starting a new livery yard

[mealies]

This is just an idea at the moment. I live on a 20 acre small farm owned by my parents in a small village with lots of horses around. My dad is thinking of getting out of sheep/cows and poss having a few liverys.

We have our own outdoor school and plenty of sheds for indoor stables and probably a small indoor school. There is plenty of grazing.

We thought about starting with 3/4 DIY liveries. Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether this could work, or any other big issues to consider??

I will have to look into isurance and planning permission for change of use.

Thank you.

 

[kerilli]

just make sure you set some rules from the start, such as that if they don't turn up, you'll get their horse in, feed it, or whatever, but for a fee.
i found that once my liveries discovered i'd do it if they didn't turn up, because i felt sorry for their poor horses, sometimes they didn't turn up for a few days...

the horses weren't really the problem, and i made some lovely friends because some liveries were brilliant, but some people really take the p, basically.
you need the patience of a saint with that type!
also, some livery yards can turn into a hotbed of bitchyness, and you'll have to get used to having your stuff 'borrowed' (or in some cases nicked), with certain types.

so you need ground rules, or a separate yard/tackroom for the liveries, maybe.
i think you need permission from the council, maybe change of use or something, if it's going to become a biggish affair. e.g. the planning permission you have for your outdoor school needs checking to make sure it's for commercial use, not private.
best of luck!

 

[Alimac19]

Sounds great I would love to have my own livery yard but I would rule with and iron fist!!! I have stayed on several livery yards and never had problems with the yard owners. I would agree though that main running problems would be:

1-Suff being taken. Always a problem if people dont have their own lockable tack rooms (also food/hay/bedding etc)

2-Tidyness. One of my bug bears. It should be a rule that everyone should tidy their own space and keep it that way.

3-Muck heaps. Will get much bigger with lots of liverys. make sure you have a disposal plan.

4-Safety. If you have someone on the yard who is not in the least safety concious (which happens alot) accidents will happen.

5-Tools. Mucking out tools which mysteriously dissapear all the time!

6-Nasty fighing horses. Some horses are just never compatible.

7-Trailer/lorry parking.

On the plus side though it's much nicer to have company on the yard.