Difficult livery acquaintances

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Maddysonsquare21

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Hi all,
Having a bit of difficulty with a lady at my yard at the minute. A friend and I share haylage and both know it takes us around 14 days to use a bale between our 2 horses. However last week we ran out in just 7 days! (we did keep in for two days due to rain so minus 2 night nets still gets us onto that bale lasting 12 days approx) The lady in question never had a 'reserve' of shavings or hay and is always beg borrow and now.. stealing her way to tie her over until she can visit the shop or until pay day. Last week her horses were in for four days straight and she had no hay at all. On two days I found my haynets by her things (all my stuff is pink for this reason so I can notice it around the yard) but wasnt sure if my friend had lent her a net or two.

Am I supposed to believe her horses lived on thin air all week and we just coincidentally ran out of haylage early?? I can't and don't really want to go around throwing accusations but I don't know what to do - Does anyone have experience of how to go about this issue in the best way?

Thanks
 
Lock it up, then there is no dispute. If you don't have anywhere secure could you put a fine net over the whole lot and make sure the opening in the wrapper isn't accessible, then use a combination lock which only you and your friend know the number to? Yes, a hassle, but it sends the message without a confrontation and at least you'd know that nobody can steal it without a lot of work for themselves too. I've found that the only way to ensure things don't get "borrowed" on a busy yard is to lock them away.
 
I was on a yard where this was an incredibly common occurance.

Lock it up. However, if the actual haynets were by her stable, were they taken out of your stable away from your horses? I would be raging.

Or if locking it up isn't an option, buy a whole load of new haynets that will last you for 2 weeks. Then when you get a new bale, fill your nets up immidiately and count them. Put a sign up saying something like "Please do not take these nets, they are counted and we know how many are left, thank you :) ". If you are a net short, go looking for who has your net hung up in their stable, theif caught.
 
Could you agree with your friend to cover the bale in a certain way after each use (with a piece of tarp and tying a bit of bailer twine, or placing a bale of shavings on top, in a certain way) so that you can tell if someone that isn't you has been accessing it... then that, together with her lack of hay would be grounds to ask her what she is feeding her horses... Maybe if you and your friend take it in turns to fill eachothers haynets so your bale is only accessed once per day will help keep a check on it...

What does your friend say?
 
I'd be having a chat with your friend and checking she didn't say she could borrow some, then I would be doing haylage up in the same way every day, so you know if someone has touched it, although of course if she is sneaky, she will suss that. I know lots of people who do haynets for the week on the weekend, so I would start doing this, if you both do it, then pile them on the open end of the bale, she shouldn't hopefully find it as easy, and will move on to someone else.
We had someone with a huge horse on our yard, who never bought any feed, yet her horse was always fed. Everyone who shared her tack room found themselves using much less feed when she left!
 
I got one of these and sewed a zip on it, then padlocked the zip - easy peasy and it kept everything tidier!

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I had this problem at a previous yard where someone with more horses than me and all poor doers was using their hay at the same rate as me with my two good doers. I put green food colouring on the inside of the bale closest to their bale and I used the other side of the bale. The next day, I found my green coloured hay in a net outside one of their stables. I had a witness but they still denied it even when confronted. In hindsight, I should have got more evidence rather than just jumping straight in even though my hay had been disappearing for a good few months. The bale cover with padlock on zip idea sounds great but will then mean that the thief will start on somebody else's hay. I hate thieves on yards!
 
Same happened to me so I grabbed a builders bag shoved my remaining hay in it and dragged it into my Tackroom. Might have took me a while to beat it through the door and made a horrible mess in my Tackroom but it's locked away so no tea leaf is getting their mits on it now. I would never accuse someone without hard evidence but I would definitely store it somewhere lockable for now on
 
We have security cameras on our yard as a result of stuff going missing - not just hay but other stuff. It soon stopped after a few people who had "borrowed" things were challenged by the YO. Get a hay cover and put one of those exploding red dye things in that they use in bank bags - that'll teach her :D
 
What does your YO say? Have you asked your friend to see if she's lent her haylage? Or how do you know that nobody else has. Personally I don't see how a reputable YO can allow horses to stand in with nothing to eat.
 
