Hating owning a livery yard

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I used to have about 8/9 liveries here at my home , a mix of diy and full. The full liveries were the best to have without doubt. The stories I could tell of various situations I have had over the years with diyers, in the end stopped diy altogether & carried on with full until natural wastage occured and decided not to continue.

Well...... I've been offering DIY livery for 30yrs now, and haven't ever done any other sort.

I live on-site, which makes you MEGA choosey believe me; have only had a couple of really really rotten eggs: the first one was someone who shut her horse in and then went off on holiday, leaving me no contact details or any idea about who would see to her horse. A "friend" who was as hopeless as a chocolate teapot rocked up the day after, then got scared of the horse and disappeared again. I ended up having to do it.

The second was someone who was the sweet little wifey of someone who'd regularly supplied us with a feed product at the yard and who we thought would be OK. She wasn't....... she immediately complained about the sheep on site and said that they'd be eating the grass she'd paid for her her horses! Even though she knew darn well that they were there: hubby did anyway as he'd delivered here and she'd been out with him on a few occasions!! She stayed less than a week; and tried sneaking her horses out at 5.30 one morning when she thought I wouldn't be around! But I was! It was my early-to-work morning; the only morning in the week I'd be around at that time. Bad timing on her part. I'd never ever trust anyone who came across as soooh sickly-sweet (vomit-inducing) again, not ever.

 

[Irish-Only]

Dog kennels are wonderful. Just the dogs, no owners and 2 days of kennelling earns more than one weeks diy livery, no grazing required, etc etc. Plus if a particular dog is a pain, you can be 'booked up' next time
Been there, got the T shirt and wouldn't have liveries ever again.
So sorry you are suffering at the hands of the ungrateful ones. Good luck.

 

[jay2bee]

Update: Have given my first notice ?
The poor payer livery. Noticed she hadn’t added on the cost for keeping her horsebox here to 1st August payment. (She has done this every month clearly to try and get away with it… twenty quid!) I asked for it by the end of play. Didn’t materialise, so I’ve given a months notice due to poor payment behaviour.

 

[Irish-Only]

Update: Have given my first notice ?
The poor payer livery. Noticed she hadn’t added on the cost for keeping her horsebox here to 1st August payment. (She has done this every month clearly to try and get away with it… twenty quid!) I asked for it by the end of play. Didn’t materialise, so I’ve given a months notice due to poor payment behaviour.

Well done. I bet you feel so much better too.

 

[Fieldlife]

Update: Have given my first notice ?
The poor payer livery. Noticed she hadn’t added on the cost for keeping her horsebox here to 1st August payment. (She has done this every month clearly to try and get away with it… twenty quid!) I asked for it by the end of play. Didn’t materialise, so I’ve given a months notice due to poor payment behaviour.

Well done. Do you not invoice her monthly and she pays your invoice?

 

[Chuffy99]

Well done, good start?

 

[skint1]

Well done, I think that will go a long way as an example to your other liveries too.

 

[SantaVera]

Well done ?,now you need a plan for if she doesn't actually move. I think it's a good idea to send her a signed for letter stating that her horse and all her belongings needs to be removed by (time) on ( date) and stable left tidy and cleaned out. State that if this doesn't happen the horse will be delivered to her address and she will be invoiced for travel costs and cleaning costs. Sounds harsh but time and again I've known of people staying on, not paying and then doing a moonlight flit and leaving the place in a mess.

 

[Tillymay]

I understand you wanting to deal with each person directly but surely that creates so much more work and ultimately also creates an atmosphere of "Well Jay2bee said it was okay" and then someone else comes and asks you if you did say it was okay etc etc.

Creating a whatsapp group (with no replies from liveries switched on) is a very easy way to make sure all liveries get 1 message.

Creating a shared calendar for the school is very good too - we use TimeTree so we can ALL see who was in the school before us. If Sue was in at 2.30-3.00 and I come in at 3.10 for my session and there is a poo in there then I know it was Sue and I will clean her poo up if she's forgotten but I can then message her and say hey sue you left a poo in the school during your slot so next time please clean it up.

This one to one business creates far more work and far more hassle for you - one system for all to receive your messages will just cut down on all the "he said/she said" nonsense.

Just made sure that as Admin of the group you turn off the feature for other members of the chat group to reply so it is not a big long chat group but a one message to all tool.

 

[Tillymay]

Oh and well done for your first notice - that will sharpen people up a bit!

 

[teapot]

Get them in for a yard meeting (if you need wine, cake and to call it a summer social as a bribe, do it), preferably when the yard looks like a shit-tip. Half way through said social suddenly announce it's a fire drill (if some horses are out, they must rescue a bucket/wheelbarrow/their tack) and time them. If you can, find a friendly local off duty firefighter to help.

As they fall over themselves, their kit, their badly parked trailers, and mess on the yard, remind them as DIYers they have a duty to keep a tidy safe yard, not only for their own horses but fellow liveries. Give them 48hrs to sort themselves out, or they get another one

Timetree for arena bookings
WhatsApp group for emergencies and change it to read only
White board for notices

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Well done OP!!

You have prioritised your MAIN problem i.e. the non-payer - which should hopefully give out a clear message to the others that they need to pull their fingers out their b@cksides basically.

As someone else has said, you also now need to have a back-up plan for if she defies you. I would be drafting something along the lines of it being passed to a "debt collection agency"....... or your Legal, for recovery if not paid. You might not need to use it (hope you don't), but it might be worth putting a form of words together just in case so's you can trot it out if needed.

You will need to stay firm with this: coz if you are perceived as being "soft" with this, then you will have further problems in future. Stay strong!

 

[GreyDot]

I'd actually love to be on your livery yard - you sound invested and as if you genuinely care about your business. Sorry you have some bad apples there, hope they realise how good they have it!
And remember, you are actually in the position to be able to say if they don't like it, they can leave. You will definitely fill those stables without issues.
I can understand you don't need the added stress, but tough love now will go a long way.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Glad you gave notice well done ?

 

[Darbs]

Resurrecting this thread a couple of years on as I am interested in how the yard played out?

 

[SantaVera]

been there got the t shirt. only plus side is it is a learning experience. If you decide to do liveries full livery is the only way to keep controil of your premises and horsewelfare side of things. sending ((hugs)).

 

[canteron]

Just read all through this and then noticed it finished in Aug 2022. It’s a bit like reading a novel and finding the last page torn out!

I hope she sorted it though as she did sound as if it would be a great yard once there were strict rules.

 

[expanding_horizon]

We use a Whats App group chat too and its very useful although I'm currently off it and FB for a bit of headspace.

I like the idea of photos though.
I can't imagine not sweeping up outside my stable - its something I'm anal about. I take great pride in my stable and the area around it. My paddock too.

My horse lives out. I use stable for grooming / tacking up etc. Everyone walks mud past it on the way in / out of fields. And drops hay. And my horse despite a railway sleeper in his doorway does drag a bit of bedding out of the stable. I sweep the outside of stable and the vicinity about once a week. I would do it more often if I was mucking out daily and making the majority of the mess. Daily for me would be excessive.