If your horse is on full-board/livery...

[OscarWinningActress]

...are blanket/rug changes included?

Just wondering what everyone does. Blanket changes are not included in my full-board package so just wondering what the routine is at your place and how you manage blanketing your horse? I'm only five minutes away so It's not a huge deal to go up and change sheets but sometimes evenings are busy. Trying to decide whether I should upgrade to the extra-blanketing fee or try to find some sort of all-in-one blanket that would work for daytime turnout (I ride first thing in the morning and then turn him out) AND stall time at night.

Thats daft. Whats the point in paying full board if you have to go up to change rugs. What country are you in? I would always expect rug changes to be included on anything but DIY livery.

A

It's pretty standard here...(Canada). They'll take blankets off if they're wet, of course. I pay the equivalent of £350/month but that doesn't include blanket changes.

I'd expect rugs to be changed but each yard has its own version of full livery so the best approach is to have a written contract that spells put everything.

As an aside modern outdoor rugs are now so good you can get away with leaving them on all the time (of course you still have to check for rubs, injuries, etc). I only change mine on the odd occasions when they are wet underneath.

Erm... Yep, I am in Australia, but blanketing is included in full board here as well. You would usually get the heavy rug (eg turnout rug) off in the morning with the morning feed, and then in the late afternoon, the heavy rug would be put back on when the 2nd feeding is done. So 2 ruggings per day.

They do everything else bar rug changes??
And expect you to pay for that separately?

That sounds a bit daft to me....full board as far as I'm concerned is just that.

Do they have a reason for not doing it? Only take 2mins tops!

Bonkey, I suppose it's because there are over 100 horses boarded...and we're considered a small yard around here. There are all kinds of 'upgrades' you can get on top of full-board. I'm just trying to decide whether to avail myself of the extra blanket changes. Most of the boarders in my horse's building don't get rug changes...I'm surreptitiously trying to figure out what type of blankets they have on their horses that would work best for this...unfortunately, they haven't been around to ask because they ride in the evening and I'm always there first thing in the morning. I'm thinking I need to get a mid-weight turnout that can do double duty DHorse has seven blankets already, DH is going to FREAK OUT.

I have a boy on "Full" livery at a local yard and for us, that means everything including riding/schooling the horse if we don't want to ride or go to the yard, with his tack cleaned daily etc, etc. it's basically an arse wiping service for my mother to enjoy her horse

Part livery is everything except riding the horse/cleaning the tack and "DIY" or "assisted DIY" is Do everything yourself, and pay for extras such as bringing in/turning out etc.

Wow! That's awesome . I bet that costs an arm and a leg. I've not heard of anywhere local to me that provides that level of pampering. Full-board here means mucking out, turning in and out, wet rugs off, feed 2x daily and hay 4xdaily. Plus night check. Things like blanket changes, supplements, extra feed and training are all extra. Tack cleaning, grooming, bathing all has to be done by boarders. DIY livery is not something I've heard of either...that's such a good idea! I should think that would make horse ownership a lot more accessible for lots of people (if they've got the time).

Really, you don't have DIY livery at all? I never thought about having to pay someone to look after my horse, without even the option of doing it all myself. Got to admit that's really surprised me, DIY is so widespread here it honestly didn't occur to me that other countries might not do it.

Hang on...they take the wet rugs off??
But they won't replace?

To put another rug on they want to charge?

The number of horses is irrelevant, they should have sufficient staff members to provide the service they have beenaid for. The number of horses could never be an excuse for not mucking out or feeding the horses.

I suspect the problem is a vague arrangement inthe first place and I would encourage you to ask them for a full list of what they provide. Do they pick out hooves after bringing I ? Would they disinfect a small wound? Are they present for the farrier, vet and dentist? Would they arrange for the farrier for a lost shoe?

