Advise needed... What would you do?

H

horseygirl72

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 February 2013
Messages
51
Visit site
Been on a lovely little livery yard for the last couple of years now but its suddenly grown (was 10 stable, now 25 with plans to put in 20 more!... and yet we still only have 1 small arena?) mostly part/full livery with only 3 DIYS and yet they still only have 1 member of staff (and won't get more as apparently they can't afford it!...hmmm you have 10 full liverys at £120 a week each + 12 parts at £65 a week + 3 DIYS at £40 a week and can't afford proper staff?) and obviously for everything to get done corners are being cut and I no longer feel I can trust them with looking after my horse properly which is rather important as I'm injured so can't look after her all by myself at the moment (plus fed up of the school never being free as its also hired out several times a day/pony club at weekends/clinics). The yard is also turning into a building site as they have lots of plans for expanding the yard (another arena/xc course/electric gates/horse walker) that we all half started during the spring and have not been touched since august. Oh and somehow I've managed to offend the yard owner as they've gone very weird/grumpy with me... would love to know how as you rarely see them or talk to them & always payed bills in advance! so feeling a bit like they are sort of forcing me off the yard anyway. So really not enjoying spending much time around there anymore.

So went to see a few other yards around me over the last week and really only one is a viable option as the others are full/very expensive/only have tiny stables/to far away/or are quite run down... but its just not quite suitable for my horse as she is an escape artist! and on this yard once she gets out of her stable she if free to go were ever she wants on all 600 acres they have! and its on a very busy noisy farm and she likes her quite & can be quite stressy when its noisy (trying to jump out of her stable/etc), and the stables have grills inbetween the stables so the horses can see each other which would be great is she wasn't so aggressive with other horses, and almost no storage for all her stuff (she's got tons of it! & currently got my own tack room)... but this is a nice little yard that has no plans to expand, closer to my house, £15 a week cheaper, and quite a few of my friends from current yard have moved to it.

Ideally I'd buy a house with some land but nothing close enough to my work at a price I can afford atm so what you you do? stay on current yard or move to the other one? I really haven't a clue and just know whichever I do I will probably regret it :/
Thankx and sorry it rambles on a bit.
 
Last edited:
Ooh tricky one. Tough to find the right place but sounds like you should DEFINITELY move. I have had experience of yards with no staff* and you don't want to find your horse stuck in a dirty stable for days on end or without any water. Perhaps you could try some kind of training to cope with the escaping? Good luck :)

ETA: *NOT my current yard, which is fab!
 
Last edited:
when I say she escapes mean she can undo any bolt you put on her door lol (ever the supposedly horseproof ones & kick bolts!) currently not to bad as her stable is in a fenced off bit so if she escapes can't get anywhere else.

and she is always clean & watered but think thats only as they know I always turn up at 2 to check on her, don't think she's being fed quite enough as seems to happy to see me compared to normal and always has very empty haynet when I arrive... oh she's also on box rest atm due to tendon damage :/ least we are both off at the same time :P
 
Last edited:
Move to the other one. Give yr horse a chance she may settle being able to see others and escape artists generally dont go to far from home, the herd. If you have tons of stuff have a clean out, you probably dont use half of it. Good luck.
 
This new yard sounds nice, if they have 600 acres I presume you can ride on their land..?
Barricading in an escape artist is possible with some ingenuity, I know because I have one! Put trigger clips on the ends of door bolts so they can't be slid along, nail a bar across the doorway just above head height so she can't come over the door (she will learn to duck when you lead her in and out).. a towel/rug etc., can be draped over the grill if she really hates her neighbour.
 
yes can ride around all their land, its all farm land but left space around the edges of all the fields to hack around... but with my mare you only hack if you have a death wish! likes rearing/flipping herself over/bolting/bucking/kicking/rodeo impressions/trying to kill the other horses/etc if you go out hacking anywhere :/ she's a monster tbh but got to love her!
 
Tricky one really. The current yard obviously has plans and could potentially be great when its all done ... however its going to be tough going until it gets to that stage!

Personally I would want to move, even with your escape artist horse ... there are ways around that trust me.

I would however leave on a good note (make up a good excuse) and enjoy the new yard knowing that in a year or two when the current yard is super dooper and all the crappy work is over you can still go back and enjoy all the benefits! ;)
 
putasocinit said:
Move to the other one. Give yr horse a chance she may settle being able to see others and escape artists generally dont go to far from home, the herd. If you have tons of stuff have a clean out, you probably dont use half of it. Good luck.
Click to expand...

This. You may even find that with more going on she doesn't feel the need to escape as she'll have plenty to keep her occupied!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top