Christmas on livery yards

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Flora

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Do yards that offer full livery on yards at christmas, just carry on as normal, with normal charges? I run a yard and just treat christmas as another day, therefore I don't have a christmas, but I am reading that most yards treat it differently. Is this the norm?
 
When I was on a livery yard a few years ago, if the weather wasn't too hideous and the owners agreed (we all did), the horses were turned out from Christmas Eve until the 27th.

The skeleton yard staff would hay in the field and check water. Owners could come and go, but we were encouraged to restrict visits if possible to give the yard owners and their family some privacy.
 
I do my full liveries as normal, no extra charge, I do the minimum on Christmas day having prepared as much as possible the day before, extra bedding goes in, I fill all nets and just top up the water tubs as long as they are clean, if the horses are going out they are left in their turn outs so there is less to do, with a bit of careful planning you can get the basics done very quickly and have most of the day off, it doesn't hurt to cut a few corners on one day although mucking out on Boxing day can be worse than normal.

This year I will have just 2 liveries in, 1 of mine plus 3 DIY's, the rest are hopefully still going to be living out, I am finishing off the DIY's in the afternoon so they don't have to come back and all are done at the same time. In exchange I get new year eve/ day off to stay overnight with some of my family when the DIY's will do mine.
 
Yard with 20 full liveries, just try to minimise work so horses get done as normal but without the frills. Usually manage to have whole of middle part of day off.
It usually means they go on the walker but don't get turned out
 
Livery yards that I've been on have all treated it differently to a normal day. Xmas Boxing Day and New Year's Day owners have the option of doing diy or part livery which is at an extra cost - no turnout but everything else is the same. Think some have just done two skip outs a day, rather than a full muck out.
 
For us those on full livery anyway continue as a normal day. But we are mixed assisted and full. The YO will not accept any additional requests for full livery for just Christmas day or boxing day - only if someone is actually going to be going away. Liveries help each other so one might turn out and the other bring in. Christmas morning on yard is very jolly with champagne flowing. Some of the kids might dress up and do a little hack or chase me charlie or something. Boxing day many are off hunting anyway so it is much as normal.
 
My horse is on part livery but there are no staff on Christmas or New Year's Day so it's all DIY on those days, unless you make a private arrangement with a member of staff and pay extra (usually about £40 for the day). Personally I don't mind doing my own horse, because I don't drink and I do actually like his company. Christmas becomes a 'thing' so my mum and OH come to the yard with me and we all do him together.
Bit of a pain, and expensive, if one is planning to be away...
 
At ours most of the horses are out, and the YM will hay up on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. If yours is in you do it yourself those days, and we are encouraged to prepare haynets, fill spare waterbuckets etc the night before.
 
We are allowed to put full livery as normal, most don't unless they are away.

I go down early and feed and hay everything including the owners horses so they can have Christmas morning with their kids without having to dash out. I usually muck a few out too. Afternoons are usual mix of DIY/Full Liv though YO is happy to do everything if needs be most of us pitch in.

Used to go for a really early morning hack with a friend as it is the only day we can get into town and across the stray to a great bit of isolated bridleway.
 
I have always treated Christmas day as any other day, I have the responsibility to care for my animals no matter what "holiday" it is, though I have always been on DIY. I now own my own DIY yard and every one of my liveries come up and do their own horses over Christmas and I wouldn't expect any less. I usually go for a Christmas hack too and mine all get "christmas dinner" peelings in their evening feeds :)

I understand it can be difficult if you are on part/full and the YO stops services for the day - which I don't think is very fair, people are on those types of livery for a reason, and as the YO/YM chose to work in the livery industry they should understand that horses need to be cared for every day and all the horses under their care are their responsibility. I used to work on a 60 horse yard and horses still needed feeding Christmas Day!
 
On old yard they only did the regular full or part liveries and no services for any of the DIYs. If you were going away they would do it then eg I went to the USA to visit my sister for two weeks and they were happy to do it. No turn-out on Christmas Day unless you wanted to do it yourself.

Current yard has no services so we usually muck in together or as this year I'm away for Christmas I'll cover New Year.
 
I'm on full livery and Christmas Day / Boxing Day are just like every other day. The YO does bring them in at lunchtime on theses days though, before the staff go home, then in the evening she can just skip out, feed and put more hay in.
 
At my old yard, on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day, the yard staff would get to the yard at 5am, muck everything out (most were on Part/full livery), water, feed and leave a huge pile of hay. The YO would pop out at lunchtime and feed those that had lunch, but didn't top up hay.

All horses were kept in on those days, unless owners wanted to turn out, in which case it was their responsibility to turnout/bring in. Then the yard was skipped out, fed and hayed again at 4.30pm by a couple of the staff.

Most owners did appear during the day, unless they were away, and would skip out if necessary and top up with hay and water where necessary.
 
I cant imagine not seeing my horse on Xmas day and I love our Xmas and Boxing day hacks. A day off and a chance to ride .... nothings getting in the way of that!
 
I'm on DIY so a bit different but we all go up in the morning and have bucks fizz and croissants once we've mucked out. The horses are turned out, we leave all their stables ready and the YO gets them all in for us so we don't have to go back up in the afternoon and can have a glass of wine. She lives on site so it doesn't stop her having a drink.
 
I charge liveries extra for those days. However, I am happy for liveries to make arrangements with eachother and I will only charge part liveries the DIY rate for that day if I don't have to do their horses. This is only for the Christmas/New Years period and I don't charge extra for any other holidays. All horses and humans also receive a small present.

