Horse survey says livery yards are spoilt by the politics

Politics are the main reason why horse owners move livery yard, according to a survey by H&H’s sister magazine, Horse.

The results of the survey are published in Horse’s May issue (on sale today) and make interesting reading.

Acting editor Lisa Reich said: “A reader wrote in to tell us that finding the ‘perfect livery’ was only marginally less stressful than finding a suitable childminder. This, and similar letters and emails, spurred us on to do this survey.

“Issues like yard bullying are prevalent and can make people’s lives a misery — adults behaving like children, even taking it out on the horses.

“Security is another issue — nearly a third say their yard isn’t secure enough, and only 14% keep their horse on a British Horse Society-approved yard.”

Despite this, 89% of owners say they are either satisfied or “very happy” with their current livery yard — with 66.9% paying less than £199 a month.

Some 56% of respondents keep their horse at DIY livery and another 13% use “assisted livery”.

A small minority — 10.2% — of the horse owners that took part in the survey pay over £400 per month to keep their horse and only 11% opt for full livery.

Nearly 600 people took part in the survey, which was conducted on the websites of Horse and H&H during February and March.

This article was first published in Horse & Hound (1 April, ’10)

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