Coin meter for livery yard indoor school lighting

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Mr_Ed

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On page 14 of this week's Horse & Hound (3 January 2008) under "Ask H&H" a reader asks:

"I keep my horse on a large livery yard where the owner recently installed a light meter in the indoor school. We used to pay an additional pound on our livery bill for lights, but this new system was introduced as unfortunately people regularly left the lights on when the school was empty. The owner has advised that £1 will last for 30 minutes. My worry is that because there is no dial to tell me when the money will run out and no warning before the lights go out, it could prove dangerous. Can you tell me if, health and safety wise, this is allowable?"

An answer is provided in Horse & Hound, but I wondered how common a practice this is? Has anyone has any personal experiences of this type of setup? Does it work satisfactorily? I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts on this potentially contentious issue.
 
We have a light meter, works perfectly well! The lights go out, the horses just stop and someone normally puts in another pound!
 
Hi, a livery yard near us does this but its a swipe card you put in having pre-paid the yard owner and they give you a card. It beeps when it has 5 mins left which gives you enough time to put another card in. It also lets you use only half the card - so if you only wanted ten mins to finish up you could just use 15 mins of the half an hour and save the rest for another time.

I hired the school on a weekly basis and never had a problem. Hope this helps x
 
Hmmm. I have just installed lights too and wont be charging for the use of them, until that is, they get left on over night. If that happens I will install a meter.

I did have visions of someone jumping and the lights going out on take-off
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I agree, it is a H&S issue which the YO is ultimately responsible for. Dont really know how you could get around this. Will watch your thread out of interest.
 
I've never come across it and I can see the rider's point but why not wear a watch whilst schooling and keep an eye on the time? If people are going to leave lights on I can understand why the YO is getting annoyed
 
You could have a timer installed, so that they switch off at whatever time you expect yard to be closed, eg 9 or 10 pm.
so if someone does leave them on, they are not on all night

For those with meters, a safety light, such as single low energy tube near the meter would give background / exit light when all the lights went out.

A warning beep at 5 mins would be a good idea too.
 
I've never heard of such a thing but I can completely understand it - it used to drive me wild to come in at night and see the lights on in an empty arena! Some boarders would turn them on when they got there, wander about the barn a bit, take their time tacking up, chat for awhile, then finally putter towards the ring and then repeat the procedure in reverse at the end of their ride. Grrrr.

In the largest place I worked we had a timer for the lights and the heaters (yes, you read that right - it was bliss). We turned them on when needed and hey went off at a proscribed time. A tone sounded 15 minutes in advance and that was that, although those of us with office keys could override it if necessary.

It's too bad it comes to stuff like that but I think it's better than making it personal and having different people make up their own rules.
 
I'm sorry but as a YO-to-be I think it is totally wrong to do this, my floodlights will not be on a meter. My electrician is fitting sensors so that the lights cannot be accidently turned on or left on when it is daylight. It's just going too far IMO.
 
A yard I was at had a meter, 5 minutes before the money ran out, half the lights would go off - seemed a fair compromise.
 
We used to have a meter for both the indoor and outdoor lights, that took £1 for 30 mins and yes many a time they have gone out on me. I never jumped at night as I was always scared that the lights would go out as I came into a fence, I tended to lunge mine more than ride........
 
We have lights at the livery yard I'm at which are on during the winter months (it's an outdoor school) from 5pm - 7pm on a timer which is enough time for people who go up after work (like me) to school their horses. It also means they turn off at 7pm so are not left on unnecessarily. A good system I think, especially as they're only needed over the winter months.
 
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I'm sorry but as a YO-to-be I think it is totally wrong to do this, my floodlights will not be on a meter. My electrician is fitting sensors so that the lights cannot be accidently turned on or left on when it is daylight. It's just going too far IMO.

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I must say after a little while of people leaving them on - this meaning they get there turn them on then take 45 mins to tack up etc then the same the other way around you may think differently drives me crazy and i am thinking about it now !!
 
We have a meter at the yard i have just moved on to, initally I was stressing about being left in the dark (literally). It is £1 per Hour but many ppl only use school for half an hour or so. I set a stop clock on my phone for 50 mins so i know to start cooling down when phone beeps so i'm not riding in darkness.
 
Just wondering approx how much these meters cost to fit and comission?

I can totally understand the need for meters, thankfully we are all trusted on our yard to switch things off and put money in the honesty shower box.

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We have a meter at our yard which is 50p for around an hour. As I always put money in I have never had a problem with the lights going out. It is slightly anoying when others don't put money in and run all the credit down!
 
We have one at our yard for the outdoor school floodlights, but a £1 lasts for 2hrs and ours has a meter thing so you can see how much time is left. There is also an unmetered standard light on the path to the school that we always turn on and if the school lights do go off it sheds enough light to keep things safe.

I think this is more than fair and I'm quite happy, especially as at my old yard the YO's partner came down and swore at me because some lights were on - I did point out that I was there on my own and wouldn't be able to see what I was doing without them, but he didn't care.
 
We have a meter at our yard. It takes 20p which lasts for ages - I don't think the YO can have changed the tarrif for years. We do have a dial so we can check how much electricity is left and it stops people wasting electricity by leaving the lights on when not in use. I find it works very well. Horses can see well in the dark so it wouldn't be a major problem if they went out.
 
On a yard I used to livery at we had a meter, it was a pound per half an hour but they would always cut out before time, you never knew when it was going to happen. It was quite dangerous as they went off on me once when going down a grid of fences, thankfully my horse at the time never batted an eyelid at anything and pulled up at the other end!

If operated correctly I think there a good idea, but our set was down right dangerous!
 
I think its quite reasonable. My last yard charged you for use of the school and it didn't even have lights. My current yard is cheaper, the school is free to use and does have floodlights. You do however have to pay £1 to for an hour of light. I'm not sure its a HS issue really as long as you know how long you get. If you know you only get an hour of light then make sure that you aren't jumping at 59mins. I prefer it to the alternative which is more expensive livery because people kept leaving the lights on
 
our outdoor school has a meter & we have a large floodlight overlooking the school for these times but it isnt ideal also the meter is 2/3 mins away from the school! so by the time you get there you've lost that time. i however only really lunge in the school at night so im not too bothered if it goes out
 
We used to have a meter that took old 50ps si it was a bit of a faff to swap new ones with the YO. Since the school was redone the lights are on a 20min timer so they can't be left on. The button is situated so you can easily press it when on a horse I've never seen a horse spook at all when the lights go off.
 
Oh but Claire wait until you get the most enormous electricity bill and see your liveries going home leaving all the yard lights plus the school ones on as they drive off...
The most sensible thing would be a low level light that would give a glow on all the time plus set a kitchen timer next to the meter which they set for 55 mins...
I reckon the YO has got sick and tired of people taking the p**s which they do..
Wait until you see someone take so much haylage the horse's bed is covered with it next day all soiled.
Or throw out loads of clean white shavings because they are included on their livery..
When you've been doing it as long as me (33 years of having DIY and part/full liveries) you become very resigned to all the above..
ps my husband wanted to put all the tackroom lighting on a movement detector, the bugger already has the feedroom on that system, you are feeding and have to wave your arms to make the lights come on again...
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