Can i be charged anymore!!!

[bellaboo]

Came back from my yard last night with a letter saying we now have to poo pick the fields (which is fine by the way!) but we have to use the poo hoover and pay to do so!

When i first went to my current yard with my two horses and shetland i was paying £15 a week per horse, shetland was for free as he was on a tiny part of grazing and didn't have a stable. We then had a new school put in so the rent went up to £22.50 a week, but we still had to do the maintence in the school (using a shavings fork and wheelbarrow move the rubber from deep area's to thinner area's) we also have the school lights on a meter. My YO used to leave us too it, but due to having two new liveries has decided she needs to actaully be involved. Our yard is quite small, there is 7 stables, me and my friend take up 3, YO has 2, then there are 2 other liveries. She then told me i could no longer keep the shetland for free so has started charging me £10 a week for his grazing. Now last night i get a letter saying she will be charging me £5 a week to use the poo hoover, i said i will quite happily poo pick using a wheelbarrow but she says the poo dosen't get picked up aswell if i don't use the hoover

So i have gone from paying £120 a month for livery to paying £240 a month in less then a year

We don't have a contract so i can't really do anything about it, but it's just so frustrating as you work out your money to have horses before you buy them, then in less than a year it all goes to pot!! I seriously have to think about letting the shetland, if not the filly go which breaks my heart, but at the end of the day i have a young family, house and husband to think about

Any cost saving idea's greatfully recieved

 

[oofadoofa]

You can come and stay with me if you like!

 

[AmyMay]

I'd be voting with my feet.

Sounds bloody ridiculous to me......

 

[Skhosu]

oh dear, charging for the use of the poo hoover and making you use it seems a bit wrong!
Can see her point in charging for the shetland, thats fair enough.
I would get a contract drawn up asap though.240 is still only 30/horse/week.

 

[Chunkie]

What a cheek!

Okay, so you've been lucky to keep your Shetland for free for a year, and you can't really complain about £10 a week for grazing for him as that's a pretty standard rate - but charging you to pick your own horses muck up?!!!

Cost-saving idea - move yards!

 

[BBH]

I really hate these sorts of yards where they offer cheap prices to get you in the door and then all the ' extra's ' creep in. I would vote with your feet or if you wish to stay ask for a contract to save any other costs creeping in. My last yard caused a riot because the competitionl liveries were charged £ 25 for the month for shampoo !!!

 

[ihatework]

Everything sounds perfectly reasonable to me apart from the poo picking!!!
Completely bizarre to insist you pay to use the hoover, I suspect she forked out for this on a whim and is now hoping to recover some of the cost!

 

[AmyMay]

To clarify - my comment refers to the poo picking only.

 

[bellaboo]

oofadoofa - i really would, but somerset if tooo far!!!

Amymay - I would leave if i could, but finding livery around my area for my 3 isn't really that easy, although i always have my eye open for somewhere.

TripleSandH - I know i have been very lucky with my shettie so far as i have owned him for 4 years and no yard has really charged me before, so your right, it's fair enough.
I know it's probably the going rate for my horses, but when you budget for them before you buy them and in less than a year that price is doubled it is abit harsh

 

[nikkiportia]

I'd refuse to pay for use of the hoover, and insist on doing it by hand. Otherwise I'd be voting with my feet as well. It's the principle!

 

[RedVendetta]

Very very cheeky but cheap in my opinion.... my DIY livery costs about £250 a month for ONE horse!!! We have great facilities but it is really expensive.
YOs do take the P sometimes though, just throwing in charges here and there and expecting you to just be able to budget for it. Cant believe the shetland has gone from being free to £40 - ridiculous as if she was fine with it before why charge you now?

 

[bellaboo]

RedVendetta - She has always wanted a livery yard to make money, we have said to her in the past that livery yards are really not a good way to bring large amounts of money in. I guess this is just her way of making sure the yard makes what she wants.
I understand that this is a reasonable cost for my horses, it's just the fact the costs have doubled in less than a year, expected the price to go up gradually but not like this!!!

