Is it fair that YO's can keep paddocks exclusively for themselves?

I have only been on a livery yard once. YO seemed to do exactly as she pleased at the expense of peeing people off including,

Liveries stables being used for visiting mares

Tying up her horses outside liveries stables ( her horses were putting heads in and attacking livery horses)

Telling liveries on a frequent basis ( its my yard do not forget it)

Her horses escaping and eating our hay in barn ( no apologies, just laughed)


Nightmare lady, hopefully not too many of these about.
 
It is the YO's right to do what ever they wish. However it won't go down well if Liveries horses have to go in a badly maintained field that is knee high in mud and poorly fenced and the Yo's horses are in a far superior field.

It's about fairness and supplying paying liveries with a good service.
 
Providing the YO lets liveries know before they move on which field/fields their horse will going in, how many horses will be in there etc etc then not sure why they would be upset after the event? If the field is never rested and more horses are on it or horses are being buliied then I can understand liveries being a little upset although, YOs decision at the end of the day.

I think most YOs are sympathetic to 'special' requests although depends on amount of land and number of horses etc etc
 
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fizzer said:
I have only been on a livery yard once. YO seemed to do exactly as she pleased at the expense of peeing people off including,

Liveries stables being used for visiting mares Not on. If you pay it is yours exclusively, I never, ever use stables that are paid for, even if that means empty stables with horses waiting in the round pen when the farrier is there

Tying up her horses outside liveries stables ( her horses were putting heads in and attacking livery horses) Again, not on

Telling liveries on a frequent basis ( its my yard do not forget it) Rude. I assume that as people pay me rent they have that one figured ;)

Her horses escaping and eating our hay in barn ( no apologies, just laughed)Ah, I get around that by including hay in the price, no-one would dream of having to provide their own hay.


Nightmare lady, hopefully not too many of these about.
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It's your land, your property so as YO, you can do as you like. However, I did livery at a yard once - was promised turnout everyday without fail. It didn't happen. Got turnout the day I arrived then the horses were all confined to their stables for 6 weeks... except the YOs horse and pony. They got turnout everyday. Now I didn't think that was fair.
 
Your land, so your choice. I keep a field, yes the nearest to the yard, and yes the best draining, for mine and the Part liveries. I don't give a damn if anyone thinks it's unfair.....they can go buy their own land :p
 
Depends on circumstances as others have said. If YO's horses are receiving gold star treatment, and mine weren't, I wouldn't be impressed.
 
Yup, YO has every right to choose paddocks, cannot understand why anyone would think otherwise ? In fact, every paddock is chosen for the needs of the horse. Surely when you go to a yard you are shown the paddocks you would use ?
 
Its your land, so what you do is up to you. Have only really come across this as a problem at last yard where the turnout was limited anyway. YOs horses had all year turnout, liveries had to make do and have a rota which wasnt brilliant, along with yard staff who were able to turn their horses out as and when, and paid very little for their livery as well.. YO's excuse was that they were warmbloods, they needed the best care and best turnout, they were competition horses, etc, etc, etc. Bloody silly woman went bankrupt and she deserved to as well.
 
Of course I would expect a YO to keep the best bits (unless they desperately needed to compete with good facilities to keep custom but that would be their choice). I was going to say do you have any far away extra inaccessible muddy muddy bog pits you can send him to while you and the other liveries bask in the convenience, but it looks like you kept the least accessible one for yourself, how awfully selfish of you ;-)
 
Your land, your livery, your rules. If people dont like it they move to somewhere they do like. However if as a customer (livery owners are paying after all) and i didnt think i was getting what i paid for i would move yards if my requests for any changes couldnt be accomodated. Sometimes i think some YO do forget that their liveries are paying customers and that they couldnt afford the land and facilities they have without them. If the turnout i was paying for was unsatisfactory over grazed and too many horses etc and the YO kept the best for themselves i would not be happy.
 
