how many horses on yard vs school

[galaxy]

Were having a convo up our yard this morning and got me thinking about the above question.

The yard I am on has had up to 16 (ish) horses on and only 1 school. But some of those horses were pretty much never ridden (young/old/ just not!) and people worked all sorts of different hours so has never been an issue really (been there 7 years).

What is your ratio like?

 

[PolarSkye]

30 horses (well, two of those are ponies) . . . and one school . . . and I almost never have to share the school. We have excellent hacking (no road work, Forestry Commission land) and our own gallops so there's a good variety of riding.

That said, previous yard had about the same number of horses, one school, jumping paddock (with dressage arena in summer) AND round pen for lunging/free work and was often congested . . . owner and her daughter both rode (current YO doesn't), both gave lessons (sometimes to outside people) and YO held regular clinics. Used to really pee me off when I couldn't get into the school on a weekend day (was working at the time) b/c of all the clinics and outside lessons.

P

 

[Jojo_Pea4]

Mine has 13 and one school 20by 40, but like u say said some get ridden, and a few outa work for different reasons.
People ride at different times some morning and some evening people but during you can have it to yourself.

 

[Gleeful Imp]

48 horses on the yard, 45 working.

Indoor 20x40 and outdoor 60x30

Indoor booked by external users 4 nights a week. Pony club every Sunday who book the indoor and half the outdoor.

If you want to use the indoor in winter, you have to pay for a booking or you can't get in. Outdoor has been unusable mst of this winter due to total disaster in change of surface.

Yes, it's mayhem, and no, we don't have gallops. We have ok hacking, but will involve the need to cope with large hgvs whenever you go.

 

[quirky]

We have about 40 horses on, not all ridden. Young stock, retired etc.
An indoor and an outdoor school. I rarely share it with anybody as we seem to come at different times.

 

[JennBags]

We have about 35 horses and one outdoor 60x20. A few of the horses are retired or semi-retired, and quite a few hack only.

Occasionally we have to share the school - usually between 3 and 5pm in the winter is the busy time - but rarely more than 3 in at a time.

We do have quite a few "ladies who lunch" at the yard though, so they tend to ride during the day, and quite a few of us who have to work for a living, who tend to ride early in the morning!

 

[marestare]

We have 23 horses but only 6 liveries (and one of those is seriously lame) - everything else belongs to yard owner or is a rescue case. Worked out today that including owner's horses only 6 are in proper work. Use of the school is therefore never a problem - our issues are turnout and proper care

 

[acw295]

33 horses on the yard, of those:

3 retired, 2 unbacked babies, 2 older horses are happy hackers only so don't use school at all, so 26 horses share 1 (approx 15x30) steeply sloping sand school!

The liveries are relatively spaced out when it comes to what time people are at the yard, it's rarely an issue to get in as some people work shifts, a good proportion are up in the day and mainly hack and only relatively few in the evenings.

I ride in the eves during the week and there's only 4-5 of us regularly up riding after about 6pm. We happily share and I can always fit in my weekly lessons.

We have a schooling field in summer and rarely use the school at all then

 

[BlizzardBudd]

At a guess I'd say 60 horses/ponies on the yard. And we have a small indoor (3 horses at a time), a large indoor (4 horses at a time) and an outdoor (3 horses at a time). It's a little annoying when I can't get in the schools when it's dark etc. but in summer there's lovely hacking

 

[ClassicG&T]

I was on a rant about this thismorning,

approx 60 horses for 2 schools and a "lunge pen" (the sand is that deep no one uses it)

The indoor is out of use for a min of 3 days a week (we pay £45 a week for this indoor too!!) as YO uses it for jumping nights, PC hire it and competitions weekends.
So that leaves the outdoor, well 60 people cannot all use the outdoor in one night, only suitable for 2 horses at a time and people use it for lunging as the pen is s**t.
So as no one can ride, we are left with hacks, which would be fine but the grass arena is a swamp/ So the roads are left.
It drives us mad.

 

[spotty_pony]

We have an Indoor School, an Outdoor School and a lunge pen. There is approx. 30 horses at the yard.

 

[YardGeek]

We have about 40 horses on our yard, about 30 of those are in full time work and we have a 20x60 outdoor, a 20x40 lunge arena, all weather gallops, a jump field in the summer and a horse walker if we are feeling lazy.
It usually works out that they're only used by one of us at a time, it only gets difficult on the weekends with clinics and lessons organised by different cliques.

