LIVERY OWNERS

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daisybe33

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How has having your own yard worked for you?
Do you enjoy it and make any profit?
what type of livery/services do you have?
How many horses?
is your yard full most of the time?
How long did it take when you first set up to have a full yard?
and what are the things that you would/wouldn't change if you could start over again?

Sorry for all the questions, I am deciding whether to start up or not and trying to look as thoroughly as possible at the full picture ( I have an accountant involved and financially it is doable obviously depending on how many liveries I would have in and how quickly) before jumping in with both muddy wellies!
 
How has having your own yard worked for you?
Yes.
Do you enjoy it and make any profit?
Love it! Just about
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what type of livery/services do you have?
From half to competition- no DIY
How many horses?
21
is your yard full most of the time?
Yes
How long did it take when you first set up to have a full yard?
Filled straight up, was crazy!!
and what are the things that you would/wouldn't change if you could start over again?
Love my fencing- electric rope on wooden posts, they don't chew it and the rope stays tight. with top line on top of post not on the side!
Chains behind doors makes life so much easier.
nothing I can I think of that I would change- other than more room for spare rugs ect but nothing I can really do about that!
 
How has having your own yard worked for you?
Between me and my business partner we were paying a fortune in livery so made sense, but meant we both gave up full time employment to work the yard
Do you enjoy it and make any profit?
Love it, have good days and bad days but mostly love it! No profit as yet
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what type of livery/services do you have?
Anything, no diy
is your yard full most of the time?
Yep, but you have to be prepared for people to come and go for what ever reason, especially now when people are short of money.
How many horses?
8 living out, 15 in
How long did it take when you first set up to have a full yard?
We started from scratch not bringing anyone in with us and we are only just at full capacity (opened july)
and what are the things that you would/wouldn't change if you could start over again?
Where do i start....probably a different premises
blush.gif
i love our place but if i could rebuild/relocate it i would. Fencing etc get it right first time! Choose wisely i also have wooden post with electric fencing but am forever fixing it as we seem to have a group of vandal horses. Our hacking isnt great which is more of an issue than we thought it would be. It has been and is a big black hole of a money pit, it takes more than you can imagine to set up, you always need more and buying in bedding feed, hay etc soon adds up. There is also business rates etc and that side of things to pay.
Ultimatly its bloody hard work, with very little time off unless you can afford to pay someone to do it for you. But its very rewarding when things go right and horses and owners are happy. Just dont be tempted to fill it up with your own horses as they dont pay there way!!
If you want any more info just PM i could go on forever!
smile.gif
 
Oh thank you so much for your honest answers. I am so excited about it but trying my hardest to go into it with a sensible head!!!!

I have seen some negative things about owning a livery yard on here which made me wonder.

In my view a well run yard with good facilities should be full eventually, although I haven't budgeted for that in the first year, I have forcast it being half full so any more is a bonus!!

Its a lovely yard with great hacking, an outdoor arena and pleanty of space to grow the only issue I have really is the grazing, I have 15 acres and plan to have a yard for 12 in at night all year, do you think thats enough?
 
How has having your own yard worked for you?
-Tecnically it's not my own yard but when we took it on, my boss left me to run it with his backing.

Do you enjoy it and make any profit?
-I'm loving every minute of it but no profit as of yet.

what type of livery/services do you have?
-We have DIY, field and Part Livery

How many horses?
-In total we have 23 horses/ponies

Is your yard full most of the time?
How long did it take when you first set up to have a full yard?
-At the moment no, we're not full. We've had the DIY section for years, (always full in the summer with a waiting list, Winter maybe 1 or 2 empty spaces), and only took over the Part and field livery section in December so with Christmas, New Year, snow and the financial climate the new section has been a bit slow to pick up, (we're not completely empty but have room for more).

and what are the things that you would/wouldn't change if you could start over again?
-The fields we have are huge so turn out is not a problem. We're on clay so the gates get muddy, but we're chipping away at sorting things out. The location is fantastic -an 800 acre country estate near Guildford, Surrey -the only thing I would change is to have some more money to inject into it.

