DIY yard rule regarding when to muck out..

BroadfordQueen

BroadfordQueen

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Does anyone else keep their horses on a DIY yard with a time limit to muck out by? My yard has suddenly decided we need to muck out by 12 midday. Wasn't an issue before and I have always been first on yard in mornings and mucked out by 8am but new job means this is going to be impossible.. can't afford someone to muck out for me, not keen on moving yards as horse is settled and happy- especially if this is a common rule on all yards (first yard I have ever been on as kept horses at home previously). Does this seem a fair rule, even if you have turned out and seen to all your horses needs, but don't have time to muck out until the afternoon?
 
I have never been on a yard with that rule. Although I understand the YM wanting his yard tidy, I wouldn't be able to do it either. Have you had a chat with the YM to see if a solution can be found? Perhaps someone else is not mucking out regularly and it is the YM's attempt to get them to tidy up?
 
seems daft - my previous yard the horses were turned out for us and then I'd do them in the evening so no mucking out till evening time
 
Palindrome said:
Perhaps someone else is not mucking out regularly and it is the YM's attempt to get them to tidy up?
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I know that this is exactly why they've done it, and I will have a chat with YO, but don't want to create any bad feeling with other liveries of "she can so why can't we". I'm hoping a quick skip out of worst of the muck will suffice until I can properly muck out in the afternoon.. not a problem at the mo anyway as horse lives out at night, but they will be coming in for winter frightfully soon!
 
I have been on some yards that have this policy. When the horses are stabled in an American barn, it's understandable. For horses with respiratory issues, being stabled next to a smelly stable isn't good and standing in while the next beside them is mucked out means lots of dust/spores etc being tossed around.
It's not the end of the world but having beds done in the morning is better practice, although it does make life a bit more of a rush for people who need to leave very early in the mornings.
 
Nope, never heard of it in a DIY setting I'll be honest (full livery yes but they have a routine to maintain and need beds ready for a set time to bring in). I'd be stuffed if that was the case as I work a variety of odd shifts!
 
Nope never heard of it and I wouldn't stay somewhere with a rule like that, would make my life impossible. In winter I rarely get to the yard in the mornings because I travel so much with work. Horse gets turned out by yard, brought in by them in the afternoon, given a hay net and then I muck out a bit later on. He doesn't appear to have any ill effects from coming back in to an un-mucked out bed that I muck out about an hour later. And for all the people on here who'll tell you they get up at 4am every day to muck out before work, I bet the majority do the same as me!! ;)
 
I've never heard of this rule OP. I won't even go to yards with turnout and bring in times. I'll happily accept a rule that horses must be in at night but not if there's a time limit, other than sensible (ie late) closing time for the yard. I want my horses to be done at my convenience not somebody else's.
 
I used to loan a horse on a yard with this policy. It is restrictive and I wouldn't be able to do it as some days I'm up so early for work I don't have time to do all jobs in the morning.
 
Don't have this rule on my yard but in an ideal world, I would love to see ALL stables mucked and ready for horses to be put into by midday but as I turn out the majority of the horses on the yard, this just isn't feasible. Even if I wasn't turning others out, I can't see me enforcing such a rule, as much as I would like to!
 
Surely as long as you shut the stable door the yard will not look untidy. At my old job I started work at 7.30 and thought I did well to feed and turn out before work .Present job does not start till a respectable 9 am, but in the summer it s nice to ride for half an hour before work , and if I do I muck out later in the day.
 
I hate it when YO's use a sledgehammer to crack a nut. If they are unhappy with one livery they should tackle that direct. Maybe ask if the rule could be amended to all stables to be mucked out before horse put back in?

Winkingwillow, I'm just wondering, why would you love to see all stables mucked out by midday? What purpose does that serve apart from cosmetic? On a DIY livery yard all that needs to happen is that people need to muck out before their horse comes back in. I can understand it being different on a livery yard where staff do the mucking out.
 
Some places have this rule if they have wooden stables as wet bedding causes the bottoms of the walls to rot. Others have it so that if there is an emergency and the horse needs to be brought in, the stable is ready ie bed done, waters filled, net done. In an ideal world, brilliant. In reality not so easy.
 
I have never been on a yard with this rule but have heard of similar before.

It wouldn't suit me at all, i start work at 7.30am and have to have left the yard by 6.50 at the latest in the winter, most mornings all i find time for is a quick breakfast, skip out and turn out before dashing to work, and no i wouldn't be prepared to get up any earlier, 5.30am is plenty early enough for me with a full time job as well.
 
