Getting Pee'd Off Now...

[ArabianGold]

This morning I arrived at the yard to find "a swimming pool" outside Whisper's stable.

I have mentioned it numerous times to the YO but he refuses to do anything about it..

What would you do? I have thought about just paying to have the area sorted but then why should I...

This isn't the worse it has been the other morning it was starting to just reach the bottom of her door.

Surly I am paying for a water proof stable and he should be looking in to fixing the problem..

Or am I just being to fussy and live with it, after all it is winter and it will rain..

 

[martlin]

TBH, for the time being you will just have to live with it, I'm afraid, because the time to sort things like that is in the summer, when it's dry. You can't do anything until it drains and dries out.

 

[forestfantasy]

Is it wet inside?
If so i'd definitely be making a stink about it.

If not i can't say i'd be too bothered tbh, great water training for pony!
The only time it would be a problem for me is when it freezes & in that case i'd keep some rock salt handy

 

[Firewell]

We have a drain outside our old brick stables so that doesn't happen. It's like a trough that goes around the bottom of the building and under the stable doors so the water can drain.

I would be pissed off about that tbh and I would ask if it could be sorted by next winter .

 

[Paint Me Proud]

my stable floods in under the door if it rains badly. I have just learnt to live with it.

 

[ArabianGold]

It's not wet inside at the moment but my friend and I keep bucketing the water away as quick as it appears.

I felt the bricks on the inside this morning and they are very cold and damp so I am being to wonder if the bricks are soaking the water up.

I totally understand that these things should be solved in the summer but my biggest concern is when it turns to ice, I'll be getting Whisper skates.

Also it's a nightmare to try and keep the area clean, as you can see from straw floating on top of the water and it drives me insane, a bit of OCD kicking in there.

I have tried (as you can see from pic) to make a mini bank to stop it flowing so much down the yard but it was quite a pathetic attempt. Will try something else..

 

[AmyMay]

Does your YO give a reason why he's not prepared to provide a safe and tidy environment in which to keep your horse?

 

[wes]

Depending on the lie of the land, there may not be much the YO can do to help the drainage.

To clear, the water has to go somewhere, and if the water table is full, and the land cannot drain to a lower area then it's going to puddle up.

The only way for it not to puddle up is for the water to drain somewhere, or not to flow there to start with. Either solution will not be easy, if at all possible.

With the amount of rain we've had, then I don't honestly think you can do much about it apart from prevent the water from going through the stable door if it rises too far by using some sand bags.

 

[LaurenBay]

Theres not an awful lot you can do about it now. Although I would be asking the YO to provide me with some salt, to stop it icing over.

When the weather is wamer and dryer, I would be asking for a suitable drainage system to be put in.

 

[Cazza525]

I would only be pped off if it was flooding into my stable daily! The weather has been horrendous, but WILL dry up! Unfortunately, you will only be able to fix this in the summer.....Drainage works are costly, I can see why your yard owner is refusing to do anything tbh. At least the stables are placed above ground level

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

As a YO I would be in a very difficult position here.

The main difficulty is that (like everyone else!!) no-one can predict what eventualities the weather will produce!! Probably the stables in question are fine for say 51 weeks of the year, its just that due to the exceptionally bad/wet weather we've all had recently, the water-course in the ground is higher than normal plus the constant rain every single day, means that there will be problems like this occuring!

Its no-one's fault: and I can't see how any YO can foresee what might happen or be blamed for it.

And in any case, when the wind is blowing like a hooley and everything is wet and thoroughly soaked, there's very little that CAN be done at present, in any case. Jobs like this need doing in the better weather and it would be impossible to attempt any sort of "fix" at the moment (even presuming you could get someone to do it as every builder/tradesman etc is out on emergency calls at the mo).

As a YO, if someone unforeseen like this does occur and for example someone's stable was soaked or whatever, then I personally would offer either a refund of livery fees for that particular period/week or whatever, OR pay for the cost of replacement bedding if that was the issue.

Its not easy being a YO and taking responsibility; at the moment its a real struggle just trying to survive the weather - and somehow or other we're still managing to provide daytime turn-out here. I know many places where they're not.

Please be gentle with your YO!!! Its not their fault the weather's like it is - and they're probably very aware of the difficulties you and other liveries are having, but right now for various reasons are not able to sort it ASAP for you.

If you're really feeling strongly that the situation is one that you cannot endure any longer and/or you feel that your YO isn't doing enough, then I would suggest you look for another yard where things might suit you better?

 

[Azmar]

Totally agree with above. If you cannot face January wet and winds try for barn type stabling. These winds do drive rain through many unexpected places though. I've paid good money in a couple of yards where seasonal leaks occurred and lived with them, and so did the horses.....

