Anyone want to play Yard A or Yard B?

[atropa]

Okay, so following on from my last big ranty post on here where I lamented my entire horse life this year, I've decided to just suck it up and get on with it for a few more months over winter at least and see how I feel in spring. I currently commute for up to 1hour 40 minutes after work to get to my current yard, where I have 2 horses both needing quite a lot of rehab work on DIY livery. The commute plus trying to get the work into both and do jobs is really stressing me out, so I thought I would see if I could find somewhere closer to work. Easier said than done, I can only really afford DIY or at best assisted DIY at the minute due to vet bills and most places near work seem to start at 5 day livery with no DIY available. I have finally found somewhere that offers DIY and might suit, but there are a few things stopping me from jumping on it immediately. The DIY livery and service charges are roughly the same at both yards, so I haven't listed this in the pros/cons. What yard would you all choose in this situation?

Yard A
Current yard, been here for 4 years. YOs are fantastic, most fellow liverys are fantastic bar the odd few.
My stables are 12x12 and 13x11. Plenty of space for storage boxes/trunks/seperate feed and hay/bedding areas, locked tack room. My stables are in separate blocks, which isn't the worst but a slight inconvenience
Turn out - year round, 365 a year, 24/7 in summer and up to 11 hours in winter. My two are in a huuuuge natural field which I really love, but it is heavy clay which turns into absolute soup in winter. I'm in a bad position where I need my older horse out as much as possible to prevent her hind legs from swelling up, but she is also really susceptible to mud fever due to scarring and she suffers from it quite a lot at this yard. The grass is also very rich during spring/autumn, which caused me a lot of problems last year with her. No real option for switching fields.
We have a large outdoor school and smaller covered school. The outdoor is very commonly waterlogged and deep in the corners during winter, the covered school also gets quite boggy with rain blowing in.
We have decent hacking, the majority of which is offroad but on a surfaced track (so great for doing roadwork without the traffic), can go for a couple of hours at a time, but to get to the surface we need to go through a heavy clay field which isn't great in the winter.
I pay extra for school lighting and if I need to hire the school for a lesson. I don't really grudge this but it does add up.
20-30 mins travel time from home for me, and 1-1hr 40 from work/my boyfriend's house where I spend a huge amount of time.
Use of horse trailer for travelling.
I do absolutely love the place and all the people, and I don't think I'd be considering moving at all if it wasn't for the
travel and the issues I've had with my older horse this year.

Yard B
Just been taken over by a new manager who has a really excellent reputation and has a lot of improvements planned.
The stables I'd be allocated are 9x10 - really quite small for the size of horses I have and this is a big sticking point for me, although I could always ask to be put on a list for bigger ones if they become available. They are in the same block which would save me some time, but no space for trunks/storage outside - I'd need to store my stuff in one of the designated storage sheds which is a bit of a pain. No designated tack room or feed room yet but this may be in the pipeline in future.
Turnout - they try for all year round, but horses may need to stay in for the odd day or two here or there in the winter. Fields smaller, more maintained and much less muddy than my current place, and there is the option for full grass livery in a back field and paddocks which could be used to restrict my older horses grazing if needed.
Hay is £10 a bale cheaper than what I currently pay which would be a big saving for me with two big horses.
Large outdoor school with decent surface which looks like it should drain well, option to use a neighbouring indoor school too.
Hacking I'm told is good - very quiet roadwork to start with but plenty of offroad options. I'm not familiar with the area so can't comment yet.
No charge for booking school for lesson.
40 minutes travel from my house, but only ~30 minutes from work and my boyfriend's place. To be honest this is where I'll be travelling from most of the time.
No trailer for me to use

I am keen to move to be honest, but the main issues I'm thinking of are the staying in 'the odd day' during winter, although if this preserves the grazing and ground to prevent mud fever then it's swings and roundabouts I guess, as long as it doesn't turn into weeks at a time. I worry the money I'd save on hay and bedding would end up being used up during days they're stuck in. I'm also really not keen on the stable size, especially if they're staying in. BUT, I think the decreased travel time would really help me with motivation to actually work them, as well as improve my own quality of life, and I'd keep my eyes open for bigger stables opening up on the yard.

 

[ester]

I'm not sure I could keep a horse in a 9x10, can you go on wait list without moving there?

 

[atropa]

I'm not sure I could keep a horse in a 9x10, can you go on wait list without moving there?

