DIY Owners who don't check their horses daily?

ycbm said:
Doesn't this depends on the yard and how many people are around? If I was in a yard with thirty other horses, turned out in sight of the yard, where other people couldn't help but see my horse as they came and went, and it didn't need food, meds or supplements, then I wouldn't be worrying about driving all the way to the stables on the odd day that I was really busy.

What would happen when the horse hurt itself five minutes after I'd signed in and left? It wouldn't be ignored for twenty four hours until I came again, would it?
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I'm sorry bit I just don't agree with this. I get what you are saying but I have seen horses who have cut up their whole sides on a gate, but just under the skirt of the rug, so unless you were up close you wouldn't have any idea that they were hurt. Or if they look to be dozing in the sun resting a leg, but are actually lame and aren't moving for that reason. If the eye facing away from the yard when they are grazing is red or slightly swollen. None of this will be picked up by a glance over from the other side of the yard, you would need to have a hands on check over; which you should be paying for, or have asked a friend to do.

Two or more friends casting an eye over all of their horses however many times a week each is fine, but all horses should be checked once, if not twice (personal preference) a day.
 
I have a small yard with 3 liveries all diy in summer. Last summer one of liveries went on holiday abroad for a week and never told me or arranged cover I was livid!! I spoke to her when she returned ( I'd only realised she was away when I saw a FB post)). Livery apologised and said wouldn't happen again and would. Heck her horse every day or arrange for someone else to. Things were ok for a couple of weeks then gradually slipped back to her just coming up when sun shone. She knew that the rest of us would alert her to any problem of course!! My other 2 liveries got upset as they knew this young woman wasn't doing her share of poo picking and her horse was becoming feral and causing a nuisance. I asked the young woman to find alternative accommodation for her horse obviously giving her notice to find somewhere. I will not tolerate lazy uncommitted owners on my yard it spoils it for everyone else and is not fair on the horse.
 
Re informal checking that we all do subconsciously when in the field of all the horses, personally I feel this is not enough, and every day someone should catch up the horse and see how the horse walks, and run an eye over all of the horse.
 
Think you also need to define 'check' in your contract. Does it mean do a drive by and see horse is still breathing or actually get their ar*ses out of car, catch horse, pick out feet, check all over including removing rugs if rugged etc.?
 
I suspect plenty of horses don't get much more than a "drive by" check even when the owner is present, especially in winter - rugs won't come off, cuts get missed on muddy legs ... not that it's right, but the whole understanding of a "check" varies enormously from one person to another. If mine is staying in the field, I wouldn't bother to pick out feet, for example (unless it was obviously lame) which for others would be a vital part of the standard check. it would be difficult to enforce anything specific beyond physical presence of the owner.
 
There's a yard near me that offers 'grass livery with observation' for an extra £10 per week. They did this because of grass liveries not turning up everyday to check on their horses. If you don't pay the £10 & don't show (& the owner has eyes in the back of her head) then marching orders given promptly.

Our yard is shocking for people assuming someone else will keep an eye on their horse and not coming up every day. YO moans but doesn't seem to want to tackle the culprits.
 
PorkChop said:
I just don't get why people have horses, but then don't have time or inclination to see them every day.
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Me neither. I was asked recently if I came up every day in a voice full of surprise. Twice a day! Before & after work! Cue look of horror on face.....
 
PorkChop said:
I just don't get why people have horses, but then don't have time or inclination to see them every day.
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me too! I was having the same conversation with my parents yesterday as I checked the ponies in the afternoon and it was clear that the other owner didn't go up at all on saturday afternoon, or sunday morning!so means that i was the last person to check them on saturday! we are very quiet farm, only 3 of us and we have a set routine of who checks when but this particular owner hadn't been up since friday morning! then lied about checking them saturday night when i txt because her horse had got out of his restricted section of the field
 
The problem with those who don't bother going everyday, partly because the horse could injure itself five minutes after they have been and gone, is that if all the other owners worked on the same principle, then there would be no0one bothering to go at all!
 
AShetlandBitMeOnce said:
I'm sorry bit I just don't agree with this. I get what you are saying but I have seen horses who have cut up their whole sides on a gate, but just under the skirt of the rug, so unless you were up close you wouldn't have any idea that they were hurt. Or if they look to be dozing in the sun resting a leg, but are actually lame and aren't moving for that reason. If the eye facing away from the yard when they are grazing is red or slightly swollen. None of this will be picked up by a glance over from the other side of the yard, you would need to have a hands on check over; which you should be paying for, or have asked a friend to do.

Two or more friends casting an eye over all of their horses however many times a week each is fine, but all horses should be checked once, if not twice (personal preference) a day.
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My own experience of big livery yards is that other owners notice and interfere too much, not to little.
 
