Have you done a midnight flit or left a yard quickly why?

Only ever done this once!

I left the yard in question with 2 hours Notice!

I had dropped in on my way back from a business meeting unexpectedly just in time to see YO whacking my head shy 3.5 year old full force round the head with a leather lunge cavesson, that was very much a case of "I take it in the circumstances the month notice that you require under the terms of the contract will not be an issue"? And thanking god a friend of a friend could pick us both up and give us a refuge till we sorted something else out.

I was so angry I did the entire move in a suit and a pair of heels!
 
Good God no!!! I couldn't bring myself to do that! I have always given notice and a reason why.

I have had a bit of hassle at my yard, BUT NO WAY AM I LEAVING, I love it there and I am not letting one creep spoil my hobby, So if you are reading this, and you know who you are - Give it a rest.

ETS after reading some stories I've been lucky in my choice of yards!!!!
 
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Its like this .. I have a business and i have customers and i have to treat them with a degree of respect. I am a very forthright person .. a spade is a spade to me.
The livery business is the only business i know that the general rule seems to be the customer is wrong.
I have had my horse for three years and he has had me concussed and generally taken me to hell and back before finally bonding with me. I would rather deal with him ten times over than some of the total cows i have met in the horse world.
 
Agree with the above. Livery yards seem to be a place where you pay for a service, but they are not run like a business in many cases. It seems very common for owners to take it very personally when you need to leave. It's also hard to be totally honest as people do take things so personally - ie you can't just say 'sorry your yard is not for me' without upsetting someone!

I've met a few mad yo but nothing like the stories above, and would always give notice and pay - even if I left before the month was up UNLESS I turned up to find my horse being treated badly or similar.
 
Yes, as quickly as I could.


Was only there a couple of months and they only looked after him properly for the first month. They obviously do this alot as their turnaround is very quick!!

YO was nice one minute then nasty the next. All the liveries were pretty much the same. My bed was constantly wet (with a leaking tap not my horse) it was black, he never had any bedding, he was frozen and had wet feet from being on the wet rubber matting, and was stiff as anything when I brought him out the box. He's never been stiff and was only 7 at the time.

On a small yard they took my (very expensive) whip and said no one would have taken it you must have lost it ( it was in my box) they put wet rugs in my box, then took things out my grooming kit, the used my saddle then put it back back to front on the holder and with the flaps tucked up (which it hasn't recovered from even now)

I was always nice to them because I realised nothing would change and I had to leave, so I kindly gave them my notice, and she turned on me and starting being really very nasty and spiteful.

I stayed my month and paid in full (with extra because I didnt ask for the change) then I rushed my horse onto the lorry and ran away as fast as I could. I am lucky I found a place at a lovely yard, but if I hadn't I would have left after my months notice anyway and would have kept him in the garden, because he would have been better looked after there than where he was.

Breaks my heart that I ever put him through that.
 
I left with short notice last weekend but was paid up until the end of the month and left a chq for £13 for the services I owed too - It did cross my mind not too but I couldn't.
 
Not a midnight flit as thats not in my nature, but gave notice on Thursday horses were being collected on Saturday as didn't trust YO's at all. They were losing about £1200 a month from me and didn't take it very well.

Couldn't wait to get out.
 
I used to work at the livery yard where I kept my horse; I worked long hours and it was very hard work (as we all know with horses - we do it for the luuurrve!).

Eventually it became clear that I wasn't the right person for the job - I wasn't able to spend enough time with my own lad, and with my dogs, as the YO wanted more and more. So I handed in my notice; it was all very amicable as I still wanted Mister Jay to stay there.

As far as I was concerned, it was all sorted and every one was okay with it. YO put up a really nice notice, telling the liveries that I no longer worked there (I was YM), and everything in the garden was rosey.

Suddenly, YO decided that I didn't 'fit in anymore' and had to move my boy; she started slagging me off, giggling with her sidekick when I came onto the yard, and generally making life unpleasant.

