Everything you need to know
Whether you’re looking for your horse’s next home, filling stables, or building a book of clients — pick your side and start reading.
Finding the right yard
Filter by what matters and the rest disappears. Indoor school, outdoor arena, horse walker, solarium, hot wash. Hacking by the kind you get — public bridleways, forest, common land, roads only, or arena only. Livery type, from full and part through assisted DIY, DIY, grass and retirement. Turnout hours, summer and winter. Every yard fills these in as structured fields rather than prose, so a search for winter turnout over six hours returns yards that have said so — not yards that used the word “turnout” in a paragraph.
openstable.co.uk
Because the yard tells you, on the listing, before you write anything. Yards publish open spaces by livery type and keep them current — and a space that goes quiet gets an expiry prompt rather than sitting there implying room that has gone. You can filter to yards with space right now, or to yards with space from a date you choose. The phone round of “sorry, we filled that in March” is the problem this replaces.
openstable.co.uk
openstable.co.uk
Filtered search
The basics
What does OpenStable cost a horse owner?
Nothing, on all of it. Searching, enquiring, messaging a yard, being invited by one, booking an activity slot, leaving a review — every one of those is free, with no card and no trial clock. There is no paid tier for horse owners to miss out on. Yards and professionals pay for the tools they use to reach you; you are the side of the market that does not.
Do I need the app, or does the website do everything?
The website does everything, in any browser, on a phone as well as a laptop. There is also an iPhone app, which adds push notifications so a yard’s reply reaches you without you going looking for it, and an Android app is on the way. Your account and your conversations are the same on all of them.
Do I need an account just to look?
No. Search, filters, full yard listings, photos, turnout data, reviews and professional profiles are all open without signing in. An account is only needed once you want to do something that involves another person, or that has to be remembered — sending an enquiry, messaging, saving a yard to a shortlist, booking a slot, or being told when space opens up near you.
Choosing between yards
Can I compare turnout properly, or is it all “we do our best”?
Turnout is nine structured fields on every listing, which is the whole point. Summer and winter hours as a range rather than a single flattering number, group size and composition, whether geldings and mares run together, soil type, how the yard handles mud, and whether there is all-weather turnout. A yard saying twelve to twenty-four hours is being honest about variation between paddocks. A yard saying eight hours maximum is a different conversation — and you can have it before you visit rather than after you move.
How do reviews work, and can I trust them?
Reviews come from registered accounts, and they are scored in 6 categories rather than collapsed into one number: professionalism, facilities quality, grazing & turnout, hacking access, manager communication, yard atmosphere. That matters because the yard with four stars overall might be five for facilities and two for communication, and which of those you care about is your business. Yards can respond publicly, so you see disagreements rather than only the version that suits whoever posted first.
What if there are no yards listed near me?
Tell us where you are and we will email you when one lists. Coverage is uneven — some counties are dense and some are thin — and a postcode on the list is the signal we use when deciding where to recruit yards next. It is also the thing a yard owner in your area sees as evidence that people are looking.
Yards and professionals coming to you
Can a yard approach me, or do I have to find them?
Yards can approach you, and increasingly do. A yard with an empty stable can see horse owners searching within 40 miles and invite the ones who suit it — one at a time, chosen by hand, with no broadcast and no bulk send. The invitation arrives as an enquiry in your inbox with the yard attached, so you can read the listing and reply in the same place. This is the part that makes OpenStable something other than a directory: a directory only works on the days you happen to be looking.
What can a yard owner see about me before they invite me?
Your first name, your horse’s name if you have added one, roughly how far away you are, your timeline if you gave one, and the livery types you are looking for. Not your surname, not your email address, not your exact location, and nothing at all until you have actually searched for a yard. Where we do not know something the card says so — “timeline not set”, “no horse added yet” — rather than guessing on your behalf.
Can farriers, vets and other professionals contact me too?
Yes, and under tighter rules than yards. A professional whose coverage area includes you can send one introduction — what they do, what they charge, whether they have room — and then cannot send you another for 90 days, whether you replied or not. Their allowance is counted by person rather than by message, so nobody can improve their odds by sending more. It is why the messages read like an introduction instead of a mailshot.
How do I stop yards or professionals contacting me?
Two separate switches, because they are two separate things. Settings → Discoverability → “Allow yard owners to discover my profile” removes you from every yard’s list immediately. Settings → Email notifications → “Allow service providers to contact me” closes the professional side. Turning either off takes effect at once and costs you nothing else — you keep full use of search, enquiries and messaging either way.
