A 'which yard' dilemma!

Caol Ila

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Today I looked at a yard that has a lot of potential. Now I have to make decisions. Being the process queen, writing a list of pros and cons on the forum is helpful for working out what I need/want/should do.

Pros of old yard:

* Horse is settled and I've worked how to manage her winter fencewalking. Although if my friend/sharer who helps me out with her on weekends became unable to do it, or I got a 9-5 sort of job (right now, I'm freelance), I'd be screwed and have to move the horse for her own welfare. The fencewalking was out of control when I did my journalism masters because I didn't get out of class until 3 or 4pm, and she looked like hell at the end of that winter.
* Horse is 26 and I'd feel bad moving her somewhere if she hated it.
* Summer field with cross-country course is fantastic
* My best friend is there, and I don't think she'd move.
* My sharer would be reluctant to ride at a different yard.
* The turnout, even in winter, is fantastic. Horses are out from 7:45am to 3:45pm.

Pros of new yard:

* Closer to my flat. Would reduce the yearly miles I'm putting on my car by around 4000.
* Big indoor arena of international showjumping size (as well as an outdoor).
* Yard manager seems sensible and easy to chat with, and agreed that an older horse should be kept in work so long as she is sound.
* Seems to know about fencewalkers and is willing to cater to their neurotic whims.

Cons of old yard:

* 27 miles away from where I live.
* YOs and I aren't seeing eye to eye in terms of how to manage a mid-twenties horse. Nor do we communicate well. I get anxious when I have to talk to them about stuff, even feed changes, and I'm still pretty pissed that they went to my friend to tell her about my horse not finishing her hay at night, not me. And their words to her were, 'Caol Ila doesn't listen to us anyway.' Right now, whenever I school her, I feel like I'm dealing drugs -- looking around furtively, wondering if they're watching me, and trying to time my schooling sessions when they're not around.
* Arena must be 20x30 on a good day (but the footing is great).

Cons of new yard

* More expensive, but slightly offset by less driving.
* Less turnout. They have fewer individual paddocks than horses on individual turnout, so the horses have to rotate. Wouldn't be out for as long as she is now.
* The devil you don't know. Sometimes, there is a lot to be said for the devil you know. Change and moving is stressful.
* Not knowing if my horse will like the yard. She is very judgy of yards. But it's set up like other ones she's been on and liked, so that's all I can go by.

So there we are.
 

milliepops

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Realistically, how much would turnout be reduced by? I think that is quite a factor with an older horse for maintaining soundness.
Otherwise new yard sounds like a no brainer, for the sane YO if nothing else!
 

Caol Ila

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In the summer, it would probably go from eight hours a day to four or five. In the winter, it would go from around six hours a day (because that's when I have to get her in -- not yard schedule) to four or five.
 

be positive

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I would be concerned that the turnout may be very much reduced in the winter, your mare is tricky and could end up being brought in very early each day, for an easy life many YO's would end up turning her out first thing and bringing her back in after an hour or so to keep her from fence walking especially if there is limited paddock space available, she will probably be more than happy but it is not ideal for an older horse.
I have just seen she will also get very little time out in the summer which would be a definite deal breaker for me, I have had a few liveries in that do not settle in winter and come in early before they stress but I always want them out as much as possible in the better weather and worry less about a bit of walking as there is less risk of injury or damage to the fields.
Your current YO sounds like a nightmare but I am not sure the new yard offers a better life for your mare, I would wait and see if another option comes along before next winter.
 

Lammy

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In my opinion four hours is not enough, especially for an older horse who needs the movement more than anything.
I’d keep looking though as your current yard doesn’t sound ideal for you either.
 

milliepops

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Yeah the problem is that you might find it works ok while she's in work but as she gets older and maybe you DO need to start thinking towards retirement, you'll end up needing to move her again 😕
 

mariew

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I think if that would be the true turnout in the winter, it may be ok for winter turnout. There's not much different in winter and summer turnout though as far as i can tell, i would be really suspicious you didn't have lots of days when you got no turnout due to any reason. My horse did not enjoy standing around in the dark and rain in the winter, much preferred around 5 hours and daily exercise. The summer turnout however would make me look elsewhere. I'd want at least a full daylight day (so kind of 7-7 ish).
 

9tails

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Even summer turnout wouldn't be enough for me. I doubt that a yard with less fields than liveries would be appreciative of a fence walker in winter. I have one myself, she managed to dig a trench over winter right across the gateway. That would annoy other liveries using the same field.
 

Caol Ila

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The turnout situation isn't great, but if I want to get out of my current situation, I am running out of options.

The horses in group turnout get out all day, but that doesn't help me.
 

9tails

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Does the fencewalking not ease if she's in a group turnout situation? What's the reason for individual turnout?
 

ester

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My main thought, with a similarly aged horse who was equally as active a couple of years ago is that it might be fine while she is still in plenty of work now. But what happens if that has to reduce as it likely will at some point.

I didn't mind 8-2 turnout in winter when I knew he would get some form of exercise come about 5-6pm before being away for the night. The prospect of not being able to do that as much meant I really wanted more turnout than that.
 

Caol Ila

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When she's in a group, she claims one horse as 'hers' and chases and herds it all day, and viciously attacks any other horse that goes near it.

When/if she has to be retired from ridden work, she will probably have to be moved anyway, as my sharer won't be riding, either, so won't be able to help me out, and the hour-and-a-half trip to bring her in before she starts fencewalking (because the yard owners won't) will end up with me spending more time on the road than at the barn. That's very much a problem for the future, but I've identified a retirement yard in Clackmannanshire that might work if it comes to that.
 

Meowy Catkin

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As you have a retirement yard lined up, that takes away some of the worries about the new yard. I'm becoming more convinced that you should move her despite the restricted turnout.
 

milliepops

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Agree with faracat.
I had read the original post as though you didn't want to move her again as an older horse but as there is somewhere in mind for her later years I think that changes things.
 

McFluff

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Just an observation, and I mean this in the nicest possible way, but I think the process of writing up your list and responding to others has helped you make up your mind :)
 

Caol Ila

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My OH has a job here in Glasgow and owns the flat. So moving isn't an easy option. He'd interviewed for a job in Inverness, which would have had some nice yards, but didn't get it.
 

ester

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What I was trying to get at was that it's the gap between retirement and needing to slow down a bit that was complicated for me. He needed to just hack and that wasn't feasible in the week every day despite a twice weekly sharer.
Had it just been full work to retirement that would have been fine.
 

ester

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I know, it's so tricky to know what is best for them or the future! and I know how much issue you've had with the current place/not many options.
 

Caol Ila

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Realistically, I can't move the horse until the end of July anyway. If I gave notice tomorrow, that would put moving at the beginning of June, which is when we go to the Northwest Highlands for a week of camping. If I moved her after we got back from Achiltibuie, there would only be two or three weeks before we go to Africa until the end of July. I'm obviously not moving her, and then disappearing to the middle-of-nowhere in Namibia. So I can put off decision-making and keep looking. I'm not ruling Kirkton out yet, but the lack of winter turnout is a worry.
 
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