Livery or horses at home?

I have a yard to myself (someone else's who is no longer able to keep horses due to health issues) and yes, it can be lonely and yes, you can lose motivation but you can always find someone to share it with or get a sharer for your horses, finding the RIGHT person is the only difficulty. It is also a lot of work, I am lucky in that my OH is an ag contractor so we have all the kit for maintenance but I still find myself spending lots of time weeding the edge of the school and such like.

There are lots of plus points over livery yards - you can do what you like, when you like, manage your horse, grazing, etc, as you like, no yard politics and if you do choose to share, you get to choose who you share with. My yard is so peaceful, I love it.
 
I think it entirely depends on your horses and your circumstances. If you work stupidly long hours, and only have the bare minimum of facilities, it’s going to be tough.
 
I've had mine at home for over 10 years. It's relentlessly hard work (3 acres, max 4 horses, currently 3, on heavy clay). The saving grace is a large yard and turnout and now an arena too. I love the autonomy, but I have no hacking companions, which was fine until my old experienced horse retired. I now have a youngster who isn't really confident leaving the others. My OH isn't horsy, so I'm really on my own with it all. For that reason I've just (today!) put her in livery just so that I can hack her out with others and build her confidence for a few months. I'm very lucky to have a good track livery on my doorstep.
So I currently have 2 at home and one in livery which I'm hoping will be doable.
 
I would say it will depend a lot on what you do with your horses, how many other pressures there are on your time etc etc.
Also what it is you are proposing to buy, quality of the land etc.

There is nothing more stressful than being on the wrong livery, but equally the right livery is, for me, my downtime. One of mine is on a lovely yard.

I’ve recently, for the first time in my life, got my own little piece of heaven! It’s definitely wonderful being able to manage things exactly how you want. I’m lucky that it’s all set up relatively low maintenance. I’ve only got non ridden horses there.

In all honesty, if I were ever to get back into any level of semi-serious riding I’d want the facilities, the livery support and general camaraderie you get at a good yard. I’m not sure I’d want to be tied to home
 
Difficult choices.

I work from home as a writer, so other than my husband (who I love, but I also like having friends), the yard is the *only* social contact I have with people. My current yard is a large, busy livery yard/riding school, so there are always people about. Even if I don't chat to them that day, they're just....there....and I like that. When I have kept my horse on smaller, quieter yards, I felt desperately anxious and lonely. I don't get that feeling where I am now.

Does the yard management make decisions that really piss me off? Of course they do. Has the YO/YM of every yard I have ever been on in 30 years of horse ownership done stuff to piss me off? Obviously. OH and I have talked about buying a horse property in the future, and while it is expensive (too expensive, at the moment), and the idea of managing your horses exactly as you want seems like living the dream, the prospect of extreme social isolaton is really, really scary, like willingly throwing yourself into the confession dial castle of 'Heaven Sent.' I don't know if I can deal with that.
 
I do both.

I have my horses at home over a summer break which I love. I have long evenings faffing with them and hacking around the farm. My early morning coffees with them are my favourite time of the day. I then bring them back for some winter turnout because my turnout is better than most livery yards, and they have a holiday with some proper feral down time.

But then I pop them on livery for some months of the year (literally two farms over so 3-5 min away) so that they can be looked after when I know I will be working too much to give them proper quality time, and the days are short.
 
Up until last year, our yard was just me and 2 retired ladies who I rarely saw due to them coming down at different times to me. They also didn’t ride so there was no chance of a riding buddy. So it was basically like having my own place as it was generally just me and the cat there.

We expanded the yard last year and now have a few liveries, but none of us really ride together or socialise beyond a brief chat. I’m hoping to set up a communal lounge area in the barn this spring though.
My old yard was a very sociable place and I have friends from there that I’ve known for 30 years now. Sometimes I chose socialising/coffee over riding 😅

I’m quite a naturally motivated person so I don’t need others to get my motivation up with regards riding, but I do occasionally miss a sit down with a coffee and a chat. I mean I do sit down with a coffee, but the cat doesn’t have much to offer, conversation wise.
 
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We’ve had the horses at home for coming up 5 years now and these are our findings so far.

