'FOR GODS SAKE SHUT THE GATES'

Bosworth

Bosworth

Well-Known Member
Joined
10 February 2006
Messages
5,268
Location
devon
www.ballhillequestrian.co.uk
Ok - I have asked all my liveries nicely on numerous occasions to ensure they shut the yard gates to ensure that any horse that gets loose does not end up on the road, I have put it in the news letters on a monthly basis. I have spoken to several people on an individual basis and asked them to make sure they shut the gates and still two liveries leave the gates open. Today I shut them all, then went to get my yearling and his old boy companion in, I arrive back on the yard to find a gate wide open. One of my liveries - had just arrived, wandered in and left the gate wide open behind them. I was furious, I am sick and tired of telling her, she is in her 60's and has allegedly been around horses all her life, but she is totally and utterly incapable of shutting gates. So how the hell do I get her in particular to shut the gate, There are signs on every gate, its in teh contract, its in the monthly letter. Are they stupid. Its to ensure their horse does not get on the road. It is surely common sense.

Sorry its a long rant - just so frustrated that I am made to feel so dictatorial when actually it is only common sense.
 
I must be lucky, as everyone shuts my gate.

TBTH I've had it left open once, but I left it as if their horse got out then it's their problem, they left the gate open. (Can't get into trouble as there's a gate there, not my fault if they left it open). My horses won't go anywhere
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Well if they carry on threaten fines, and then fine them from a certain date (£20 or something).
 
i'd tell them that you cant risk the others horses because she cant shut a gate behind her, if she leaves it open again she's off. It sounds to me like you've been entirely reasonable.
 
People on our yard are pretty good.... if somebody's going and somebody else is about to go then you'll hear 'Leave the gate!' shouted, but never when horses are being brought in or turned out. I think the best solution will be to fine them.. if it's in the contract then they are breaking their contract by leaving it open, so either they pay a fine or leave.
 
Actually tonight I was the guy shouting 'shut the bloody gate, what is the problem with shutting the gate' I really don't mind if someone is riding out and asks me to shut the gate after them. It's no problem, but when people are just walking on to the yard, they have opened it on the way in, they just need to close it after themselves. aaaargh. it's not rocket science.
 
i wish our yard owner was as good as that she is brill but doesnt shut the gate as shes in and out doing hay deliverys all the time all us liveries keep asking for it to be shut! incase a horse gets out
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You need to hire the guy on our yard - he just yells "who the F-ing hell has left the F-ing gate open". Not many people do it twice, he's scary!

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I like the sound of him, he reminds me of.....ME!

My OH has a similar problem, but with light switches, apparently they only work one way, from OFF to ON.

As for the gate opener, I think a direct confrontation is required, either as she leaves the gate open, or as she is about to open it, preferably when the yard is busy.
 
I had three horses clatter past me on a country road just down from a private yard a few weeks back.... followed by a very red faced huffing and puffing horse owner. I stopped the car in the road with my lights on to stop any more traffic and she managed to collect them all up. When I drove past her yard gate she'd left THREE gates open for them to get out! Thank goodness it was me pootling down the road though and not the usual buy racer idiots hooning down there or I dread to think what may have happened to three dark coloured horses running down an unlit country road in the dark!

Moral? Please shut your gates!!
 
I accidently left the gate open at my yards a few weeks ago - I'd only been there a week, had driven in and was just getting out the car to close it when Y/O appeared and started chatting to me.

I totally forgot what I was about to do and carried out with my mucking out - unfortunately that was the day that her horse somehow managed to undo a tied gate - cue 3 horses, mine included running out the field, through the paddock out the gate, across the road the to the other field - luckily it's a very quiet road but we still had to chase 3 horses about in the dark and it was a very foggy night - that was enough to ensure I don't forget again!
 
yes you are right - same woman! And she is the same who empties full buckets of water across the yard when it is freezing - thereby creating ice slides.

Her husband came back to me and has agreed to keep an eye on her mucking out and is now coming up everyday to check on her. She seems to have a complete lack of common sense. I am loathe to tell her to leave as I am convinced her poor pony would suffer as she really is hopeless around horses. She just does not think about anything other than herself. Not even about her own pony who frequently pushes past her out of the stable, and out of the field. So if any horse was likely to go through the gate she has left open it is likely to be her own. However it could also be my yearling were he to get loose on his way in from the field or anyone of my other liveries.
 
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yes you are right - same woman! And she is the same who empties full buckets of water across the yard when it is freezing - thereby creating ice slides.

Her husband came back to me and has agreed to keep an eye on her mucking out and is now coming up everyday to check on her. She seems to have a complete lack of common sense. I am loathe to tell her to leave as I am convinced her poor pony would suffer as she really is hopeless around horses. She just does not think about anything other than herself. Not even about her own pony who frequently pushes past her out of the stable, and out of the field. So if any horse was likely to go through the gate she has left open it is likely to be her own. However it could also be my yearling were he to get loose on his way in from the field or anyone of my other liveries.

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I think you're on to a loser I'm afraid. She sounds completely out to lunch!
 
NeilM you are soooooo right. i think she is starting to show Altzheimers (sp?) symptons which is why i put up with it, more for her husbands sake than hers. He wants her to be safe and the pony to be looked after. I frequently have to take off the headcollar/leadrope she has left on him over night, have to put in water as she has forgotten it, turn him out because she has forgotten to turn up to do him and so it goes on. Normally her stupidity affects no one but myself as yard owner and her own pony. But this gate problem is putting all liveries at risk. She told me the reason she mucked out badly was because her eyesight is so bad without her glasses she didn't realise it. The bad news is she is driving without those glasses!!
 
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The bad news is she is driving without those glasses!!

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Gawd! What time of the day is she about? I come down your way on business on a fairly regular basis and I want to make sure she and I don't 'meet'.
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Poor soul, she sounds a sad case, slowly losing her marbles and not realising. Not a good prospect for either her or her pony.

I guess some sort of spring return for at least one of the gates is the only safe / sure option. One of the gates we ride through occasionally has some sort of arrangement using bailing twine and bits of old inner tube. It's a complete PIA, but it works.
 
The trouble is spring loaded gates are not really safe for leading horses through, they have a tendency to spring back on the horses legs. These are really easy gates to close, right in front of the stable yard, and right in front of the parked cars.

And as for when she is about - anytime, normally about 4 ish but can be 9 - 11 and between 2 - 5. She doesn't go on any main roads though - just causes chaos behind her on the minor ones!
 
I've long since come to the conclusion that people are A. stupid, and B. too idle. I shut gates as soon as I go through them, its like auto pilot. I've also chased loose horses up a road because closing the yard gate was obviously someone else's job, and it was frightening, to put it mildly. If this was my livery, I'd be giving her notice I'm afraid. If she wants to kill her own animal, that is one thing, but risking the safety of someone elses is quite another (and that includes the ice). You can bet your bottom dollar that if your horse escaped through the open gate and was hit by a car, your insurance would laugh in your face.
 
Our liveries are like this.

They manage to shut the gate to the yard but frequently leave their field gate open and then wonder why our lot sometimes escape into their field - and WHO has to go and catch them and put them all back?

If they just shut the gate when they brought theirs in there would be no problem!
 
move said persons horse to a different stable when they are making feeds or something. Leave the stable door swinging open.

when they exlaim er wheres my horse?!

Say oh i heard hooves it must have escaped ! and as you left the gate open god knows where it could be!

ha sorry im evil.
 
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