I hate having a livery yard :(

Pedantic

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Tell the liveries you love all of them, but that one has to go, you will put their names in a hat and pull one out, but put the name of the person you want to go on "ALL" the bits of paper ;-)
 

Orca

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Think you posted previously that your liveries are paying £20 pw DIY for stable, grazing, parking and storage?

You need to raise your charges, too, that is unsustainably low (unless the livery yard is purely a hobby).

It's an unpleasant situation all round, but your own horses come first, someone else will have to go.

I think that depends more on the going rate for the area. I pay £25 p/w DIY for stable, turnout, storage, outside school and large indoor school, with great hacks (and it's the most expensive livery around here).
 

Spot_the_Risk

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Oh dear, I do feel for you. I think yard meeting is the way forward, maybe with a back up letter for everyone just so nothing can be skewed later. You need stables/shelter, you are giving notice that X amount of their horses (do they all share the same field) will be grass livery only from such and such a date, if they cannot find livery elsewhere before this time. Be prepared that you may loose them all. I hope it goes well...
 

MrsElle

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I think what your main issue will be is what the livery you kick out will then say about you to the local horse community. I would tread very carefully as this could come back to bite you....unless you get rid of all the liveries.

I'm not involved in the local horse community at all, my horses are at home, I plod about the lanes on my cob, happy with my own company, so I'm not overly bothered about that. I wouldn't replace any liveries that left, I have already decided on that.
 

Copperpot

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It's your house and yard so you get priority. Yes you will feel bad but you don't pay your mortgage to keep others happy. Why should your horses get a worse deal.
 

MrsElle

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Oh dear, I do feel for you. I think yard meeting is the way forward, maybe with a back up letter for everyone just so nothing can be skewed later. You need stables/shelter, you are giving notice that X amount of their horses (do they all share the same field) will be grass livery only from such and such a date, if they cannot find livery elsewhere before this time. Be prepared that you may loose them all. I hope it goes well...

Everyone has their own paddock, so that would work. I'm not too bothered about loosing them all to be honest, maybe that is the way to go..
 

skint1

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Can I just ask if you had your own land and yard would your horses not be your priority? This is my home, my land, my yard and I have always dreamed of being able to keep horses at home. However, I am unable to enjoy my horses. The liveries are mucking out and then having a nice cuppa in the tack room while I battle the mud, wind and rain to put hay in the field for my filthy, wet, and miserable horses. Surely it isn't meant to be like that?

that does sound pants I must say! If i were a livery on a yard like yours I would expect to work around you to a certain extent because as you say, it's your home, so as long as my horses had what they needed I would be very happy to defer to the land owner in most cases! I have never understood why people resent it when YO has the best stables/fields etc for their own horses, they would be exactly the same in that position (I know I would) and also they would've been shown what was on offer upon moving in, and it was fine then, so why get the hump later?!

However, from the other perspective- this situation is sort of at your own hand. This is your home, your land, so you had control over how many stables you rented out, why did you let out all the stables and leave yours with none? If all the liveries are decent people it seems rather unfair to toss one of them out mid winter because you suddenly decide you must have stables. If I were one of the remaining liveries that would make me well nervous of you, and I'd be looking for the first opportunity to leave just in case it was me next! That said though, it's your place, your rules, fairness doesn't really come in to it.

I can see it from both perspectives, and I don't envy you having to make such a decision, good luck!
 
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Sorry about your situation. I like the idea of a name in a hat.

As an aside - £25 a week for DIY with parking and school et al?!?! Where on earth are you?!?! It's a minimum of £30 round here and that is quite literally a stable and a space in a field. You pay for schools, parking, electricity, water, you name it, you pay more for it. So glad I have the majority of mine at home and the others with very friendly farmers!
 

The Fuzzy Furry

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Oh dear, Mrs E, nightmare.
Can you afford a shelter for yours asap?

Nothing you do now is going to improve anything for at least a month , so new year.
Swiftest solution is portable shelter and rubber mats, but pricey.

Glad am not you, but when i did have liveries all animals had indoor space, even if a couple of mine had to share.

Hope you can sort without too much stress x
 

MrsElle

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that does sound pants I must say! If i were a livery on a yard like yours I would expect to work around you to a certain extent because as you say, it's your home, so as long as my horses had what they needed I would be very happy to defer to the land owner in most cases! I have never understood why people resent it when YO has the best stables/fields etc for their own horses, they would be exactly the same in that position (I know I would) and also they would've been shown what was on offer upon moving in, and it was fine then, so why get the hump later?!

However, from the other perspective- this situation is sort of at your own hand. This is your home, your land, so you had control over how many stables you rented out, why did you let out all the stables and leave yours with none? If all the liveries are decent people it seems rather unfair to toss one of them out mid winter because you suddenly decide you must have stables. If I were one of the remaining liveries that would make me well nervous of you, and I'd be looking for the first opportunity to leave just in case it was me next! That said though, it's your place, your rules, fairness doesn't really come in to it.

