Do any of us really have the 'perfect' yard?

Girlracer

Girlracer

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 September 2008
Messages
2,712
Location
Worcestershire
Visit site
Or do we just adjust our management to suit said yard?

I was thinking about it recently, as a friend is going through a nightmare time trying to find somewhere suitable for her two Thoroughbreds.

I'm pretty happy on my yard, but there is plenty I would change. The school is not great (that's putting it politely!), the fencing is not great (again, being polite) and the over all maintenance of the yard is pretty poor. However, you get what you pay for and at £15 a week I really can't complain and there are plenty of positives.

But it got me thinking, I have never been on a yard where there wasn't something that was a nuisance.

I am going to be looking for a new yard in a few months, albeit not desperately, I'm just moving a few miles further away and it's already 6 miles from home and I'm not prepared to travel any more than that twice a day really (unless it was an easy journey, which it isn't). The chances of me finding somewhere which meets every requirement I have is pretty remote, I will have to sacrifice the least important things.

So do any of us really have the perfect (for us) yard?
 
I've 'made do' on yards before.
I don't mind facilities so much as long as I'm getting a fair price, and i moved recently from a yard where i did just think i was getting ripped off, it sounded cheap until all the little extras were added on!
 
Its nice to read a post from someone who appreciates that you probably won't get perfection for a pittance.

I have mine at home, so its far from perfect and there are a million jobs that need doing, but it suits me and my horses.

I don't think that you will ever get a yard that everyone likes! We all like different things.
 
Mine isn't far off!
It's 5 minutes from home
Lovely people
High standard of care and well maintained
Reasonably flexible in packages
Good facilities

The only extras I would love would be an indoor school and a horsewalker or treadmill - but then that would just be being greedy ;)
 
EmmyMD said:
I've 'made do' on yards before.
I don't mind facilities so much as long as I'm getting a fair price, and i moved recently from a yard where i did just think i was getting ripped off, it sounded cheap until all the little extras were added on!
Click to expand...

Pretty much agree with this.

There have been a few times where I have had to skip on facilities to be able to keep my horses within budget, and equally times when I have had luxury facilities (horse walker, indoor schools etc) but paid more.

Yard currently had everything I need, all year turnout, hacking and an arena within my budget.
 
For me, perfect is knowing that the horses are all safe and well cared for, and that the people there will step in to help one another in an emergency. Everything else is gravy :)
 
As close as it gets, would like a slightly larger arena but it doesn't stop us and tbh it means we go places more often and the neds are getting used to it!
 
Yup, I have the perfect yard. Full grass livery, amazing hacking and I totally trust YO and her staff to look after my pony. School and XC course on site too.
 
We get charged £40 a month (so extremely cheap!) for renting perfectly nice enough private yard. It's nice because it's just me and mum.

It has stables, but when it starts raining loads they can get soggy (natural flooring), so careful maintenance from us has had to sort that out. Also when it freezes or snows we get the melting ice dripping into the stables from the roof, but luckily that doesn't happy in the rain so it's not too bad.

Turnout is good, but we've had to get it round ourselves through careful maintenance. Another yard down the track (about a minutes walk) has a decent enough school, the surface gets deep in the heavy rain and freezes over (it's just woodchip) but the owner is changing the surface to carpet fibre, so hopefully that'll be better and we get charged £25 a month.

So I can't complain as we get a yard for £40 a month per person that we can treat as our own basically. Of course we do live with the fear that the owner of the field will come back with her four horses and we'll have to find somewhere else.
 
My yard is a 35 minute drive away, I have no tack room (just a stable to keep all my gear plus feed in) there is no arena, and I get charged £30 per week per horse for that, but I love it there :)
Far from perfect but it's ok for me
 
There isn't much I'd change about the yard I'm currently at.

The hacking is mostly roadwork but it's not really an issue for me.
I've had a few issues with people taking my stuff (had a full Oster grooming kit disappear and I still haven't found it) but thankfully it seems to have been sorted since the YM got involved.

Other than that, I'm happy. The only way it could be better would be if it was my own yard.
 
It is something that is constantly on my mind at the moment. I keep my horses at home at the moment but want to move to a yard for many reasons. I only know 1 yard that is close enough for 2 visits a day, but am opening up to yards on the way to work in Cheltenham as 5 days a week.
I have been on yards before and have made do with some things, I always put turnout to the top of the list, which meant no school or poor hacking, but certain adjustments could be made.
We all have things we can and cant cope with, which all differ slightly, I am willing to compromise though.
 
I definitely agree you get what you pay for, Im on a great yard, indoor and outdoor schools, walker, great hacking, amazing trainers on site and visiting etc etc but I pay a premium for it. Worth every penny though !
 
