Livery yard / land wanted New forest

tasha035l

Member
Joined
9 December 2012
Messages
14
Location
kent
Visit site
We are moving from London to Barton on sea in jan & bringing our 2 horses with us. We have a tb mare 15.2 & a shire X gelding both currently live out with shelter. We ideally want to be at a yard as the shire X is owned by my partner who is in the navy & leaves me for 3months at a time & I want a hacking buddy! However we would also consider renting our own land with shelter for the right price! We am looking for something in the Sway/Burley/bashley areas with forest access but as both are used to London some road work would be fine. If anyone knows of anywhere nice! Like I say either field livery with shelter or DIY but inc turn out & bring in, or land to rent! (I know that's a lot of contradictory options!) please let me know! Likewise if anyone is in that area & after a hacking buddy from end of feb let me know! Thanks so much tash & sam
 
Hiya yes I have a post on nfed but it's been up ages with no reply so thought I'd give on here a go! All the yards I've contacted from nfed don't do or don't have vacancies for grass livery.
Tash
 
That's a shame. What about looking at or advertising in the Lymington Times? Do see ads for fields to rent or grass livery on few times a year that we buy it!

Or, ask the yards you've contacted for other suggestions? Or, advertising in local tack shops and feed merchants, like Norris' in Beaulieu, Woodington feeds in Cadnam, Aivly's in Ringwood, etc. if you are doing this from London, maybe phone these places up and ask if you could dictate an ad or post one to them?
 
Hi,
Have you found SCATS in Lymington? The last time I was in there there was a notice board on one of the support posts in the middle of the shop. Also try some of the local vets boards. I’d echo too the wisdom of using the Lymington Times. However, I think finding somewhere in the region you want is like winning a mega prize on the lottery. It’s a highly popular riding area as that’s the heart of the forest and the well-heeled residents elsewhere in the forest will pay whatever the yard owners want to charge as will the tourists. Almost certainly you are going to have to compromise but the priority is to get the horses down to the area, somehow. If you can find full livery and the funds then I’d take it on the basis that the horses are out of London and somewhere near you. Then look for something more suitable as Spring approaches.
I’ve lived both sides of the forest and my OH parents live in Everton, Lymington so I’ve acquired some experience of the area over the years. I no longer live there but visit the in-laws occasionally. We always found it was harder to find somewhere for the horses than for us. Generally it takes a lot of “foot slogging” as only the biggest commercial yards will be prepared to consider somebody they haven’t even seen.
Some of the obvious alternatives are:
Look at places nearer the edge of the forest rather than its heart. Lymore Lane on the way to Barton has a number of fields with horses in. Stop and ask whenever you see a car parked up at one of them. Similarly the road from Lymington to New Milton. You could then hack or box into the forest sometimes.
Try to attend a few local horse events this winter and see who you can chat to. Word of mouth is very important in this area. If someone can point you at one of the commoners, agisters or blacksmiths they may help put you in contact with the right person, if they like you. I know some commoners keep stables and fields for themselves for emergencies but I suspect the recent bad weather has meant they are now in use.
Be prepared for a mega horse commute. When we lived in Poole we had a 20+ miles journey each way to grazing in West Moors for a couple of years. It was less from work though which made it tolerable. There were simply no available suitable fields anywhere in between.
Ask your OH to see if he can come up with something using his Navy connections. Is there anybody he knows at Marchwood who could ask around for you both? Similarly think about joining a yacht club, there are two yacht clubs at Keyhaven for example. Leisure sailors often have family and friends who ride, and they are at the club to be sociable.
You don’t say why you are moving to Barton but try asking your contacts there to help, and also put notices in its local shops.
Best of luck.
 
Wow thank you for such an in depth reply! I am moving to the area as that is where all my family are, we all originate from SE london but over the last 20yrs have all moved down slowly and we are the last. We will be living with my parents to beguin with while we (me and my OH) find a flat hopefully more towards Bournemouth.
I am very lucky with the yard I have been at with the fact that although I live in London I am very close to Kent and have 3 yards within walking distance and many more no less than a 20min drive. My current yard has 2 sand schools, its own private woods (although these are tiny) a XC course and great woods to hack to with a little road work. At this yard they come in at night and TO/BI is included so I dont have to go up twice a day (very lcuky!!) It is also a pretty large yard 30+ horses and I run Showjumping/fun days, easter egg hunts and Gymkhana's. We have a great group of people and for this reason I think I would prefer to be at a yard with "friends" rather than have my own land to begin with also I love to hack and as I am new to the area id need people around to hack with esp when OH is away! So I will do what you said about advertising in the Lymington paper and shops etc once I am actually down, and also like the suggestion of driving around and speaking to people. I would like to go to a few shows just to see if they are different to the ones here anyway and it would be nice to speak to some locals I will have a look on riding diary and see whats happening in Feb.
Both horses are currently living in Wootton Bassett on a farm (so living out 24-7) and i miss them like crazy! I know we have alot going on with the move so they are better off just munching away on the lush grass but i want to move them down as soon as I can!
I have a horsie cousin in the area who loans a horse in Sway she wants me to be hacking distance to her so we can hack together but we cannot find anything thats within the distance and does field livery (or assisted DIY but not at silly prices) one place said no because I have a TB!
anyway thank you for your help. THE HUNT CONTINUES!!!
 
