What Would Liveries and YOs Like to Have in a Livery Contract?

[MrsMozart]

As title really.

As I draft and negotiate contracts for a living, it's an area I find quite interesting. I don't know the suitable remedies, i.e. the ins and outs of taking a lien on a horse, etc., and wondered what others would consider necessities.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

There are numerous things liveries want in their contracts but the main thing is to know what both livery & YO are responsible for.

DIY Livery responsible for mucking out daily, ensuring sufficient feed, hay & water are available for their horse. Adequately rugged, feet trimmed or shod regularly, wormed & vaccinated. Area outside their stables are clean & swept & communal areas are clean. Muck heap thrown back, stepped & tradden. (Some owners don't regularly do all of this)

YO responsible for maintaining fencing, walkways, hedges. Levelling school, removing muck heap etc etc.

YO's sometimes are all to ready to pile on a load of do's & don'ts into a contract for liveries but rarely commit to paper what they will provide. A contract has to be two sided. The it appears to be fair & both sides know where they stand.

 

[[69117]]

My contracts are all about sixteen pages long! The most important point for me was to make sure there was a clause in there stating that my staff or I can refuse to carry out any instructions issued by the owner if we feel they would be detrimental to the welfare of the horse.

Other important ones for me were payment (one month in advance, by standing order), notice periods, and outlining exactly what is included in the livery package each client is paying for.

I also make liveries fill in a form at the start of each contract with details of their horse, what they would like me to do in case of emergency (so, worst cast scenario, horse needs to be put down, I can't get hold of owner, what would they like me to do?), and numbers for their next of kin etc.

But, there's a whooollle load of stuff in there!

 

[MrsMozart]

I think that the remedies bit is the hardest - I mean what does the YO do if the livery doesn't muck out every day? And whose definition of muckout is it? Just using that as an example.

As for the livery, what is the remedy if the YO doesn't harrow the school?

What happens if a livery is an arffff and doesn't take the poo out of the school. We had a YO say he'd lock the school so no-one could use it - I pointed out that we paid for the use of the school, so if he locked it then I'd reduce my livery payment until such time as either a) he unlocked it or b) we moved yards. It's not my fault if another livery is an arfff, it's up to the YO to resolve the issue with that individual.

I often see on here that a livery is a pain or a YO is a pain. People refer to contracts, but no-one seems to have an answer as to how one gets past the issue. A number of YOs seem to kick off the livery who doesn't do their horse (livery's horse), leavving that horse to be moved gawd knows where. Appreciate that not all YOs can be a soft touch for every horse that comes along, but it's where the remedies that seem to not be in the contracts that should be there so they can be invoked.

Just my musings - as I should be working on a rather boring and convoluted contract at the moment. Time to turn up the music and crack on

 

[Enfys]

I specifically state that:

I reserve the right to move any horse/s to, and from, any pasture or herd as I see fit, without notice.

I also have the Vet destruction clause, some sign it, some don't, I can't make them do it.