Livery near Newmarket

RachelFerd

RachelFerd

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On a purely investigatory level at the moment... what is the availablity and cost of DIY livery around Newmarket like?

OH is desperate to move back up there, and whilst I like it here in Surrey there are probably more opportunities for me in Newmarket too.

I've heard that finding DIY livery can be difficult - is this correct? I don't mind travelling around 5 miles to a yard - but I do need an arena and plenty of grazing. I have one p2per and one eventer, so space to do fitness work also quite essential.

At the moment I pay £33 a week per horse (which is ridiculously cheap in Surrey terms) for DIY - what are rates like in Suffolk... and what is the eventing/competing like, is there much going on?
 
Very tricky to find livery in the immediate outskirts of Newmarket but around Haverhill ( about 20/25 mins drive away) youve got several DIY livery yards for £30 ish per week to include school, stable and turnout with reasonable hacking
 
Oh and as for the eventing and competing....nearest show centre is a good hours drive away ( that was manor farm, but think its closed down now, so other venues would be even further!) There is one BE closeby- Isleham BE is about 30 mins away but all the other events are at least 2 hours away. Generally I felt that I was having to do way too much driving to get to any comps or training and it became too much to do on top of working in a racing yard!
Remember that it was at least 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours trying to get anywhere.
 
If you PM me, I could put you by way of a sort of all in one deal. The stud next door is being redeveloped a fair bit and they would be able to rent you a flat, a couple of boxes and grazing, all in the same complex - I know the guy quite well and it's hackable to the gallops. They have a small indoor arena as well.
 
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You aren't making it sound very tempting yet!! This is why I would prefer to go to Lambourn if I am to move. However OH is a flat jockey, and the pull of Newmarket is pretty huge for him. House rent is certainly cheap up there looking on rightmove.

There is plenty of point to point around there though, that is one good thing!
 
Yes the point to point scene in that area is massive and very sociable!! Horseheath Pt to Pt also has a nice hunter trial, thats only 20 mins from Newmarket

As for trying to go eventing or showjumping- it may have been just because I was hugely overtired and exhausted by the racing job- indeed im sure other people have loads more energy and go! but I seemed to spend hours and hours driving up and down the A14 ( getting lost too!) then be too tired to ride the horse when I eventually made it to the comp!

Personally if I wanted to go eventing I would go to Lambourne! ( plus remember that Newmarket is a total dive of a town and people are similarly depressed they call it the town of broken dreams!!)
 
Incidentally, as a Newmarket dweller, I feel the need to defend it slightly! It's a funny place but I really love it actually - there are lots of opportunities workwise in racing and you can easily find work if you're looking.

As regards, training and competing, I'm probably a bit biased as I'm very close to the A14 so getting anywhere is actually pretty fast. I did however visit seabiscuit2 at her yard one time and can confirm that the windy little lanes of Suffolk will slow you down massively, even though the distance is not that great. However, that is true of most rural places, I think. Ely Eventing is about 30 minutes away and there are enough places around to make outings worth it - Ickworth Park does hunter trials, the point to point is properly brilliant (and training a pointer here would be amazing on the Links!), there's the Jays, Fenning Farm and Forest Edge as show centres.

There are good trainers around if you hunt for them - I know a very good one nearby who would improve most riders given half a chance, I think, and she has facilities and is not expensive.

Anyway, just to say that I moved here and have rather fallen in love with the place generally - people are very friendly and it's been great all round.
 
I used to be based in Cambridge and kept my horses at a yard not that far from Newmarket. It is called Frolic Farm and it is in Lode, the grazing is fantastic (groups of horses of own sex on 7-10 acre paddocks on fenlands soil which gives year round grass with not too much mud.) It is primarily a polo yard in the summer but they have other liveries. They have two menages, one woodchip larger one (surface is tired and isnt good for jumping) and a smaller rubber one. Hacking is all on their own land and up the riverbank where you could do fitness work. It is a friendly yard and I think the cost would be similar to what you are paying now. Frolic have a website, google them. Hope that helps.
 
There are lots of yards around me. I am 9 miles from Newmarket - by all means PM me and give me a list of requirements and I can put you in touch with the right people. The biggest problem you will have is that you will need to take the pointer into town to work him. I did the majority of all the fittening work for my pointer on the farm and used to box him in twice a week to work.
 
Seabiscuit - I have a lot of friends who event professionally and they do not complain about the lack of events around here! There is Downham, Poplar, Gt Witchingham, Burnham, Keysoe, Houghton, Stratford Hills to name a few! There are plenty of local places to go show jumping and for dressage as well. Having direct access on to the A14 makes travelling very easy being based in East Anglia! Just an observation! Also there are a good few point to point tracks around here to! If OP's OH is a flat jockey - there is only place to be and that's Newmarket.
 
seabsicuit2 said:
plus remember that Newmarket is a total dive of a town and people are similarly depressed they call it the town of broken dreams!!
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This!! I DETEST Newmarket!! I was so excited when I went to work on a Stud there 5 years ago, but wanted out within 6 months!! Managed it within 10. I turned down the opportunity to go for another job there recently, as I just know I couldn't cope with it again! Never, ever been so depressed in my life! Sorry, but it is the truth! Oh and finding livery was damned tough! Esp. without completely bonkers YO's (like ones who go into with your yearling's field and drive him out over the fencing with 2 lunge whips and then complain that he keeps jumping out!!)
 
Having worked in the industry for many many years now, I can say that Newmarket isn't all bad. There are lots of beautiful villages in the surrounding areas and there are also lots of livery yards without crazy owners :) I think it's slightly immature all the negativity which is being thrown around as I for one and there are also many others who would agree that Newmarket isn't a bad place or a dive. It is like anywhere, you get out of it what you put in. If you do not make friends out of racing then yes it will become very insular in that all you will be doing is talking, working and breathing racing which is too much in my mind for anyone. If you would like a balanced view on Newmarket then please do ask!
 
