Am I within my rights to ask the yard owner to.....

[StellaArtois]

Hope you have a cup of tea ready and a seat as this is a long one......

I recently posted a discussion about my yard owner for some reason deciding to top my field with out my knowledge. It is a very small yard and we all have our own fields. I had fenced mine off as fatty doesnt need much so the other uneaten part has been steadily growing since April. I was planning to strip graze through the winter which worked well last year. I had not asked for it to be cut or them told me they were about to do it. However after being away at a lesson I came back to find the field completely topped and grass left in thick lines along field. After reading some posts left and speaking to my instructor who said she wouldnt graze her horse on it as the piles of grass will heat up and start to ferment and considering my hoover of a horse could be unwise. I thought I would check with someone more horsey than myself incase I was being an over protective mummy. The yard owner has no intention of picking up the left over clippings and its far too big and area to rake myself.
Am I being unresonible to ask my yard owner(They are non-horsey really?) to get it picked up on grounds of my horses health?
Well done for getting to the end of this. Any suggestions please be kind if you are a yard owner not critising, how would I approach the subject?

 

[tasteofchristmaschaos]

Absolutely! Just ask nicely and approach it on health grounds - it can cause colic fairly easily.

 

[TS_]

I don't think you're being unreasonable, allowing your horse to eat it would most likely cause collic. So you need to explain to them that they either spend an hour or two removing the grass or risk having a big vet bill from you, or worse.
I would be firm about it and explain the risks that it would cause your horse. If they won't remove it tell them you'd like a new field arranged.

 

[Storminateacup]

I am surprised that the yard owner doesn't have the sense to realise that cutting the grass and leaving in the field, would cause you a problem, and possibly make your horse very ill.

I think you should try to ask them to lift for you but with the mentality they seem to have I wouldn't hold your breath.

I suspect you would be best just sectioning off bits at a time and clearing it yourself. In a month or two your horse probably wont touch it anyway.

 

[hadfos]

Absolutely not,if they are non horsey take a little info with you(printed off net if needs be for them to read),to say what complications to horses it will cause,and ask them to remove the grass cuttings

 

[Lollii]

I would say to have a chat with the YO as they are non horsey explain to them that there is a problem and next time ie next year could they talk to you first, I wouldn't upset them at this time of year - you don't want to be looking for a new yard now!!??

 

[Llwyncwn]

As the YO has already stated that they have no intention of moving it, you could ask in that case if they have any objection to you hiring a local farmer to come in and bale it for you

It may be of interest to you that the government are proposing to have all livery yards licenced. This will mean that anyone renting out stables and grazing will have to be registered with the local Council and have annual checks. The Council will want to inspect all documents relating to individual equines, i.e. passport, dental checks, farrier, etc along with quality of fencing, stable ventilation, bedding, muck heap removal and so forth. If you are interested in updating yourself on the proposed legislation, ring your local Council and ask for the compendium books to be sent to you. This will ultimately mean that your YO's will either have to become 'horsey' or employ a YM.

 

[Pedantic]

I would try and be diplomatic and friendly, but you need to be assertive.

 

[StellaArtois]

Cheers everyone for your replies I will be talking to them but have tried to do so with other matters and ends up me being the one thats moaning. When I say non-horsey which they are in a sense as they dont own horses and they only thing they do for us is empty the bogie and harrow the school they have had the yard for years so you would think they would know better, but they have no involvment with the horses I certainly dont want to cause problems as I like where I am but I just wished they would listen when you ask them something it gets a bit frustrating. Will be ready to speak to them tonight.

 

[fatpiggy]

Unfortunately, as more and more yards are bought by people who want to make a bit of money from their property and see us all as open wallets

, but know nothing about horses at all, you will see more and more problems like this.

 

[emma69]

I am guessing that the same people at the council will be doing the checks as currently do the checks for riding schools. In that case, the legislation would be worth very little. Those who inspect the riding schools IME are useless - whilst a vet came out to check the general health of the horses, the 'checks' were not IMO adequate for working animals, the council people themselves knew very little about horse welfare - they had some tickboxes and clearly wanted everything to fit nicely into the boxes. They come out once a year, the visit is announced, and the checks are anything but thorough (one year my old boss had us hide 3 horses he had bought the prior week from the sales in very poor condition in a back field ahead of the council coming out - with their 'tick box' method there just wasn't any point in explaining why the horses looked dreadful, and that they care they were receiving was second to none. They never bothered to look in the fields for horses, which I think is a complete joke.