Can't decide between yards

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chaps89

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I'm on the horse hunt (& have, fingers very much crossed, hopefully found something)
However yard where current horse is has no school and that to me is essential as looking at younger horses, a lot of what I want to do will be hacking but school will be useful especially in winter. Horse I have in mind has always lived out bar a few weeks in with a foot abscess & then when sent away to be broken in & is fine in or out.
So I've looked at several yards in the local area (if anyone ever needs a list of yards around Woking & Guildford I think I must know them all by now, lol) and found 2 that are both good options.
Yard 1, American barn with wide alleyway, 9 good size stables that have grilles across the front so quite open & window to the back, floodlit rubber & sand school that does apparently flood but is supposed to being sorted & isn't unusable unless very heavy rain over a number of days.
Jumping paddock. Well maintained fencing (established hedges, post & rail and electrified electric tape)
Grazing, turnout over night in summer but have to come in for a few hours during the day, daily in winter but only for half a day. In small groups (3 or 4) do your own poo picking, 2 minutes away from stable. Can restrict if needsbe or have extra too if necessary (very flexible)
Hacking good, YO says there's people to hack with but I normally ride at early o'clock in the morning and on a small yard not sure how realistic this is.
YO lovely, got a really good feel about this place. Help on site courtesy of yard owner. Tea room.
Lots of storage space, I can use whatever bedding I want & either buy hay off them or supply my own. About 6 miles from home/15 minute journey.

Yard 2, large yard made up of 3 separate yards, 40 horses in total across all 3 yards, yard I would be in is made up of about 15 stables, good size stable again, there's 3 outdoor & 1 indoor school on site, all floodlit & useable all year round & jumps for each school.
24 hour turnout in summer (but you can bring in if you wish) and daily turnout for most of the day on well draining land in winter.
Fencing is ok, not as smart but again electrified and safe.
Hacking good & on a yard this size must be someone to hack out with!
Tea room, storage space is limited tho (mostly because I have a large metal cupboard but they have a shelf running all the way round the storage room which means I can't use said cupboard because it won't go flush to the wall!)
Summer grazing is about a 20 minute walk each way (not so great).
Horses turned out in large single gender groups and grazing rotated. No poo picking for liveries, YO clears the field every few weeks & rotates (rather them than me!)
Stable I would have is right on entrance on/off yard to grazing so constantly people going past (think this may irritate over time)
Hay & bedding supplied by them which means I have to go back to straw (which I like but smells too much for then going to work after mucking out without showering in between even with a change of clothes) or shavings which I'm not a huge fan of. Their prices are also scarey - £7.25/small bale of hay, £9 a bale of shavings, ouch.
Again assistance available. About 8 miles from home (20 minute journey)

Gut instinct I prefer yard one but the possible lack of turnout & people to hack with are primary concerns. Second yard is better on paper but I think little things like people constantly going past the stable, lack of storage & walking a fair way to get horse in & the further distance to travel are putting me off.
Costs are about the same - basic livery is the same, assistance is about the same, yard 1 I can buy cheaper hay & bedding but will use more because of having to bring in all year round, even if only for a few hours a day in summer (will also need to pay for horse to be bought in for this to happen, so costs for assistance are all year round) yard 2 hay & bedding costs less but I will use less of it, assistance costs slightly more than yard 1 but again I would only need this in winter, not summer when they're out 24hrs.

Any wise thoughts? I'm sorry it's long, I'm going round in circles not sure which to go for, I know no-one can tell me but outsiders opinions can help. And I know I have to get the horse yet but both yards will hold the box if the sale looks likely to go through.
Strawberries & cream for getting to the end!
 
I think that with the youngster it would be important to try the yard with the better facilities / turnout first. then if that doesn't work out you move and deal with the less facilities, but better suited yard?
 
