Working livery?

Depends on the horse. If you want a well schooled horse back then think again. I'm afraid almost all of the ones at my old college ended up sour and with hard mouths. Those that were good at jumping were over jumped. I personally wouldn't send my horse there unless you have a very forgiving little cob or similar.

edited to add: don't get me wrong they were well looked after and pleanty of turnout but riding wise they were ruined, not helped by instructors that wanted heads in but not working from behind.
 
Can be good and can be v bad!!!! If you do make sure you make sure you understand exactly what they are going to do with your horse and mark all tack (worryingly it does go missing)..... And spot check regularly.

The good side is your horse won't be a welfare case and won't dissapear unlike some loans.
 
i am considering it as not sure if i will be able to sell my mare that easily as the market is so saturated and stagnant.
I am hoping to phone the college tomorrow and have a chat and then they will come and view her and make a decision. I would also want to go and see the college facilities and watch one of their lessons etc.
 
Good plan. It's not a bad thing as long as you go in with your eyes open and don't expect the same horse back again particularly if she is well schooled. Only things I would consider are:

is she happy on a busy yard?
can people pet her regularly without her getting grumpy?
is she happy around lots of other horses?

If she's fine with all of that chances are she'll settle well. Ditto marking EVERYTHING though, alot does go missing, gets used on other horses, flash straps in particular never materialise again nor do bits if they decide to change it!

Might be worth naming the college and you can get some feedback from past and current students as well as making your own judgement?
 
she is fine with all the things you listed above and i'm not worried about her schooling being ruined as it's not that great anyway! She just needs extra time put into her which i cannot do.

It is Rodbaston College i am looking at as it is fairly close to me.

It is £5 a week and they do everything for her, including farrier etc.

I am hoping they will take her on then when the market picks up again i might be able to sell her, or, if she is happy there, just see how it goes.
 
id rather send my horse to a riding school were the people are told to be gentle on their mouths and backs, than send one to a college where the riders think theyre better than they are and yank the horse around and bang on their backs. in a riding school itd probabley keep the horse longer and looser too. But would depend on the riding school. Definately not a college in my opinion.
 
Plus would be that you would end up with a very fit horse..

I did consider it myself but it was too expensive! Cheaper to have her on DIY at a private yard!

Make sure your insurance company is fully aware of the situation if you do decide to go ahead - I read in a recent horse mag that they won't pay out if you do not declare it.
 
I would also look at Warwickshire College, plus it's free to have your horse there, no charge to you at all and includes everything.
 
thanks for the tip about insurance, hadnt thought of that.

I am really nervous about calling them tomorrow in case they arent interested. I am really struggling with two horses and not sure how long i can keep it up :(
 
Ella19 said:
I would also look at Warwickshire College, plus it's free to have your horse there, no charge to you at all and includes everything.
Click to expand...

I looked at their website but couldnt find any contact numbers etc or anything that suggested livery. Do you have a link?
 
I had my big lad on working livery for a time - mainly for financial reasons about 8 years ago.

Never again.

He had 3 ladies of a certain age that rode him that absolutely doted on him and always spoiled him, they were like Aunties, one even bought him a nice new numnah for Christmas! But when I was on holiday and not visiting every day he was given to a guy who was up on vacation - said he had been training with Hester - he roundly abused my horse, I came back to a lame horse, with spur marks, stressed and very unhappy. Other people told me that he had really laid into him with a stick

Can you imagine how I felt??? That was the end of working livery and we moved to another yard right away.
 
Having been to an equine college for 3 months then left partly because of the way the horsess were treated, I wouldn't recommend it unless you've been to the place yourself and know exactly how they're kept when you're not there.

They weren't abused as such, they were well fed and farriered and the yard and tack was spotless, but they got no turn out, 23 hours a day or more spent stood in a stable. Most had vices, they were grumpy, sour and generally not happy. And greys and coloureds were bathed EVERY day. God forbid they, y'know, looked like horses or anything. My mate brought her horse with her and had him kept on working livery there, after he damaged his tendon twice through over jumping, she took him home.
 
i think it is probably a case of some good some bad and i wont know if it suits Ruby until i try.
I am short of other options save getting another loaner for her which i am not too keen on as past two loans havent gone very well with regards to being let down and left in the lurch.

I will be very thorough tomorrow when i speak with them and as i said will definitely go and see the place and what they do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top