Most Expensive Full Livery In The Country?!?

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Mithras

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Apologies if you're sick of this post and have seen it on soapbox, in which case ignore it but honestly I am so astounded I just have to vent a bit more.

After recieving a bill in advance for January of £407 for full livery, I've decided enough is enough and have arranged to move yards at the end of the month. It was supposed to be £75 per month plus about £12 for hay and straw but apparantly January is a long month!?!

I have a small paddock back home in Midlothian with a field shelter so I took her home for the holidays and in total she will be with me 3 weeks, costing YO absolutely zilch in hay and straw, no mucking out, turning out, nothing. My box wouldnt be occupied by anyone else as its a new yard and there are loads of empty boxes. I asked in advance if it would be possible to get a discount if I took her home. The answer was no, fair enough I thought, you dont get a discount on your rent or mortgage when your'e not there, until I realised the 3 other liveries get to change between full and part livery as it suits them.

But I was up in Aberdeen today for work and went along to the yard to get more hard feed to take home. And guess what? My stable was occupied, obviously for the night, with a pony on MY mats. That really takes the bixcuit, doesnt it?

I dont know if any of you recall my previous posts, but I feel like I am a complete nuisance to the owners rather than any kind of valued customer. This is the yard I've been at for 2 months and was given a row for the noise of my hoofbeats sending the neighbour's half mile distant horses crazy. There is poor hacking but I'm allowed to ride in the tiny bit of wood, EXCEPT I mus'nt ride on the paths as her mother walks her dog there and doesnt want it to get muddy. The YO changed her full livery service from including rug changes to not, so my horse has to live in her turn out rugs all the time (if I wanted them changed it would have cost me £470 for this month!). She operates the stable mats system (my own mats!) and gives the tiniest amount of bedding in the corner, Must take no time at all to muck out.

Oh, and my livery price goes up if hay and straw go up and I provide all my own hard feed.

So no wonder I feel I am being taken for complete mug. So the question is, do I go quietly and write the £407 off to experience, or do I ask for a discount, at least on the hay and straw and the fact that I didnt get the exclusive use of my box as promised? Is it worth the aggro and falling out with someone? I dont think I'll get a discount btw, tight-fisted is what its all about.
 
Can't quite understand the post if it is £75 a month why is January £407?Did you mean £75 a week?
You don't seem to be able to find the right yard but I should look again as this one seems strange
 
wow that is expensive! My friends had to keep their horses on full livery at a yard for a couple of months when their old one closed down. That was £70 a week and i thought that was bad! And they had an equally rubbish service - horribly dirty rubber matting with a tiny bit of shavings in the corner. And they should have called it DIY, as my friends had to go up twice a day to muck out, feed etc. And they kept cows in the stables! They moved away from there as quick as possible!

x
 
So let me get this right... you were supposed to pay £75 per month + £12 for hay & straw but your YO has charged you £407? If this is so i would deffo move! Also did you have a written agreement? I wolud query the use of your stable as thay are your mats. If was an emergency & needed your stable a simple phone call would surely be polite. If you are moving anyway then Ide say definitely challenge her about anything your not happy about, at least it gets it out of your system.
 
That sounds pretty awful, I would be interested to hear what yard you're at
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Full livery at my yard isnt exactly cheap where I am...£340 per month.
I would get out of there asap if I were you!
 
Yep, £75 a week I meant. Was what I was told when I moved there. No idea how they have managed to stretch that to £407 for a month although it goes up to 3 Feb and adds on the hay and straw. But not rug changing, obviously!
 
Works out as an extra £26 ish a week - sure they've not hiked their prices without telling you? It's a huge increase though

If I were you I'd just get on with with and avoid the agro, plus find somewhere where you know you'll get the services you are paying for
 
I haven't read the whole thread, so forgive me if I'm overloooking something, but £407 per month isn't especially expensive for full livery!
 
Yep, another horse in the stable sounds familiar! I' m giving mine upnext month. No point paying for something if you don't use it.

I used to be on full grass livery in London. 330 in summer,360 in winter and he lived out all the time. But I had total confidence that he was being looked after as it was well organised and thus worth it.
 
