What Is a Retirement Livery? A Guide for Horse Owners

Every horse's ridden career ends at some point. Age, a career-ending injury or a chronic condition eventually leaves many owners with the same question: where should this horse spend the rest of its life? For owners without their own land, or without the time to give an old horse daily care, a retirement livery is often the answer. This guide explains what a retirement livery is, what it costs in 2026 (with published prices from real UK yards), what separates a good yard from a poor one, and the alternatives worth weighing first.

What Is a Retirement Livery?

A retirement livery is a livery yard that specialises in horses that are no longer ridden, whether through age, injury or long-term health problems. Oonagh Meyer, then head of approvals at the British Horse Society (BHS), described them to Horse & Hound in 2018 as "generally full livery yards, which cater specifically for elderly or retired horses". The yard takes over the day-to-day care, and the owner pays a weekly or monthly fee rather than doing the work.

What changes is the focus. A conventional yard is built around riders: arenas, a heated lounge, horses coming and going to shows. A retirement yard puts its money into the things an unridden horse actually uses, such as grazing, fencing, shelter and experienced staff. Horses usually live in a settled herd, and because nobody is leaving for a lesson or a competition, that herd tends to be quieter than one on a busy working yard.

You will also see the terms horse retirement home and equine retirement livery. In practice they describe the same service: long-term, full-care keep for a retired horse, usually with the expectation that the horse stays until the end of its life.

How Retirement Livery Differs From Other Types of Livery

If you are new to the terminology, our guide to the main types of horse livery covers the basics. The table below shows where retirement livery sits.

The key difference from full livery is not the amount of care but what it is for. There is rarely an arena, a tack room full of saddles or a rider's lounge at a specialist retirement yard, because nobody needs them.

When Is It Time to Retire a Horse?

There is no fixed retirement age. World Horse Welfare's position on life after competition is that the right option for any horse "will depend upon that horse's individual health, physical abilities, behaviour and temperament", and that "quality of life is always considered more important than quantity of life". Some horses step down in their teens after an injury; others enjoy light hacking well into their twenties.

The Defra Code of Practice for the welfare of horses (England, 2018) notes that as horses get older "their needs may become greater and they may well require increased supervision and additional veterinary care", that they "may develop age-related conditions, such as dental problems", and that when a horse reaches the end of its working life "consideration should be given to whether the horse can be provided with a good quality of life in retirement". Our overview of the life stages of a horse covers what typically changes in the veteran years.

Signs that ridden work may be coming to an end include:

• Lameness or stiffness that keeps returning despite treatment, for example from arthritis (degenerative joint disease)
• Chronic conditions that make work harder to manage, such as Cushing's disease (PPID) or a history of laminitis
• Difficulty holding weight or muscle through the winter, which regular body condition scoring will pick up early
• A horse that was once keen now resenting tack, the mounting block or the arena
• Neurological or soundness problems that make riding unsafe, a point our guide to wobbler syndrome covers frankly

Your vet, farrier and physiotherapist are the right people to help you make the call. Their view of the horse's comfort matters far more than its age.

Easing a Horse Into Retirement

Retirement is a change of routine, and not every horse takes to it. Liane Preshaw, welfare development manager at The Horse Trust, told Horse & Hound that "some enjoy a good quality of life out in the field, while others never really settle". Her advice for the transition was to "keep the horse's normal routine, but decrease his workload gradually over a couple of weeks", and she added that "a bit of quiet walking in-hand can be beneficial for some health issues, such as arthritis". A horse that frets without a job may do better with some light work than with an abrupt stop.

She also made a point every owner considering retirement livery should hear: "Some owners think that a retired horse needs a lot less input, but this is not the case. Basic management needs, including farriery, worming and dentistry, should still be met." A retired horse is still a horse that needs daily care. That care simply looks different.

Should a Retired Horse Keep Its Shoes?

Many don't. Rachel Holman, who ran the specialist yard Hivron Horse Haven, told Horse & Hound that "most retired horses are unshod", which is why shoeing was an extra rather than part of her standard fee. Whether your horse can stay comfortable without being shod depends, as Horse & Hound put it, "upon his hoof health and ground conditions", so make the decision with your farrier rather than on the day the horse moves. Our guide to barefoot trimming explains how the transition is usually managed.

How Does a Retirement Livery Work?

Every yard runs its own system, but most retirement liveries follow a similar pattern. The horse joins a small herd, lives out for much of the year and is fed, checked, rugged and treated by the yard. Vet, farrier and dental visits are arranged and supervised by the yard, and the owner is billed for them.

