Livery - value for money??

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sfward

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Ok sorry this is so long - having read a couple of posts on livery today I'd love some advice on my place as I'm in a bit of a dilemma and feel I'm being taken for a ride (pls excuse the pun!).

I've only been there since February, I chose it as it was the only place I could find within 15 miles that offered any sort of full or part livery service. It's on a working farm, the YO is about 50 and does a lot of breeding and has lots of horses of her own. When I looked round I nearly had kittens at the price (£15 per day) but went with it as I liked the YO, the horses all looked happy, it had indoor school and XC course and all feed, hay, turnout and care was included. And quite frankly there weren't too many alternatives. Plus they had a girl (who I'll call G) working f/t who used to be at YRC and who it was said would lunge for me if I couldn't get up, clean tack etc. And my mum offered to help with the cost.

HOWEVER it soon became clear that G was far too overworked doing YO's horses to have much time to help out with mine, she did help me loose jump but never had time to lunge, not that I asked v often, and quite often forgot to bring the horse in for me when I'd asked let alone clean my tack. In the end she left and YO decided not to replace her, so is now looking after all her own horses as well as mine and the other livery's. My mare is happy but the yard and tack room are a mess and every small request I make (which aren't onerous) is met with 'if i have time'. This will probably sound petty but little things annoy me, like I arranged a jump lesson and YO pushed in in front of me with her horse without asking so I was hanging around for an hour and a half
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and YO's husband power-washed every rug on the yard but left me to pay for mine to be professionally cleaned. Quite often I'd bring my horse in and the water troughs would all be empty so I'd have to go and fill them myself. I recently bought myself a Pessoa and when YO found out she asked if she could borrow it, I said yes and since then she's been using it constantly; I suggested maybe she could give me half the money for it and we could share it but none has materialised as yet! My horse spent quite a bit of time with no hard feed whatsoever as she hurt her leg and was in v light work, and even now she hardly gets anything, but I've had no reduction in livery fees to compensate.

Now I don't mind doing things myself, but it annoys me that I'm paying for a 5 star service and yet am made to feel like I'm a bit of an annoyance and bottom of the list of YO's priorities. I asked yesterday if she could bring my mare in for me in the afternoons so I didn't have to ride her full of grass (which I was always taught was bad for them) and was told she would if she had time and wasn't busy in the office! Now am I just being unreasonable or is that a bit rubbish for the price I'm paying!!! Basically I'm just paying for little bit of Cool Mix twice daily, turnout, hay and mucking out. My last place (which is now full and gone downhill by all accounts) was less money and the horse got ridden up to 5 times per week if you wanted!

So what should I do? It's awkward as I'm not a confrontational person and I actually like YO as a person, I don't want to make trouble. And the facilities are pretty good and the horse is happy there. BUT I'm struggling with the money and not that happy with the service. What can I do to make YO realise she needs to either provide a better service or lower her prices??! I really don't want to p*** her off as it'll create a really awkward atmosphere and I don't really have anywhere else to go at the moment (see signature!!!).
 
Only read half your post - im lazy!!!

Thats frankly not acceptable from a full/part livery service.

I work at a full/part livery yard in MK and its lovely. There is about 12 stables and when full there is 3 members of staff on the yard am and 2 pm.

We do everything for all the horses (apart from ride and clean tack for part liverys) there is never an issue of an undone job around.....maybe you should move down here, we have spaces....
 
To be honest I think you are paying too much for the service provided. You are essentially on a basic livery and paying £105 a week. I think the going rate for would be in the region of £75pw - £110 pw but at the higher end of the scale I would most definitely be wanting the service aspect!
 
Bless ya, do u have any contract????? If so you can hold her to this, as for the rest its erfectly fair to ask as this is what you pay for!
Personally id have gone mentla by now and really complained.
 
You certainly are not over reacting - what you have described is unacceptable. You are paying for a service that is not being provided. Surely you can't be the only be who isn't happy with the service - have you spoken to the other liveries on the yard?
 
