Best experiences on a livery yard.

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Elvis

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So we have heard about the worst experiences at livery yards, but what about the best? Have your livery yard gone above the call of duty or have they just made your life with horses really easy and enjoyable. It'd be nice to hear about the good experiences people have had and it might restore some peoples faith in livery yards.

I'll start with mine. My livery yard (been there 6 years) always respect any extras I need doing, soaking hay, extra turnout etc. The YM has always made sure she is available for all my horses vet visits so she knows what's going on as well. They have never limited his hay or straw levels (both of which are massively high) They are always there to offer advice without being intrusive and the yard is a lovely place to be with no bitching and just a lovely supportive atmosphere.
 
I was on full livery on a lovely yard. The lady truly looked after my horse like he was her own. I used to come up and wander in the barn and she would be grooming him, chatting away to him. Once he knocked some stuff off the shelf and she said "Chester Bradley" to him, which was her surname. Made me chuckle as it was like she thought of him as hers.
 
Well my current YO is AMAZING! She's the most lovely person and is always asking if I'm happy etc - I think she's fabulous and I will only leave the yard if dragged kicking and screaming!

A yard I left over a year ago is also owned by a lovely lady. Genie was ill back in February quite late, and advise from my vet was to get some danilon into her pronto. However I didn't have any, so my lovely old yard owner let me pop over to the yard and leant me some even though it was after 10.30pm. We talk regularly and I go to visit when I can. When Genie almost died a few years ago I was doing a check every 2-3 hours for days, and then every 4-5 hours for weeks after, and she would pop up to check I was ok and would also check her in between my checks. Another night I had finished work at 8.30pm, then gone to the yard to get ready for an early trip to dressage the next morning. She came up while I was plaiting to say she had a stew on and that I should come down to the house when I was done. :D
 
My yard is utterly amazing.

I had one horse there on part livery (everything except riding/tack cleaning) and just on that basis they go the extra mile in attention to detail. Just little things that individually are nice but add up to a really good quality service - e.g. they adapt the mucking out style to suit horse & owner (they will either do full muck out or a semi-deep litter to please owner), if you have a fatty they are happy to offer small amounts of hay at regular intervals, those competing at risk of drugs tests they use quarentined feed buckets, one of my flysheets was dirty so they washed it for me, flexible turnout arrangements etc etc.

In addition to this they will let you swap between packages. So this summer I went onto assisted DIY whilst horse was turned out overnight and it fitted with my routine. Then as soon as switched to day turnout I could go back to part livery.

When I had some health issues with my other horse, lami risk (who was turned away on big acreage), they offered me to bring him over on starvation paddock grass DIY (not a usual service).

I arrived one evening, just prior to a stay away show, to find the YO had cleaned the living of my lorry for me ....

I mean seriously, the yard I am on is utterly amazing and I have to pinch myself on a daily basis.
 
My yard is excellent :D Only pay £10 per week and for that I get pony fed and hayed am (and pm if needed) Sand school, amazing hacking, show on the door step, lovely people and YO will do anything for you. Today she has accepted and stacked my winter hay because I couldn't get time off work, she brings in and clips for no charge, nothing is too much trouble, she has anything and everything you could ever want and happily lends things out. Love it and will not move, EVER!
 
I've been keeping my horses at the same farm for 22 yrs it started off with just me and evolved into a well known livery yard I stay there because the owners are sane horse people who have become my friends and when I became mentally ill and was hospitalised then diagnosed with bi polar they simply asked how they could help with the horses so that my husband could have the time to look after me the yard isn't posh but I would only consider moving if they retired I think I am part of the furniture lol
 
Copperpot said:
I was on full livery on a lovely yard. The lady truly looked after my horse like he was her own. I used to come up and wander in the barn and she would be grooming him, chatting away to him. Once he knocked some stuff off the shelf and she said "Chester Bradley" to him, which was her surname. Made me chuckle as it was like she thought of him as hers.
Click to expand...

Aww how lovely!
 