Don't think my yard has this as a rule but it was definitely an expectation. I was on part livery but for DIY'ers. Yard owner wanted a clean and tidy yard. If people looked round creates a good impression to be clean. It definitely would have been frowned upon to put a horse back in a filthy stable. I wouldn't have wanted my horse bought in next to stables full of muck( in an American barn set up), especially in winter when they were bought in earlier. I wouldn't have been impressed when looking round if the stables had not been mucked out.
TBF think all owners there had the same high standards regarding horse care, so it was never an issue ( I mean - never a problem with owners not turning up, or not doing jobs etc), so never needed a 'rule'.My old yard owner chose clients carefully though so we had a really lovely yard and none of the nonsense that you hear about on other yards!
Not trying to criticise you op - if your set up works for you. It's hard when work gets in the way of ideally what we would like to do! just giving another perspective
 
This rule simply wouldn't work at my yard, some people have to go to work and if they have 2 or 3 horses, it's impossible. I turn out in the morning, leave a fresh Haynet and someone brings him in for me on the days I can't bring in. I muck out when I get there. Some days I can muck out in the morning but that depends on shifts and lecture times.
 
I do everything in the morning. I'm up at 5.20, at the yard by 6, all jobs done to be home by 7 and in work by 8. I manage easy enough, however bleary-eyed I might be lol. By the time Friday comes I'm like the walking dead!

When I had my old horse, I had to be at the yard by 05.30 to get everything done as he was so filthy, it took me so long to muck out. Muddled on like this for a while, then one day a bunch of signs appeared saying 'Opening Hours: 6am - 9pm'. In a panic, I ran round to YO as I was certain I wouldn't be able to cope with this. As soon as she saw me, she told me it wasn't becuse of me and I'm fine to still come up early, the signs were to stop a crack-pot livery from coming up to the yard every two hours through the night to check on her horse's mud fever! YO lives on sight so it disturbs her and the dog when people come up after closing. I was so quiet in the mornings she didn't notice I was there, she said.

Sometimes it can be a passive way to stop undesireable behaviour. Not ideal, I think if you're doing something wrong, you should be spoken to.

However, I hate leaving a dirty bed and really feel strongly to get it done and ready before horse comes back in. So that's what I do. Some people just can't do it so I don't agree with the rule stated in OP.

I think OP should speak to YO as they may be able to compromise.
 
Yes my last yard had this policy, one of the reasons being that it meant the yard was clean and swept for the afternoon whereas if people were mucking out all day it was always a mess as people seem unable to clear up after themselves.
 
Goldenstar said:
I can't bear unmucked out boxes so if I had a DIY yard I would have to have this rule
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Even if the door is shut and the task not your worry? It is just that life ican be hard for shift workers to fit in jobs before work. These jobs are often not highly paid so paying the yard to muck out would be too expensive on a regular basis. And peoples' lives change,while they continue to own a horse .. They may have to take jobs with les than ideal hours. There are enough horses without proper homes to dump on the market those horses that belong to shift workers.
 
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I've just moved to a livery yard from my friends stables. Its mainly DIY but you can ask YO if you need full livery for a day or so or even just an afternoon for minimal fee.
The yard is quite big but everyone does their own thing. The YO goes round and puts morning nets and feeds in if they're left outside the stable at about 8am (for free). I'm usually already there as I'm not working at the minute.
There are lots of people who don't muck out until they get there after work or whatever.
This rule certainly wouldn't work on my yard. I'd feel that YO was trying to make more money by making it difficult or virtually impossible for people to adhere to this rule. If you can't do it, but MUST follow the rule whats the other option? Paying the yard. I'd be a bit miffed to be honest.
 
I was on a yard with this rule. Due to odd shifts I was on full livery so didn't affect me. But if someone on DIY hadn't mucked out by I think 11am, they would do it and charge you.
 
Also- does no one else sometimes want to ride first while their horse is dry , ready and waiting , rather than turn out, muck out, then catch up again?
 
We don't really have any rules on our yard, we just use common sense & the yard is tidy, clean & a wonderful place to be. I'm fortunate that I can get to the yard every morning & turn out & muck out first thing. There is another person that can't get there first thing so she comes down in the afternoon & mucks out. Yes it's nice to see all the stables mucked out & pristine by mid morning but honestly does it really matter?

We are a small yard with only 4 horses & don't feel the need to have the numerous rules that I read about on this forum. :)
 
teasle said:
Also- does no one else sometimes want to ride first while their horse is dry , ready and waiting , rather than turn out, muck out, then catch up again?
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I muck out with the horse in the stable. Feed breakfast, do jobs, then if enough time has past then ride. I used to have a horse who knocked over the barrow and I would just tie him up in the stable with a net on the 'unbedded' bit, and muck out around him
 
Toby_Zaphod said:
Yes it's nice to see all the stables mucked out & pristine by mid morning but honestly does it really matter?)
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For horses with respiratory problems in a barn setup, yes it does. And as I mentioned earlier - wooden stables left with wet in will rot, especially if it is mares who pee up banks.
 
Terrible rule for a DIY yard. Fine on a full livery and can see the point there but not on a DIY.

Can't think of one reason other than for purely aesthetic reasons, which is just silly considering the practical implications it would have on the clients. It would be a sign of a bonkers YO to me and I would never ever move on to a yard with this rule as it would suggest that there would be other daft and impractical rules too.

I can however completely understand a rule saying that stables must be mucked out at least once a day. That is reasonable :)
 
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