We are opening a DIY livery - any do's and don'ts?!

POO-PICKING!!!

This is the one thing on our yard that drives me mental...if your liveries have to do this ( unless you are going to be well swish with a motorised one) then make sure everyone does their goddam share....

Phew......can you tell it was poo-picking night last night??
grin.gif
 
I'd seriously consider providing straw/hay (or both!) as part of the DIY package - less mess, less space taken up and also ensures you don't have any starving equines on your hands that have finished their hay by 5pm in Winter and are standing on a postage stamp of filthy straw!
I have seen it happen - IMHO if people cannot afford to feed a decent amount of hay and provide a decent bed they should not have a horse.

Obviously charge a reasonable amount per horse for this - say, £5 a week for straw and £10 a week for hay (in Winter) and knock that off if horse is out 24/7 in Summer.

*gets off soapbox*
 
Take up references from last YO! We've just had a couple leave our yard who were slung out of their last 2 yards and its caused a lot of upset. Make sure everyone knows the yard rules as well.

Most importantly, and a mistake our lovely YO has made (she admits it as well) is not becoming too friendly with your liveries. Our YO loves us all to pieces (there are only 6 of us on the yard, apart from aforementioned liveries) and we love her and never want to leave, but its very difficult if 'words' have to be said.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Some individual grazing available even if it is for an extra fee.

[/ QUOTE ]

Really??? If its not going to be a top competition yard are people really that precious abou their horses?

Begs the question if a horse "has" to have individual turnout, is it a nightmare around other horses or is the owner a paranoid over protective one?? Well it does to me anyway!
 
I would agree with not getting too friendly with your liveries, which can be difficult
crazy.gif
Keep it very business like or it can get awkward. Make your rules, makes sure they are understood by all and stick to them.

If you have your own horses I would advise to keep them separate from your liveries if possible, don't just mean grazing wise, stabling also (makes all of the above much easier).

Good luck, hope it is a succesful venture for you.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Do not allow tack to be kept at the yard.

[/ QUOTE ]

Again really??? I wouldnt fancy having to lug my tack in and out of my house everyday!
 
Haven't read all the responses. A few suggestions -

Deposit, what it should include ie livery + sufficient to cover extras you order/provide?
Any amount of different bedding materials, are you going to stipulate what can and can't be used, ie how you are going to dispose of it?
Turnout, unlimited? Is it all off road and can be reached dark winter am/pm's
Feed room, sufficient space for 2/3 bins each?
Rules re communal areas, especially keeping clean
Flood lights for school?
Rug storage/drying
Bulk feed order once a week
Storage space lorries/trailers?

Just a few thoughts that crossed my mind. Good luck.
 
[ QUOTE ]
One thing I will say is that a lot of livery yard owners will not allow people to buy in their own hay/straw/shavings...

[/ QUOTE ]

I would be extremely put off by a yard that wouldn't allow me to get my own hay and shavings if I felt I needed to, and we wouldn't dream of telling our livery that.

At the end of the day if you make it easier to buy off you (which it most probably would be) the majority will. But I think its abit unfair to start setting down rules like that IMO.
 
I completely agree which is why I will let people bring in what they like - its just they will not be able to have bulk deliveries as if everyone did this I would run out of space! But yes, people can bring in what they like. Our haylage / straw / hay is top quality but as a horse owner myself I am very aware of how fussy individual horses can be and would not appreciate being told what I can and can't feed my horse!
 
Times the yard is open - we have liveries at the yard that ride early in the morning before work and late at night after work - opening hours wouldn't work for them. It also causes problems when you are off to a show and get early times!

Adequate security - a paddlock on the tack room won't satisfy an insurance company.

Consistency - don't say no to one person and then allow the same request from someone else.

School rules - how many at one time, can it be booked exclusively for lessons, will you allow loose schooling, will you allow lungng and riding to mix, make sure it says about clearing up droppings and clearing away jumps etc.

Love the Welcome Pack idea.
 
Gosh so much for you to take in!
blush.gif


Don't over promise and under provide - The amount of places I know that say that things aren't going to be a problem before you go and then once you're there those things you agreed become niggly problems - It's disheartening for your livery
frown.gif

Kate x
 
As a recent victim of buglary at my yard I implore you to insist that all liveries ensure that they have their tack covered for theft AT YOUR YARD. It is ridiculous to impose a rule that no tack can be left there, I am utterly fed up of lugging mine around now but my insurers have made it crystal clear that I will not be covered again if it goes from there without things changing. Individual tack rooms are far better,don't have one for everyone, spread it about (this is the advice from the police BTW), and have it alarmed and CCTVed.
 
A signed authorisation to bring in a vet if unable to contact the owner, or if you are concerned about the welfare of the horse. Also to act as advised by the vet if unable to contact the owner. Nasty thought, but you may need to have a horse pts when you can't contact the owner.
What will you do in the case of someone who fails to pay their livery bill? One yard I was at had a clause that if we got 2 months behind with livery payments our horse and equipment could be sold to recover the debt.
Dogs on leads. Children in chains. (No - sorry, forget that last one, but you get my drift!
grin.gif
)
 
Also one of the problems ive found on livery yards is having enough storage for owners of multiple horses.

