Yo / YM Do you buy your liveries xmas pressies?

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jenz87

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I work / live on the yard and last year in the snow i took photos of all the horses, and i presented the owners with pictures of their horses for xmas. It was a cheap but nice present in my eyes.

Id like to get them something again this year but i dont know what....I dont have a lot of money and i have a few liveries, but i dont know what to get them!!

Do you give your liveries anything? I cant afford to splash out on them all on top of my family etc, but id like to give them something thoughtful!!

Any ideas / experiences!!

Thank you :)
 
I once bought nice handcream for the three liveries I had as a "gift from their horses". I had received some lovely gifts and left these out by each stable
 
One year I got a photo frame. Things like that are good and not too expensive.

Last year other yo gave me fizzy bath bombs disguised as cup cakes!
 
How about making a 'cheque' for a free muck out, or days care or something, which they can 'cash in' with you at a later date?
 
Mine does :) She used to give us t-shirts with the farm logo, but 2 years ago she got us some gloves and last year she gave us a (single page) calendar with our favourite horse on! I got a fab one of me cantering Ned through some rape seed ^^ I've decorated it with my rosettes :D Found the picture! https://picasaweb.google.com/100854110693431482772/HorsesInRape2#5332410012930766866 (I know, I know, my hands are awful!!!!)
 
I love Christmas morning at ours! We get to the yard and there is a stocking outside every stable! If it's your first christmas there then you get a horseshoe decorated with the horse's name on it - everyone has theirs on their stable door.

Last year I got a baseball cap with the yard name and 'showing team' on it, some choccies, Milly's horseshoe (Genie already had hers!) and of course carrots for the girls!
 
Our YO usually puts a couple of big sweet tins, cans of juice, crisp selection packs etc. out in the tackroom as a general christmas present, and the liveries just help themselves. We usually give her a bottle of wine and little selection boxes for her kids.
 
Yes, as my liveries are all one family I shall buy them a nice big tin of choc's for everyone to dip into. Whoops, I shouldn't be saying this as they're probably on here!!!! :)

Re. the farrier; I always buy him a bottle of something for "medicinal purposes" which I know he'll appreciate, plus his apprentice always gets a rack of tinnies as well.
 
miss_christmas said:
I love Christmas morning at ours! We get to the yard and there is a stocking outside every stable! If it's your first christmas there then you get a horseshoe decorated with the horse's name on it - everyone has theirs on their stable door.

Last year I got a baseball cap with the yard name and 'showing team' on it, some choccies, Milly's horseshoe (Genie already had hers!) and of course carrots for the girls!
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I want to move to Bristol! :D
 
If you don't have much to spend why not bake some christmas gingerbreads or similar and wrap them in cellophane with some pretty ribbon or similar.

Or if you wanted to spend a little more you could make sloe gin or similar (there is a recipe for limoncello in this months Asda magazine) and give them each a small bottle.
 
I've been on lots of livery yards and never got a Christmas present except at one which was a bag of treats and everyone was really touched, probably because the livery yards where we live are all owned by farmers that only care about the money.
I'm on my own yard now but hubby has just put a walker in for the snow so I suppose that is the yard present!! I might be tempted to move to the yard where gilets are given out though!!
Some ideas, Treats for owner and horse, you can get Mark Todd ski band for about £4, christmassy lead rope, a yard present like a new filler or something?
 
The cheque idea is pretty smart - prehaps you could attach it to a carrot with a red ribbon to make it festive. The YO at a friends yard made some cookies in the shape of a a horse head and then iced their equines name onto them - most people didn't eat them but took home instead.

How about...
a mini veg box for each horse, decorate with a bit of ribbon / tinsel.


Home made Peppermint cremes - cheap and easy to do and christmassy.

