DIY Livery yard charged for the same stable twice

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VStopford

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Can anyone tell me where I stand on this one!!??

I'm at a DIY livery yard, in the past I have paid £100pcm in the winter for stable and grazing for 7 months of the year and £60pcm in the summer for just grazing for 5 months of the year. I didn't use the stable last year for the full 7 months but used the stable once we were in the depths of winter. This year I asked if I could remain on grazing livery for the winter, the yard has several grazing horses all year round. I was told that my agreement was for a stable in the winter and I had to remain on this agreement no negotiation. So I started paying for the stable from the 1st October. Obviously yesterday was a good day to start using the stable but the stable I pay for had another horse in it and they are paying for the same stable. The livery yard arranged for me to borrow another stable form another livery for the night. The livery yard has not offered me a refund or another stable.

What should I do?
 
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It sounds like the yard is run on the basis that you are not paying for availability of stabling and not for particular stable.

This is a normal business practice in other industries. It's very unusual in a livery yard and I would not stay there, but it is quite within the YO's rights as long as a stable is always available when you want one.
 
Thistle said:
If you are paying for a stable then it should be theer for you to use however and whenever you want. can you store things in it whan you aren't using it?
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^^^ This - if you've been allocated that specific stable I'd expect that stable to be free for your use at all times.

Speak to your Y/O to clarify the situation and once you know which stable you have been allocated, I'd use it for storage to prevent it happening again.
 
It has the shavings bed in it from last year, my rugs are hanging up in there and there is now another horse in it!!

I really don't know what to do. When I asked if I could stay on grazing livery I was told It was pay for the stable or leave. Now if I query it I'm worried they'll just tell me to leave. I really don't know what to do.
 
No I was allocated a specific stable! The paddock I am using goes with that stable, it has been that way for 19 years so therefore I must pay and use the stable. everyone has their allocated stables and paddocks.
 
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No I was allocated a specific stable! The paddock I am using goes with that stable, it has been that way for 19 years so therefore I must pay and use the stable. Everyone has their allocated stables and paddocks.
 
If you are paying for a stable - its your stable and they have no right to charge someone else for the same stable - I would be livid - thats cheek!
 
VStopford said:
No I was allocated a specific stable! The paddock I am using goes with that stable, it has been that way for 19 years so therefore I must pay and use the stable. everyone has their allocated stables and paddocks.
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Mmmmm. Not good. Have they promised it won't happen again? Would it be a problem to move yards?

I'd be livid but I don't think they owe you any money, you got a stable for the night. If anyone is due any refund it's the person whose stable you were given.
 
I have a grass livery that has access to a stable for emergencies or extreme weather. She is only charged for the days she uses it, and although it tends to be the same stable, she knows that if another horse needs it, she has to take another.

If you are paying for a specific stable, even if not using it, it is still your stable, end of.

Do you know why another horse was in it? For example was it put there temporarily or in an emergency?

If you like your yard, I would approach the YO and query it, if not find somewhere else and move on. However I think you have been quite lucky having an arrangement like this - my liveries either pay all yr round for a stable whether they use it or not, or are on grass livery, and you may not find this set up elsewhere.

Hope you get it sorted x
 
No the stable has been allocated to another horse. The field we had to use for grass livery through the summer turned out to be very poor grazing, typical New Forest bog, so my horse ended up on full feed for the summer, the gateway flooded so we couldn't get them out from May until early September. The fencing is really bad, rusty lose barbed wire everywhere so there was a further investment of £400 for electric fencing to keep them safe, so not that much of a good deal. I will need to find another livery yard, but there is a shortage in our area.
 
I've looked the other way on situations similar to this one WHEN I knew I wouldn't be able to find any other yard as good as that one, even with the billing situation(s).

However, if on top of this you have a bad paddock for grazing in the summer and YOU had to invest on proper fencing, I would pack my bags and leave.
 
I hope that you have billed the YO for the bedding the horse in the stable has been using. Shaving aren't cheap and I would expect then to pay for any shavings needed to get the bed back up to scratch.

I also would be leaving as soon as I possibly could but understand that that can be easier said than done. Good luck in your search for a new yard.
 
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