Horsey Boarding Livery

kibob

kibob

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Morning everyone.

I am considering offering a kind of horse boarding services. For people going away on holiday/working away. I'm thinking this may appeal to horse owners who keep their horses at home (as most livery yards will have someone to help/offer this service). Have already had a couple of enquiries so am giving it some thought. The horses would come to my yard and would be able to have grass keep or stabled - depending on owners wishes.

Would this be a service that you could see yourself or others using?

What would you expect from this service? and what sort of price would you expect to pay (I would be offering care only, no riding)

Any pitfalls you can foresee? My husband is concerned we will be left with crazy horses that owners don't come back to collect.

Any thoughts please.

Thankyou:)
 
not something i would use as i am on a livery yard so she would be covered there - i can imagine some may be interested in it however of the people i know who have horses/yards at home when/if they go away they usually have some one stay look after the house/dogs and horses together which i have done a few times for several people. i would think the people who would consider it would be people perhaps going away for a long period of time (couple of months) for example, or some one who doesn't know anyone who they could ask to look after them from home! i would be concerned that only couple of weeks away would unsettle the horse as slightly different to going to an away show where the owner would be the constant from home.

if people are interested already though its worth a shot - can you offer schooling/riding/excercising for the duration? this would make it more appealing?
 
What about illness/infections? all sorts of horses coming and going. I think people would maybe like the service more if you came to them. For example people who are on DIY(if part/full isnt an option) or keep horses at home could pay you to come look after them.
 
I have done this in the past putting my horses on a friend's livery yard whilst on holiday and paid mate's rates of £100 per week per horse all in plus riding which was £10 per session per horse.

The downside was that it was a hassle to take the horses over there and pick up after hols as working full-time life is always a rush especially when trying to get away on holiday and I still had to get a house sitter for the dogs. I have gone back to getting a house-sitter now who does dogs and horses and then pay for mine to be ridden on top.

I know my friend does a holiday livery for another lady and she goes and picks up the horse and takes it back as said lady doesn't have transport.
 
it would be too much hassle for me. For a weeks hols I would rather pay someone to come to my place twice a day.
However a friend of mine does use this type of service, so there are people out there who would be interested.
 
I would rather someone came out to me, if I sent the horses away I would STILL need a farm sitter to do the rest.

It could work, I often have horses here on temporary board.
 
You would have to be careful about infection and disease with lots of different horses coming and going.

So you would have to keep all horses separate, not being able to touch over doors and fences and ne extra vigilant when cleaning.
 
We kept mine at home, we found a fairly local livery yard that they went to when we went on holiday. He was happy to have them for the 1 or 3 weeks we would go away.

I think maybe we paid £8 a day for each of them? They were in at night and out during the day- their standard routine.
 
For our big family holidays the ponys used to go away, but what a chore and it cost a fortune even doing a special rate. I now pay someone to check on them twice a day and pay extra if they need anything extra done. I think its easier to pay a freelance groom, I book early and pay a deposit.
 
It is something I would use if I didn't know anybody to come to the house to do the horses. Mind you I don't have transport so they would have to be picked up and dropped back
 
I've used a service like this in the past, back in my diy livery days when there was no one to look after the pones. We boarded them at a place we boxed to on a regular basis for facility hire anyway, so it wasn't that the pones were being dumped somewhere they didn't know. The boarders were kept completely separate to the yard horses and we paid the normal going rate for that yard for a week's full livery. Now I have my own place, I tend to rely on friends instead.
 
smellsofhorse said:
You would have to be careful about infection and disease with lots of different horses coming and going.

So you would have to keep all horses separate, not being able to touch over doors and fences and ne extra vigilant when cleaning.
Click to expand...

It is almost impossible to isolate horses completely, and what about competition yards?

Do they isolate their competition horses every single time they come back on the yard?

Isolation didn't help when I had a horse in from the US, all her certificates ticked etc. Within a day she had a burst abcess, and the STUPID, BRAIN DEAD pink and fluffy owners went and patted all the other horses, despite signs saying DON'T. Result, every horse on the yard got Strangles.


I can do my best, but you can't teach pork, and I can't police my yard every minute.
 
As has been said, I think most people would pay someone to come in, instead. Your service would probably have to be more expensive, as you would have to cover all your bills and the costs of maintenance, so it might be less appealing to owners.

There is also the issue of the disruption to the horses, and the short term change in routine, which could really unsettle some horses. It would probably appeal more to people who were going away for a longer period, of, say a few months.

I think there are people who would use the service. However, there would definately be times when demand would be low, especially at times of the year when not many people are going on holiday. Have you thought about how you would cover your costs during these periods? Whilst some of your costs might go down, your costs would not disappear completely and you might have to continue to pay staff, as well.

Something like renting out facilities would help cover these costs, and also help make you known to people who might want to use your services.
 
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