How much do you put up with at your yard?

[doris2008]

Only been at my new yard a month and so far nothing to complain about! Its great! YO is a legend and really thoughtful.
I moved from a very small yard on a farm. 3 owners & 6 horses. Very very cheap but so many things weren't right. Grazing was ample and nice quality but full of hazards - barbed wire fencing, bricks, trailers left by farmer in field etc.
One of the other owners was vile and refused to do my horse which meant difficult over winter - when normally we'd all help each other out.
Lights didn't work properly, nowhere to store hay/bedding out of rain.
Ragwort problems which farmer didnt sort out meaning half of field was unusable this year as it was so bad. I spent 6 happy years there despite all this but eventually common sense led me elsewhere!

 

[micramadam]

Been with my yard for nearly 5 years now and love it still. There are the odd niggles now and again but we tend to go straight to the YO and things are sorted asap. There are people on our yard who have been here 15+ years and thats always a good sign. plus yard is only 5 minutes walk from my house.

 

[Jane_Lou]

We are very lucky, our horses are in a large barn so the lights tend to go on and stay on until everyone is finished - a good example is as we are in the middle of a village we leave them on when there is likely to be fireworks and the YO comes out late at night to switch them off. We all soak hay and there are no complaints about us all filling tubs for saoking single nets. Our arena lights are free but on a timer and switch off after an hour, you can however restart them by switching them off and back on again. My only real complaint would be that during harvest they don't maintain the school very well, I realise they are very busy but trying to get them to level it even once a week is hard going.

 

[DH1]

If you don't like your yard, move!

It's all very well saying "move then" but I very much doubt that many totally perfect yards exist to move to.
Cliches like 'the grass is greener' and 'out of the frying pan' usually spring into my mind.

Moving Yards is surely a massive decision for any responsible horse owner.

 

[spotty_pony]

My current yard isn't too bad, but the things I put up with are:

- Limited turnout throughout the winter (my horses haven't been out so far this week!)
- Limited storage space so my car is full of stuff
- Tack room is locked at 4.30 pm so end up having to take my tack home quite often.

But apart from that, it's alright.

Have been at some awful yards in the past though!

Yard 1
- Bitchiness
- Very petty YO and horrible YM
- YO insisted on feeding all horses
- No poo picking
- School very poorly lit and nearly always flooded
- Rubbish fencing, one of my horses got stuck in the fence once and we got told we had to buy a new battery for it and sort it out ourselves, even though we were on part livery and it was YO's responsibility! We moved shortly after this!

Yard 2
- Very bitchy
- YO was sarcastic and a bully
- Fields were literally mud!
- Fencing was mostly barbed wire and chicken wire
- Yard driveway was still really icy even when the roads had cleared because YO refused to put grit down and wanted it to melt naturally so I couldn't hack out for ages
- Outdoor school didn't have lights, was on a slope and flooded quite a lot
- Indoor school was really small and on a slope with a very deep surface and was often busy in the evenings with RS lessons
- Horses turned out all day with water troughs left frozen over and nothing to eat

I could go on!

 

[Rana]

My yard is wonderful No limits on lights or water (as long as we're sensible). Outside lights are on a motion sensor, so they only come on when needed but you don't have to wander about in the dark. YO is thoughtful and helpful. Turn out isn't restricted, it's all individual turnout in sensibly sized paddocks. When it gets wet, we move to the opposite side of the yard (fields on 2 sides, 1 is wetter than the other). Hay is nice and reasonably priced, YO unloads, puts away and sweeps up for you. She's able to help on short notice and all horses are cared for as she would her own horses. Any problems are nipped in the bud, if you report a problem (like a light not working) it's sorted within a day. Improvements are being carried out - we went on holiday for a week, came back and didn't recognise the place!

Downsides - lights don't always stay on for long enough! No automatic water for fields, have to run hosepipe which is a bit of a pain. Tracks to fields aren't hardcored/paved, so gets very muddy (ok, now I'm just being picky!). Erm, arena isn't great I don't think, but plans are afoot to get it sorted (and I don't use it so not a problem for me anyway). I think that's about it....

