am i being unreasonable? storage for liveries

charlie76

charlie76

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Not sure if I am being unreasonable so would appreciate some input
I run a livery yard with four of my own horses and six on part livery and one full. All of them have a small amount of space for feed. Storage box outside the stable, rug rails and tack peg. All is fine apart from one. They insist on having a box outside and then two further trunks and another box in my small feed room. She will not allow anyone to put anything on top of them. Not even a bucket and will not have them stacked. I am going to ask her to remove some of them. Do u think this is reasonable ?
 
I don't think it's unreasonable, but it is the sort of expectation-setting discussion you really need to have with liveries before they come, rather than once they are there.
 
No.... used to bug me on livery yard when certain people think they are entitled to more space than others. Suggests she either puts stuff in her trunk, or if it doesnt fit, on top of it.
 
No, I dont think you are being unreasonable at all. if there is not enough room, there is not enough room! Is there somewhere else on the yard she could keep the trunks that are in the way?
 
How come the part liveries have space for feed? I provide the feed as part of the livery package. I do have one person who provides their own, and I very much regret allowing her to do that due to the extra space involved and the fact that I end up having to tell her when she is running low, rather than her checking herself. I would not allow anyone else to have their own feed. I do however feed the horses on whatever the owner wants, but the rest of them just leave it entirely to me. Some of my liveries have much more stuff than others. So long as they can fit it in the tack room and in the space outside of their stable, there isn't an issue. I would prefer less clutter, but it's just not possible.

But regarding the livery in question, no you are not being unreasonable - she is!
 
Why does she feel the need for them & does she rent the space they take up?
A locker outside the stable that doesn't interfere with anyone else would be reasonable but not taking up shared space.
 
What sort of stuff is it? I have 2 boxes for Ned, one is stuff I may need at any moment (Lead ropes, head collars, hi-viz, extra bridle, etc) and the other is for seasonal/other stuff (Rugs, exercise sheets for winter, fly spray/masks for summer etc) I always put the seasonal stuff I need in the first box and leave the other stuff in the other and tuck that away.
I don't get why she can't stack it, I stack mine sometimes and it's always been fine! I don't think you're being unreasonable.
 
Its the rules Charlie. You always get one who has to be different!

Seriously, it sounds as though you've done your best to provide a decent amount of storage for them. We provided similar for ours when we did DIY. Anything that wasn't in use at the time or that didn't fit in the storage provided was kept at home by the liveries, or in their trailers.
 
Im going to partly go against the trend here
As a person with far too much stuff and nowhere to keep it at home (i live above shops in a tiny house with no storage) I would find it unreasonable not to be able to leave it at the yard
However her not allowing them to be stacked is taking the mick
I would tell her either you stack or move them
Unless of course she has physical problems and can't move them when she needs too
 
soulfull said:
Im going to partly go against the trend here
As a person with far too much stuff and nowhere to keep it at home (i live above shops in a tiny house with no storage) I would find it unreasonable not to be able to leave it at the yard
Click to expand...

But that's your problem, surely?

It's not the place of the YO to supply enough room for a livery to keep every bit of equine equipment they have. That's entirely unreasonable.
 
Soulful - as much as I feel for your situation not having much room - in this instance everybody should be treated the same. No one person should be entitled to more than others.
 
I think asking her to remove them is not unreasonable. Shes got her space same as everyone else. Id be waiting for the other liveries to start thinking well if its ok for her to have extra space its ok for me, and you couldnt blame them either! :)
 
No, you're not being unreasonable - and I sumpathise with you. I have quite limited space for my 3 liveries (I provide feed) but everything has to go into one quite large feed/tack room. The stuff some of them have gathered over the years beggars belief - and frankly so much could be kept at home. I love my liveries dearly so cannot make a big issue of it, but this spring, when we had a seasonal tidy-up, I did ask the worst offender was it difficult putting 8 headcollars on the horse one on top of the other? She had the grace to give 3 away to the local horse charity, but there's still one there that would only fit an 18hh+ Shire: "Oh I saw it at a table top sale and the leather was so nice".....

My condolences to you. You are in the right on this one!
 
