A wwyd livery yard question

G

ghostie

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 July 2009
Messages
1,154
Location
London-ish
Visit site
I would really appreciate the views of some horsey people as I don't know many IRL.

I have had my horse for six weeks having returned to ownership after a long gap. Due to work commitments I need full livery. My yard options are v limited as i can't drive due to medical reasons and I live in London.

At the moment we are at a bg riding school/livery yard. It is very professionally run and the standard of care is excelent. The facilities are good with two/three outdoor schools depending on how they are divided and an indoor school. There are excellent instructors on site.

I am not 100% happy for a number of reasons. Firstly there is barely any hacking. Essentially one circular hack of 45 mins in walk, and nowhere to have a good blast. Getting an arena in the week is okay if I ride before work, but never get the indoor one (not an issue but relevant in that it means i could live without indOor). At the weekends I can ride before 9am or between 1 and 2 or after six if i want an arena which is limiting The turn out is very limited. I had hoped to get him out with the riding school horses but instead have had to compromise on a few hours turnout every afternoon it isn't raining.

Limited turnout means Spider can be pretty hyper and i have to lunge befoee i ride which makes it hard to ride before work. He needs daily exercise to stay sane. I am already bored of the lack of hacking.

Now, i have found another option which could work but is vastly different. He would be living on a very small private yard. Just me, the y/o and her two. Stable, tack room, feed room, toilet and grass menage with lights. She would look after his day to day needs other than proper grooming tack cleaning and excercising. Obviously it would be a much less professional setup, but she seems very nice. There is good hacking but some busyish road work to get to it. he would be out 9 to 5 in winter and 24/7 in sumner.

It would be much cheaper. My livery has just gone up to £799 pcm. This would be £70 a week plus food, hay and bedding, so averging at prob £400 a month.

Am i mad to consider it? Do you think the change would be too great especially so early on? Biscuits of choice to all with the patience to read and reply :)
 
I couldn't cope with all those limitations re turn out and availability of arena etc no matter how wonderful the service is. You are very lucky to have found somewhere else that you don't need to drive to and that can offer you so much better turnout. Good luck!
 
new yard sounds good and you may find that spider chills out due to the more relaxed environment and daily turnout - you probably wont have to lunge before riding but my only query would be negotiating the busy roads before work !! however with the extra money you save you could invest in lessons or even transport to box to some places at the weekend. !
 
I would consider the second yard, just because it is smaller doesn't mean that the standard of care will be any less professional :)

As for the rates at the first :eek:
 
sounds to me like you're paying through the nose for a lot of facilities that you don't get to use! Lack of turnout is a big no for me - though we are lucky here my yard has all year unlimited turnout and its amazing what it does for a horses well being.

I would move ASAP.
 
Although you haven't had the horse long and he's probably only just gotten settled, I agree that you ought to move.
It's cheaper for a yard that has better hacking, more turnout and probably a nicer atmosphere for a horse that sounds a bit stressy - you might find that he doesn't necessarily need the daily work or lunging if he's living a happy, varied life with plenty of TO.
My only worry - and it's just because I'm into dressage and need to school year round - is exercising in winter, with it just being a grass menage? But as you say, you can still hack and at least he'll still get a lot of turnout to counter balance if you do have to decrease his work load.
 
Don't know whereabouts in London you are, but my friend has her horses at Prestons Farm in Kent (just by M25). It is very close (walking distance) to Shoreham train station, which takes 30mins from London. They have a range of livery levels and facilities, including turnout. The best thing is they have great hacking onto Lullingstone country park, as well as around the fields.

Might be worth a look if you are concerned about the small size of your proposed yard set up. To me, it would be my ideal to be in a smaller place, but I can appreciate from seeing my friends horses that there are some advantages to a bigger set up.

Good luck with your decision, whatever you decide, I don't think your current yard is ideal. :)
 
New yard sounds much better.

