why have a horse if you have it on full livery?

[paddy]

Mine are on part livery, but on my OH's yard. Sometimes I do them myself, sometimes I don't. None of them have ever complained that I haven't personally removed their poo, filled their haynets and scrubbed their water buckets. No matter what type of livery, Mac has always been very clear that I am 'his' person. I have a demanding job, they have a good life and are well looked after.

 

[OWLIE185]

My job involved travelling all over the world for long periods of time but when I was back at base I was able to enjoy riding my horse out on a daily basis and go for some nice long hacks. The livery yard looked after my horse and kept him ticking over (I also had a couple of non-paying sharers that would ride him out or have lessons on him). Having him at full livery worked out really well for all concerned including the horse who I owned for about 17 years. Eventually I bought my own place with land and continued riding him until he was 25 when he sadly died. I learnt a lot of horse management from the staff and other liveries at the livery yard which enabled me to look after him myself. I believe that my horse was well looked after and was exercised each day. Being in full livery it provided employment for the staff and also the opportunity for two other people to ride a nice well behaved horse.

 

[LeannePip]

Mine is on Full livery 4 days per week - i dont have a job that keeps me out of the country and i dont work stupid hours, I basically work 7.30 - 5pm 3 days a week and 7.30 till 2.30 two days a week! i have her on livery because i dont live in an area where decent yards are in abundance and easily accesible, the closest yard to me that is DIY and vaguely what I needed was 7-10miles away if you were trying to avoid traffic! the yard we are moving to on saturday is 3.5miles and they only do part, they have the facilities which mean i can keep my horse in work over winter and hopefully keep her UFP at bay + have time for all the other things in life that i find you can neglect when on DIY! Family time, social life, gym ect ect it really is a no brainer.

I have only done Proper DIY with her for a few months and found that i didnt have time to fully do any of the above, social life was half hearted and rushed, didnt have time to acctually ride the horse most of the time so couldnt compete as much as i'd have liked, was constantly rushing around, coudlnt dedicate anough time to the gym and other goals - Part livery helps me really balance eveything in my life and not be compleetly knackered all the time! I won't beable to have a horse on Part Livery forever as atm dont have much in the way of out goings, but for now it works perfectly!

i dont like the attitude that people who have their horses on full livery are any less of an owner - TBH most of the pro riders i have worked for practically had their horses on full livery, we mere mortals did the ***** shovelling, haynet filling, bringing in and out and the riders did exactly that - rode all day!

 

[Kate212]

Wow this was 2014. I’m a bit late but oh well. I’m getting my first horse this December after about 10 years of riding and caring for them. I’m currently about to start a 15 month long full time 8-5 job plus with GCSE studying alongside. I don’t like the idea of full livery because I wanted to look after my horse completely and get up every morning and stay till a ridiculous time of night because I just wouldn’t want to leave him “haha”. Unfortunately though my work is half an hour away and I have to set off about 7am or earlier to avoid traffic. I’ve decided that until my apprenticeship is finished or such a time during my apprenticeship that I feel I’m able to do DIY, I shall for now use a full livery service to make sure my horse is getting the best care possible whilst I am not there. Although it breaks my heart the thought of someone else tending to my baby;(

 

[Gloi]

I'm retired and have been on DIY until recently. I've had some illness in the past couple of years and put him on full livery. I enjoy it because I no longer feel so tied. I can miss a day if the weather is foul or I don't feel well without guilt or arranging cover. When I do go and ride, or just give him a fuss, which I do most days ,I am going because I want to not because I have to .

 

[ForeverBroke_]

I've been on DIY and 5 day livery and quite frankly the idea of going back on a DIY yard fills me with dread.

The lack of routine and comings and goings would and do stress my horses out. My care is just as good as the livery, and they do everything exactly to the letter that I would do myself. On rainy horrible days they are in, dry and happy whereas on DIY I would be stressing myself to get there in time to bring them in before they lose it. There is someone on the yard 24/7 so the minute they see or spot something 'going wrong' they are on it. My boys wouldn't receive that level of attention on a DIY yard. In my area you pay for what you get. The DIY yards are poor facilities, and run poorly also. The full/part livery yards are professional and a happy and relaxed place for both owners and horses. I still go to my yard every day, and spend time with them all just as I would on a DIY yard. I love looking after them, but do not love the stress and organisational chaos of 'most' DIY yard setups.

