Livery yards!! The good, The bad & The too expensive

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Gucci_b

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Looking around for a good livery yard is a bad headache!!!!! some seem really nice but no facilities, crap fields ect ect
The bad one's look nice, untill you hear otherwise!!!
And then you have the all singing all dancing yards that charge heaven & earth to keep your horse there....
How do you decide????????????????
 
For me the be all and end all was whether the YO looked after your horse when you couldnt to the same standard that you would want if you did it yourself.

Peace of mind is worth everything.

Facilities as long as OK ish I dont think are important, and generally the better the facilities the bigger and more crowded the yard, so you struggle to get to use them!

Fields again, as long as OK and as long as horses always get to go out at least 3-4 hours a day all year round. I wouldnt go anywhere with less turnout than that even round London, for welfare reasons.
 
Well I am on an all-singing, all-dancing yard that is DIY, charges £18 a week (recently up from £16), £1.00 for BI/TO, 30p for water/hay/feed in at night, free for feed in in the AM, 2.00 skipping out, 2.00 first aid/walking out, 1.00 rug changes.

Pretty darn reasonable I think. The stables are tidy and well-maintained in small blocks. Indoor and outdoor school, bridletrack straight up to exmoor, turnout in small, single-sex herds and fields are rotated season by season, only 15 horses on livery, good storage areas and very secure, owners on site and the YO is a BHSAI. Lovely people, tidy/clean yard and my horses have already settled after less than a week. I know the yard and people well as we left there 6 years ago, but we were on another yard for 9 weeks which was dreadful and my horses just never ever settled - it was £25 a week and had rubbish turnout, good hacking, unsecure tackroom, unsecure stables/not private space for horses, no school... I know which I'd choose if they were side-by-side on paper, even though the latter yard is slightly closer to home.
 
My yard has the facilities but prices are on the up! Livery is £115 per month, t/o £2, skip out £3.50, all day £7.50 - winter only out every other day, so extra hay etc. They supply shavings, not allowed to bring our own in (even though DIY, but lack of storage) they charge 7.40, but I could get cheaper but not allowed, parking of my lorry is £40 per month - and its not even behind locked gates!!!! And its a 50mile round trip from home! On the plus side, I know the YO, trust them completely and know that if I ever get stuck, I only have to call/text and he will be done for me.
 
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On the plus side, I know the YO, trust them completely and know that if I ever get stuck, I only have to call/text and he will be done for me.

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And that is absolutely priceless and one reason why I moved my horses. Trusting the person who has your horses 'under their roof' for 24 hours a day is, I feel, imperative.

Your lorry parking seems quite steep and makes me thankful I can park my trailer at my in-law's house and that we make our own hay/straw and store at the in-laws. We have enough storage but I couldn't face being dictated to about what bedding I could use and where to buy it. However, every yard, without exception, has downsides.
 
you could try making a list and put them in order of priority this could help u make the decision a little easier and see which yard offers the best deal for your money .......be reasonable tho you may have to scrafice certain things
gd luck i know it can be stressful wrk
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Think of what your horse would like best from this yard...as a happy horse is a happy owner.. My first yard was good in some ways but the manager liked you to have your own acre.. great i hear you say but truth is my horse was lonely and wanted to groom and play with a herd, so he misbehaved and had attitude until i decide to move to a yard where he multi grazes with mixed gender, he is soooo happy and the yard is brill, small and sociable, he has turn out every day for as long as you choose. he is ready to come in at 5pm for his bed. For me it is all about convenience of accessing my horse at times which suit, i currently pay£95 p.m grazing and stabling, poo picking done by manager .bliss. hay bought in and delivered weekly to pallet in store by manager as is my bedding which i buy and choose, they store for me. Ooh hot water and a real loo for me ;-) Good liveries Do exist, but it is the people who are there which make them heaven or hell.. Good Luck and Happy Christmas.
 
I chose mine as it has all year round turnout (hardly any do near me), great hacking and just less than 5 miles from home, also has plenty of other facilities, but with all the price hikes recently, not cheap :-(

Think you just need to balance cost and top priorities you want from a yard.
 
My yard onmly does full livery which includes feeding, mucking out, turning out, bringing in and changing rugs etc. all feed and hay is included also bedding. They have excellent hacking, free trailer/lorry parking, a sand menage with floodlits which are free to use, get turnout with suitalbge horses and a stable and most importantly I can trust the yard owner and there are always there if I need adivce and they can take me to competitions (just pay for fuel) and will even hack out with me or go XC schooling etc. we knew them previously before putting my horse there and they charge £60 per week for a horse and £45 for a pony. Can't ask for much more!
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