The yard I'm on is in no way perfect in terms of facilities and I've had my ups and downs with it but I arrived there with a broken pony over 3 years ago and the YO went out of her way to accommodate us and do the best by him. Long story really but when the time finally did come to say goodbye she arranged it all for me so it was as easy as it could be. She also asked me to ride one her horses that was for sale because I couldn't ride my boy and I ended up buying her (no pressure at all from YO - I just realised I was on to a good thing and had had a lengthy "loan" period to really be sure) and she's been amazing and the best decision I ever made (horse-wise).

I've now got two horses there but I also get to ride one of the YO's stunning arabian stallions! He really is every little girl's dream horse!!
 
Before it all went wrong when YO moved away - it was amazing!
We had regular pony days and fun days, shows were held there and it was super friendly.

YO was so good, she let me ride her horses whenever I wanted, so long as I text or called her to let her know who I was taking, when and where.
She let me act like Ned was mine and then, the best thing of all...she GAVE me my Ned! She made my life-long dream come true.

She was also good enough to give me 2 months free livery (as to be honest, giving a horse to someone isn't exactly practical!) to let me get myself sorted for money etc.

Wonderful place, which was ruined.
 
Oh! I also forgot about the yard I moved Ned to, for 3 days!

The YO was amazing, so so so kind and really helpful too. She had a LOT of rules but they were all really reasonable.
The other liveries were super nice too and said they couldn't wait to start hacking with me (sadly that never happened, but when Ned is better I might call them again, as they're only down the road)
When Ned escaped, they were ALL amazing! They did every little thing possible to help and even though I was there for such a short time, they were all sad to see them go. I was sad to leave!!
I might have to go back when I have a more normal horse :P
 
My YO is incredible, I love her to pieces! She always wants to help out, and she generally cares about my horse as though she were one of her own. She goes above and beyond - turning out, bringing in, looking after if I'm away, rugs on or off, feeding, nighttime checks...anything she can do to help, she does, and she won't take any extra payment!! And she is just so kind and supportive - I love being on the yard! In return I try to be as good a livery as I can - I keep everything clean and tidy, help out with her horses if I can (she was at a dressage comp the other day with her daughter so I mucked out both her stables) and I make sure that I do most of the poo picking (my mare shares with two of her horses). She recently told me that she was going to advertise for more liveries but has changed her mind because me and my sister have been so good she doesn't think she could find anyone as nice...she's one of my favourite people :D
 
Awww silly Ned, sounds like you used to have the dream YO! Especially for giving you Ned. It's lovely to hear about the good guys out there, makes owning a horse a pleasure.
 
My "former" YO is fantastic I kept my yearling there for a short time after I bought him from on of her liveries. We found an amazing place to live with our own yard and plenty of grazing but sadly didn't have another horse to keep him company so she decided to let us have two of her yearling's to keep him company.
Before we found the farm we were going to buy one of her horses who I love to bits but couldn't justify spending the money instead of using it for new appliances and furniture. Soo she decided that we could have him on loan until the summer holidays start and then have him back again next September. When she came to worm them she asked If my husband wanted to ride too and if so she will bring over a perfect horse for us so we can hack together. Now we have 4 of her horses as well as ours just to keep my yearling happy and me of course. She will help out with hay in winter and is taking my boy along with his pal to be gelded with another of hers next week. She's a diamond and I treat her horses like kings.
 
How lovely to read such nice positive things about YOs!

Mine doesn't do anything spectacular, but she lets us do pretty much as we want, which is a massive bonus when I remember the long list of do's and don'ts at previous yard. In return we keep the place as tidy as possible and poo pick religiously so she has a decent view from her window.
 
That's it- when the YO/YM is lovely and makes your life easy you want to do the same for them.
Why don't the horrid ones realise this! Happy liveries usually means a clean, tidy yard with liveries who are willing to help as and when they can.

My YM helps arrange to hack out my silly horse and in return I accompany her staff on a sensible horse whilst they take out the breakers. Works brilliantly for both of us.
 
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