Have you tried Valesmoor Farm? ( 01425 614487 ) They are in Wooton and you come out of the gate straight onto the forest. Flanders Farm in Hordle do livery I think (though not sure if they do DIY or not - 01590 681160 ) South Sway Farm ( 01590 682649 ) is another, and Decoy Pond Farm ( 023 8029 2652 )

There are quite a few about - Im on the late shift at work tomorrow, when Im scratching my bum trying to kill time for the last two hours on my own I'll have a dig about and get some more numbers :)
 
Have widened my search to include Poole & Bournemouth areas too now & getting a lot more (cheaper) liveries. Although I would love to be able to hack to the forest as that's what me & my mare love doing the most!! Thanks for all your help will keep you all posted.
Tash
 
If you are hoping to move to Bournemouth, have you thought about looking for livery in Dorset? There are some lovely hacking across the water in Studland/Rempstone areas!
 
I have looked at that area too but I really would like something nearer to where I am living so I can just pop up & see them if I want to not having to drive for 45mins + (that said me & my oh will be moving to Bournemouth at some point so still worth viewing.) x
 
Round the Ringwoody area brings in some nice yards - theres Hern Gate on the forest, http://www.herngatefarm.co.uk/hg_about.html
Newlands Farm (direct riding onto the forest) http://www.newlandsfarm.com/
Arniss Livery http://www.arnissequestrian.co.uk/livery.shtml - over more towards Poole and Bournemouth Parley Equestrian http://www.parleyequestrian.co.uk/ is good, it all depends what you want and how much you want to spend really - there are other cheaper places as well that I can give you if you want :)
 
Homelands (think officially its called Ramall Training) isnt far from the forest, as is Heathlands (Homelands does have a website, heathlands doesnt) they are both in Three Legged Cross which is just outside Ringwood - both have off road access to Ringwood Forest and moors Valley Country Park. There are also other smaller yards nearby, honestly - there are loads about, it all depends how choosy you are about where you go (in the nicest possible way - I dont mean to suggest youre a snob or anything - but some people have real issues with things that other people dont bat an eyelid at!) Eastmoors Farm did have spaces last time I heard, they have just come under new ownership, theres Cottage Farm on the way to Verwood - theres lots.

very best of luck - and if I can help at all, spin me a PM. :)
 
Re: moving out to Dorset, if you do go over that way Bovington Saddle Club has good facilities and I believe still gives a discount to military owners. Also Lulworth Equestrian centre has rides that nobody else can use!
Re: accessibility from Bournemouth. Parley Equestrian is only 15 mins from the centre of Bournemouth and on the way to Ringwood. It will be about 30 mins from Barton though.

Glad you found my first post useful.
 
Try Hazelhurst Farm, Flexford Lane Sway. Ask to speak to Lucie Lewis. I would highly recommend this yard, I was there for 5 years, went away came back for one year and have recently moved to a private yard.

It does just grazing but also stables. Very smart, excellent grazing (too good at times), good hacking on lanes, tracks and 15 minutes to Forest. Fields v well maintained, winter and summer grazing, a lady who acts as a groom who you can pay or they are happy for you to pay someone else to come in and check horses etc. You get a space in the barn, a heated tack room.. has electric gates (accessible from on the horse). I would have stayed here if I could have afforded to livery three horses, but at 22 I cannot afford it.

It was in 2012, £87 a month grazier and £130 stable.

Really cannot recommend it enough.
 
We are moving from London to Barton on sea in jan & bringing our 2 horses with us. We have a tb mare 15.2 & a shire X gelding both currently live out with shelter. We ideally want to be at a yard as the shire X is owned by my partner who is in the navy & leaves me for 3months at a time & I want a hacking buddy! However we would also consider renting our own land with shelter for the right price! We am looking for something in the Sway/Burley/bashley areas with forest access but as both are used to London some road work would be fine. If anyone knows of anywhere nice! Like I say either field livery with shelter or DIY but inc turn out & bring in, or land to rent! (I know that's a lot of contradictory options!) please let me know! Likewise if anyone is in that area & after a hacking buddy from end of feb let me know! Thanks so much tash & sam

wow that is where we go with ours we box down and go in the sea

We stay at Hackney Park Sway http://www.thenewforest.co.uk/thedms.aspx?dms=2&pid=3701307
 
That's exactly what we plan to do, we are getting our own trailer (which we will hire out!) we can park it on our drive & ride to the beach from my house ride back & leave them in the garden while we have dinner then take them back to the yard.....lets see what the new neighbours (excuse the pun!) think of that! X
 
So we went yard hunting at the weekend as we have now moved down! Made a list of what we want now so yard criteria is: grass livery (shelter a bonus-but good natural shelter), no less than 20mins road work to the forest, sand school massive bonus, people to hack with would be great!! Now just to find a yard that ticks all those boxes! :p
 
Hi,
I am looking for the same as you. Is that number still right for Hazelhurst farm? I've been ringing it but just get voicemail and never had a reply to any messages I've left!
 
Hi,
I am looking for the same as you. Is that number still right for Hazelhurst farm? I've been ringing it but just get voicemail and never had a reply to any messages I've left!

Hi im still at hazelhurst it's under new owners now though. They're full for stable liveries at the moment not sure about grass liveries but i my opinion it's full.....but I can pass your number on if u want? What livery are you after?
Tash
 
Top