2 livery yards - which to choose?

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hanna1983

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Hi everyone.

I am going to move my horse to a different livery yard. I had no time to really do research before I bought him. I needed to decide there and then and picked the one most convenient and best equipped one in my area. To cut a long story short, there is no way he will stay there and I have seen a few more livery yards and have narrowed them down to 2 pure livery yards.. (i.e. no school attached unlike with the current one which is such a pain! and makes everything so hectic and noisy).
The decision between those two is really diffcult and I am just after some neutral opinions really. Hope you can give me your thoughts…

Livery yard 1)
Is no more than 10 minutes away from my house. They only have about 20 boxes for horses, so it is quite small (which I think is good). I saw it today and it was very peaceful and quiet. The full livery will be around £420 / month and it includes:

+ brick box with shavings as bedding
+ food (breakfast and dinner) and 1 bale of hay per day
+ turn out at 07:30 and bring back in just before it gets dark
+ daily mucking out
+ free use of 2 outdoor maneges, 1 lunging pen and a cross country field
+ storage cage for food and hay
+ locker
+ network of bridle paths and woods close by
+ can bring my own riding teacher if I want

Livery yard 2)
Is 30 minutes away from my house. Again, it is small and currently they only have 17 horses stabled there. I saw it today as well and it was also very quiet and peaceful. The full livery will be £415 / month and it includes:

+ brick box with rubber matting and shavings as bedding
+ food (breakfast and dinner) and 1 bale of hay per day
+ worming program every 13 weeks
+ turn out at 07:30 and bring back in at 2pm
+ daily mucking out
+ free use of 1 outdoor manege, 1 indoor school and a “playfield”
+ use of tackroom
+ can bring my own teacher if I want

It is a really difficult decision to make. I like both yards. But basically to me there are 2 main plus points for each one. Livery yard 1 is close to my house, so that means, even though I wont be home before 7.30pm every weekday, it will still leave me enough time to get to the yard and spend time with my horse and ride it. Livery yard 2 is too far away, I wouldn’t get there before 8pm (on a good run!) and then they shut at 9pm already.

On the other hand, livery yard 2 has got an indoor school, which livery yard 1 does not have.

What, from your experience, is more important? Having an indoor school, but only being able to spend 45 minutes max every evening during the week with the horse?
Or no indoor school, but therefore at least 1 hour - 1 ½ hours time with your horse in the evenings?
He has not been ridden for a year because his previous owner was sick and left him in a box for almost a year. I rode him a week ago though and he was an angel and it felt like he had never had a year off. But I would still prefer to have some proper riding lessons together and also want to take up dressage (he is trained in dressage, I am not). Is an indoor school mandatory for riding lessons and dressage lessons?

I am really struggling to decide and want to make the right decision after my initial decision with my current yard was the wrong one.

Would really appreciate your opinions and sorry for the massive post!!!

Thanks.
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I think it really depends on what you want to do with your horse. If the outdoor menege is floodlit then I would rather be nearer, even if the weather sometimes stopped me riding. But if not then the indoor school at no 2 would be better. Of course you need to take into account the summer too and which has the best hacking. If in doubt I always find a pro and con list helps.
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Most of your points are related to your convenience, not your horses.

For me the biggest con, and the reason yard no2 would be unacceptable for me, is the ridiculously short time they get outside each day. That's 18hr+ a day stuck in a stable
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Yard1's more reasonable, though I personally would want 24/7 summer turnout.

I'd also want to know about turnout company - do they get to have any friends or are they kept in solitary confinement? That would drive all my horses insane and I can't say I'd blame them!

And it maybe doesn't apply to your horse, but can they offer restricted grazing? Lush 'TB' paddocks would kill half my lot!

I could live without a decent indoor, or with a long drive - my horses wouldn't survive without decent turnout time or friends.
 
Kallibear,

Thanks for replying but I dont understand how you can make out that this is all about my convenience though :-S I havent decided for either yard yet.

I have simply listed all the info I have about the stables and am hoping for neutral advise as to which yard sounds best for my horse. The reason why I am moving my horse in the first place is because I care about him being happy, not because it is convenient for me. In fact, moving him now is not convenient at all for me, but I see that he isnt happy where he is now and thats what has to change no matter what.

And in my opinion, spending time with me makes him happy, so therefore, if I can spend more time with him by being at the stable 30 minutes quicker, than that is a plus point for both of us. I dont mind driving at all. the point why i posted this question in the first place was because I cannot decide between the two.

I personally do not want 24/7 turn out and he is not used to it either. He came to me after 3 hours in the field yesterday and wanted to come in. He wants a field to run in for a while and then he is puffed out and just wants to be fed and groomed and lots of cuddles you see.