 

[martlin]

I have industrial drains throughout the yard, horses in an American barn and top of the range drainage systems in the arena... guess what, arena is a lake, yard drains are spitting water upwards and there was a river going through the tack room this morning. Unfortunately, as others said, you cannot predict weather like that and some things just need to be put up with for a while.

 

[ArabianGold]

Thanks for your points MiJodsR2BlinkinTite, and everyone else for that matter.

I shall hold on until summer and see if my YO and I can perhaps do something agreeable together then.

For the time being however Whisper and I shall take up synchronized swimming, tickets available now

 

[Honey08]

I don't know about where you live, but here it has been exceptionally wet and windy weather. Everything is underwater and soggy! It is more than likely that the water will have gone before it freezes - don't think there is a big freeze forecast.. If the horse was up to it's fetlocks in water that would be a more serious problem. At the moment you're worrying about something that might happen rather than has happened.. (Not meaning to criticise you, just pointing out..)

Does it normally puddle up like that? If it did it every time that it rained then it would be a bigger deal.. That yard looks pretty hard to keep tidy anyway, with its dirt rather than concrete. How are other people coping on the yard?

I have my own yard. At the moment the fields and even the winter hardstanding paddock are underwater, the roof is leaking due to the severity of the wind blowing the rain. Last year in the hard frost the taps went off for over a month. Some things you just have to cope with for a bit and can't be sorted there and then. Often they're situations that only happen in extremes, and its hardly worth the major effort to sort them out.. That was why we stopped doing livery, as when its just you you cope, when its other people you worry and have to rush around trying to solve problems that don't seem that large to you - all for £5 a week profit!

Lets all hope it just lets up raining soon! I think the forecast for tomorrow and the weekend is dry...

 

[riding_high]

it looks from the pics as though the yard slopes towards the stables, maybe you could ask the YO to sort that out for next winter (change the slope to the other way), we used to get a massive puddle outside the barn but we put chippings down and sloped it away from the barn so that it ran away, so far it's held up and has worked.

but overall you will just have to put up with it until the spring/summer.

 

[smiffyimp]

To be honest it really doesnt look that bad! Ive certainly dealt with worse.
As for putting in drainage and get the yard to slope the other way etc - have you any idea how much a tonne of concrete and drainage costs??? I doubt its gonna happen!

If your worried about the inside of the wall being damp, why not get a bale of hemp or shavings and bank up the inside and leave there. If there are any leaks it will be soaked up.

If water starts running in stables, ask to move stables or find another yard.

So little profit is made on yards, it is very doubtful that a YO is going to fork out hundreds or thousands of pounds to rectify these issues and if they do I expect the livery price would increase and you'd all complain about that.

 

[MerrySherryRider]

Is there a blocked drain that is stopping the water flowing away or is the guttering overflowing due to a build up of debris ? I generally call on my OH who's quite practical at unblocking blocked up things.
Where does the water from the hose pipe drain away to ? If there's no drain there, unrolling the hose and using it where the water won't drain back outside your stable may help. There might be a livery who is fond of hosing muddy legs with copious amounts of water which is adding to the problem during this exceptionally wet weather.

These old livery yards are often full of quirks which make life interesting during various times of the year. My problem this year was swallows nesting in my stable and having absolutely everything covered in droppings.

If the water pooling is unacceptable and you can't resolve it with or without your YO's help or by swopping stables, then moving to another yard is probably the only other option.
DIY livery doesn't make YO's rich, so generally its a case of compromise or moving on.

 

[Wagtail]

As above, the profit made from livery, especially DIY is practically zero. My friend had to close her yard as even charging £25 a week for her 6 DIY customers, it did not cover what they were using in electric, water and maintenance. So long as the water isn't running into your stable, I really wouldn't be expecting anything to be done about it. As others have said, drainage works are expensive and for the sake of a few days a year, the cost would probably be prohibitory.

 

[fatpiggy]

Count yourself lucky you have a step up into your stable! Ours are wooden and built on the cheap, directly onto the concrete floor with a completely useless membrane under the bottom of the the wall. Later they added a concrete pad outside the doors which was just dumped down and directs the puddles straight towards the doors. Then they put a drain in at the lowest point - downhill from the muckheap so everytime it rains heavily, all the crap higher up on the yard and the lightweight part of the muckheap flows down and blocks the drain. From that point it is less than 30 minutes before my stable is flooded from front to back by several inches of what is effectively raw sewerage. An entire aubiose bed lost (£80+ worth). Do they do anything about it? Have a guess. The drain is currently running reasonably but I had to scrape the grid out again last night and got myself soaked in the process. We had no electricity for 5 days (and more importantly nights,) twice in the last 6 weeks. And the rent goes up next month. Wish I could leave.