DIY and muck heap argh!!

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Olliecp77

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I'm a newbie DIYer and I'm wondering if its normal on DIY to have a muck trailer thats left full for a week or two?? When I ask when it will be available they tell me to get my own trailer if I don't like it - problem is I'm the only person on yard who gets frustrated about not mucking out. Its not a bargain DIY and we share diesel costs for the tractor to take muck to local farmer. Horrible for my horses and costs more money on bedding getting rotten. Viewed a new yard today but its a bit too far from me :(
 
We dont have a muck trailer but no I wouldnt say thats normal! Couldnt you just ask them to arrange a regular day/timescale for it to be emptied and step it up and tread it down to save space? I have never heard of a yard not having space avaliable to empty the muck from the horses stables!
 
No that is not normal in my experience at any rate. However, if you got up there with your wellies on, could you tramp it down at all and make more space? I know I had to do that sometimes on my old yard, no other so and so seemed to bother... I am now "independent" with a like minded friend, and we are loving having no one else around to mess up our orderly yard LOL

If they really won't do anything about it, then I would be clearing off elsewhere at the earliest opportunity :(
 
Yeah its not normal but they get angry when I ask as it doesn't bother other people - guy who looks after yard just drives in a few times a day to check yard still standing - its a really nice yard but not well run, going to contact the owners I think - don't like going behind back but needs must. Another livery approached the farmer who empties it and he got it emptied more regular but he has now moved on and farmer is busy bailing - also heard today he doesn't get on with the guy who runs yard which probably won't help. Have priced skips and dear plus other ppl would dump in mine - its that kind of place however great otherwise.
 
No not normal. If you make sure it is stacked properly and stamped down you can make more room. It will be there problem if it gets overfilled and starts falling off when they take the trailer away! You could put it in skips or bags and take it to you local allotment. They usually jump at the chance to have a pile rotting down to use!
 
TBH if it were to happen to me and they didn't bother to have it emptiedy I'd be dumping the muck on the ground by the trailer. How dare they take your money and not allow you to keep your horse properly and healthily.

I currently don't have a muck heap where I graze - owner has promised to sort something out so at the moment I have one of those big garden rubbish bags and a plastic sheet in my car and I bring the dung home. My roses will be beautiful in the spring.

The other thing you could do until the trailer is emptied is to deep litter your horse. Just remove the droppings and leave the wet in - keep topping up with shavings. It's a really quick way to keep your horse.
 
I think it is very odd that no one else complains , are all their horse standing in their own muck. I would just shut up and dump it near the trailer. and find somewhere else to keep your horse, it sounds as though this yard is badly run, and if you are new to having your own horse you need a bit of support.
 
Evelyn said:
The other thing you could do until the trailer is emptied is to deep litter your horse. Just remove the droppings and leave the wet in - keep topping up with shavings. It's a really quick way to keep your horse.
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This, or a stable mat.

Bloody ridiculous not emptying the trailer. Definitely look for somewhere else.
 
Agree with others!

Why are other liveries not bothered?

Our muck truck is emptied when it is full. As liveries, we pile muck onto it and shovel it all back, then our OCD groom comes along and stamps it all down and makes it look neat and tidy :D
 
I would start a muck heap next to the trailer - keep it tidy and tell them that you will fork it into the trailer when it is emptied. Tell them, if they don't like it, empty the trailer and you will quite happily put it in there...

I would seriously look for somewhere else - urgently! Its also not normal to jointly pay for the muck to be removed - this is the livery yard's responsibility.
 
