How much do you put up with at your yard?

not_with_it

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We all know that there is no such thing as a perfect yard, or very few of them so how much do you put up with?

This may turn into a rant so be warned.

I didnt get to the yard tonight while 5.30 and everything was pitch black. I trugged through the mud and brought in both horses and tied them outside their stables. The lighting on the yard is crap and so I turned on one of the main lights so I could at least see something. I put one of the horses in her stable with the light on and lunged the other with the arena lights on. Whilst I was lunging, the YO came out and turned all the lights off apart from the arena lights.
They seem to have a new habit of following everyone around and turning lights off and its not as if we are wasteful and just turn them on for the sake of it. I was already annoyed after a long day at work but this really got to me. I couldnt see a thing.
We have also just been told we have to pay to boil the kettle as it uses too much electricity. If its not electricity its water.
There is also a woman who constantly bitches, arena never gets raked and YO can be vulgar at times.

Im starting to get a bit bored of it all now but there are no decent yards in the area and there are some good points about the yard. The people are great and the hacking is fab but right now I think there are more bad points than good.
 

Kokopelli

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1. We have to put £1 to turn lights on and half the time they don't work
2. Muckheap hasn't been emptied in 6 months (With 30 liveries!!)
3. Bitching to the extreme
4. Broken fencing etc
5. Thieveing and YO does nothing about it
6. Security system doesn't work half the time
7. Menege is very badly looked after
8. You rarely see YO to ask him to fix these problems
9. Someone broke into friends trailer last year and cut up haynets and stole hay (YO did nothing)
10. YO considering putting a horse out in same field Koko was killed by
11. The other pony who was in Koko's field still hasn't been assigned a new field so is in 24/7 with 2 hours on grass

Thats just the top 11 there is tonnes more probably the worst yard I have ever cam across also has a very bad reputation for bitchyness
 

Izzwizz

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Im on a big yard and not too much to moan about really. There are always the untidy and wasteful people, ones who cant be bothered to take bale band to the bin for example, esp as its just around the corner. Whereabouts are you in Yorkshire?
 

Izzwizz

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If you are thinking of a move, depending on where you are, I may be able to recommend you our yard. PM me if you prefer as depends how far away you are. I would be fed up at someone following me around switching off electric. Seeing your horse is meant to be peace time and relaxing. Bit spooky if someones watching your movements too.!
 

bryngelenponies

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My old yard started out great but then the YO got married. She soon forgot about us and HER horses. The menage had so little sand that the carpet was coming up- a girl actually had a really bad accident due to this but the YO managed to come out of it smelling of roses :rolleyes: The fencing left a lot to be desired- planks falling down all over the place and loose barbed wire.
Needless to say we left..
 

Horseback Rider

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Ha today must be the day for it !

Moved to new yard in June was told at the time that the lady who sort of manages the place but doesn't own it will chuck your horse out in the mornign and bring them all back in just before it gets dark so no one is left out alone etc. This is quite important to me as my horse frets on his own and will try and escape.

There ended up beign to many horses on the yard for her to cope with so me & friend did ours between us but her horse was sold at the weekend and one was put to sleep so now there ar 3.
She said that when it went back down to 3 she would put mine out in and I was willing to pay
2 go out together ( one belongs to lady who does T/O) and mine.
Anyway she has now changed her mond about turning mine out for reasons unknown to me

We moved them to a field that can't be seen from the yard as there was no grass anywhere else.
and because she brings the other 2 in about 4 mine gets a bit stressed as the earliest I can get there is 5.30 and he has now wrecked the electric fencing by trying to escape and is back to the field by the yard with no grass. It is going to cost me a fortune in hay this winter as he will need it all day and all night.

The only thing I am really annoyed about is the fact that I moved there on the proviso of what she explaiend she would do and now we are well into winter, I am kind of stuck where I am!! it also doesn't help that I am stuck on an Island in the channel where there aren't to many yards !