I know Ester, and mine aren't particularly small horses either It's the real sticking point for me. I didn't enquire about a waiting list but I will check with the YM

ETA there also is the option of 10x10 (not ideal by a long stretch but slightly better), but I've been told those stables flood..

 

[be positive]

I would not consider putting anything other than a small pony in a 9x10 box even relatively short term unless a real emergency and I would question any "manager" who would think it acceptable to do so, so until a couple of proper boxes are available yard B would not be considered on that alone.

 

[atropa]

I would not consider putting anything other than a small pony in a 9x10 box even relatively short term unless a real emergency and I would question any "manager" who would think it acceptable to do so, so until a couple of proper boxes are available yard B would not be considered on that alone.

Thank you bp, that was my gut feeling really Unfortunately it seems pretty normal in Scotland to have small stable sizes...I looked at a cracking yard a few months ago with huge (to me!) 14x12 stables which were fantastic but they only had one space and I really can't consider having the horses stabled 40 miles away from each other whilst I wait for another space to open up

 

[skint1]

I agree with Ester, were it not for the boxes I would say Yard B but that would worry me a lot.

My boy had a box that was probably 14 x10 but for various reasons I had to move him to a different part of the yard for the winter and he's now in a standard 12x12. The size difference is noticable, but ironically he prefers the smaller box because he's got more horses around him and can see more, but he's a big lad andn I couldn't imagine going to a smaller box than that

That said, I completely appreciate your predicament, with plenty of turn out you might get away with it for the remainder of the winter and hopefully the bigger boxes will come vacant before next winter.

 

[be positive]

I would put up with things until the spring then look again at your options, yard B may be getting sorted by then so you can see if they are making the changes or not, at least if you move then the horses can be out for the summer and you may find a box becomes available before next winter.
I don't know why Scotland should have small stables, the minimum for horses should be 12x12 in my opinion and the bigger the better, mine are so much cleaner in the big boxes inside my barn than in my standard 12x12 ones, I cannot imagine how dirty they would be in something smaller.

 

[atropa]

I agree with Ester, were it not for the boxes I would say Yard B but that would worry me a lot.

My boy had a box that was probably 14 x10 but for various reasons I had to move him to a different part of the yard for the winter and he's now in a standard 12x12. The size difference is noticable, but ironically he prefers the smaller box because he's got more horses around him and can see more, but he's a big lad andn I couldn't imagine going to a smaller box than that

That said, I completely appreciate your predicament, with plenty of turn out you might get away with it for the remainder of the winter and hopefully the bigger boxes will come vacant before next winter.

Thanks skint1,yes normally I wouldn't even consider compromising on the size of their boxes but my situation really has reached the point where something has to give. I did seriously, seriously consider selling one and moving the other to full livery at a different yard, but it's not the right time of year and she needs too much work so I didn't want to end up risking her being passed around.

I would put up with things until the spring then look again at your options, yard B may be getting sorted by then so you can see if they are making the changes or not, at least if you move then the horses can be out for the summer and you may find a box becomes available before next winter.
I don't know why Scotland should have small stables, the minimum for horses should be 12x12 in my opinion and the bigger the better, mine are so much cleaner in the big boxes inside my barn than in my standard 12x12 ones, I cannot imagine how dirty they would be in something smaller.

Agreed BP, of course the bigger the box the better. My youngster was in a 17x21 pen when she arrived at my current yard which was amazing but took quite a lot of bedding down! Perhaps I shouldn't have said Scotland as a whole, maybe it's more the yards I choose to visit - semi-rural areas where space could be at a premium, stables generally made out of old farm buildings. In general the yards I view seem to have 12x12 as the maximum stable size available. It's not that I wouldn't love to have them in bigger boxes, just that I sometimes don't have the luxury.

 

[Queenbee]

I'm not sure I could keep a horse in a 9x10, can you go on wait list without moving there?

This ^^^

 

[splashgirl45]

i had my 15.2 mare in a smallish box which was 9ft 3 wide and 13ft long and i decided to try it as the yard had lots of grazing which was what i needed at the time, she was fine but i wouldnt think it would be ok for a large horse. i now have a 16 hand half tb in a box which is slightly smaller than 12 x 12 but she seems to be ok and lies down every night, but i wouldnt have wanted to put her in the smaller box at the other yard...i would also not be happy with restricted turnout as well as small boxes so i would wait till larger boxes come available....

 

[catroo]

9x10 and no guarantee they'll be getting daily turnout - an absolute no from me regardless of anything else. That's far to small to spend significant time in