Arena/School pecking order?

Illusion100

Illusion100

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Hello everyone,

Looking for some opinions please, as I'm convinced I have the sensible view about this but......

My understanding is that unless the yard has specific policies about pre-booking the school, liverys are entitled to use it whenever they wish and liverys may not dictate if and when other liverys can use the facilities?

For instance, our yard has very few rules. Use of the school is covered in livery fee whether you use it or not. Outside instructors are welcome, you can have a 'lesson' from another livery, whatever. There is no policy for booking the school. Of course, most liverys are of the mind that if they know in advance of someone paying for a lesson they would try to avoid using the school at that time if possible.

Now things are kicking off a bit for various reasons. People want the school individually for a couple of hrs groundwork/lesson/practice a test etc and are getting very huffy if they don't get sole use of the school when they wish or someone enters the school without asking permission. Bearing in mind that if everyone got their own way all the time, some liverys wouldn't get a chance to use the school at all some days.

What do you guys think?
 
I don't see why more than one livery cant be in the school at once? Surely you can keep out of each others way. But failing this, you should all ask the yard owner to put up a whiteboard, and make a booking system... and take turns to book, so everyone gets a fair chance.
 
At our yard, we have a white board, lessons have priority in the school, but they need to be wrote on the board... If no lesson and someone using the school, we are allowed to share, except when my son is doing Polocrosse ....as some of the horses don't take well to him racing about throwing his ball and catching it! So if he is in there the others wait!!!
We all agree this was the fairest way, and no one has ever had a problem yet.
 
I think that unless an arena has been booked/ paid for then it is fair game for anyone. It is polite to avoid it if someone is having a lesson imo, but personally I wouldn't mind if someone used the arena while i was having a lesson as long as they were courteous.
 
I agree with you. I avoid going to yards that have an arena booking policy unless there is plentiful hacking and I am planning on not using the arena hardly ever. If someone is having a lesson I always ask the instructor if it makes things easier for them if I stay on the outside track or up one end of the arena. If people are jumping I watch out for them and try to keep out of their way. I am rarely doing any serious work though so I do not mind these compromises and am happy to help someone else out. If anyone gets cross or complains about me being in there I tell them I am riding for "x" amount of time if they would prefer to come back later rather than share. After that I ignore any drama from them.
 
At our yard we have a 20 x 40 arena. YO does a few lessons on her own ponies so we check with her when school will be in use (tends to be fairly regular days/times) and work around this.

Outside instructors are permitted and if we want to have a lesson then we pay £5 per hour which goes towards maintenance of the arena, and allows the user exclusive use. We write in a diary when we have a lesson booked so other liveries are aware.

Other than this, anyone is welcome to use the school at any time. Obviously the arena isn't huge so if someone is doing flatwork we'd wait til they were finished before putting up a course of jumps!

However we are a small yard and a mix of ages, so people all come and go at different times and it's never been a problem. Also I don't think anyone has a horse fit enough to do more than an hour of schooling!
 
There ought to be some slots available for booking, as it must be pretty frustrating if you want to practice a test etc, but not at peak times, so perhaps 7.30-9pm on week nights (half hour bookings only) and 3pm-8pm at weekends?
 
We have a facebook group (small yard) and people post on there if they're having a lesson and then people can make arrangements to avoid being in the school at that time. Occasionally it doesn't work and I've shared when having a lesson which is a bit irritating but fair enough, I don't have the monopoly on the school :)
 
it is polite to say 'coming in', If someone is having a lesson I would go ride in the same school as normal and I don't see why it would be a problem-if it is then it gives the rider and the instructor something to work on!

If someone is doing flat work then I would not go in and put up jumps-we have a no booking policy where my mare is
 
On our yard we have a 20x40 arena and the rules are that if you book a lesson, if you intend to have the arena to yourself you have to write on the whiteboard 24 hours in advance, then nobody will come in whilst lesson going on. Other than that, we allow maximum of 3 horses being ridden at a time, 2 being lunged, or 1 being lunged and 1 being ridden. Anymore than this and it becomes to crowded. We also allow maximum one hour use at a time which is really for the horses benefit as one hour is enough in an arena for any horse IMO! Our arena is used daily, especially in winter as its floodlit and its on a first come first served basis. The only thing that I know p***es people off, is when same person/persons ALWAYS come in when somebody else has put the coin in the meter. It's only £1 for 50 mins FGS!!
 