I think you are being overcharged for the services you are actually receiving.

I think you need to have a good chat with your YO.

You are paying for a service afterall.
 
£15 a day is about right if you do get the service that you are supposed to.I charge that for my part livery which we do everything; turnout, pick out feet change rugs muck out sort out farrier ,vet . basically all care including Top Spec feed balancer and a full range of Allen and Page feeds, but we dont groom or ride or clean tack for that. Those services are a available for £10 a day [for all of them as this would be our full livery] or il put them on full livery for the week , whichever is cost effective for the client. it costs more if i do the schooling.
from what you are saying this YO is taking th p*** she is obviously totally understaffed and infact you could call it a breach of contract and she is not delivering the service you are paying for. This is why i always have a contract so we all know where we stand and it helps protect all of your interests.
You work hard for your money and you and your horse deserve to know what service you are getting and paying for.
Good luck with the search for the new yard and i hope you can find a solution in the meantime. You do deserve better.
i find it frustrating because i offer an honest service and charge accordingly but struggle to fill my boxes because people undercut and dont give the service, once you have them hooked they tend to stay regardless of the abuse.
Strange old world.
 
Smash - I love your avatar btw!!

I do have a contract, but it doesn't promise things like lungeing, cleaning tack etc which were only mentioned when I looked round! Maybe I shouldn't have signed it?! I feel like it's my fault really for having agreed to the price in the first place but they weren't negotiating and I was a bit desperate as new horse was arriving imminently and had nowhere to put her! I guess I thought that they would be more helpful and appreciative of how much money I'm paying them relative to other places in the area. I suppose I could use the fact that G has left as an argument for lowering the price??

There's only one other livery who is a friend of OH so bit difficult but she's a nice genuine girl so I might mention it and see what she says.
 
Thanks, you're right it's all about whether you feel you're getting value for money. I just think they're being greedy - there isn't an option to pay less for a more limited service which i would have taken if it was available, but on the other hand they don't want to put themselves out to provide a top class service. I think part of this is me being oversensitive but I just feel like everything I ask them to do is an annoyance! They built some portables recently and I asked if they could put a corner in the school for a day or two so I could school over it but it was too much trouble apparently. When the weather was bad in the spring I'd come down on an evening to school and find that the arena was being used for jumping their own horses and no one had told me so I could plan an alternative. Just things like that make you feel as though you're bottom priority! I suggested a notice board to get round this problem but hey ho, never materialised what a surprise!!
 
£15 per day - ouch - is she having a laugh your YO?


For £95 a week on my yard (which is BHS approved) you get full livery inc all feeds/bedding - farrier and vet attending - turnout - schooling twice a week - legs hosed down in winter time - wormer - plaited up in hunt/comp season - horse walker- if horse is on box rest they knock price down to 70 p/w (I am a dreggy part livery mind
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You are being ripped off - sort her out - tie her up with your pessoa and feed her to pigs (not before power washing her OH so he doesnt forget your rug next time).

There are load of yards near york - ring up rideaway shop who are based near york and see if they have a notice board that customers leave stuff on - I think there was one last time I was there!
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It's not satisfactory, look for somewhere else!

Your saddle thing! - What a cheek!

Go Go Go Go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
lol that made me laugh!!! love the idea of power-hosing hubby...!

you're right there are lots of yards around York but the nice ones are too far away for me, and the few that are within reasonable distance are all DIY (and fairly shabby). I made the decision that I wanted part as I work full time and OH moans enough as it is about the amount of time riding takes up! Sometimes I think it would be worth travelling further but 2 hours travelling every evening just to get to the yard and back doesn't appeal, plus I'd spend the money I saved in petrol!! Maybe DIY might be better after all...

But that's a bit of a last resort, I guess I'm going to have to find a way to point out my opinion to the YO without it sounding like I'm having a good moan and implying that she's useless. Difficult tho!
 