 

[GCC]

at most i have have 20 on the yard but thats pushing it, usually have some babies turned out. 14 are ones sent to me, rest are full liveries. we have 1 20X60 menage and we cope fine, although i tend to work mine in the day and liveries ride in the evening usually (although i incorporate an exercise program into 3 of the liveries packages). Our hacking is pretty good as well so i know come choose to hack out.

 

[dollymix]

Roughly 36 horses but sometimes a few more in summer as the YO brings the studs young horses on. There is 1 school which can be interesting sometimes as there are also a number of stallions... At certain times of day they are turned out in the paddock which runs alongside the school.

I've never had problems but always look to see where the boys are as mine are mares!!

 

[tinap]

12 on our yard & 1 school

2 babies
1 just hacks
2 retired
5 ridden every so often usually in the week during day or on weekends (if weathers nice!)
2 competition ponies which my daughter rides 5/6 days a week

Works fab for us because no-one else rides after school so its always free from 4pm onwards & we're usually at a show on weekends!

On a sunny weekend there may be a few wanting to use the school so we just work around each other. We've been here 5 months & we love it

 

[Kat]

I think we've got 26 including school horses, and two schools. Can be difficult to get in the school at certain times but to be honest I hardly ever have to share in the evenings.

 

[miss_c]

About 45 horses on the yard, 1 slightly under 20x40 outdoor, and one approx 20x20 indoor. Everybody books the school out when they want to ride, even if just schooling, and only one or two of us will share so that can be a pain sometimes. Having said that, due to when I ride I can usually get in the outdoor with no problem and make sure I book in advance. Also a lot of horses on the yard are rarely ridden or just hack.

 

[ShowJumperBeckii]

35 horses and indoor, outdoor and a big field yet i always seem to get the school to myself
to be fair most are part/full liverys or the YO racers so don't really need schooling and many happy hackers
Tbh only reason i don't like sharing is i feel i get it the way all the time so busy with whats going on with the donk i forgot i need to look where im going

 

[Ginger Bear]

65 on our yard, 2 outdoor schools and a small indoor school, only 2 horses not schooled.

 

[Ladydragon]

14 on yard... 1 outdoor school...

Two unbacked babies, one retired old pony... The school is busy after school time when the evenings are brighter as the teenagers hog it a bit...

 

[muddygreymare]

There's about 40-50 horses on ours I think but most are babies or youngsters as it's a stud. Really it's mainly the liveries who use the school as most of the stud horses that are ridden/being backed etc get hacked out. We just have the one 20x40 school. I rarely ever have to share with other people as everyone goes up at different times and not many horses are actually ridden anyway

 

[Natz88]

There is about 45-50 horses at the yard & one outdoor menage. 2/3 days a week it is booked out nearly all day as lots of the livery's have there horses schooled by an instructor that comes to the yard. I try & get in there the days it's not booked out & our school isn't great it's to deep. We do also have a jumping field, so if we really want to school & menage booked out we can go in the field.

 

[OldNag]

c. 40 on ours and one outdoor arena. We have a booking system and to be honest it's never a huge problem as people seem to come and go at different times. If I know I need a weekend slot for sure, then I book in as some days it gets busy.

 

[Jingleballs]

Over 40 horses and 1 arena - eek!

I'm very lucky at my yard. Only 7 horses at the moment although planned expansion taking it to perhaps 13 horses.

2 are never worked. 2 are Y/O's and are worked during the day and me and the remaining 3 liveries are on part livery and only come up about 4 to 5 days a week so in general I have the nice 60 x 20 arena to myself.

I do realise how spoiled I am and having had the arena to myself so often I now hate sharing it (especially when people are only lunging but insist in taking up half the arena).

Luckily everyone at ours knows good arena ettiquete so it's not a problem!

 

[Wagtail]

Eight horses, only four of them currently ridden and one huge 30 x 60 arena.

 

[shadowboy]

Well I've just moved onto a yard which has 26 horses in total but 3 are the YO's. There is a 40x30 floodlit outdoor, and a 5 furlong gallops and currently being constructed is a 20x40 indoor area. There is also a common within 500 yards away so the hacking is good. To stop people 'hogging' the outdoor we can only book 2 days in advance other than for a private lesson once a week.

So far so good!

 

[Kamakazegirl]

Theres 27 horses at ours at the moment:
1 baby
10 happy hackers
3 retired
12 who ocassionally use the school
And 4 of us who use the school regularly.
Everyone seems to come at different times so theres never much of a problem with people 'fighting' for it, and even if we do its a huge 60x40 thats divided up into 2 arenas so plenty of room to share!