usually it helps to find the yard before the horse otherwise you may need to compromise as there may not be spaces in your ideal yard, as it is your first horse I would say your priority should be somewhere that has a helpful, fully involved YO/ YM that you feel comfortable with and can ask for advice and help when you need it, somewhere that can be flexible and puts the horses and their owners first, this is not always the place with the best facilities.
Look at how the horses are, are they relaxed out in the fields, do they all appear well cared for or are they all shut in weaving or looking bored, find out what the other liveries do, if you want to hack in company do others go out or are they more interested in schooling and competing, it helps to have like minded people around you unless you want to keep to yourself all the time, it can be lonely if you are the only one with a certain interest.

As for settling if the yard is right most horses will settle very quickly, new ones here usually look well at home within 24 hours as they are surrounded by other chilled out horses.

 

[fruit_fly]

I'm nearly a year into first horse ownership and would agree that having someone helpful in charge that you like is much more important than somewhere that has a shiny set of showjumps and automatic waterers! My yard is miles away but I swallow the petrol cost as I like the place and so does pony. Obviously the basics of turnout/stabling/hacking/school need to meet your requirements, but even with the most fantastic steed you'll need some support at some point, and that can be priceless. If you're not on DIY it's also really important that whoever is handling them when you're not around knows what they're doing and will reinforce anything that you teach you horse rather than undoing it. Agree with the settling in too - if it's a calm environment with other horses and a good routine he'll be fine pretty quickly.

 

[applecart14]

Hi Annie, congrats on your new horse!

You need to check if you have to pay for extras - i.e. turnout/bring in, feeding, trailer parking, use of floodlights if you have a ménage. You need to ask if they do turnout at the weekend, be very wary if they say they have a rota between liveries - this can fold and then where will you be? If someone says they do year round turnout check if they mean this is in a field - not a sandpit for half the year. Is there someone who lives on site? Is the ménage regularly managed, i.e rolled or harrowed. This can be important if your horse is recovering from an injury.

Check if there is somewhere to store your tack which is secure and if there are any time curfews on the yard. If you work full time you don't want to have to be off by six o'clock at night!

Most horses very quickly settle with a haynet and certainly the six I've had, so don't worry too much about that!

 

[anniepeace]

Thank you very much for the valuable advice. I am lucky enough to be keeping him at his sales yard until I find the right home for him. They are being very patient!
Such a lot to think about but I agree that a friendly supportive atmosphere and an approachable YM/YO seems really important as he is my first horse
There are some nice yards in my area and luckily a lot have spaces. You have given me some useful questions to ask so hopefully I can now begin to narrow down my choices and focus a little!
looking forward to getting him 'home'

 

[thoroughbred-]

For me, I would be looking at turnout, arena and hacking.

I'm quite lucky that the yard I am at has quite good winter turnout which isn't the case for most yards in the area. (Despite what my horse would lead you to believe, being in his stable all the time isn't ideal).

Hacking and an arena would be next on my list. I could cope without one but not both.

Also enquire about other liveries as a friendly yard should be willing to tell you a bit about other customers.