Ahhhh feel better now - back to searching for new yard !
Anyway twice now my horse has jumped out when she has taken
 

missyme10

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I must be lucky, I can't really think of anything I'd complain about at my yard.
Good YO's and good facilities and well run :D

I read all the time about crap others have to put up with and presume that there aren't any better alternatives in their area otherwise they'd move!! x
 

moses06

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My yard is very relaxed which is lovely BUT certain people seem to have a problem with my horse being out until after 5pm, yes he has a run about, but that doesn't make me a bad owner nor is it neglect - I'm so peed off with it I'm putting him over the grass livery side and he can share with my other gelding for the winter - I HAVE to work, unlike some other liveries who think they are better than everyone else....
 

not_with_it

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HBR I can sympathise with you. YO is scared of one of my horses and so will not handle her out of the stable. Its a pain in the bum as I work shifts so cant always get there.

I wish my old YO was back in this country :( I never had a problem and loved the yard.
 

LoopyLouise

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Old yard:

1. No grass turn out and horses are only allowed 1 hour max turn out in outdoor school
2. not allowed to turn on lights in the indoor school during dark winter days (only natural light at one end of the school and big scary shadows hiding at the dark end behind judging box/shed)
3. bitchy behind your back kiss ass to your face
4. charged full livery but get smaller beds than a rabbit would get
5. Can't turn horses out on a Monday in nether schools and have to fight tooth and nail to use indoor school to ride/lung in.
6. wanted to charge an extra £100 per month if my mare had the foal at the yard even though she would have been in the same stable.
7. told one thing by YO and then some thing else by the Yard manager
8. told 2 days before Christmas that I would have to do my own horses on Christmas day ie muck ended up paying 50 quid to get to and from the yard by taxi with son in tow.
9. asked when could the RS start using my horses in lessons.
Moved to new yard 5 weeks before mare had foal horses now keep escaping from field YO has now said it is my responsibly to sort fencing even though the fencing was bad when we first moved there and was told she would replace it with post and rail. Yo owner mucks out her horse maybe twice a week if lucky and never turns him out (stallion) Feed gets stolen door with lock meant to be put on feed room still no door after 3 months.
Have to buy hay from yard even though I can get it cheaper some where else.
good points have made some great friends since I have been there and Im normally the only one there during the daytime so get the school to myself :D
 

L&M

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I am a Yo and am also 'tight' with electricity and water usage - if my utility bills increase because clients have been leaving lights on unecessarily, or wasting water, this has to be reflected in my clients livery fees! And guess who is the first to complain?
We are not charities and when a client only pays £25 a week for diy it is highly irritating to see all the yard lights blaring at night whilst clients sit chatting - my pet hate is those that leave the multiple barn lights on and then go back to their stables to muck out without turning the lights off, and yes I have gone out and turned them off myself.....!
Please try and see it from another perspective!
 

martlin

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I leave my barn lights on until I go in for the night, it's cheaper that way, as they use much more energy to light up/warm up than they use for staying lit.
As for water, surely, you need to give horses as much water as they need?
 

RolyPolyPony

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I'm really lucky and am at a lovely yard! It's only small and there is only 5 liveries but everyone made me feel welcome when i arrived. Everyone helps each other out and we all share our things. The only thing that really winds me up is that the girl who's horse shares the field with quin, only goes down once a week and never poo picks the field so it's down to me to do all the poo picking. Other than that, i really love it there and couldn't ask to be with a better bunch of liveries!
 

LaurenM

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I can't really fault mine..it's value for money and I get what I pay for - i.e. cheap and limited facilities but amazing hacking and good grazing.

It's DIY but we all chip in and turn the horses out, however the majority are kept out all year anyway. We buy hay and straw in bulk to keep costs down as well - so generally a friendly yard.

Only been there for around 9 months but feel like I've been there forever! Everyone's so friendly and welcoming. Plus there's two new foals that we're all allowed to fuss lol.
 

