Is there a demand for

[Esmae]

Reasonably priced retirement livery? I'm thinking ahead for when the mare slides off the dish and I am without a horse and will have room for one other.

 

[abbijay]

Absolutely! I have mine at reasonably priced retirement livery but when i was looking the biggest question was "who can I trust to look after my beloved" over anything else.

 

[P.forpony]

Yes, always!
But sorry if this is sucking eggs, be very careful to have everything written up and insurance checked if considering taking someone else's into your own yard. It can work really well as long as all potential pitfalls are acknowledged in advance

 

[setterlover]

ABSOLUTELY .I will be looking for retirement livery when I am down to one horse (currently have 3 with 2 in their twenties)and a smaller set up sounds just great to me. The one that is likely to be left is a 15.2 Andalusian x tb gelding a happy chappie easy good doer with no health issues who gets on with everyone.

 

[Esmae]

Yes, always!
But sorry if this is sucking eggs, be very careful to have everything written up and insurance checked if considering taking someone else's into your own yard. It can work really well as long as all potential pitfalls are acknowledged in advance

That is excellent advice. Thank you. I am looking for pitfalls now to decide if it is likely to be worth the hassle.

 

[Esmae]

What kind of package appeals then? An "all in" price with worming, farriers, dentals included, or basic with those sorts of things an extra? It is only a small set up with 2 others on site. Out 24/7 summertime and in at night through the winter with winter turnout daily. Twice daily checks. Feet picked out once daily and general care.

 

[P.forpony]

Personally I'd prefer a basic rate with additionals itemised and charged separately, so I know what's been done and when.

it would probably also be in your interests to do so, you might end up with a horse that's barefoot and hardly ever needs a trim, or something that needs shoes to be comfortable etc. This might not be immediately obvious and you wouldn't want to bear the expense of those variables if they change after you've agreed an 'all in' price.

Sounds like an ideal set up. You definitely won't have a shortage of candidates so you can be choosy!

 

[Muddy unicorn]

I had my retiree on 24/7 grass livery before we moved. There were 15 horses on 30 acres in two herds (mares and geldings). The fields were rotated every three months and had lots of natural shelter and interesting features. Included in the monthly cost were hay when needed, basic hard feed if applicable, twice daily checks, rug changes if applicable (mine arrived in the middle of a snow storm but he’d been fully clipped so spent his first winter rugged), worm counts and worming if needed, yearly dentist check and regular trimming from the farrier - all horses had to be barefoot.

The only times it was tricky were when he impaled his foot on a sharp object (never found what it was) which necessitated daily vet visits for ten days which I needed to be there for and then daily dressing changes for another ten days after that and when he had an asthma flare up and needed to be nebulised twice a day. But apart from those two occasions it was pretty much perfect.

 

[Abacus]

What kind of package appeals then? An "all in" price with worming, farriers, dentals included, or basic with those sorts of things an extra? It is only a small set up with 2 others on site. Out 24/7 summertime and in at night through the winter with winter turnout daily. Twice daily checks. Feet picked out once daily and general care.

I think you could go either way: either doing everything for the owner so that (in a nice way) they can forget about the day to day care unless they want to visit, or a simple package where they organise everything themselves. Depends on whether you want the owner being there very regularly, or whether you'd rather just have the horse and not the owner - again I mean this in a nice way. There are some people who really want to continue spending time with their old horses and others that prefer to have them looked after, and probably a market for either service.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Absolutely a demand yes, I often see people advertising for retirement spaces.

 

[setterlover]

I would want day to day care done plus foot trims and worm regime done regularly and included in the cost .My horses are not rugged or fed hard feed have never needed it .I would want hay or haylege in the winter and would expect that to be charged as an extra when that is done (paid monthly)
I would probably pop in to see the horse a few times a year but would like updates and the odd photo each month and of course if there was a problem.

 

[Mfh999]

I have a retirement livery of a sort here; belongs to a RAF sergeant that worked away so I did everything unless their mum came but now, she is locally based, actually works from home so she does her now. They pay for grazing, a box (year round) and ad-lib hay. Feed and bedding plus farrier/vet is their responsibility and they now do the box each day except for some days if they have something on. We normally feed, turnout and bring in, change rugs if needed. They are happy to help me out too; I couldn't have managed without them when I smashed my ankle/knee and couldn't walk at all for nearly nine months. It's worked for us but we're very laid back and we've been lucky that we get on so well which always helps as normally, if I had liveries, I did everything and rarely saw an owner; they were just necessary evils, lol and TBH, we prefer our property to ourselves.
You need to decide what you want to provide as a basic and work it from there with whoever applies to you. I found it much easier to have a basic constant price all year around rather than winter/summer/in/out differences too if that helps as everyone knows where they stand then.

 

[Esmae]

Thanks for the input guys. Very helpful and gives me much to think about. None of this is imminent. I am hoping my old lady goes on for a long time yet.