DIY Owners who don't check their horses daily?

There are lots of different views on this thread about what is acceptable, but I think we all agree that at least a daily check, if not by the owner, a concrete agreement with someone else, is the absolute minimum required.
 
I do not like the sign in sheet idea. Reminds me of a register at school and seems very corporate which I wouldn't be able to deal with. I'm very forgetful so I'd probably forget the sign in sheet and no way would I pay because I forgot to sign in. I hate feeling monitored in any way, especially with what is supposed to be my stress release and happy calm relaxed time with my horse. It will just mean that you annoy your perfectly fine happy liveries and won't make the others come up every day anyway. So I'd scrap that idea IMO!

To be honest YO just remember that it is YOUR yard and you get to decide who you want on there. If you aren't happy with the way someone looks after their horse then you are well within your right to give them notice to leave, if done in an appropriate and respectful manor. You could really do without this stress and have people on your yard who actually enjoy spending time with their horse, not finding excuses to leave them for days on end with no prior arrangements. Up the charge to £3.50 per day and if someone is just taking the p*** and not coming up and you are unhappy about it, give them a written warning that unless they start coming up at least once a day unless special circumstances are arranged or agreed then they will be given notice to leave.

That's how I'd deal with it anyway :p Take it or leave it!
 
I'm another who thinks if you are regularly going to require a friend or someone to check your horse, then perhaps part, full of assisted livery is a better option.

I will gladly admit that my horses are the centre of my world and the rest of my life fits in around them. I usually have 1 or 2 evenings off a year, that's all, when I may ask a friend to return a favour. I get her horses in or put them out a lot more throughout the year, but I don't mind. I'm having surgery on the 13th June, and I'm trying to figure out how I can do my horses myself that day, as I hate asking for help or not seeing them. But given that I'm having a general anaesthetic, I might have to ask my friend.

Hooligan is going out for his retirement on Friday, lovely place about 7 miles away. Owner checks all horses twice a day regardless so says I don't need to go up everyday, but I am going to find it so hard not to initially. I will still have the girls at home though.
 
NOT read the whole thread (yet) but just to say I would not do a sign in sheet. I check my horses and I do not see why I should prove it to any one.

If it's proven owners are not turning up and welfare is truly at risk, then give them their notice. This is what I did when my livery was not watering her horse for days at a time. Yes coming over and looking at him ( in her PJs ) but not feeding or giving him water. In the end I took photos and sent them to her mother , who frog matched her over to sort it out, however mother dear mostly ignored it, unless contacted . I did make sure the lad was watered twice a day out of buckets but would not interfere with her set up. Nice notice was given horse was sold.
 
chocolategirl said:
Yes they are aware of it, I've made it quite clear that it's not acceptable to not attend to their horses at least once daily. I am always looking over them all day when I'm home, but I'm not physically going up to each and every horse on the yard and checking it over for any sign of injury. My own are having their rugs changed according to the weather, fly masks on in the day off at night, and I'm spraying all of them at least once a day with fly repellent! In my opinion, this is basic good care. Mine also come in for a few hours every day as they are in diet paddocks which could not sustain them 24/7, for a small feed and a slice of hay. We are an assisted DIY yard where clients have to pay for any extra services needed, but in summer, I just feel like one or 2 virtually 'abandon' them! I guess for me, I just love spending time with my horses, they are the best therapy IMO! The reason I only charge a £1 is because there is a principle involved, I don't want to make money out of it want to encourage people to actually come and see their horses every day themselves! And in any case if they are wriggling out of paying that princely sum, I've got no chance if I charged more have I? I just know I can't go a day without knowing mine have all had their needs met. Clearly we all have different opinions in this subject reading through all the replies :-(
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Unfortunately yes, everyone has different ideas on horse owners ship (as they do with parenting etc.)& I think that goes with the territory. I'm with you on the checking everyday etc. However I wouldn't judge someone that doesn't have the same ideas as me as you don't know people's personal circumstances.
However, my response was to your initial question, & I hope you can come to a compromise with your liveries.
 
el_Snowflakes said:
Unfortunately yes, everyone has different ideas on horse owners ship (as they do with parenting etc.)& I think that goes with the territory. I'm with you on the checking everyday etc. However I wouldn't judge someone that doesn't have the same ideas as me as you don't know people's personal circumstances.
However, my response was to your initial question, & I hope you can come to a compromise with your liveries.
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But how can you say you wouldn't judge someone who has different ideas when it comes to welfare? I think it's very much for other people to judge when a horse's welfare is compromised.
 
