Why doesn't the perfect livery yard exist?

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Jesstickle

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I would love to be somewhere with really good grazing so that horses can be out 24/7 as much of the year as possible. But I also want a good school with lights, and probably a walker. I want assisted DIY with enough storage to be able to bulk buy things, or for hay/haylage to be part of the deal. Decent hacking also totally required.

Does anyone actually have this? good paddocks seem to often be at the expense of other facilities. Or the facilities are there but no storage. Or no hacking.

Am I looking for something which doesn't exist? :(
 
If I ever win the lottery I am going to open my own private livery that is a dream. It would have a waiting list. :D

Sadly the norm is that people have to compromise on something. Especially where I live, there doesn't seem to be decent liveries in my area.
 
I know! I like lots about my yard but the odd thing (no hay in the fields and over crowding) annoy me. But I am starting to appreciate how hard it is to run a good yard let alone the perfect yard. Reading posts from people who are YO or managers I can see the numerous issues they have to contend with.

When I win the lottery I will have my own place - until then I will have to wear a head torch to move around in the evening and early morning, buy in haylage for when the yard's is not so good, stick knee pads on the horse to make the trek down the steep stony track to the summer fields etc etc.

Posters on here are so quick to say Change Yards - maybe thats a possibility in some areas but I have been looking for a while and found nothing better yet round here. There is always a waiting list for this yard.
 
There's the perfect house advertised round here for me - enough grazing for most of the year, stables (enough for 2 each and spares for storage), indoor school for working and turnout in the wettest days, plus an enclosed yard, more storage and all right at home so no commute and no need to pay for services... I just need the 800k now :p

The yard you describe as perfect is my idea of perfect too, and I'm certain it doesn't exist down here :(
 
This is definitely not a bash my yard thread. There are lots of good things about where I am. It's more that I have come to realise that I would like a bit 'more' in the way of facilities. Maybe an instructor on site, better school, some help when I need it and I can't find that without compromising on all the things that I do really like about my yard. All the yards geared round competition seem to prioritise everything work related at the expense of turn out and the yards that cater for lots and lots of turnout don't have things like walkers :eek:

One day I shall be rich enough to have all my own nice stuff at my house and pay a groom as well ;) Maybe we can go halves JFTD, only then I'm quite far from work :(

Well, maybe not! :D
 
Other than the fact that perfect for one person is not perfect for another the biggest problem is that if a YO had a place with enough grazing for 24/7 all year and with the facilities the cost of keeping a horse there would be well out of the reach of most of us so there has to be compromise somewhere along the line unless people want to pay 2 or 3 times the current costs so that the same level of overheads can be absorbed. would be lovely though :D
 
My perfect yard would have the following:-

Lots of lovely acres of perfectly squared (post and rail) fields.
An indoor school
Miles of off road hacking and woodland
An all weather gallop
Cross country course
beautifully crafted stables each one with a lovely vew
large tack and feed room
a warm cosy kitchen for liveries as obviously they would not want to leave my yard. :D
 
Everyone wants something different... for example if you did not get on with the way the instructor on site taught... you would want someone else and you may not be able to.... and it all comes down to ££££s... the max anyone seams to want to pay around here is £30 a week diy.... but want all the facilities and the 24/7 grazing with loads of grass - which the only way the yard can make a living is by having loads of horses or being full livery.... which no-one wants to pay..... and then your back to square one... even if you had 40 horses at £30 a week by the time you have paid back the price of the property, the maintenance, the insurance, the lights, the water, etc.... you would not be left with much unless you already owned it out right.
 
I hope I've got as close as possible to the perfect yard. I want all the horses in my care and their owners to be happy first and foremost.

I'll be adding a walker and a lunge pen in the next year too, and improving the place all the time.

I have to say, I've found HHO really useful since opening my first yard three years ago. Reading all the "I wish my yard had this.." and "what would your ideal yard be?" threads has helpe me a great deal!

