Holiday cover for field kept horses

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gerbera

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Hi all, I don't often post but would like some advice.

I live in quite a rural part of Essex and would like to offer holiday cover for field kept horses. It would be to provide a daily field check whilst the owner is away on holiday. I would check the horse/s daily, poo pick and reapply fly spray if needed, adjust fly rugs, pick hooves out etc. and generally make sure all is well.

My question is, do you think there is a need for this and is £10 an acceptable amount to charge (this is for a 10 mile radius of my address)?

Other than public liability insurance which I have, is there any other cover I would need? Is there anything obvious I have missed, or potential problem you foresee?

I am not looking into providing cover for horses that are stabled as I have children and 3 horses of my own to look after, just field kept horses.

Thanks for you help :-)
 
I pay someone to do this. She's actually a trainer and qualified equine body worker who already knows the horses well, so I pay her £30 as that is what she would charge to come out to give a lesson for a similar time period. She brings them in to the stables and checks them over, plus gives them a quick brush and feet pick out.

It may seem expensive, but I get piece of mind by employing a trustworthy experienced professional. I also have non horsey family house and animal sitting, and she's at the end of a phone if they spot something amiss when she's not there.

It was very important to me that she was fully insured. Will your insurance cover you if you are being paid?
 
I am not a qualified instructor, but have been around horses for 30 years and am experienced and confident around all size horses as my own range from 13hh to 16.3hh. I suppose it depends if someone wants a qualified instructor to check their horses or if they're happy with an experienced horse owner that hopefully has plenty of common sense? I understand peoples fear of someone they don't know, but I hope they would feel assured after meeting me and if I could provide references of my character and then the trust can be built up.

Insurance wise, I would need to check legal implications and what sort of insurance is suitable, so if anyone can answers that, that would be great.

It's a service I would like to offer as I keep my horses at home and have a horsey friend who house sits for me and l pay her to look after 30 chickens, 3 horses and a dog...if she let me down I simply would not be able to go away and that would mean the whole family would suffer as a result. Because of this, it got me thinking about other people who must struggle with holiday cover for their horses as on a livery yard you can pay for services or a friend can help out but when you have horses at home or field kept it can make life a lot more difficult.
 
I'd love to find someone like you but sadly I'm too far away. I rely on one friend but If she couldn't do it I'd be stuck (it worries me that just because someone is in business as a groom, it doesn't mean they are experienced in the things Id need them to be, such as laminitis). I think Insurance and references are the main things you'll need.
 
Sorry, I was trying to explain why I pay so much, C doesn't really offer holiday cover as a service except on an occasional basis for a few regular clients.

I have previously paid a local sixth former/uni student to do it, but hadn't realised that my BHS gold 3rd party insurance didn't cover her as I was paying her. Nothing untoward happened, but it's why I now like to use a pro. There are folk on here who can advise on what insurance you'd need.

Getting away on holiday when you keep horse at home can be a nightmare, so I'm sure there'll be a demand for your services. Good luck.
 
I think you're right, thank you. It's hard, our horses are our babies and trusting someone else to look after them properly is difficult!
 
Thank you. It's very hard to find people that are knowledgeable and that have common sense! I totally understand why you pay your trainer to look after your horses :-)
 
My first reaction was that I'd bite your hand off - but mine has breakfast and supper, which changes the economics. 2 visits = £20 which is not far off £25/day for short-term livery round here.

Still, my experience is that good cover is very hard to find, so I think you may be on to something. Timing may be a problem too - what if they're used to being checked/fed at say 0900?
 
That is very true and something I have been considering. The problem is if I worry too much about the 'what if's' I'd never do it. I have considered dog walking, but worry that someone might steal the dog or the dog just runs off...cat sitting, the cat may go on walkabout because the owners are away (like mine did, but did come back!) and then rabbits, may just pop it clogs on my watch, same with gerbils and hamsters!

I am most experienced with horses and chickens so am considering both. With horses I can only hope that nothing bad happens whilst the owner is away but I am very level headed, sensible and calm in emergencies. I hope I would not do anything stupid to cause someone else's horse any harm. I think a lot of thought would have to go into when to call a vet - what classes as an emergency in my book and the owners book and the owners permission to call a vet if I cannot get hold of them, that sort of thing.
 
for insurance SEIB used to do freelance cover for freelance grooms-it was about £30pcm about 11 years ago. you also need a clear idea of what the owners would want you to do in an emergency and whether the vets allow you to put any fees on account (not unusual for horses, less usual for SA).
I've done both horses and SA sitting in the past, I now pay a friend to house/pet/horse sit for me-happy to answer any questions via PM.
 