LOL - so now I'm imbalanced :D I can think of a few on here (and elsewhere) who would agree with that, though I think the same of them :D :D

It is all down to personal experience though and that is naturally what people base their POV on :) I too have worked in the industry for many years now and there is far more to it than Newmarket :) That said, I always get a high when going to watch horses work and at the sales. It's not like I don't like to visit, just wouldn't want to live much closer than Dullingham :D
 
I'm with Aces High. Newmarket isn't all bad. fine, the town center isn't the best, but some of the surrounding villages are very nice. As for places to keep your horse - there are many smaller private livery yards around, but may take a bit of finding. I won't comment on keeping a P2Per there as I have no experience, but eventers do well in that area. There are many centers and places to compete (as have been pointed out, plus there is Topthorn about 45 mins away straight down the A14 and they now run BS and are very friendly). And for BE Milton Keynes, Burnham Beeches, Buckminster, Carlton and Brigstock International are all within 2hrs (plus obviously closer ones that have already been pointed out). Plus, the strong pony club scene means that there are unaffiliated events at all of these places (plus Ickworth Park. ).
 
I live in Newmarket (and also work in the Racing Industry).

From my experience the livery yards within very close distance of the town centre (so including some surrounding villages) tend to be DIY on farms with very little formal assistance offered (unless you set up an arrangement with fellow liveries) or hugely expensive yards geared towards the Racing Industry and rehabilitating injured racehorses (circa £20 per day).

I know of several farms offering DIY livery at about £25 - £30 per week (with arenas and individual turn out) and there is also the British Racing School (with Indoor School, use of the gallops but shared/limited turn out). Lots of options available, just depends on your priorities really.

Favourite local competition venues include Fenning Farm, The Jays and Milton College for BD; Isleham, Little Downham and Poplar Park for BE.

Don't forget some of the best veterinary practices and farriers in the world are also on our doorstep.

As for the town, I really enjoy living here. There is a huge buzzy atmosphere during Sales and Racing and plenty of opportunities.
 
Very interesting to hear different peoples opinions! I am well aware of what the town itself is like... have no problem with that, I am more than able to keep my nose out of the bitching. Me and the OH have plenty of friends up there though, so its not exactly going to be a lonely existence.

The trouble with Epsom is that the town is perfectly healthy - but the racing industry is not, and sits very much at odds with the commuter-belt town that it is set in.

Of course work wise newmarket has best opportunities for me as I earn money by riding work, so that is the town where there are the most horses to ride work on... in simple terms!
 
Go for it, it does annoy me when people run the place down. I have lived here for 3 years, been in the general area for 5 years. TBH it is the place that I always come back to and all my friends are here. Yes the town is a dive but most small towns are the same, but Cambridge is just a short train ride away, and London is not out of reach.
As for livery etc. I pay around £130 a month for DIY on a lovely farm with a feed merchants attached, so feed, hay and bedding is all there ready and at a fab price. The horses live in groups which is rare for Newmarket and it is run by someone who actually knows what they are doing. That said it is the other side of Newmarket to where I live so a 16 mile round trip, this is no problem as I job share with a friend on the yard so one of us does the morning and the other does the evenings. It works well.
Competingwise, yes BS is poor, I personally don't like The Jay's surface, but people forget that Finchingfield is really close. I do dressage and with Milton College just 20 minutes from the yard, Fenning and Queach about 40 mins, Worlington Riding club 30 mins there is no shortage of competing opportunities. Eventing wise it is not bad either.
I have lived and competed in Warwickshire, Oxfordshire (dire), Hampshirem, Norfolk and here and this is one of best place by far to find something to do at the weekend with the horses.
 
Laafet said:
Go for it, it does annoy me when people run the place down. I have lived here for 3 years, been in the general area for 5 years. TBH it is the place that I always come back to and all my friends are here. Yes the town is a dive but most small towns are the same, but Cambridge is just a short train ride away, and London is not out of reach.
As for livery etc. I pay around £130 a month for DIY on a lovely farm with a feed merchants attached, so feed, hay and bedding is all there ready and at a fab price. The horses live in groups which is rare for Newmarket and it is run by someone who actually knows what they are doing. That said it is the other side of Newmarket to where I live so a 16 mile round trip, this is no problem as I job share with a friend on the yard so one of us does the morning and the other does the evenings. It works well.
Competingwise, yes BS is poor, I personally don't like The Jay's surface, but people forget that Finchingfield is really close. I do dressage and with Milton College just 20 minutes from the yard, Fenning and Queach about 40 mins, Worlington Riding club 30 mins there is no shortage of competing opportunities. Eventing wise it is not bad either.
I have lived and competed in Warwickshire, Oxfordshire (dire), Hampshirem, Norfolk and here and this is one of best place by far to find something to do at the weekend with the horses.
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Forgot how close Finchingfield is. And I dont think you are too short for BS... Finchingfield (1hr), The Jays (35mins), Forest Edge (indoor 50mins?), Topthorn (indoor - 45mins), Fenning Farm (25mins), Milton College (30mins), Keysoe (1hr 15), Lime Kiln Farm (1hr 15mins), Norton Heath (1hr10?)

There is lots to keep you out of trouble!
 
LOL, I'm not really a BSer, so I just go on what others say at the yard, the thing that puts them off is poor warm ups for jumping, Milton is fine for dressage but I wouldn't want to go jumping there on a busy day, Fenning also small warm up, fine for dressage. None of us go to Forest Edge it is nearer 1hr 30mins pulling the trailer there.
 
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