Living Out, Stabling and Shelter

Turnout policies vary, so ask. At the Happy Horse Retirement Home in Brecon, horses were out 24/7 in summer and stabled at night in winter (Horse & Hound, 2018). Hivron Horse Haven turned horses out in small groups and, in winter, either stabled them at night or gave them field shelters around the clock (Horse & Hound, 2014). Among the yards we checked in September 2026, Cotswold Retirement Livery offers owners a choice in winter between stabling at night and living out 24/7, while Farmhouse Retirement Livery in Cheshire keeps horses out 24/7 in summer but does not offer 24/7 grass livery through its wet winters.

Living out suits many retired horses. Liane Preshaw at The Horse Trust says: "Most will be very happy in the field 24/7, provided they have shelter and companionship." The Defra Code agrees that many horses, "particularly native breeds", can live out all year with shelter from wind, sun and flies, but it also says horses that are less hardy, clipped, "very young or elderly" may need stabling or other shelter from cold, wet or very hot weather. A thin-skinned Thoroughbred in its late twenties is a different proposition from a native pony, so choose a package that suits your horse rather than the cheapest one. Our horse rugging guide covers what a good yard should be doing with turnout rugs through the winter.

What the Fee Usually Covers

The biggest variable between yards is what is included. Typical inclusions and extras from the yards we checked:

• Usually included: grazing, daily checks, rug and fly-mask changes and basic grooming. Many include forage in winter; some include bedding.
• Sometimes included: someone to hold the horse for the vet and farrier, hard feed, a farrier trim, worming or worm egg counts. Cotswold Retirement Livery lists worm counts and hay produced on site; Farmhouse Retirement Livery spreads the cost of a farrier trim across the year.
• Usually extra: vet bills, medication, dentistry, shoeing, supplements, specialist feed and rug repairs. Fresh Fields Equine Retirement in Shropshire charges farrier and vet visits to the owner plus a groom fee, and asks owners to supply hard feed; Oakland Equine Livery charges extra for unlimited winter forage.

Ask every yard for a written list of what is in the fee and what is billed on top, and ask how extras are invoiced. A cheap headline rate with a long list of extras can cost more than an all-inclusive package.

Handing Over Day-to-Day Care

This is the biggest adjustment for most owners. In Horse & Hound's 2018 feature, Nicky van Dijk of the Happy Horse Retirement Home explained that she preferred owners not to bring horses in to groom them "because it causes the other horses to gallop back and forth". The article summed it up: "you completely hand over the care of your horse. You can visit the horse, but you might not be allowed to take it out of the field."

Distance makes this more pronounced. Owners often choose a yard hundreds of miles away for the right ground or climate, and Rachel Holman at Hivron said most of her owners visited "one to three times a year", with emails and photos in between. Good yards make that work with regular updates; Farmhouse Retirement Livery, for example, promises regular pictures, videos and emails. Cheryl Bray, who ran a retirement yard in Gloucester, gave the simplest test: "visit the yard, get references and make sure you can visit unannounced", which she wrote into her contracts.

Who Makes the Decision at the End?

Retirement livery is usually meant as a home for life. Rachel Holman said it was "usual" for a horse at Hivron to stay "until he passes away". That raises a question owners often avoid: who decides when it is time to let the horse go? In the 2018 Horse & Hound feature, one yard owner said: "We discuss it with the owner, but it's our decision as the owner doesn't see the horse." Not every yard works that way and not every owner will be comfortable with it. Settle it before you sign, not in an emergency.

The Defra Code asks every owner to have "a plan in place in the event that your horse needs to be euthanased", covering both the practical and financial side, and warns that "the full costs of euthanasia and carcase disposal are rarely covered by veterinary insurance policies". World Horse Welfare's downloadable Just in Case end-of-life leaflets include an Owner's Plan form you can complete and give to the yard, and the BHS runs Friends at the End, a support service for owners facing the loss of a horse. A good retirement yard will want to see your wishes in writing.

How Much Does Retirement Livery Cost?

The best-known published figures for retirement livery are years old. In 2014 Horse & Hound put the range at "anything from £40 to £130 per week"; its 2018 feature gave an average of "£40 to £65 per week". The prices UK yards publish today are higher. These are the published rates we found on 28 September 2026:

Converted to a weekly figure (monthly price multiplied by 12 and divided by 52), those rates run from roughly £65 to £150 a week. We list them to show the current market, not as recommendations, and yards change their prices, so always check directly. The inclusions differ sharply, too: some of these rates include hay and bedding, others exclude hard feed, farriery and vet attendance.

Is retirement livery cheaper than full livery? It can be, because you are not paying for an arena or a rider's facilities, but it is not a budget option. The BHS told Horse & Hound that it "can be an expensive option depending upon how the horses are managed", and World Horse Welfare says specialist liveries for older horses "tend to be expensive". Our breakdown of the cost of owning a horse is a useful comparison if you are weighing retirement livery against keeping the horse where it is.