So I arranged to move him to a friends yard asap. When I came to get my tack etc - they had stolen my saddle, bridle, and my lovely new Sprenger stirrups, and refused to give them back. I really wasn't in a good place head-wise to argue, so in the end, I just left.

It still pisses me off to think back on the whole episode, and I still don't understand.

However, it sounds like I got off lightly, going by everyone else tales on here.
 
Spiritedly said:
I went to see my horse earlier than usual one day, she had only recently been backed and I was bringing her on slowly, when I got to the field she wasn't there but there was a strange guy hanging round so I asked him if he knew where the horse from the field had gone and he said 'yeah my girlfriends out on her' I went mad...it turned out she was the daughter of the yo girlfriend, way to heavy for my mare and had been riding her everyday for a couple of weeks ( after I had been up in the morning,so there was no evidence when I went back later) She then asked if she could ride her and pay some towards livery costs, I found a new yard and left 2 days later. I did ring that evening and say they could ask the daughter for any outstanding rent as her 'share' towards the riding she had already done!
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Omg, I would have gone absolutely berserk at her, what a little sod! Why do people just think they can do what they want :@
 
I haven't. Luckily not been in the situation where I have had to.

Two girls (on a previous yard) left unexpectedly in the night, taking both their horses AND a horse they had on loan from an instructor. Noone knew why they left or that they were leaving - even the instructor didnt have a clue! He had to track them down to get his horse back. :eek:

And another livery got kicked off (YO gave her a months notice) due to her not looking after her horse properly for a LONG time. She got on the horse the same day, went out for a 'hack' and never returned!! Turns out she went to a yard down the road and put him in a stable and left him there.. without asking that YO!! :eek: The YO didn't have a clue who the horse belonged to or why it was in her stable!!
 
Have left quickly - ie told them the day before, although I didn't have any contract to give notice, and I knew things would 'go missing' if we didn't go the next morning.

One of my horses arrived with me 'on trial' from a friend. I had agreed to have her on trail to buy, and agreed to have her that day, but didn't realise she was going to wisk her away from the pro rider whilst her was away for the day at a competition - eek! She did call him when she was about to load the horse but .... :-( ....bad manners!!

Just goes to show that it would have (and was) easy to take a horse. She took her out of the stable, loaded her , took her rugs, drove off and no one came out of the house or stopped her! (She did have her passport though)
 
I'm sounding terrible now - Have also 'removed' a pony for a friend from a yard. My friend was in such a bad state about how horrible people were being too her, literally weeping. I was asked to get the pony - only 1 mile from our yard - so I walked up, got him in, tacked him up, rode him home. No one even spoke to me... they just looked a bit shocked! The worst thing was the little buggar napped badly but I was so detemined to get him out of there asap he didn't dare nap that day!!
 
I haven't done a midnight flit but I have left very quickly.

I tried to resolve issues about feed/safety with the YM over a couple of months after several nasty injuries were caused to my horse due to lack of care (and lack of interest tbh) and I did it in a friendly way as I stayed on the yard until he was able to be moved and there was no animosity. I gave a weeks notice but had paid 2 weeks livery and was promptly told we knew something was up (shame they didn't bother to do anything about it). I was hoping to stay in touch and did for a little while, but sadly it wasn't to be maintained and I'm now ignored. I never slagged them off or said a bad word and have even helped set up the new yard, but things change!
YM also still owes me money, but tbh my horses welfare means more than the cash and now he's blooming so I'll have to take the hit on several hundred quid. Ym was also once a good friend, so a little saddened, but it proved my instincts were right!

I did think I'd need to move fast as I'd be called as everyone who has ever left the yard has been :( V sad :(
 
Its very hard but you have to look at things from both parties a lot of the time liveries do not say anything and get frustrated where as a simple conversation would fix everything (YO are not mind readers) then again i have known some very mad YO who fed horses cattle feed etc and ones that beat the horses where i can completely understand people leaving immediately.

