Livery Increase - To Stay or Not to Stay

[justine1559]

Firstly, apologies for the long post!

Last year I finally found a yard I love! A small private yard (just nine horses) with amazing facilities, lovely people, year round amazing turnout, beautiful stable etc etc. In eight years of owning my current horse, it's the first time I've felt relaxed and happy at a yard. However I've been told that from 1 January my livery is going up by £100 pw to £400 pw. I totally understand the impact of rising inflation and the huge increase in energy prices but the size of the increase has rather knocked me sideways. Initially I thought I could make it work but the more I do the sums, the more I realise I'm going to have to start eating into my savings which I've always tried to avoid doing for monthly outgoings. I also don't want to find that in order to meet the livery costs, I cut back on competing etc. However, my horse is so happy at the yard, she loves it and I feel so selfish to move her.

There is an option to move to a different yard at the same property which is let to a previous employee but the stables are small and dark and the girl who runs the yard is lovely but is hoping to freelance during the day around having a few liveries but at £300 pw I'm not sure I'm happy about that.

I have also thought about relocating (I currently live in London) to the SW but that's not an immediate solution. I can also revisit some yards I've considered in the past.

So I guess my question is, if you and your horse were really happy at a yard would you just try and make it work financially?

 

[Birker2020]

£400 pw!!??/£20,000 a year! Do you mean per month???? I can't imagine anywhere on earth being that much, even professional SJ's in our neck of the woods don't charge that much!

That is a huge increase in rent. I would ask what the justification is for such a huge leap.

EDITED: just spotted this is London. Makes sense now.

 

[Equi]

1 to 4 hundred is a vastly high price hike! Have you asked them to confirm that is the right price? Why so much? How will the other liveries pay?

 

[Abacus]

That is an astonishing increase - have they explained the reasoning? Is there a change in the service level to explain the price going up so much? Is this full livery including riding, and it is standard for the area? I guess if it is competitive locally you'll struggle to find anything else so should stay where you are happy.

 

[alsxx]

Wow that's a lot. I'm north west Kent, Surrey a walk down the road, so it's pricey here but 400 a week!? Is that full livery?

Edit: haha just re read and see the increase is 100, not from 100 to 400. Round here 7 day part on a fancy yard is almost 1000 a month but may have increased recently. I guess if that's full livery and London it makes sense.

 

[Birker2020]

1 to 4 hundred is a vastly high price hike! Have you asked them to confirm that is the right price? Why so much? How will the other liveries pay?

No its going up £100 per week to £400, therefore she was previously paying £300 per week!

 

[ihatework]

I’m just trying to decipher your post.

Do you mean you currently pay £300pw and it’s going up by £100 to £400pw?

It’ll make a lot of people gawp, but reading between the lines you are London catchment and I assume it’s a high quality yard, so in all honesty that is probably what you need to pay for top notch livery.

Only you can assess if the extra £100 is worth it and cut back elsewhere

 

[Equi]

No its going up £100 per week to £400, therefore she was previously paying £300 per week!

Oooooooh lol

 

[BallyRoanBaubles]

So basically your livery is increasing by 25%? In regards to the other yard on the property would the girl running it doing freelance during the day impact on your horse?

Its a tough decision and I imagine most high end yards will be putting prices up

 

[Polos Mum]

Its a 25% increase when energy costs have gone up 150-200% for many businesses, staff wages likely up 10-15%, mortgage costs / loan cost up easily that and more to come. Rates will be inflation linked to 10-15% - and those are all in the last 6 months. If they were a little behind on a price rise then 25% is reasonable and something we'll see a lot more of sadly.

If you look at your own bills - food etc then you'll have seen 25% increases elsewhere - sadly.

I wouldn't eat into savings to fund a hobby - personally

It's a lot to "find" when all your other bills and household costs will be going up massively too - only you know whether that is possible.

If you look around new yards I would ask them when they last put prices up and by how much, no point moving to a cheaper yard to find in 3 months they do the same thing. All yards will be incurring massive cost increases and those will have to go somewhere

 

[HuskyFluff]

If both I and my horse were happy at the yard I'd stay, and see where I could economise elsewhere

 

[Abacus]

Ha ha! That's not so bad. I would probably stay unless it really is too much financial strain.

 

[Barlow]

This may or may not be helpful but for several years I lived in London and kept my horse on livery in the SW. I would drive down every weekend (Thursday night if I could) and stay in a hotel close to the yard. I would then spend all weekend with my horse before getting back in the car on a Sunday evening to drive back to London. It was tiring and Sunday evenings were the worst, but I was able to spend proper time with my horse every weekend and focus on work during the week. My livery bill was about a quarter of what you are probably paying, and my horse had a better life (more turnout brilliant hacking etc). Even when you factor hotels and fuel getting there and back it was still good value.

 

[justine1559]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Sorry if my post wasn't clear, so I live in Wimbledon and the yard is in Surrey, just south of Guildford. Currently I pay £300 per week for full livery, excluding riding, and from the 1 January it will increase to £400 per week. The care is amazing, though when I'm there I'm pretty hands-on - I do all her grooming, clean my own tack, do all show prep and all the riding but that's all by choice I like to do it. Although if I needed her to be ridden it would increase the livery. In terms of the increase it seems to be down to general underlying price hikes for bedding, feed etc and also staff wages.

