How Important Are Facilities To You?

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Archie07

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My gelding is rising 6 however all I have ever really done with him is light hacking over the past 2 years mainly due to the fact we have no facilities where we are. We also have no transport and aren't within a close enough distance to hack to RC or competitions. I also struggle to find people to ride out with as they either prefer solo hacking or their horses aren't great hacking companions for a baby. Plus I feel bad if I always ask the same person!

I would really like to progress his schooling, improve my riding and do more with him however I feel the only way to do this would be to move to somewhere with better facilities. Our current yard has fabulous hacking, very reasonable price and a really great bunch of people and we are both happy there but I don't feel I'm getting anywhere and enjoying him fully. He is no world beater but i feel like I'm losing all motivation. I am recently single so have lots of time to plough into my pony now, hoorah!

I am debating sending him away for schooling however when he comes back I am still in the situation I can't fully continue his education or get out and about.

What are your thoughts? Would you move? How important are facilities?
 
I have no facilities...other than stables and fields...but I wouldnt move back to a yard if I were paid to do so.

I school out hacking, and theres an arena I can hire within a 10 minute hack if I wish.

A happy horse and off road hacking is all I want:)
 
It depends on what 'doing more with him' means (i.e. do you just want to continue his education and have a lovely boy to hack out on, or do you mean you want to start competing and getting out and about?), and it also depends on a) if you can afford to move elsewhere and b) are you really that remote that there isnt even a school to hire within hacking distance?

I personally couldnt cope without having a school as a bare minimum, however I do compete frequently so need a school to practice my dressage tests in. We are also lucky to have the yard within half an hours hack to a local competition venue so I can get out and about if I want to (despite having a lorry naughty giant horse wont get on it!).

But then again it mainly boils down to what you want to do with your horse and what you can afford. We always want what we havent got (I'd like gallops and an indoor arena but that's just being silly!) so you have to weigh up how much you will gain against how much its going to cost.

As others have said, you can easily school out on hacks, and to have good hacking is not something to be overlooked - we only have roads to hack on locally and its rubbish! But then again if you want to start going out with him and going to a few competitions or clinics then perhaps you need a little bit more than just good hacking.

If you move yards there will be plenty more out there with friendly people, we are on a large yard with lots of facilities (horse walker, close to 2 local comp venues, huge outdoor school, lots of showjumps, plenty of turnout, american barn style stables etc) so you might think with 40+ horses around it wont be the best environment but everyone is lovely, very friendly and we all have lots of fun.

So if I were you, yes I'd move but only because I like to do a bit more than hacking. However if hacking is all you want to do then no I wouldnt leave a well priced yard with good hacking, good hacking is hard to find!
 
Not bothered about facilities but we have fields we can ride round that I school inhand and when my filly is of age will school on rather than in the manège which we have but I think horses benefit from riding out rather than enclosed in circles (spesh youngsters). Arena will come in handy for initial backing but will be long lining around the fields. Maybe you could look into hiring a school or xcountry course and maybe have some lessons. Have you thought about Endurance? That way you can get in touch with local riders and have a goal.
 
I have no facilities either apart from stables and field. No suitable hacking either. :( But my horse has only just turned 4 so I'm in no rush to move as the grazing is good and he is out 24/7 in summer and all day turnout in winter. I'm only doing small stuff with him in the field as he is still growing - physically and mentally.

However I am on the lookout for yards that at least have good hacking and an arena. But all the ones I've found so far don't offer 24/7 turnout in summer which is one thing I really don't want to budge on. The search continues!!
 
A school with a surface and lights is essential for me, otherwise riding in the winter would be limited to weekends. I'm not massively confident so I wouldn't want to be stuck with just hacking in case I lose confidence, and schooling and lessons are two of the things I enjoy most. Of course you need the horse to be happy, but you need the rider to be happy too, and depending on the rider's aims that might mean facilities are vital. Those who say you don't need facilities tend to assume you'll have good hacking - I'd count good hacking as a facility, just one that suits a slightly different set of aims to a school or xc course:)
 
I personally couldn't move to a yard without a floodlit outdoor/indoor. I work 8.30 - 5 Mon - Fri so in winter I just wouldn't be able to ride until the weekend, weather permitting! My current yard has a 20 x 40 floodlit arena and it is brilliant in all weathers and I couldn't be without it!
 
JennyConnor said:
I personally couldn't move to a yard without a floodlit outdoor/indoor. I work 8.30 - 5 Mon - Fri so in winter I just wouldn't be able to ride until the weekend, weather permitting! My current yard has a 20 x 40 floodlit arena and it is brilliant in all weathers and I couldn't be without it!
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Snap!
 
I've been on yards with no facilities but great hacking and yards with great facilities but restricted turnout.
I don't really like either. Essentials are decent turnout and a well surfaced school with good hacking.
Finding the right yard makes an enormous difference (for me) with being able to crack on and make the most of the horses.

So, in answer to your question, I'd say, not having a school is a big negative. When I'm motivated, the horses are too and its great to be able to vary what you do each day with out the restrictions of grass schooling when the weather is very dry or wet.
 
Have you tried local or private yards with menage's ? They may hire by the hour? Two do near me.

£5 - 1/2 hr
£10 - 1 hr including jumps (you put out and back)

Otherwise have a look around but good DIY livery with great hacking is worth its weight...