This is me - http://www.facebook.com/#!/AbbeyBarnEquestrian
 
Gingerwitch, I would happily pay more if I could find what I really wanted. I know everyone has a different idea of perfect but I reckon most people would like to be able to turn out most of the time on to grass not mud, with the option of a stable if required and have good hacking and a decent surface to ride on with some jumps?

Starzaan, your yard looks lush but you are about a million miles from me and I don't want full livery. Assisted DIY or possibly part but not full. I quite like doing my own horse most of the time. I'm a weirdo :p
 
Jesstickle said:
One day I shall be rich enough to have all my own nice stuff at my house and pay a groom as well ;) Maybe we can go halves JFTD, only then I'm quite far from work :(

Well, maybe not! :D
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I dunno, I quite like it up your way, and there are other similar properties out there ;) I'll be your groom, too, then I don't have to worry about finding a job :D
 
Starzaan said:
This is me - http://www.facebook.com/#!/AbbeyBarnEquestrian
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Just had a nosey, lovely yard!

I love my yard but it isn't perfect. I don't like the surface in the arena (bark) and the winter field is horrendous but it has a lovely heated tack room, kitchen, large stables, nice summer field, lots of hacking, auto water drinkers and amazing people who are now my best friends :) Plus, no other yard in the area is better. Ideally, i'd want well drained fields for 24/7 turnout in small groups, rubber and sand arena, lunge pen, walker, gallops and x country course and my house over looking the yard but hey, I think I'm dreaming right? ;)
 
Jesstickle said:
Gingerwitch, I would happily pay more if I could find what I really wanted. I know everyone has a different idea of perfect but I reckon most people would like to be able to turn out most of the time on to grass not mud, with the option of a stable if required and have good hacking and a decent surface to ride on with some jumps?

Starzaan, your yard looks lush but you are about a million miles from me and I don't want full livery. Assisted DIY or possibly part but not full. I quite like doing my own horse most of the time. I'm a weirdo :p
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Precisely why I have my own yard... I love doing my own horses all the time. I can't offer DIY partly because I'm a control freak and would be a horrid DIY YO, and also because it's a clause in my lease.

I'll do anything for a Kinder Bueno though.... ;)
 
I have been in livery for 15 years and 4 years ago was fortunate to buy my own place and after reading many threads about livery, would never have liveries on the yard. I would not be able to provide the unreasonable facilities that are requested regardless of how much money I had to pour into the yard. This year as everyone knows has been terrible and it will take months for the ground to dry. My horses are on hardcore and are fed adlib hay. Yes I have had to buy this in just like the rest of you. How can you expect yard owners to allow liveries to trash their land and then have to pay for it out of your miserly livery fee of £20-£30pw. I know why I so wanted my own place without the mindless liveries bothering me.
 
sasha1 said:
I have been in livery for 15 years and 4 years ago was fortunate to buy my own place and after reading many threads about livery, would never have liveries on the yard. I would not be able to provide the unreasonable facilities that are requested regardless of how much money I had to pour into the yard. This year as everyone knows has been terrible and it will take months for the ground to dry. My horses are on hardcore and are fed adlib hay. Yes I have had to buy this in just like the rest of you. How can you expect yard owners to allow liveries to trash their land and then have to pay for it out of your miserly livery fee of £20-£30pw. I know why I so wanted my own place without the mindless liveries bothering me.
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And good evening to you too. You sound like you'd be a fairly obnoxious YO so I wouldn't worry too much about people wanting to livery with you ;)
 
Charley657 said:
If I ever win the lottery I am going to open my own private livery that is a dream. It would have a waiting list. :D

Sadly the norm is that people have to compromise on something. Especially where I live, there doesn't seem to be decent liveries in my area.
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If I ever win the lottery I will NEVER have another livery ever again. I am into my 21st year as a YO and I am sick to death of it :(

TBH you would probably get fantastic livery yards with all the facilities if people were prepared to pay for it, but while the cost of all things horse related (feed, bedding, farriers, tack, insurance, wormers, vets' bills etc etc) has gone up over time, the cost of livery has remained pretty static for years. So YOs are expected to provide and maintain all singing all dancing facilities whilst their income has in real terms dropped dramatically.
 