I'm loving doing the part livery side of things and yes, when you set up you'll have to shell out a fortune in bedding once you decide what you'll use and whether you'll offer a choice of materials. Hay, feed, rates, water, electric, council payments, alarm company etc all cost money. Also if you have to buy jumps, buckets, mucking out equipment blah blah. If the fencing isn't up to scratch, then that's more money to go out.
Don't be put off by all the expense as it'll be worth it when you have a full yard and happy owners and horses and it feels great when they come in and say how well their horse looks. Also remember a lot of things you will need when you set up will be one-off payments and if you can buy in bulk it's normally cheaper.
If you can do as much of the work yourself you will save on staff costs too. I have a girl working for me. She's only part-time at the moment untill we get more liveries in then her hours will go up as the money goes up.

Hope this helps.
 
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Oh thank you so much for your honest answers. I am so excited about it but trying my hardest to go into it with a sensible head!!!!

I have seen some negative things about owning a livery yard on here which made me wonder.

In my view a well run yard with good facilities should be full eventually, although I haven't budgeted for that in the first year, I have forcast it being half full so any more is a bonus!!

Its a lovely yard with great hacking, an outdoor arena and pleanty of space to grow the only issue I have really is the grazing, I have 15 acres and plan to have a yard for 12 in at night all year, do you think thats enough?

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Where abouts are you? What sort of livery/liveries are you thinking of doing?

As soon as you decide that you are going to definately go ahead with it, get it advertised, even before you are ready for opening. Someone I know did this, and as soon as they opened for business, she was 3 quarters full!!
 
How has having your own yard worked for you?
I love it - it is my home !! only started haveing liveries as it was a bit boring on my own !!
Do you enjoy it and make any profit?
yes 99% of the time - it is hard work and people can be difficult but most of the time its great - yes we do make a profit but then thats becuase i dont pay rent on it !
what type of livery/services do you have?
only full livery
How many horses?
13 horses with 4 of them being mine !!!!! so 9 full liveries
is your yard full most of the time?
yes and with a waiting list with people begging me for spaces !!

How long did it take when you first set up to have a full yard?
and what are the things that you would/wouldn't change if you could start over again?
Well we only had 8 stables to start then added another 5 later on so we only took on 4 full liveries at the begginning then expanded
You do learn by your mistakes though its been going 5 years now !! make sure your not soft people WILL walk all over you but listen to what people need and want !

Antoher good thing is to make sure you always do the repairs liveries really respect this !!
 
I am in North Yorkshire. I am planning to do full, part and assisted DIY liveries. I have all my YM qualifications and lots of experience running yards, just never my own!!!

The rent I pay will be minimal and in fact will be the same as it costs me now for my 3 in DIY livery down the road.

I plan for it to be a really well organised and tidy yard and will definately be keeping all repairs etc in order
 
Fab.

Yes, Love it. Yes, but only been open 10 months and we don't pay any rent.

DIY, Assisted DIY and Part. Me and my sister only work on the yard 5 days a week
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no weekend work! The liveries also have to buy bedding/forage from us and it isn't included in livery (which is the way to go if you want to make a profit).

30 horses.

Built the yard by diversifying one of our farms and took 10 months to build. Then it took 6 months to fill.

Wouldn't change anything.
 
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The liveries also have to buy bedding/forage from us and it isn't included in livery (which is the way to go if you want to make a profit).

Wouldn't change anything.

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OOh thats a big help thanks. I couldn't decide what to do about the bedding/forage issue.
 
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The liveries also have to buy bedding/forage from us and it isn't included in livery (which is the way to go if you want to make a profit).

Wouldn't change anything.

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OOh thats a big help thanks. I couldn't decide what to do about the bedding/forage issue.

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depends how much space you have and whether you can give everyone there own room !!!

I do find that if you are going to provide it make sure you let them know from the beginning what they get and what they dont
I only let my liveries buy there own feed but the hay we grow ourselves and dont have room for everyone to store bedding !!
 
Room- thats definatly something to take into consideration! At my yard theres only 4 DIYs (including me) so we've got space to store a few bales of bedding, as the other 20+ horses are full livery. The hay in included in the price otherwise it would be a nightmare to sortout!
 
Also, was just thinking.. what kind of turnout? i.e separate paddocks or small herds? As again, at yard where I am they are all kept in indiviual turnout-more or less (somepaddocks are bigger than others) and this works really well, doesn't use as much space as you would imagine. Some owners will ask for it I would imagine (I would now if I moved).
 

I think it will need to be two horses to a paddock (2acre) and if you had two horses or wanted all three of your own in then that would be fine I suppose.
 
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