Agree that it really needs to be set down before the livery arrives - so they can make sure that they haven't too much stuff to store at home.

Rugs can be packed in vaccuum bags nowadays, which shrink down to flat, so aren't hard to store - so you can fit several in a locker/wardrobe. Same for numnahs etc.

I wouldn't store too much at the yard anyway - it can all get stolen - happened to us once..
 
I suppose it depends on where you live but with a small London flat and going to the yard by public transport I don't have anywhere to keep things at home so I do need to keep all horsey stuff at the yard.

However this is something that I would discuss with the manager before and I would help as much as possible with stacking or getting shelves to go up as much as I can.

At one yard there was a shed round the front which we all used to dump stuff we didn't need very often or I leave some things in the lorry
 
You soon change your mind whenall your tack and rugs for four horses (uninsured) are stolen in broad daylight and you have to replace it! :( Having to replace it all in one go also makes you really assess what you actually NEED as well! :D
 
I stay in a flat with no garden for a shed and no garage, so all of my horsey stuff is at the yard! I have however always managed to keep it in the space allocated to me, when I was on a yard that was strict about storage and you were only allowed one small box and your saddle and bridle I kept it in the boot of my car. This worked fine for me as I have no kids so I just used the back seat of my car as the boot lol x
 
I too have quite a bit of stuff, & not really the space to store it at home. But I consider that my problem, I wouldn't expect to take over extra storage space at a yard. Somewhere like I am now is ideal- old farm, plenty of space in the haybarn for metal chests with non essentials. In ops situation, unreasonable to expect to keep it at the yard.
 
I am on DIY livery BUT had to agree to using feed, hay/straw provided by livery owner. This is included in price. Although at first i was perturbed about this (buy my own supplements) it works and feed is kept in one place, regularly used up/refilled, etc. Cuts down on stoprage and i don't have to go and buy it each time. Re storage, no you are not being unreasonable. I have a trunk space, saddle and bridle peg and a shelf for grooming stuff per horse.
 
No i think you are being reasonable, I provided every stable with 2 saddle racks, 2 bridle racks and 4 rug racks as well as place to store their trunks. Some people brought 10 rugs per horse and wanted all the rug racks so some people were left with non. I asked people to be considerate, I asked them to only use their allocated space, that failed so I had a cull :) i removed saddles that were not used, I removed used rugs and piled everything up and insisted it was taken home. it is unfair on everyone else. I really did not care what their storage situation is at home. i had a set amount for everyone. The laugh was I had people storing saddles that were years and years old, not fit to go on a horse, but kept just in case, people who had a retired horse who had several full sets of tack for him, despite him never being ridden. People see the yard as a place to store all their equine 'stuff' and just keep accumulating without clearing out and soon it takes over the yard.
 
We have no storage at the yard, everything gets stolen by the local light fingered folk.

we are allowed: One bin of food, which headcollars get kept in (so everyone knows where they are in event of fire), two rugs each, and a grooming kit.

I've lived in small houses before and horse stuff always found a home in a broom cupboard or spare wardrobe.
 
Sounds fair to me. On the yard I was at before home I kept my rugs and suplus c*** in my trailer and was careful about what else was left on the yard as only tack was allowed in lockable tack room. Sounds like you are too kind with all that secure space so she has expanded to fit the space. Can't believe no stacking I bet the other liveries aren't chuffed, they must be nice or her storage chest would have had the odd knock by now:o.
 
No broom cupboard, one wardrobe for my use, no room for another. A flat so no shed, garage, attic or similar. It's difficult enough to be in a position to get a flat in london for me without expecting space for my horses possessions.

I do think a yard should provide a reasonable amount of space but what is reasonable I guess is up for debate.
Bosworth 2 saddles racks each!! I've been at yards with 20 racks and 30 horses so it's like musical saddles to find a space.
Or yards that build extra stables but no extra storage, or even better convert storage sheds into another stable.

But there are compromises that can keep everyone happy. As I said as a livery you can buy shelves which are quite high so you make the most of your space, I keep the rugs in use on homemade racks in my stable and the rest in one of those rug bags which can stack on top of something. Put things in boxes so not only can you stack it's looks neater
 
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