Some people just think they can do what they want though and forget it is a business the person is running ......... I had one girl whose horse went lame and was very unhappy at my yard i knew this and tried everything to help the girl out moved the horse stables kept it in/turned it out let her borrow my stuff - went down every night to speak with her and make sure she was ok as i know how horrible it is when your horse goes lame for no reason.

she booked to go to the vets then emailed to say oh she isnt coming back as she wasnt happy at yours??? ok yes i knew that but doesnt ever give that person the right to just leave it was really upsetting

she had even planned to take the horse to the vets on the 31st of the month - maybe im too trusting but i have learnt that if it was ever to happen again i would ask for the next month livery before the horse was taken from the yard - its very unfair that you have to not trust anyone and make other people compensate for the bad people that do things like that
 
Its almost impossible to agree all the time about what we do with our babies !

In the 7 years we were on livery yards we;
1)left on bad terms due to a souring of a friendship with the YO
2)left on bad terms for same reason above
3)left on bad terms as we complained about other clients horses being cruelly treated by YO
4)left to move to our own yard under very good terms.

Weve never done a moonlight flit or owed money but at yard 3 above, we were locked out of the indoor stables and had some of our equipment stolen before we could remove it.

Since weve had a yard of our own weve had 1 livery who stayed for 4 months. They did a daylight flit on the 1st weekend of November. You might wonder why..well...she was on free livery on the basis that she would bring my 2 horses in for me when the clocks changed. She found a yard closer to home and cleared off without even saying goodbye. Not nice but Karma got her in the end ;) .
 
my ex boyfriend was a good example. He had some money (not a lot), so decided to buy a horse. (it was a "rescue"). 16.2 grey mare, from a well known dealer who remains nameless, 4yr old, bag of bones from Ireland, unbroken. This was his first horse. He was a rather novice rider who could just about manage rising trot on a very well mannered, ploddy RS cob (who I know well).
He bought the mare, and moved her to a local yard. YO wouldn't let horse out as was probs carrying a heavy worm burden, despite her being wormed (I bought the wormer so I knew she was done).
She was bargy, no manners, strong (broke the arena fence). In no way a first horse. He went away for work twice and I looked after her, lunged her (no probs there), and spent a lot of time with her, (she enjoyed the attention). Yet it was clear he bought her out of sympathy. In the end he became fed up and found a stable just down the road. One morning he cleared out the stable, wrote a very rude note, didn't settle his bill and just upped and left, handwalking the mare down a country road, in an headcollar to the new yard... He really struggled with her and eventually ended up returning her to the nameless 'dealer'.
 
Yes, due to an awful misunderstanding. I needed to move my 4, and someone I knew offered me a field for the summer. Just a field of about 5 acres that wasn't used at all, with a lot of the fencing in poor condition. No field shelter, storage (my hay would have gone on pallets under a tarp, my feed at home). Use of a tap and hose for water. Not to go on the yard when the "proper" liveries were about. Could use the yard for the farrier if the others weren't there but no tying haynets because it made a mess. So - just a field £25 per week she said, which I thought was very fair and would help me out financially for the summer. I purchased loads of electric fencing, spent a day putting it up and moved the horses.
When I saw her I gave her £25 for the first week. Mutual embarrasment - she'd meant £25 per week - PER HORSE! So £100 per week for a field that wasn't secure enough for her to use for her regular liveries, with no facilities apart from water.
Some frantic phone calls later and me and my herd were on the move within days! We didn't fall out over it, both of us were just mortified about the whole thing.
 
I did a bunk due to another livery who was intolerable - the old witch really upset me and I couldn't stand being around her anymore. Phoned up my friend in a right state and she said I will be there with the trailer in half an hour!

I did see the YO a few days later and apologise, and he was very uderstanding - I was all paid up with regard to livery, so no issues there.
 
