Turnout times for assisted DIY yards

[Jericho]

For those on DIY yards but pay extra for turnout / morning feeds / rug changing, what time do your horses get turned out? Would you consider 9.30 be too late if you were paying for that service? Likewise what would be the Earliest acceptable time to have your horse bought in?

And out of interest what do you pay for such a service?

Also given the choice, would you rather you had an acre or so of individual turnout or your horse in with a herd?

Lastly, what would you pay on a DiY basis for use of a stable (modern with rubber flooring), electricity/ water included, secure tack room with hot and cold water, parking for lorry/trailer, large rubber menage, post and rail fencing, storage for hay etc in big barn. All year turnout (individual turnout possible). Hacking ok - no busy roads but not much off road riding unless you want to go for a couple of hours!). Oh this is a small private yard of 4 stables on 5 acres on the Essex / suffolk border....

Things like turnout etc could be added as an extra.

Many thanks - just doing a little market research for friend. I have my horses at home and don't have a clue on these things nowadays!!!

 

[ISHmad]

When we were on a yard it used to be £2 to feed, change rugs and turn out. And £2 to bring in, pick feet out, wash legs, change rugs and give tea.

We have always been strictly DIY and when our horses had to be stabled at night in winter we would aim to have them turned out before 8am. If they were in until 9.30am I'd want to know they had been given ad lib hay or haylage to keep them going until then and not have them standing around without access to fibre.

In terms of what time to bring in the later the better for me. We used to bring ours in between 4.30pm and 6pm typically. Fortunately we have 24/7 turnout 365 days a year so don't have to do that now.

Given the choice I much prefer our horses in a herd with lots of space to move and plenty of natural shelter.

The going rate round here for DIY with what you mention is £25 - 30 per week. I wouldn't pay more than £25 per week because of the limited hacking if I'm being honest.

 

[noblesteed]

last year my old yard charged:
£21 pw stabling inc use of 2 modern schools, one with good range of jumps, excellent hacking on country lanes/bridleways, dressage comps on site, instructor on site, never more than 10 liveries.
£12 pw unlimited haylage
£2.50 muck out
50p feed
50p turnout or bring in no rug change
£1 turnout or bring in with rug change
£5.50 sack of shavings.
Lighting for the school was on a meter so you had to feed it £ coins.

In a livery yard I prefer turnout in a smaller area with less horses, as there is always at least 1 horse on a livery yard that will harass anyone that enters the field and is a total nuisance when you want to just grab your horse in to ride!
It was in North Yorkshire which tends to be fairly expensive. I would expect prices to have risen since then.

I left said yard for various reasons, one of them being only 1 hours turnout per day from Nov to March. A case of too many horses for the amount of turnout available!

 

[Tinypony]

The first thing to say is that it's not going to help you much to compare rates all over the country. Some areas are dirt cheap compared to Essex, so why not ring round local livery yards to get an idea of reasonable prices?
The use of a school would help to balance out the lack of hacking, as long as there weren't extra charges for visiting instructors and the YO kept an eye on things to make sure nobody was hogging the facility.
I'd prefer mine to go out earlier really, I like them to be out as long as possible, and every day. No keeping in because of snow or rain for example. Real 365 days a year turnout. It's important to me that they all get fed and they all go out at the same time. So if the yard offers turnout then I'd actually want that to be for all the horses. No DIY liveries coming up and feeding theirs at 6 am, upsetting all the others and then turning theirs out alone. (Which is why I think turnout time should be early, if an owner wants to ride in the morning then get the horses out about 7.00 - 7.30 am).
Turnout in a herd, sensibly managed. ie new horses introduced sensibly, no overcrowded fields, stable groups.
If you decide to include hay or hayledge watch yourself because all the YO's I know have stopped doing this. People aren't so careful when they have unlimited anything. I'd go for storage areas for each livery where they keep their own hay.

 

[Tink_87]

Mine are turned out before 07:30 6 days a week. I personally would consider 09:30 too late, I like mine out early and in late. I don't tend to bring them in until after 06:00.

I pay £20 P/W for DIY on a stud yard that has great facilities(large menage, 2 all weather turnout paddocks, more acreage than I care to trapse round(!!)large washbox, tie up bays, horse walking, jumping paddock, american barn stabling with automatic waters, individual tackrooms, tea room, toilet facilities and fantastic hacking - plenty of off road!)

I don't pay any extra for YO turning mine out, she does it simply cuz she's a star!