How much would you expect to pay to reserve a stable?

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Marigold4

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I've seen a perfect part livery for my horses but I'm not quite ready to move them (we're buying a house but need to know that the purchase is definitely going ahead as there are a couple of legal issues to sort). I'd like to reserve two stables. Bedding and hay is provided. What sort of a discount, if any, do you expect to get if bedding and hay/mucking out etc not needed? Also, would it be possible to ask to start the reserving of the stables at the start of next month or do you have to start straightaway? The yard is new and is not yet full, but I expect it will be fairly soon.
 
If owner can fill stables easily then you d have to pay full rate to reserve them as why would any business compromise on income. But if they are unsure about filling the yard then some income on an empty stable is better than none so I’d offer half the monthly fee.
 
I'd expect to pay the full rate. I wouldn't personally offer as little as half - but as someone else said, the YO/YM could be prepared to do it for less bedding & hay which would be a nice gesture.
 
MuddyMonster said:
I'd expect to pay the full rate. I wouldn't personally offer as little as half - but as someone else said, the YO/YM could be prepared to do it for less bedding & hay which would be a nice gesture.
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I agree.

They will still have to staff the yard as if the stables were occupied.

So the only real savings would be the hay/bedding so if I were the YO I’d knock off a nominal amount for that.
 
I'd expect to pay the full rate and be pleased for a modest discount for hay / bedding only - staff have to be paid whether they are mucking out or not.

I would only expect the stable to be reserved from when I started paying. So if I went to pay on 1st December and the stables had gone - that would be my tough.

I wouldn't expect the YO to hold stables and not be paid at all even if only to the start of the next month

If I really wanted them I'd cough up now in full - if there were other options around I might risk leaving it a couple of weeks - it depends on what the alternatives are like if the spaces fill in the time I'm not paying
 
Definitely would expect to have to pay the full monthly amount to reserve the stable. As others have said, staff still need to be paid and if the YO was to take less, in the mean time they could be turning away other potential full paying clients for your stables for you to then decide not to take them up.
 
I get the staffind thing etc, but the yard isnt paying out for hay, bedding or feed. Theres no way they should be charging for that to just reserve a stable.
 
Amymay Again said:
But you can't possibly know how much hay they've purchased.

Either way it's a moot point.

Of course no discount should be expected.
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Its not a moot point, and I would imagine legally they'd be on dodgy ground. You cant charge someone for something they arent using, contract law doesnt allow things like that, although we all know yards tend to do as they please regardless.

If they've bought 100 bales of hay, they will still have a 100 bales of hay when OP moves the horses in as no hay would have been used, whereas if the horses were there they would have had 70 bales of hay left, Empty stables dont use hay, bedding or feed.
 
I'm Dun said:
because the horses arent there and the box is empty, no hay, bedding or feed used.
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But full/part livery is usually a complete service. When I've been on part/full livery I've never had the invoice broken down into R for use of stable, X for use of field, Y for arena use, Z for feed & hay. You just pay one amount a month & then additional agreed add ones like exercising, clipping, holding for farrier etc.

You wouldn't ask for a partial refund because your horse has gone lame and you can't use the school for a few weeks so not able to use all the facilities.

Of course, the YM might decide to offer a deduction for unused hay, bedding & feed but I don't think they need to - especially if they could be full and likely make more money off another livery through additional services like clipping, exercising etc.
 
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Only the yard owner knows what they will accept to reserve a space so you should ask them. As a part-livery my bill is split between the basic livery costs which include staff costs and consumables such as bedding and hay for which I pay for exactly what I use which I like as there’s no restriction on how much I can use nor am I subsidising others who might be wasteful. However, I can see why they might want full price if they have bought hay / bedding in advance and need to recoup that cost as soon as possible. If they are employing staff they need to be paid or their hours cut.

Yards in the area are limited although DIY is hardest to come by now.
 
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