I need advice please!!!

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2awesomenatives

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Hi all,

I need your advice please with regards to livery.

So.....at the moment I rent a field through a livery yard. The field is 1.5 acres and really muddy in the middle (ponies have to go through it to get the the dry part). My friend rents the field next door to me and has helped me out so much with sorting my boys on days where im working late etc as she is around during the day ......... but she is moving house in 2 weeks (3hrs away) so i will no longer have her help.
We only have 1 tap which is half way down the field in the muddiest part. I have access to the facilities on the yard (small school and hose etc) but its a good walk away from the field. I bought a 20ft field shelter last year that i have now bought gates for so i can make it into stables. But its 3/4 down the field as that's the only dry part.
My field is separated from the yard via a bridge with woods either side. The times that i can get there, i am always on my own in the dark which can be quite spooky (i also have to go through 3 gates to get there so if i'm driving over to the field then its a pain getting in and out of the car, but if i walk, i'm walking over a bridge next to the woods) On the plus side, the hacking is amazing as we are straight onto the woods with no roadworks!
Through winter I am only able to ride once during the week and then on a weekend because of children. lack of light etc. I tend to book in clinics on a weekend if there are some going on.

Anyway, a small private yard has come avaliable just down the road from me . It has 3 brick stables, tack room/feed storage and a brick built hay barn, 3 acres which is on a hill so i've been told it drains well. 2 Field Shelters and owner lives onsite (they arent horsey but the yard is part of the house so they rent it out).
Downsides......no school (but i think there is one down the road that can be hired) and i'm not sure what the hacking is like because i don't really know the area for riding - I do have my own transport.
Also, it has a sycamore tree in the smaller paddock.

My rent is going up on my current field so both places will work out at the same rent once it has gone up (i would be sharing the new yard with a friend who has a retired pony)

Im really stuck as to what to do. Our winters are getting longer and making up haynets etc outside in the wind/rain/snow is taking its toll.

What would you do in this situation?
 
I think you should find out about hacking at the new place, before you make any firm decision. I'd struggle slopping through mud all winter too, so it's sounds like an improvement, but if there's nowhere to ride it might just be swapping one struggle for another. The other thing to consider is whether the YO at the new place will leave you alone, or make a nuisance of themselves.
 
meleeka said:
I think you should find out about hacking at the new place, before you make any firm decision. I'd struggle slopping through mud all winter too, so it's sounds like an improvement, but if there's nowhere to ride it might just be swapping one struggle for another. The other thing to consider is whether the YO at the new place will leave you alone, or make a nuisance of themselves.
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He was really nice and basically said they we can do whatever we like/treat it as our own (within reason) and there will be no interfeering unless they have to.
The field shelters had new roofs 2 years ago, its all post and rail fencing. There are electrical sockets/ taps etc on the yard.

My only concern in riding. I know there will be road work involved, thankfully my boy is good on the roads, but i dont know if its all road work, or there are some nice off road rides.
 
2awesomenatives said:
He was really nice and basically said they we can do whatever we like/treat it as our own (within reason) and there will be no interfeering unless they have to.
The field shelters had new roofs 2 years ago, its all post and rail fencing. There are electrical sockets/ taps etc on the yard.

My only concern in riding. I know there will be road work involved, thankfully my boy is good on the roads, but i dont know if its all road work, or there are some nice off road rides.
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Do you know why it's come up for rent? It does sound lovely!
 
I agree if you’re boxing out to clinics at the weekend anyway it doesn’t sound like a school would be used that much anyway.
But I would get down there and have a good walk/cycle around and see what like the hacking is.

Your current place sounds exhausting just reading about it.
 
Kaylum said:
Ask on your local FB horse groups, you don't need to go into detail why you want to know. Local knowledge is invaluable.
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I have but no one has got back to me 😭
I am going to see the new place again tomorrow, with my friend that would be coming with me so we will have a drive around the area to see what its like
 
Update:

Ive spoken to someone that owns the livery down the road. They hire their school and she said the hacking isnt great as there is roadwork to do before getting to the forest, off road routes!
 
2awesomenatives said:
Update:

Ive spoken to someone that owns the livery down the road. They hire their school and she said the hacking isnt great as there is roadwork to do before getting to the forest, off road routes!
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We would be thrilled to have a forest to hack in, after a bit of road work tbh.
 
The sycamore would make it a no from me, having lost a healthy, in his prime 8yo gelding one spring - after having used the same field in previous years without issue. Levels of the toxic chemical change according to the weather when the seeds were produced apparently, and other ponies in the same field were unaffected. I don’t use that field at all now. It’s like playing genetic Russian Roulette - unless you know for sure your horses have been fine in a ‘bad’ year with high toxicity in a field with sycamores, why risk it?
 
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maya2008 said:
The sycamore would make it a no from me, having lost a healthy, in his prime 8yo gelding one spring - after having used the same field in previous years without issue. Levels of the toxic chemical change according to the weather when the seeds were produced apparently, and other ponies in the same field were unaffected. I don’t use that field at all now. It’s like playing genetic Russian Roulette - unless you know for sure your horses have been fine in a ‘bad’ year with high toxicity in a field with sycamores, why risk it?
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The Sycamore is in a seperate paddock that would possibly only be grazed in summer if needed.
I have lots of oak trees where i am at the moment but ive never been in a field with Sycamores
 
2awesomenatives said:
The Sycamore is in a seperate paddock that would possibly only be grazed in summer if needed.
I have lots of oak trees where i am at the moment but ive never been in a field with Sycamores
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You can entirely avoid the sycamore, can still access the woods, can travel to a manège as necessary, your horse is good in traffic anyway, buildings, fields, personal safety and autonomy are all better than your current situation (which sounds like labours of Hercules, tbh!) - can’t work out why you’re even asking?
And if you start asking your local horse community, good chance someone else will snap this up in face of your indecision - be quick!
 
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