 

[RedVendetta]

She cant just change prices to suit her pocket, I totally agree with you. Our YOs put up prices sometimes but usually only marginally - with 60 horses on the yard, a £2 increase is probably a huge amount of money to them! Id be well and truly screwed if our YO doubled prices in a year, which is on a different scale, but same principal. Have you pointed out to her that its doubled? I know that sounds stupid but she might not realise its actually increased by 100%. Some people....

 

[BankEndRescue]

I'd stick to my guns about the hoover business if I were you. It's one thing if you wanted to use it and she charged you but it's a bit much insisting you use it and charging. Stick to gloves and a wheelbarrow and see what she says

 

[ladyt25]

If she's got such a small livery yard I can't really see the need for a poo hoover in the first place! seem a silly purchase on her part and i don't think she can actually MAKE you use it or MAKE you pay to use it. Just do it by hand see what happens!

 

[Pidge]

hmmmph! re the poo hoover I'd tell her you don't want to use it as it disturbs the soil too much and therefore it would put your horses more at risk of getting Grass Sickness and see what she says to that!

 

[Thistle]

Agree with Pidge, this link is highly suspected.

 

[bellaboo]

She knows that the price has doubled as when she mentioned to me that she may be getting a hoover i said to her i would prefer to do it by hand as i really needed to save where i can and i seen the hoover as a luxury not something we needed. A couple of days after she told me she was charging me for the pony (which is fine, got away with it for 4 years!) then a week later told me she was charging for the use of the hoover. I said to her i was paying double now and was going to be struggling and she said that she had researched the local area's livery yard's and this was the going rate. Just have to accept it i guess as it's what i would be paying elsewhere, just frustrates me that it's all happened sooo quickly.

As far as paying for the hoover, i am going to find out abit more about grass sickness and the possible connection as this interests me and see if i can talk to her again later about picking it up by hand, she claims it does not clean the paddocks as well by hand therefore increasing the chances of worms and spreading them! How did/do people cope without these hoover's!!!!!

 

[BeckyD]

I'm afraid I would point blank refuse to use the poo hoover due to the grass sickness link. We have a hoover at my yard but I insist on doing it by hand.

Can't believe your costs have doubled, I really feel for you. I'm be very very stuck if my costs doubled.

 

[Donkeymad]

Paying for your shetland's grazing , I think you agree is fair enough, but to HAVE to use the Paddock Vac and then PAY for it is well out of order.

 

[lizstuguinness]

we pay £2.50 per week extra and the Y0 does the poo picking with hoover.
you could suggest this to her? if you have to pay, why not ask to increase it by a few £ and get her to do it.

Id always pay someone else to do it for me, as it just is a pain in the bum.

 

[henryhorn]

Difficult one this as other than that you sound happy there.
I can see why she's charging for the shetland, and actually think a tenner is really good value for you.
The poo machine is a different matter. I would point out politely that you are happy to poo pick with the wheelbarrow or even with the machine, but not to pay for it. Say simply you're sorry can't afford it, especially as the cost has doubled in 12 months.
Suggest perhaps she sees if she is happy with you trying it that way and I reckon she will back down.
My DIY liveries pay £25 a week all year round. For that they get brand new sliding door boxes 12 x 12, auto water, a 60 x 20 arena that all they have to do is poo pick their own up after use, no field poo picking and oodles of grazing.
In winter all haylage is included and we check their horses daily for them, so if as today one perosn hasn't been seen for a week due to illness, they know their horses are still ok. If the farrier is coming we bring their horse in free if they are at work.
I can understand your YO meter on the lights, it used to drive me nuts when I went out and saw several kilowatts running full belt and the rider sitting drinking coffee inside the stables..
I reckon she's trying to recoup the cost of the school at the least it would cost £12k from scratch, so she's finding ways of making money for it..