I think the yard I'm on is pretty much perfect! We don't have a walker (but I don't need one) or assisted DIY but we do have pretty much everything else I could wish for! We have a massive, well-draining field for just our two horses, so there is no mud and enough grass. It's moorland grazing, so sparse and not too rich, and we can leave the horses out at night whenever we want, summer or winter, and put hay in the field (this was a big no no on my old yard). We have large, beautiful breeze block stables with brand new rubber matting, a beautiful school with a great surface that drains well and doesn't freeze. The lovely YO is happy to do morning feeds and late night nets if the horses are in, and checks on them in the field when they're out (we're her only liveries :D). The hacking is amazing, with the trans pennine bridleway accessible right from the yard, and the YO recently told us that we are welcome to ride in the sheep fields if we want to (some 60-70 acres!!!) though we will probably wait until the weather is a bit drier. There is a heated tack room with a fridge and hot and cold running water, plenty of storage for hay and bedding (which we can buy in, or buy off the YO. We buy off her as it's all brilliant quality and well-priced) and we have the nicest YO ever :D

I love my yard so much I'm scared I'll wake up and find it was all a dream. We've only been there for two months and until then I didn't know yards this good existed!!!
 
sasha1 said:
Hmm £65pw for DIY is a good bit more than the folks on here want to pay! How many horses and and how much turn out I wonder.
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You're probably right,but for many of the folk there,part and full livery seems the norm. The horses have huge paddocks,and seem to be out whatever the weather,if the owners wish. You are,of course,paying for the facilities which are fantastic.
 
JT I hate to say it but we have everything you want bar the horse walker:o In the 12 years I have been here there has never been a restriction on grazing - they can stay out 24/7 for as long as you want - and some have field shelters so stay out year round:)

We also have lots off road riding we can use all year round including a TROT route:)

Move here:D
 
That sounds lovely HR :) My yard is nice but I have limited grazing. No rotation at all so two big horses on just over an acre all year round. I can trash it or save it as I see fit which is great though. Our school is big and well lit but the surface gets very deep in dry weather and it is rarely rolled or harrowed. If I had summer and winter grazing and a better surface even that would be enough for me to be pretty satisfied.

And I would pay a decent whack for good facilities. I do think I mentioned that already. I do understand some of the battles YOs have I promise and I can see how there is little joy to be had in doing it for a living!

ETS: Slinks, if I didn't have to go to work I would because I could also live rent free in my Father's spare house at the bottom of his garden. Silly old work eh? :rolleyes:

It's good to know it does exist anyway. I'll keep looking :)
 
Unfortunately a lot of people on DIY are doing it that way for financial reasons, not because they love mucking out above all else. To get the sort of set up you describe (as in the Bury Farm link) it's going to cost a lot more than most DIY liveries would ever be willing or able to pay. Having said that, Bury Farm includes hay and straw, so if it's ad lib that's not too bad a deal - although use of the facilities is extremely limited.

An awful lot of DIY liveries seem to feel ripped off paying £25 per week ...
 
I am on DIY and pay £158 month inc unlimited haylage plus £25 for unlimited straw. We have 2 good schools although one hasn't had lights for a year, walker (£1.00 for 45 minutes). Horsebox / trailer parking £13 a month. Hacking is OK, instructor on site but you can have others in, fields are a bit small but 24 hr turnout in the summer fields and 12 hours in the winter ones (reduces if very wet).

The yard down the road is a lot more but it does have a horse sauna or somesuch thing.
 
I have just found a new yard and although boy there yet, it sounds perfect for me. It has all the things my current yard doesn't and I feel really positive about the move. A few weeks ago I was considering selling my horse and giving up with horses as I'm so unhappy where I am, and didn't think I'd be able to find anything.

It will be slightly more travelling but that's a compromise I'm more than happy to make if it means I can start to enjoy my horse again.
 
My yard is damn near perfect! Amazing hacking, huge arena and a fantastic set up where the horses have a huge barn they can wander freely in and out of, so turnout is 24/7 365 days a year (if you want it, there are stables too!) No horse-walker, but I really don't think we need one!
 
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