How far do you travel to a decent yard?

[Hugobear]

How far do people thinks it’s reasonable to travel to a decent yard? I’m looking at one but it’s 17 miles away compared to the 6 currently!

 

[Griffin]

It's a tricky one. My current yard is 6 miles from home but 20 from work. However, my mare is very happy there and I absolutely trust the yard owner to look after her if I can't get to the yard for any reason.

Personally, I don't think I would want to drive for more than half an hour and if I could reduce this (I can't for at least three years due to work commitments), I would like to.

I think you also have to factor in things like how easy it is to get there in bad weather. My yard is just off a main road, so it is always accessible even in heavy snow.

 

[Hugobear]

Thank you, it’s full livery so bad weather isn’t an issue!

 

[PSD]

Having just been through a tough few months with emergency vet visits and such, I wouldn’t want to be at a yard any further than 20 minutes away just so I can get there quickly. I think my current yard is roughly 3 miles away from where I live now and will be around a mile from me when I move. 17 miles is too far for me personally

 

[dogatemysalad]

It's not the distance particularly, it's the travel time. If the route is on good roads that are accessible in all weathers and aren't subject to regular traffic jams, then it's doable if more local yards aren't acceptable. However, it's a good idea to check that support services are available.
I once spent several months driving to a yard 50 miles away while waiting for a house sale to complete. It wasn't ideal, you suddenly realise how often you need to make additional trips for vets, farriers and other professionals.

 

[Taliesan]

My current yard is about a 40 minute drive from where I live and there's 28 miles between it and my home.

I'm lucky in that it is mainly a trip down motorways and a-roads to get there and, when I'm back at work after Coronavirus, it is only 15 minutes away from my workplace.

I'm normal circumstances I'd be driving down that way for work anyway.

At the moment with working from home I do admit that the temptation to move them closer to where I live is strong. However, the horses are very happy at the yard and it has many strong points going for it. (Amazing outdoor, fantastic hacking, I can keep my lorry there, it is nearby to several excellent competition venues and my aunt keeps her horses nearby so I have a regular hacking buddy.)

That and my horses like to live out year round (or if they have to be in they like to be in a large barn together) and no yards anywhere near me are able to accommodate this.

I've got a young horse that I'll be bringing on over the next few years and I don't think I'll find a yard anywhere near as good that's close to my home.

So, although it is a fair way for me to travel and it takes a bit of time I'm happy to make the journey because that yard is what is best for my horses at the moment. In an ideal world I'd like that yard just round the corner from my house, but I know that isn't going to happen!

 

[Leo Walker]

I go 13 miles and its abut 20/25mins. Its 500yds off my journey to work and about 8mins away. On the days I'm not at work I use services and only go once so its fine. I wouldn't want to do the journey twice a day. Its more than worth it for me. The lanes are quiet to drive on, the people are nice, turnout is good and my ponies and me are very happy. I can even keep my chickens there.

 

[HashRouge]

Mine is 20-25 mins away, which is the upper limit of what I am happy with. It is such a good set up though. I've ummed and aaghed about moving closer but when it comes to it I know I wouldn't find a better place. Fortunately part of what makes it so great is a super trustworthy YO who checks once a day so I don't have to go down twice!

 

[sherry90]

Mine is around 8 miles and 15mins away on relatively easy roads. There are other routes to if traffic on one. I used to keep him DIY about a 2 min walk from home but had to move to go onto full livery. I wouldn’t want him to be any further away than he is currently, especially if DIY.

 

[Bernster]

I keep moving further away. New yard is more like 45/50 in usual traffic, 35 at the moment. It’s too far and it’s really makes it a long trip, but I live in London so nothing is nearby.

it depends on travel time, the hard, the options available, and your own set up as to what’s manageable.

 

[phizz4]

10 miles, 20 minutes travel, pretty conistent travel time as main rural road.

 

[Gloi]

13 miles, 30 minutes.

 

[chaps89]

24 miles was comfortable, 28 miles with the final mile on an unmade track was too far.
On a good day it was 40/45 minutes, on a bad day it was an hour plus.
I had a very good freelance groom who I completely trusted and it was in the same direction as work which helped. It was worth it for the hacking and being closer to my support network (instructor, farrier, vet etc)
They are now 1.6 miles/10 mins tops from home and it's lovely. But I do miss the hacking like you wouldn't believe.

 

[Mahoganybay]

My previous yard was 1 mile away, literally at the top of my road! Super yard with indoor arena, fabulous hacking and I was very happy there on DIY with my previous horse. However, when I got my new horse 2 years ago I have really struggled with a number of things that require more help and assistance from my trainer.

I had lovely hacking where I was but I had limited hacking buddies and my mare gave me a few scares on my own. Turnout was very limited and training was sporadic. I realised that I needed more support.

So just over 3 months ago I moved my horse to my trainers yard, a 40 minute drive from my home, she is now on full livery. I go four times a week and we are coming on so much that I don’t worry about the travel and see it as part of my time going to see my horse.