 

[Birker2020]

Ours has gone up 7% last year and 10% this year so a total of 17% but I'm on assisted DIY at a fairly average rent anyway for our area so I didn't find it such an increase, and I appreciate the reasons for it.

But 25% when you are already paying such a huge amount is a considerable amount.

It sounds like an amazing yard Justine1559 so its down to personal choice and your own personal finances at the end of the day and whether you think you would be just as happy in a different yard.

I would try to stay at the yard I'm on because I like the facilities, location, and people whom are my friends, but I know that if I did have to leave due to finances, I could be happy at another yard having done this previously, but 'happy' and 'just as happy' are two different things.

 

[Glitter's fun]

So I guess my question is, if you and your horse were really happy at a yard would you just try and make it work financially?

I doubt that you'll find cheap and good full livery within a reasonable drive of London and it sounds as if you struggled to find this yard.
Can you find a sharer who'd pay to ride your horse a couple of times a week?
Is he suitable for YO to use for the occasional lesson for someone else?
How good are you at competing? Is there a local firm who would sponsor you by a small amount in exchange for their name on your kit?

 

[Bobthecob15]

Dear god, I used to have a horse when I lived in London 20yrs ago and was paying £550 a month and that nearly killed me. I used to drive to another one 45 mins once a day which was a bit less but the fuel costs were terrible back then..so goodness knows how people pay it now.

Horse owning and London/Surrey/Berkshire/Bucks livery was just unaffordable for me so I had to sell mine and give up on horses, there just wasn't another way.

 

[meleeka]

I’d try and find a way to make it work financially if you are both happy there. A sharer could possibly work and take some of the costs if need be.

 

[Fieldlife]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Sorry if my post wasn't clear, so I live in Wimbledon and the yard is in Surrey, just south of Guildford. Currently I pay £300 per week for full livery, excluding riding, and from the 1 January it will increase to £400 per week. The care is amazing, though when I'm there I'm pretty hands-on - I do all her grooming, clean my own tack, do all show prep and all the riding but that's all by choice I like to do it. Although if I needed her to be ridden it would increase the livery. In terms of the increase it seems to be down to general underlying price hikes for bedding, feed etc and also staff wages.

If you are really happy with location, facilities, care, turnout, hacking etc. Then I would stay put and economise elsewhere. I think it it really hard to find a livery yard that really fits and works for you. If have that, I think I'd stay put.

 

[holeymoley]

So with the increase from £300 to £400pw I don’t think it’s that bad. I have no idea what the prices in London are for livery but as a general increase it seems fairly justifiable.

Saying that, I couldn't afford the extra!

 

[j1ffy]

Gosh the maths on this forum is terrible ?

It's a 33% increase, not 25% - £100 of £300 = 33%. That's a big increase, even in the current inflationary climate, but knowing the London area it may be par for the course, and it's hard to find a good yard within commuting distance.

If your horse is happy there, I'd cut back on other things to make it affordable (or do as Tory MPs say and go and find yourself a better paid job (joke)) rather than cut into your savings. Or do what I did over a decade ago: Move out of London, work from home a couple of days a week, and pay less livery and lower bills!

 

[wren123]

Wow that's a lot for south of Guildford, I thought you were at somewhere like ham house stables.
I'd have a quiet look around.

 

[SEL]

My OH lived near Guildford when I first met him. Livery costs were one of the reasons I said I wasn't relocating to that area!

Finding another £400 pm is tough. I suspect the yard knows they'd fill the boxes if people move on though.

Is it worth a chat with the owner to say you're struggling to be able to afford the increase? Could you do DIY at weekends?

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

What are your savings destined for? If you are saving for something specific like the deposit for a house, then I wouldn't want to touch the savings but if they are for ' a rainy day', I would think that now is the time yo start using them

 

[luckyoldme]

I'd buy a bike.

 

[southerncomfort]

The only way I could find an extra £400 a month would be by not having a horse!

That is a big hike whether it's justified or not.

If it were a short term measure I'd dip in to savings but it's not sustainable long term. Your savings will eventually run out and then you're looking at going in to debt.

However much I loved the yard I'd be looking elsewhere I'm afraid.

 

[Nasicus]

A rise from £1200 to £1600pcm is pretty steep. I appreciate your horse is happy there, but is she bringing in an extra £400 a month to help pay for it? Probably not, she's a horse.
I'd be looking to leave if I couldn't find a way to offset the cost such as a sharer, doing some chores in exchange for a reduction etc.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

It's not £400 a month it's £300 going up to £400 but its still quite an increase but if you really like it and there genuinely isn't anything else but I think I would have a good look around in any case.

 

[FestiveG]

It's not £400 a month it's £300 going up to £400 but its still quite an increase but if you really like it and there genuinely isn't anything else but I think I would have a good look around in any case.

It's an extra £100 per week, so an extra £400 per month

 

[Fieldlife]

It's not £400 a month it's £300 going up to £400 but its still quite an increase but if you really like it and there genuinely isn't anything else but I think I would have a good look around in any case.

It is going up £100 a week, which is an increase of £433 a calendar month!