applecart14
Well-Known Member
Yes I agree. Or rules that make little or no sense or are blantantly to save the YO time as they are too lazy otherwise!
And what's the most unreasonable rule at a livery yard?
- Thread starter Landcruiser
- Start date
Yes I agree. Or rules that make little or no sense or are blantantly to save the YO time as they are too lazy otherwise!
applecart14
Well-Known Member
Sleipnir
Well-Known Member
Oh, remembered a gem from one of the first yards I ever stayed at. There was an unwritten rule that you'd have to provide your horse for massive beginner/tourist string rides and LEAD it with the client onboard for a hour or so in case it wasn't enough with YO's horses . I was made aware of it only when such a ride suddenly occurred and, as I refused, I was blamed that the YO had to put a lame oldie to work "because of my selfishness".
fatpiggy
Well-Known Member
In our case it was ride horse to corner where pooper scooper was kept, dismount, lead horse to poo, pick up, take pooper scooper back to its place, climb up ménage fence to remount, carry on. I was lucky though my horse never pooed in the school in the entire 17.5 years I owned her, and only twice while out on hacks.
miss_c
Well-Known Member
Mine will do at least 6 in an hour's schooling session, and her record is 13... I'd spend more time picking up poo than I would riding!
mainpower
Well-Known Member
Some of these rules seem totally batty, but as a yard owner I get that we can get driven to extremes by liveries... I'm having major hassles from one that just seems to want to change my whole (very reasonable) set up and system!
Re the only buying hay from the yard, the guy I get my hay from insists on that at his yard because he spreads the muck on his land and doesn't want weeds and what not growing on his land.
My friend was on a yard where outside instructors had to pay £3 per half hour to teach there. there were no resident instructors..
Re the only buying hay from the yard, the guy I get my hay from insists on that at his yard because he spreads the muck on his land and doesn't want weeds and what not growing on his land.
My friend was on a yard where outside instructors had to pay £3 per half hour to teach there. there were no resident instructors..
glamourpuss
Well-Known Member
Lots of yards do this to supposedly cover freelance instructors making money from a yard's facilities. I guess the thinking is the instructor will swallow the cost but the truth is they just charge more to cover it so in essence the client pays for using the school twice.
Personally I don't agree with it, the school hire is already being paid for in the livery so it's unfair IMO. I was on a yard where it was £5, what was worse was there was an instructor on site but they used to still charge the fee!
Personally I don't agree with it, the school hire is already being paid for in the livery so it's unfair IMO. I was on a yard where it was £5, what was worse was there was an instructor on site but they used to still charge the fee!
pippixox
Well-Known Member
i am no longer on a livery yard, but I was very lucky that my old yard was great- why?!: common sense!
people knew what was expected e.g. pick up poo, but at end of schooling session, don't scatter hay everywhere- use a wheel barrow....
some of these rules are crazy!
I once inquired about spaces on a yard to be told they only took geldings (had a mare and gelding). I personally think that is silly, as I know mares can be flirty in season, but geldings that are used to mares are then better when out hacking or at shows when being around mares. I don't mind mares not being turned out with geldings (although personally I have a mixed herd and think their behavior is much better than when kept separate) but to not even have them on the yard.
sizes- I can see how you may not have the fencing for shetlands or stable size for 17+
people knew what was expected e.g. pick up poo, but at end of schooling session, don't scatter hay everywhere- use a wheel barrow....
some of these rules are crazy!
I once inquired about spaces on a yard to be told they only took geldings (had a mare and gelding). I personally think that is silly, as I know mares can be flirty in season, but geldings that are used to mares are then better when out hacking or at shows when being around mares. I don't mind mares not being turned out with geldings (although personally I have a mixed herd and think their behavior is much better than when kept separate) but to not even have them on the yard.
sizes- I can see how you may not have the fencing for shetlands or stable size for 17+
Annagain
Well-Known Member
My yard is geldings only. The YO used to breed Section A / B ponies and had a stallion on site so didn't want to risk him escaping and reaching any other resident mares. She stopped the breeding a few years ago but has stuck to geldings only, mainly as the boys are all so happy and settled as they are and there would be a point where there was only one mare in a field full of geldings which might cause an issue.
Neither of mine have lived with mares for over 10 years, but they don't react any differently to them as other geldings when they're out. M hates every horse he ever meets and A wants to be friends with everybody and is terribly surprised when he gets bullied or even worse, squealed at - he's totally bewildered by that!
Vodkagirly
Well-Known Member
That could be very interesting /dangerous with some horses I know.
Toby_Zaphod
Well-Known Member
We do this on our yard. Why leave the poo sitting there for the horse to stand in, kick about or for you to stand in. Once removed throw water over it removes any staining. I can't see any problem & the yard is kept clean & tidy.
