Surprisingly quiet! What am I doing wrong...re livery yard.

[Honey08]

Things that stood out for me -

Its coming into summer, not the time people think about full livery so much, a lot of people would hang on DIY over the summer and think about full/part as we come into winter.

The prices seemed on the high side to me. Could you knock any off? It may be the average in your area, but at the minute it isn't attracting.. For £100/wk I would expect seven days livery really. Around here I could pay around £75pw part livery for seven days for a big horse on a decent yard. The only yard that is £100pw has two indoor schools and great facilities.

Although you will offer livery for all types of rider, it did sound very western orientated to me from your posts. Western is interesting, but nobody wants to feel like the odd one out if they are a dressage rider on a western yard, for example, people tend to veer to like minded yards.

I agree with the open day - do a mulled wine or a punch and let people see the facilities. Would your insurance cover a clear round jumping show perhaps? Easy to organise, no faults to add up or times.. Could you organise a clinic with your other instructors too, to make it seem an all round place?

Finally, when we did livery I found you either had ten people asking to come on the yard and no room, or a famine. Liveries seemed to be like buses! Its early days, just keep advertising and hopefully it will get there sooner or later. Its unlikely that all your boxes will fill for a while. As your reputation gets out things should pick up. Good luck.

 

[galaxy]

Part livery in that area of Hampshire is around £110 a week so the pricing is about right. Most yards are full or there abouts so people will pay it.

Op, have you thought about the first months livery discounted or something to generate interest? I have seen other yards in the area do this. I do think it may be your western focus which is the main problem. But not sure what you can do about that.....

 

[mystiandsunny]

I think people would love to come and see a Western demo (especially if they don't ride that way themselves!), and if you offered that as part of an open day (poss with barbecue or tea and cakes), then people would see the facilities etc first hand.

 

[shadeofshyness]

Can you post a link to your livery yard's website? Maybe we can make suggestions based on that. You may have already done this, but getting some clear, high-quality photos on it would really help - people can be drawn in visually and then will read the details. Take them on a sunny day, get some hanging baskets up, make sure there are horses in stables, preferably not looking grumpy!

 

[AmyMay]

Have you thought about offering DIY - but with the proviso that services must be used at additional cost at least once a day?

 

[Debz87]

Hello again everyone, again...thanks for all the replies, will do my best to respond to everything!

I'm not sure how effectively you could enforce DIY liveries to use services and as there are existing DIY liveries at the yard who will be allowed to stay until they move on I don't want to be over run with this type of livery as I don't think it would be fair to ask them to leave when I get the liveries prepared to pay out more, so think it's best to avoid that route.

Also the price I would have to charge DIY's to cover cost of the stable is probably more than they would want to pay.

I have said available mid April to May as I thought this would allow anyone interested to give appropriate notice as from research most yards seem to request a month notice period, so thought May would work well as the school would be finished and round pen built.

I have tried to push the western side of things on appropriate sites and leave the livery part of it pretty neutral as not to put anyone off.

I was slightly worried that asking for the months rent in advance may put people off but I can't afford to get into a situation where liveries don't pay me on time, the only difference I have considered is a slight drop in the price if you provide all your own bedding and feed etc but I think this would cost people more, I would be ordering for my training liveries so could get a better deal for bedding etc than they probably could plus I don;t have to find lots of storage for it and worry about people nicking each others hay or bedding which I would like to think wouldn't happen but obviously it could happen, so just want to eliminate any issues.

 

[Tilda]

Perhaps you could offer assisted DIY livery which includes feeding and then bring in or turn out at one end of the day? My yard offers this as a minimum and they charge about £12 more a week than the standard DIY round here.

 

[mudmudmud]

I haven't advertised things that aren't in place yet such as the horse walker that's on it's way, perhaps I'm wrong but I was offering 5 day part livery (so everything but riding for £100 or £120 for 7 days)
Bedding, forage and feed could be included for that price or have suggested people contact me with their own requirements etc

Eeek, that's mighty expensive, in my area anyway. For £80 per week you can have full livery including all bedding, hay and feed, 7 days a week on a yard with onsite hacking, 3 indoor schools and 1 outdoor, horse walker and tack shop.

 

[iconique]

For that area your charges are about right, but there are a fair amount of DIY to compete with and a little further down towards waterlooville some that are cheaper. I'm not that way any more, but would suggest TDS, Dunnings, the feedstore places like Farringdons or even countrywide at Winchester? I can't place where you are at West Meon and you don't show up on an easy search on Google, so I'd suggest registering for a google places, although can make you easy to find for thieves? Also what about the riding clubs - some people travel quite far and the A32/A3 gives good access and fantastic hacking - if yours is good, I'd make a point of sharing it, although I think you have done so already.
Don't concede on a deposit, it will only leave you out of pocket and price wise if you cut your prices, you will probably attract people you don't want, if you are in it for the long term then be patient, keep promoting and do an open day to get your name out there!
Also you've been stating April to May, most who want to move do it for a reason and not always a good one, it may be putting people off and putting their enquiry off? if its available now then tell people!
Funnily enough the person who mentioned Frenches (which is only 10 mins away from me in Essex) I watched that grow momentum and as a result has a great reputation already, the visiting instructors being a real pull - if your planning allows then it might be worth running some clinics or allowing instructors without a base to hire your facilities and see what a lovely set up you have? They put up loads of pics and did the social media thing well.
Good luck and hope you fill up soon!

 

[LynH]

I find that specific things help draw people to certain livery yards, one nr here was known for including 3 bales of shavings or straw per week and another for all bedding being included so no additional charges. For me things like amount of turnout and bedding and feed are important on part livery, I wouldn't even look at a yard that only offered straw or pellets and know most people on part livery prefer shavings and also a good brand of feed . When looking for livery I like to see horses in good deep beds with large banks and adlib or regular hay and good turnout and facilities.
For full livery I would look for a yard who could provide a rider used to the discipline I do so people may be put off by the Western focus if they are expecting exercise to be included.

The other important things to me when I was looking for livery were like minded people, free to use my own trainer, vet and farrier and Horsebox parking.

 

[Carrots&Mints]

I pay £45 a week for DIY its all your bedding (straw) and hay inlcuded, morning feed, as much turn out as you want, owner will turnout or bring in for you if you ask nicely, massive outdoor school with 8ft fencing (so can accomidate for stallions/colts), beautiful monarch stables, horse walker, solarium and hot water. the extras we have to pay for is swimming pool and the spa.

Part livery is £55 and she brings in and takes out washes muddy legs, puts horse on walker for you, puts creams on legs etc and everything bar mucking out!

Full livery £65... everything above and of course mucking out which she does all day, as soon as a poop hits the ground its out of the stable!!

I think thats flipping good value for money, and its the most beautiful yard, with fab hacking over Pendle and the surrounding countryside, the owner lives on site and the price for swimming and spa is really good value and shes full to the brim with horses and ponies! Alot just come for the swimming and the walker