Sorry, rather smug post...have been on some horrendous yards, so I really do have sympathy and very much appreciate my yard (though the bill does give me a heart attack each month....)

 

[Cop-Pop]

1 - rubbish turnout
2 - haylage of dubious quality
3 - leaky stables
4 - bad wiring/lighting
5 - arena not maintained
6 - yard not maintained
7 - YO seems to think Im her personal slave

I think thast covers it Id move if I could afford to

 

[feisty_filly]

i love my yard! my only complaint is that we at the top of a hill and its so windy and the snows awfull but theres nothing any one can do about that

 

[cobgirlie]

My yard is run down...but if it wasn't I couldn't afford to be there. The grazing is terrible...but I left the last place cos grazing was too lush. The YO is non-proactive..but I would be annoyed if she interferred. Some of the liveries like to complain and sit around all day moaning..but I work full time so by the time I get their they've gone and the 'real' horse owners are around riding and enjoying their horses.

Bottom line is my horse is extreamly happy, he's more relaxed than he's ever been, he hacks out through beautiful areas of land, he has nice companions and that to me is what's important.

BTW any YO'er bothered about electricity..put lights on timers or sensors, we've done it at our place and doesn't cost much and saves agro.

 

[coen]

Ha great timing for this post I have been questioning how much I am willing to put up with.
I am on a small yard with good grazing & hacking, nice liveries, big school old sand surface but regularly maintained, only options 5 day full livery its quite expensive for quality of service.

The problem is Y/O dislikes my horse, he is 6, everything else is semi retired or tiny ponies so anything he does is made into huge deal. Lots of snide remarks ect. The yard was full & they have friends wanting to bring their horses in from the field so needed stables. I got a call to say my horse had been running around the field setting others off and they couldn't accommodate him any more, not allowed to go out at all despite them have around 90 acres including individual paddocks.
So I stared looking elsewhere, problem is decent yards didn't have stables available and everything that did was too far to commute.

Then YO found out 2 people were leaving 3 full livs 1 grass and decided I could stay.But wanted to put him in a field on his own when other horses come in for me to bring in in the pitch black at 7pm. (Remember paying full liv prices).
I tried this its ridiculous so asked for him to have a paddock but now they want me to leave him out all night so they get him in in the mornings or buy electric fence to section off the field he was in with the others. Why when they already have individual paddocks?

Surely they are being unreasonable?

May consider moving temporarily to any yard nearby until a stable becomes free on the one I want to go to. Next on the list.

 

[hudsonw]

Where do I start!!!
The stable and most of the people are great but...
Fields are never sprayed or rolled, if the fencing breaks it can take weeks for them to fix it...I end up doing it myself.
They are meant to have a worming program but we have missed the last wormer, you have to buy it off them and they charge twice as much as the vets. Suddenly we are now on a worm count program...thanks for the notice.
Hay and straw have gone up (large Heston bales) by nearly £10 due to a national shortage even though they make their own and have more than enough to service the yard so they aren't buying in.
We now have to pay £5 for the indoor school which used to be free, they haven't fixed the floodlights in one of the outdoor school in over 2 years is everyone has to cram into 1.
They moved their riding school from a yard down the road to the same yard as the liveries but in the process now means that there is no car parking, strangers wondering around, the hacking fields are now grazing paddocks and the indoor is always being used.
Lights never get fixed in the stables, the horse walker has no rubber on the floor so that can't be used.
They have 6 kids so everyother weekend a bouncy castle gets blown up freaking the horses out. Toys all around the yard.
In the winter you have to provid your own water as the taps freeze and we aren't allowed to use the house.
No where to clip your horse as there are no plugs. People have to clip outside the brew room!!!
The hose pipes were removed from the wash bay as they went on to a water meter and is now too expensive to allow liveries to wash their horses!!
They provided a skip to chuck your rubbish in to but they put it next to the outdoor school so the horses freak out if it's windy as the rubbish blows around, rubbish blows out of it and it's now over flowing as they haven't had it collected in 2 months.

