Feeling safe at yard

Penny Less

Penny Less

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10 March 2009
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Just wondering, if those of you on a yard on your own (not at your own home) feel safe when doing your horses ? Im hoping to find a place of my own but someone has been putting the wind up me a bit re this ! Have got a dog but hes more likely to run away than anything if any trouble !
 
I C**p myself every time I go to the yard in the evenings! I'm always there on my own and it's literally in the middle of nowhere.... there are always deer wandering about aswell which obviously the horses can see but I can't! I make sure there is a shovel or fork near mr all the time lol
 
I always feel safe at any of the yards i've been on and I've been on some horror's of yards...lol BUT saying that one yard the hay barn was round the back of the stables....there was lights outside but it was spooky...lol
 
Usually I am a total scaredy cat in the dark, but when I am around the horses I don't mind at all! Can you get a head torch so you have hands free light where ever you look? You can get really bright ones too.
 
I have my own place and in the 4 years that we have had it have had no problems and i feel much safer here than i did on livery yard, none of my things are borrowed and not returned and drunken yard owners making passes at me are a thing of the past!!
Ive never felt unsafe in the dark when feeding as i too have dogs and my phone plus the other half or friends are more often than not with me too.
Dont let others put you off making a move, having my own place is the best thing i ever did yes its had its problems but they are far outweighed by the good points!! Good luck!!
 
A pack of dogs really helps, nobody could sneak up on me with them around. The horses would also tell me if anyone was about. I used to get worried about it but I don't any more, I just get out there and get on with it. I have got a big motion-sensor light outside the barn though, that helps!
 
Yes, I feel safe from people, the YO lives on site, although not directly near the stables, but it is quite private where we are. I once looked after a friends horse and her yard is directly on a footpath at the edge of the stables, so even at night people were walking close by - felt VERY vulnerable, and could not wait until she was back to look after her own horse. Also, because of this, they are very prone to theft too, as people use the cross country footpaths to get away quick.
 
I see where you're coming from. Our yard got broken into a year ago, and for a short time afterwards going up late in the evenings alone was a bit scary, but the reality is, thieves are not likely to attempt to come onto a yard if someone is there.
A dog will alert you and keep you company, so that is always nice to have around, and you just need to be vigilent, and keep anything of any value hidden and locked away (machinery, power tools, tack, etc). I don't keep my tack at the yard any more for example.

I think the most dangerously risky factor about having a yard of your own, is having an accident on the yard, and there being no one else around.
 
I feel safer on my current yard, and its just me.

I used to be constantly terrified at my last livery yard when I was on my own!!

I do have the worlds 'yappiest' JRT and a big black gelding who is massively over protective!!

Definitely recommend the head lights, I bought my first one ever last month on the advice of a HHO'er - its a god send, cant imagine how I ever managed without it now!!
 
My yard is quite quiet and although there are other liveries I'm often there myself at night - most of the time it doesn't bother me - it's well lit enough and there are 4 rotweilers in the house next door but sometimes if the Y/O isn't in and I know I'm totally alone I can get a bit jumpy but I know I'm being silly and it doesn't really bother me - I'd rather have that than a noisy busy yard!
 
i was expected to walk quite a way from my accommodation to the yard to do night checks and in the end i bought a lamp that was bright enough to dazzle anyone (and many many startled woodcock) and took my terrier with me (who would more likely bark then run and hide).

it is scary, and i was definitely windy after my friends yard was turned over by 'unsavoury' people but a big lamp and sometimes my whip, for some reason? made me feel better.
 
The current one I'm at yes I feel safe as I'm in yelling distance of friends house and others, but up until last year I also rented a few acres on a farm....and kept ponies down there as much as poss as there was more grazing.

I had to park on the farm track and walk across an open field to get to mine. My field had woodland on 3 sides with a public footpath running down one side, and a big hedge at the top, so totally isolated from ear and eyeshot of anyone.

2 of my ponies hated it down there, were forever escaping, and jumpy. It was gorgeous in summer but dreadful in winter as pitch dark, no elec, no one to hear me if I had any problems.

Final straw last winter, had trudged back across the field, was changing out of my wellies, stood at the car and suddenly aware that someone was behind me. A man. He claimed he was trying to get past my car down the track but he was on the wrong side of the car... the public footpath was on the other side.

I absolutely SCREAMED my head off in fright, and he just stood there... didn't back off or anything. I was terrified. He didn't actually do anything, just murmured the fact that he hadn't meant to frighten me and melted off into the dark

Rang my boss that night, asked for the following day off and moved ponies off the land back up to my friends house.

I feel so much safer here.
 
I love being on the yard at night by myself!!! I avoid all the people who prefer to gossip rather than ride, I get the indoor school to myself and I can get on and muck out without being forced to be polite!!! I'm certainly not afraid of being there, I walk my dogs after doing the horse and if I can walk them through rural woods and on cliff tops at 8pm and 6am in the pitch black I don't think being on a lit yard is anything to be worried about!!;)
 
Motion lights would be a good idea - and go to a rescue and get another dog - or PM Cayla on the dog part of the board as she is involved with a rescue.

I am sometimes the last man standing at my yard which is on top of a hill but I have my 2 vocal staffies who keep me company while I am finishing off plus which our school faces the main gate so no one can creep into the yard! I have to admit I would be windy if I didn't have my dogs as they are truly excellent at telling me when someone is coming (even if we did put the fear of god into some late night cyclists when locking up!)
 
I am often alone at my present yard, b ut know the owner is round the corner so I have never felt unsafe (even though if anything happened owner would not know) but contemplating a place on my own is quite scary. I remember being on a yard some years ago I was always the last one up in the dark and I used to sing very loudly, thats enough to scare anyone believe me. Its finding the right place in the right place I suppose.
 
I'm fine on my own, just make sure all the horses are in from the fields by the time it's dark. We have lights everywhere. We have an american barn that so I can shut the door and potter about inside, there is also a bolt to lock the door from inside. Although I'm at the yard on my own, there is a cottage and big house nearby and I always have my phone in my pocket :)
 
I feel safer there than most places. If I'm in any of my animals company I always feel reassured. lol not that my horse would protect me.
 
No, dont worry at all. The yard is well lit, YO lives on site right next to the yard and best of all the yard is totally secure with massive security gates that you need the code to open. Its quite a small yard with only 9 liveries, and everything is well lit, secure and safe. Our last yard gave us the creeps though. Mind you it was down more to the creepy YO and his vile wife and it was also haunted, but thats another story.
 
Always feel safe when i'm there on my own. Even though it's in a valley, in the middle of nowhere and i get no mobile signal! There is a house that kind of over looks the yard so there is always someone in there if i need them.
 
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