Does anyones yard have a policy on leaving horses out alone?

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lauraanddolly

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I'm wondering as I'm having a bit of an issue with my horse being left out on her own. This wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that she goes mental when left alone.

Things came to a head today, I arrived at the yard at 4pm (usual time) to find four people stood in the yard chatting, I said hi and went straight to the field to get D in, and she had obviously been going hell for leather for a while - completely dripping in sweat, it was even dripping off her head.
This is a normal occurance for D when left alone and I have made sure on several occasions that other people know this and do let me know if she is going to be or has been left alone.

I don't expect them to bring her in or anything(unless they are happy to) just let me know so I can be there to bring her in. I only live 10mins down the road from the yard so doesn't take me long to get there.

But it seems that people are increasingly not getting the message, there was four of them stood in the yard today chatting in full view of my horse going mental and not one picked up the phone to me. (one of them had to remove her horse from the field directly next door to mine, so how she didn't notice as she claimed, I don't know)

So I'm thinking of trying to approach YO to introduce some sort of rule where we are not allowed to leave a horse alone.
I know I'm possibly on a loser but I'm really scared she will injure herself and it's not like is a routine thing so I can't prepare for it, but it does happen a few times a week. I had a bit of a rant at all of them stood in the yard this afternoon, it made me so mad!
 
That's not on - if I had been one of those 4 I would have got your horse in.

On our yard we don't leave horses out by themselves. If you get one in and there's one left then you get that one in too.
 
Technically, yes we do and I wouldn't leave someone else's horse out alone. Hasn't stopped the others doing it to mine when YO was away though
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ETA - if you try and get a rule of some sort introduced, make sure everyone is clear on what it is. On above occasion some well meaning livery moved my sweated up worn out horse into a field with some others - just a shame it was some others she'd never met
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As I'm sure you can imagine I was livid, for a long time afterward
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No rules, and mine used to get stressed but he has got much better. He no longer runs around but stands by the gate calling instead- i have asked before but its a big yard and its obv just not going to happen.
 
on my yard if you bringing horse in and only one other horse out we bring in unless owner specifically said for it to stay out on own.... i think its very unkind to have your mare leathering about like that altho perhaps the others (mistakenly i'm sure) think you might be coming up later to avoid bringing her in and expecting them to do it (we have one lazy sod on my yard who blatantly does this!)
 
We have a rule that we cant leave any horse on its own, and if the owner isnt there u have to bring it in for them...partly so the fields dont get trashed by a loony horse
 
We have a rule that no horses are left out alone, we leave headcollars on the gate post so nobody has to go back to the yard to get the headcollar either, as its quite a long walk to some of the fields.
 
This really irritates me - I always make sure that no ones horse is left on its own - either tell them or YO etc in our field but however none of them ever do the same for me and mine! it is easier as now I have 2 so they can stop out together but I'm afraid some people are just inconsiderate. Should say it is yard rule that nothing is left on its own & YO will always get in horse if necessary.
 
I am very lucky, my mare is fine on her own, even if there is nothing in the fields around her for her to chat to. More than happy to just munch away on grass, and thankfully she has always been like this because in the summer all of her field mates come in at night and she lives out!
However it is not on that your horse was left to go mental, absolutely not on. What if she had done herself an injury?
I don't nescisarilly think that a no horse on its own policy should be introduced, but it should be made clear that if a horse is going nuts or is known to be silly on its own, it should be brought in!!!
Infact tonight I brought the mare next door to my horse in because when I brought my horse in the little mare went ape! Galloping around the field as fast as her little 11.2hh legs would carry her! Wouldn't dream of leaving a horse on its own like that!
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Current yard - yes, we never leave a horse out on its own and we bring each others in/call text eachother and arrange it so last few are brought in together. I had had this problem in the past at another yard and its not nice, poor horse. Mine used to go mad so I had to pay someone to bring in on work days as there wasn't a "help eachother out" culture. I hope you get this sorted.
 
In my yard (and actually every other yard I've been on) horses are never left alone, unless the owner has specifically said that it's OK to do so. Mine is never left, as he frets - on the rare occasion that I am not at the yard before the others in his field are brought in, I find that he has been. And I cannot count the number of times I have brought other horses in.
I think the unspoken rule is a good one, and I hope you can get the message across for the sake of your mare.
 
what ever happened to common sense? you see the horse is alone and upset, either bring it in or phone the owner. it upsets the horse and trashes the fields.
 
We wouldn't leave a horse out on its own, although we do have three horses that don't tend to be brought in until 7/8 o'clock so there isn't really any occasion when a horse IS on its own.

However, if someone is always last up on the yard & I was constantly bringing their horse in, it would nark me a little - unless there was a prior arrangement.
 