The pros:
  • Zero yard politics
  • Have full control of management
  • Generally everything is where I’ve left it (unless my husband has been meddling!)
  • Can make sure my horses have decent turnout year round
  • Seeing my horses out the window will never get old
  • Late checks in PJs
  • Even with maintenance costs it’s significantly cheaper than 3 on full livery
  • Arena is always free/can leave poles out etc.
The cons:
  • Endless maintenance
  • Land management was a steep learning curve for us and we probably didn’t truly get into our groove with it until last year
  • Box rest & rehabbing is a million times more stressful when you’re flying solo
  • My ridden confidence took a massive dip which I hadn’t expected
  • No shared call out so vets & farriers tend to be more expensive
  • Was hard to find a decent farrier to come out to such a small yard
  • Less opportunities to hack out with others
 
I wouldn't go back to livery if you paid me. But having your own place can be lonely. I've had the odd livery over the years, some are good some are really bad.

If you don't have liveries, 3 is the magic number. No stress when one is taken out. Everyone has a friend even if there is a squabble.

But the general maintenance and jobs does take time away from your riding/fun activities.

It really does depend on what you do and want to achieve and the property you buy/facilities available to you. Horses for courses as they say.
 
ElleSkywalker said:
I ride more with horses at home than I ever did at livery. I've always managed to find people to ride with, either by riding about with a manic smile on my face talking to anyone else I see on a horse or through horsey Facebook groups.

I've had friends horses stay with me before but never had liveries, mainly due to not enough space as am a horse hoarder, but would be something I'd consider if really needed someone to ride with ☺️

I've had my horses at livery even with own land for rehab, winter turn out etc as well as years of being on yards before but wouldn't want to go back to livery now. Maybe when am older and creakier and if I were down to one horse, but for now much prefer them being at home.
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I was just going to post that since we've got older, I would be even more reluctant to go back to livery!
We have made several adaptations to make the work easier, we are now down to 2 horses, who live out and they are just outside the kitchen door. I certainly wouldn't want to have to drive anywhere to check on them, especially not before breakfast!
 
dorsetladette said:
It really does depend on what you do and want to achieve and the property you buy/facilities available to you. Horses for courses as they say.
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This is a really good point.

What kind of horses and riding do you do OP?

I know my stress levels would be different with the horses I had before the ones I have now.

I have little araby horses who are super easy, hardy, sleep out and aren't too daft. They are barefoot and light on the field, and they are easy to pick up after and to keep clean. They are happiest hacking, which suits the set up. And they really don't need much attention. They are quite independent and whilst always friendly, are absolutely fine with three or four brief checks a day rather than huge amounts of management.

When I had my warmbloods and my thoroughbred, I would have been run off my feet and everyone would have needed something from me.
 
I have mine at home now, and I'd struggle to ever give it up. I've 3 horses on 6 acres with an old arena I use as a sand turnout, with a haphazard barn with sort-of-stabling.

There are random things that have cropped up that hadn't occurred to me before the move:

- My new hatred of badgers. Well, mostly their desire to absolutely destroy one of my fields
- Muck heap logistics. So many regulations, can't put it there, can't do this, can't do that
- Land maintenance, don't particularly enjoy having to rely on other people for this
- 3 horses together doesn't always work. My mare has a meltdown when either of the boys are taken away (which was not the plan! I bought a new horse with the intention of having a settled herd I could take 1 away from at a time)
- When it's cold and rainy, it's just as hard to motivate myself to go 100m to their field than it is to drive to the yard
- Non-horsey husband suddenly has an opinion on horsey things. I want an American barn, he'd prefer traditional stables. I want to have the horses out, he thinks they're creating too much mud. Honestly, this one is the one I find most amusing 😂

On the plus side, I can do what I want, when I want. I can leave all the poo picking to the weekend, leave my stuff everywhere (as long as I don't mind the husband moaning). I've endless hacking to explore, and have a trailer if I ever get lonely. Come summer, I might advertise for a livery, but more likely I will probably offer someone local lifts to local events. That way I get the best of both worlds - some companionship, but they're not in my space/literally turning up at my house every day.
 
Bellaboo18 said:
I've had mine at home for 2 years and it's amazing.

The biggest pro, you can keep them how you like. They're far more chill because other horses aren't coming and going. As for maintenance, it's an investment.
I think it'd be easy to become less motivated re-riding but if you're determined to, you'll always find other people in the same boat nearby :)

I don't miss livery at all.
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Yes, I have that problem at the moment due to horses coming and going, coming in early, upsetting the normal routine etc etc. I think being able to leave them out as late as I want because they won’t see their livery mates coming in early, will be a massive bonus.
I said to the husband I reckon I’ll ride more, as I’ll get loads of time back, just need to keep motivation going I suppose 😊
 
FestiveFuzz said:
We’ve had the horses at home for coming up 5 years now and these are our findings so far.