I would never go back on a DIY yard again.


Edited to add - just seen this is a prehistoric thread!

 

[shamrock2021]

I was on DLY in the past it wasn’t cost effective it was cheaper to do full livery. Most yards where I live don’t offer DLY because they don’t want people coming to the yard very early in the morning . The problem with DLY livery is that You have to be there everyday and you have less time with your horse at least with full livery you can give your horse your full attention.

 

[exracehorse]

I was on DLY in the past it wasn’t cost effective it was cheaper to do full livery. Most yards where I live don’t offer DLY because they don’t want people coming to the yard very early in the morning . The problem with DLY livery is that You have to be there everyday and you have less time with your horse at least with full livery you can give your horse your full attention.

I’d have to work even longer hours to pay for full livery so .. would actually have LESS time to ride. Fully livery is 150/200 per week.

 

[stormox]

Because I want to ride my horse, not spend hours mucking out etc leaving no time to ride. Whats the problem with that? I currently have my horses at home but much prefer the fun and companionship of keeping a horse in a yard.

 

[shamrock2021]

I’d have to work even longer hours to pay for full livery so .. would actually have LESS time to ride. Fully livery is 150/200 per week.

It only €90 week where I live .

 

[exracehorse]

It only €90 week where I live .

thats bloody cheap. Example ... local to me ....
.

Full livery is £700 per month and includes 7 day services, use of all facilities, straw bedding (ad lib) or shavings (2 bales per week), basic feed and hay or haylage ad lib.

Grooming livery is £820 per month and includes all of the above, plus extra feed eg balancer, daily (apart from Sundays) grooming and tack cleaning.

 

[Muddywellies]

I've recently moved yards from DIY to full. Only reason is beause life has thrown an awful lot at me lately and I need the support. I've never done full livery and I'm not finding it easy as I desperately miss looking after my horse. But it was a necessary move and my horse is thriving with a structured routine and regular work. So believe me, it's not by choice, but I needed help and this has lightened the load a bit.

 

[Smogul]

My honest feeling is that DIY helps build a bond quicker with a new horse. Mine is on full livery and lives out 24/7. I was only her rider before I became her owner so I had no responsibilities other than turning up, tacking up and hacking. All the poo picking, mucking out of the barn and feeding and watering is done by YO. In the beginning it was a drawback since I'd turn up and the horse knew that my being there meant only one thing - time to work. And work she did, and even started to look forward to our rides together so she was never much trouble to bring in. But once the ride was over she expected to be put out at once and turned grumpy if I kept her tied up and tried to groom or spoil her. She never came when I called or showed any real interest in my presence if treats weren't involved. It was clear her horsey buddies were miles more important than me.

When I became her owner I finally had the feedom to invent ways to be around her, so that meant turning up to the yard for no other reason than heading out into the field to give her a good grooming and then leave without riding. I also spent an afternoon each week in various weather sitting in her field reading magazines. All obvious stuff and not rocket science, but it's what I had to do to replace time spent mucking out and haynet filling and so on, which are jobs I think horses understand and appreciate. Now the bond with my horse is pretty good and she comes when I call, follows me around if I'm in the field and likes being fussed over. But it's taken since april last year when I first met her to build that bond, which is rather slow.

That being said, I'd have shifted her to a new yard with DIY the second she was bought and paid for if I hadn't firmly believed that the horse is much much happier where she is, in a place which has a structured daily routine, is familiar and of fantastic high standard. Moving to a DIY yard would be for my benefit, not hers.

ho
I find that a bit depressing. My pony is on full livery and, for him, my arrival means playtime. He loves his job.