I can see it from both perspectives, and I don't envy you having to make such a decision, good luck!

I only moved here a couple of months ago and inherited the liveries.
 

skint1

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I've only been here a couple of months and inherited the liveries. I said they could stay when I moved in as mine all live out, but I now realise I need at least some form of shelter.

Ah, I didn't realise this! Hope you find a good solution!
 

MrsElle

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It is a bit of a nightmare I'm afraid.

Hey, I have just realised that I do have a field with a shelter in it (doh!). I don't go round there often, so had forgotten all about it. Livery who uses that field will just have to swap fields with me for a while if she wants to keep her stables.

I can't believe I hadn't thought of that, but I have only been round there half a dozen times, if that, since we moved in!

While it isn't a long term fix, it will do for now while I decide what to do about the liveries :)
 

glamourpuss

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It is a bit of a nightmare I'm afraid.

Hey, I have just realised that I do have a field with a shelter in it (doh!). I don't go round there often, so had forgotten all about it. Livery who uses that field will just have to swap fields with me for a while if she wants to keep her stables.

I can't believe I hadn't thought of that, but I have only been round there half a dozen times, if that, since we moved in!

While it isn't a long term fix, it will do for now while I decide what to do about the liveries :)

Sounds perfect, tell that livery they are swapping with you. If she so much as dares to moan....serve her notice 😂 Win, win 👍
 

The Fuzzy Furry

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It is a bit of a nightmare I'm afraid.

Hey, I have just realised that I do have a field with a shelter in it (doh!). I don't go round there often, so had forgotten all about it. Livery who uses that field will just have to swap fields with me for a while if she wants to keep her stables.

I can't believe I hadn't thought of that, but I have only been round there half a dozen times, if that, since we moved in!

While it isn't a long term fix, it will do for now while I decide what to do about the liveries :)

great, then you cope till end Feb (only 12 weeks, not long in big scheme of things).
Talk to liveries, let them know you are struggling, will be using the shelter etc, will see how the winter goes - hoping you can all pull together - might have to review in spring. ..

and breathe!
 

MrsElle

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This is why I love HHO, you can throw a problem out there and you will receive lots of opinion, suggestions and advice :)

Thank you all :) x

Still can't believe how dim I have been not realising I have a stone barn in one of my fields!!!!
 

ihatework

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I think you are just going to have to grow a pair to be honest.

Ignore your liveries for the moment and decide how you would want your yard to be run. Then tell the liveries that is what is happening.

So you will be taking X boxes plus the hardstanding/storage
You are happy to keep Y liveries at a charge of Z (I'd suggest makng it a charge worth your while)
The remaining liveries have 1 months notice - I'd evict the liveries who are the most hassle (as a gesture of goodwill maybe say the trash paddock will be there for emergency use if they cannot sort themselves out in time)

And if the remaining liveries don't like it, well they are free to leave
 

SusieT

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WEll at the end of the day horse welfare is the priority- they do need some sort of shelter (or good rugs?)
Could you not alternate so one group of horses is out in the day and one at night and therefore stables/hard standing is shared between two sets of horses?
 

Bosworth

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if you have a stone barn, then you can increase the space by getting in some heston bales of straw and create an extension to the barn walls so creating a wind block for the horses to hide behind as well as the barn. that will shelter them from the worst of the weather. And the bales are far cheaper than buying a field shelter. and will last a suprisingly long time and no planning required :)
 

MrsElle

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Haha! None of us thought to suggest that you checked to see if you had a spare stone barn tucked away, did we :D. Phew, what a relief.

I guess you would have all thought I would know if I had a barn stuck in a field somewhere. You wouldn't have thought someone could be so stupid not realise that they had one..... :D

It's not a massive building, more like a decent sized stable, but there is plenty of shelter around it too and it is in the most sheltered field. I doubt any of them will go in but I will be happy knowing it is there if they need a bit of respite from the rain.
 

MrsElle

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WEll at the end of the day horse welfare is the priority- they do need some sort of shelter (or good rugs?)
Could you not alternate so one group of horses is out in the day and one at night and therefore stables/hard standing is shared between two sets of horses?

The stable share would not go down well, and there are stallions involved - not mine, liveries. It wouldn't work I'm afraid, but thanks for the suggestion, it might have worked otherwise.
 

MrsElle

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if you have a stone barn, then you can increase the space by getting in some heston bales of straw and create an extension to the barn walls so creating a wind block for the horses to hide behind as well as the barn. that will shelter them from the worst of the weather. And the bales are far cheaper than buying a field shelter. and will last a suprisingly long time and no planning required :)

That is a really good idea, I will do that. It is a quite sheltered anyway, but that would mean they could all stand together out of the wind :)
 

Fools Motto

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I was 'just' about to suggest searching for a missing stone barn, but I see you've found it! Happens to us all you know!! lol
On a serious note, glad you've found a solution, it is horrible thinking about our mud wading beasts in this weather!
 
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