As for the rugs modern outdoor rugs are breathable and quite good at allowing the horse to dry out if he has perspires while keeping him warm in cold weather so a lot of people have given up on stable rugs. I remember the bad old days when we had those horrible itchy blanket/jute rugs that were terribly heavy and got soaked through at the mildest shower! I rarely see a rug wet underneath nowadays. I have a lightweight sheet and a medium weight rug for each of mine but we are in a relatively warm part of the world and don't really need a heavyweight.

Boohoo, that's the standard inclusive board arrangement here. All the extras are excluded in full-board. We live in Ontario and have significant temperature fluctuations throughout the year so people tend to go a bit crazy on the blankets...you need fly sheets, summer sheets, rain sheets, light through heavy weight (think -20 winters), stable AND turnout blankets. You can imagine how crazy it would get for barn staff if they had to manage multiple variations of blanket protocol for every horse in the barn . It would take AGES. That's why it's seen as an add-on, rather than a basic. I imagine if you paid for basic board at an exclusive A-circuit barn you'd get more inclusions, but then you'd be paying a few extra hundred dollars a month anyway. My barn is five minutes out of town (an affluent suburb) so it's not cheap, but it's fairly low key...not snooty and there's no requirement that you show...all disciplines are welcome too, which is really nice . You may get a better deal on basic board if you were willing to drive further out into the countryside or lived in different parts of Canada. This is the first horse I've had as an adult but even 20 years ago it was the same arrangement. There are LOADS of staff and they are always busy with barn chores, feeding, mucking and turning in/out but the expectation is that owners are there at least six, if not seven days a week. Sometimes twice a day. Picking out hooves and being present for routine vet, farrier and dental visits is the owners responsibility (with the exception of deworming). If you can't be there you get a friend, fellow boarder or family member to be present. Basic equine first aid is included, of course, as well as anything else that would need to happen in an emergency until a vet and/or the owner can get there.

Pixel..DIY may be something that's available in other parts of the country...I don't know. How much time does it take to do all that at every barn visit? If it was an option here I'd certainly do it but only because I have the time during the day and I like anything to do with taking care of my horse...I know that mucking out is not everyone's cup of tea though.

It's been interesting reading about all your different arrangements. Thanks for your replies!

Oscar It's not actually that bad price wise - £120/week all in.

We're lucky that the yard in question is a very small yard and is owned by the daughter of a family friend who is trying to make her mark in the eventing world, so I suspect we're not paying as much as others - but I don't like to ask. It suits us, as Dhorse likes it there, is settled and the yard owner is experienced with young horses. (Dhorse is 5).

When my pony first went onto full livery 2 years ago rug changes were included as standard.

Last winter the yard owner said that instead of increasing livery costs overall she was changing rug changes to an optional extra.

Having said this, she will still upgrade from medium to heavy if it gets too cold or switch down if it's too warm. What she won't do though is the daily "my horse needs these 3 rugs on at night and these 2 completely different rugs during the day" changes.

It's a good system for me as my pony normally wears the same rug during the day and night unless soaked through as I find they dry better (Scotland can be a miserable place in the winter!).

I have a range of all weather turnouts in many different weights and neck combinatins (just don't tell DH about the box of stable and fleece rugs no longer used in my garage!)

I am sorry, I have no experience of full livery. I just can't get my head round the idea that DIY livery is not available, especially if you have to go the the stables every day anyway. I've always had my horses on DIY livery. It doesn't have to take very long at all. In the summer when mine lives out, it takes about 45 minutes a day if I'm not riding to just bring him in, pick out feed, check him over, feed, and chuck him back out. In the winter its maybe an hour in the morning, to turn out and do the stable, then half an hour or less in the evening to bring in, and feed. Its been interesting to read about how things are done in different places.

Neither had I Fleixibility but when returning to work after mat leave with a demanding job & a long commute something had to give & unfortunately it had to be DIY livery that went.

I still miss that early morning neigh when my pony spotted me arriving to give her breakfast. At one point she would even neigh before she could see me as the hole in my exhaust obviously gave away that it was me who had just pulled in! I was quite sad when it got fixed.