Working livery

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Wizpopagain

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Hi - this is for those of you who keep your horse on working livery. What sort of deal do you have? eg free livery on the days that the horse is ‘working’, discounted livery, both or something different. Just trying to work out what’s fair to all.
 
Years and years ago daughters first pony was on working livery for the first 9 months. She lived out free i paid for hay shoes hard feed wormer etc and of course vacs and vets bills. I paid a nominal amount for a stable for a couple of months and I paid for bedding then.
She worked 3 or 4 days a week for 1 to 2 hours lead rein lessons. Daughter hated it so we then moved yards to a DIY yard but it gave us a supported start.
 
Discounted full livery, the amount of the discount depending whether they were using him for 5 or for 10 hours a week, so they used him for 1 or for 2 hours per day. They permitted a max of three hours work a day per horse whether by them or by the owner or a mix of the two.

They used him for 5 days a week but I could still ride him as well on those days (up to the 3 hours max), the 6th day he was all mine, and Mondays he had a compulsory rest day with all the other RS horses.

I wouldn’t do it again, but it worked well at the time.
 
1995-2000 so a good while ago but standard working livery package on yard I was on was free full livery, owner paid for all tack and equipment, farriery, worming, vets bills and any extras like supplements. Horse had two days off a week although you were allowed to ride on one of them, horse usually did max two hours a day weekdays so you could ride then but full workload on weekends. You could occasionally have horse on weekend days for shows if agreed in advance. It generally seemed to work well for both parties as there was good communication and both YO and owners worked together to find best balance for all including making sure the horse had a suitable and varied workload.
 
When we got R, our first pony 12 years ago we kept her on working livery. We paid a hugely discounted full livery price, hay and basic bedding was included. I paid for hard feed and shoes. She also got a yearly vet check along with the riding school horses. Being an opinionated Welshie with a low boredom she threshold she turned out to be a rubbish riding horse and was only used for a couple of hours a week, so me and my oldest daughter ended up doing the the "working " part. Eventually she got sacked and we went DIY and are still having fun together
 
Cheaper livery. They were still used every day by the school, and if I wanted to ride I had to book in.

I’m sure it’s slightly different every where, but personally I’d never put another on working livery.
 
I ran a working livery riding school mid 2000s.
Livery price ranges from £15.00 to £50.00 a week depending on horse size. The horses were essentially on full livery - feed, bedding included. Out 24/7 in the summer, only coming in if they were needed for lessons or owner booking.
We had a large variety of horses and owners. At peak there were 60 horses and ponies on site. You could book your horse out am/pm or all day. As we had so many we were pretty flexible.
The only downside for owners depended on your horses ability.
If you had a horse that was good for beginners it was used a lot in the school.
We had a few ‘better’ horses - some ex eventers and showjumping horses that could only be used for experienced clients so they might only be used 4 hours a week. So they got a great deal out of it.
I distinctly remember having 5 beginner cobs who were worked 2 hours a day 5 days a week.
 
Thanks everyone for your replies. It does seem to vary according to how frequently the horse is used and the size of the yard, but does give me food for thought!
 
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