 

[Iceni]

Are there others you know that are disgruntled? Is there any chance if you can get a small group together and find some grazing of your own to run as a independent group even just temporary if things are very bad?

I know someone who did just that with friends who were peed off with their local yard, so they split days or times and jobs between them and shared the cost. They didn't have any fancy facilities to start with, but everything was run just as they wanted it, in a place and way that suited them and both people and horses much happier for it. They went to a local RS to use their indoor schools etc. It's not ideal I know, but sometimes you've got to be the one to make things happen! Very helpful if you have someone who's good with DIY and knows how to use Ebay to it's best uses - you'll be surprised what you can achieve! Best of luck anyway!

 

[OWLIE185]

It continues to amaze me at the carry on at yards.

Unfortunately anyone can start of a livery yard and that is what the problem is.

I believe that every commercial yard should have to be registered and inspected once a year. although this won't resolve all issues it will ensure that such things as fencing etc are correctly maintained and that all staff are suitably qualified.

 

[FinkleyAlex]

1 - Yard is deserted after 5.30pm - must be a Norfolk thing as the other yard I've been at up here was the same. Makes for a scary place as it's very dark and a stand alone farm. My yard in London has loads of people there untill about 9pm (and has less liveries!)

2 - It can be very dark in winter, the main yard is lit up but all the farm buildings/haybarns are pitch black...scary.

3 - Outdoor arena can flood at one end, but this isn't too much of a problem.

4 - Staff sometimes use my grooming kit and leave it in pieces around my stable...so I end up looking for brushes/hoofpicks in his bed which annoys me

Other than that it's a really lovely yard

 

[not_with_it]

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.

No my garden isnt lit up but then I am not running a business and people do not have permission to enter. Besides I have a great big street lamp right outside my house.

As I have said earlier, fair enough if people are leaving them on and wandering off but I was still on the yard. Am I now expected to muck out in the dark? IMO it is part of running a yard. Some people arent fortunate enough to be there when its light. At the end of the day it is a business and if needs must prices go up.
I have said I would quite happily pay more if the YO pulled his socks up. The stables leak, the school is never levelled and the partition between my 2 stables is bending meaning the wood and nails were sticking out. All of which I have been told will be sorted (for the past 6 months)

 

[beeswax]

what happened to joint discussions where people got together and spoke in a group about such things as lights and water, rather than following someone behind them and switching the lights off. I can see it from both sides believe me i hate wastage but if it was discussed there everyone would be happier. I do have a laugh though because 8/10 of livery yards the liveries are paying for the yards to have their own horses at the end of the day, so come on guys lighten up on the liveries okay without them the cost of your horses would be coming out of your back pockets.

 

[redmerl]

I like my yard, there are a few things that Im not keen on, but on the other hand there are things that are a must.

Turnout, lots of haylage, good staff and good, lit arena.

The down side is its miles away from my house and work and there is some odd rules but they dont affect my horse. So fair enough

 

[martlin]

I do have a laugh though because 8/10 of livery yards the liveries are paying for the yards to have their own horses at the end of the day, so come on guys lighten up on the liveries okay without them the cost of your horses would be coming out of your back pockets.

I have to gently take issue with that, I run a yard to make a living, whether I spent the money I've earned on my horses or on designer clothing is none of the liveries' business, frankly. So, the keep of my horses DOES come out of my pocket, just so it happens to be earned (at least partly) by running a yard.

 

[Charlie007]

When we moved to current yard YO said she would empty muck trailers, keep eye on fencing, harow school amongst other things. We have now been here 4 years and school never harrowed, we do it, fencing not bothered with, we do it, muck trailers never emptied, we did it up until recently when we had to draw the line as it was getting out of hand. On the plus side, plenty of year round grazing, lovely big stable, use manage whenever and ok hacking!!

 

[mystiandsunny]

I don't think anyone will ever be completely happy wherever they are. Even if you go somewhere that seems perfect, nothing ever stays the same forever, sadly.