Honey08 said:
There ought to be some slots available for booking, as it must be pretty frustrating if you want to practice a test etc, but not at peak times, so perhaps 7.30-9pm on week nights (half hour bookings only) and 3pm-8pm at weekends?
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they would be peak times where my mare is but normally we have 2 schools, TBH if you want to practice a test you let the other rider know and you just avoid each other
 
I would say a good solution is to have a board where people can book the school with a limit on how many slots you can book.
I have been on yards in the past with some pretty unhelpful people, it can be an absolute nightmare. One guy insisted on coming into the school even though there were already 3 people in there, and when he said he was coming in he was asked not to. He then proceeded to lunge his horse, leaving everyone else to try to stay out of his way which was pretty difficult.
I will say if I was paying for a lesson, and was wanting to run through a dressage test, or was riding something that was particularly sharp, the idea that this was reasonable, or would just give me something to work through wouldn't fly terribly well. I am glad I use a school with a friendly easy going bunch of people.
 
twiggy2 said:
they would be peak times where my mare is but normally we have 2 schools, TBH if you want to practice a test you let the other rider know and you just avoid each other
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Well then you'd pick different times as peak. It works well at my friend's yard. OP sounds as though she's on a yard where there are issues over the school. This was how my friend solved it at her yard. People grumbled at first, but it worked.
 
zaminda said:
I would say a good solution is to have a board where people can book the school with a limit on how many slots you can book.
I have been on yards in the past with some pretty unhelpful people, it can be an absolute nightmare. One guy insisted on coming into the school even though there were already 3 people in there, and when he said he was coming in he was asked not to. He then proceeded to lunge his horse, leaving everyone else to try to stay out of his way which was pretty difficult.
I will say if I was paying for a lesson, and was wanting to run through a dressage test, or was riding something that was particularly sharp, the idea that this was reasonable, or would just give me something to work through wouldn't fly terribly well. I am glad I use a school with a friendly easy going bunch of people.
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we are not allowed to ride and lunge in the school at the same time but by mutual agreement some of us do-we have a round pen 2menages (not always both in use), off road hacking when ground is not sodden and a jumping paddock again when weather allows but the vast majority of people at the yard do not ride so we very rarely have a problem
 
My yard has a lot of rules but all work really well especially with having 50 ish horses on there! We have a diary where you book the school and when booked in you have sole use of that school at that time (we have an indoor and outdoor) unless you want to share in which case you can either put a note at the side or people may just come and ask! You are allowed as long as you want within reason apart from at peak times which is 4pm-8pm everyday where you are limited to half an hour. I love it and couldn't imagine working any other way!
 
Illusion100 said:
Hello everyone,

Looking for some opinions please, as I'm convinced I have the sensible view about this but......

My understanding is that unless the yard has specific policies about pre-booking the school, liverys are entitled to use it whenever they wish and liverys may not dictate if and when other liverys can use the facilities?

For instance, our yard has very few rules. Use of the school is covered in livery fee whether you use it or not. Outside instructors are welcome, you can have a 'lesson' from another livery, whatever. There is no policy for booking the school. Of course, most liverys are of the mind that if they know in advance of someone paying for a lesson they would try to avoid using the school at that time if possible.

Now things are kicking off a bit for various reasons. People want the school individually for a couple of hrs groundwork/lesson/practice a test etc and are getting very huffy if they don't get sole use of the school when they wish or someone enters the school without asking permission. Bearing in mind that if everyone got their own way all the time, some liverys wouldn't get a chance to use the school at all some days.

What do you guys think?
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Similar to what you said, my yard respects all liveries and you can use it when you want- the only thing is when someone has a lesson you respect this and avoid the time of the lesson or you work at the opposite end of the lesson listening to the lesson and move your schooling around the lesson.


We never stop liveries using it any other time and its pretty silly if you ask me as the school is there for all to use, and its just a courtesy thing to avoid the school when a lesson is in progress as it works for all who have lessons.
Secondly if someone is running through a dressage test for a competition we also respect this, no one here argues about who uses them otherwise.
 
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You cannot book our school. Out of politeness I wouldn't go in and start lunging in the indoor if someone was already riding but if I was already lunging and they came in to ride I would carry on and stay in one half.

If someone is already riding, I'll stop at the gate and just say "am I okay to come in?" out of courtesy but I'd be going in anyway ha.

We have a few liveries that will not ride in with anyone else and will actually leave the arena if you go in to ride with them but that's their problem.
 
We are a small yard with no specific rules and just agreed between us to get a whiteboard. I would certainly want exclusive use for a lesson and wouldn't be happy to share. Non lesson, no problem with sharing but everyone asks first
 
I much prefer a booking system. At my yard we write in when we are going to ride and unless it says lesson or exclusive, then I assume it's ok to share. Then everyone knows where they stand.
 
We have a white board where bookings for the schools are written (lucky enough to have indoor and outdoor!) If it's booked for a lesson then you have sole use. If you just want to make sure you get in the school you can put the time and your name and usually a note saying others are welcome.
The only rules we have about the arenas really are that riding takes president over groundwork and no lunging whilst others are riding.
Thankfully the people on the yard just use their common sense.

Edited just to add: the only time we aren't allowed to book the arenas is at weekends. The are a lot of varying ages at the yard and very few children, so there's rarely a mad rush for the school after school times etc.
 