As a yard owner it's your choice and in 99.9% of cases it's utterly fair and even if it isn't 'fair' there isn't really much anyone can do about it only vote with their feet and go elsewhere.

However, I can think of one instance I know of that I feel it's unfair where YO horses are all on lovely grazing (7 acres of grass) and liveries are all in a mud paddock (40x60 with no grass and mud up to their knees) and having to pay for additional haylage etc or have no turnout and have to pay for additional lunch time skip out and additional haylage.
 
Defo fair, it's your land!

On the other hand, I did find it unfair when I worked at a livery yard that had no winter turnout for liveries at all (like October to march, not at all, no turnout in schools ect either, horses were either worked for 30 min max or on the walker for 20 min, that was all they got). The YO's horses however, were turned out 12 hours a day each, plus went on the walker twice and were worked.

I did not think that was fair. Part of the reason I left were the 40 miserable horses but that's another story
 
Your land, your choice.
The only time this got me annoyed was when the owners horses went on the summer grazing in March and the liveries were not allowed on there until late May by which time the grazing had been pretty much eaten down, this yard did not have much grazing and it was poor so this was really a bit much.
 
Yes, of course it's your decision! Obviously you may need to rethink if you have your horses on 20 acres and then 10 livery horses sharing 1 acre of mud but from reading your posts that's not the case. I don't do livery but I have client horses. Geldings go out with my gelding and mares go out solo in their own paddock. I have a well established mare herd and I don't mess with that dynamic. But I really do treat them as my own so therefore I do my very best to make sure they have more than they need.

Terri
 
Never been a yo, but I think its entirely fair. Even if yo's paddocks are fab * livery paddock is a mudbath, provided that is made clear before livery moves on then that's up to the yo, it would be the liveries choice. It's only unfair if after livery has moved on, the yo were to start using liveries summer paddock for their own to trash in winter etc. Provided its made clear from the start, I believe in their yard, their rules.
 
My land, my choice of where i put mine.

When I did have liveries, I did show them the paddocks THEY could use, on a rotational basis, also pointing out the places to please keep away from (stallion paddocks etc) - this was before they were accepted ;) to move in.

I'd be steaming if someone was then unhappy (moaning) with the paddocks allotted * agreed on - they'd soon be told that they could find elsewhere that would suit them better!
 
I have my horses on full livery. It wouldnt bother me in the slightest, totally agree its your land etc!!

At my stables the yo horses all have bigger, slightly nicer stables. I have no issues with that! She worked hard to build her buisness and look after horses, totally fair!
 
My two boys get prime place on my yard, big stables, nice grazing and are spoilt! But they are my perks, and thats about it!
 
Of course - it's their land!

My liveries do actually have the best grazing, but purely because I have native/cobby types, and prefer them to go on the more scrubby hill grazing.

The upside in this weather, is that my grazing is fairing better, but having had to put a curfew of 2pm for the liveries to bring in to protect their fields, feel obliged to bring mine in too!

Roll on spring x
 
1Lucie said:
At my stables the yo horses all have bigger, slightly nicer stables.
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I keep four stables down one side of the barn for myself, two of them are doubles (20 x 11) for foaling down, one is for the stallions and the other currently has 30 baby goats in it.I don't keep them purely because they are bigger, merely because I use them for a purpose and it is easier for me to say "that side is mine"

There are currently three vacant stables on the other side that anyone can (and do) use for feeding, grooming etc as and when they like. I always leave full nets and mineral licks in those for them too, because I am nice like that.

If I was a livery, as so many of you say, as long as my stable and paddock did the job I wanted it to then I wouldn't think anything of the YO having their pick, in fact, I would expect it.
 
Wagtail said:
My liveries get the best stables with the expensive fittings and sealed runbber matting that is like a firm matress (costs £1500 a stable). I get the bog standard wooden stables with the bog standard rubber matting. I also don't have any paddocks that are exclusively for my horses. However, if I wanted the best stables and the best grazing for my horses, then that would be up to me and totally fair.
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When I had liveries, my lot slummed it! :D
 
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