When you compare yards, work out the full annual cost rather than the headline rate:

• The monthly or weekly fee, and whether it changes with the horse's height or the season
• Winter forage, bedding and any respite stabling charges
• Farrier trims or shoeing, dental checks, vaccinations and worming or worm egg counts
• Vet bills, medication and any groom fee for holding the horse
• Rug washing, repairs and replacements
• Insurance, and the cost of euthanasia and disposal when the time comes

What Makes a Good Retirement Livery?

Livery yards in the UK are not licensed. As the BHS puts it, "there's no licensing procedure for livery yards. Meaning many operate with no guidance or regulation." The standards below are the ones set by the Defra Code and by the BHS's own criteria for Approved livery centres, which are the closest thing to a published benchmark.

Careful Herd Management

The Defra Code describes horses as herd animals that "should be able to socialise with members of their own species", and warns that isolation "can have a negative psychological impact". A good retirement yard matches horses by temperament and needs, and introduces newcomers carefully. The Code suggests reducing the risk of fighting by giving more space, grazing a new horse in an area next to the existing group before mixing them, and removing the back shoes of all the horses during the introduction, then watching the group closely afterwards. It also asks keepers to make sure fields are not overstocked and to identify "individuals that are not coping well". Ask how the yard introduces a new horse and what it does with one that is being bullied or pushed off hay. Pairing a newcomer with one quiet paddock mate before it joins the wider herd is one sensible way to do this.

Grazing, Space and Shelter

The Defra Code gives a general guide of about 0.5 to 1.0 hectares (1.25 to 2.5 acres) of grazing of a suitable quality per horse where no supplementary feed is given. Ask how many horses share each field and how the land is rested and managed through the winter; our complete guide to paddock care covers what good land management looks like. Every horse needs access to shelter: the BHS criteria for Approved livery centres require each horse to have "constant access to clean water, appropriate shelter". Walk the fields in winter if you can. A field that looks idyllic in July can be a bog in January.

Daily Checks and Veteran Know-How

The Defra Code says horses at grass "should be inspected at least once a day, preferably more often", and stabled or group-housed horses "at least twice a day", paying attention to "gait, demeanour, feet, body condition and appetite". It also advises that teeth are checked by a vet or a British Association of Equine Dental Technicians (BAEDT) technician "at least once a year", and that older horses "may need to have their teeth checked more than once a year". World Horse Welfare's list for retired horses is similar: daily health and welfare checks, regular farrier visits, at least yearly dental checks and company from other horses.

Beyond the minimum, look for staff who understand veterans. The Defra Code notes that horses with worn or abnormal teeth "are unable to chew their food properly"; our guides to horse dentition and dental floating explain why, and feeding senior horses covers the diet changes that help. A yard should be able to tell you how it monitors weight and condition, and how it feeds a horse that is struggling to hold weight or one that is carrying too much.

Laminitis, PPID and Metabolic Horses

Many retired horses carry a diagnosis of PPID (Cushing's), equine metabolic syndrome or previous laminitis, and some yards sell packages built around them. Ask exactly how they would manage your horse: how grazing is restricted, what forage is fed, how weight is monitored, and who gives daily medication. One detail worth checking is forage. The European College of Equine Internal Medicine's consensus statement on equine metabolic syndrome (Durham et al., Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 2019, PMID 30724412) reports that insulin responses to haylage are greater than to hay of an equivalent sugar and starch content, and says haylage is not recommended for horses with insulin dysregulation. If your horse is on a vet's feeding plan, give the yard a copy and make sure they will follow it.

Biosecurity, Worming and Vaccination

A retirement yard is home to its herd for years, so disease control matters. The Defra Code says a new horse "should be isolated before being introduced to the rest of the herd", with no direct contact and separate equipment, so that any disease it is incubating shows before it spreads. The BHS's STEPS strangles guidance (April 2026) advises owners to "quarantine new arrivals for 21 days and speak to your vet about testing for potential carriers". The BHS Approved livery criteria also require an isolation area, a written isolation and biosecurity plan, and a worm prevention plan for every horse on site.

Ask to see the isolation paddock or stable, the biosecurity plan and the worming policy. Our guides to strangles, worming and horse vaccines explain what those plans should cover and why they still matter for a horse that will never compete again.

Clear Communication and Paperwork

Choose a yard that sends updates willingly, answers questions and welcomes unannounced visits. On paperwork, the Defra Code says those with primary responsibility for a horse, including full livery yards, "must ensure that the horse is correctly identified before accepting the animal into their care", and the BHS Approved criteria expect every horse to be microchipped with a valid passport. A yard that asks for the passport, vaccination record and vet history before your horse arrives is doing its job.

How to Choose the Right Retirement Livery

Start with a shortlist. The BHS directory of Approved livery yards is the only list backed by inspection: Approved centres are insured for public liability and receive announced and unannounced visits from BHS inspectors, according to the BHS. Some are dedicated retirement yards, such as the Fedw Equine Retirement Centre. Many good retirement yards are not in the scheme, so treat approval as reassurance rather than a requirement, and judge every yard on what you see.