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We have a whiteboard for the school. Generally only book for lessons or jumping. Most people are happy to share on everyday use however, as our school is quite a walk, if people are in there they usually write their name in green so you know. That means if someone doesn't want to share, they don't go up there. Whoever is there first has a priority so you ask before you open the gate. Also helps if people are realistic about how long they will, if you're lunging for half an hour, only book half an hour. Sounds complicated :\ works perfectly
 
I wish I was on a yard with people who a) rode and b) wanted to share!! Trying to desensitise my young Hanoverian for warmups has been a pain as only my sister shares the school with us....and honestly my horse is pretty well behaved. Just it's a small yard and over half don't ride and the ones that do are a bit precious!

We do have a white board for lessons and it is yard rule that for a paid lesson on the board, the school is reserved. Other than that we fit in around each other, officially no booking slots but people do get a bit precious about sharing as its only a 20x40....although I think if I can on a 16.2 warmblood, the native ponies and cobs should be able to as well!!

Luckily it rarely is a problem as we have a jumping field and direct off road hacking plus farmland, but the one that does irritate is the person who lunges virtually every night as she is to 'cough' unfit and scared to ride. Poor horse is laminitic and arthritic too. She absolutely thinks she has priority as 'been there longest'.

I am all for give and take and will always try to accommodate others, plus happy to school elsewhere if needed or hack, but I won't be bullied. Have encountered that at other yards and it just makes me mischievous!!!

My pet hate is the people who regularly can and do get up yard first just before busy after work time, then faff around with jobs and horse till everyone else turns up before bagging the school for the only bit of daylight left when they could have gone in earlier and freed it up for someone later. I always think about that kind of thing and do my jobs accordingly.
 
We have both indoor and outdoor schools. Liveries are allowed to book the indoor up to 3 half hour slots per week for exclusive use for lessons, between 4.30 and 7.00pm any day. At all other times, we are expected to share even if we are having a lesson. Bookings are written in a diary so everyone knows who's doing what. In practice, if we know someone has a lesson outside those times, then we do try to give the person their space as its a fairly small yard.
 
We've got a small indoor and a bigger outdoor - both operate on the same system. Whiteboard lives in the portacabin and it's sectioned off by indoor/outdoor and covers two days at a time. You want a slot, write your name on it. Simple as. The only rule is that if it's peak time, it's a 30 min slot. Off peak, there's no time limit.

There are hardly ever problems with that. People don't seem to share the school (other than the ones who have two horses and ride with a pal/sharer) but I wouldn't mind at all if someone came and asked.
 
zaminda said:
One guy insisted on coming into the school even though there were already 3 people in there, and when he said he was coming in he was asked not to. He then proceeded to lunge his horse, leaving everyone else to try to stay out of his way which was pretty difficult.
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Ugh I remember being in a yard with a chap like that. Wonder if it's the same one...


I don't have this problem now, but was on a yard a few years ago where everybody booked the school for sole use every time they rode. It was so frustrating as I'd check the book, go in the school because it was free, then somebody would come along and write their name in and I would be expected to leave. As a result I ended up booking it as well.

On the whole that system did work (a lot of people able to ride during the day) but as they all insisted on riding alone many of them would have issues in a warmup as their horses were completely unused to working with others.
 
I have absolutely no idea what the rules surrounding the arena at my yard!
Fortunately for me (as I am one of those people that doesn't like to share) Sol is on full livery and when I am at the yard I rarely see another soul. I am lucky enough to be on a yard that has 2 lovely arenas (one outdoor and one indoor) and only a handful of liveries so it is usually lovely and quiet. Although there is a white board and if there is anyone else lurking on the yard I do tend to book it and then growl at people if they ask to share! Oops!
 
Our yard has a white board to book the school - during the day you can book it for an hour ..whatever you need but between 4 and 8 you are only allowed 30 minutes so that all liveries get a chance to exercise their horse after work.
 
I was on a diy yard, I'd go up in the morning, do my jobs and check board to see school was free later - I didn't book it, happy to ride with anybody unless it was a lesson.
Would then go back to find the 'once a dayers' had rocked up and booked the school for consecutive hours all afternoon.
The yo just couldn't see the unfairness of this at all.

I voted with my feet, an absolutely ridiculous carry on!
 
quirky said:
I was on a diy yard, I'd go up in the morning, do my jobs and check board to see school was free later - I didn't book it, happy to ride with anybody unless it was a lesson.
!
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well, my answer would have been to write your name down when you were up there in the morning!! seems a fair system to me! And even if the 'once a dayers' were riding.... whats the problem? you said you were happy to ride with anybody!!
 
Im glad im not on a busy yard! Our school is barely used. However if someone is riding you usually ask politely if you can join them – if they said are we okay on our own for 5/10 mins then that’s fair enough we will wait  sometimes I am lunging at the same time as someone riding therefore we use half the school each and will swap round when asked. Also, at the moment the school is used for turnout and people are very polite and will ask around if anyone is going to be using the school before they turnout and if someone is wanting to work then they get priority. Theres probably only 3 out of 20 people that actually ride on our yard so quite lucky and then theres me and another who mainly lunge.

Edit to add – if someone’s booked a private lesson with an external instructor then most people will stay out of the arena. There are no rules just common courtesy. As I said, most people ask to come in the arena with you .
 
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