Put on a christmas gymkana for the liveries, get some rosettes and mince pies and great fun !! could become the annual event.
(many years ago our yard annual event was a race over the back field, - 3 miles long and had to be done bareback - we used to train for weeks for it - no prizes just enormous fun and all done on christmas morning ...Everyone turned out for it ! )

You can buy the plastic keyrings from any craft outlet and put a funny photo in each.

If your house is close enough - organise a 'Can't cook, wont cook' cook off of mince pies or similar in your kitchen and add some mulled wine for a hands on festive party ! What a laugh .. the more the better !!

can you speak to your local tack store and see if they will 'donate' a small discount voucher that you can give to your liveries, your clients get a few £ off and the tack store get guaranteed sales. Or could you set up a discount scheme for your yard with tack shop.


How about a heavily ribboned Hoof pick for each livery - we all know how elusive these items are !!

Could you arrange for in the new year someone come to the yard and give a demo / advice - siddle saddle, carriage driving, one of the feed specailists or if a high % of your yard has dogs how about a dog agility training evening.

The Blue Cross always give good talks and tours if you haved one local. then prehaps in spring you could do a fund raiser for them in return.
 
I didn't know there were such lovely YO out there. Nothing happens on our yard at xmas. There is more cheer in a graveyard on a wet sunday than on our yard. You are expected to come up and do your horse and then kindly feck off. I used to bother but not now. :(
 
No i dont buy the liveries presents, but i do put £100 behind the bar on our yard night out!!! A tin of chocolates in the tack room, and often mince pies
 
padderpaws said:
I didn't know there were such lovely YO out there. Nothing happens on our yard at xmas. There is more cheer in a graveyard on a wet sunday than on our yard. You are expected to come up and do your horse and then kindly feck off. I used to bother but not now. :(
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That's really sad :( could you not take things into your own hands and Hi jack the yard for Christmas ???
 
I like the idea of the cheque and the horse shoe name plaque. What about carrot/apple wreaths for the horses?
Not really a gift but a nice way to celebrate, we 'dress up' the horses in tinsel and snow spray and go round our favourite ride and then have a mulled wine back at the yard on Xmas morning!
 
Some lovely ideas - Im jealous of some of your yards!!

We cant do the cheque idea as we run full livery so they get everything anyway!!

I quite like some of the ideas, i like to do something a bit home made as i think its a nice touch, just havent quite had the right idea yet!!
 
As its my 1st christmas at this yard I won't know if anything happens, but I will be getting a couple tins of sweets for the other ladies and something for YO and her family just no idea what yet.

What lovely ideas on here.... :D

Nice to hear that there are some happy yards still about with lovely people on them, after all you hear is mainly horror stories.
 
As this is my first xmas since taking over my yard you have given me a few nice ideas here. You don't want to look tight but at the same time you son't want to blow the bank, so i think handmade treats for everyone/horse will be appreciated.
If i have a horse by then i will arrange some sort of ride, but to be honest not everyone was around on xmas day last year... :(
 
Our YO always gets presents for the liveries....she always brings up choccies and mince pies for the whole yard as well as paying for a load of drinks on our Yard Do then everyone gets their own little present.....We always get our YO and her husband something nice for Christmas as well as some treats for her horses and toys for her dogs (couldn't leave the pets out now could we!). I don't think I've ever been on a yard at Christmas time that didn't do something.....One of my previous YO's gave everyone a week's free livery and a big bale of either straw or haylage (whichever you preferred) for christmas!
 
I try and get something personal for each livery, for example a dressage book with a section on planning your training for one who struggles with this so I hope it helps her. Another will get a lesson voucher and last year he got a stable rug as he desperately needed one and money was tight. I will add he helps out a lot throughout the year.

Sometimes it's been something we need on the yard like a wheelbarrow for one lady in bright pink :) another year I horse hunted for one and did some schooling on another.

I do a open house on boxing day so people can socialise and not have to worry about cooking and washing up and that goes down well.

Definitely think it's the thought that counts and I like the idea of peppermint creams, cheap to make and horse and human can eat them :)
 
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