Understanding ‘Service Stealing’ on Your Livery Yard

Most livery yard owners run their yards as a business, with the purpose of creating an income for themselves. It is therefore important for yard owners to understand the viability of their business and the areas where profitability could be affected.

The ability for liveries to care for each other’s horses in an owner’s absence or freelance grooms/instructors offering their services at livery yards can be one way that unwittingly reduces the potential income for a yard owner.

Many yard owners offer additional services over and above their standard livery packages. This may be holiday cover, instruction, schooling, or general tasks such as clipping or holding for the farrier, and in a vast majority of cases, these services will be charged for. Any yard offering such ‘bolt-on’ services should have an appropriate price list which is charged to the clients accordingly in addition to their standard livery fees, but many yard owners don’t realise the implications of allowing others, be it liveries or third-party service providers, to be permitted to help liveries in this way. For livery packages that rely heavily on additional services- such as Assisted DIY- such service stealing can hit the pocket hard.

A Loss of Income

For each service that a yard owner misses out on, this is a shortfall of potential earnings. Whilst in not all cases, such as liveries swapping turnout or covering one another’s holidays, is there a financial benefit to the person doing the work, but the yard owner loses out on that potential work and income all the same. Over time this can soon add up. Similarly, if a yard owner offers in-house instruction, and another instructor comes to the yard not only to teach livery clients but also to use the yards facilities in doing so, this is yet another way that yard owners can miss out.

It’s also important to consider the smaller and seemingly insignificant costs as well. Many yard owners often question the cost of the use of electric or lighting required by external service providers, such as for clipping, and whilst per time this is only pence, small costs soon add up and these are often the ones overlooked when yard owners calculate the costs for their packages. Viability is key, and cutting costs, or being recompensed for use, can go towards reducing overall running costs for a yard. 

A Question of Insurance

If you do permit third party service providers to carry out work on your yard, regardless of what service they are providing, then you must ensure they are appropriately insured.

If fellow liveries are simply exchanging tasks, this is less of a concern as no money is changing hands. Any related losses or injuries would then be solely between the liveries and their own personal horse insurance. However, this is a perfect reason to ensure that all horses on the yard hold current third-party liability insurance, and that they are covered for other people to be handling and riding them.

If someone is carrying out paid services on the yard, then this is a different matter.  This person should hold appropriate professional insurance as a horse’s public liability insurance is likely invalidated if an incident or loss is caused in the course of a paid service. Therefore, anyone offering paid services even on a casual basis should be appropriately insured, and it is strongly recommended that they have Care, Custody and Control (CCC) as part of their policy too.

For anyone offering professional services on the yard, it is advisable to get them to sign a disclaimer, confirming their insurance details, their knowledge of the yard and level of skill, and to also have their contact details in the event there is ever a problem. 

Health and Safety Considerations

You should also ensure that anyone undertaking services for your clients has the appropriate experience and knowledge to be undertaking the service provided, and as you are permitting it to be undertaken on your premises and therefore have a level of responsibility, you would be well within your right to request proof of such documentation.

You, as the yard owner, should also ensure that the provision of such services is included within your risk assessments, and that you have taken the necessary precautions for anyone working on the yard to be aware of any such risks, and take the appropriate steps to prevent accident or injury. It is also important to consider other risks such as the use of electrical items and ensuring that these are suitably tested and certificated to ensure safe and correct use.

Biosecurity precautions are also sensible, especially if you have a service provide visiting the yard who is likely to encounter multiple equines or yards on the same day. Basic protocols such as hand washing, changing of clothes and cleaning of equipment would be expected.

Making Changes on the Yard

It is not unknown for yards these days to stipulate that any holiday cover or services must be undertaken by the yard, although this isn’t always taken well by liveries who perhaps already used other services, or who prefer a different instructor for example.  It is therefore important to explain the reasoning behind this, and that the rules are simply there for the yard to have better control over who is on the yard, and to ensure that they are appropriately qualified and insured for the sake of the care and welfare of the equines on the site. By having such rules and restrictions in your livery contracts, and by ensuring that all service providers visiting the yard are aware of expectations, this can make it much clearer and define the limitations.

In terms of instruction and schooling, whilst it can be difficult to charge for facilities for liveries that already pay for the privilege of using, there is no harm in charging extra for privatisation of facilities by charging a small nominal fee for sole use during the period of teaching or schooling. However, there is always a risk that any instructor or coach will simply pass this back to the liveries in the cost of their lesson, but this would be a much lesser cost that the livery having to travel elsewhere! If you prefer to be the only instructor on the yard, or have a designated instructor that you already use, then as a compromise you could arrange regular clinics with alternative instructors. Not only would this offer alternative trainers for the liveries, but could also offer additional income as well, especially if you open this up to external clients.

Overall, it is important to take a reflection on the way your yard runs, and any areas that you are potentially losing out on income by identifying those who may be carrying out services you could provide yourself. Any changes should be communicated to your livery clients, along with the pricing structure of any such additional charges.

About SEIB

SEIB Insurance Brokers have been providing livery yard insurance for decades. Our experienced team are here to help over the phone or through free yard visits to discuss your needs and provide tailored cover. To arrange a visit or get your personalised quote, complete our livery yard enquiry form here, call the team on 01708 850 000 or email info@seib.co.uk.