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

what would piss me off if a YO (and this has been done to me on two yards now where i was stabled) purposely put my horse on worse and less grazing than theirs....

Mine ended up on a particular yard - out on no grazing in a warlogged/bogged paddock while their horse had 3x the space.

mine ended up being ill

so yes - your fields your choice and i wouldnt slag you off behind your back but if a YO purposefully put their horses on better grazing and left paying owneres with crap then it would annoy y me and id move if talking about the situation didnt help.

there is NO way tho id decide i want x paddock for the sake of it!

hope that makes sense!
 
I've been in the position of being both poacher and gamekeeper here (am currently a YO but in the past have had to make myself pleasant to YO's who in any other circumstance I wouldn't give the time of day for).

From the YO's viewpoint: yes I do have paddocks which are exclusively for me and me only. The livery has three acres to herself - which is for her exclusive use and no other horses but hers go in there. She is free to manage the land and split it however she pleases, and to put up jumps and a schooling area in the summer. I don't interfere with how she uses her plot.

I have a section of a 10-acre field which is for my two; plus a little paddock (about an acre) as a resting patch; plus an area of hard standing which is the Holding Pen - very useful for vets * farriers etc!

I've been on yards in the past where you were simply persona non grata if you (even inadvertently) strayed into the YO's plot or pinched their stable or whatever and it was the easiest way to get chucked off the yard.

In fact, at my place, the best-drained field is the one the livery uses! We had it professionally drained and hardcore put in the gateways a few years ago. However, my bit's like a swamp at the moment - got a local farmer to put down some hardcore in the gateway recently which has helped a lot, but its still the dampest field!!!

Personally as a YO I do want to keep my area to myself; this isn't just being picky, its because my livery goes off competing a lot whereas I don't, and for biosecurity alone I prefer to keep mine in separate fields and not have other people's horses in there.

If the YO has their own paddocks and this is explained to people when they come to look around the yard, i.e. that their own area is clearly indicated, I don't see this should cause anyone any problems TBH.
 
I'm a bit poacher turned gamekeeper too.
When I had my old horse on livery I was infuriated by the yard 'owner' (tenant) insisting that all liveries had absolutely no turnout from end Oct to April "because the fields are too wet" yet their own 7 horses went out every single day from 7am to 4pm, in direct full view of all the livery horses stables. Sorry, but if their field sustained the turnout then the YO should provide some form of turnout even if just a couple of hours.
I now have my own yard and would happily turn out together with all the livery horses in the same paddocks. I don't keep certain ones for my horses alone, I prefer to rotate paddocks leaving some empty for a while as it allows for maintenance.
However, I wouldn't be happy for liveries to be moaning or insisting on being able to choose which field they used.
 
i'm lucky with my YO, she puts her horses out with the liveries horses, there is no favouritism. if a horse needs a certain way of treatment/turnout/etc then she will accomodate it.
she has 4 horses that are rarely in the same fields as each other or even on the 'best' grazing. it's all equal.
as others have said though if you own it and you live there then it's up to you!
 
I'm a livery and I agree, your land, your choice. In fact, I believe that in most yards there's a kind of pecking order in how fields are allocated, just how it is, as long as my horses have enough grazing and a bit of shelter I am happy to go with it
 
Yos land, their choice.
However I've been in the position as a livery of paying rent whilst two of my horses were wintered elsewhere to rest the fields I had.....only for the yo to put their own horses on them :o
As a yo that's completely disgraceful....
I usually mix the livery horse either with mine or a section next to mine.....so technically the same field.
 
Agree that it's your choice, but I was at a yard years ago where the owner had her own field and then allowed her favorite people to turn their horses out in it while the rest had no turn out at all during winter, very annoying.
 
Achinghips said:
Sorry Enfys but ..............god, I hate yards like this ..................
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:D It isn't so bad. They don't complain to my face so I don't let on I know ;) until they do I shall not say anything.

I suppose I could have done what I never, ever, do and permitted liveries to put their horses out in a paddock fenced only with electric tape. If a horse escaped then it would have the rest of Ontario to go play in.
 
I think its better for the livery owner's horses to be seperate - liveries come and go, its easier to keep yours in an established herd.. That said, I would never have the liveries in a worse field - if anything, I used to put ours in better fields as I was worried about injuries! The only time I put ours in a better one than the liveries was when one of ours that is very prone to mudrash had a leg injury and had to be out all day - he had to go on the driest, best winter field..
 
