Livery yards in Winchester
Choosing a livery yard is one of the biggest decisions you make for your horse. This guide covers what to look for and what to ask when you visit yards in and around Winchester, Hampshire.
We do not list any livery yards for Winchester on this page yet. This is a guide to help you choose, written for riders anywhere in England.
Types of livery
- Full livery: the yard does all the daily care, and often exercise too.
- Part livery: the yard does some jobs (often mornings or turnout) and you do the rest.
- Assisted DIY: you do the care, with services such as turnout or rugging available to buy.
- DIY livery: you rent the stable and grazing and do all the care yourself.
- Grass livery: your horse lives out, with field shelter and grazing included.
What to look for when you visit
- Turnout: how much, all year round or restricted in winter, and individual or group fields.
- Fencing, gates, water troughs and field shelters in good repair.
- Stables with good ventilation and drainage, of a size that suits your horse.
- Riding facilities: arena surface, lighting, and safe access to hacking.
- Storage for feed, bedding and tack, and how secure the tack room is.
- Whether the horses on the yard look settled and well cared for.
Questions to ask the yard owner
- What exactly is included in the price, and what costs extra (hay or haylage, bedding, turnout, holding for the vet or farrier)?
- Is there a written livery agreement, and what is the notice period?
- What insurance does the yard hold, and what do they expect you to hold?
- What are the vaccination, worming and new-arrival isolation policies?
- Who is on site, and who do you call out of hours or in an emergency?
- Are there yard rules on opening hours, arena use and visitors?
Checks worth making
The British Horse Society runs an approval scheme for livery yards, so a BHS Approved yard has been inspected against its standards. Not every good yard is approved, so it is also worth asking current liveries what they think. The British Horse Society.
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