Ex-racehorse livery needed!

Count’s arrival presented me with a problem. Where was he to live? The yard had no spare stable for the winter, and even the summer grazing was just about full to capacity.(Yes, it would have been sensible to sort this out beforehand. But sensible and ex-racehorses seldom go together. Sensible can mean missing golden opportunities. I try not to do sensible these days.) I had to find somewhere for Count long-term, with the right facilities for re-schooling a racehorse – and I’d been given only three weeks to do it!

Finding the ‘right’ livery yard ( for those of us without our own personal country estates, ie most of us) is always tricky. So many things have to be taken into consideration: facilities, like types of stabling, amount and condition of grazing, outdoor and indoor schooling areas, off-road riding, and so on; number of other horses present; distance from home; care and management packages offered, safety and emergency measures, and, of course, cost. Not only that, but for people like me, who like to do as much of the ‘looking after’ stuff with their horses as possible, it is also important that the yard owner/manager, and any staff, are happy with this, and don’t get upset by owners coming in and messing up their tidy routines.

The people at the yard are almost as important as the horse facilities. If the management is any way unsympathetic, unreasonable, unhelpful or inefficient, it can affect a horse’s wellbeing and make an owner’s life an anxious misery. Every bit as bad, for an owner anyway, is any type of feuding, cliques or bitchiness.

It’s also a good idea to check out the other horses at any prospective new yard. Ideally you are hoping for happy, calm, well-behaved animals that will be a joy to accompany when out hacking, and will befriend your own horse in stable and paddock. Any nastiness ( eg persistent kicking, biting) , or infectious habits like weaving, or refusal to be caught, or bad behaviour in traffic, should act as big warning signals.

Finding suitable accommodation for an ex-racehorse, where his rehabilitation and retraining can make calm and steady progress, means considering all the above plus some additional ‘ex-racer issues’. Here is a list of what I look for.

The ideal yard for ex-racehorses should have :

Large and airy stables, with other horses in view for companionship.

Facilities for daily turn-out, all year round. Preferably grass paddocks, but an outdoor school, lunge-ring or sandpit is better than nothing. All horses love to roll, buck and stretch their legs, and it’s a great way for up-tight ex-racers to let off steam and relax.

Sound, safe, and well-maintained fencing and gates. Avoid barbed wire if at all possible. Electric webbing fencing is fine so long as the current is ON at ALL TIMES. Slack pig- or sheep-netting is just great for getting horses feet caught in it.

Constant clean water supply, in field and stable.

Well-maintained, clean and plentiful grazing, for summer at the very least. A regular poo-picking regime is a must.

Safe schooling area. Outdoors or indoors ( both would be great ) Indoors is super-safe for scatty recently-retired ex-racers – but used exclusively does not fit them for riding outdoors later on. An outdoor manege with a high, solid-looking fence ( post and rail, sleepers, etc.) is fine for all re-schooling activities, and will help your horse to learn to work despite distractions. NB: attempting to school an ex-racehorse in an open field is optimistic, to say the least. In fact – as you soon learn when your ex-racer gets fed up and high-tails it into the sunset, with or without you on board – it’s downright crazy.

A regular, appropriate and strongly-enforced worming policy that covers every horse on the site. ( No good worming your own horse if someone else’s poor worm-raddled beastie is constantly re-infecting the pasture.)

A sensible isolation policy for new horses coming onto the yard. ( Ex-racehorses, having in many ways led cosseted, high-maintenance lives where they have seldom had to rough it , can have lower natural immunities than their humbler horse-cousins. And, if they are unused to field turnout, they may be bullied by their tougher new fieldmates.)

Clearly-displayed safety-and-emergency signs: No-Smoking, Fire Drill, Emergency Contacts, etc. A noticeboard for news and messages is also a good social tool.

Somewhere safe to store your stuff – Grooming box, First Aid kit, lunging line and whip, exercise boots, etc etc. ( I always take my saddles and bridles home with me, as so many yards are burgled for tack these days.) If you are providing your own feed, you will also need somewhere vermin-proof to store it.

Knowledgeable, conscientious and sympathetic yard owner/manager, who cares about the horses in the yard and is neither nervous nor dismissive of ex-racehorses.

Personnel on-site 24/7. I need to know that my horses will be checked last thing at night, and if one starts with colic at 2.00am someone will hear it and take appropriate action.

At least one friendly, sensible person with a quiet horse to ride out with when my ex-racer is having one of its ‘there are wolves out there!’ sessions.


OK, so 13 may be unlucky, and you’ll certainly be very lucky to find all of these points together in one place. You’re likely to have to compromise on something – you pick. I spent a couple of weeks travelling round my locality visiting different livery yards and weighing up the pros and cons for each, trying to discover which would suit Count, and me, the best. It wasn’t easy to choose. And time was running out.