I have 6 and am lucky that my yard owner has accomodated for me by giving me my own big storage area so i can bulk buy hay / straw.

I have been on yards where i have tiny areas dotted around the yard and it made bulk buying impossible.

Of course this only applies if you are willing to let people buy in stuff from outside - if you are the sole supplier then smaller areas will be fine.
 
my dad owns a farm and has 8 stables and a small school just to use up little buildings and fields on the farm and holiday cash lol....

we have one rule which is rake the school if u make holes in it and take any poos out of the school!

we have a whiteboard near the school on which any bookings for the school are made if you've not booked its pot luck.

we are very relaxed and normally all get on but there is still some horsey talk as its been called in another post lol but u will get bitching in a yard full of women so expect it!!! on our yard it never gets bad or nasty tho.

we dont have any individual turnout as such but we do have a small spare paddock which is useful for poorly ones or new arrivals or mixing horses as its closest to the yard.

we also have a couple of knackered stables in one of our fields which is only used for box rest so that the one in can still have company.

dad buys in hay and straw which is used and paid for on how many bales each person uses, dad counts how many go into the store and we have a tick chart for ones being taken out if it doesnt tally up at the end of the month then obviously somes missing but this is usually shown by the pattern each peerson makes and is generally through an honest mistake.

one major bit of advice is to listen to your liveries and make sure they're happy, dad recently asked a girl to leave as she was creating a bad atmosphere (thinks had been going missing from other people and she was generally a liability and rude), if she'd have stayed the good ones would have left!!!

Also with regards to tack being kept at the yard we dont because our tack room is padlocked (also alarmed) so insurance will not cover it as i think it has to have a proper key lock like on a house so it may be worth considering a tack room with that sort of locks and secruity.

insurance - public liability is a must as it will cover accidents on the road etc. also it would be worth putting in your contract that people should have there own horse/rider insurance.

last one - on our yard everyone pays their own vet bills regardless of who called the vet! i think this is very important for example if a horse gets kicked its one of those things and vet bills should not be put on the person whose horse did the kicking!!! also it shouldnt matter who calls the vet as the owner should accept that if a vet is thought to be needed then its needed!!!

Good luck and just let your liveries get on with it!!!!!
 
Signed consent to act when the owner is not present / cannot be contacted. You do sometimes need to call the vet and authorize immediate treatment (colic and the like) and sadly, we have had to have horses PTS when the livery cannot be reached or cannot get there in a reasonable amount of time.

I would also include in the agreement the yard policy on worming (as it seems to cause problems down the line at some yards) and also rules on other routines (e.g. if 13 of the owners get there at 8am and feed, but the other owner doesn't mosey up until 10am, that poor horse will be going crazy. Our yard was mostly DIY, but included in that was morning feeding - the owners prepared the feeds the previous evening, in labled and covered buckets in the feed rooms, and we would feed the entire yard at the same time to avoid issues.

I would also include something about your right to do certain things e.g. turn out, bring in, rug, unrug, etc so it is clear. We had a livery threaten to sue us because we brought her horse in from the field as some fencing had been broken - normally the horse was on grass livery 24/7 but it just wasn't safe, and we weren't going to turn into another field with strange horses for an afternoon, so we popped her in one of the loose boxes with a scant haynet while the fence was fixed. Horse was as happy as larry, owner flipped out about 'touching HER horse' - regardless of the safety issue!

Include whether you will allow box / trailer parking, and the cost / rules associated with it.

Rules about equipment - will everyone have their own, or will there be yard barrows / forks etc?

Rules about keeping areas swept / free of junk (telling everyone to keep everything in their storage area solves problems of both missing items, and untidy yard) The only thing I really see the need for outside the stable is the headcoller, on a hook.

Rules on poo-picking and jump putting back for the school

If you are installing floodlights, is that cost included in livery, or will you charge for their use?

A clause about a review of livery fees each year (e.g. June 1st each year)

Process of booking the school for private lessons, and any cost if people want sole use

A rule to wear hard hats while riding on the property - as the land owner you are liable, and this one just makes life easier.

A clause that states if the land becomes unsuitable in winter, grazing may be restricted

That's all of the top of my head right now, in addition to what others have suggested.
 
qr

haven't read all the replies, but the first page full i did, and agreed with it all.

i'd like to say what i think my livery yard is lacking:
toilets
tea making facilities
shade/shelter in fields
YO has her own horses 'loose' in the yard, which is a nightmare as one is evil and i sometimes get barracaded in my horse's stable when the evil one doesn't let me out.i think YOs should also abide by the yard rules.

what is good about it:
we each have our own 'bit' of field. if we want to pair up with others and rest fields we can, or we can section bits off in our own ones. i like this because i HATE battling with other people's horses when i want to get to mine!

good luck! sounds ace!
laugh.gif
 
To clarify my point about no tack to be left at the yard.

It is a massive insurance liability for the YO - I've never been at livery where it's been allowed. And really it's never been a problem.

My view is you pay to keep your horse there - not every scrap of tack, rug and wardrobe your horse owns.

If you are confident that you can build a stone tack room with adequate locking facilities - and will have a mechanism in place for ensuring that it will never be left open overnight - then great. And if you can afford the insurance that will go with it - equally great.

But my advise would be not to allow it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top