 

[MizzPurpleKitten]

Our yard is lovely Not a huge yard but not tiny either, most liveries have more than 1 horse, seperate grazing paddocks for 2 or 3 horses per paddock, nice indoor airy stables, small indoor school, huge outdoor school, full set of showjumps, lockable storage area shared between 2 people for feed/bedding etc, friendly YO, regular daytrips to competitions etc, Riding Club onsite so regular shows and events, A yard Christmas do and a yard barbecue every year, morning turnout included in the livery price and lovely people. It's also very affordable!

 

[FRESHMAN]

No my garden isnt lit up but then I am not running a business and people do not have permission to enter. Besides I have a great big street lamp right outside my house.

As I have said earlier, fair enough if people are leaving them on and wandering off but I was still on the yard. Am I now expected to muck out in the dark? IMO it is part of running a yard. Some people arent fortunate enough to be there when its light. At the end of the day it is a business and if needs must prices go up.
I have said I would quite happily pay more if the YO pulled his socks up. The stables leak, the school is never levelled and the partition between my 2 stables is bending meaning the wood and nails were sticking out. All of which I have been told will be sorted (for the past 6 months)

Actually Nat any member of the Public has a right of safe entry up to your front door & that is a fact. You do not have to be running a business for this requirement. Not many yards have a Street light outside the premises though, as they tend to be off the rd & quite spread out over a large area.
The only thing I can honestly say to you is perhaps have a yard meeting with the other liveries & YO, discuss having a contract with the YO & the changes you would all like to see. BUT be prepared to pay for the changes that will make everyone happy. If not vote with your feet.
Good Luck

 

[peanut]

I love my yard, I just hate a few bitchy people.

 

[Puppy]

Gosh, threads like this remind me of the misery of some of the livery yards I've been on and make me so glad I've found the little place I rent now. It's far from perfect, but me and my horses are happy there.

 

[soulfull]

oh don't start me!!


Firstly let me say if there was another yard near enough with similar facilities I would move

My stable had been leaking for over 9 months!! they now say the roof is asbestos so have to wait weeks for specialist equipment

Fencing is awful!!!! NO grazing management, field never fertilised or topped, rolled etc

Its a competition and college venue and we have been waiting since April for the one arena surface to be fixed. so it means several evenings a week and most weekends they are using our arena for competition warm up so we are not allowed to ride!!

It takes ages to get anything done

The place is so untidy and shabby its untrue

Sometimes there is no haylage and we have to go all the way to college yard to get some. Then the haylage is somewhat hit and miss in quality

I give up

 

[chestnut cob]

I must be very lucky as the yard I'm on is fab! Nice big stables (my horse has the biggest as he's at the end of the row!) in a lovely, huge American barn. Turnout is good for livery yards in our area, big arena, great facilities - automatic water in fields and stables. YO is fantastic - very organised, knowledgeable, horses looked after brilliantly.

The only thing I could possibly complain about would be that our arena could do with a bit more rubber on and I wish there was more off road hacking, but that's worth living with because everything else is so good.

 

[katiejam]

No yard is perfect but if the welfare of my horse is compromised i would drive (and have done in the past) an hour everday if i had to to ensure my horse was happy!

 

[paulineh]

When I had a few Liveries I had a set of rules and they had to be adhered to.

I would never have children in my yard other than my grandchildren. The liveries I have had in the past were all professional people and the horses competition ones.


Any problems were sorted out and dealt with accordingly. Now I have only a good friend as a livery and we work things out together, much better.

 

[beeswax]

to martlin and you still need the liveries to run the business open your eyes, there are people out there paying for livery and not getting what they deserve. You wouldnt go to Tesco and buy a turkey and walk out with a chicken with only one leg so why should liveries have to put up with nonsense from YO's. I will tell you why because unfortunately there are not too many livery yards around and you cannot tie a horse to a lamp post and livery yards know that.

 

[martlin]

to martlin and you still need the liveries to run the business

Of course I do need the liveries to run the business, my point was, it doesn't matter what I spend my hard earned cash on, just the same as it is none of my business what you spend yours on
The rest of your post is irrelevant to my situation, I do need to point out, though:
when you go to Tesco and buy your turkey, you won't leave with a turkey if you paid for a chicken with one leg