It would be an extra £40-£45 a week or so if it included rug changing. I had been there a month when it was announced rug changing would henceforth cost an extra £2 a day if I wanted it, as it took too long and was an unnecessary luxury single horse owners liked to indulge their horses in as turnout rugs are so good now. All very well, but I dont think my boss at work would be too happy if I announced I would no longer be doing part of my job as it was unnecessary and too hard work, but would expect to be paid the same!

The use of my stable is a damned cheek. They made so much fuss about me having to pay the full rate while my horse wasnt there, and then to find out this. I can only assume they used my box because some of their spare boxes do not have mats and they would have had to put more bedding in.

Have found somewhere nice to move to I hope. Poor horse, fortunately she is extremely laid back and settles in quickly.
 
I have a yard where I put mine on hols, it costs £100 per week, including everything.

I call full livery everything; that is feed, hay, bed, rug changes, grooming, and even riding if I wish, to my specification.

This also covers the YO phoning me up anytime anything is wrong such as my horse putting its foot through the fence and whether he needs vet, is lame, etc.
 
I should think that by a long month they use four and five week months, rather than actual days, and so January was a five week month. This seems quite common at yards, probably just to make the maths simpler.

I wish I could get full livery for only £400 or so a month.

Your bigger issue does seem to be about quality of service etc so you are quite right to move on if you aren't happy.
 
Also I think your lady sounds mean and nasty and lazy.

She should buck up her ideas, and I think you should try to get your mats, pay a token gesture and get out quick, I certainly wouldn't pay her up front for when you are not there and tell her:-

"you seem to have let my stable and my mats"
 
I know of places charging close to £200 a week but that's the joyous SE/London prices

Not just livery prices that are more expensive, look at lesson prices too
 
[ QUOTE ]
its a new yard and there are loads of empty boxes.

[/ QUOTE ]

The YO treats you like this and wonders why there are loads of empty boxes?! That's not 'full livery' in my book. Are there any other yards you could move to in your area?
 
OK, most expensive in Scotland surely!?

Just to be clear, this £407 for full livery does not include rug changing, hard feed, grooming, picking out hooves, or riding. It only includes turn out, bring in, give provided feeds, put hay on floor of stable, minimal bedding and mucking out of minimal bedding. Thats it. And my horse will only actually be there half of this month. There is no indoor school or hot water (though I knew that when I moved there). If I wanted rug changing it would have cost me £470 this month. And this is rural Aberdeenshire, in the north east of Scotland, not London or the Home Counties!

Yes, I think you are right about the 4 and 5 week months, but I just have a feeling that whatever happens, I will end up paying more for less and less. New yard is £315 for full livery excluding hard feed but including rug changing, which seems more the norm up here.
 
Unfortunately that is not expensive for full livery........BUT I would NOT expect to find my box used if I wasn't there and I WOULD expect rug changing and hay/straw/normal feed to be included.
Didn't you bill have a breakdown of charges ? for a 5 week month, a bit of hay/straw and something else (rug clean ? farrier visit ? clip ? schooling ?) it could easily come to £407, ask her for a breakdown of charges, get any money back you can, and move asap, for that sort of money the least they can do is make you feel like a valued customer.
 
think i may just have manged to send you a pm! (sorry great achievement for me!!)

I had to put my 2 competition horses on full livery in aberdeen and it was an absolute disaster. Ended up with one horse who was absolutely psycopathic after being beaten by the owner and another with a serious metabolic problem from the innappropriate fertilizing of the grazing.

thankfully I now rent part of a private yard which although not perfect, allows me to keep my horses as i see fit!

£13 a day is pretty much the going rate up here but that would include a rug change - usually 2. I used to pay £180 a week i n Buckinhamshireand that was dreadful - amazing what people get up to with other peoples horses when they think no-one will find out!!
 
even tower farm is not that much
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where in Midlothian are you? might of passed you as my mother is out that way
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Thanks Hayleycob, but there is no need for me to ask for a breakdown of charges as that is the basic full livery. I have already paid seperately for lessons, farrier visit, schooling and rug clean. Stable rug is now filthy again anyway as she has to wear it under her t/o rug to stay warm as no rug changing.