The pros:
  • Zero yard politics
  • Have full control of management
  • Generally everything is where I’ve left it (unless my husband has been meddling!)
  • Can make sure my horses have decent turnout year round
  • Seeing my horses out the window will never get old
  • Late checks in PJs
  • Even with maintenance costs it’s significantly cheaper than 3 on full livery
  • Arena is always free/can leave poles out etc.
The cons:
  • Endless maintenance
  • Land management was a steep learning curve for us and we probably didn’t truly get into our groove with it until last year
  • Box rest & rehabbing is a million times more stressful when you’re flying solo
  • My ridden confidence took a massive dip which I hadn’t expected
  • No shared call out so vets & farriers tend to be more expensive
  • Was hard to find a decent farrier to come out to such a small yard
  • Less opportunities to hack out with others
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Thank you. Tbh, where I am now, we pretty much have to do everything ourselves anyway. Bar fertilising the land, all the management of it is down to us. I was thinking the same about losing confidence (as I’ve got older my confidence has wained anyway) but my mare is actually better on her own than with others so I’m hoping it’ll go the other way. If we moved, it’s only 25 minutes from where I am now and my current farrier and vet will stay the same.
 
LadyGascoyne said:
This is a really good point.

What kind of horses and riding do you do OP?

I know my stress levels would be different with the horses I had before the ones I have now.

I have little araby horses who are super easy, hardy, sleep out and aren't too daft. They are barefoot and light on the field, and they are easy to pick up after and to keep clean. They are happiest hacking, which suits the set up. And they really don't need much attention. They are quite independent and whilst always friendly, are absolutely fine with three or four brief checks a day rather than huge amounts of management.

When I had my warmbloods and my thoroughbred, I would have been run off my feet and everyone would have needed something from me.
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I have a retired Warmblood, however, I’m not sure I’d move him as he has terrible anxiety plus cushings/arthritis so perhaps wouldn’t be fair, and an ISH mare who I can only hack/do flatwork with as she has an old injury. Where we’re thinking of buying, there is already an old pony field companion who can stay if we want him to.
 
I’ve only had mine at home but my cousin keeps hers with mine in the field so in the summer months we muck out together and get a chat. I loved hacking out with her when hers were ridden but they are retired now. I’m currently not riding mine but I was much more motivated to ride when friends were messaging about meeting up.

It can sometimes feel a thought to tack up when you’ve done the stables, poop scooping etc in the morning, been at work all day and know you need to sort them later too but on a nice sunny day it doesn’t feel any bother at all.

I do think you might miss the social aspect of a yard but if you make local friends who’s keen to do stuff regularly then that could easily replace the yard social life.

I love having the choice of how my horses are kept although sometimes it would be nice to have a little bit of support. You’ve already mentioned you should be able to get someone to help out if you’re away etc so that’s good.

I do think you should go for it if you have the opportunity. If you decide you hate it then you can always rent the land out and go back to livery but I don’t think you will.
 
I love have mine at home but at the same time I do miss being on a livery yard. On the whole I think if you have more than one then having them at home is the best. However once I'm back down to one i'll be going back to livery so we can have some freedom in our lives again.
 
Bellaboo18 said:
I've had mine at home for 2 years and it's amazing.

The biggest pro, you can keep them how you like. They're far more chill because other horses aren't coming and going. As for maintenance, it's an investment.
I think it'd be easy to become less motivated re-riding but if you're determined to, you'll always find other people in the same boat nearby :)

I don't miss livery at all.
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You've reminded me I've found the 'chill' thing to be a disadvantage with my young horse. Having been on my little yard with just one other horses for company and in a very samey routine since he was 2, I now find he gets very anxious around other horses and in new situations. I'm working on that particular issue this year and may send him to my trainers for a short spell depending how we get on. I'm sure it can be fixed, but it's not something I anticipated. There's always something 🙄
 
I had my ponies on a privately rented place behind my house for years.

The biggest benefit was being able to turn out when I wanted

Eventually the drawbacks far outweighed any benefits.

Maintenance was ongoing and time consuming
Getting hay and bedding moved and stacked was draining especially when the land was wet and it needed to be moved over the land by hand.
Loneliness set in for my rider
No school
We ended up resting the ponies in the worst of the winter months.