Seahorse

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Bloody hell, my yard was bliss compared to all these!! Still people moaned about stuff though...
It's run by a proper Yard Manager and the owner of the house and stables has very little to do with it. The YM is a man that does all the maintenance and work around the yard, he harrows the arena 3 times a week and mends everything that gets broken. He brings the hay and haylage down and puts them in the barn and empties the muck trailer every day. He can sometimes be a miserable git but he puts up with a lot!
 

not_with_it

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I am a Yo and am also 'tight' with electricity and water usage - if my utility bills increase because clients have been leaving lights on unecessarily, or wasting water, this has to be reflected in my clients livery fees! And guess who is the first to complain?
We are not charities and when a client only pays £25 a week for diy it is highly irritating to see all the yard lights blaring at night whilst clients sit chatting - my pet hate is those that leave the multiple barn lights on and then go back to their stables to muck out without turning the lights off, and yes I have gone out and turned them off myself.....!
Please try and see it from another perspective!

I can completely see your point of view if people are wasting electricity but it is cheaper to leave them on rather than constantly turning them on and off. The yard is pitch black with lots of hazards.

If the YO turns out the lights and I fall over something and break my leg who is responsible?
Who will pay to keep my horses when I cant go to work?

When I leave I always make sure all the lights are turned off but do you expect everyone to wear a head torch so we dont have to use the lights?
 

FRESHMAN

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Nat 1003. I think you are seeing this from a both a personal & rather selfish POV.As a YO I can tell you that liveries can arrive from 3.00 to 9.0pm you may only be there 45 mins & think we are tight as a ducks to expect you to not turn lights off where they are not being used. but this procedure goes on 24/7 over the winter months for over 5 hrs at a time. I am currently paying £533.00 a month DD to N Power. That works out at £123 per week. I get a bit in front in summer then winter swallows up any credit. The first time we mention a raise in livery costs everyone moans we are greedy. We just can not win can we.
 

WeeBrown

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I quite like my yard - not perfect, none are, but the best I've been at.
We have lights in some areas of the yard but I have a head torch anyway; need it to get to my field as no lighting down there.
We get charged per 1/2 hour for using meneges to pay for lights.
There probably is more bitching going on than I know about but I'm not up at the peak times as I work full time also I will chat to everyone but I am shy so I'm not going to be a hugely popular person or most sought after. There is the option to have your horse looked after as much as you need if you want to pay extra but I like doing mine as much as I can-which is everything bar holidays.
Our livery has gone up by £1 a week in 2 years I've been there so not much.
There are hardly any stables up for grabs - there were 6 over summer but I have just taken the last one for my new horse - and most that do come up are taken fast.
YO has been approachable so far and has tried to fix most issues I've had - not all have been perfect solutions but not been too bad.

I'm not sure what I'd do if I didn't stop here as, like you have found, there is not much about, especially that would be o.k for me to get to work from.
Hope things look up for you soon.
 

diggerbez

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i reallly like my yard. no yard is ever going to be perfect, but i think its about making compromises- i can deal with certain things but not others- so, for e.g. i wouldn't stay somewhere that had horrendous/dangerous fencing for example but i can deal with the fact that on my yard i'm not allowed to tie up outside my stable- yes it would make my life easier, but its not the end of the world.
the thing i get most annoyed about is other liveries being selfish about things e.g. booking the school and not using it or whatever
 

Lexie81

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I keep my horses at a friends stables at her house which I love, and previous to this was at another friends private yard which was also lovely.

However many moons ago I was on a livery yard where the YO kept and hoof pick and buckt by the gate to the sand school and you had to pick your horses feet out and tip the sand back into the school when you had finished!
 

Aces_High

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I am terribly lucky as the only person I can moan at is myself!! My stables, my horses, my staff and me! I don't think I could handle being on a yard with others. I love everything spic and span and bits of bedding on the concrete makes me turn over - so I have everything immaculate and my horses and I go to bed and sleep well. Change in circumstances could change that and then I'd probably rent stables and paddocks and again be my own boss. Or if I had to go to a livery yard I would probably pick a small professional one - ideally without kids!! I don't mean that in a horrible way just my preference!
 
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