One of the first decisions is what type of livery you need. You may have the option of the DIY livery, where the yard only provides the stables and grazing and everything else is your responsibility.
There are a variety of other options as well, such as assisted livery, work livery, full livery, and hunter livery. Your choice of livery will depend on your requirements and will inform the location of the yard and therefore how far you will be willing to travel.
If you choose the DIY livery, convenience is a big factor. The requirement to care for your horse in the morning and at night will limit the amount of time you spend traveling to get to your yard. There can be nothing worse than having to do morning stables and having to travel half an hour to get them every day.
If you are tailoring your horse care at work, school, or college, a yard on the way to your final location may be suitable (as long as you can deal with the horse smell at your final destination). You will probably need to take care of your horse on the days that you are not going to work or college, so keep in mind that the trip should be done every day.
With other liveries, you are not as tied down because someone else will take care of at least part of the daily handling of the horse. The choice of location and therefore the distance you will travel becomes a decision based on the facilities you need. If you know what activities you want to do, it is easier to know what facilities you need.
If you are going to compete regularly, you will want facilities that allow you to train and strengthen your horse to the level of competition. An all-weather field would be a minimum requirement with access to other facilities such as gallops and cross country or training area, a horse walker, perhaps an indoor school.
The more specialized the facilities you need, the greater the distance you are likely to have to travel. The time commitment required to travel to a livery yard should not be taken lightly and should be considered as a financial cost and a waste of time when thinking about which yard.
For most people, there are only a limited number of hours available for equestrian activities, and if traveling to the livery yard takes a long time, you can reduce the time available for riding. For many horse owners, being in a Horse livery yard is part of their social time. With a prolonged travel time, the social element can be reduced and living a great distance from the yard can make it difficult to participate in other social activities.
So in answer to the question, how do you decide how far you will travel for your livery yard? The answer is different for everyone, depending on what you want to do, how old you are, and what type of livery arrangement you have.
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