Eventually I gave up and we moved to a livery yard.

Gliding in over concrete to dry stables was a revelation.
More time was spent grooming and riding

Having to abide by someone else’s rules was tricky at times but they were fair and turnout was good.

I desperately missed seeing the ponies from my window but overall it was a good decision.


Of course a lot depends on your set up, my stables and storage were at the far end of the fields so vehicle access was impossible in the wet.
The stables were old and the fencing always needed attention. I had no hard standing.

With the right set up things may have been very different.
 
WelshD said:
I had my ponies on a privately rented place behind my house for years.

The biggest benefit was being able to turn out when I wanted

Eventually the drawbacks far outweighed any benefits.

Maintenance was ongoing and time consuming
Getting hay and bedding moved and stacked was draining especially when the land was wet and it needed to be moved over the land by hand.
Loneliness set in for my rider
No school
We ended up resting the ponies in the worst of the winter months.

Eventually I gave up and we moved to a livery yard.

Gliding in over concrete to dry stables was a revelation.
More time was spent grooming and riding

Having to abide by someone else’s rules was tricky at times but they were fair and turnout was good.

I desperately missed seeing the ponies from my window but overall it was a good decision.


Of course a lot depends on your set up, my stables and storage were at the far end of the fields so vehicle access was impossible in the wet.
The stables were old and the fencing always needed attention. I had no hard standing.

With the right set up things may have been very different.
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Thank you, yes I do need to weigh things up, however, stables are in an American style barn on concrete but you’re right about hay/straw etc, that’ll be something to consider.
 
I do think it depends what sort of livery you are used to as to how big the change is. Going from a yard with services, back up, facilities that are maintained etc is quite different to going from a yard that has some stables and fields but is otherwise up to you. If you're used to the latter, I don't find the workload that much different.
 
I love having mine at home but it isn't as easy as some people assume.

The maintenance is endless, creosoting, fence repair, moving electric, poo picking, weeding.
Then all of the field work, harrowing, seeding, muck and lime spreading.
And on and on and on!

I love having autonomy over how the boys live though.
They get so much turn out time, they have a track over summer. I can pop out and change rugs whenever I want, I can flip their schedule to suit my work or competitions etc.

I ride the same amount as I did at livery. I have a lovely arena here though! I would like to find some people to hack with but there aren't any other horses kept in the village unfortunately. I see a few people out on some routes but their yards tend to be perfectly half way around my routes so hard to meet up for a loop!

I don't think I could do it without a supportive partner and family though as the horses really become a way of life for everyone who lives here. It's hard to separate horsey chores from other chores when you spend so much time out there!
 
FlyingCircus said:
I do think it depends what sort of livery you are used to as to how big the change is. Going from a yard with services, back up, facilities that are maintained etc is quite different to going from a yard that has some stables and fields but is otherwise up to you. If you're used to the latter, I don't find the workload that much different.
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Definitely the latter, I do it all myself now
 
millitiger said:
I love having mine at home but it isn't as easy as some people assume.

The maintenance is endless, creosoting, fence repair, moving electric, poo picking, weeding.
Then all of the field work, harrowing, seeding, muck and lime spreading.
And on and on and on!

I love having autonomy over how the boys live though.
They get so much turn out time, they have a track over summer. I can pop out and change rugs whenever I want, I can flip their schedule to suit my work or competitions etc.

I ride the same amount as I did at livery. I have a lovely arena here though! I would like to find some people to hack with but there aren't any other horses kept in the village unfortunately. I see a few people out on some routes but their yards tend to be perfectly half way around my routes so hard to meet up for a loop!

I don't think I could do it without a supportive partner and family though as the horses really become a way of life for everyone who lives here. It's hard to separate horsey chores from other chores when you spend so much time out there!
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Thank you, I do much of the land management myself now anyway so apart from fertilising, won’t be much different. Yes, the flex to sort them out a stones throw from my back door is a definite positive 😊
 
I guess the other thing to consider is what stage of life you’re at. I’m lucky that despite not initially being horsey my husband has thoroughly stepped up to head groom duties in both my pregnancies. Without him I’d have really struggled to keep things ticking over.

It’s also difficult having the horses and facilities on my doorstep and feeling like the boys are wasted as it’s hard to get motivated when your body is wrecked and you’ve forgotten what sleep is. This time round I’m planning to send my youngster off for training for a few months so I have some support whilst getting back into the swing of things.
 
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