Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

The tack room

Discuss horse riding and ownership on our Horse forum.

Livery cost

29 replies

mrssunshinexxx · 19/02/2025 05:43

Hey I'm doing some research for a potential business. Would anyone be kind enough to to let me know the cost of
DIY livery on your yard
Full livery
Part
And where you Are in the country
Thanks very much in advance

OP posts:
twistyizzy · 19/02/2025 05:58

Noone makes any money from livery, that's why so many have closed.
Around here (NE) it ranges from £120-250 per month DIY depending on facilities
£300-400 Part, dependent on facilities
£450+ Full, again dependent

With rising costs of water, electric, insurance + yard/field maintenance the only way to earn a proper salary is through offering only Full but then you either do the work yourself or hire someone. Retirement livery is also a good option if you have sufficient good land with proper acreage.

biscuitsandbooks · 19/02/2025 07:17

I really wouldn't open a livery yard if I were you!

Throughthebluebells · 19/02/2025 07:55

We are in the South East. All depends on facilities, type of yard etc. but at a good clean, successful yard, with secure tack room, wash facilities, school etc these are the minimum prices needed to make any money out of it, and even then, if just DIY, it's hard to make a profit:

DIY - stable and grazing only (no hay or bedding included) £200pm. Adding in ad lib hay and bedding would bring it up to £300pm or £10 per day.

Assisted DIY - varies depending on services. DIY rate plus time at £20ph. Don't under-estimate the time used for these services

Part - Everything included except riding (includes full care such as grooming, holding for vets, farriers etc.) I charge the DIY rate of £200 plus £20 per day for services of the groom, plus hay at least £50 per month plus hard feed depending on requirements so my starting price would be £900pm (£30 per day).

Full - Includes riding/training etc. Starts at £1200pm (£40 per day) but depends on requirements, as that would include the horse being ridden or lunged/long-reined 5 days a week.

The DIY rate only really works if you have a large acreage so the horses have all year turnout and large fields that can be rotated and harrowed rather than poo-picked. Be aware that expecting all DIY liveries to poo-pick daily, even in appalling weather, is unrealistic and so the land always becomes degraded and horse-sick over time.

The hourly rate of £20ph may sound high, but once you factor in the costs of employing someone, including paying for their holidays, training, sickness, pension, NI etc. this is the bare minimum it costs the employer to provide a basic full-time employed groom for an hour. If you are doing the work yourself then maybe you could reduce it to £15ph but why would you work for that!

On part or full livery, as a client I want to be sure my horse is well looked after so anything less than an hour's time each day is skimping, when allowing for feeding, mucking out, hay and water, turn out, bring in, rug changes, evening checks and skip out, grooming, picking feet, clipping, tack cleaning, holding for vets, farriers, physios, etc. I challenge anyone to do all that properly in less than an average of an hour a day or 30 hours a month!

The Full livery price assumes the horse is backed and can be handled and ridden by any reasonably experienced groom. If it requires more training or handling then my hourly rate increases to allow for that to say £30ph for the days training.

Once you work out your costs including insurances (Buildings, Public liability, Professional indemnity, Care and Control, Employers liability, etc), council taxes, water and electric, internet and security (wifi cameras etc), regular maintenance of land and buildings, muck removal, rubbish removal, fencing, pest control, regular school replenishment and harrowing, jumps etc, administration costs and a list of expenses that seems never-ending there really isn't any profit, even at these seemingly high prices.

britnay · 19/02/2025 10:43

Unless you already own the land, there is little money to be made from livery. And even if you do own land, you'd make more from doggy day care/dog field hire.

maxelly · 19/02/2025 11:07

I might be about to get flamed here based on the other recent threads about costs and other people not believing anyone spends this much but I promise these are real, and for a not particularly flashy yard, just bog standard medium sized livery yard attached to a BHS riding school and exam centre (so we do have good facilities but access to them limited in evenings and weekends as lessons take priority), in a pricey part of the SE/Home Counties where everything, particularly staff costs are very expensive:

-DIY /grass livery (my yard doesn't actually offer but based on averages for the area): approx £450 pcm but you'd end up paying extra

-Working livery where your horse is used for up to 12 hours in the riding school per week (not an option I'd ever go for personally): £500 pcm

-5 day / part livery including basic food, hay, bedding and all care but no riding/exercise or extras Mon-Fri: £700 pcm

-7 day livery as per the above but 7 days a week: £900 pcm

-Schooling/comp livery as per full but including horse being ridden by staff 5 days a week, grooming, tack cleaning etc : £1200 pcm😮

As others have said those are only the headline costs though, there are always extras charged by the yard at a flat or hourly rate and I suspect if any money is being made at all (which I highly doubt despite the fact it costs so much £££, as others have said livery on its own isn't really a profitable business generally right now due to rising costs of everything) it's on these, clipping/grooming, rug changes, holding for the vet/farrier etc. But if you have a good amount of land/facilities available I would wonder about either letting out as a sole use yard or going in a different direction with the business e.g. dogs, competition or event facility or similar?

lastqueenofscotlandagain · 19/02/2025 11:44

Most people I know who make any sort of a living doing livery only do DIY with literally no provision for anything else, grow their own hay and insist on only using theirs.

As soon as you get into needing staff it gets insanely expensive very quickly, and is hugely hard work. I know someone who ran a very successful very smart full livery and she's quit in the last year as she was really struggling with staff despite decent wages and accommodation, and was often providing all the full livery services just herself.

I'm in very rural west Yorks.

In terms of cost DIY is around the 30-50per week mark depending on offering

Part varies hugely as part can mean so much

Full starts at £100pw for a very basic offering (ie buying your own bedding/feed/hay).

mrssunshinexxx · 20/02/2025 07:53

Thanks so much for taking your time to reply everyone.

Sorry to drip feed looking at either smaller scale 6 stables one filled with my own or higher end nearer 20 needing staff , swaying towards smaller to be honest.

Re dogs - definitely not can't stand them !

OP posts:
biscuitsandbooks · 20/02/2025 08:03

I really wouldn't go all out with 20 liveries until you've tried it small-scale and decided whether it's actually worth the time and effort.

Livery yards and riding schools up and down the country are downsizing or shutting their doors for good. The cost of keeping horses has skyrocketed and honestly, it's not the kind of job I would even consider at the moment. It's a lot of work for not very much reward - many don't even break even, let alone turn a reliable profit.

mrssunshinexxx · 20/02/2025 09:09

It would be on our own land / property little mortgagee but would obviously want to make something

OP posts:
biscuitsandbooks · 20/02/2025 12:03

mrssunshinexxx · 20/02/2025 09:09

It would be on our own land / property little mortgagee but would obviously want to make something

But you need to factor in all the costs - you'd need to apply for change of use for starters, get insurance, make sure everything is safe, think about parking and electricity and water, storage for everyone and their stuff, food etc.

You'll need to invest a fair whack of money before you even start to think about making a profit.

RedPony1 · 20/02/2025 12:34

You definitely need to consider parking for trailers/lorrys and security too, i wouldnt want to find a place away from my horses to keep my lorry.- that's not convenient.

mrssunshinexxx · 20/02/2025 12:51

@RedPony1 @biscuitsandbooks have added the lorry point to my plans thank you had overseen that!

OP posts:
Pleasedontdothat · 20/02/2025 14:40

How much land and how many stables do you have? What’s the grazing like? And do you already have permission for commercial use?

We have 20 acres which is more than a lot of livery yards have but our place wouldn’t be suitable for commercial use and we’d never get planning permission to do the work that would be needed. Planners look very carefully at things like parking and access and all new developments now need to demonstrate a 10% net gain in biodiversity. We’ve had to jump through loads of hoops to get permission to put in an arena despite the area only being visible by drone - we have to guarantee that the habitat we’ve created will be there for the next 30 years.

