A which yard WWYD livery post...

JulesRules

JulesRules

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So I tried to set up a new profile so I could post anonymously as I haven't had chance to discuss with my YO yet that I'm looking around, so if you do know me please let me be the one to have that conversation

Anyways....

I've been going over and over the options in my head but I can't seem to make any decisions so advice would be appreciated :)

A bit about me:

Been on my current yard for several years. It does have a good few pros, but I've been feeling increasingly unsettled. At first I put this down to the winter blues but there have been a few things that have made me think it's time to move on.

I have 2 horses. One I compete (showing and dressage including Quest). The other one is on loan to a local equestrian college. She will stay there for this academic year and maybe one more but I don't want her to be there forever. When she is home she enjoys hacking (off road only), pleasure rides and a bit of jumping. She will do a bit of schooling and the odd dressage test but it's not her favourite thing. Ideally any yard would be able to accommodate her in the holidays.
Because I sometimes work long hours I really need the option for support when needed.

Current yard

Very close to home (5 mins), close to several small riding clubs with summer shows and 45 mins from Quest/ bigger competition venues.
YO lets me manage my paddock to graze half and rest half, or set up track in summer.
YO relaxed about loan horse coming home in holidays.
Decent outdoor school with lights
Wash box (cold only)
Small relaxed yard.
YO available for extras daily
Several small riding clubs within 20 mins, dressage venues 45 mins drive.
But
Electric fence has been temperamental of late (needs repairs)
Toilet has been broken for ages (I'm a woman in my 40s. Peeing in fields and stables is undignified)
Paddocks not being maintained and becoming overgrown with docks and thistles (I have good doers so not been an issue until now but another summer will make all the difference,)
YOs has recently got a dog which has been upsetting my horse barking at him in his stable and YO moaned at me last night for having horse tied up while I muck out as she wanted to bring her dog on yard.
Jobs don't get done. I ended up replacing light bulbs last week as I was bored of not being able to see to do my haynets.
No off road hacking, a field we can ride in but it's overgrown with rabbit holes so I don't use it.
Horse only getting about 5 hours t/o as YO likes them in. Paddocks are dry and I'd like mine out more. Not over grazed, approx 1.5 to 2 acres to 1 horse.
Can source our own hay and bedding with regular deliveries. YO arranged deliveries.
Paying £185 pick including daily t/o, b/i and Horsebox storage.


Yard A
10 mins from home but in wrong direction for work. Further away from Quest venues.
Cheap grass livery for horse on loan. (£12 a week)
Good turn out, horses out in herds, shared poo picking (can bring in after work). Worming / worm count schedule in place.
Would need to see school lights on in the dark as they are set back from the school (planning issues)
School is big but not fenced in.
Toilet was out of order when I visited. (Short term problem?)
Tea room.
Stables in a nice barn.
Can hack round fields but not sure how practical as horses in most fields. Down a dead end so quiet lane to hack.
Overall feel quite friendly but rustic. 30 odd horses.
What's App Group to arrange b/I times etc. Could bring in after work as long as others do to (sounds like some people are later down like me)
Wash box (cold only)
£40 per week for DIY including straw and ad lib hay. Assisted available. £5 per week lorry storage.


Yard B
15 mins from home, easy country lane journey and in general direction of work. 20 mins from Quest venues and local riding clubs.
Some off road - small woodland with track and 3 hay fields with mown edge track in summer. Down a dead end so also a quiet lane to hack.
Small oddly shaped indoor school with pillar in middle.
Possibility to school in paddock when ground okay.
Horses must go on isolation for 2 weeks on arrival and have strangles test so impractical to have loan horse home at xmas and easter but could accommodate for long summer break.
Wash box (cold water only)
Horses in small herds, can stay out in summer, must buy hay and bedding from yard (prices are reasonable, similar to what I pay now)
Relaxed approach to poo picking and in summer fields are harrowed. Fields are rested and rotated. Worming / worm count plan in place.
Owner on site to do extras at reasonable costs.
Rustic but friendly atmosphere.
DIY £100 per month of 5 day part £54 per week including bedding and hay.

