The monthly price on a DIY livery advert is a starting point. Whether it covers most of your yard costs or just the stable and grazing depends on what is included.

Hay, bedding, paid help and travelling to the yard can all sit outside that headline fee. Then there are the wider costs of keeping your horse, which still need paying whether you choose DIY, part or full livery.

The most useful figure is your complete monthly budget, based on the yard’s actual charges and your horse’s needs. Here is how to work it out without discovering half the extras after you have moved in.

Start with what the yard includes

DIY usually means you handle your horse’s daily care yourself, but the package can vary considerably.

For example, Cliff Farm advertises £200 per month without hay or £255 with hay, with bedding excluded. Mill Farm in Somerset advertises a standard DIY stable at £200 per month, with separate parking charges. These are individual advertised examples, not a national average. Confirm current prices and inclusions directly with each yard. Geography plays a big role in prices, with yards close to places like London charging 2x the average.

As a rough UK guide, DIY livery typically costs £120–£300 per month for the yard fee, with feed adding around £36–£60 per month and bedding averaging £45, where these are not included. Together, that comes to approximately £200–£405 per month before forage and your horse’s wider costs.

These guide figures come from the British Horse Society, rather than a single average bill for a horse on DIY. You still need to add hay or haylage if charged separately, your actual insurance premium, vaccinations and veterinary call-out fees, travel, any paid assistance and an allowance for unexpected costs. The advertised stable price can therefore be quite a long way from your total monthly spend, particularly in winter.

Ask for a written breakdown covering stable and grazing, forage, bedding, facilities and any assistance. Check whether supplies must be bought through the yard and whether prices include any applicable VAT.

If you are comparing packages, our guide to different types of livery explains the usual differences between DIY, assisted DIY, part and full livery.

Look at how you would actually use it

A realistic budget reflects your routine, rather than an ideal month where work finishes on time and nothing needs replacing.

Hay and bedding: Ask about the bale size, price and likely usage for your horse’s arrangement. A horse living out for much of the summer may have a very different bill once regularly stabled in winter. An initial bedding bed can also cost more than the ongoing top-ups.

Feed: Work from what your horse actually needs and how long a bag lasts. Buying a bag every six weeks is a different expense from buying one every fortnight. Include supplements you already use, rather than adding a generic allowance for them.

Paid help: Think about predictable commitments. If you need bringing-in three evenings a week, budget for that as a regular service. Ask separately about holiday cover, weekends and whether help is guaranteed when booked.

Services: Farriery is another regular expense: a barefoot trim is typically £30–£40 per visit, front shoes £60–£70, and a full set £90–£100 or more. A £100 shoeing appointment every six weeks, for example, works out at roughly £72 per month when spread across the year. Dental visits are listed at around £50–£60, saddle checks at £40–£100 per visit, and a risk-based worm control programme at approximately £50–£150 annually, with treatment potentially additional.

Travel: Count the journeys you would genuinely make. A yard ten miles from home means a 20-mile round trip. Visiting twice a day makes that 40 miles, before any extra trips for appointments or forgotten rugs. Use your car’s actual running costs to estimate the expense.

Facilities: Check whether arena use, floodlights, horse walkers, parking or visiting instructors attract additional charges. “School included” is worth clarifying before your first dark evening.

Our livery yard viewing checklist will help you ask these questions while you are there.

Your blank monthly budgeting template

Use yard quotes, supplier prices and your own bills to fill this in. Keep anything already included in the livery fee at £0 so you do not count it twice.

Lessons, competitions, transport hire and other riding expenses can be added separately.

A monthly allowance helps you plan, but bills will not arrive neatly spread across the year. You still need enough available when several land together.

Make a separate winter version

Do the template twice. Once for your usual summer routine and once for winter.

Ask the yard what happens when turnout is restricted, how forage is supplied and whether winter brings additional charges. Think about changes to bedding usage, lighting and the help you might need around work.

You do not need to predict every bale perfectly. You do need a budget that survives a fairly ordinary February.

Compare the complete cost, not just the stable fee

A more expensive yard can sometimes work out better value if it includes things you would otherwise pay for, is closer to home or offers the support you regularly need.

Equally, straightforward DIY can be a good fit if you enjoy doing the care yourself and can reliably manage the routine.

Put shortlisted yards side by side using the same budget categories. Include the practical differences too: turnout, opening hours, travel time and availability of help.

Explore the YardBoard yard directory to find options in your area, then request an itemised quote from each. If you decide to move, our guide to moving yards will help you plan the next step.

The aim is to choose somewhere you and your horse can settle, with a bill you understand before the first month begins.