HelinaHandbasket · 20/02/2025 15:31

I’ve just moved yards, and my horse is now on full livery for which I’m paying £400 a month, which includes hay and bedding but not feed. The yard staff will also bring in for vet/farrier visits if necessary (for a fee) and also do rug changes. There’s an outdoor school with jumps, and access to good off road hacking. The YO is a qualified coach, so I can access lessons on site, but not bring in outside coaches, and can also pay for someone to ride my horse for me while I’m away. I’m in Scotland.

I looked at another local yard which was a similar price, but charged for bedding and rug changes, and didn’t assist with vet/farrier visits at all. It had an indoor and outdoor school, and similar hacking. Both have parking for lorrys/trailers.

crinkletits · 22/02/2025 17:51

It's a definite no on your own land. We take in the occasional schooling livery and hire out our menage but tbh even that's a pain but we're very anti social.

mrssunshinexxx · 23/02/2025 04:06

So why isit a definite no for me ? @crinkletits

OP posts:
sheep73 · 23/02/2025 06:56

We are Welsh boarders

  • £320 a month on small private yard with nice barn stables, horse walker and arena. Includes hay and bedding DIY but you can help one another i.e. take turns on days. No turn out.

  • £375 a month including 3 days a week care. Minimal amenities (running water = river). Tatty arena, terrible access road. Hay and bedding extra. Not allowed to help other liveries. Have to pay for additional services. Turn out dire in the winter.

I think it works well when it's small and you have some spare stables and lease them out to pay some of your costs. If you try it as a business it seems to allow get a bit fraught.

NagathaCrispy · 23/02/2025 08:21

I'm on full livery at a pretty standard yard in the East Midlands. Working farm with a "horse area" attached, so we get turn out, stable, a standard menage and the added benefit of having good riding round the farm and a small area of woodland adjacent. There are 12 liveries on site as well as the yard manager's own 2, and 2 owned by the land owner.

I pay £600 p/m for 7 day full livery, which includes all hard feed, hay, bedding etc, which seems like a pretty good deal looking at some of the other replies here.

biscuitsandbooks · 23/02/2025 08:52

@sheep73 are you saying that horses get no turn out on the first yard you mention? At all? That's absolutely shocking.

sheep73 · 23/02/2025 09:17

@biscuitsandbooks apparently not. Though this is preferable to the second place where the turnout in winter is knee deep mud.
We are lucky and keep ours on a friend's farm so turnout all year round 🙂

biscuitsandbooks · 23/02/2025 09:45

sheep73 · 23/02/2025 09:17

@biscuitsandbooks apparently not. Though this is preferable to the second place where the turnout in winter is knee deep mud.
We are lucky and keep ours on a friend's farm so turnout all year round 🙂

Gosh that's shocking! We're in Cumbria and turnout is 24/7 here.

crinkletits · 26/02/2025 20:23

mrssunshinexxx · 23/02/2025 04:06

So why isit a definite no for me ? @crinkletits

That’s my advice. Full Livery would be better but that also comes with its own problems. Liveries turn up at all hours forget that this is your home and so you never feel as though you’re not in work. So then just knocking on the door for a quick query at 7pm gets old very quickly. But then to offer full you’d have to live on site I guess for insurance. A friend is looking at doing this currently but the yard is part of someone else’s house so she can leave at the end of the day. She’s a very talented rider so potentially she will be doing more training and backing so fewer visitors. I think if you’re a people person it’s a great but I am not. This may come across 🤣

crinkletits · 26/02/2025 20:25

Sorry to be clear that would be my advice in general not for you particularly.

mrssunshinexxx · 27/02/2025 08:54

@crinkletits wouldn't say I'm not a people person but I'm very good at setting boundaries and would have no issues separating work from home life

OP posts:
biscuitsandbooks · 27/02/2025 09:08

mrssunshinexxx · 27/02/2025 08:54

@crinkletits wouldn't say I'm not a people person but I'm very good at setting boundaries and would have no issues separating work from home life

But if you have a livery on site that's sick you need to be there and be responsible. You can't just walk away - it's part of your job to be available for the horses 24/7.

Swipe left for the next trending thread