I have a freelance groom / rider who visits my two horses once a day when I am away. I'm lucky because my Dad is there, as my horses are kept at my parents. He keeps a genral eye on them. She poo picks, move she the fence, feeds and checks them over. As I am a long standing client I get it for £15 a day , mates rates. I think £10 is too cheap. You will not make money . I think £20/25 is about right. Otherwise do it £10 with a milarge charge . :)
 
suppose the point is, me personally I wouldn't move my horse to a livery yard whilst I was on holiday causing them a lot of upset of moving home and not knowing what's going on and on top of that I have disappeared as well. At least in their own field environment they would remain happy. That said, people will happily move their horse for short term livery, it's a personal choice :-)

As an owner I would be happy to alter my horses routine slightly so if someone couldn't get to my horses until 9.30 that wouldn't be a problem for me. I think field kept horses can be a little less time fixated as they are not stuck in a stable waiting to be turned out or watching the horses around them being fed or turned out causing them stress. My horses in the winter are stabled at night and they will stand by the gate at the time they are due to come in, yet in the summer they don't seem to mind me strolling outside at 7am at the weekend to bring them in for a short feed even though throughout the week I'm outside at 6am.
 
Not the same but I used to have someone do this for my cat - at £8 for a 30 minute visit. If my horse was at home would definitely think about using a service like this. I'd agree that it needs to be £10 plus mileage.
 
Someone I know charges £15 for the 1st hour and £10 for the following hour/s, she will only consider locally so this covers her fuel etc
 
You're going to need to consider tax and NI etc too... you'll have to do a tax return but a good accountant (not cheap) will help you claim back some money for the wear and tear on your car etc

Doing it for some pin money might not be worth it because most people take holidays at similar times of year and many horses are stabled at least part of the time (in winter) so you're going to have a few very busy weeks (which will be exactly the ones when you have to holiday yourself if e.g. you have kids) and lots of times much quieter.

You may find a regular groom type arrangement is more sustainable long term?

Edited to add: you'll probably need something that is basically like a DIY livery contract (with the bits about providing a stable or whatever removed) that covers your responsibilities and what you will/won't do both with the horse but also the facilities... e.g. what would you do if a self-filling water trough stopped filling? I mean you might want the holidayers to leave contact details for that either for themselves or their preferred contractor/the field owner/whatever as wellas farrier, vet etc
 
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Just be prepared for when things don't go well. Have you thought how you will cope with field injuries, colic any other things that can go wrong. Dont want to be a misery, but when things go wrong with horses, they do it properly...
 
I think it's a great idea Gerbera! Taking into account everything everyone has said on here of course. My horse is now in full livery so not an issue at the moment but in my previous life I would have snapped your hand off! I pay my house/dog sitter £50 day which makes holidays expensive but it's still not a huge wage for her considering how well qualified/insured/experienced she is and the responsibility of the job.
 
I echo the view that £10 is too little - maybe for a second horse it is OK. Just work out the time and cost of 20 miles a day, then the time there, then the insurance.
 
Thank you for all your comments, certainly a lot of food for thought.

Main issues are,
*insurance
*emergencies and when to call a vet
*petrol, insurance and time involved

Sorry for messing up my replies, I was trying to do with all on my phone and didn't quote any threads so my replies are mixed up with all the responses...I'm not used to posting!
 
BSL said:
Just be prepared for when things don't go well. Have you thought how you will cope with field injuries, colic any other things that can go wrong. Dont want to be a misery, but when things go wrong with horses, they do it properly...
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Also this. It's not just when to call the vet out, but could you be left for weeks caring for a box rested seriously injured/sick horse which requires constant care and attention?
I keep in constant touch and would be straight back home if there was a problem, but not all owners may be willing or able to do the same.
ETA I ended up with a holidaying neighbour's horse here on box rest in cross ties with a fractured pelvis. It wasn't even me doing the holiday cover.
 
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as far as tax and NI goes, you may not earn enough but you have to declare your earnings for tax and you must remember to fill out the relevant forms for NI even if you do not, as it can become a nightmare to sort out retrospectively. I dont agree you need an accountant to do it (it would eat into anything earned somewhat) I always did it myself, its not difficult, just dull!
 
There is a demand for this type of service, but I did this around 15 years ago and my minimum charge then was £10. This was a local visit, check pony and poo pick. Anything after this I charged £10 per hour. So I would say £10 is far too cheap.
 
MotherOfChickens said:
I dont agree you need an accountant to do it (it would eat into anything earned somewhat) I always did it myself, its not difficult, just dull!
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I didn't mean an accountant for the tax return etc just for advice on what can be claimed as a business expense (eg some percentage of car costs). But really I'd doubt OP will make much money from this unless it is done as a more full-time exercise anyway.
 
I do this for a friend where i livery so I basically end up being responsible for a dog, 2 cats and how ever many horses there are (up to 20/25) and have done for friends (in kind help back no money changing hands). You need to be prepared for the worst (and not just the actual horses), I have had to deal with (in no particular order) - a mare miscarrying, 2 foals escaping into next doors field with a 1 mile walk back round roads as no gates, fencing coming down, water access stopping (due to a leak, not bills), dog eating copious amounts of chocolate, colic, rugs hanging off ala superman (including high speeds), shoes hanging off, all the fencing coming down and what was 7 individually paddock kept horses being one big herd, foal with foot stuck in bucket handle and I've been kicked twice.

Now all that aside it is a valuable service for people, you are too cheap and you need to be adequately insured (perhaps personal injury insured too! who knows what the loonies may do).
 
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