Also, might be worth trying your horse in a school first (if you haven't already) - one of mine positively hates them. She was uncooperative and obnoxious - a darling everywhere else. My friends horse goes as far a feigning lameness to be out of theirs!

Something to remember though, yards with bags of facilities can be bitchy places. That alone can be heartbreaking... Good luck. :o
 
If the yard is perfect in every other way I'd spend your time/ extra cash investing in some transport - rather than move to a more expensive yard that might be bitchy/ lack turnout/ hacking etc.

Even if you move to a yard that holds competitions you'll still eventually want a trailer to further widen his education.
I think it was Lucinda Fredricks that did all of her early eventing without a school/ other facilities - she just schooled hacking and in a flat bit of field when the ground was good.
 
I am at a yard with plenty of facilities and really want to go without. In winter I was still happy riding in the indoor when the snow came down.
I have tried not to use the schools etc for a while and school on hack but it just is not the same and she is not a happy pony if she is not schooled at least twice a week properly and once a week a good lunging session. Then the restof the time just nice hacking. But I suppose it depends on you horse.
 
No, I wouldn't move.

A sand school would be one of the first things I would give up in favour of good hacking, good turn out, nice people & a happy horse.
 
These are my top reasons to move to a yard (and why I'm at my current yard)

  • Roomy Indoor Stabling
  • Unlimited Turnout
  • Use of Floodlit Arena
  • Good Hacking
  • Small and Private (Our yard only has 3 people between 4 horses)
 
Get ouy of your schools people and play in the countryside! I have no school et al. I have stables and fields. I school in the field a couple of times a week - this also includes bending games around the shetlands! I have positively naff hacking and I am always on my own so I do a lot of bending, flexing, leg yeilding et al when the roads are quiet.
 
EKW said:
Get ouy of your schools people and play in the countryside! I have no school et al. I have stables and fields. I school in the field a couple of times a week - this also includes bending games around the shetlands! I have positively naff hacking and I am always on my own so I do a lot of bending, flexing, leg yeilding et al when the roads are quiet.
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I do ride in the field, lanes and local forest but due to competing I need a school year round to train in :)
 
EKW said:
Get ouy of your schools people and play in the countryside! I have no school et al. I have stables and fields. I school in the field a couple of times a week - this also includes bending games around the shetlands! I have positively naff hacking and I am always on my own so I do a lot of bending, flexing, leg yeilding et al when the roads are quiet.
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It's always fun having a play out and about, but I need to train and school my horse too. And as I said in a previous post, I work Mon-Fri, 8.30-5 so come winter I'd hardly be able to ride at all. Then come summer, the ground is usually too solid to work on.
 
I could not be at a yard that did not have a indoor school, it's the most important thing on my list of must have's.
 
I show all of mine and have only ever used a school when I have been competing in one. I can't be doing that badly with the results I get. What happened in the days before schools were invented? And people became scared to leave the safety of those 4 walls? As for winter riding - that's what headtorches are for!
 
very!!

i couldnt cope without a school - current pony isnt backed but once she is i will be in the school daily lol!

i dont hack unless its round a field so without a school id be screwed!!....

i have done the field thing before, dosent work for me im afraid!! need a school!
 
As long as I have a flat area of ground (or relatively flat) I have managed without a school for about 8 years now. Ive competed pretty much all disciplines and won classes and rossettes without having a school.

Would be a novelty though to have one I think and not have to worry about ground being too hard or me churning it up :D
 
Didnt used to bother me not having a school but since getting a youngster I'm wishing I had one now for doing loose schooling and just some basic flatwork stuff.
 
I have to have facilities as in the winter the only riding I can do is in the evenings so a school with lights is a must. I don't envy you this decision as good yards where you are both happy are like gold dust, however if you feel you want to do more you may not be happy for much longer! Perhaps ask for recommendations of good yards and go and have a look round and go with your gut instinct. Good luck.
 
I can't livery anywhere without a school. Where I am, it isn't floodlit but that would be much better- an indoor, temperature controlled, floodlit school would just be perfect! However If it came to keeping one on a clicky and bitchy yard- I would much rather go to a smaller yard without a school
 
When I was a kid and started my love affair with horses nobody except riding schools had a school. Yet people still went out and competed. How on earth did they manage that? (she says, tongue in cheek).
I don't have a school, don't want a school and certainly wouldn't pay extra for one. I can and do school as much as I need to in the fields, or out hacking. And for me the lack of anywhere to ride in the dark winter evenings is a bonus, as It gives me the best of all excuses to give the horses a winter break, and reduces the pressure on me to feel I must ride at all costs (then again - mine do live out 24/7/365 - so the pressure to ensure they get exercise is not there).
I love my (rented) place - 2 summer fields, 1 winter field, no stables, good natural shelter only, no school. Can do my own thing (within the terms of the rental agreement of course!) All I ask (and have got) is storage space, mains water and access to mains electricity for the kettle!
Happy me, happy horses (3 of whom I compete regularly and successfully).
 
I have a field so can school in that, I also have lessons in it so I don't find it restrictive. Obviously not when it is really muddy.

I wouldn't give up good hacking, ours isn't that great so would love direct access to good off road.

Totally understand why people who need to ride in the eve need a school, if I rode in the dark I would have really main roads to contend with, not happening! I didn't ride my horse much this winter and was ok with that as had a lot of stuff on.

The biggest thing preventing me doing more is transport!
 
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