DIY Livery & Electric Fencing

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MileyMouse

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As a YO I have just had one of my liveries come up to me saying that she can no longer get her horse into the paddock as it is too muddy in the gateway and that her wellies get stuck and therefore she cannot turn her horse out. She has requested another paddock.

I have said to her that she can put her horse in my spare paddock but as the perimeter fence is dodgy (we have been tried to replace it with post and rail since last year but it has been too wet to drive across, for obvious reasons!) I have said that she would need to put up electric fencing to keep the horse safe.

She then came back saying that I should be buying the electric fencing so that she can turn her horse out and if I don't then she will only pay half her livery as her horse does not have turnout. She was flabergasted as she said that she had never had to provide fencing before! I have refused to buy it and have also given her the option to put her horse in our cattle barn (minus cattle) for a few hours a day which she has been doing.

Another livery has asked me if they can move there horse to this other paddock as well. I told them the same about electric fencing which they have duly done and turned their horse out this morning.

The livery that won't buy her own fencing has then turned her horse in the same paddock as the other horse (the horses have never met) and all hell breaks lose and another paddock is trashed!

So if you have got this far, my question is.... is it that unreasonable to ask a livery to provide their own electric fencing? (btw, they were told when they came to look round that they would need it to section off paddocks in spring etc as paddocks are big)
 
No I don't think it is unreasonable. I have had to provide my own before, there was some to use which was owned by the YO but in order to strip graze or section your plot off you had to provide your own.
 
Cheeky moo putting her horse in with the other livery. I would have been livid if it was my horse. I am on diy and never had to provide fencing...is it not possible to put some old hay or straw in muddy gateway for now? Fingers crossed it seems to be drying out now.
 
If the livery wants to section off their own field then yes they should provide the electric fencing. However if you you are providing livery which includes grazing and the livery can't use that grazing then I feel it is up to you provide an area they can use and if that means you have to buy more fencing so be it.
 
I've never been on livery as such, but am on a private livery now. I provide my own tape, posts and energiser.

Is there any way of making the gate way less muddy? ie wood chips or hardcore?

I think your livery is being rather unfair. I cannot think of a single yard that does not have ground problems at the moment and everyone should be pulling together and not expecting miracles!
 
I always had to provide my own fencing for DIY in fact now I have rented a field I get fencing and electricity for the mains unit in with my rent. I still do provide fencing for paddocks and to restrict my graing for the fatties though So no I wouldnt expect the YO to provide it all
 
It really depends on what was agree when they first arrived. My own DIY provide and fix all fencing.

Surely "my wellies are getting stuck" is not an adequate excuse to move fields though? Weather has been extreme and quite frankly we have all suffered because of this and a little bit of understanding on the part of the DIYer is needed?
 
I've been on some yards where i've had to provide my own.

But in this case - she came with a problem and you offered your best (only) solution. I should imagine she isnt the only one with a muddy gateway. But it seems she has more concern about herself than her horses safety (turning them out with others?!) or other people (livery who has provided their own fencing). I think i'd be telling her where to go.
 
It really depends on the set up of the yard, but in my eyes you seem to have been fair and quite accomodating. This weather and subsequent mud has hit a lot of places really quite hard.
She sounds like one of those DIY'ers that is a royal pain in the backside. The act of putting her horse in with another unknown one, which owner has duely done the fencing for, really stinks and that would be her marching orders I'm afraid
 
If the electric were needed to make her normal paddock safe and secure, or if the paddock was completely unusable, then it would be yo responsibility to provide another paddock and to fence it.

However mud is part of the deal with horses and especially this last year, so effectively she is just saying she doesn't want to use that paddock, in that scenario, she should provide her own. If she piggybacks on others then I would ask her to contribute to the other livery s costs re the fencing, failing which I would give her notice or move the horse back to the original paddock.
 
I provided my Lovely Livery with full electric fence set up, already working etc & in good nick.
My agreement with her is that she has to keep battery charged & on it at all times (I put a good one on it & also gave her a temporary one for short term use too for when good battery is charging). She has to replace anything damaged, however it is damaged as there are no other horses apart from hers which can touch it.

Regarding what your livery has done in shoving her horse out with another - I'd be bloody furious at such a lack of care on her behalf!
 
You've been fair imo... it's been an awful year for mud and most gateways are trashed. It's not the end of the world and I'd only want to move if there was no grass and the whole field was under mud.

If it's just a crossing point, then that's life. You've already said that it's necessary if they want to divide paddock. How is your contract worded? Do they pay for a particular paddock per month or just turnout? You've offered an alternative of a barn and her providing temporary fencing and an alternative paddock already, so I think you've been entirely reasonable.

But she'd certainly be sent marching orders if hers was turned out with a horse never met before and not discussed first. Lucky it's only the paddock that's trashed!
 
ponypilotmum said:
I've never been on livery as such, but am on a private livery now. I provide my own tape, posts and energiser.

Is there any way of making the gate way less muddy? ie wood chips or hardcore?