I think my first port of call would be a conversation with the YO.

After that I would be buying one of the covers and putting a padlock on. I think the YO needs to deal with the wider welfare issue though of the other horses not being fed properly.
 
madlady said:
I think my first port of call would be a conversation with the YO.

After that I would be buying one of the covers and putting a padlock on. I think the YO needs to deal with the wider welfare issue though of the other horses not being fed properly.
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Ask the YO however If its a DIY yard it has nothing to do with the YO and all these problems usually bring about is the YO saying its not worth the hassle.It was the main reason we stopped doing liveries!
I would just ask the woman if she has noticed any of her hay gone missing and not to worry because you have installed a covert camera . Then you have done that in a non accussing way.
 
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popsdosh said:
Ask the YO however If its a DIY yard it has nothing to do with the YO and all these problems usually bring about is the YO saying its not worth the hassle.It was the main reason we stopped doing liveries!
I would just ask the woman if she has noticed any of her hay gone missing and not to worry because you have installed a covert camera . Then you have done that in a non accussing way.
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but doesn't the YO have a duty of care if there are horses on the yard that aren't being fed? (as these potentially won't be if OP locks up her haylage?) I'd be putting it to the YO that they 'think' this has been happening and are therefore going to secure their haylage however they are concerned that the other horses then won't be getting anything.
 
I'm having the same problem and have no idea how to deal with it. There are only one other 'set' of liveries (a family) on DIY so I know that it's them taking it. My horse is supposedly getting through a very large round bale of hay in 10-14 days. Feed and supplements are also going missing and I've had to chain up my wheelbarrow and tools to stop them using them after being asked not to. I don't want to say anything to YO without proof as they've got 3 horses there and I've only got 1 so there's a chance I'll be asked to leave :(.

I've ordered a spy camera off eBay that's hidden in a thermometer and will be hanging it facing my hay. The worst part is that the mother of the family is a police officer!
 
DirectorFury said:
I'm having the same problem and have no idea how to deal with it. There are only one other 'set' of liveries (a family) on DIY so I know that it's them taking it. My horse is supposedly getting through a very large round bale of hay in 10-14 days. Feed and supplements are also going missing and I've had to chain up my wheelbarrow and tools to stop them using them after being asked not to. I don't want to say anything to YO without proof as they've got 3 horses there and I've only got 1 so there's a chance I'll be asked to leave :(.

I've ordered a spy camera off eBay that's hidden in a thermometer and will be hanging it facing my hay. The worst part is that the mother of the family is a police officer!
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That's awful. Let us know if you get anything on camera.
 
DirectorFury said:
I'm having the same problem and have no idea how to deal with it. There are only one other 'set' of liveries (a family) on DIY so I know that it's them taking it. My horse is supposedly getting through a very large round bale of hay in 10-14 days. Feed and supplements are also going missing and I've had to chain up my wheelbarrow and tools to stop them using them after being asked not to. I don't want to say anything to YO without proof as they've got 3 horses there and I've only got 1 so there's a chance I'll be asked to leave :(.

I've ordered a spy camera off eBay that's hidden in a thermometer and will be hanging it facing my hay. The worst part is that the mother of the family is a police officer!
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Wow. Some of the worst people I have heard of have been connected to the law. When my cousin was selling his house, his solicitor put the buyers' deposit into his own bank account and then denied it. Another cousin lived next door to a serving PC and their properties shared the parking out the front - he made her life a misery and she sold up and left just to get away from him. A colleague working in the legal side of the business , a qualified solicitor, had been found to have previously been involved in a fake mortgage ring.

Could be useful ammo though, if you get film then she could find herself in front of the Chief Constable.
 
EQUIDAE said:
Which one?

http://www.abbreviations.com/NOA
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From previous experience, none of the above, but I do love 'Naked on Arrival'

Back to the point of the thread, OP I feel your pain, I've experienced similar. On my yard though, if I locked up my stuff the thieves just stole from other people less able to afford it than me. In the end I went to the YO and said 'the theft is getting out of control'. Neither of us mentioned who it was, but we both knew and the culprits were asked to leave.

If your thief can't afford basic feed, can they afford their livery? You may find that you aren't out on your ear if you complain.
 
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