DIY yards - BRING IN TIME

I used to hate bringing in time when I kept mine on a livery yard. I used to have to bring every single horse in the field in if I wanted to ride mine in the winter, because they would all be at the gate and mine was always at the back. I once had to bring seven horses in on Christmas Day to get mine out of the field. I accept that this is one of those things and couldn't really be helped, but there were one or two liveries who seemed to come up late on purpose so they didn't have to help bring in (they didn't work, didn't have kids) as our YO asked for horses to be in by 4pm in winter due to lack of grass. Usually it was just me and her bringing in (I was in college at the time). I didn't mind if people were working, but one lady in particular didn't work and was NEVER there to bring in.
 
I always remember a wise person telling me "today's favour is tomorrow's chore." I will always help when I can and when I know the favour is appreciated and reciprocated, but not when the recipient is taking the p***.
Common sense is the answer, unfortunately it's not that common. On our yard, horses who are ok out on their own (90%) are left out unless the weather is awful and they look miserable enough for someone to take pity on them. I got all 13 in mid afternoon during this winter's storms as I was off work and they all looked thoroughly fed up. 2 go mad on their own so get brought in. Having said that, my two are normally last out so have each other. I don't have a problem with bringing a horse in to a dirty stable for a short period if necessary. They're no worse off then than they would be staying in an extra hour in the morning.
 
Everyone seems to be assuming that this livery is taking advantage "IF" they are then yes something needs to be done. However there is nothing in the OPs post to confirm this, in fact the OP says that TWO liveries are regularly late so the problem is not with the same livery every night and may well not be a problem every night for the OP.

On DIY it should be that everyone does their own and there shouldn't be any requirement to do someone elses.

However this yard has a different rule so the OP has choices: a) stick to the rules b) get them changed c) ignore the rules d) leave the yard.

Me personally I'd ascertain whether I was being taken for a mug or whether there was a genuine reason for them being later. If the former then I'd give them warning that I was no longer able to bring theirs in as .... (some suitable excuse) and ignore the rule, if the latter then I'd talk to the YO and the other livery to say that I appreciate that this rule was put in for a reason but that it appears that it always falls to you and that much as you don't mind doing it occasionally you are unable to do it every day and either the rule has to change or the late liveries are going to have to make alternate arrangements.
 
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Any DIY yards that have this silly rule (imo) should have a YO who will bring any stragglers in; whether they charge for it or not is up to them, but this job is definitely not the responsibility of another unpaid livery. Helping out, and constantly doing, are two different things.
 
Spring Feather said:
It really does consistently surprise me that horses are not taught to remain in a field on their own. .
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My horse would happily stay in a field on his own in the summer, but in the winter when his field mate was brought in and there was nothing in sight he would panic. It could be argued that this was due to wanting to come in to a warm stable and a nice hay net.

But horses panicking whilst left on their own isn't altogether suprising as horses are herd animals and in the wild rely on each other for their very being. A lone horse in the wild would last a few days. Put it in a herd with 30 others and it would last a lot, lot longer.

Every yard I have been on has always said no horse to be left on its own EVER, PERIOD. We are talking about horses that are not in sight of others, not if the horse in the paddock next door gets brought in and there is another in the paddock next door!

This rule goes for DIY as well as full livery horses and is the rule that extended to staff as well as liveries.
 
I'd rather be a 'Clappy, Happy, Hippy than a selfish B**ch!"

Thankfully I'm on a nice friendly yard where people don't mind helping each other out. We take the welfare of horses seriously and include all horses in that not just our own.
Out of the 20+ horses on the yard only 3 are known to be happy to be left out alone. Most of the others wouldn't try and jump out or come through the fence if left but would certainly stress to some degree.

Some of the attitudes expressed on here leave me speechless! Obviously not all horse owners are horse lovers :(
 
I don't think it should be up to other liveries to have to bring in other people's horses!! If your horse won't stay out on its own then its up to the owner to A. be there to bring it in themselves or B. get the yo or ask someone else to do it.

I work until 5 but am only 5 mins from my yard so my horses are always the last out - they are usually waiting by the gate but no hysterics. When I had only the one he still stayed out on his own, the YO asked if I wanted her to bring him in but I believe in horses being on their own at some point in their life.

Once you start bringing in it can get taken for granted - I get what the OP is saying. Also, what happens if the stable hasn't been mucked out and there's no hay/water done? Do you just leave the horse or spend more time giving it that? Because I know people who have brought in them just left the horse with nothing to eat.

IMO the clue is in the name DIY ie do it yourself!!
 
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