Personally Yard 2 sounds the better option. More turnout is the highest priority, especially with a youngster, and also there are more people around to help out if necessary. The hay and shavings cost do seem really high - which is a bit off putting. I used to have a stable on the entrance of the yard - and to be honest you don't really get more people passing.

Yard one does sound lovely but the restricted turn out would really bother me - especially in the summer.
 
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I would go for yard 2. Even though the idea of using straw is abhorrent! I couldn't go somewhere that knowingly had horses in for so long as their usual regime, which would no doubt mean no turnout whatsoever if last winter was anything to go by.

Wow, £7.25 per small bale of hay. That's pretty steep. If they don't already supply it, switch to haylage ;)
 
Yard 2 sounds awful to me but I hate big busy yards! My only concern with yard 1 would be if they have to be in for a few hours during the day in summer is this doable for you or is YO going to do it and charge? If so dont forget to take this into account.
 
Yard one for me. I too hack in the early morning and certainly in my experience there's still no one to hack out with first thing even on massive yards! The trek to the summer fields would make riding before work a real pain too
 
I think I would be happier at yard 1 but horse being young & used to living out yard 2 is more suitable, typically. Think will just have to inconvenience myself for a year or so & get him settled and started then look to move closer if I can.

Haylage is supplied but I don't know the cost off the top of my head, I think I was still getting over the shock of the cost of hay & bedding! Their logic behind the price of bedding is that they build the cost of the muck removal into it - ie, if you use more bedding, there's more to dispose of so fairer you pay a higher cost towards it's disposal, rather than build it into the livery charge. Hay is apparently bought in at that price but I know I can source locally for around £4 or £5 a bale buying between 150 - 200 at a time, yard that size must buy much larger quantities so must surely be able to get it for less.
What does worry me is with yard 2 being so big there's not so much flexibility, so if horse needs restricted grazing in summer I may have to bring in for a few hours each day there too, but with higher bedding & hay costs plus they charge even more for assistance in summer due to the summer fields being so far way this could be very costly :s And then I may as well go to yard 1 if I have to do that anyway. IF turnout for yard 1 was better in winter I'd go for it tbh, she said winter just gone which was bad they only managed a couple of hours each day & when they did keep them in completely it was for a few days not weeks and that is the first year in 5 years she's had to keep them in and not give any turnout at all some days, this year there is also extra grazing than she has had previously so hopefully wouldn't be such an issue. But I don't think 2 hours a day turnout is enough for any horse really, especially a young one used to living out and whilst he lived in completely whilst being backed it is a bit different doing it for a few weeks rather than months. :(


Webble - I'm very much a small yard person too, if this was 40 horses on 1 big yard I wouldn't even have looked but as it is split down into 3 separate yards & they are all quite far apart from each other I'm just looking at it as I'm going to look at a medium sized yard with horsey neighbours :o If horse has to come in during the day I have to pay, I work full time so normally do everything in the morning & have horse bought in in the afternoon Monday - Friday, so if horse has to come in in summer that would have to be done by YO too, have accommodated this into costings too. Yard 2 are also happy if I can find another livery to share jobs with for us to help each other out & don't insist we use their services which could potentially help if I find some-one I can trust & an agreement that works for both of us.

Ghostie - I weighed it up, I might have a 40 minute walk to/from summer fields at yard 2, but I'd otherwise have 10 minute walk bringing in/turning back out and then 30 minutes poo picking, so time wise it actually works out the same. But if in a hurry poo picking can always be left until the evening/next day, the fields don't ever get any closer tho!

1 option I am contemplating is wanting to turn horse away for a few months over winter to mature, I'm wondering to go with yard 1, then over the worst of winter (Dec, Jan, Feb-ish) turn horse away at grass livery (which my current YO would be happy to do) which avoids the turnout issue at yard 1 and the money I save on assistance & bedding covers the cost of the grass livery anyway, then come spring move back to yard 1 with it being familiar to horse & bring back into work. But this obviously only works this year when horse would benefit from being turned away that long, and not future years.
 
