Annoyed about yard/school! Warning, rant

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Cash

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Ok, so I am on DIY livery at a yard near me. We have a rubber and sand school. The surface is generally ok, but it gets badly churned up when the 16.3hh+ horses (who are all heavy horses) are cantering and jumping in there. I don't have a problem with this (and neither does YO..generally) as obviously they have as much right as everyone else to use the school. What IS annoying is that none of them rake or tread the school down afterwards, meaning there are massive hoof prints and all the corners are banked up (it's not exactly a huge school).
Not trying to be self righteous, I am definitely far from perfect (and how :D ) but I do rake after I've been jumping or when I see it's been churned up by me, as do several other liveries, mostly. I have recently found myself having to rake it BEFORE i ride too, just because the surface is too *****ty to ride on after the heavies have been pounding round. Which doesn't seem fair :mad: particularly as it's in our livery contracts (and on signs on the yard) to give it a quick rake/tread when we've churned it up.
YO has already banned lunging in there, which is fair enough, as there is one girl in particular who will lunge in canter for ages and ages on the same circle. She still lunges in the school when YO is not around, despite polite reminders from other liveries..but that's a whole other rant ;)
So I got down to the yard this AM to find a note on the school gate, banning riding in there until there is rain due to complaints about the school from another livery, because both the dry weather and lack of raking mean the surface is badly compacted.
Weather forecast says no rain til tomorrow evening earliest, so I rang YO to ask if we could use the school if we all raked it, hosed it and generally got it back up to standard this evening (I say 'we' but it would end up just being me, lol. Not that bothered though, I just want to use the school!!). He said no, and told me I should just ride on the tracks around the paddocks. I am not happy to canter on them as the ground is absolutely rock hard. I was told it was no different to cantering on the roads- I don't canter on the roads.. for the same reason :confused: :rolleyes:
So I'm now not sure whether to cancel my lesson tomorrow (instructor coming to yard) as I can't know whether or not it'll rain before then. I was really looking forward to having a nice ride this evening too- gave him the day off yesterday, bar a walk round the paddocks, as he had a long day at BE on Sunday. Am meant to be going SJing on Thurs too, but that's not going to happen unless I can get some proper riding done either today or tomorrow. :(

Sorry to have such a whiny rant, I know I'm lucky to have a school to use, but it just seems ridiculous that the school is unusable (in mid summer when I actually have time to be riding!) and the YO doesn't seem to want to do anything about it. He goes on about how the school is a privilage and not a right, etc etc, but at the end of the day, the only reason most of us are at the yard is because of the school, as the rest of the facilities (a stable and a paddock) aren't exactly worth the amount we are paying without the school. :(
Not expecting many replies to this (expect most people who have got this far are asleep by now :p ) just wanted to vent in a whingy way! :o
 
how is the school a priviledge and not a right? You pay in your livery to use it!!

I can sympathise though. No one at our yard ever lifts a finger to anything that could possibly be "maintainance", even though it's DIY. I'm not talking fence building, just general stuff. Drives me bonkers. This morning I picked up about 6 poos in the school!!! Takes the mick! Usually they aren't expected to really do any maintainance, but the YM is going through some really difficult personal stuff and I think people could ralley around for a bit, we've all been there a long time. But no, they just stand in the corner pointing fingers!
 
I would not be happy at all :( Even about not being able to lunge because someone else is being a t*t:( I have been on yards were you can not lunge while others are riding but never heard of a blanket ban.
As for being banned for riding in the school that is plain utter stupidy, your YO needs to organize a yard meeting and make it clear people who are doing this will get a penelty charge or something like that, its not fair punishing everyone and the horses. Do you have TO were you are
 
I am not sure why your YO thinks the school is a priviledge. If you pay for it you have the right to use it and it's not unreasonable to expect it to be in good condition. Sounds like the problem with the school is that it rides too deep, because I don't really see why simply riding a large horse on it should cause problems as such. Is it any better with regular watering? If it is, can you not agree with the YO for him (her?) to put on the sprinklers every day? I would also expect the YO to have some kind of mechanical means of leveling the yard. This doesn't have to be expensive, a gate, upside-down small harrow or similar towed behind a car/quad should do the trick, but it's quite a big ask to expect people to hand rake the school every time they ride!

Otherwise I think it might be time to be looking for a new yard with better facilities.
 