Yeah it's annoying! if it was me I'd have offered not waited to be asked!
it was the lesson thing that REALLY wound me up though, i was so mad!!
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seeing as she lives on site, had already had her dinner and didn't have a half hour journey home or a husband waiting for his tea you'd think she'd have let me go first wouldn't you? or at least asked if I minded before sprinting off to get her horse before I got mine out!! just plain rude!!
 
That sounds really expensive and I too think that the they're taking the p*ss. I thought mine was expensive, I pay £200 a month which includes, stable, all year turnout, lovely well drained outdoor school, floodlights, horses fed, turned out and bought in and rugs changed if necessary. If you want your horse on full livery you get him fully mucked out and feet picked out for £5 extra. Ok I have to pay for hay and straw (which YO buys in and stacks) and hard feed but that comes to less than £100 a month.
 
Sounds like your being really ripped off. However, if your horse is settled there and you get on well with the YO and would like to stay why not suggest to YO that as she has lost her groom and is obviously pushed for time, you will pay £10 per day but for that you'll bring your own horse in each evening (which is what you seem to be doing anyway), brush him and feed him?

Would that be possible/workable?

Oh, and I'd take the pessoa home - if she wants to use it she'll have to politely ask you.

Hope you manage to sort something.
 
thanks, that's a good suggestion. Particularly as she's not paying groom's wages any more! i'll give it a go -wish me luck!
 
Sounds expensive for a "part livery" service, quite frankly. Talk to your farrier/local feed merchants/saddlers - all good sources of "inside info" on yards.

If you actually want to stay but want the get the service you are paying for, perhaps address the situation with the YO by saying that you have taken on more at work and therefore really need the help and assitance that you'd talked about in the beginning.

Otherwise, ship on out....they are taking advantage.

Good luck,

Catherine
 
It does sound expensive and for that money you should at least get the service you expect. I pay £70 a week for full livery, including bedding, hay and hard feed - I pay for shoes and wormers on top of that. We also have an outdoor school, floodlights, off road hacking and all year turnout. True, I'm in a not-so-horsey part of the country, but I think I get good value for money. You might be able to find a nice DIY yard where you could come to an arrangement with the others when you can't be there. I did this when I lived in the south and it worked out really well - we arranged it so we alternated ie I mucked out in the morning, friend brought in that evening, following day was other way round.
 
It does sound expensive - im on part livery and pay £65 a week, this includes turn out/bring in (or walker if its very wet) with feet picked out or washed, rug changes, hay nets and feed both am and pm, all hard feed, hay and bedding included. All i do is muck out and ride.

Regardless of if its expensve or not (i find its more expensive down south for some reason) you are paying for a service. If you arent getting what you pay for, then your getting ripped off!! Surely there is -somewhere- else near you??
 
I would have to check exactly what the contract says, I'll have another look tonight. But I don't think it is very specific!
 
Sounds to me like you are a bit of extra pocket money for her. She clearly has enough on her hands with her own horses and is happy to take the money but not interested in providing any additional service or maintenance of the yard/fields.

You will have to accept this or find another yard.

Now talking of other yards there are a lot of people like myself that have their own stables and land at home and would be only to happy to offer the facilities of our own places so why not try to find a nice private yard in your immediate area.

You would be suprised how many yards are tucked away.

For instance although I don't have my own staff I use the facilities of a reliable mobile groom/rider who will do the mucking out, poo picking, make up feeds, lunging excercising etc for a fee.
 
If this woman is offering a Full/part livery service then she needs to employ a team of competent staff to provide this. She cannot expect to do it all herself.

If your horse is really happy and well there then maybe try and stick it out see if things change. But might be worth having a look around and seeing what else is out there.

Personally i wouldnt mind driving an extra few miles for the right yard with good staff who i can trust have the time to care for my horse properly.
 
Thanks, I'm on the look out for that at the moment as it happens! Put a couple of adverts up here and there and hence the siggie also. That would be the ideal really.
 
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