Yard C
18 - 20 mins from home and 10 or so min detour from work journey. Close to station so could get train to work.
About 20 mins from Quest venues and local RC
Owner lives on site plus guard dogs and security gates.
Full size indoor school plus outdoor school. Horse walker. Wash box with hot shower and heat lamps ( perfect for an unclipped cream dun native in winter)
Smart tea room and nice toilet.
Fully DIY. Liveries all work together. Possibility to pay other livery for extras.
Regular hay deliveries/ straw.
Big fields, not rotated or poo picked. No worming programme in place. Muddy gateways but firlds looked okay on the whole away from gates. Horses in small herds.
No off road as such but there is a fairly decent track down to unused fields at back and a field that can be walked round (ground not suitable for anything more due to terrain.) Off road hacking on green way nearby but have to hack down a busy road to get there.
Have 2 friends on yard and they are happy there.
Opportunity for loan horse to come back in hols but would be stable/grazing price.
£160 per month stable/grazing DIY only.

So, go on then WWYD?
 
I know it's totally different when your "in" the situation.
I think I would stay at the yard your at.
5 mins from home and laid back with your loan horse coming home...


But if you have hit that point of going stir crazy if you don't get off it I would be inclined to go with yard C purely because you have friends there and the facilities seem good :)
 
I would want the good bits of each, none are ideal in my mind, yard C has the best facilities but no worming control or rotation of fields would concern me, odd because everything else seems good. Yard A is so cheap it may be worth looking at again but yard B doesn't have enough pros for me, I would probably stay put and see if things settle down.
 
After reading the other options, I'd say stay where you are OR if determined to move, Option C.
Have a chat with your YO about the dog issue, and the toilet issue (or get a little camping toilet?).
 
Lintel said:
I know it's totally different when your "in" the situation.
I think I would stay at the yard your at.
5 mins from home and laid back with your loan horse coming home...


But if you have hit that point of going stir crazy if you don't get off it I would be inclined to go with yard C purely because you have friends there and the facilities seem good :)
Click to expand...

My thoughts too.
 
I think stay were you are... couldnt you speak to YO about your issues perhaps you can get some issues like fencing,paddock matenance,lighting or if issues couldn’t be resolved yard C
 
I would probably stay where you are if you can as there seem to be a lot of positives.

If you re allowed to keep your field year on year (a bonus) I wold buy some electric fencing with battery and inner fence your paddock so you are electric self sufficient. I would maintain my own paddock by spraying, it is not that expensive and you could do one half then the other. I would have a conversation about the toilet, if it were me I would be asking to use the one in the house until the outside one was fixed as I am sure it would get fixed earlier!

If you have electric I would boil a kettle for hot water to wash.

In some areas rabbit holes are inevitable, when I used to hire the racehorse gallops at NRC they always advised to walk the gallops first, as although they did regularly inspect them (as in every day Mon-Fri) there could still be fresh ones. And there were sometimes. I just marked them in my mind whilst warming up at walk or steady trot so I could avoid them.

5 Hours out a day would be OK for me in winter.

The dog would be an issue, I think I would work with her to train it as it must be a ball-acher for both of you.
 
Thanks everyone.

Interestingly my thoughts have clarified overnight but in a totally opposite direction to the advice given by you lot....

I wonder if when I was writing the post if I've tried so much not to subconsciously influence that I went too far the other way?

I'm still not 100% decided but my current thoughts are this...

I'm not enjoying my yard at present but I don't want to go into too much detail as I'm not a big fan of washing dirty laundry in public.

I do already have work rounds in place for the issues ( I have a toilet in my lorry but try not to use it too much as I then have the problem of emptying it, I do a fair bit of fixing stuff myself, light bulbs, clearing gutters etc , i have my own electric and energiser but bolshy native needs mains really, plus it blows down in the wind so needs constant sorting out. I bring down a big container of hot water for washing in winter, it's more getting him dry as he is hairy.) The problem is that all of this is time consuming. Until recently the goods have outweighed the bad but I now feel it's tipped the other way. I just want to enjoy my horse in peace without the hassle.

Obviously I have discussed individual issues with YO, but in the end nothing changes.

We have discussed the dog several times and I've given her the name and number of a good local dog trainer but she hasn't phoned her yet. The yard owner seems to want the livery to fit around her dog rather than the other way round. It's her yard and that's her choice , and if I don't like it my choice is to vote with my feet unfortunately.

I just think I've got to the stage where the slightest thing irritates me far more than it should. It's just loads of tiny things building up over time have now become the straw that broke the camel's back 🙄

Anyway...

In terms of the other yards I have come to the following conclusions;
Yard A - best for my horse on loan.
Yard B - best for my horse/life balance.
Yard C - best for competing.

On balance, I had my head turned by the nice facilities at Yard C, plus a couple of friendly faces. However, this would work out the most expensive and the most inconvenient in terms of horse / life balance long term. I therefore have reluctantly ruled it out for now.

