Moving from Full livery to own yard ... advice

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Bedford Joy

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Can anyone offer advice or tips when moving horses from full livery on a strict yard to your own stables and paddocks where you will have sole responsibility for your horses.

For those who have made the transition have they found it much harder or have they enjoyed the extra time they now spend with their horses? or would you go back to livery in a heartbeat? Have you been able to get in help when you were sick etc ..

Also did you save much money when faced with having to buy in feed/bedding/hay etc

Advice please .... Thank you
 
Perhaps get in touch with CopperPot. I know that she has recently made this transition and appears to be loving it...
 
You will love it!

Just make sure you have a full set of tools, buckets, barrows, nets etc., sources for hay(lage)/straw. Freelance groom/cover for if you go away. Check fences are good before you move.

Then relax, put everything where you want it, do everything when you want to, and enjoy your horses your way.

ps.
You will have more jobs to do, so perhaps a little less time for the horses, but you will be around them while doing your maintenance etc.
I would recommend booking a freelance groom, if there is one around, to do a weekend morning every week, so you are established as "their client" and they will be more inclined to fit you in should you need more cover for holidays etc. It also gives you a day off and a lie in, which is lovely. We do this.
 
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I have kept my horses at home for about 12 years now having previously been on livery yards. There are pros and cons to both. I have a part time groom and a friend also keeps her horses at mine so there is always some one to ride with and to 'do' the horses if I can't - this was essential when I had pneumonia a few winters ago.

Don't underestimate the amount of time that you will have to allow for yard and field/fence maintenance. Whilst you will save money on livery there will be costs associated with the yard.

Having said the above I certainly don't regret not being on a livery yard.
 
I had my two horses on livery and as I have a long term illness I was unable to drive for about 200 days in the last year on livery so very dependent on them for help. We decided I would do more with the horses if I had them at home and didn't have to drive so just over a year ago we bought our own place. It was a big decision because my health is so unstable but I have good friends I can rely on for help as well as three or four people I can pay to do my horses when I am ill. It has been the best thing I have ever done, the horses are happier, I see so much more of them and although my health hasn't improved I can do more as I can pop into the house and rest whenever I need to. Socially it has been great but we stayed in the same area so all my friends are close by and a lot of them were as excited as I am about me moving here. I keep reading on here how much time people have to spend on maintenance but we really haven't had to do much. I have someone poo pick each week and use a paddock maintenance company to harrow, roll the fields etc and to collect the muck heap. Financially it works out cheaper than buying the machinery to do it ourselves. The horses stay out ATM but when we have built the new yard they will still spend far more time out than they did on livery which is so much better for them and less work for me. The flexibility and freedom to do as I want with my horses is the biggest bonus.
 
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