This really annoys me when liveries moan about restricted turnout.. Most YOs want the horses turned out from morning to evening but sometimes the fields are so wet that turnout needs to be limited otherwise the paddocks will take forever to recover. Without ther restricted turnout the liveries will have far less grass in the spring & summer.
Some YOs are really strange people though, weird thought patterns coming up with some of these off the wall rules.
criso
Coming over here & taking your jobs since 1900
I'm on a geldings only yard. Most yards nowadays have single sex herds and a lot of liveries seem to want it. Current yard is small and isn't set up to have a mares herd and geldings herd so it's gelding only. Another I was at had ended up that way and then couldn't just take 1 mare as there would be nowhere to put her. When a few people left, they did take on 3 or 4 mares and then had a mare's field/herd.
I don't mind either way, one of mine doesn't appear to have reached puberty yet judging by his indifference to in season mares (he's 7!); the other gets on very well with mares and they like him, a bit too well really. When there has been a mare in the herd, none of the other geldings has ever challenged him on the fact it is 'his' mare. If there were two like him, it could be problematic.
I don't mind either way, one of mine doesn't appear to have reached puberty yet judging by his indifference to in season mares (he's 7!); the other gets on very well with mares and they like him, a bit too well really. When there has been a mare in the herd, none of the other geldings has ever challenged him on the fact it is 'his' mare. If there were two like him, it could be problematic.
Tnavas
Well-Known Member
When I took over the Riding SChool I leased for a few years the owner had the same rule - No mares at the riding school, we had one pony mare at the time who when coming into season would suddenly stop in the middle of a ride, back up and squeal - she freaked the kids and scattered the geldings - we eventually put her on a slow release hormone to stop her coming into season - she was in her late teens at the time. Peace and order restored - worked really well.
popsdosh
Well-Known Member
Its the main reason we stopped doing liveries. We used to offer year round turnout whatever the weather yet in the spring they all used to sod off to other slightly cheaper yards. In the autumn there they were knocking on the door yet its always yard owners that are strange! I could and many other YOs could write books about liveries! Just for the purpose of being balanced mind you.
stilltrying
Well-Known Member
I wasn't objecting to the picking up of the poop, just felt the washing of the floor excessive. Ive not known this at any other yards. It was a relatively new yard and i think the rules got relaxed a bit after i left.
marmalade76
Well-Known Member
Lol, I'm actually liking some of these rules, no coloureds, no heavyweights and no pink wheelbarrows
I totally get the no heavy horse rule, there's two such animals at my yard, two great heavy maxi cobs and they do cut up the ground more than others, the one slides her hind feet along the ground underneath her as she walks, skinning it, literally taking the turf off. And she's coloured too
I am lucky with my yard really (though it's not really a livery yard), there aren't really any rules and I know what my YO will be ok with and what she wouldn't like. The rest is common sense. However, the owners of the other horses (a family of psychopaths), the hefty ones, do take the pi$$ IMO (like tipping their muck in the most convenient place or them rather than the most sensible place and sweeping their hoof pickings onto the gravel rather than picking it up which then turns the gravel into mud) and YO never says anything >:-/
I totally get the no heavy horse rule, there's two such animals at my yard, two great heavy maxi cobs and they do cut up the ground more than others, the one slides her hind feet along the ground underneath her as she walks, skinning it, literally taking the turf off. And she's coloured too
I am lucky with my yard really (though it's not really a livery yard), there aren't really any rules and I know what my YO will be ok with and what she wouldn't like. The rest is common sense. However, the owners of the other horses (a family of psychopaths), the hefty ones, do take the pi$$ IMO (like tipping their muck in the most convenient place or them rather than the most sensible place and sweeping their hoof pickings onto the gravel rather than picking it up which then turns the gravel into mud) and YO never says anything >:-/
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flaxen
Well-Known Member
Im not bothered about restticted turnout as such because due to my working hours theres days my pony cant go out anyway and if heavy rain then i dont turnout to preserve the field but what I do object to is no turnout at all since before christmas. Ive a youngster and shes not been broken long enough to be in hard work and its dark long before i finish work to take her for a walk.
Morgan123
Well-Known Member
I agree, I was on a yard like this and I thought it was ridiculous!
We had to wash the wheelbarrows after using them too.
fatpiggy
Well-Known Member
Actually I think both aren't entirely daft. Poo tends to be accompanied by fluid which can stain concrete really badly. A quick swill with a bucket of water should be enough to do the trick. And barrows aren't just used for transporting dirty bedding etc. I wouldn't like to load a sack of feed from my car into a barrow to the feedroom and then find when I'd lifted it out of the barrow that my hands and clothes were covered in splurged poo which had transferred from the barrow to the sack. I always cleaned mine out if I'd had noxious substances in it for that reason.