Livery...how much is too much??

[ILuvCowparsely]

. You would have some very confused/annoyed customers if you exercised their horses.

That is the whole point of separating full from part as the difference, with these guide lines you know where you stand. There maybe no legal document but as TV said
Full ............................................................. Part
exercise ............................................................. no exercise
1hr full groom .........................................................Quick brush off
tack cleaning ...........................................................no tack cleaning


Another yard

Full Livery – Stabled Horse £199
We totally look after your horse from mucking out to getting it ready for a show, from cleaning your tack to holding your horse for the vet. We will even exercise it for you Tuesday to Friday.

Part LiveryPart Livery – Stabled Horse £134
For part livery we do the basics. We muck out, feed and water your horse. You do the grooming and riding.


It is like people saying they are vegetarian but eat fish or their vegetarian but have an odd bacon sandwich lol

 

[baran]

That is the whole point of separating full from part as the difference, with these guide lines you know where you stand

There is no one right definition and I don't see why confusion would arise although there are obviously regional differences in how the terms are used. Anyone looking at full livery in our area would not expect their horse to be exercised. A YO who offered "full" livery and then exercised the horse would, as I said, have an annoyed and confused customer who was receiving a service they hadn't expected and didn't want. As I said, the accepted term in this area is exercise/schooling livery. This doesn't make YOs in this area wrong and is not misleading anyone.

 

[lannerch]

But that's just it its not strictly speaking full livery, anything less than everything ( including excercise ) is part whether they call it that in your area or not!

I think op prices are to cheap, my horse is on part livery ( everything but excercise and grooming ) and I pay £445 a month. However we do have very good facilities and the op small arena would put me of the yard.

 

[Tyssandi]

FWIW
My horses is on full livery as I have to go abroad sometimes for work and meetings. My full livery is all yard duties inc riding and one tack cleaning a week. There is an option for extra tack cleaning and riding if you want i the terms and such is explained when you view the yard and is on their website. So you know the livery package is everything prior to joining, and there is a waiting list for our full livery here. I know if I have to go to Amsterdam etc for a few days to a week. My horse if fully cared for and exercised.


So call full livery without the riding would not be suitable for my situation, must say I always thought yard duties and care excluding riding and tack cleaning is part livery.

 

[Tyssandi]

There is no one right definition and I don't see why confusion would arise although there are obviously regional differences in how the terms are used. Anyone looking at full livery in our area would not expect their horse to be exercised. A YO who offered "full" livery and then exercised the horse would, as I said, have an annoyed and confused customer who was receiving a service they hadn't expected and didn't want. As I said, the accepted term in this area is exercise/schooling livery. This doesn't make YOs in this area wrong and is not misleading anyone.

So what do you call part livery then which is general care and yard duties excluding tack cleaning and exercising, because that is the other type of livery my yard offers ??

 

[Tnavas]

Lets look at the problems that arise with some of the definitions

FULL Livery - absolutely everything included - you know that you or your staff will be employed looking after the horse, everyday - the treat is when the owner phones and says - "I can ride today, I'll be there at 10:30am" - great! you or your staff, brush and tack up the horse and then have an extra hour on your hands to fix a fence or wash out the troughs.

Full Livery - exercising extra - owner expected up everyday falls sick - phones up "I'm sick today I can't exercise my horse, please would you do it?" - you now have to totally replan your day, as you now have an extra horse to exercise.

Which would you prefer - A day when you know what you are doing or one that can change at the drop of a hat?

Full Livery - absolutely everything included - horse fed whenever everyone else is fed

Full Livery - owner provides feed - owner forgets to buy feed! You now have to supply some feed, you spend extra time finding out what is safe to feed it, and then you have to log it in the diary, work out the cost and then bill the owner.

Having worked for so long in top level livery yards it is no big deal to include everything. It was often fun when owners came to ride, they often joined in on our rides, and the perks at Xmas were really great - great big tins of Quality Street used to appear for us all to raid. Some of the owners had trailers and would take you to shows with them.

When you read on here of yards where horses were left unfed or the YM forgot to turn out a horse it's bad.
Clearly supply everything, then relish the days when the owner shows up.

 

[Lintel]

Uh, if you were near me I'd be there like a shot.

Haha. It does sound rather good!!

 

[Sussexbythesea]

I live in the expensive South-East so perhaps not comparable. To give a different perspective personally not knowing you and seeing an advert for that price I would be concerned if you could provide the level of care I would want for my horse for so little, I'm leaving his care in your hands and it would put me off tbh. If I was looking for a livery package it would be 7- day livery not 5 as this can be a pain in the backside. If the livery owner restricts access to bedding / hay at weekends or conversely people shove in lots at weekends costing you a lot of money. I would not want to source my feed I would want you to Order that in even if you added that separately to my bill for unusual or expensive feeds. If livery is too cheap I then think hay and bedding will be rationed which I have found the biggest stress over years that I have been on such livery. When leaving my horse in the care of others I want him treated as an individual but I want a standard realistic charge with no hidden extras for basics such as bedding and hay.

I think you perhaps need to decide what market you are providing for? Is it the "professional" person who works long unpredictable hours who needs these services and has an income to match and will pay for them (and are there enough in your area?) or are you offering a cheaper less profitable package to those who may work long hours but don't really have income to pay for the extras? Then once you've done that work out how much it would be realistic to charge so you can make a decent living but still offering a realistic service.

Other things that I know can put people off is no-one living on site - does anyone live there? Is your school flood-lit for evening riding? Would it be overcrowded? Also you say you couldn't afford to pay anyone else to cover. That would worry me also.

What you call your packages is irrelevant to me the devil is always in the detail! 😈 😀

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Lets look at the problems that arise with some of the definitions

FULL Livery - absolutely everything included - you know that you or your staff will be employed looking after the horse, everyday - the treat is when the owner phones and says - "I can ride today, I'll be there at 10:30am" - great! you or your staff, brush and tack up the horse and then have an extra hour on your hands to fix a fence or wash out the troughs.

Full Livery - exercising extra - owner expected up everyday falls sick - phones up "I'm sick today I can't exercise my horse, please would you do it?" - you now have to totally replan your day, as you now have an extra horse to exercise.

Which would you prefer - A day when you know what you are doing or one that can change at the drop of a hat?

Full Livery - absolutely everything included - horse fed whenever everyone else is fed

Full Livery - owner provides feed - owner forgets to buy feed! You now have to supply some feed, you spend extra time finding out what is safe to feed it, and then you have to log it in the diary, work out the cost and then bill the owner.

Having worked for so long in top level livery yards it is no big deal to include everything. It was often fun when owners came to ride, they often joined in on our rides, and the perks at Xmas were really great - great big tins of Quality Street used to appear for us all to raid. Some of the owners had trailers and would take you to shows with them.

When you read on here of yards where horses were left unfed or the YM forgot to turn out a horse it's bad.
Clearly supply everything, then relish the days when the owner shows up.

^ like