Spring Vale Farm consists of the Adventure Neighground and Spring Vale Livery. We are a family run yard, living on site and open for liveries from 6am until 8pm in the winter, 9pm in the summer.
Our American Barn provides bright well ventilated stables, with a storage area, the main haybale area and when possible, a stable dedicated to farrier/vet/grooming.
We offer assisted livery, so you can pick and choose the livery services that you require on a daily basis to suit your lifestyle – from full livery to just occasional services.
We also offer Livery Extra which is full livery but with additional support for issues such as laminitic, behavioural or anxiety issues. This is short term intervention which acts as a circuit breaker, allowing quick action with both horse and handler. You would normally retain the stable at your existing yard to return there once the target behaviour/weight/training has been accomplished. For weightloss you can reasonably anticipate 1% weight loss weekly, so to lose 10% of body weight a stay of 10 weeks might be required. For behavioural issues the duration of stay will depend on how quickly both horse and handler learn a new methodology for working together. The Livery Extra includes dedicated weekly training sessions for the owner/handler. Examples of equines who have been with us have been laminitic, obese, can’t be caught, extreme fear of injections, extreme fear of vets, cannot be handled for routine care or vet intervention, requiring sedation for routine hoof care and more.
Livery includes use of the Adventure Neighground, the arena and all the obstacles, jumps etc. These can be booked so that you are sure they are available when you need them or you can use them ad lib if not already booked. We welcome barefoot, bitless, treeless and non-ridden horses. We are non-competitive and enjoy a very quiet yard atmosphere with calm people and horses.
- winter turnout (ground and weather permitting)
- morning feeds for any horse stabled overnight
- summer turnout 24/7
- shavings provided on-site
- full range of livery services
- contract and yard rules
- located on a bridleway with routes up to 4.5 miles (approx. 10 minutes on road)
- convenient for shows (12 mins to M65 junction 5, 30 mins hack to Croft Top)
Applications for livery require at least two visits to our yard to meet us and see how we run things. Simply give us a call or text to get started. New liveries will be on a probationary period with a 3 month contract to allow them to settle in and find out if what we do fits them. They will be expected to read the Language Signs book (available to borrow), and to observe us working with our own trainer. This is so they understand some of the background psychology, philosophy and ethos, along with the biomechanics, the exercises we use with our horses etc. It is not necessary for liveries to have lessons though, some people will direct their own learning journey with podcasts, webinars, books, online courses etc, much of which is free and we can direct you to a wide variety of resources.
We do not expect everyone to ride, we accept and appreciate the non-ridden horse as a valuable sentient being, with much to offer in connection and communication, thriving in an environment where they are allowed to never have a person sit on their back again.
Everything we do is aimed at making life better for the horse, often making compromises between what we want and what the horse needs. As a small yard, we also flex around each other with turnout arrangements to optimise welfare for as many horses as possible. For this reason we cannot guarantee 24/7 turnout in winter as it will depend on other horses, herd dynamics etc.
The video linked below shows you some of us training in the arena. If this looks like it’s your cup of tea, then get in touch! See if you can spot the horse working at liberty in part of the video, sticking with the handler regardless of the other horses.
For greater detail on our ethical principles, you may wish to read the following –
AWIN horse welfare protocol – the link takes you direct to the download
Language signs and Calming Signals book by Rachael Draaisma
These provide a start point for the way that we run the yard. We have an extensive library of books on horse behaviour, psychology, training etc all available to liveries.
