Those on full livery...

ycbm said:
There is no comparison at all between riding a riding school horse and riding your own, which is ridden and schooled by you four days a week and hacked out by a groom on a long rein for another two/three days a week.

While I would have loved to look after the horse myself, as I do now and also did before, I couldn't combine a high pressure job with DIY livery horse care and do justice to either.

..
Click to expand...

Agreed. My horse is on DIY but only because I live 30 seconds up the road, have a sharer and use a lot of services. If I wasn't living so close I would go back to part livery in a heartbeat, it just wouldn't be feasible with a very busy job as well.
 
I am on what I consider to be full but I think others have different ideas.
All aspects of care except exercise, tack cleaning and grooming.
I would love to do DIY but working 07.30-17.30, an ill father 120 miles up the road and a lack of decent yards in the area means full is the only option for me.

For me it’s peace of mind that I don’t have to worry about booking time off for farrier attendance, physio or vet. That if I need to go to my dad at short notice I can go.
The yard I’m on is brilliant. But I have also had awful yards where it’s a constant battle. But I’d imagine you can still have problems on diy Yard’s too.
 
I have 5 day part livery so all chores are done but not grooming or riding. Weekends are diy but can pay for services which is great as not tied to having to be at the yard but can spend time doing stable chores. Echo others it relies heavily on trust & communication with the yard, I keep a close eye on her care but during week I get to spend time with her riding & grooming
 
Thanks all for the replies :)

Lots of very valid points - totally agree that the flexibility of being able to spend quality time with the horse rather than spending it doing chores is a huge plus for both horse and owner. I wouldn't judge anyone whether they're on DIY, Part of Full - horses are meant to be a fun hobby, not feel like a second job, so if you have the means to keep them in a way that suits you, all the better!
 
I could not keep my horse on DIY even if I wanted to -- I suppose because she is from the US, where just about everything is 'full livery,' and when I tried her on kind of an assisted livery at a DIY yard here, she found the chaos of the place stressful. Horses in and out at different times, horses fed at different times, etc. The only yards that suit her ladyship are also about 30 to 40 minutes away, at least. No way am I doing that more than once per day. Besides, I'd rather ride than clean a stall.

Current yard turns them out, brings them in, hoses their legs if they need it and changes rugs, feed them, and cleans stables. That's it. I've been at other yards on full livery where the yard owner thinks it's their job to make decisions about what you feed the horse, what rug you use, even calling the vet for a non-emergency and telling you about it later, etc. I suffered from some heavy culture shock, because at most US full board stables, at least the ones I was in (with one bizarre exception), the barn cleans the stall, feeds, turns out and in, but every other management decision is left to the owner. But in the UK, I got the sense that people who want to make those decisions for themselves have their horse on DIY, and those who want every decision made for them have their horse on full.

The very first yard I was at, in County Durham, I explained my horse needed individual turnout because she doesn't play nice with others. Not ideal, but it is what it is. YO said, "**My** herd can socialize any horse because horses X, Y, Z don't take crap and can teach your horse." So horse went into herd, against my wishes. And did you know, a few days later, YO comes to me, all huffy and offended, and says, "Your horse is really aggressive and won't stop chasing other horses," as if this was a revelation. Uh, yes, I was aware, that's why I said horse needed individual turnout in the first place.

Luckily, not every full livery yard is like that and the one I'm on now isn't perfect, but the care is good and reliable, and he doesn't micromanage.

When I had itchy feet, I looked into another yard that had potential, but was warned by more than one person that the YO will get involved in decisions like whether or not your horse is shod, what tack you use, how you handle it in the stable, and more. It had much better hacking than current yard, but no hacking is worth that hassle.
 
I'm another who couldn't do this unless I had a good yard to help. I'm on 'full' but this doesn't include exercise. I usually go to the yard five times a week, at least two hours each visit, and all that is spent with my horse (grooming, riding, groundwork, etc.). Best use of my time, I focus on what I enjoy, and I know that she is in good hands the rest of the time. For her, her routine is the same regardless of my working pattern or if I am away for work or holiday. I would struggle if the yard saw full as effectively their horse that I could ride, thankfully the yard provides the services that my horse needs and I get to do the fun bits.

We all work with what we can, but I know I couldn't get a horse until I was in a situation of being able to have this sort of livery. Good luck OP, I'm sure that you will enjoy getting your life back in balance and possibly even start to enjoy your horse more.
 
Over the years I’ve been on basic livery ie all basic care needs, no exercise, grooming or tack cleaning, full training livery to assisted DIY, plain DIY with ad hoc freelance help by other liveries.

On the whole I prefer DIY simply because I can feed what I want, how much I want, use what bedding I like and nothing is missed. However it’s not always been possible and being on a livery package has meant not worrying when I’m ill or suddenly needed to go away for work. I could concentrate my energy on riding and grooming rather than stable chores. Unless ill or away I’d be up most days even if was just a check and a carrot. Sadly I never felt I could 100% trust any if the yards to spot a less obvious injury or give the right supplements etc. If I were away more than a couple of days I’d have a friend to check.

Paying a friend to freelance Mon-Fri worked quite well as I still had control over feed and bedding etc. But now due to having two I just have it ad hoc which means I can’t travel away for work as easily.
 
All mine are on full livery, I go 7 days a week still. Obviously they don't get worked 7 days a week but even then I can spend my time grooming them or whatever, I still faff with their beds and help out on the yard when I've got time as I enjoy it and the yard owner is thankful if they get an extra skip out on an evening.
 
fabbydo said:
I go to the yard 5 days a week. I have total trust in the person looking after them. I could possibly do assisted diy if I didn't want to eat, sleep for more than 5 hours and do some sort of housework!
Click to expand...

Love the idea of full/part livery, and am considering it myself for during the week, but have massive control issues. I'm lucky if I get 6hrs sleep, although more often it's about 5 (or less!), as the combination of single handedly managing cat, dogs, horses, job, commute and house means I survive on instant junk food, coffee and adrenaline.

It's been really interesting seeing the responses :)
 
I'm on full/part livery, depending on your terms - they do everything except clean tack and exercise, although grooming is minimal. I go up usually three weekday evenings, and every day at the weekend. I have CFS, so I see no point in using up my limited energy in mucking out, etc., when I can use it actually interacting with my horse. Additionally, my job requires a fair amount of travel, so I'd rather have her settled in a routine whether I'm in the country or not.

It helps that I had my share horse on this yard before I bought my own horse, so I know the staff well, and I know I can trust them to spot anything a little off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top