 

[tiahatti]

Tia is on retirement so I dont go every day. We pay the Services lady to do her. It's around 30-40 minutes away. When I was looking for retirement I had wanted somewhere closer to me but this farm was so nice I think it is the best place for her.

 

[scats]

I like to have the horses as close as possible incase of emergencies. Current yard is 1.5 miles away.

 

[Leah3horses]

I moved from a yard 2 miles away, walked there most days, and the walk there was the best part of it so I moved to a yard 23 miles away but an easy 30 min run up the M1. I have 3 , I only ever do or want DIY so once am there am there all day until 8/9pm. Am lucky enough to only work part time now so it's manageable, if stressful some days as I live alone and have 2 elderly dogs who can't always come with me, and never get any time at home so housework etc is impossible until horses go out on June 1st . It takes longer to get from work which is only 9 miles away but across the city, than it does from home. My horses are happy, so I am .

 

[DirectorFury]

Current yard is full livery, ~20 miles away but I have to drive through a city centre to get there. At rush hour it’s 1.5hrs each way, normal traffic is 45 mins, and lockdown traffic is 30 mins. It is only a 5 min drive from work though.

I trust the YO implicitly and have made my peace with the fact that I wouldn’t get there in time for a true emergency (broken leg etc).

 

[meltb]

my yard is 20 minutes away from where I live (I cycle, sometimes I get a lift and it takes 10 mins). where I work is 50 miles from where I live (lovely long train journey). once we eventually go back into the office (I work in the office 2-3 days a week and the rest from home usually) I think that for the office days I'll have to put my horse on full livery (Unless I work half days).

 

[NeverSurrender]

5-10 mins from work, and 20-30 mins from home - I would definitely rather travel for a good yard, but as my current yard is an hour from my boyfriend's it has shown me that 30mins is my maximum!

 

[holeymoley]

10/15minutes from home and 5 minutes from work. There’s one I’m really interested in that ticks all the boxes but is 20miles away, roughly 35minute drive so really doubt that will happen.

 

[Daniel_Jack]

As others have said drive fine is more important than distance.

There was a yard 14 miles from me that I really liked the look of but the drive wasnt great and after driving it a few times at different times of the day I couldn't justify it.

I suggest trying out the drive a few times abd if the drive is easy then go for it. On full livery you don't need to go every day and better to go a bit further for a yard that gives you what you need.

 

[ponynutz]

I was once on an excellent yard 12 miles from me, but as my parents soon realised it wasn't possible to maintain with work. It honestly depends on your need for a sit down at the end of an evening. If they do livery perhaps you could have full livery for 3 days of the week or something?

 

[milliepops]

I've usually been in the 5-10 miles range, country lanes & A roads so translating to 10-15 mins.

The furthest i went was 20 miles/30 mins but that got not only very time consuming but also expensive in fuel to go twice a day so I was dependent on services at one end of the day. not always the greatest experience so I would say competence of staff needs to be balanced against time savings if considering that!

for full livery in a yard I trust i would be happy with travelling further/longer if it was giving me everything i needed in other ways.

 

[Muddywellies]

4 1/2 miles - just under 10 mins. On DIY livery at a yard which I sometimes find just isn't suitable, but it's convenient, and so most if the time the convenuence outweighs the substandard facilities.
Usee to be 25 mins away but only stayed a couple of months as the distance really didn't work for us.

 

[vmac66]

Yard is 1 mile from home. Comes in handy in an emergency.

 

[chaps89]

I have to admit, mine is on box rest and needing 3 trips a day at the moment. I'm very glad she's just round the corner right now!
Likewise, I'm on a total diy yard right now and it's only possible because she is so close to home - in the same way that having her further away was only possible because I had assistance I had full faith in and I knew if I needed anything extra they would be able to help me and at an affordable price.
Therefore if the yard is full livery and has everything you want id go for it.
Journey is a really important aspect. I have looked at a couple of yards that would be suitable in the past, which on paper aren't too far away but the journey is a killer on rat-runs that get completely clogged up so I've ruled them out for that reason

 

[Tihamandturkey]

I used to do 45 mins sometimes twice a day ?
Lucky to be only 7 mins from current one which is fabulous.

 

[Eclipse 2020]

My current yard is 10 minutes drive from my house. I would not go past 20 minutes because I am on Dly it to difficult to go any further.

 

[SOS]

Had my horses 30-40 mins away for three years but on full livery. It was okay, easy drive 5 mins country roads, main A road, 5 mins country roads, so fairly non taxing. After long competing/hunting days (especially as I tow myself everywhere) it was horrendous, and if I was cold nearly unbearable. But the pay off was being much closer to training/local venues so saved my time travelling to them.

The full livery was cheaper than local ones, so fuel/livery prices evened out.

About 10 times a year there would be an incident on the A road and journey times were 1-2 hours.