Please help me find livery in Herford, Germany

[emmah1979]

Just found out (2 days after buying a new horse) that in a month's time I'm being sent to Herford, Germany for 18 months. Arghhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Does anyone have any experience of keeping horses there? Looking for livery for 2 horses. No idea what to expect in terms of livery over there. Can I expect same price and turnout as in UK?

Any experiences or advice gratefully received.

 

[sillygillyhorse]

All the yards I looked at in the Berlin area had plenty of turnout, mainly in groups not individual. Offenstall was pretty much grass livery often with hay included during winter months.

Most places seemed to offer half or full board. The services I understood I would be getting were box, turnout, bedding, hay, hard feed (3 x daily), horse turned out/brought in (including rug changes), mucked out seven days of the week. Use of whatever facilities were there, all ones I earmarked had both indoor and several outdoor arenas. Prices were from €395 to €495 per horse per month. One yard used wood pellet bedding, one used mix straw and shavings, another only provided straw shavings you had to buy your own.

If you want to compete over there then contact BEF (British Equestrian Federation) and ask about them providing written confirmation of any riding achievements in the UK so you have written proof of your ability.

Try the website www.stall-frei.de to search for yards near where you will be. My biggest problem was the yards I found in areas I liked didn't have English speakers and my German was (and still is) non-existent. I was also struggling to find a good showjumping yard with English speaking trainers, coming off a professional jump yard in UK with in house trainer I wanted similar in Berlin and, in the short time I had to look, didn't find what I wanted.

That said everyone we met went out of their way to try to help and were incredibly welcoming

 

[sillygillyhorse]

Germany is a very "horsey" country. Ask employees of the firm you are going to work for if they can help. Several people in firm my OH works for had horse interests and were able to advise in which local yards were good etc.

 

[emmah1979]

Thanks Sillygillyhorse. Really useful. I'm going to phone some yards tomorrow and see what I can find.

 

[GeneralGordon2]

I have a horse at a German yard in Herford along with three other English owners. It is €210 per month for full livery, paddock boxes cost approximately €20 extra. During the winter you can opt to pay extra for winter turnout but during the summer months there is no extra fee. It has an indoor riding school, an outdoor jumping arena and an outdoor dressage arena. I also know of at least another 3 yards in Herford. The one I use is Dornberger Heide on Senderstrasse.