Yard A - definitely the best option for my mare coming home in the holidays. However, in reality we are talking about 4 or 5 weeks a year in total as all the yards can accommodate her in summer (albeit more expensively, but over a year B is still cheaper)
It is the closest to home other than current but in wrong direction for work and I still have a nagging doubt about the school lights.

I think I'm swaying towards yard B.

The school isn't perfect but it lets me ride winter evenings which is the key thing. Because assisted livery there works out the cheapest by the time everything is factored in and muck outs are cheap I would have more time available to ride, especially as no need to poo pick in summer. The real selling point for me was the off road hacking though. It wasn't hugely extensive but enough for a little pootle and a change from schooling. It was very peaceful and pleasant.
Although my mare would have to stay at college for Christmas and Easter, this yard does offer her the best opportunity for coming home long term, as the off road hacking and indoor together with location make finding a decent sharer for her easier. It would also be nice to have the hacking for her during the summer.

Yard B doesn't have space at the moment, but they do have space coming up as a livery is moving to a house with their own stables. The chances are this will be after Easter and therefore loan horse won't be an issue until Christmas. If I could find a good sharer over summer I might keep her home.

This also gives me time to think and not rush into anything 😁

Sorry to sound like I'm ignoring all your advice but I'm.actually trying to be sensible.
 
nope I completely get where you are coming from. I've been on yards like yours or where the place is basically falling down around you and you end up spending all your time, money and effort trying to keep it together, and everything seems like a nightmare.
If you can get yourself somewhere where you are getting what you pay for (and most importantly what was promised) then it all suddenly seems a lot more enjoyable again.
Have just moved again because previous place started to go down the pan, it's a huge weight off my shoulders.
 
I'd stay put and talk to your YO or go for Yard A. It sounds like the people there are happy to work together which is always a big plus for me.
 
Thanks Milliepops.

I feel like I sound like I'm being really petty but on the other hand I have enough respect for my current YO not to want to go down the route of turning this into a personal attack. We have differing opinions which is leading to tension and I just want a quiet life.
 
yup completely understand. No need to burn your bridges that way either because you can leave on good terms. The first yard I left for this sort of reason reason, we're still good friends, they came to my wedding this year and it's all still thoroughly pleasant to meet everyone. and now i'm not massively frustrated by the whole situation.
 
Yeay, someone who agrees with me finally. :p:p

But seriously I have asked myself what truly is important to me and the answer is quality time to enjoy my horses. I think B gives me the best chance of that.

I also remembered that the YO mentioned that a few liveries were off on a riding holiday together which made it sound like a nice yard.
 
I agree B is best option imo especially as you have transport and can hire better arenas if wanting test practice. If loan horse comes back you may have to reconsider but that could be some way off.
 
Just a quick update on this.

I finally spoke to YO last night. We managed to have a very reasonable discussion.

I gave her a full and honest list of all my woes after she asked me why I was thinking of moving.

Some things she said she would try to resolve (toilet, dog), other things she said are staying the same ( turn out, paddock weed control).

We left it that we would both think things over and talk again in a few days.

What was really wierd was that when I raised the issue of the lights she insisted that she had changed one of the light bulbs that I had changed.
I bought the bulbs and changed the one by my hay straight away. I told her what I had done and said I would do the other one at the weekend unless she got chance first. I changed the second one at the weekend when I saw the bulb box was still unopened.
I know that she hadn't done it as I had bought the bulbs and the new one was a different shape. Also the screws in the cover were difficult to get out as they hadn't been removed for so long. Anyway I left the light working.
So either she changed the bulb after I had already done it, but if that was the case she must have changed it for the old one which I left with the new box on the side in the tack room, but the bulb was clearly the old one as it was too big to have come from the box as well as being a different shape, and surely she would have checked it after changing it?. She must have then swapped them back again today after our conversation last night as the light was working tonight (I didn't switch the light on last night so don't know if it worked). This all seems a bit unlikely.
or
she is lying
or
she has somehow convinced herself that she changed it.

It was just a really bizarre conversation.

Anyway, I guess I have more thinking to do.
 
I agree, Yard B sounds best. I completely get your frustrations, I had similar at my old yard and looked at moving for years but couldn't find anywhere which was perfect and I didn't want to leave a yard which was on the whole, pretty good, for the unknown. In the end I bought my own land (which i can highly recommend as a course of action!), it's not perfect but as it's mine, it doesn't matter.
 
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