£407 would be pricy for Aberdeenshire but fine if it were a luxury full service, but its not, its very basic. Yes I knew hay and straw were extra when I moved there but I certainly did not expect rug changing to be removed at will from the service! And I did not expect a tiny bit of straw in one corner of the box and to be told more would cost, yes, you've guessed, extra.

Near Lasswade ASBO, but that is my own place. Yard is in Aberdeenshire. Unfortunatley I have to work in Aberdeen for the time being. I am rapidly realising things are somewhat different where horses and a lot of other things are concerned up here.

I think the best thing to do is to walk away. I have already paid the bill. I am just venting because it makes me feel better. I do think its unfair not to have offered me a discount out of good manners, I mean if I have to pay extra for hay and straw, surely it is not beyond them to not charge me for hay and straw if I dont actually use it? But if thats the sort of people they are then I am well out of it...

Some things were good eg keeping in contact re things that came up, but I just cannot afford to keep shelling out indefinate sums.

To be honest, I took my horse home to for the holidays and am not hurrying back because I was so sick of the place and of being nagged at for the smallest thing, I just didnt want to be there, so all in all it has cost me a lot of money.
 
one of my best friends pays £140 week full livery. Plus another £65 (discounted!!) to have 3 lessons OR have their horse ridden. I cannot believe this price it's a small but well run (if not a bit too strictly for my liking and don't start me on this) only 10 horses good school, ok but not great hacking, nice stables but we're not talking lodden or monarch and you pay extra if you want haylage.

I keep telling her to buy somewhere and have them at home as the increase in mortgage and having someone much out would be cheaper!
 
I was paying £400 or so part livery in Herts. That didnt include lots of thing but it DID include some bedding and sufficient hay and T/O / bring in which included picking out feet and rugs and kisses and any ointments etc. And no way would another horse be appearing in my stable!!

Ive moved to DIY now i have 2 naglets.

We are soon moving to Aberdeenshire (!) but, thank goodness from your tales, we have our own land and our own stables are trying to be built but with the ice and the wind and the snow the base laying isnt going very well (youd think we'd have had more sense wouldnt you!). But at least once up it means we wont have any livery £££.
 
I hope you've got your winter woolies packed, as it is a cold part of the country! It actually hurts your skin!

Well as I say I have paid the bill without any arguements. And the stable thing was apparantly a one off mistake. I dont actually like moving around too much but just didnt feel right there. There were obviously some things that made me want to stay longer to get the benefit of them but dont want to end up arguing with people, which might have been the case had I stayed. And in the long run not falling out with people is more important than arguing about £80 or £100 or whatever. I do prefer paying the same amount each month though.

Its so much nicer keeping your horse at home if you can, though at least with livery you dont have to keep another equine solely for company and can go away on holiday without excessive planning. There are clearly some very expensive livery yards in the SE, but then thats only to be expected I guess in that area.
 
When I read that you had been charged £407 for the month, my first reaction was shock that you had named the thread "Most Expensive Full Livery In The Country?!?" as when I use full livery it is £120 per week and atm I pay £70 per week for part livery and don't think it is that expensive. However when I read on, yes you pay too much for the service as the service seems crap! For one, to me, it is not full livery if they won't change change your horses rugs
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Also, I would certainly expect a full bed - What if you didn't want to buy mats? Would they still just have a corner of bedding
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My horse has mats (that I bought - I wouldn't expect any thing else than for the owner to buy them) but he still has a full bed on top of them as the mats are my choice as an extra. I would be very peeved if his bed was reduced to a small corner because I had bought them.
Livery yards usually provide basic feeds and you provide any "extras" eg. balancer, or of course it is your choice just to not use what is on offer and buy your own but it is, IMO, odd for the yard to provide no feed options at all!?
Hacking sounds crappy too.
£75 per week is a very good price IMO for full livery..... if the service is good - otherwise it is just cheap (as oposed to a very good deal!).
 
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