 

[Gingerwitch]

I am a crap owner then, I have 4 on full livery. You know what my horses hear my car and whicker to me. All bar the latest one canter to me when I go to their field. I work a huge amount of hours and all over the UK. I do crazy early and late hours and want to know mine are happy and looked after. They are an hour from home and I like to ride. It costs a fortune yes - the last one was left to me when my friend died earlier this year. Would I change anything With the yard and staff where they are - not a chance in hell, except for me to move house but then I am even further off the main motorway network and my main airport.

 

[Floofball]

Having read the whole thread I would just like to apologise to people who posted 6 years ago for the ‘like’ notifications ?
Having done nearly 40 years DIY I moved to full livery earlier this year. I’m loving it! I only have so much energy so it’s truly wonderful to be able to just enjoy quality time with my lad. Spending a lot less time at the yard but far more time with my horse - I t’s a win win for me, I feel like my horsey mojo is coming back and I’m in no rush to take him home yet. He seems very happy too ??

 

[jenniehodges2001]

Why have a dog and bark yourself......?

Personally I love assisted DIY. I can be at work for 7am knowing that in a couple of hours time my horse will be dressed, fed and turned out and bought in and fed an hour before I arrive at 4pm.

Then I have the pleasure of mucking out (which I love to do) and all the other things that keeps my horse ticking over.

 

[Reacher]

Zombie ?‍ ?‍ thread.

 

[McFluff]

It's weird reading a thread that you responded to 6 years ago!
And with hindsight I can see I fell into the trap of responding to defend my decision to use full (actually it's really part) livery.

What I should have said is 'because I can'.

We do live in a strange world (even by 2020 standards) when people are negatively judged for making choices that make sure their animal receives appropriate care... It is not 'lazy' to choose a solution that ensures your horse has high quality consistent care in a good routine that suits them.

 

[sbloom]

I used to spend two hours with my horse, doing all the fun stuff, when he was on part livery (everything except riding, tack cleaning and only brushing off every day). He was more bonded to me when I spent half an hour with him, near-turned away on DIY grass livery, but was feeding him.

 

[poiuytrewq]

If you didn't have a house, you wouldn't need a cleaner.
I don't get what you're trying to say!

That you can have a house/horse without the dirty work, cleaning/mucking out. Just because you pay someone to clean your house (or muck out your horse) doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have it.

 

[DressageCob]

I wonder why someone decided to join this forum, search for a zombie thread from 2014, and then contribute to it as their one and only post ?

Still, it has made interesting reading. My two are on full livery for a few reasons. (1) it is the only livery my yard offers, and I wouldn't keep my horses anywhere else. (2) I work long hours and my work involves travelling all over the country, sometimes fairly last minute. If I were only DIY I would struggle. (3) The standard of care provided by the professionals working there is far superior than that I can offer (example: the difference in bed when I choose to muck it out myself!). (4) I can choose just to do the fun stuff with my boys, such as grooming, riding, feeding sweeties etc, rather than use what little time I may have to skip out the stable or fill their water.

But really the main reason is number 1!

 

[PapaverFollis]

This thread being bounced up was weird because we'd just had that thread from a new user worrying that it waa somehow morally wrong to have a horse on full livery and 'only' see it 4 times a week...

Almost feels like someone was baiting the forum for some negative responses about full livery? ... but perhaps all just a coincidence.

 

[chaps89]

This thread is interesting.
Lots of people saying the horse doesn't know who is mucking them out etc, which I generally agree with.
But I know. I know what her droppings are like, whether she's hungry when I get up or not and if I need to adjust her forage rations, if her companion is settled or not, if her feet are warm or she has pulses and many more things that I wouldn't be so on top of if she wasn't on DIY.
So basically, I am a control freak and that's why DIY works for me ?
I do need assistance so I can only go up once a day at times (becoming more pressing with a new job on the horizon which will involve a big commute) but I totally think it's ok not to be able to do it all and need some help.
Some horses on DIY would be infinitely better off on part/full, but most horses on part/full have good lives and are well looked after, same as most horses on DIY are well looked after too.
If the owner can afford it, wants or needs to do it then I don't see why anyone should judge. The world would be boring if we were all the same.

