What came first... The livery yard or the horse.

ImmyS

ImmyS

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So if you don't have a livery space and you're looking for a new horse, what do you find first. Do you find the horse you want to buy and hopefully can find a space or do you find a livery space first when it could then take weeks or months of searching for the right horse?

Probably a silly question but I've always kept horses at home so don't know!

Thank yo
 
Good question :)
I found the livery space first with mine, as I wanted I make sure I was at the right place as the best yards tend not to have spaces. But I would still look if I didn't have a place/was on a waiting list,as had I found the perfect horse I wouldn't want to miss it.
Possibly easier in summer to pursuade your preferred yard to take squeeze another in.
 
A bit of both. Visit yards and find out where you like and where has spaces but don't commit until you've found a horse unless you really want one particular place. In that case you might have to pay a retainer.
 
For me it's always been the yard, I have known it where people get the horse first but then you're in a desperate rush to find somewhere and that seems like a recipe for stress to me
 
I bought my first horse from a friend of the family who had their own yard so they let me keep her there until I found a yard to move her to. The family friend's yard was too far away from home and had very limited facilities for me to have considered keeping her there.

After that because I was always at a yard I bought a new horse with a space available.

Last time I had got back in to riding after a six year break and saw the horse I wanted, checked that there was space at the RS/livery yard where I'd been riding and there was so was able to beat the other lady who wanted to buy Sam to the punch :)

I've been lucky in that I've never had the stress of finding the perfect horse and then being unable to find somewhere to keep it.

The bigger worry in this day and age with yards like Patchetts closing down is where people will be able to keep their horses soon with more and more development happening :( I know have at least one friend who wants to buy here own but is having trouble finding livery because so many yards around my way are full to bursting.
 
Having done both due to circumstances I'd now always find a yard first once I have decided to look for a horse, even if that is just making sure you have a grass livery space available to begin with. It takes a lot of pressure off! I think the reason some people get away with lack of planning is they live in an area where there is generally space to find! Or where they know someone well enough from before to be able to approach them when in a rush.
 
Yard first, I had loaned their horse before so knew the yard routine and everything etc. Yard owner had only myself and another livery so was very much on a friend basis. She didn't want another livery but let me have the stable and kept it free for me whilst i was looking for a horse as she knew me and could trust that I wasn't going to cause any problems.
 
Yard. I was sharing a horse and told the ym at the yard I was looking to buy my own. It was a biggish yard and had a regular turnover of liveries. As ym knew me and also knew I would be on part livery which made her more money than a diy, I would get priority.
 
Yard. I had been taking lessons there and the YO knew I was looking for one of my own. When I found the horse they had no space available so the horses owner kept her another week while I waited for a space to free up.
 
I paid a retainer for a few months before I bought my first... since then I've fortunately only been on yards with a space and to be honest previous horses have always 'found' me at quite short notice!
 
Yard. Spaces around me are like gold dust and my yard has a huge waiting list. I'd hate to find somewhere in a rush as it would no doubt be crap. I put a deposit down and found my horse within three weeks.
 
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