el_Snowflakes said:
Unfortunately yes, everyone has different ideas on horse owners ship (as they do with parenting etc.)& I think that goes with the territory. I'm with you on the checking everyday etc. However I wouldn't judge someone that doesn't have the same ideas as me as you don't know people's personal circumstances.
However, my response was to your initial question, & I hope you can come to a compromise with your liveries.
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But personal circumstances should not interfere with basic welfare, if you have a horse on DIY livery you need to commit to making sure its basic needs are taken care of on a daily basis, stabled or field kept. If you cannot do this yourself, you should make other arrangements such as paying YO/YM or asking a friend. No one should just assume that others will do a visual check each day, as someone else said, if everyone did this then no one would turn up...
Personally I don't get the type of people who do this, but sadly they do exist. If I were OP then I would ask any livery who does not think it necessary to check their horses at least once a day, to leave. It's not worth the hassle or worry, as these are the types who are likely to moan about being charged/not pay up.
 
el_Snowflakes said:
Unfortunately yes, everyone has different ideas on horse owners ship (as they do with parenting etc.)& I think that goes with the territory. I'm with you on the checking everyday etc. However I wouldn't judge someone that doesn't have the same ideas as me as you don't know people's personal circumstances.
However, my response was to your initial question, & I hope you can come to a compromise with your liveries.
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Well I'm going to be extremely judgy and say that if someone's personal circumstances mean they can't check their DIY horse at least once (but it should be twice) a day, then they should either have it on part livery or not have a horse at all.

This is why I very rarely had DIYers on my yard. I had one whose idea of checking her horse was to drive in the yard and peer at him across a ten acre field from inside her car. In winter when he was stabled at night, she would fling a headcollar on him, lead him the 30 feet to the turnout (without picking out his feet - evidently dropping foot contents across my yard was good enough), muck him out after a fashion and then leave me to bring him in and feed him (and actually pick out his feet). Sum total of her time spent with him = about 30 seconds per day in winter, less in summer!
 
I rent land which is not attached to a property or yard in any way so I always check them twice a day every day. There are other fields around and yes...we do all keep an eye on each others horses but I feel full responsibility for the my girls welfare and I know that if either of them had an accident or fell ill and I hadn't checked them, I'd not be able to forgive myself.

Also, I really value my time with them. Yes of course it's a bit of a pain sometimes when I'm tired (I don't drive so I cycle there twice a day) but seeing them and spending time with them each day is it's own reward. :)
 
For YOs I think the answer is to set standards as you think fit and charge properly for all services including livery itself. I had a brief foray into being a YO and discovered that as I hadn't specified they needed to check at least twice a day they didn't bother. In the unlikely event I try again I would be far more specific and set the standards so they match mine.
 
Rowreach said:
Well I'm going to be extremely judgy and say that if someone's personal circumstances mean they can't check their DIY horse at least once (but it should be twice) a day, then they should either have it on part livery or not have a horse at all.

This is why I very rarely had DIYers on my yard. I had one whose idea of checking her horse was to drive in the yard and peer at him across a ten acre field from inside her car. In winter when he was stabled at night, she would fling a headcollar on him, lead him the 30 feet to the turnout (without picking out his feet - evidently dropping foot contents across my yard was good enough), muck him out after a fashion and then leave me to bring him in and feed him (and actually pick out his feet). Sum total of her time spent with him = about 30 seconds per day in winter, less in summer!
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Well we can all judge on an online forum but it really won't change the situation, unfortunately.
 
Moomin1 said:
But how can you say you wouldn't judge someone who has different ideas when it comes to welfare? I think it's very much for other people to judge when a horse's welfare is compromised.
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I won't judge as it's just one side of a story. Because this is an online forum & original post was not asking for judgement, i merely answered the question.
 
Cocorules said:
For YOs I think the answer is to set standards as you think fit and charge properly for all services including livery itself. I had a brief foray into being a YO and discovered that as I hadn't specified they needed to check at least twice a day they didn't bother. In the unlikely event I try again I would be far more specific and set the standards so they match mine.
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Having had my fingers burnt back in the 80's by a very **** DIY'er, every contract after that included for me to check their animals twice daily, when doing mine. My yard, my rules, its included in the cost.
I expect any DIY to turn up at least once a day to attend to their horse tho, so they can fly spray, check or adjust rugs - not wander in once or twice a week - thats when they need full livery, not me!

These days I don't take liveries per se, but occasionally do temp summer grazing - this still includes twice daily checks, so if I go away, I pay for checking not just mine but also any temp lodgers too.
 
Can't really be bothered to read all 11 pages but in a nutshell - horses should be checked twice a day however inconvenient that may be to their owners lifestyle.

Whether that is by the owner or a fellow livery or the yard owner is up to them - but for all those who have so many commitments they are unable to check their horses twice a day or unable to swap favours in a yard or pay the YO to check them - don't have a horse - you wouldn't have a dog or a child and not look after it - why would you think that a horse couldn't get into trouble in a field. Mine had a massive accident going through a post and rail fence - luckily I was there at 6.30 in the morning to get him in - also luckily i am on part livery although mostly I go up twice a day so YO would have caught it if I didn't. Cannot imagine only checking your horse once a day - on that basis if I had only gone up that evening he would have stood and bled for over 18 hours and would probably be dead.

Don't have them if you don't want to look after them or pay someone else to do so is my opinion!
 
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