PorkChop said:
I just don't get why people have horses, but then don't have time or inclination to see them every day.
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As a single full time working mother I don't have the time to see my horse every day, should I sell her as clearly I'm not a dedicated owner 😬
 
ycbm said:
Doesn't this depends on the yard and how many people are around? If I was in a yard with thirty other horses, turned out in sight of the yard, where other people couldn't help but see my horse as they came and went, and it didn't need food, meds or supplements, then I wouldn't be worrying about driving all the way to the stables on the odd day that I was really busy.

What would happen when the horse hurt itself five minutes after I'd signed in and left? It wouldn't be ignored for twenty four hours until I came again, would it?
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This is why in an ideal world they should be checked twice daily, I ask for once as a minimum.
 
PorkChop said:
I just don't get why people have horses, but then don't have time or inclination to see them every day.
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I missed this one earlier. Is your comment serious?

1. Working in a job where the hours, including motherhood, do not allow you to see your horse every day.

2. Having a relationship you care about and want to spend quality time in, when you can't do that if you visit your horse every day.

3. Not being able to afford the petrol for the journey to see your horse every day.

4. Having more than one horse kept at different yards in different directions.

5. Having sick relatives to look after.

6. Having to get to the yard on a bike and simply being too knackered to go, for any number of reasons.



I'm sure I can think of a dozen more but I think I'll go and look at a horse instead :)
 
Wow! Seems I've opened a bit of a can of worms! Ok this is the way I see horse ownership, in fact any animal ownership for that matter: animal ownership, and in particular, horses, is a gigantic commitment both in terms of money and time etc., that a lot of people just don't seem to appreciate. For me personally, if I were unable to fulfill those commitments totally and completely in every way, even on a basic level, I simply wouldn't have them. But that's just me, I know others will have their own opinions which of course they are fully entitled to :-(
 
I have read some of the comments on here, and frankly am shocked!

I don't care what excuse FFS there is, however valid, if you have a horse, then surely the bare minimum is to go see it and make sure the animal is OK at least ONCE a day. Is that asking too much?? And that IMO is bare minimum. Anything could happen in 24 hrs, you could have a field injury, colic, whatever, and the owner wouldn't be aware.

As a YO, I had a livery once who (thank god) was only here for a month, and the first weekend she was here she shut her pony in the stable and just went off for the weekend! Just left it, no food or water, nothing, and Yours Truly hadn't a clue where she'd gone, or where she was coming back. The pony wasn't the easiest to handle, and I had to deal with it. Thankfully this livery didn't stay long, but it wasn't fair, not at all, either to me as YO OR more importantly, the pony.

I wouldn't have anyone on my yard on DIY livery who refused to come and see to their horses TWICE a day. Period. No excuses. I'd give marching orders to anyone who didn't and if in OP's position would charge for services rendered, not a token amount, a realistic amount, i.e. what the going rate is for Full or Assisted livery if YO has to "do" other people's horses.

If you don't have time for a horse then don't have it! OR (best idea) pay up and look sweet for Assisted or Full Livery. Or if you can't/won't do that then get a budgie, or a cat. Sorry but horses NEED their owners, neglectfulness makes my P!ss boil.......... :(
 
I'm on a large DIY livery horse and certainly wouldn't look twice at 99% of the horses also there. Of course, friends and I will give each other the heads up if need be and we arrange cover for each othet, but this is different as pre-arranged, confirmed and I know their horses (I don't even know some of the other horses name or their owners, much less be able to contact them should their horse obviously be on 3 legs). By checking, I mean catching and physically checking the horse over, bringing in and picking out feet and feeding as a minimum. Of course, at this time of year it may well include re-fly spraying/adusting rugs/flymasks too.

Personally, if I couldn't afford petrol to the yard, I wouldn't have a horse. As how on earth would you cope with a vets bill on top?!

If an owner can't get there twice a day, or arrange twice a day cover, IMHO they shouldn't have a horse on DIY livery.
 
Surely the bare minimum is to make sure someone sees that the horse is fine at least once a day? Some of these posts are reading as of no-one should have a horse unless they personally are desperate to see their horse every single day.
 
wills_91 said:
As a single full time working mother I don't have the time to see my horse every day, should I sell her as clearly I'm not a dedicated owner 😬
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Which is entirely fair enough. But presumably you make arrangements for your horse to be checked or seen to on the days you intend not to attend....
 
MuddyMonster said:
Personally, if I couldn't afford petrol to the yard, I wouldn't have a horse. As how on earth would you cope with a vets bill on top?!

.
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You're saving the petrol money so that you will have it to spend on the vets bill if it arises. You'd love to visit it every single day, but if you do you won't be able to cover that unexpected vet bill. Luckily, of course, your friend is happy to check your horse on the days you can't make it.

Please note that the comment about petrol was made in response to someone who was outraged that anyone would own a horse at all if they weren't going to visit it every day.
 