Thanks for the replies - not feeling like a freak for complaining now - starting to question myself after the way they are bullying on the yard - driving in shouting at us and driving out, had started to convince myself I was making a fuss over nothing - just what they want me to think. Welcome to Ireland where unfortunately all horses aren't kept well - I find it common to see very dirty beds and I have been on a good range of yards in Ireland and in England - dreaming of a field with stables on it - viewed another yard yesterday however most of the people on this yard have recently moved from there so must be a problem there too, plus its over 10 miles in the wrong direction. I'm not a miser and spent €600/month on my 2 boys but selection of yards isn't great - we have posh yards that are run like military which wouldn't be my cup of tea - I previously liveried with a show jumper as the only livery as I have had enough of livery - I always muck in and do a lot of work to help out on busy yards and still pay good bit for livery - we help each other out.
My horses are on rubber mats and I skip/muck out a regular intervals during the day so as to not waste bedding and create more of a muck heap - tried deep litter but prefer fresher bedding on mats reg cleaned. Another livery started dumping in the "old" muck heap (from when yard was rented to 1 rider I think)area and they threw him off the yard however he refused to leave - I admitted (too honest for own good but wouldn't stand by and let someone else take the blame) that I had emptied my barrow there too as there was no where else however they continued to blame the other livery as they want rid of him. They occassionally put dung in a stable and only tell the people they like - this recent time we happened to discover this (we weren't told despite getting along with them up until this) and when I went to empty my barrow a guy who doesn't keep a horse on the yard stood in front of the door and wouldn't let me in - he lives in an apartment on the yard and thinks he runs the yard - I just exploded and said its a livery yard and a muck heap needs to be provided - he let me past and laughed saying you will have to lift it when the trailer is emptied and "don't shoot the messenger" - I have always emptied the stable in the past. So when the trailer was emptied my livery pal took the number of barrows out that we had put in - 8 barrows - about half of the stable. They drove up three times every day bullying him while I was at work shouting to lift our dung out or they will withdraw the use of the trailer for the whole yard and we would have to get our own trailers and find somewhere to dump them. The trailer was then left emptied and abandoned in an area where we couldn't access it - then we rang the "yard manager" and he said he wouldn't move it as he had a job for it to do (lifting cut trees from the estate - which they had the cheek to tell us we would be helping with). He moved it three days later - just to be stubborn - nothing worse than having an amptied trailer and needing to muck out!!!
I have already painted my section of the stable yard as they threatened to increase livery for anyone who didn't - duh I was the only one who painted, I'm all for helping out but now they have turned into bullies demanding we do everything. I made it well known to them that I painted the yard and no one else had to and that he would have more spare livery money to spend on the yard now that no one else painted - making my point that they were taking advantage. I decide to paint the inside of my stables to freshen up - they told me I had to pay for paint - fair enough as its what I wanted to do - they said to pay for paint but put it on the account for the family that run the yard - now I'm thinking they will have claimed this back from the family and said they paid cash - €90 for paint and they kept taking my paint to paint other bits of the yard - sneeky gypsys argh! I have a receipt for this paint and may just mention it to th owner that if they get an invoice its already paid by me and its no problem as I decided to paint inside.
Now I have seen the light now the bully boy has turned on my young livery pal (18 yr old) - they drove up yesterday and didn't realise I was in a stable and there was a very angry shouting match (much more than the general ribbing and banter that would be said in my presence) demanding that he swept the whole yard and why hadn't he done it yet - I have stupidly already sweep large section of the yard after he shouted earlier in the morning - he obviously gets his response after shouting I they do extra work but I do believe in mucking in. We have a private yard off the main yard which we sweep 3 times a day and we sweep the other walk ways we use for access to the arena every few weeks - no one in the yard sweeps in front of their door even and he says nothing to them. The other liveries drive up throw feed over the door and drive off - I hate that, my boys are kept like kings and I'd have it no other way.
I have text a colleague for the number of the yard owner - they are my customers at work and I don't want to have to go to them however my gut feeling is that they will be shocked. One of their partners came up to the yard last week apparently saying they have heard there are problems on the yard - so they tackled me knowing I have contact with them through work - I hadn't said anything to them as I will be mortified to have to approach them with petty yard politics. Apparently they had the lady in my horses stables showing off my nice horse to them - they play the game well. As far as I am aware the customers are happy to have me on the yard - most of the other liveries are a tad rough/clueless first horse/pony owners.
There are more and more things that we are getting asked for money for and these requests are getting more frequent which is clearly going into his pocket - again he sees we pay up so asks more frequently.
I recently tackled them back saying I had seen the whole yard, houses and all advertised to rent - so we could be out on the street anyway. Several other yards have closed locally and none of the liveries have moved here despite good facilities and location etc - we were told they wouldn't move here due to the other problem livery that they hate - I thought its good value and nice yard, you'd just ignore the livery man - he keeps himself to himself and they just invent dramatic stories about him to make him look mad - he does suffer from depression and stress which they play on. Clearly they won't come to the yard cos of the crazy family that think its their yard. They run the yard with fear - "if you don't like it there are 4 people ringing for stables just yesterday" really?? why are there 6 free stables the whole 6 months I have been here. The yard is normally rented by one rider over the past few years and this family have grew up involved in the yard and clearly can't let go - only one seems to be formally involved in the yard.
Grrrr sorry I had to get that off my chest!!! You'd never believe how nice a wee yard it is - people can ruin anything. I am not to be crossed and I will sort this out once and for all and out the bullies and hurt them in the pocket.
 
Get out of there, this is madness, not petty yard politics, glad you got it off your chest, I know that feeling!
Starting from your home, drive round the countryside and ask about renting grazing, maybe a farmer will see you as a nice steady source of income, we understand they are desperate for cash at the moment.
If you have a friend on the the yard she could look in another direction, it helps if there two of you to assist in looking after the horses. I would rather have mine out 24/7 than all this hassle you have at the moment.
i have an ad on preloved, it is free and I get a few responses on a regular basis.
 
Every livery yard we have been on has had either a trailer or a muck pile, the trailers were always taken away when full and the muck piles removed when they got to a certain height, that doesn't sound very good at all.
 
Ok so I had a massive show down on the yard today and lost my temper which I'm dissapointment at myself for. Got a load of excuses and denial and also told that we had always all had to take our own muck heap away - so I asked why I've never been told this. Then he threatened to take the tracter and trailer away and explained that it belonged to him and not the yard - very odd since he doesn't have land etc. I explained that we were doing more than enough extra jobs and its got the stage now of getting the dummies to do everything. So I explained that I would be contacting the owner - he said I didn't know who the owner was. So I rang owner and he was abroad as I expected so I text requesting contact when convenient. Yard manager turns up and says oh you text the wrong man and laughed and walked off. So I get a voicemail from the yard owner (son of the man I called and text). He was more than prepared to sort everything out and explained that yes the trailer fills but when its at half full the farmer is supposed to be rang so he has several days notice - thats great if it would happen however the yard manager hasn't got his number as they don't get along! Yard owner explained that we should be shown an area to dump it which yes we will have to lift it once the trailer is emptied again - perfect however we then get told to lift everyones dung - this should not be the case. Suffice to say getting the cold shoulder and he has actually been sweeping and generally working at the yard today - this is obviously his job and not palming it off onto us. End result is the yard owner will arrange a larger trailer in the next few days. Yard manager has avoided yard and as soon as I left late this evening he went round the other liveries telling them I made complaints about them - I had to go up and change a rug and check my horses weren't abused :( and the other livery that they hate was told my complaint was about him and that I was out of order going to the yard owner as he would have sorted everything out - why did he always just say its not his problem when asked about the trailer before - SIMPLE do your job.
 
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