Offering livery- Advice please!

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Devon-Rider

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I am thinking of offering full grass livery (for horses that live out, with a stable available only for emergencies), and am expecting that I will mainly look to have a handful of retired or non-ridden horses or possibly one or two happy hackers who ride fairly infrequently (no schooling facilities, but outstanding hacking location). I would provide the day to day care and charge according to each horse/owners individual needs.

What would I need to do with regard to insurance/business requirements?

Thanks in advance!
 
Try KBIS or SEIB they will know the ins and outs.
You are not offering retirement livery, you should make sure the owner has to visit daily to inspect horse , and that you can call a vet in if you feel the need [ at their expense], make sure you get payment in advance etc etc. There is a danger someone drops a horse off, pays you £200 and that is the last you see of them,, unlikely, but possible.
 
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Speak to a sensible broker about insurance (public liability, employers etc) NFU a good starting point they can tell you what you need and give you a quote

Speak to a financial advisor about paying tax and keeping records of income and expenditure to prepare accounts.

Speak to the council about planning regulations and paying business rates on your property

Retirement livery is typically all inclusive at c. £25 a week - so don't expect to earn a living from doing it.
 
Thank you for replying! Actually, what I don't really want is owners coming up every day. We're quite out of the way here so i would expect it would be most suitable for people who only want to visit infrequently for whatever reason (horse is resting, retired, injured, young, only ridden occasionally etc). But good thought about people turning up and dropping off a horse never to be seen again! That possibility hadn't really occurred to me. Hopefully i will get lots of replies here that will give me all sorts of things like that to think about. I would only allow selected people- it wouldn't be a particularly significant portion of my income so would rather have the right people/horses than fill the space. Perhaps local would be the way forward- people who I know or know of from the local area for example to guard against the likelihood of abandonment!
 
Polos Mum said:
Speak to a sensible broker about insurance (public liability, employers etc) NFU a good starting point they can tell you what you need and give you a quote

Speak to a financial advisor about paying tax and keeping records of income and expenditure to prepare accounts.

Speak to the council about planning regulations and paying business rates on your property

Retirement livery is typically all inclusive at c. £25 a week - so don't expect to earn a living from doing it.
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To me retirement livery is like full livery for a retired horse, which would require stabling for all in winter, feeding and tlc. It costs £60.00 per week round here, but they need, and get, need lots of tlc.
 
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Ok thank you- yes, it would only be for horses or ponies that people wanted to live out (its more common in Devon than perhaps some other parts of the country for horses to live out, and in some instances I think people who want that struggle to find places that can offer it so it might be a plus point) and so the price would reflect that. I wasn't aware that retirement necessarily implies stabling so perhaps I would have to think about calling it something different. I live on site and all horses would be checked over etc at least twice daily, and brought in for feeding etc if necessary. Good point about the passports, thank you!
 
I would be interested in grazing livery if I ever need to return to a yard, but I would want to do my horses twice a day. What you are offering is quite specialised. Maybe horses on field rest after an injury would suit? TBH, I'd still want to see my horse daily even (or especially) in that situation.
 
I think that if you are offering retirement livery on Dartmoor many people would hope to have either stabling or walk in barns especially in winter for their horses. Would you be able to offer this? Otherwise it would be endless rugging and a lot of older horses may well need a fair amount of supplementary feed.
 
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