Edited to say, turnout available all day as usual for all horses, unless its bloody miserable and the soft ones want to stay in! ;)
 
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I was mostly on completely DIY yards, so had to do horse twice.

However I used to do a fab xmas day hack which involved a gallop for miles right up the beach then hack home down the main road (which would be empty)...

Now they are at home so we still have to do them...

Fiona
 
The yard I worked at treated it as a normal day, minus turnout.

22 full liveries, 2 staff, everything mucked out, hayed etc as normal but done quickly to have a relaxing long lunch, then water top ups, feed, skip out and top rugs on in the evening.

If Christmas day fell onto a turnout day (set turnout days in winter), the liveries were welcome to come up and turnout/bring in their own horses. On the whole the full liveries used to come up and sort their own horses for the day knowing the staff had to work regardless - they were very good about it and it worked out well.

I am now on DIY, with only my own horse to sort out - what a luxury!
 
I'm on Assisted DIY which is Mon-Fri morning turnout/rug change/feed/net if staying in, but not on Bank Holidays. This year will be tricky for me as I'm having an operation on the 23rd of December so am hoping that other liveries will help me out while I recover. I'm aiming to try and do the horses myself on Christmas Day (I have two) but as it's an ear operation and fairly major it will be a bit 'hit and miss' on that front...
 
I've always done it as a normal day, but just don't ride anything. Turn out first thing, muck everything out, and leave feeds in boxes ready for the evening. Done by about 10am, then back at 4pm to bring in. No extra charge, and most of our liveries don't come down on Christmas day anyway. I think it's awful to just stop for Christmas day. Horses don't stop pooing and needing to be taken care of. If you run or work on a yard, you need to accept that horses are a 365 day a year job! We just do a rota so that staff swap each year and either have Christmas or New Year off. This year its my turn to have Christmas off, although I'm a bit sad as I LOVE working Christmas. Mostly for the sloe gin....
 
There's staff working, but no turnout unless you do it yourself and generally they just do the 'necessary' jobs (i.e. mucking out, feeds, hay) rather than extras (clipping, trimming, riding etc.). We also pay a bit more, I think it's time and a half for bank holidays.
 
When I was on full livery (many years ago!) the YO just did the very basics on Christmas day. Fed, hayed, skipped out etc. No riding, grooming or turn out though. Generally the liveries would go up and ride and/or turnout and generally help out so the YO could enjoy more of her Christmas Day.
 
Interesting that most yards don't appear turn out on xmas day. Not a criticism... ! Just interesting from reading this thread.

I've always been on DIY and pitched in to do YOs horses on xmas day. We always throw them out unless the weather is awful... that way the stables only need doing once ;)
 
milliepops said:
Interesting that most yards don't appear turn out on xmas day. Not a criticism... ! Just interesting from reading this thread.

I've always been on DIY and pitched in to do YOs horses on xmas day. We always throw them out unless the weather is awful... that way the stables only need doing once ;)
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I find this a bit odd too. Surely turning out getting everything ready for the evening and then just bringing them in again with a quick check is much less work than having to skip out, re-do haynets & water etc? I suppose it depends how far the fields are from the yard.
 
annagain said:
I find this a bit odd too. Surely turning out getting everything ready for the evening and then just bringing them in again with a quick check is much less work than having to skip out, re-do haynets & water etc? I suppose it depends how far the fields are from the yard.
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With the yard I was at, it did actually mean less work for the YO as the liveries were keen to come up and help to ensure their horse went out! Whether they would all have come up if YO was doing the turning out I don't know. So perhaps a clever piece of psychology from the YO!
 
annagain said:
I find this a bit odd too. Surely turning out getting everything ready for the evening and then just bringing them in again with a quick check is much less work than having to skip out, re-do haynets & water etc? I suppose it depends how far the fields are from the yard.
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At ours, the day nets were made the day before so on Christmas day we made night nets and all day nets for the next day anyway. It was actually far quicker not turning out as with 22 horses, turnout and bringing ontop of rug changes would take 2-3 hours. Skipping out, water hay and feed would take half that!
 
Damnation said:
At ours, the day nets were made the day before so on Christmas day we made night nets and all day nets for the next day anyway. It was actually far quicker not turning out as with 22 horses, turnout and bringing ontop of rug changes would take 2-3 hours. Skipping out, water hay and feed would take half that!
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Even if you don't change rugs? I don't change my rugs anyway, but even if they're used to having rugs changed, two nights (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) wouldn't hurt surely?
 
annagain said:
Even if you don't change rugs? I don't change my rugs anyway, but even if they're used to having rugs changed, two nights (Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) wouldn't hurt surely?
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Its the yard I worked at years ago, I really don't think it would have gone down well to stable in turnout rugs :o

Either way most of the liveries came up and gave us a hand and turned out their own so it was a moot point really.
 
Very interesting all the replies! As I said, I treat Christmas just like any other day. Only difference this is that this year I will turnout into my paddocks which are nearer the stables and dont spend time walking up and down the road! I normally have my nets done for a few days anyway so not much will change.
As for keeping them in, which some yards do, I think it creates more work skipping out and putting up nets, I'd prefer to turnout.
 
I don't know the yards usual thing but last year one girl fed everyone to give yo a break and the horses stayed in unless owner came and put them out and brought them back in. Yo would rather not do anything on Xmas unless absolutely needed. Which is think is totally fair - they do everything the rest of the winter!

I plan to go up early and have my Xmas hack (which I'm very excited about it's been my life long tradition but I've not done it in years since last horse went away!)
 
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