 

[ihatework]

This thread is interesting.
Lots of people saying the horse doesn't know who is mucking them out etc, which I generally agree with.
But I know. I know what her droppings are like, whether she's hungry when I get up or not and if I need to adjust her forage rations, if her companion is settled or not, if her feet are warm or she has pulses and many more things that I wouldn't be so on top of if she wasn't on DIY.
So basically, I am a control freak and that's why DIY works for me ?
I do need assistance so I can only go up once a day at times (becoming more pressing with a new job on the horizon which will involve a big commute) but I totally think it's ok not to be able to do it all and need some help.
Some horses on DIY would be infinitely better off on part/full, but most horses on part/full have good lives and are well looked after, same as most horses on DIY are well looked after too.
If the owner can afford it, wants or needs to do it then I don't see why anyone should judge. The world would be boring if we were all the same.

I do agree, I’ve got control freak tendencies as well.

It’s the little things like, how many droppings, how much hay they are eating, how much water drinking, if & when they cough, general demeanour, running a hand over them to judge temperature/sore spots/filling

That is for me what makes or breaks a livery. If I have just one or 2 people looking after the horse, notice the little things and importantly communicate them back (increasing confidence levels that these things get noticed) then full livery is either great or stressful. IME it’s been 50/50.

 

[Ranyhyn]

I couldnt care less what anyone else does personally!

 

[jkitten]

This thread being bounced up was weird because we'd just had that thread from a new user worrying that it waa somehow morally wrong to have a horse on full livery and 'only' see it 4 times a week...

Almost feels like someone was baiting the forum for some negative responses about full livery? ... but perhaps all just a coincidence.

You know, I wondered that! I read that other thread first and someone in it asked the OP why they would think that anyone would have a problem with the idea of full livery and when I saw this one I thought 'well, maybe because of threads like this'! Having said that, I did sympathise with that OP when I read their question. As a fellow former riding school child/teen, I definitely felt the vibe at the time of 'if you aren't thrilled at the prospect of going to the yard before school, after school and all day every weekend, you aren't sufficiently dedicated and don't deserve a horse!' and TBH even now as an adult it still kind of niggles at me when I think about the possibility of getting one, since I would definitely need at least part livery and very likely full. The answers in that thread and this one are going a long way to dispelling that anxiety, though, so thank you all!

 

[Bernster]

Wasn’t it the same poster? I thought they were posting here as it was linked to their concerns about having a horse on livery. But I haven’t bothered going back to re check!

i have 3 (?) now on livery. Never thought twice about it tbh and wouldn't give a monkeys what anyone else thought of it. So long as they are healthy and happy, and it works for me, that’s all that matters.

 

[scats]

It’s not for me, but it works for others and that’s great. If you work odd hours or go away a lot, I can imagine it’s a perfect arrangement. As another poster has said, I’m also a bit of a control freak, so I’m not sure how I’d cope, though I’m sure I’d get used to it!
We don’t have any option on our yard for any sort of help so it’s completely DIY. Does mean I work my life around the horses, but I’ve been doing that for 30 years so I don’t know much different. The idea of assisted livery sounds nice though!

 

[blitznbobs]

I love my horses , have the perfect set up at home, work one day a week and choose to have them on full livery. Because I want to... there I’ve said it. All their needs are met, my needs are met with social, schooling and psychological support on site. I can go away for the weekend with no stress of who im going to ask a favour of when I can’t find a groom... I just prefer it ... my horses are my hobby and fun but full livery means I have no time commitment at all which works well in my life... I also love having stables at home so that I never have to have that ”what do I do if I get chucked off “ stress that I had before we had land of our own.

 

[blitznbobs]

I love my horses , have the perfect set up at home, work one day a week and choose to have them on full livery. Because I want to... there I’ve said it. All their needs are met, my needs are met with social, schooling and psychological support on site. I can go away for the weekend with no stress of who im going to ask a favour of when I can’t find a groom... I just prefer it ... my horses are my hobby and fun but full livery means I have no time commitment at all which works well in my life... I also love having stables at home so that I never have to have that ”what do I do if I get chucked off “ stress that I had before we had land of our own.