I'd go to yard 1 probably but to me the fors and againsts weigh up pretty evenly. Could you speak to liveries at yard 2 to see whether the amount of predicted turnout materialised last winter or not?

The cost of the hay at yard 2 would be a killer plus the distance to summer grazing

Yard 1 would ring a few alarm bells as I hate things that 'are going to be sorted' I would maybe seek assurances as to when the school will be sorted
 
Got the message thanks nut nut :)
Welsh D - I know there's pros and cons to every yard but I've never found 2 yards with similar amount of pros cons both with empty stables and both that are likely to be perfectly pleasant to be at at the same time before!

Mum threw me another curve ball in suggesting that if I want to turn the horse away where I have my current horse for 3 months in winter anyway I just move straight there, hacking is ok, I can hack with YO & there is a school 10 minute walk away. I didn't want a young horse there initially as no ménage in winter would bother me but if I'm going to turn away over winter then that's not such an issue. Horse seems sensible enough to hack to the school ok, saves travelling between 2 yards, saves money (yard is cheaper) and then come Feb time when I want to bring him back into work I start looking at yards again and just hope I can find a nice one with space again. And means less unsettlement rather than moving horse about so much.

I am not good with too much choice!
 
Where do you live. Surrey roads are busy and you do not want to spend akll your time in the car. Cant believe there is nothing better closer to you.
 
Live in Jacobs well, but due to move back to Woking in November, know of a number of yards in the area, but either there's no space, no turnout, roads are too busy for on road riding (doesn't bother me but for starting a youngster not good), no school or no assistance (which I need) or it's only part/full (which I can't afford).
I would go back to the last yard I was DIY livery on but when I was there a friend helped me out bringing in (I helped with hers in return) but she's no longer there & no other assistance available :(
No perfect yard exists I am fully aware of this and compromise needs to be made which I'm happy to do but when there's 2 yards with similar compromises it's hard to choose!
I am lucky that work let me work around the horses, so I do 10-6 generally speaking so I miss the traffic on the most part.
By all means if you know of another yard I've missed let me know but I've driven round the area, asked on facebook groups, looked at *******.co.uk & checked frosburys book/buttons window.
Bridley (the little yard down the road & the big yard near worplesdone/fox corner), smarts heath (worplesdon), bonnishott (worplesdon), kelmstone stud (chobham), chobham park, langshot ec (chobham), southern schoolmasters (chobham), willow farm (chobham) hill place farm (bisley) little yard near west end (don't know it's name) runkley farm (Sutton green) temple court (clandon) millstream house stables (ripley), sunray farm (clandon) hillside farm (west horsley), send barns equestrian (send) & woolgars farm (horsley) as well as 1 or 2 private yards. And the 2 listed on this thread which I would rather not name whilst I am looking at their only spaces ;)

So there is plenty of choice and many of them are nice yards, it's out of this lot I've narrowed down to 2.
My feeling at the moment is turnout & good hacking is the priority therefore yard 2 is the one to go for, but with horse being young & wanting to give a chunk of winter off, maybe my mums suggestion of just putting him on the yard I'm already on & making do with the school down the road to start with might be best. But I know once my old boy is put down (he's having a last summer) I won't want to go near that yard for a while, difficult if new horse is there! Plus means chances of finding a nice yard (like I've found now) with a space may be slimmer in February. I'm sure horse hunting is supposed to be fun but it's all quite stressful when you add everything else in that goes along with it!
 
I know a new yard has just opened in Hersham but its full livery...if you would like more detail PM me...they only have 2 spaces left! (yard only has 11 horses in)
 
Possibly seen them on facebook, are they selling various bits from the old yard too? Money doesn't stretch to part or full livery (even when I add up costs of assistance, bedding & hay on DIY it doesn't come close to the cost of part/full around here) and I have to admit I quite like doing the jobs myself so it's not for me but thankyou anyway :)
 
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