working livery?

No, I would never do that. Lots of riders can ruin a horse. It depends though what you do with the horse. I would hate it as I like to school my horses my way and can tell immediately when someone else has ridden them. If I was just a happy hacker maybe I wouldn't be bothered so much.
 
My horse is at a trekking centre on the moor, this suits both of us fine as she's getting a bit old for me to compete with, but not old enough to retire.

She was there as a livery for a while first though, so I know how they keep their horses and I'm happy with the standard of care, and she's used only as an escort horse, not ridden by novices, she's a bit too much fun!
 
Years ago, I put my sons pony on working livery when my mare was sick. It was only for a couple of weeks as I was going up every other day and was having to muck out, give him water or hay. It was horrible, never forgave myself for doing it. Went one night with trailer and took him away, YO wasn't happy, said there would be some really upset little girls. errm tough ****, should have more respect for other peoples ponies.
 
I'm on working livery and I hate it! I mean I can ride my horse whenever I want but I have to book him out. Hay, bedding and feed are included however our grazing is naff and we had rubbish hay all winter and he lost alot of weight. My stuff is always moved around, like today, one of the other horses went out in my horses rug and it came in ripped. It's brand new too, plus someone hacked my boy out yesterday and his saddle was muddy and hadn't been cleaned, that too is only 4 months old. I tried moving yards to diy but it didn't work out so I had to return. They can't offer me full livery as the yard only caters for 3 full liveries at a time and currently we have 5. I'm a member of staff at this yard too and I get no perks at all. For the time being I have no choice but as soon as I can, things will change.
 
My horse and every other horse is on working livery. We are not a normal livery yard/riding school though as we are a charity who provide riding lessons, treks and nvq/exams for those unable to access riding elsewhere.
Only certain riders can ride certain horses. We have beginner/novice horses through to stage 3 and competing horses and will allocate rides appropriately.
All owners have a say in how much and what work their horse does and their horse will always be available for them to ride when they want.

So what im saying is, yes working livery can work, but you need to check talk to the YO and YM to discuss it.

Also, the benefits of working livery, is that your horse is cared for when you cannot be there - a big thing for me as i am away every other weekend.

So really, if you can get the right deal for you, it is good for you and your horse.

I prefer to let others ride my horse so he doesnt just get used to one rider. He is ridden by a few people (some good riders, some not so good) but he works brilliantly for me still, it hasnt affected him at all.
 
If you want a sour horse with no mouth overworked, go for it and as someone said you have to book your own horse. Did that many years ago and the school didn't keep their end of bargain, and he was overused and when I stopped it they used him behind my back, wasn't till a kiddy told me that MERLIN had had a beating as he'd been naughty in the class I found out, so moved as fast as I could.
 
Kadastorm said:
My horse and every other horse is on working livery. We are not a normal livery yard/riding school though as we are a charity who provide riding lessons, treks and nvq/exams for those unable to access riding elsewhere.
Only certain riders can ride certain horses. We have beginner/novice horses through to stage 3 and competing horses and will allocate rides appropriately.
All owners have a say in how much and what work their horse does and their horse will always be available for them to ride when they want.

So what im saying is, yes working livery can work, but you need to check talk to the YO and YM to discuss it.

Also, the benefits of working livery, is that your horse is cared for when you cannot be there - a big thing for me as i am away every other weekend.

So really, if you can get the right deal for you, it is good for you and your horse.

I prefer to let others ride my horse so he doesnt just get used to one rider. He is ridden by a few people (some good riders, some not so good) but he works brilliantly for me still, it hasnt affected him at all.
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it's good to know that it can work. it's a hard decision to make, when i am so used to diy
 
Yeah i can imagine.
Dont rush in to making a decision, talk to YO and YM to come to an agreement.
It may work out for you, it may not, im very lucky where i am - im yard manager as well :D but when im not there, i know my horse is cared for.
And i do my upmost to make sure all horses and owners are happy :)

Hope it all works out for you :)
 
H is on working livery and, of course there are advantages and disadvantages. I don't think I could afford him if he wasn't (one advantage) and he gets ridden in the week when I can't get there (another advantage).

It is quite a big yard (over 50 horses) but only some of them are on working livery - it is a small scale school, only running part of the time. H gets ridden maybe once or twice for 1/2 hour, 4 times a week - perfect for me! I can go at the weekends during term time and I have him all day every day I want in the holidays (I'm a teacher).

As he arrived quite unschooled and green (especially for a 10 year old!!), the schooling he has been given has worked wonders - credit to the YO, I suppose!

However - there are disadvantages: she wants to put him in a stronger bit for instance, as he tends to tank of with pupils (not with me, haha!), which I am reluctant to do. She's also a bit 'stricter' than me (but I'm not sure that's a bad thing, after all?) And, of course he gets ridden by various people - but as it's a pretty small school they tend to be the same people and I know them; pretty much all competent adults. Probably more so than me!

In my case the advantages definitely outweigh the disadvantages, but I imagine it might not work for everyone and each case would be different.

Definitely worth considering - especially if you know the yard well and are happy with the level of care (like me). I think all of the working livery owners are pretty happy with how things are at our yard.
 
sometimes it can work but be very carefull of what happens when your not there. was once diy on a yard that was mostly working livery, some ponies being used up to seven hours worth of lessons a day just because they were customers favourites. when they did have chance to have a rest they were tied up fully tacked up, girth still tight, no water, no haynet, stood in the pouring rain. my days off were spent running round looking after them on the owners behalf.

owners were led to believe they were used for three lessons per day maximum. most left the yard when they knew the truth.

not trying to put you off just meant as a warning
 
Depends on the horse, and also the yard, I loaned my horse to an Equestrian College, so I know the standard of riding was pretty high, I never had a problem with it, she was kept fit and shiny and happy, while I concentrated on my youngster, it can work well
 
It depends on so much......... but it can work!

At the yard where I used to have lessons they had occasional working liverys. There were a few for whom it was incredibly successful, owners who wouldn't have coped without the help and horses who were vastly improved by competent regular schooling.

Having said that I wouldn't do it! One of the main reasons I bought a horse was to have complete freedom and control and so that I didn't have to put up with novices undoing my hard work! But on the yard where I keep her they have working livery clients and they are well looked after and worked pretty lightly. For example one of them did a half hour hack today as escort horse and another did no work at all, both went out with their "mum" for a hack. They rarely do more than an hour a day of "work" and it isn't hard work, lessons are a maximum of 45 mins, they never jump more than about 2ft 6" and only infrequently.
 
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