I sort of did - I told my last yard I was leaving on the last day of the month but left a couple of days before when they were all at a show. They werent awful but had bullied me for the last few months then blamed my mare for causing injury to another of their horses even tho you could clearly see the hoof print on the horse with the show and my horses foot was bigger and she was unshod. They also blamed her for everything else that went wrong in the fields - shes no angel so might have been responsible for some of them but def not all!

When I left I took all my things (everything was clearly labelled with my name on it), made sure stable was clean and yard swept etc. I even cleaned the coffee room and tidied the livery tack room (and found a set of reins I'd been accused of stealing the week before lodged behind a sink) and left a note. I also left straw there I'd paid for as couldnt use straw at the new yard. The YOs said Id left without paying my bill (was def paid up til end of the month) and had stolen a saddle and the liveries said I'd taken a grooming kit and haynets. I know if I'd left and they had been there it would have been 100 times worse tho so I'm glad I was a bit sneaky.
 
I have always given notice. Last yard I told them 2 days before I moved that I was moving but tbh 3 weeks previous he had given me and another livery our notice (We were the only 2 left and they have closed down) so he knew we were going to leave.

If my horses welfare depended on me getting her out of there ASAP I would move her then and there, pay a month up front and just be done with the place but thankfully I have never had to do that as of yet.
 
I had a lady come to my (private) yard on 12 hrs notice.

She had already decided to move into my spare stable, and was planning on coming after she had served her notice at the current yard. Anyway she went up at an odd time to give her notice and caught the YM hitting her horse around the head with a head-collar.

Needless to say she moved into mine the next day.
 
Yeah, at the end of August. I was renting a lovely little yard (2 stables, tack room, hay barn and 7.5acres), a client at work knew the owners of the land and had warned me about them saying they were more interested in the money (I dont think it is appropriate to go into the exact reasons on a forum!) but I thought I would give them the benefit of the doubt. The yard owners hadnt cleaned it up since they had their horses there but said all fencing would be sorted, stables all ready for use and tack room cleared out by the time I moved there. I moved there middle of April, stables not mucked out, fencing not put up in fields, tackroom full and not cleared out, place was infested with rats!! I signed a contract anyway as I loved the yard and they had promised to come down the following week and sort it out for me. the taps in all 3 field troughs were leaking so fields were flooding (this was in the contract for them to sort it out but they didnt!) I ended up phoning the water people up to find out where the mains were to turn them off to replace taps, I had my OH at the time put all fencing up (for the owners to then come down and take a load of the posts out as their horse had gone through their post and rail fencing at home!! - yes because my 2 don't need fencing up!) It took me all day to muck out and clean 2 stables, they were that bad! and another 2 days to clean out tack room. I had set up a standing order into their account for my rent but they still accused me of not paying (we compared statements but it was apparently 'coincidence' I had the same amount going into someones account as when that amount went into theirs!)

I had had enough and a livery yard my friend was at had 2 spaces so went and spoke to the YO's there and moved in a couple of days later, and it's been the best move I have made. I paid the rent up until the end of that month as was due, and when the owners found out I had left, they phone up my work (I work in the community so never in the office!) saying I used to work for them and they needed to speak to me!
 
I'm lucky in the fact that the two yards that I've been on have been owned by two lovely YO, I left the first one as it was 8 miles away from my house and at the time I couldn't drive and so my parents were doing 32 miles a day to drop me and pick me up on weekends. Spoke to YO and left after 2 weeks notice.
I can understand why some people would leave without giving notice if the YO was unfair, but some people are just ridiculous. We had two liveries leave a couple of weeks ago and the YO had to stop the owner from leaving by blocking the drive as the owner owed her over £600 :eek: and the owner's sister had left a couple of months before owing £1500 and the YO has only just got the money back. So she basically had to block them in until said owner got money for YO. This seems a bit extreme but obviously it's her business and she has to protect her interests.
But I wouldn't, i would give notice and explain why i was leaving and then leave even if it was only 24hrs.
 