I'd concider the yard i'm on as pretty much perfect, the only thing I'd add would be more off road hacking (we do have some!), an indoor school and a hot wash box.

We've got a good school, good stables, well maintained yard and fencing. Plenty of grazing and all year turnout during the day.

I pay £50 a week including all Hay, bedding, basic feed and the YO feeds and turns out for me in the morning.
 
Every thing in life is a compromise, I have struggle for years with no school, no concrete, flooded stables but able to do as I please and good off road hacking. I then moved to yard that had all the facilities because my daughters horse needed a school. Although I can not say I hated it, I hate the competitive side of livery yards and as soon as I could managed to rent a field as extra grazing. I then realised I love pottering, there is nothing so blissful as poo picking on a nice day with no one wanting to know why you haven't done it for the last four days.
I now have my own yard with stables, concrete, electric etc, its not perfect and never will be, I am far too untidy and I am never going to have a school but I can turn out 24/7 365 days of the year. Someone has just asked me about livery and I am in a dilemma about sharing.
 
Christmas Kia said:
I've sacrificed having a school for the ability to keep my horses my way. Not stopped me competing nor collecting Rozzies :)
Click to expand...

I thought I had done the same but it seems at current yard I've also sacrificed being able to keep my horses my way. As in being forced to turn them out during the day in a field with skinny TBs on ad lib haylage. Mine are now too fat and its so difficult to get them in condition for competing again.

It would be nice to be a yard too where, even if they didn't occasionally compete themselves, the other liveries showed some interest. They have no idea where I go when I go away to shows...they assume they don't see me because I "don't come up to my horses for a few days" - err, no, look more carefully and you will see the horses weren't there during this time!

I have to also admit that incompetent people behaving dangerously around horses is something I really find unbearable, along with lack of turnout.
 
my yard is perfect (sorry guys) has indoor and outdoor school (not that I use them as im a hacker only with a 22yr old semi retired) its £122 a month but that includes all hay and straw can use as much as we want and no moaning :) everyone helps each other out bring in or turn out hot wash box fantastic hacking and most importantly no bitching!! :)
 
Holly08 said:
Its nice to read a post from someone who appreciates that you probably won't get perfection for a pittance.

I have mine at home, so its far from perfect and there are a million jobs that need doing, but it suits me and my horses.

I don't think that you will ever get a yard that everyone likes! We all like different things.
Click to expand...
I agree! We are sloshing around in mud atm but ateast it's our own mud. We accepted several compromised to come here and don't have fancy facilities but I wouldn't
go back to a livery yard at any price,
 
The yard we moved to about 4 months ago now is pretty much perfect for me.. only 15 mins from home, 5 seconds down the road from where I work, indoor school, nice people etc etc Only thing its missing is a horsewalker and a closer field for mine to go out in! :p
 
My yard is pretty much perfect! I have known the owners for years, I used to teach their kids! I bumped into them last Feb after not seeing them for a few years, found out they had 12 brand new stables built which were empty! Told them to let me know if they wanted to fill them, an hour later, they knocked on my door and i moved in March! They have built a lovely floodlit sand and carpet fibre arena, x country jump paddock, post and rail fencing and left me in charge of filling the other stables! It is basically like having my own yard and we are left to our own devices! We now have filled all the stables with lovely people and the yard owner is fab as does any maintenance within hours of asking! The only way, i would move is if I could get a house and land together but no plans for that for a few years!
 
My new yard is better than perfect!!
Big yard (30- 40 horses maybe) great facilities, fantastic hacking and wonderful people, clinics, fun rides etc.
Only wish I had found it years ago, feel like I have wasted the previous 8 years with my horse, just pottering around with hardly any company and no-where to go.
 
I think perfection is a personal thing. I have mine at home and they live out 24/7 there are lots of things id like- more than one stable, a school, a proper tack room but to me the over riding thing is that I'm a massive worrier so being able to check my neds anytime day or night means the world to me. A five minute check can put my mind at ease especially in the awful weather we have had. Perfect! (For me!)
 
For me our yard is perfect! So much so that I am moving house to be nearer to it ;)

We have restrictions on turnout in the winter - clay soil - but the yard staff will graze my horses in hand and when they are in, there are lots of interesting things & other horses to look at so nobody ever has a problem. Staff will do ANYTHING for us, treat horses kindly, ride nicely, and are great to chat to. Bit of a boggy school but great off road hacking and best of all really friendly liveries and staff. I love it and the horses are very happy there :)
 
My horses live at home, there are lots of good points to this;
*Can manage them how I want
* They can live free range
*No bitching

Bad points
* Clay soil so have to keep them yarded through winter
* No facilities (can hack to facilities locally in good weather)
* Limited hacking
*Can be lonely

During term time I take the youngster to Uni.