To answer your questions about the turnout company, yes, in both cases, he will be with the other horses.
Livery yard 1 has 2 fields. 1 summer field, 1 winter field. he would be mixed with the other geldings and mares.
Livery yard 2 has 3 fields. 1 for mares, 1 for geldings, and 1 spare.



 
I would go with the 1st yard as it is so close to your home. There doesn't seem to be much difference between the two yards other than distance and the indoor school. Personally I would much rather be able to nip up to see my horse in 10 minutes thats important, especially when you've been at work all day and you're tired.

Even if you want to do dressage and have lessons as long as you have an outdoor school with lights, that's fine, you don't need an indoor one.

I used to be a 35 minute drive away from mine and now I'm 5 minutes away and I would never go back to that long drive unless I had no choice. Good luck to you and your horse
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Thank you rouletterose. Does it not really matter to the horse whether it is working in an indoor school or outdoor? Sorry I should mention he is my first own horse, maybe I worry too much about him...
 
He sounds as though he is a really well behaved horse as you said he had not been ridden for quite a while and you got straight on and he was fine, so he sounds a really steady nature, so could work very well on an outdoor arena.

I'm never bothered about schooling indoors as most of your test riding are on an outdoor school and warm up indoor - or the other way round, so it's good that they are used to both but from the point of view of them becoming less spooky, I prefer to school outdoors, hope that helps you. Oh... and also I always think it's good that they learn to work in all weathers.
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He sounds as though he is a really well behaved horse as you said he had not been ridden for quite a while and you got straight on and he was fine, so he sounds a really steady nature, so could work very well on an outdoor arena.

I'm never bothered about schooling indoors as most of your test riding are on an outdoor school and warm up indoor - or the other way round, so it's good that they are used to both but from the point of view of them becoming less spooky, I prefer to school outdoors, hope that helps you.Oh... and also I always think it's good that they learn to work in all
weathers.
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thanks so much, this really helps. It felt such a difficult choice but I am drawn more to livery yard 1. It sounds like an indoor school would be a nice bonus but not a must.

I will see yard 1 again tomorrow with all the comments in mind and hopefully will be able to decide then. Just worried about making the right decision that's all. First choice I made was a mistake and I don't want to stress him again with moving unless it is for the right home for him :-)
 
Hanna, I too would go for the closer one if you are genuinely happy with the quality of both yards in all other respects. I would want to be as close as possible. So long as you have a school of some kind and some hacking, you'll be fine.

Just out of interest, do you know how the outdoor school holds up when it is wet?
 
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Hanna, I too would go for the closer one if you are genuinely happy with the quality of both yards in all other respects. I would want to be as close as possible. So long as you have a school of some kind and some hacking, you'll be fine.

Just out of interest, do you know how the outdoor school holds up when it is wet?

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hi camilla.

Thanks for your reply. That is a good question! I will ask them today when I go back today for a 2nd view :-)
 
I think that would be the decider for me Hanna - if the outdoor school is genuinely all weather then I'd be happy with that. Take a good look at it and see if you get the chance to talk to the other liveries about the yard/school too!

Let us know which one you choose!
 
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the ridiculously short time they get outside each day.

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I wouldnt consider 7.30 - 2 a ridiculously short time out. Many of our liveries ask us to bring their horse in at lunch time as they end up so fat if they are out at grass too long. Our yard is well managed and we have plenty of grass. When you are running a full livery yard its not practical to have the horses out until dark as you have to pay staff an hourly rate and liveries will want their horses in at different times. If the horse needs to be out 24/7 then full ivery obvisouly isnt needed.

Our liveries are turned out between 8-8.30 and brought in and ready to feed at 4pm so that by the time people come from work their horse has had its tea and can be ridden. No horses are then left waiting for thier tea until 9pm! We dont have time restrictions on the yard as we understand people work late. They are kept in the same routine 365 days a year and do extremely well on it.

I would go for the yard closer to you. Being able to ride your horse and spend time with it will be more important than being able to ride indoors
 
Hmm, the main attraction for me would be the indoor school at the second yard, meaning you could ride after work in the winter when it's tipping it down and dark. But if that meant you got there so late you only had one hour before the yard closes, I would say the first yard is better, personal opinion! I'm sure whichever one you choose will be wonderful though
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Dear All,

Thank you for your advise. I have spoken to the owners of my current yard and we have found a solution to the problems I have with my current place, therefore I dont have to move my poor horse again.. for now. I will just move to a quieter corner of the yard, away from all the screaming little kiddies for example, who havent got a clue of how to behave around horses...

I will give it a go for now and see if their solution will help. if not, I will probably go with yard 1. But lets hope there wont be a need. I dont want to keep moving him around, he will never settle that way.

Thanks for all your advise.
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if I had my way the screaming kiddies would all be removed from our yard! I know how you feel!! But they pay my wages so I have to keep quiet
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