As a friend of a YO, it has been obvious that the people who have done midnight flits/left with out notice from her yard (3 in the last 8 years) are those that have run up large livery bills and not because of anything the livery yard staff or owners have done. May be she should not have allowed her liveries to run up bills? All three left when the YO was not on site, and after several letters and phone calls, she was still left without the owed livery money.

I have helped her with contracts to set out payment requirements and recommended that all new liveries provide references.

I do feel for people who have to leave because of poorly managed livery yards.
 
Not a midnight flit as such, but have left yards quickly (i.e within the week); and on one occasion it was the same day as handing notice.

Nearly all of the places I have been as a livery have ended amicably for reasons such as distance, work, travelling and relocation.

The few instances whereby I have left in a hurry have been on two occasions:

1) Full/Part Livery yard where I caught the YO flinging stones at my youngster who had jumped out of his field and refused to be caught by her...! Needless to say notice wasn't given and left a couple of days later once emergency transport had been fixed up. Typically we had just sold our lorry as it would have been a quiet winter there!

2) Moved ponies home to a family friends yard mid autumn. one stable but others coming available before winter set in. paid for stables up front (although obvs couldnt use them) to secure come winter; so imagine my suprise when the stables were vacated that a stranger appeared to 'set up her beds' in the newly vacated stables. Sheepish comment from family friend (YO) that new lady had been on a waiting list to join the yard after we arrived so he thought our hunters could just live out with no shelter... didnt pay notice or as the YO had been paid 3x livery for 3 un-used stables (essentially double rent all autumn) from us to retain the stables when they vacated and moved the ponies home to our rubbish grazing the same day.

Sad really as parents were very close friends with this YO & his wife.
 
Luckily I've never needed to - left on good terms with previous YO who said I would always be welcome back......you never know when you might need to:)

However.....if the welfare of my horse was at stake then I would have no hesitation in doing one......I would always pay what I owed though- there's no come-back on you then.
 
The only time I have had to leave a yard quickly, a very long story but essentially was due to the nightmare YO feeding my horse sugar beet and haylage (against my knowledge - was told by someone else) when it was on box rest due to a severe bout of Laminitis and accosting one of the vets from my practice saying that my horse should be back out on the grass all day (which happened to be dairy grazing!).

So I arranged to move off ASAP and because the YO was so nasty she was told as I was in the lorry leaving......stable rent was completely up to date, all other bills paid in full, and stable etc left immaculate......but couldnt say I was leaving until the very last moment as I knew that she would try and stop me from leaving.

The other yards I have been on I have always given notice and was for amicable reasons.

Thankfully I am now on a fab yard with a great YO and have no plans to ever move off!
 
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I did. They were totally inept and couldn't handle a big fit youngster. 3 vet call outs due to her doing daft things and a load of destroyed rugs later.. (over 2 months) I handed my notice in. I was really polite and simply said we both knew it was working out.

My friend was equally unhappy and so was another livery so once I'd found somewhere to go they handed their notice in and said they wanted to go where I was going. YO went mental and said I was stealing her liveries even though we were friends and arrived there together. Told me to get out that day so I had to call the new place and check I was ok to arrive a bit early...! It was the second day of the month and I said I'll happily go but that she was breaking the contract and should give me my one months livery back etc as I'd be starting new place early which she agreed. I left that day but the other two decided to also leg it with me because having threatened my horse they didn't want anything to happen to theirs.

I went back for my money which she said I could have and she set her brute of a dad on me who threatened to 'have me' so I took her through the small claims court and got it back because I wasn't going to be bullied!! I provided all the proof of her behavior/contracts etc and agreement to pay the money back.. the whole thing was straight forward. Funnily enough shes also gone bust and last thing I heard she was working in Spearmint Rhinos! Ha!
 
No, have never left a yard like that. Have always left on good terms although have heard rumours that no so nice things have been said about me after my departure which is shame.
 
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