Then visit, ideally more than once and at least once in winter. Look at the horses already there before you look at anything else: their condition, their feet and how relaxed the herd is tell you more than any brochure.

Questions to Ask a Retirement Livery Yard

1. How many horses do you keep, and how many share each field?
2. How do you introduce a new horse, and where does it spend its isolation period?
3. What is the winter routine: stabled at night, open barn or out 24/7 with shelter?
4. How often are horses checked each day, and by whom? Is someone on site overnight?
5. Which vet practice, farrier and dental technician do you use, and who holds the horse for them?
6. What exactly is included in the fee, and how are extras invoiced?
7. How do you manage laminitis-prone, PPID or underweight horses, and can I see an example feeding plan?
8. What is your worming and vaccination policy?
9. How often will you send updates, and can I visit unannounced?
10. What is the notice period on both sides, and what happens if the yard closes?
11. How are end-of-life decisions made, and will you follow my written plan?
12. Can I speak to current owners?

Get a Written Livery Contract

Gemma Stanford, then head of welfare at the BHS, advised in Horse & Hound that owners "draw up a clear contractual formal agreement between you and the livery owner, signed by both parties, so there is a clear expectation from both". The BHS Approved criteria require a livery contract that "clearly defines the horse owner and livery yard responsibilities". Remember that handing over care does not hand over responsibility. In England and Wales, section 3 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 says "a person who owns an animal shall always be regarded as being a person who is responsible for it", and the same section makes anyone in charge of the horse, on a permanent or temporary basis, responsible too. The contract should cover fees and extras, notice periods, emergency authority for vet treatment, insurance, and your end-of-life wishes.

Moving Your Horse to the Yard

Retirement yards are often a long drive away, and an old, stiff horse may find a long journey harder than it used to. Loading matters too. A step-up trailer asks the horse to lift itself into the box with no ramp, which is harder for a horse with sore joints, so a ramp lorry or trailer is kinder. The Defra Code says the passport must accompany the horse when it moves, with a few exceptions. Plan for the first weeks at the yard to be spent in isolation, and expect the horse to take a while to settle into a new herd and routine.

Alternatives to Retirement Livery

Retirement livery is one option, not the only one. It is worth weighing it against the others honestly.

• Keeping the horse where it is. If your current yard can offer suitable turnout and company, a familiar place and routine may suit an older horse best. World Horse Welfare lists what that involves: adequate feed and forage, daily health and welfare checks with veterinary support, regular hoof checks and farrier visits, at least yearly dental checks and company from other horses.
• Loaning as a companion. A companion horse home can work for a sound, easy horse. World Horse Welfare's rehoming advice points out that on loan you keep ownership and legal responsibility, so you need a written loan agreement signed by both parties and a plan for taking the horse back. It also warns that "older horses may find a new home unsettling and stressful".
• Charities and specialist schemes. World Horse Welfare says most charities, itself included, "are unable to take horses from private owners" because of the number of rescue and neglect cases, and those that do usually expect you to sign over ownership. Some working horses have their own routes: many of the Royal Mews Windsor Greys retire to The Horse Trust, and ex-racehorses have Retraining of Racehorses.
• Euthanasia. For a horse in chronic pain, or one that cannot be kept comfortably, a planned, peaceful death can be the kindest choice. World Horse Welfare's view is that "a humane death is always preferable to living in a spiral of neglect and suffering", and in 2014 the BHS's Gemma Stanford told Horse & Hound: "It is better to have a horse put down in familiar surroundings than to rehome unwisely."

Retirement Livery in Scotland and South Africa

Scotland. The Defra Code quoted throughout this guide applies in England. In Scotland, the Scottish Government has published new Welfare of Equids: Guidance to replace its 2009 code of practice. As Horse & Hound reported, it puts more weight on mental wellbeing, turnout, social contact and giving horses choice, and includes advice on end-of-life decisions. If your chosen yard is in Scotland, read it before you visit.

South Africa. The same arrangement exists in South Africa. The main local difference is disease control. According to the Western Cape Department of Agriculture, annual vaccination against African horse sickness is a legal requirement in both the AHS infected zone and the protection zone, the only registered vaccine is Onderstepoort Biological Products' live attenuated vaccine, and vaccination should take place during the low-risk season from 1 June to 31 October. Ask any South African yard to show you the vaccination records of the horses already on site, and check the movement rules that apply to your horse's journey.

Sending a horse away to retire is rarely easy. Horse & Hound's 2018 feature quoted an owner who took years to decide and called it "the best decision I made". Choose carefully, put everything in writing and keep in touch, and a good retirement livery can give an old horse years of grazing, company and peace.

Frequently Asked Questions