Good points
*Excellent facilities
*Brilliantly managed
*Really convenient
*Great company
*Fab hacking

Bad points
*Very strict (although not necessarily a bad thing!)
*Turnout is limited (but well managed)

Two years ago I'd have said that home was nearer perfect, when my horse was three years old and only really needed equine company. Now he's coming six years and needs to be working regularly, I can't do this at home due to the lack of daylight, so now the Uni arrangement is nearer to what we need.

Ideally, I'd combine the two, although would want sandy soil as opposed to the clay at both locations!

So no, perfect is probably very hard to come by, as perfect changes depending on what we need!
 
I was lucky enough to rent a house and yard for a few years. It wasn't perfect - we had 1.5 acres of wet turnout for 6 horses - but we adapted, made the most of what we had - big floodlit school and a horse walker - and never moaned about it, infact for a long time it was great. A big downside was that although the horse facilities were great our living accomodation wasn't, but we were happy to put up with it just to have the horses outside the door and our bedroom above the stables.. After 3 years though keeping horses stabled every night and sometimes in 24/7 for a day or two over winter, plus the horrific mud not to mention the expense, finally got to me. We moved house and moved our horses to a seperate yard. Now I can genuinely say I've found the closest thing to perfect. My 3 horses are out 24/7 in a herd of 12, they are fed hay in the field and they have lovely big fields with natural shelter thats poo picked for us and rotated to ensure they always have grazing available to them, we have a lovely stables (not that we really use them) and a YO who is always avail to assist with feed, bringing in etc. All our hay, bedding and chaff is inc in the price which makes my life so much easier and just to add a cherry to the top we have a floodlit school with a lovely surface, a field of xc fences and miles and miles of amazing hacking. It's not 'cheap' but when you break down all the costs it's super value for money. Plus the horses love it. It means that I can, hopefully, ride and compete whilst still being able to keep my horses as 'naturally' as possible. It's also barefoot horse friendly with different surfaces in the fields.

I honestly feel like I've hit the livery yard jackpot.
 
I think mine is pretty perfect but i pay for it as its on the more expensive side of diy yards even for Surrey. There are a couple of niggles, the school surface could be a bit better but not an issue, the yard owners have an old school way of doing things which isnt a problem in its self (quite nice really) but i like mine out all day so bring him in after work at 5 and all the other horses are in by 3 even in the summer, its just the way i prefer it so not something at bothers me and he is fine on his own.
There is no bit***g, everyone is lovely although im the only one up in the evenings as most people are up during the day, its 10 mins from work, fab hacking, jump paddock, xc fences and good turnout.
Its such a shame that my boy struggles with it as he doesnt get on with the herd, i think its just the one that has a problem with him but it has resulted in broken bones so he wont be going out with the others once healed, that said the yo has be fab at accommodating him while he recovers and he will pair up with another once he is able to go out properly, cant ask for more.

I have been in yards that work for me at the time but as things change i move. I was at a yard with my last mare for over 10 years, when she was pts i realised i should have left long before that as the yard really wasnt the place it used to be so when i got current one i went somewhere else. If it wasnt for that closing i probably wouldnt have left there. The yard after didnt have the hacking and in the end was a problem so i moved for current yard. Once my boy stops getting beaten up it will be perfect!
 
I love being at a private house rather than on a yard. Currently I'm at a fantastic place, and after a few issues, things have settled down. We are happy hackers, so we didn't need the facilities I was paying for at my last yard (though the school was a bonus for lungeing). Having joint hypermobility, I can't jump any more, and the hacking is just so good - with NO gates as opposed to at least five on the main brideway :D
 
Loved my old yard. Only thing I'd have changed was a bigger arena, but it had incredible hacking, floodlit arena, nice american barn stables and all year turnout. We were allowed 24/7 turnout all year on the understanding that if we trashed the fields that was our problem and we wouldn't get any of more grazing. Allowed to strip graze so i didnt have to muzzle my fatty. Lovely yard owners and enough rules to keep things running smoothly but not so many as to be smothering. Diy only but lots of lovely liveries and we all helped each other out.

I only moved because I moved house and job and ive been hard pushed to find somewhere that lives up to it. New yard isnt far off but sacrificed the amazing hacking and as new area is lower lying we have to bring in overnight but think we'll be very happy there. Only change ive made I guess is that she wont be out at night over winter, but shes out in a herd which she couldn't be at the old place as there was nothing suitable for her to go out with.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top