Our Livery Yard Insurance team know that when looking for a new yard for your horse or pony, you’ll likely have many options in your local area, all of which will differ in terms of the yard, facilities, location, costs and the types of packages they offer. As well as considering these factors, it is also worth taking into consideration certain points that would determine how a yard adheres to what the industry would call ‘best practice’. This refers to their level of equine care, customer service and business standards.
In this blog, Cheryl Johns, Owner and Founder of LiveryList and the Yard Owner Hub, covers a few key points that are worth considering and discussing with potential yard owners, when thinking about a yard move.
Yard Owner Experience
As an unregulated industry, it’s possible for anybody at all to open a livery yard, regardless of their equestrian experience or knowledge. It’s especially important to consider yard owner experience if you are seeking a serviced livery package, such as full livery, schooling livery or rehabilitation. Whilst qualifications aren't everything, a yard owner and their team should be able to demonstrate a competent level of equestrian knowledge in both care and welfare. It is therefore always worth checking with a yard owner if they hold any qualifications, any particular experience relevant to the services they provide or anything of note that shows a suitable level of competence when it comes to equine care.
Biosecurity
A yard that has bio security measures in place shows good standards of equine care and welfare, and that they are taking steps to proactively reduce the risk of your horse or pony picking up an infectious disease during their time on the yard. Biosecurity measures may be determined by their bio security policy, a biosecurity agreement between yard and client, or just by procedures that they have in place such as strangles testing, isolation, temperature recording, or procedures to be followed when your horse is off the yard for any amount of time.
Stipulating that equines on the yard be vaccinated against other infectious diseases such as equine influenza can also be considered part of a bio security policy, as can a worm management programme- such as regular worming, faecal egg worm counts or poo-picking- to reduce the risk of parasites.
Livery Contracts
Livery contracts should be the basis of any agreement between a yard owner and their livery client. A written livery contract means that the arrangements for the care of the equine, the services provided, the fees to be paid and any other contractual terms are written clearly and agreed by both parties. This can be particularly effective in preventing confusion over inclusions and dispute resolution. While some yards still have written verbal contracts in place, the contents of which and any subsequent changes are difficult to prove on a formal basis.
As discussed by myself, Aria Grace Equine Law and The Equine Law Firm, in our recent webinar on the “Importance of livery yard contracts”, there are a whole host of benefits to having contracts for both the yard owner and the livery client. Even having the most basic of a livery contract is better than none.
Insurance
It is important that yard owners ensure they have the correct Livery Yard Insurance in place with adequate levels of public and employers’ liability. Ideally, this should also include care, custody, and control insurance and this would be applicable even for DIY livery packages. Again, the holding of such insurance is advantageous to both the yard owner and the livery client. You can find out more about care, custody and control insurance in our recent webinar.
It is also sensible for yard owners to ensure that all of the horses on their yard have some level of Horse Insurance in place, ensuring there is public liability cover at a minimum. This helps protect the yard and horse owners against damages, injury or loss caused by any of the livery horses.
If the yard has service providers visiting such as freelance grooms, equine therapists, instructors or coaches it may be that the yard owner requests copies of their professional insurance. Again, this is to cover all parties in the event of any accidents, damages or injuries.
You can find out about the recommended insurances that livery yards should hold in our webinar “What insurance do you need for your livery yard?”.
Health and Safety
A livery yard can be a dangerous place, and as such, it’s important that the yard owner can demonstrate comprehensive health and safety considerations. This could include a health and safety policy, a fire safety policy, risk assessments or having other procedures in place such as emergency evacuation plans. Whilst this may not seem important in the first instance, in the event that there is a fire, veterinary, medical or other type of emergency on the yard, you will be grateful that the yard owner had these procedures in place.
Health and safety precautions can also help ensure that the people and equines on the yard stay safe, and that the risk of injuries or accidents are reduced. This could include suitable maintenance of facilities, the provision of first aid kits- both horse and human- and restricting visitors to the site.
Horse Passports
Many horse owners do not realise that following a law change in 2018, yard owners have a responsibility to check, and in some cases retain, your horse’s passport. All yard owners have a legal obligation to check the existence of a horse passport and compare it to the horse presented, prior to accepting them on their premises.
In the event that a yard owner provides a serviced livery package, including assisted DIY or regular ad-hoc services, they may be deemed the keeper of the horse, and responsible in ensuring that the horse’s passport is retained onsite with the equine at all times. A yard owner is therefore well within their rights to request the retention of passports of any equines in their care. Failure to do so could result in legal proceedings and substantial fines against both the yard owner and the horse owner.
In conclusion, this does not cover everything that makes a good livery yard, but hopefully gives you some indications of things you should be considering when viewing yards. You should be asking potential yard owners questions around the aforementioned topics to help you determine if they are offering a safe, suitable, and knowledgeable premises for you to keep your horse.
About the author
Cheryl Johns, SEIB Equestrian Business Writer and the founder of LiveryList and the Yard Owner Hub, is a qualified and experienced yard manager, marketing advisor and business consultant with experience across a range of industries.
About SEIB
SEIB have been arranging livery yard insurance and riding school insurance for over 60 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.