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Our first horse was kept in a local farmer's field with a stable across the road, with his daughter's pony as a companion for a very basic rent. We truly did everything DIY, filling field water, maintenance, etc for both equines. When we got our next horse she was kept on a DIY livery yard. YO did all jobs except directly handling the horses and mucking out stables and charged appropriately.
Perhaps that is the way to go, OP.
We did check our horses but also knew that YO would go into every field every day and cast an eye over all the horses, so if anything had been obviously amiss after the owner had been and gone, he would have noticed.
 
amymay said:
Which is entirely fair enough. But presumably you make arrangements for your horse to be checked or seen to on the days you intend not to attend....
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I sure she did, but as my comment above, her reply was to someone who didn't think a person should keep a horse at all if they didn't want to visit it every day themselves.
 
ycbm said:
I missed this one earlier. Is your comment serious?

1. Working in a job where the hours, including motherhood, do not allow you to see your horse every day.

2. Having a relationship you care about and want to spend quality time in, when you can't do that if you visit your horse every day.

3. Not being able to afford the petrol for the journey to see your horse every day.

4. Having more than one horse kept at different yards in different directions.

5. Having sick relatives to look after.

6. Having to get to the yard on a bike and simply being too knackered to go, for any number of reasons.



I'm sure I can think of a dozen more but I think I'll go and look at a horse instead :)
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I completely agree, and that's why there's a market for assisted/part/full livery packages. The horse neither knows nor cares whether the owner's reason for not caring for it properly is a "good" one or not. If you don't have the time, don't have your horse on DIY?
 
A few people getting a bit carried away here.

Yes, SOMEONE needs to check the horse is fine every day. It doesn't need to be the owner, but it's the owner's responsibility on DIY to make sure it gets done - by them, by a friend, by the YO.

It is NOT a requirement of horse ownership that one must see the horse oneself every single day. There are lots of reasons why it might not be possible or desirable for every owner - Ycbm listed some. It does NOT mean they love the horse less, or care less about its welfare.
 
This is one of the reasons I love my current yard's set up - there's 6 liveries total (13 horses total of which 5 are the yo's) She walks her dogs round the fields twice a day and all horses are checked by her as she walks the dogs. Everyone always casts eyes over every horse as you go down to yours which means on the odd day someone can't get down they are always looked at. One couple in particularly is very rarely (like once every couple of months) there at the moment because they don't have a car and the wife is terminal and very poorly so simply isn't well enough to come and can't be left so her husband can't come. Because of this the entire yard keeps an eye on their horse and gives him attention.

Having said that - if you're not going to be there daily then you have to be sure that someone will check the horse - I've picked up quite a few bad injuries and a colic (that didn't end well) on horses in fields that weren't mine and thats why I always look at all horses as I walk down (and why I always encourage everyone to do that)
 
amymay said:
Which is entirely fair enough. But presumably you make arrangements for your horse to be checked or seen to on the days you intend not to attend....
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I was replying to the comment that said you shouldn't have a horse if you didn't have time every day, which quite frankly is ridiculous. However, yes she is in the capable hands of my YO on the days I am not available.
 
Surely there's a huge difference to splitting trips with a mate (I didn't check one of mine for a 36 hour period while I was at a tournament with the other one - because fellow livery was looking after him, as we'd arranged in advance, just as I'm now looking after her boy while she's away), and just not bothering to go up because you're presuming one of the other liveries will tell you if there's a problem, even though you've not asked them if they'll be there / cast an eye over yours / let them know you won't be up...

The former is completely normal. The other is, in my opinion, a ridiculous attitude to keeping horses.
 
JFTD said:
Surely there's a huge difference to splitting trips with a mate (I didn't check one of mine for a 36 hour period while I was at a tournament with the other one - because fellow livery was looking after him, as we'd arranged in advance, just as I'm now looking after her boy while she's away), and just not bothering to go up because you're presuming one of the other liveries will tell you if there's a problem, even though you've not asked them if they'll be there / cast an eye over yours / let them know you won't be up...

The former is completely normal. The other is, in my opinion, a ridiculous attitude to keeping horses.
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This. All the way. Especially the last sentence.
 
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ycbm said:
Doesn't this depends on the yard and how many people are around? If I was in a yard with thirty other horses, turned out in sight of the yard, where other people couldn't help but see my horse as they came and went, and it didn't need food, meds or supplements, then I wouldn't be worrying about driving all the way to the stables on the odd day that I was really busy.

What would happen when the horse hurt itself five minutes after I'd signed in and left? It wouldn't be ignored for twenty four hours until I came again, would it?
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Isn't it a bit irresponsible to free-ride off other liveries? - what if they were all assuming the same thing?

If you keep your horse on DIY livery you do have a responsibility to make completely sure that someone has checked it every day, not to just assume that you'd hear if there was a problem - the horse is your responsibility. Otherwise fork out for part/full livery!
 
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