We have a rule that says we are not allowed to leave one horse out alone. It has happened on a couple of times in the 11 years I've been there and that person is told that it's uncceptable in no uncertain terms and doesn't do it again
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We will catch the horse who will be alone in and make sure it has a bed down and hay and water in it's stable and ring the owner and tell them that we've caught in.
 
There is only two horses in our field and unless its a sat we dont ride at same time and if I take mine out for hack the other goes spare so I make my hack as quick as poss..I want to enjoy my horse and taking her out pleases us both..I just hate the thought of the other horse being stressed ( as of monday yougster will be arriving so hope problem solved ) only field shelter.
 
No rule as such but I'm on a small yard and we all know each other's horses well so common sense prevails. If the horse left is ok we leave them out (mine would rather be out by himself for an hour or two than in his stable for longer than he has to be!) but we have 3 who are quite bad so if any of them are left, we either get everything ready in our stable and leave ours out with them (if we're not riding, and if the other horse's stable isn't ready) or we bring them both in. We have one who will jump the gate so it's needs must really. We have a white board in the feed room for messages so people know what to do.
 
To be honest, I'd be happy if they just txt me or gave me a ring. I have calmed down a bit now and have spoken to everyone on the yard, made sure everyone has my no(even though its in the emergency book that has everyone's numbers in and we all wrote them in ourselves!)
So all I can do is wait and see for now.
bosworth, can I come to your yard, my mum lives in devon (torquay admittedly but still devon!)lol
 
I have the rule on my yard too that no horse is to be left alone in the field if in a group unless the owner states that it is ok to be left. If the horse is out on single turn out then it's a different story. I always make a point that having it out on single turn out means it will be on its own and there won't always be something next to it. I like to be clear then everyone knows where they stand. I always explain the rules to people when they come and look at the yard so they are aware of the situations before they decide if they are moving in.
 
I have taught all my horses over the years the art of living in fields alone. I cannot bear horses who will not remain calm and unperturbed when left alone in a field. If any of my horses became silly like this, then they would be given their own paddock for a week or so until they got used to it. I frequently take horses out individually and leave them in paddocks alone for this very reason.
 
Our yard has a rule that no horse should be left out on his or her own. If your horse is one of the last two out then you either get the YO to come and bring the other horse in, or bring it in yourself.

A very important rule IMHO.
 
No rules no.....some of the horses are happy to be out on their own, others aren't......we generally know which ones will get stressed and bring them in and then text/ring their owners.....

.......we all look out for each others horses anyway, I would have been pissed too if they had been stood chatting and my horse was going mental in the field.
 
Yes all liveries on my yard know that no horse is to be left out alone, if this is in danger of happening either myself or the owner are contacted before the situation happens and someone always makes sure that no horses are left out alone unless by permission of the livery owner or myself.
 
There is no rule in place, but my horse goes nuts if left alone, so I have become friends with the other owners in my feild and if shes the last they will get her in. They rarely need to though as the horses stay out quite late in my feild as most of the owners work full time.
 
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I have taught all my horses over the years the art of living in fields alone.

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Great sentiment but in reality many horse would calm down when put in a separate field if they could still see their mates. If you took all the horses away it would be a different story and the so called training would have no effect. Training a horse to stay in a completely empty field with no horses in sight, on it's own, is all very well but the injury a horse can inflict in itself while undertaking this 'training' could be costly or fatal.

The first lesson I learned when I moved to livery was no horse is left out alone. Never. Full stop. That simple.

I have stuck by this, I don't feel comfortable even leaving out horse's that don't care now, I always text the YO to say x will beout alone but seems ok about it. The YO can then decide if the horse needs brought in.

I don't think it should be a rule of a livery yard it should be a rule of keeping horse esp when the horse you leave out goes crazy and sweats up.
 
We have a rule no horse left on its own. But because we have paddocks next to each other then if there is a horse in one paddock and another in one paddock then they are technically not on there own so that is fine unless the horse inst happy then they must come in.

I was on a yard with 60 horses and it was the same rule there and no horse ever got left on its own.

I think it is just common sense you should never leave a horse in distress no matter what you thought of the owners.
 
Oh I've always had plenty of paddocks well away from the other horses, so no it's not difficult in the slightest for me to teach them this. Most livery stables have fields and stables where the horses can always see or smell other horses so the situation I have right now is exactly the same as these other places. My yard previously was not. I had lots of fields which were nowhere near other fields, so it was simple to withdraw a horse from its herd and move it alone for periods.

I suppose that is why mine don't act up when they are taken away from their friends and many horses on here apparently do. Horses for courses, but I certainly don't want herd-bound horses thanks
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That's the problem, a lot of livery yards don't have the facilities for this practising. They insist on the horses going out together to fit their field rotas and available land. In which case, they tend to need a policy of no horse being left out alone.
 
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