Our horse insurance team here at SEIB have spent plenty of time debating how to ensure our horses and ponies remain well fed through the lockdown whilst maintaining effective social distancing measures.
The government has declared shops supplying pet and livestock feed as essential during the lockdown. Many local feed shops are going well beyond simply keeping their doors open, however. Here are some tips from the team:
Co-ordinate a home delivery
Horse owners at many livery yards are co-ordinating their feed delivery needs to help ensure that the local feed shop can drop off one delivery per week. In order to make this as simple as possible – it’s pretty pointless to arrange for a delivery and then realise you have missed something off and so need to make a trip to the shop anyway – why not send out a WhatsApp or Messenger group message reminding your fellow liveries that they need to remember to make their feed orders.
Check what else your feed shop sells
It is always worth asking… Before embarking on a trip to the pet shop - while ringing through the horse feed order - we discovered that our local horse feed shop sells Allen and Page guinea-pig feed. This duly arrived a few days later with the horse feed order – and turned out to be great quality and very cost effective.
Can they order in extras for you?
Most feed shops will receive stock into their shops at least once, if not several times a week. If their wholesaler has an item, they will generally be able to send it over to the shop. If you’re in need of anything that is an essential item – such as some electric fencing equipment, it’s worth a phone call to your local shop to check if they can get hold of it. They may well be able to quickly supply it along with a feed order – often more speedily and competitively priced than some of the big online retailers.
Continue your support beyond lockdown
With the many benefits of increasing your shopping at your local feed stores during the lockdown, this could be a good time to change your horse feed - and other essential item – buying tactics for the long-term. Many of our feed shops are family owned, local businesses that provide a brilliant service. Who knows, with continued support after lockdown – any new services brought in during lockdown might become permanent features in some shops.
About SEIB
SEIB have been providing insurance for horses for over 50 years. This experience allows us to tailor policies to suit your circumstances and ensure that you and your horses are covered should the worst happen. If you’d like advice on your insurance please call us on 01708 850000.
