Livery costs and options

Mrs_T

Mrs_T

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Dec 28, 2014
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Out of curiosity, what would you expect to pay for diy, full, part or working livery? Is working livery cheaper or more expensive than full livery and why?

Also what area do you live in as I wouldn't be surprised if costs differ according to area?
 
Never had full, part or working livery. Having lived in Shropshire and Wiltshire, I expect to pay around £25 a week for DIY, for stable and turnout. More if hay and/or straw is included. Working livery should be a lot cheaper than full livery because you are giving them permission to use your horse for work.
 
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I paid £495 per month for part livery (including hay/feed, muckout, turnout and bring in, use of facilities). I now pay £135 per month for DIY which is just stable/field/use of facilities. I am in Buckinghamshire. It ain't cheap round here!
 
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Do you actually mean working livery or exercing livery?

Working livery is where a RS or college has the use for a number of hours a week of your horse. I have offered that in the past to owners who needed the horse worked but the horse was suitable for use by RS riders ( at that time mainly exam students). I usually offered DIY price for full exercised livery provided the horse did enough hours work to pay for the difference.Exercising livery however is full livery price plus and hourly rate for the rider and varies according to how easy.difficult the horse is too ride/school, ie basic rider or skilled schooling required?
 
I meant working livery at a RS...I'm looking ahead really, as when my kiddos are are bit bigger, I plan to buy and, if space allows, would love to keep the horse at my RS (also a livery). I'm just so out of touch with these sort of costs, as its been so long since I had to think about such things! Plus I've moved into a different county in the last 7 years. I'd also have no idea how much a bale of hay would be now...when I last knew, they were about £1.50 a bale, but I'd imagine they are at least twice that now!
 
I have paid 50 a week for full livery in the past (no grazing but turnout in sand paddocks, inc muck out, turnout/bring in, feed, hay and holding for farrier etc. plus use of indoor and outdoor schools). Same yard offers field livery for 25 a week (living out with hay and feed done for you and use of the facilities). This is on the norfolk/suffolk border. I've seen some advertised recently for full livery locally at 100 a week on a new yard with school etc. Currently I pay 80 per month for my yard (3 stables and 3.5 acres, no school) which was an absolute find, very rare to find much more than a field without water for that price.
In herts I was at one yard for 17.50 a week DIY (good grazing and just a grass paddock to ride in), another that was 30 a week DIY (posh american barn and nice school and feed store on site)
 
Here in the Ribble Valley we paid about £450 for our two on a yard. That was per month. That was mainly diy - although you could add on things like turnout if necessary if you were too busy to do it. I am going back 8 years so prices may have risen since then. If I remember rightly we had bedding and hayledge included for this price, plus use of an Olympic size indoor arena, large outdoor, solarium thingy, horse walker and the yard had a splendid cafe too. Oh and we had an individual paddock for our pair which I think was an extra £5 per week.
 
Mrs_T said:
I meant working livery at a RS...I'm looking ahead really, as when my kiddos are are bit bigger, I plan to buy and, if space allows, would love to keep the horse at my RS (also a livery). I'm just so out of touch with these sort of costs, as its been so long since I had to think about such things! Plus I've moved into a different county in the last 7 years. I'd also have no idea how much a bale of hay would be now...when I last knew, they were about £1.50 a bale, but I'd imagine they are at least twice that now!
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I pay £5.45 for a small bale of hay! That is steep, even for the South East though. Not allowed to buy them in from elsewhere on my yard. Working livery at the local RI here is £295 a month. I think that includes everything, although personally I'd find it frustrating fitting into someone else's timetable dictating when I could ride my horse!
 
At our yard our bills are 4 weekly and there are different options on the livery. We pay the YO for the stable, straw, hay and use of the horse walker and for me at the moment I pay £172 for that. It's a bit more now than during the summer as the horses are not going out so much and therefore using more hay and straw, everyone pays this but differing amounts according to size of stable and horse/pony. My RI is also the yard manager and is self-employed and she will do mucking out, exercising, teaching, seeing vets and farriers if needed, virtually anything the owners can't do for themselves. For me she mucks out, turns Mac out and gets him in, buys his feed, and is riding him 3 or 4 times a week as I am unable to at the moment. So her bills vary from month to month, usually between £250 - £275. So for both bills that's about £105-£112 p.w. which is probably about average for full livery in this part of Kent and from what I hear I think we get a better service than a lot of places. I know if I am ill or want to go on holiday Mac will be left in goods hands whatever happens.

When we had our first horse in 1975 we paid £6 pw for grass livery. How times have changed.
 
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I'm £110 for grazing and stable (per pony) that's DIY with no straw or haylage included. And we don't have a school.

(I think small square bales of hay are about £4 round here - edinburgh. I buy big round bales of haylage and straw from the farmer)
 
MAC66 said:
At our yard our bills are 4 weekly and there are different options on the livery. We pay the YO for the stable, straw, hay and use of the horse walker and for me at the moment I pay £172 for that. It's a bit more now than during the summer as the horses are not going out so much and therefore using more hay and straw, everyone pays this but differing amounts according to size of stable and horse/pony. My RI is also the yard manager and is self-employed and she will do mucking out, exercising, teaching, seeing vets and farriers if needed, virtually anything the owners can't do for themselves. For me she mucks out, turns Mac out and gets him in, buys his feed, and is riding him 3 or 4 times a week as I am unable to at the moment. So her bills vary from month to month, usually between £250 - £275. So for both bills that's about £105-£112 p.w. which is probably about average for full livery in this part of Kent and from what I hear I think we get a better service than a lot of places. I know if I am ill or want to go on holiday Mac will be left in goods hands whatever happens.

When we had our first horse in 1975 we paid £6 pw for grass livery. How times have changed.
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I'm in Kent too, not far from Dover... where are you?

£6 haha! I think diy livery was about £15 PW in about 2006, so it's about what I expected. I think, as someone pointed out, a working livery at a RS would be quite restrictive, and perhaps for me personally, may defeat the object (at least in part) of owning my own.
 
Small world! Nice to know more localk comsts too!

Do you know how much standard diy would be at your yard or locally?
 
We have some friends that live at Church Hougham amd visit them sometimes.

What I pay the YO is the diy cost so that would be £43 pw and includes hay, straw, grazing, horsewalker, and a large outdoor school.
 
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