The problem
A yard's feed board, worming chart and farrier list usually live on a whiteboard and in the yard manager's head. When the manager is off, staff ring to check feeds, and a missed flu booster can stop a horse competing. If staff spend 20 minutes a day checking feeds and routines and texting owners about vet and farrier visits, that's about 2.3 hours a week, about 10 hours a month.
What the AI does
LIVERYLive Pro is livery yard software. Its site lists health records covering vaccinations, worming schedules and veterinary history, feeding regimes and supplement schedules, an interactive feed chart, a daily to-do list with tasks assigned to each staff member, a digital notice board, horse groups for turnout and a shared yard calendar for vet, farrier and clinic dates. Staff see the day's feeds and tasks on their phones and tick them off as they go, and the manager can see what's been done and by whom. The site doesn't describe automatic reminders for vaccination or worming due dates, so the calendar still needs a weekly look.
A worked example
A full livery and competition yard in Leicestershire with 20 horses, a yard manager and 2 grooms keeps feeds on a whiteboard and vaccination and farrier dates in a paper diary.
Before
About 20 minutes a day checking feeds and routines and texting about visits: about 10 hours a month
After
Feeds, tasks and dates on staff phones, with about 5 minutes a day keeping them updated: about 2.5 hours a month
What it's worth
About $160£120€143A$230C$226 a month in staff time saved, against $53£40€48A$77C$75 for LIVERYLive Pro. That is 7.5 hours a month (10 down to 2.5) at an assumed $21£16€19A$31C$30 an hour. Pro is $3£2€2A$4C$4 per horse a month, 20 horses × $3£2€2A$4C$4 = $53£40€48A$77C$75 and the same subscription covers billing and arena bookings. Fewer feed mistakes and missed boosters matter more than the time, but aren't valued here.
How to set it up
- Add each horse with its feed, supplements, turnout group and owner, copying from the whiteboard.
- Enter vaccination, worming and farrier history and the next due dates from passports and records.
- Put upcoming vet, farrier and clinic visits in the shared yard calendar.
- Set up the daily tasks and assign them to each groom, so morning and evening routines are on their phones.
- Each Monday, check the calendar for boosters and farrier visits due in the next month and tell owners.
What goes wrong
- The site doesn't describe automatic reminders for vaccinations or worming, so the Monday check is still needed.
- Keep the whiteboard until staff trust the app; a phone left in the tack room is no help at evening feeds.
- Owners' contact details and horse passports are personal data. Agree who on the team can see what.
- Records are only as good as what's entered. A feed change told to one groom in the yard must still go in the app.