Beyond a stable
Can I find a farrier, vet or instructor as well as a yard?
Yes — search has two modes, Yards and Professionals, and the second covers 17 categories: farriers, equine dentists, vets, saddle fitters, physiotherapists, grooms, freelance riders, clipping, transport, hay and feed, and the yard-maintenance trades like fencing and harrowing. Profiles carry prices, the ground they cover, accreditations and reviews, so you can see what something costs before you ring.
Why would I add my horse to my profile?
So you stop typing the same paragraph. Height, age, breed, temperament and any specific needs travel with your enquiry, which means a yard owner can answer properly first time instead of asking three questions before they can tell you whether they have a suitable stable. It also lets a yard see the shape of what you need before they invite you, which is the difference between a relevant invitation and a scattergun one.
Can I find a horse to share or loan?
Not yet — and we would rather say so than imply otherwise. Sharing and loaning is the thing horse owners ask us for most often after livery, and it is being built, but there is nothing to search today. There is an early list you can join, and it asks the two questions that actually shape the feature: your postcode, and whether you want a part-share or a full loan.
Still reading
Free, for good — and yards can come to you.
Nothing listed near you yet? and we’ll email you when a yard lists.
Running your yard on OpenStable
Never again. You build the listing once — facilities, livery types, turnout, pricing, photos, policies, the character of the place — and it goes out with every enquiry automatically. Owners arrive having read it, which changes what the first message is about: not “do you have hacking”, but “can my mare go out with the geldings”. Update it once and every future visitor sees the current version.
openstable.co.uk
Open a slot by livery type and you are done — it appears on your listing and in search within seconds, and owners can filter specifically to yards with room. Fill it and close it just as fast. If a slot sits open long enough to be doubtful, you get a prompt to confirm it. That is the difference: availability nobody maintains is what makes it worthless everywhere else.
openstable.co.uk
A board, not an inbox. Every enquiry sits in a column — New, Interviewing, Viewing Booked, Filled, Not Suitable — and you drag it across as things happen. One screen tells you which conversations are waiting on you, and each card carries the owner and the horse, so picking a thread back up after three days does not mean re-reading it from the top.
openstable.co.uk
Yes, and in the same place as the conversation. Every thread shows who you are talking to and what they are bringing — the horse’s height, age, breed, temperament and any particular requirements, where the owner has filled them in. You are deciding whether a horse suits your fields and your yard with the facts in front of you, not after a visit that was never going to work.
openstable.co.uk
openstable.co.uk
One listing, reused
Filling stables, rather than waiting
Do I list and wait, or can I approach owners myself?
You can approach them, and this is the part that is not a directory. Find horse owners shows you every discoverable owner searching within 40 miles of your yard — how far off they are, how urgently they are moving, which livery types they want, and how that sits against what you offer. You invite the ones who suit you. 10 invitations are free, browsing the list costs none of them, and Pro removes the cap. An empty stable is a cost, not a listing, and it does not care whether anyone searched this week.
How do owners end up in that list?
By searching for a yard, and by leaving discovery switched on in their own settings. Both conditions, every time. Nobody appears for having signed up, and an owner who turns discovery off drops out of every yard’s list at once. The reach is wider than most owners set their own search radius to, on purpose: the useful cases live in that gap. When your yard falls outside her search, the card says so before you spend an invitation finding out.
What does an invitation actually look like to her?
An enquiry, in a thread, with your yard attached — not a notification she has to act on twice. She reads your listing and your message together and replies in the same place, and your reply goes there too. That is on purpose: an invitation that arrived as an advert would be answered like one.
What happens if she never replies?
The invitation lapses after 60 days and you can invite her again. Credits are spent per owner, not per attempt, so the second invitation is free — and a send that fails, or one you withdraw, refunds the credit rather than pocketing it. Your Sent list shows which invitations are pending, seen, answered or expired, so you can tell the difference between “no” and “not looked yet”.
What it costs
What does it cost to list a yard?
Nothing, and the free plan is a real one rather than a trial. Unlimited livery slots, unlimited activity slots, unlimited messaging, every enquiry free to accept, full visibility in search, and 10 invitations to owners searching near you. No card to get started. Search ranks on relevance, so a paid plan never buys you a position above a yard that suits the owner better.
What does Yard Pro add for £9.99 a month?
