Anyone who keeps their horse on livery knows how important it is to find the right yard for themselves and their horse. A great livery yard makes horse ownership a joy, while a bad one can cause considerable stress for both horse and rider. As you are leaving your much-loved horse in the livery yard’s care, we have produced a checklist to help find the right livery yard for your needs.
What to look for in a good livery yard
- A business-like livery yard operator who treats you as a valued customer. Gauge reputation. Feel atmosphere
- Fair charges
- A signed contract covering all important issues
- Insurance and other relevant business certificates displayed
- Well maintained, organised office and premises. Information boards and signage
- Current Health and Safety policy, risk assessments, first aider, accident procedure details
- Obvious security measures
- Fire point; fire fighting equipment and written policy
- Safe feed storage
- Dedicated horse area, specific visitor, dog and vehicle policies
- Safe riding practices. Whereabouts monitored
- Sympathetic horse management policy. Essential horse-husbandry
- Secure horse friendly fields; well managed using nitrogen-free fertilizer, neither overstocked nor lonely horses
- Instructors and contractors: qualifications and insurance displayed
What to avoid in a livery yard
- Someone who runs ‘their’ yard as a sideline or hobby; either nobody notices or cares while you wander around looking into stables, around tackrooms and machinery, or treats you as a ‘nuisance’
- Prices reflecting sub-standard care or greed
- Vague verbal agreement, or on a scrap of paper. Expecting everything to be rosy. Too little flexibility
- Conversation limited to warnings of existing customer problems. Unrealised personal aspirations
- Unkempt office. Premises littered with abandoned objects giving a ‘seasoned look’
- Unrealistic codes of practice purporting to represent Health and Safety regulations. Loud bickering voices. Nervous horses
- Broken door bolts and hinges. Unlocked tack-room littered with rugs, broken equipment. Spilt food.
- Vermin
- Little sign of fire-fighting equipment. People smoking, children running amok amid bales and gas cylinders
- Unsafe bale stack
- Loose dogs and worm-ridden cats. Close proximity of horses to farm animals, cars and scattered machinery
- Uncaring horsemanship; sweaty horses. Mismanaged arenas; deep tracks, ill-placed jumps, abandoned cups
- Horses stabled 24/7
- Fields: overstocked, weed and dropping-infested, poor fencing, muddy, difficult gateways, green slimy water troughs
- Self-taught ‘horse-experts’.
- DIY disaster repairs
Don’t miss H&H’s fantastic feature on what makes a great livery yard, including a focus on livery yards with current vacancies in Horse & Hound on sale now (7 June, ’07)
View livery yards currently advertised with Horse & Hound
