Part/full livery in summer

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bluewhippet

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My horse is at a lovely small yard with all the facilities I need and great hacking. I chose part livery because he is my first horse and I am a single parent with small children so it was difficult to get to yard twice a day, although I have plenty of time in middle of the day to muck out groom ride etc.

I pay £60 a week which includes all feed and bedding and I get rugs/turn out etc but I muck out myself.

My horse is now living out completely and it occurs to me what an incredibly expensive way of paying for grass livery this is! But I do know there is someone there to keep an eye on him and I suppose it is just what you have to put up with if you are on full/part livery.

What do other people do? Does their livery rate reduce in summer or is it just something you have to put up with for peace of mind and a nice yard?
 
The wages of the staff that care for your horse in the winter must be paid all year or the yard will find it difficult to get any decnt staff if they only employ them for the winter months!
 
My fee's are greatly reduced in the summer for just grass livery but i still have the use of my stables, and of course they are always kept an eye on.
 
Im guessing your livery doesnt increase through out the winter when your horse is in alot more and eating more hay/feed and using more bedding so it kind of weighs itself out really. Your not paying a really inreasonable amount for what your getting ours is 210 a month complety DIY but that include no hard feed and no help whatsoever, and they usually also live out over they summer, so your not really getting a bad deal.
 
It's a tiny yard so only the owner. I don't use any hard feed, hay, bedding in summer - 24 turn out.

Wasn't actually complaining - just wondered what other people felt about it. DIY where I am averages £25 a week.
 
my horse is moving up to the big yard to go onto part livery works out at 55 a week, as i will use my own feed, dont want to change what feed he is on, he lives in all year round so will be that rate all year, im just happy to know that now im doing 3 14 hour shifts a week that he will be turned out and brought in every day, and he will get mucked out by my mum when she has the time before the staff bring him in, that way i dont have to worry about who is turning him out/bringing in, or if he is being checked on as the staff are there 24/7 at the big yard :)
 
I wish I could find part livery at £60 per week!
My livery costs don't reduce in summer when my horse lives out, but I wouldn't expect them to. The maintainence required to make sure fields have grass in all summer and are in a safe condition costs money too.
 
It's not really part livery though is it? as I think she said that she does her own mucking out so I think £60 per week is expensive.
 
I agree, for me part livery would include mucking out but around here that would be around £110 a week.

But in answer to the Op's question - no I would not expect my summer livery to be cheaper than winter. Most yards average the cost out across the year and divide by 52 to get a weekly rate. Only caveat is that if it is the yard insisting the horse lives out full time rather than the op then I would expect a reduction unless I was advised of this when I was given the livery contract.
 
I think that is expensive, surely there should be a summer reduction if they are not being fed etc?

If someone was really cheeky and I have known people to do it, they could use the livery in the winter months, then move to another yard on grass livery for less and move back again in the winter when they needed their horse brought in?

How does that balance out the cost for the livery owner then?
 
bluewhippet said:
It's a tiny yard so only the owner. I don't use any hard feed, hay, bedding in summer - 24 turn out.

Wasn't actually complaining - just wondered what other people felt about it. DIY where I am averages £25 a week.
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At the mo you're paying £60 x 52 = £3,120pa

So if you were total DIY:
£25/week x 52 = £1,300
Bedding - say £7/bale, 1.5 bales/week for 7 months = £318.50
Hay - say 2 bales/week @ £6/bale for 7 months = £364
Feed - depends on what you feed, and if you still do throughout the summer but say average a sack of chaff every 3 weeks = £225 plus a sack of feed a fortnight = £260
Plus turnout, bring-in twice a day for 7 months @ £2/each way each day = £850
Plus field-check twice a day for 5 months @ say £2/day = £300

Total just under £3,400 - obv less if you have a cheaper to feed, clean horse. I don't think you're getting a bad deal.

elsbells said:
I think that is expensive, surely there should be a summer reduction if they are not being fed etc?

If someone was really cheeky and I have known people to do it, they could use the livery in the winter months, then move to another yard on grass livery for less and move back again in the winter when they needed their horse brought in?

How does that balance out the cost for the livery owner then?
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I think you'd find that if a livery did that, the YO wouldn't have them back.
 
i dont reduce my livery charges in summer as my costs dont drop to maintain the yard. fertilizer and spray, rolling, harrowing, topping, pooh picking fields soon mounts up. grass doesnt grow for free!!! horses still fed, stables always ready for use, facilities the same. insurance, rates and water is another hidden cost that clients dont seem to take into account either.
 
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