Two things: unlimited invitations to matching owners instead of the free allowance, and public responses to your reviews. That is the whole difference. Nothing you already have on the free plan moves behind the paywall, and it is monthly — cancel whenever, with at least 30 days’ notice from us before any price change.
Do you take a commission on livery I fill through OpenStable?
No. No commission, no per-enquiry charge, no booking fee, no cut of the livery you agree. You invoice your client exactly as you do now and the money never touches us. The subscription is the only thing we ever charge a yard, and the free plan does not have one.
Reviews, and other people’s messages
Can I respond to a review?
Publicly, on Pro. Yard reviews are scored in 6 categories by registered accounts, so a criticism is usually specific enough to answer specifically — and an answered review reads better to a prospective client than a perfect one with nothing under it. Reviews cannot be removed for being unflattering, which is the only reason the good ones are worth anything.
Can service providers contact my yard?
Yes, if you let them — a farrier or feed supplier covering your area can send one introduction, and the same 90-day rule that protects horse owners applies to you. It is often the useful direction of travel when you have lost a farrier. Settings → Email notifications → “Allow service providers to contact me” turns it off.
Still reading
Free to list, and you don’t have to wait to be found.
Getting listed
What does it cost to list, and how long does it take?
Free, and about ten minutes. Trading name and category, one service with a price, your postcode and how far you travel, plus one way to be contacted. No card. You are searchable the moment you confirm your email — in the directory and on every category and county page that covers your trade. Photos, accreditations and the rest can wait until you have a quiet evening.
Do I need a website or a social media following?
No. Your listing is the discoverable web presence: the ground you cover, what you charge, your accreditations, photos, reviews and a way to reach you. For a lot of sole traders it replaces a website outright — and it turns up in searches by people looking for your trade in your area, which a Facebook page largely does not.
Can I list under more than one category?
Yes — one primary category and as many secondary ones as genuinely apply, across 17 trades. A farrier who also does remedial work, or a groom who also clips, appears in both sets of results. List what you actually do; padding the list only brings you enquiries you will turn down.
Is my listing checked before it goes live?
No. You write your listing and you own it — your accreditations, whether you carry insurance, the ground you cover, what you charge. We publish it as yours, and horse owners are told plainly that those details are self-declared and worth asking to see. What that buys you is speed: no gatekeeping and no waiting on us. What it asks of you is that the listing is true, because your reviews are attached to it.
Finding work, not just waiting for it
Do I wait for enquiries, or can I approach people?
Both, and the second one is the part no directory does. A cancellation on Tuesday can be in front of the right yards by lunchtime. Work offers let you message the yards and owners inside your coverage area directly — what you do, what it costs, that you have room this week. 10 are free, counted one per person and never resetting. Pro raises it to 30 a month as a fair-use ceiling rather than a target.
Who is in my audience?
Horse owners searching in your area, owners who have recently enquired at a yard near you, and yards that fall inside the radius you said you cover. All of them are people already on the platform, in your patch, who joined it themselves. Owners can switch the professional side off in their own settings, which removes them from every provider’s audience at once — so the audience is people who are open to hearing from someone like you.
Can I contact the same person again if they don’t reply?
No, and deliberately. Anyone you have sent to in the last 90 days is excluded from a new send — the composer counts them separately so you can see they exist without being able to reach them again. Your allowance is counted by recipient, not by message, so there is no way to improve your odds by volume. A directory that let providers re-send weekly is a directory horse owners leave.
Is this the same as buying leads?
No. Nothing is sold to you, nothing is exclusive, and no one else is bidding against you for the same name. You are looking at people already inside your coverage area and choosing which of them to approach. If they reply, the conversation is yours, the work is yours, and we take nothing out of it.
What it costs
Do you take a cut of the work?
Not on work you invoice yourself — no commission, no per-lead fee, nothing. The single exception is optional: if you choose to take card payment through OpenStable, that carries a flat 2% platform fee, or 1% on Pro, deducted from the payment. Keep invoicing the way you do now and the number is zero.
What does SP Pro add for £9.99 a month?
30 work offers a month instead of the 10 free ones, instant connection on inbound requests rather than accepting each, public responses to your reviews, and the lower payment fee. Being listed, being found in search, and answering the enquiries that come from it are free and stay free — the metered part is reaching someone who did not come looking for you.
Still reading
Free to list, and you don’t have to wait for the phone.