livery Yard

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Katieholdaway

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I am looking into starting up my own livery yard at a wonderful place in Chobham, Surrey on an Assisted DIY and Part Livery basis. I am going to start the rates low to get people in as soon as possible. It has great facilities and the best grazing ever. Is there anyone that would be interested in bringing there horse/pony? Please let me know. Youngters will be welcome as well as children and single horse turnout possible
 
hum... not the best way top get ppl.. also advertisin so admin will be on ya in a mo... why dont you introduce yourself..

also if you star prices cheep n suddenly increase people will leave.
lou x
 
yep not a good way keep prices the same as other yards with same facitilites and if you get a good reputation then getting more liveries wouldnt be a problem x
 
People wont come to your yard just because the rates are low - and if they do, they are likely to leave as soon as you put the prices up which wont help you.

They will come if you offer good service and really look after their horses.

For example, I would be happier paying £10 more a week if I knew my horses were getting ad lib hay, AYTO, and their beds were clean. Conversely I would not pay £10 less for my horses to stand in on filthy beds with 2 sections of hay a day.

Livery clients are different from DIY clients - you have to be able to trust that the person looking after your horse knows what they are doing and will treat them well. They arent always going to be swayed by the price, as they will know that there is a minimum that you have to pay, and anything less means the quality of care will be compromised. I have been on 4 full livery yards and the price per week has been about the same (over a 4 year period). They all offered about the same in terms of feed, hay and bedding but the facilities available varied wildly. I left them for various reasons, but the one that I left for standard of care had the best facilities - they just didnt believe in feeding your horse.
 
Where abouts in Chobham?
There is a fair bit of competition in the area and cheap prices will often put people off - things are usually cheap for a reason!!
I know of a couple of yards in Chobham who have had money problems and they were charging the going rate. Also check that your fields are not flooded in winter - it gets very very wet in places.
Advertise in local tack shops etc and if you are good you will soon fill up. Word of mouth is probably your best advert - satisfied customers soon spread the word.
Good luck.
 
Thanks for ur advise, I work at a very upper class livery with ok facilities but the grazing is not as good. It is full and most people have been there over 5-10yrs. We look after there horses brilliantly as if they where are own we even go ouy our way to make fuss of them as some of the owners only come down about once a month, grooming, bathing, treats, washing tails, hugs and kisses. I really feel sorry for them really the same thing day in day out, they pay £130 per week but never see there horses. The care of the horses would obviously be my mane priority, I plan to completely muck out all stables daily with deap beds and all horses get fully groomed and feet picked daily. and the obvious feed and rug change. All there seporate needs will be catered for. Its a small yard so easier to care for there individual needs. Also I would really be charging half that price.
 
Its in Chobham Park. I would not say its cheap cheap but compared to others in the area its cheap. I still feel its expensive my self but for the care there horses will give it will definatly be worth it. The best part is the grazing and that why i like it, the horses can stay out from morning to late afternoon all year round. The grazing is really dry he even drove a tractor across the middle and it did not churn up or hardly marked.
 
All it is I am really worried about taking on the yard and no one wants to bring there horses, I will loose so much money, I am borrowing it from my mum and if it does not work out she won't ever lend it to me again, I will be working part time along side so have my wages coming in but dont want to end up spending all my wages on the rent. I need to be at least 99.9% sure it will work before I go ahead with it.
 
I really dont think you can run a full livery yard and only charge £75 per week.

You need to take into account rent, feed, hay, bedding etc, as well as a proportion of the rates, insurance, electricity, water ... and that's before you even pay yourself a wage.

If the yard is everything that you say it is, and you are going to offer a very high standard of care, then I would charge £130 if that is the going rate for full livery in your area. If you have less facilities, then you need to reduce it by a little, perhaps.

I was at a large yard which had everything. I am now on a small yard which has nothing. I pay the same rent. Why? Because it is 15 mins closer to where I live, and that makes a huge difference in being able to see them everyday and seeing them on the weekends only. We were happy at the big yard but I didnt feel as though they were my horses. Now I see them everyday, and although I probably dont ride as much (really miss an indoor school when the outdoor is frozen solid!) I spend more time with my horses.

Do a careful analysis of the costs - it is very hard to make money out of livery and it is hard work - especially if you have a part-time job on the side.
 
thank you, I was planning to charge about £380pm including hay and bedding for part livery (x5) and £200/£220 for Assisted DIY (x2) the Assisted DIY have smaller stables but are inside, the Part Liverys are outside but the stables are massive. I can manage the work if I only have 5 to do each day and a local friend of mine is going to do 3 days a week in return for one of the smaller stables for her pony. In all I would roughly be making between £600-£1000 a month thats after Rent is paid, water and eletric is in with the rent. I have gone over the sums plenty of times but really need to find a price I am happy with and stick to it. Then all I need to take off the monthly profit us hay and straw which in researching now to see the price in bulk. Thanks for your advise it has helped. Also I have looked in all the local horse shops and there is no livery advertised in Chobham at the moment and one has a waiting list. All the liverys that are advertised are quite away away where there is not that great hacking.
 
Hi Katie, I would agree with CB Anglo - def get everything costed out as in the current climate, shavings are getting harder and harder to come by and seem to be at a premium (around £8 per bale in some places) and hay will also increase now we're coming into winter. The price of feed has increased too so it's these things you have to coinsider and I too would charge a lot more than £75 per week. I pay £80 per week for 5 day livery and am DIY at weekends. After paying someone to muck out mon-fri and the cost of bedding/feed/hay etc, my yard owner doesn't really make anything on top - and she owns the premises (no rent!)

Good luck with the venture - I hope it works out!!
 
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