DIY Livery and YO

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blackbetty

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For those of you who are yard owners who run DIY livery, what rules do you have in relation to liveries farriers coming to the yard i.e. does the livery have to be present and if not who cleans up all the mess?

For those of you who are DIY liveries do you organise for your farrier to come when you are there and if not who gets horse in etc and cleans up?

Sorry for all the questions
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Also in NL
 
I have always been responsible for arranging for horse to be in and supervised while being shod and clearing up afterwards when at DIY yards. I did it myself or got a friend to share visits so we took it in turns.
 
I am at a diy livery and as i work full time cant be present when the farrier comes. The farrier will do his job and sweep up after himself and put my horses away- my y.o's are really understanding and if there were any mess i would certainly clean up when i get there in the eve out of respect for their yard.
 
I am DIY on a big yard that has both DIY and full and in between. I am always present for my horses as one can be a beastie but I can pay as an extra for the YM to supervise. I enjoy catching up with my farrier though
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I book my own farrier and he is allowed onto the yard when I'm not there. Unfortunately I've yet to find a farrier that will sweep up but people are usually very understanding about the mess and I do it as soon as I can get down in the evening.
 
I have liveries and am happy to bring in, prepare for farrier, attend and clear up BUT I do charge as it is in addition to DIY. I believe that farriers require a responsible person in attendance for insurance reasons, I know a couple who will do an unattended horse but they no doubt have close connections with owners.
 
Where I am at the moment the farrier can shoe my horses without me being there. I would just sweep up whe I got to the yard in the evening.

However I can understand on a big yard this wouldn't be practical. When I have been on bigger yards before, you would pay a couple of pounds extra for YM to sort out horse for farrier. They would then sweep up afterwards.
 
Me, my mum and two other people share the farrier visit, we all get on really well so one of us is always there when he comes, we help each other out if one of us cant be there due to work etc.
whoever has been there for the visit clears up and books them all in for the next visit.
 
I'm DIY and I arrange my farrier appoints and always make sure I'm there to bring her out, tie up and clean up afterwards. Luckily I'm on flexi working hours so I can nip out for an hour or so to do this and then go back to work.

Plus my mare can be a bit fidgety so I need to be on hand to swat tickly flies and bribe her with feed
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either i am there and tidy up or YO holds horses and sweeps around- she doesn't charge me for it but its not really that sort of yard; we just do each other favours.
 
Thanks Dovorian. We do offer an assisted service, however lately we've had a few farriers turn up, do the horse on their own, turn them out and then drive off without clearing anything up and there is nail clippings, hoof clippings and poo everywhere! Just trying to work out a way of managing this without annoying all of my liveries
 
On my last yard no-one was allowed on the yard unsupervised for security reasons. Either you had to be there or you had to pay YO to supervise for you. If you aren't charging a large amount I would say its quite fair because we all benefitted from the fact you knew there would be no randoms or unsuitable people sniffing around on the yard.
 
9 times out of 10 i will make sure i am on the yard when i book the farrier to come out (there are about 6 different farriers that come to our yard), however, if for whatever reason i cant be there, i make sure he comes at a time when the yard staff will be around to keep an eye and ear out, the farrier will do what he needs to, sweeps up and puts back in the stable - the yard will then turn out in the field afterwards, and hand over payment to the farrier for me. if the yard bring her in 'out of hours' ie not first thing or at about 3pm then i will have to pay (and are girls a really good - so if the horses feet are really muddy will give them a quick clean under the hose for the farrier).

There are farriers that come to our yard - but dont sweep up, in which case the yard staff do, and as i understand a charge of about £2 is added to the bill. which i think is fair enough.
 
I'm on a mixed yard of DIY and full livery although I am DIY myself. I always know what day and time the farrier is coming as its put on the board in advance and luckily I share the farrier with three others so he is normally there for about 3 hours. I just leave him a cheque, and my horses turnout/bring in is worked around when he is due to arrive. The farrier turns up and puts my horses headcollar on and takes him out of the stable and ties him up himself and puts him away when he's done. I've never known a farrier sweep up mess so we tend to do it when we arrive at the yard after work but the dogs take most of the hoof clippings as they like to eat it, eeurgh!
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The farrier does a brilliant job with my horses feet and he is very professional and takes his time to ensure my horses feet are balanced and well shod. If the farrier was not prepared to take the horse out of the stable himself then the yard staff would do it for him without a problem.
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Thank you all. I think I'm going to have to go down the route of a small charge i.e. £1/£2 to tidy up if the livery isn't there. Reading all the posts that seems to be fair?!
 
I am at DIY livery and would always insist on making sure I (or if need be, my mum or OH) are there when the farrier comes. I always have her shod outside her stable and clean up thoroughly after he has been!

A couple of weeks ago there was a 'reminder' on the board from the YO - 'Please clean up after the farrier has been'
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I think some people get a bit lazy about it, but there is no excuse really!
 
I own a livery yard and I arrange the farrier visits as I have 6 horses of my own. I book the farrier in for every 3 weeks and the liveries fit in with those visits. I put the dates in their monthloy news letter so they know the dates at least 6 weeks in advance. The horse have to be in the night before and the farrier is happy to just get on and do them . If they are monsters then either the owner has to be there to hold or I will be there. I don't normally make a charge for holding and turning out unless the horse is a complete mannerless pratt. I don't let other farriers on the yard as the quality of shoeing locally is rather dubsious and I know the farrier we use is fantastic and great with all the horses. He will work with the vets, turn up when he says he will and does a fantastic job. As a BHS approved yard I have to ensure all horses in my care ( including DIY) are shod well. I do ask that the DIY l;iveries clean up outside their own stable - but then I have ties outside every stable and the farrier shoes each horses outside it's own stable. I have to put a small reminde rin teh news letter every month though as there is a tendency for hoof clipping to be left which my dogs then eat and throw up in my house!!
 
How can you possibly justify a charge of £1 or £2 to sweep up if a livery is not there??? It takes about 30 seconds to sweep up. That would really irritate me. Fair enough if you have to waste time holding a horse for a vet for 30 mins or getting the horse in from the field and washing the legs for it to be shod then I could understand. Also what if there are four of them that have the farrier and three of the liveries are there and the fourth is slaving away at work? Would the ones that are present split the mess left on the floor into four and leave a quarter of it for you to sweep up and charge the livery £2 for? I do think you are being a little unreasonable if you don't mind me saying so. Surely they can sweep up the mess as soon as they arrive on the yard, and surely the farrier is capable of putting a head collar on a horse and dragging it out of the stable, its not rocket science after all??!!
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Bosworth you sound like a reasonable YO to me.
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I like the fact everyone can tie up outside their stable, and you let the farrier help himself if necessary. You give the liveries an option which is what I really like about my present yard, that we all have a choice. And what I like the most is that you obviously take time to communicate to your liveries through the newsletter which is an excellent idea. I used to do a newsletter for our yard (even though I'm a livery) and I used to love doing it. That way we all kept in touch with what was happening, informed each other about various topics and learnt new things and had a bit of fun as well!
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Well done, I would like to be on your yard rather than have to pay £2 for a 30 second job, that is taking the p**s
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its not all sweetness and light - I have swept hoof parings into a liveries stable when they didn't bother sweeping up and left it there for 2 days - happy to help - but not be taken for a ride. I have to say though I have fantastic liveries and l really enjoy having all of them around. It is my house and they really respect that and treat the yard as if it were there own. I even come home to find my horses mucked out/ fed/ brought in without asking so give and take both ways is the way forward.
 
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