LiveryList is 10!

What an achievement… LiveryList turns 10!

Originally created in 2011 by Cheryl Johns upon the inability to find suitable livery for her own young mare, LiveryList has since become the UK’s largest livery yard directory and yard owner resource. Cheryl is an experienced and qualified yard manager, with a background in marketing and LiveryList offers horse owners and yard owners an awful lot more than simply advertising livery spaces. 

The site was set up with one mission; to solve the issue with online livery yard adverts being outdated, or cribbed from other sites with incorrect or out-of-date information. Even now on online livery yard directories, many of the yards closed down or changed hands many years ago but due to the inability to access these adverts, they simply cannot be updated or removed. LiveryList is unique in that the yard owner or manager controls and manages the advert, can show their current vacancy status and if the yard closes or changes hands, or if they simply no longer wish to advertise, the listing is removed from the site upon expiry. Simple! This means that horse owners can find current livery yards, with current vacancies and also have the ability to contact those yard owners direct.

The site was originally developed back in 2011 with assistance from the British Horse Society approvals department, and so copies of their guidance and documentation were available on the site. Over time demand became apparent for more resources and in 2015 the site had a facelift and added its Equine Guides with various templates and guidance available. With the popularity of LiveryList across social media, more yard owners started using the site, and more and more resources were requested. This also coincided with the launch in 2016 of the Livery Yard Owners UK: Discussions and Advice Facebook group- which now has in excess of 1700 verified yard owners or managers from across the UK-  which really showed there was a need for a dedicated resource for yard owners.

In recent years, partnerships with Westgate Labs, The ABRS, The Equestrian Employers Association, Horsemart, Redwings, Gunner Cooke and other equestrian organisations and businesses have led LiveryList to become the leading resource of information and guidance for yard owners for all types and size of yard, culminating in the launch of the Yard Owner Hub in January 2020 which is a huge dedicated area on the LiveryList site. Here, yard owners can access a wide range of advice, guidance and templates on all administrative and practical aspects of running a yard from template documents to biosecurity guidance, planning advice to h&s guidance and employment advice- and best of all its completely free of charge.

Cheryl was also invited in 2018 to become an ambassador for Horsemart and creates regular content for the established online equestrian site specifically on the subject of yards and yard management, as well as developing a working partnership between LiveryList and Horsemart enabling LiveryList advertisers to have a mirror listing on Horsemart free of charge.

LiveryList played an integral part in supporting yard owners during the Covid-19 pandemic, both through the yard owner groups and via Cheryl’s Horsemart articles and the lockdown gave way to the launch of the Yard Owner Learning Sessions– a series of online seminars designed for yard owners to develop their businesses. These have proved hugely popular and will be continuing as a regular feature.

In December 2020, Cheryl was also made a Trustee of the Association of British Riding Schools, to help with the development of their membership stream and support for livery yards. Over recent months, Cheryl has helped develop the ABRS into The ABRS+ (The Association of British Riding Schools, Livery Yards and Equestrian Centres) to encompass a dedicated association for owners of all types of equestrian establishments which further strengthens the support available for yard owners.

Going forward, LiveryList grows in popularity every year with more yards being added ad more horse owners using the site to find their next yard. If your livery yard isn’t on there… it should be!

As a special offer for yard owners, throughout March, LiveryList is offering a 12-month Standard Listing for just £10 (usually £30) using the code HAPPY10