Running a livery yard

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ricko64

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Dear All,
Could any one tell me if you NEED any qualifications to start-up and run a livery yard.

My daughter has been into horses for about 16 years and has been the only thing she has stuck at. Now a yard has come up and would like me to help (financially) Did I say, I know nothing about horses.

Any advice/help in making a decision would be most helpful.

I thank you all in advance
 
No you don't need any qualifications to run a livery yard. But good background in horses, knowledge and preferably a good old first aid kit.

Oh and insurence.

Lou x
 
You don't need any qualifications, just be prepared for hard graft, know enough about horses and have certain amount of diplomatic skills.
It's hard business, difficult to make money, so a good budget/business plan is essential.
If I can be of any help with more specific questions just give me a shout:)
 
I agree totally and in particular would say that diplomacy and a certain level of toughness is important. We have just had to ask somebody to leave (they were ignoring their horse and flatly refused to take advice!), it was really hard and dealing with naughty horses pales into insignificance to dealing with ignorant people!!
 
Thanks for the quick responses.

Is there a rule of thumb, how many staff to hoses would be needed? She will have 18 stables on 22acres. She is catering for all livery's grass, DIY , part/full and I understand this may be an impossible question.

What would make an ideal livery and how would I the novice(me) recognise one?

If you had to pick 3 things that would make a livery stable stand out,what would they be?

Any additional advise that you think would benefit me would be greatly received.

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH
 
Oooo I envy you! :)
Not sure I'm much help with the questions though...
Number of people to horses - depends on the livery type, if you have 22 on DIY its far less work than 22 on Full.

Identifying "Good" liveries - Maybe ask for references from previous horse homes?

Ensuring good liveries - Maybe ask for a deposit? (A yard I viewed recently has one)

Attractive yards:
- 24/7/365 Turn out?
- all weather school?
- Cover for vets/ farrier etc?
- Horse walker?
- Individual paddocks?
- Inclusive of hay/haylage/bedding?

Just some thoughts... :)
Dont suppose your setting up near Wiltshire by chance? :) - GOOD LUCK!
 
tchamberlain said:
Oooo I envy you! :)
Not sure I'm much help with the questions though...
Number of people to horses - depends on the livery type, if you have 22 on DIY its far less work than 22 on Full.

Identifying "Good" liveries - Maybe ask for references from previous horse homes?

Ensuring good liveries - Maybe ask for a deposit? (A yard I viewed recently has one)

Attractive yards:
- 24/7/365 Turn out?
- all weather school?
- Cover for vets/ farrier etc?
- Horse walker?
- Individual paddocks?
- Inclusive of hay/haylage/bedding?

Just some thoughts... :)
Dont suppose your setting up near Wiltshire by chance? :) - GOOD LUCK!
Click to expand...

Sorry Aylesbury buckinghamshire, thanks
 
I can only say from experience - I can do 9 myself on full livery if I don't have to exercise them as well, that gives me time to mess about on the tractor with rolling, harrowing etc and have a bit of a life but not much:)
Interestingly, people say they want walkers, this that and the other - I have a 4 horse walker, solarium, wash bays and every gadget you could dream of - guess what, the solarium hasn't been on since before Xmass when I used it to dry my clothes off, the walker gets used maybe once a week and the rug dryer hasn't been on since new:D
 
Martlin if I were relocating to Lincoln I'd be at your yard!
I'd give anything to put my boys on the walker whilst I muck out in the mornings :)
 
Be tough dont let anyone get away with anything !!

i would only do part and full livery (mixing with DIY doesnt work and always causes arguements)

My groom does 13 a day (they are all out day though) and will work about 4

If i had a yard of 18 I would have 2 staff !!

buy in bulk if you do offer feed then do you basic nut or mix with chaff - anything else the owner buys themselves or you will end up buying 20 different bags of feed a week !! (NIGHTMARE)
 
I believe that DIY liveries are the most grief and least profit! Full and part liveries are the best. Lingfield Correspondence do a correspondence course costing £129 (I was just on their website finding it out becuase I want my own yard further down the line) and it seems to comprehensively cover running a livery yard. They should come up from Google Lingfield Equestrian or Lingfield Correspondence. You need to consider liability insurance, Health and Safety and how you want things to run. Storage for hay, bedding, feed, rugs, horse's possessions, a diary for the menage, removal of muck heap, pasture management, any restrictions on types of bedding, can you supply haylage, etc.

3 points for a good yard, I'd be wanting all year turnout, even if it's only an hour a day in winter. A menage in good condition - i.e. level surface, no membrane showing through. Access to good hacking e.g. not leading onto a main or fast or busy road.
 
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For me the most important thing about a livery yard is being able to trust the Yard Owner and their staff. I've only been at one yard in 20 years where I've had a trustworthy yard owner. Someone that you can trust to feed your horse exactly the right amounts with the exact supplements that you want in them. Someone that will give your horse enough hay at night, and take out any wasted hay that fussy horses wont eat. Someone that will make sure that your horses water bucket is full.Someone that will make sure that your horse has enough or not too many rugs on. Someone who turns your horse out everyday or makes suitable provisions if your horse cant be turned out.

Just the most basic stupid things I would like to have done , yet you cant seem to trust the average YO with even the basic care these days, I kid you not!

Most YO that Ive had on full livery have starved my horse, forgot to feed it, not given it any water, left them without hay or night, forgot to turn it out and left it in a ****ty stable all day with hot night rugs on, turned horse out in fields with dodgy fencing - bits of post and rails lying about with nails sticking up. Not put rugs on at night and left it freezing cold. It all seems to be so difficult!! :(
 
From a DIYer's point of view :)

When people come to see/ring up about a livery space - answer their questions honestly ie if turnout in winter is limited, say so. If anything, slightly understate the facilities, services etc, it much better to be pleasantly suprised rather than disappointed a little further down the line.

Have a basic contract and make sure that both parties adhere to it.

Make sure that every livery has adequate storage for feed, bedding etc

YO/YM should be professional - by definition, liveries are paying customers not pals and it makes it sooooooooo much easier to sort out problems if there isn't a blurring between the lines.

Those are the customer service "issues" that spring to mind.

From a business point of view:

Get the livery paid paid one month in advance by standing order/direct debit into a business bank account

Make sure that H&S rules and regulations are in place and that it can be shown to be more than "lip service"- boring I know but it can be the difference between an insurance claim being accepted if there is an incident or ending up being prosecuted (worse case scenario admittedly)

Register with HMCR asap and keep your accounts in good order.

Diversify if possible - that's not a lot of stables or acreage but if you have extra buildings for instance, look at buying hay in summer to sell on locally during winter or acting as an agent for one of the smaller feed companies....remember that you can charge for delivery if you don't want extra people coming and going. Or schooling liverys if your daughter is capable enough...

Can't think of anything else at the mo.

I looked at all the above a few years back when I considered buying a farm/livery yard with my accountants hat on and tbh the customer service bit was relativly easy to sort out (IMHO) but the red tape and paperwork was a potential nightmare.....to say nothing of covering the bills!
 
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