A livery yard can be an entertaining business if you love horses. You already enjoy caring for your horse, and now you can get paid for caring for others. In addition to being an exciting source of income, you also get to make friends and interact with other horse lovers like yourself. A life filled with horses, what more could you ask for?
But before you go about fantasizing about this wonderful life, you should know that there’s a lot involved. The business cannot run on your passion alone, and if you’re truly serious about starting a successful livery yard, there are some things you’ll need to consider.
Here, we’ll give you a comprehensive guide on everything you need to know about setting up your own livery yard. If you’re interested in making money off betting horses and jockeys, here are some incredible horse betting sites where you can wager on the best races.
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5 Things To Consider Before Setting Up A Livery Yard
There’s nothing stopping you from setting up your own livery yard. All that’s needed is that you do research and ensure you know all or a great deal about the market before going in. You should have also identified a source of capital for the startup. It could be your savings, an inheritance, or even a bank loan. But these are just the basics of any business startup. Now, let’s get into major things you must consider before starting a livery yard.
The two main costs you’ll encounter when setting up your livery yard are fixed and variable costs. Fixed costs are mandatory; without them, the business can’t run. They include mortgages or rents, insurance, property maintenance, and business rates.
Essentially, you’ll need public liability insurance as it’s compulsory for every establishment housing horses. You may also need to reserve some funds for personal accident cover because since most of your work will be with horses, the chance that you’ll be involved in an accident is high, and when this happens, you’ll definitely need someone to cover for you.
Variable costs, on the other hand, includes day-to-day costs like wages, hay, water, and electricity. These are variable because they depend on the size of your client list.
This is a simple yet underrated part of the livery yard business. Good contracts can save you lots of money and time so ensure you have lawyers set them out for you even before you begin operations.
For starters, there should be legal written contracts signed by the owner of the livery yard, the manager, and the tenants. These contracts will protect you against serious damages caused by employee negligence or intent.
It can also serve as your legal stronghold when clients start laying complaints because the contract will clearly list the responsibilities of all parties involved.
This is another critical factor to consider. Just because a place is big and decent enough to be a livery yard doesn’t mean it’s an ideal location. For one, the livery yard should not be too far away from where you live. This is so you can easily get there in case of an emergency plus it’ll save you lots of money in commuting fees.
Furthermore, your ideal location shouldn’t be where there’s already a high amount of yards. Since most livery clients are usually loyal to their yards, you might have difficulty getting clients.
Lastly, your ideal location should have a robust equestrian network –clients hate stress. Are there farriers or vets close by? Do clients need to take their horses far away before they can get a physio or dentist? These are some of the questions you should have answers to before selecting a location.
This mostly depends on deep you’re willing to dive. Do you plan to take the livery as your full-time job and the main source of your income? Or isn’t it just a hobby you want to turn into a part-time job? Your choice will determine the type of service you’ll offer.
If you see it as a part-time operation, you should run a DIY yard. For a DIY yard, you only provide the facilities to hold the horses while the owner is in charge of taking care of their prad. This is mostly casual, and clients don’t usually pay much; however, you still need to provide top-notch service. Also, most clients who use DIY yards are hardly loyal. They can change yards every week or month as it’s only casual. So this isn’t the best type of yard to run if you urgently need cash from the business.
If you want to run it as a full-time job, you’ll need to run a part or full yard. For the part yard, you’ll take full care of the horses for five days of the week. In contrast, a full yard will be the whole week. Some of these services include feeding, bedding, and in some cases, exercising.
Your business cannot be successful if people don’t know about it. The good news is that if you picked the right location, promote locally and use other marketing initiatives, your customers are probably local owners, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble advertising.
Print out fliers and posters. Post them in public locations, proudly share your fliers, and talk about your yard in gatherings. Furthermore, there’s no better marketing than word of mouth. Ensure your treat your clients and their horses superbly. They’ll surely recommend you.
Collaborate with local physios, vets, and farriers. Keep your facilities professional and clean, always fix damages as soon as you see them, and above all, be friendly and nice.
The Bottom Line
Setting up a livery yard can be a fun experience if you’re a horse lover; however, you still need to understand the basics if you want your business to be successful.
For starters, make sure you’re aware and ready to cover all the necessary costs. Get your contracts ready, research the best location, know the type of service you plan to offer, and market your yard effectively.
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