Working Livery

meljets

Hi All,

We may have the opportunity of putting my daughter's horse into working livery in a trail riding centre near our holiday home.

Anybody have experience of this arrangement and how it works - pros and cons please.

kerrysgold

working meaning the horse will be used to work in the riding school to bring down the cost of the livery? wouldn't do it myself as your horse could end up being ridden by anybody including novices who constantly kick/whip and pull the horses mouth and ruin him. (not saying all novices do, but most that I've seen do (used to work in a riding school, never again!) they don't seem to understand that horses have feelings and just want them to go "faster"!) some riding instructors don't allow it I suppose, but I've only ever met one that pulled people up over being rough.
and as for it being a trekking center, you'd have to worry about the horse being overworked, having to carry people who may be too large for him, being worked over unsuitable ground etc!

How often will your daughter be able to go and see the horse? Sharing with another person could be an option? i.e. they'd pay half the expenses and get half the riding time or however you'd arrange it. At least that way you could choose an experienced rider who wouldn't ruin your horse.

fits

kerrysgold wrote: »

wouldn't do it myself as your horse could end up being ridden by anybody including novices who constantly kick/whip and pull the horses mouth and ruin him.

This shouldnt occur in a good riding school. However I would vet the establishment before putting a horse in working livery.

they don't seem to understand that horses have feelings and just want them to go "faster"!) some riding instructors don't allow it I suppose, but I've only ever met one that pulled people up over being rough.

What on earth does that mean? horses have feelings? How on earth is that relevant. They are either treated fairly and humanely or not.... Feelings dont come into it.

and as for it being a trekking center, you'd have to worry about the horse being overworked, having to carry people who may be too large for him, being worked over unsuitable ground etc!

Again, it depends on the establishment. Some trekking centres are fantastic.


Working livery can work very well for some people. A lot of people who are too busy to ride every day put their horses on working livery so they will still have fit animals. Whether it is suitable depends on the work you expect your horse to do. If the horse is a high level dressage animal, lessons where novices will be put aboard would obviously be unsuitable, to give an extreme example.

Make sure to ascertain the terms of the livery... such as number of hours the horse will be ridden every day, number of days off per week etcetera.

Kerrysgold, try not to cry cruelty every time someone posts something you may disagree with. Life is more complicated than that.

kerrysgold

I didn't say anything about cruelty, I said if the horse was ridden roughly by novices he could end up ruined? and feelings as it physical, not "oh god I'm such an unlucky horse"..... :rolleyes:

fits

kerrysgold wrote: »

I didn't say anything about cruelty, I said if the horse was ridden roughly by novices he could end up ruined? and feelings as it physical, not "oh god I'm such an unlucky horse"..... :rolleyes:

To be honest, it comes across that you have the attitude that every horse in the country is mistreated, or the vast majority. This is far from the truth.

The attitude gets a little tiresome sometimes and I've warned you enough about it. You tread perilously close to the ban line quite often.

There is an open mindedness here about the way you wish to keep your horses whenever you get one. It would be nice if you could return the courtesy to others by being openminded to their ways too.


Now, back on topic.

ashlingm

ive to totally agree with kerrygold on this, every riding school ive been too that does working livery tends to over se the horse so they get their moneys worth, and then often the horse is too tired to be ridden by its owner.

id go down the sharers route...surely if the yard does lessons someone would be willing to help out and ride in exchange for paying a bit of livery costs.

convert

ashlingm wrote: »

i'd go down the sharers route...surely if the yard does lessons someone would be willing to help out and ride in exchange for paying a bit of livery costs.

This can cause its own problems too, varying from the quality of the rider, their treatment of your horse, to the fact that they may not pay bills, etc.

Regarding a working livery; as fits has already posted above, if you do enough research into the riding establishments, and maybe visit on spec rather than by appointment, you'll probably get a better feel for the establishment.

Have a chat to them about what your horse would be required to do (number lof lessons s/he'd do per day/per week, what level of rider would be riding him/her, etc. Maybe setting some limits would be a good idea, too. If you regularly check on the horse and call in at times apart from appointments, scheduled lessons, etc.

If you're in any way unhappy with anything, or don't get a good feel for the place, then don't leave the horse there.

Best of luck!

Kamili

I would agree with Fits on this one, if you do your research about a place you should be okay.
Speak to some of the other owners who have their horses there if possible and get their feedback on it. Also keep an eye out for tell tale signs, usually a yard that is well looked after has happy horses in it and the boxes are clean, the horses have shiney coats and friendly. Watch some of the teachers giving lessons and speak to the people in the yard, should hopefully give you a better idea!

needadvice

Never dismiss any idea. It all depends on your horse your purpose in having him and the standards set in the yard.

Sometimes you offering work to lower livery costs is the best idea.