I think your livery is being rather unfair. I cannot think of a single yard that does not have ground problems at the moment and everyone should be pulling together and not expecting miracles!
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/\/\/\/\ Exactly this. Tell her to get some braces for her wellies:D
 
muff747 said:
/\/\/\/\ Exactly this. Tell her to get some braces for her wellies:D
Click to expand...

that did make me chuckle!

Thank you for all your responses, luckily the weather is holding up and the fields are drying relatively quickly which means we can hopefully get some fencing done soonish.

It is just literally the gateway that is muddy which apparently 'condems' the whole field in her eyes ! Unfortunately we do not have a livery agreement yet (it is in progress) but it was stated when she came to look around that she would need to provide her own electric fencing as we rotate the horses around the paddocks during the year depending on grass situation, when ragwort is sprayed etc etc.

Her putting her horse in with the other livery's horse is the icing on the cake though and just plain right stupid and selfish. We will be having words this evening!
 
I think its a YO's responsibility to be able to control the weather and amount of rainfall & grass growth!!!

Seriously though - if it were me I'd say suck it up buttercup or sling ya hook.
 
Ill agree that mud comes with owning horses but we have the same problem with a very muddy gateway. Ankle deep, foot gluing mud and its getting dangerous (if horse is a twit there's not much you can do with your feet glued to the floor. ) we've asked yo to put some gravel down in the gateway so the mud isn't so deep (there's a convenient pile of gravel at the yard) but no luck.
Ref fencing it depends on what the arrangements were with the other field. If she only needed fencing to strip graze but doesn't need to strip graze then why would she need to provide fencing?
 
Hands up who has not got a muddy field? We have ad to buy a mains box because we are in livery. Highland took one look and promptly in first 5 mins tried to walk through fence so got a mains box and plugged it in.
 
Muddy gateways are part and parcel of most fields this winter. Maybe she'd like to visit some local HH'ers to compare? I'd be telling her to sling her hook for turning her horse out with another without a proper introduction, or telling you or the owner before she did it. If she's not been there long this isn't a great start is it?
If I was told I'd need electric fencing before I moved somewhere, then I'd plan to get some. I've been DIY at lots of places and often brought my own fencing into action to divide fields, set up enclosures inside gateways etc.
 
Think OP you've been more than fair as a YO; in a lot of places she'd have to hunker down and keep hers in TBH - I know a lot of yards where that's the case from November through to March in normal years let alone with the weather like it is, so she should thank her lucky stars that she's getting turnout anywhere.

I'm a DIY YO and personally I do not provide liveries with electric fencing or equipment; for the pure and simple reason that if someone's horse gets tied up in electric fencing - I don't want any hassle by them saying its my fault as YO - so the onus is strictly on the livery to fence off if they need to. There IS good fencing all the way around the fields here though, so any leccy fencing is purely to divide pasture for ease of use.

Ehm, get your livery contract drawn up PDQ - and if you can, at the earliest convenience somehow or other push this little madam up the road. She's taking the p!ss IMO and you'll be better off without someone like this on the yard.
 
Highlands said:
Hands up who has not got a muddy field? We have ad to buy a mains box because we are in livery. Highland took one look and promptly in first 5 mins tried to walk through fence so got a mains box and plugged it in.
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Great minds think alike Highlands;)

Anyone using lekky fencing for the first time - remember the horse thinks it is just a piece of white ribbon stretched across it's path.:p
 
Tinypony said:
I've been DIY at lots of places and often brought my own fencing into action to divide fields, set up enclosures inside gateways etc.
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We used the enclosures to set up over winter so that the horse didn't stand in the gateway and only used it for walking through. Then when ground started to dry out took it away and didn't ruin gateway and grass recovered as horse didn't naturally trash the old area once the divide was removed.

I have spare leccy fencing and posts (hundreds of each) even though they're loose on 35acres and won't ever bother dividing as standard... because it's incredibly handy stuff and I'm constantly being asked to loan it to those who thought they'd never need their own.
 
I've been on DIY in lots of yards over the years and have always had my own electric fencing in order to strip graze etc, though I do expect that the field boundaries be secure.
Isn't always the case of course, accidents and weather can't be controlled, so sometimes have to use it for securing boundaries as well.

As to not wanting to use a field because the gateway's muddy, that's just ridiculous. There wouldn't be a horse turned out for miles around here if we all thought like that! That's winter in the UK I'm afraid, just got to live with it.
 
little_critter said:
Ill agree that mud comes with owning horses but we have the same problem with a very muddy gateway. Ankle deep, foot gluing mud and its getting dangerous (if horse is a twit there's not much you can do with your feet glued to the floor. ) we've asked yo to put some gravel down in the gateway so the mud isn't so deep (there's a convenient pile of gravel at the yard) but no luck.
Ref fencing it depends on what the arrangements were with the other field. If she only needed fencing to strip graze but doesn't need to strip graze then why would she need to provide fencing?
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All too real a scenario for me this week! My normally quiet plod spooked at a quad the other side of a hedge as I was bringing him through the gate. My feet didn't move and he knocked me flat in the mire, had he been a flighty horse there could have been an injury but he stopped and glared at me for delaying his progression to afternoon tea!
 
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