But I would also raise the point about winter - having a grass menage will be fine in summer (though may get very hard), but I imagine would be unusable in winter, and with it getting dark early you'd probably be unable to hack apart from at weekends.

Just something to consider!
 
Thanks guys and thanks Technique for the suggestion - not very near to me sadly.

The grass menage worries me to as I imagine it will be too hard in the hottest of summer and freeze in the winter and may churn up the rest of the time. I think there is a hirable arena in hackng distance which could be an option for the weekends whist i don't want to school wpevery day I do enjoy it.

The y/o has said herself it is a bit more relaxed routine wise which is what I meant by less professional. She does the horses at 9am and 5pm and doesn't live on site, wheras currently Spider's yard is actively staffed 7am to 10pm with onsite staff too.

Other downsides are that she has only been tHere a short while and rents the yard so possibly less stability. Also there is only One 3 acre field which landlord doesn't want subdivded so it won't get rested.

Does any of that make people think i shouldn't move? London is vastly expensive and v limited turnout generally.
 
the 3 acre field with 3 horses on it at all times not divided is going to become very difficult to manage..
 
ghostie said:
Does any of that make people think i shouldn't move? London is vastly expensive and v limited turnout generally.
Click to expand...

I would value turnout over anything else on a yard, so I would be willing to give up the school to know my horse was out 24/7 in summer and the day in winter. Is there no nearby yards with a school you could borrow? If it was me I would move as summer is nearly here, you can always look for something else if it doesnt suit you in winter! You said yourself that you were bored of the 45min hack at your yard so that is another bonus. :)
 
I also would say turnout is far more important to me than anything else. Your answering your own question really - you know he needs to be out more to chill him out, you want better hacking, you could save money at new place, there is a school closely to new place you can hack too.... All sounds v positive to me, yes grass arena isn't the best but if there is one in hacking distance then sounds good! 3 acres for 3 horses I would not think as being aajor problem, hay them in winter if they need it..
 
East London or Essex ideally accesible from the Central line, so Epping, Loughton etc would work well, as would somewhere on a train route from Stratford provided it can be done by public transport :)
 
ghostie said:
East London or Essex ideally accesible from the Central line, so Epping, Loughton etc would work well, as would somewhere on a train route from Stratford provided it can be done by public transport :)
Click to expand...

Haha, I randomly responded to a previous PM from you ghostie but I thought you might be interested the yard I'm currently at....it has amazing facilities, great hacking, indoor and outdoor schools, onsite instructor and onsite BD competitions, it's a small yard with about 18 horses in total.....the only thing is that the turn out is limited there too.

Unfortunately it's tough finding something close to london with good turn out but best of luck and let us know how you get on! Sounds like we're in exactly the same situation really...I'm looking for somewhere with more turn out, with an indoor, inside the M25 and close to public transport.

Does it exist?!

But definitely MOVE from your current yard......if you can't even use the facilities you're paying for....?!
 
Move.....my 3 on diy cost £500 amonth amwd whe get school, jump feild, xc course, 24/7 turn out in summer and 12 hour in winter and we get left alone unless the horse is looking like you arent treating it right.....
 
victoriaocarroll said:
Haha, I randomly responded to a previous PM from you ghostie but I thought you might be interested the yard I'm currently at....it has amazing facilities, great hacking, indoor and outdoor schools, onsite instructor and onsite BD competitions, it's a small yard with about 18 horses in total.....the only thing is that the turn out is limited there too.

Unfortunately it's tough finding something close to london with good turn out but best of luck and let us know how you get on! Sounds like we're in exactly the same situation really...I'm looking for somewhere with more turn out, with an indoor, inside the M25 and close to public transport.

Does it exist?!

But definitely MOVE from your current yard......if you can't even use the facilities you're paying for....?!
Click to expand...

Where are you? Are you Chingford way?

I have actually found some yards that have reasonable turnout, but none of them are right for me because I don't drive and they aren't accessible by public transport, but if you drive there are a few options that I know of, so PM me :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top