Every livery yard I've been before at it's the YM/YO's responsiblity for school condition - meaning they should be harrowing it once a week/or whatever.

Our only responsablity for it's state, was making sure we'd poo pick it after we rode. :)
 
I'm assuming that use of the school is within your contract?

Why then isn't the YO maintaining it? Ours is graded at least once a week, if not more, by a tractor and grader. We are not expected to maintain it ourselves, other than to ensure our horses droppings are picked up.
 
Sorry but I did warn you that was what it is like! Personally the YO has the duty of care to make sure the school is in rideable condition and if it isn't then he should deduct that from your bills.

I know exactly who you are talking about re the lunging but as to heavy horses I assume there are new ones since I left as most of the them down there were ponies. We also used to have the same problem with them churning up the school and jumping and never raking it too!

Have they cut the hay field yet? If so it is pretty flat so you could do some light schooling in there, walk and trot, but I agree, the ground is like concrete so I wouldn't be cantering either.

Hugs I have been there and know exactly how you feel xxx
 
also can I just point out to other posters - the YO is an a**h**e, very agressive and nasty and loves to kick people out for just looking the wrong way. He has the worst reputation for miles. Problem is there are NO livery yards in our area so you kind of have to put up with it. I left this yard 3 years ago and was on a waiting list for the yard that I am now at for over 3 years, we have a waiting list of 19 people and we only have 17 stables - no one ever leaves.
 
Hmm, on my yard we have two schools, an indoor sand school and an outdoor all weather (bark surface) school. The indoor we are prohibited from lungeing in, must be done outside. Fine. Most of us adhere to that, but we get a livery who thinks she's above that...and another FRIEND of a livery who refuses to lunge outdoor when she's exercising the friend's horse. The rest of us have to suffer for it. But what gets my goat is the refusal by a few to pick up poos when finished, or leave jumps/poles out.

Our YOs do make an effort to keep the school surfaces in order - and sometimes it's not perfect. But we can also school in empty paddocks which gives at least variety.
 
The school should a be a right as it is in your livery pakage to have use of the school!

The YO/YM should be maintaining it for you and racking it atleast once a week! The only think we have to do to ours is poo pick after we ride.

Id be having serious words
 
I don't see why people can't rake after they use the school? Our YOs do not use the school and they aren't there to tidy up after other people! I lunge mine and give lessons in the school I always rake after I have used it and it doesn't take that long. Some people down there don't even bother to poo pick after using it. I have to admit the people at my yard are plain lazy! I treat everything down there as if it is my own, so I always make sure it is clean and tidy.
 
So because of other peoples ignorance, it spoils it for the rest of the liveries, surely your YO can see that and want to solve the problem, it's an arena not a bloody garden!!!, they shouldn't need watering if there well kept and have good surface, nothing a good old group rake wouldn't sort out.

I'd have a word with the other liveries...as in everyone, to see if you can all get together and rake it up a bit, level it all out, surely they will if it's for the benefit of everyone? then ask the YO again, after all that's what you pay for.
 
I'm yard manager at a livery yard and make sure it is raked/harrowed/rolled every day. It's not ideal at the moment and so is needing done morning and evening as we don't have a sprinkler and it is riding deep as it is SO dry. My livery owners are complaining enough as it is, I can't image what they would say if they were expected to maintain it themselves!!

Where I keep my horse its also the YM job to maintain the school. The only thing she asks is that their sprinkler (small garden type) is put back where it was once we have finished in there. I'm really shocked that you'd be expected to deal with it yourself.
 
At the yard im at im quite lucky, it doesnt get very holey, just in certain areas, ( its made with 2 types of sand and one of them isnt brilliant) but easily raked, It only gets holey if a horse is constantly cantered in the same area like lunging, I always 'rake' afterwards with my feet and hands (gloved) XD. Everyone poo picks and puts jumps away afterwards, unless someone requests for them to be left out. When the arena was first built the YO allowed these girls from another farm to use it, but it was totally holey everywhere, they must of been doing a hell of alot of cantering! YO said never again! The arena also gets harrowed with a flat crate attached to the back of the quad. No need for fancy equipment!
 
Umm, you pay to use the school under your payment for livery, surely? You need to remind him of this, it is not a privilege, it is your right as you pay for it and it is his job to maintain it, or ask for a reduction in your bill!
 
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