Enfys said:
One of my livery owners has been complaining to someone who told a mutual friend (who told me) that he thinks it is unfair that I use certain paddocks specifically for my own horses and that he thinks his should go in them not mine. :mad: That's his tough luck, my land, my mortgage, my horses, my business, if he doesn't like it he can always move on I delegate paddocks according to what suits the individual horse, and yes, owners too.

Anyway, that's by the by, just a mini rant, what I am really interested in is YO's and Livery Owners opinions.

Do you think it is fair, or right, that Yard Owners can reserve specific paddocks for their exclusive use?
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I am sorry enfys, I completely agree with livery, I think you are being completely unreasonable and as he doesn't own the land he should have priority, or you should pay him a subsidy to compensate his not being able to graze on your paddock....

What an utter pritt stick!!! This post has made me laugh out loud. In total honest if I heard a livery say that my response would be along the lines of:
" you are effing kidding me! Oh, you're serious?? Well in that case you are a nutter and quite clearly delusional!" I have never heard such a stupid attitude in all my life, as you say it's your land, your rules! Grrrr *shakes fist* :mad:
 
Enfys said:
One of my livery owners has been complaining to someone who told a mutual friend (who told me) that he thinks it is unfair that I use certain paddocks specifically for my own horses and that he thinks his should go in them not mine. :mad: That's his tough luck, my land, my mortgage, my horses, my business, if he doesn't like it he can always move on I delegate paddocks according to what suits the individual horse, and yes, owners too.

Anyway, that's by the by, just a mini rant, what I am really interested in is YO's and Livery Owners opinions.

Do you think it is fair, or right, that Yard Owners can reserve specific paddocks for their exclusive use?
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As you say, your land, your mortgage your decision as to paddock allocation. Any yard owner makes those decisions. The most amazing thing is that liveries are so naive not to realise that in the horse world almost everyone knows everyone else.........so they should keep their comments to themselves if they want to keep their opinions private!
 
shannonandtay said:
Agree that it's your choice, but I was at a yard years ago where the owner had her own field and then allowed her favorite people to turn their horses out in it while the rest had no turn out at all during winter, very annoying.
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Yeah, this would annoy me and I'd probably move on pretty sharpish but if my horses had adequate turnout themselves (inc winter, I'd never moved anywhere without winter turnout) but the YO bagged the field nearest the yard or with the field shelter or something like that, that would be fair enough
 
I am a livery and I have two views.

1) Your land, your decision.

2) If my horse was stood in a sea of mud/ never got turned out and the YO has a lovely big green paddock and horses were turned out everyday then yeah I'd be a little pee'd off. But I'd just move my horse if that was the case.
 
I think he sounds like a twit.

I keep my largest field for my horses - because three of them (well, two now after the youngster being put down) live out all year and it's got the best shelter, nice steep hills for them to keep themselves fit on, and is large enough (20 acres) to keep them going for the winter without getting trashed.

I have occasionally put liveries out with mine, but on the whole, I leave them in their herd.

All my liveries come in at night in the winter, and so the smaller, less well-draining fields get a break.

Works for me, and like you said, it's my land, and my business, I'll do what I want thank you!
 
AHAHAHAHAAA!!! thes hilarious. if i spent my own money on land one thing that would come first is me and my horse.
id treat all the liverys equal under me.
does he really think that you should move your horses to serve him.

that said i think there should be enough grazing for al but at home at the moment the liverys leave in winter and mine lives on the high ground as it doesnt flood. views like that mean mine should move out and liverys get the dry ground lmao. face palm, some people!!
 
Apparently it's not fair - especially not if you have just bought a place that used to be used as a livery yard some years ago and are refusing to allow people who used to livery there to come back. We'd been here less than a day before the people came asking when they could move their horses in and they were not amused to find that I have no intentions of having liveries.

They live next door - it's not as though they haven't had plenty of opportunity to buy the place and put up with the leaking roof, running water down the walls, lack of heating and hot water, filth and grime left by previous tenants and the up-and-coming enormous bills for repairs. I'm prepared to put up with the conditions to get what I want - my horses on my doorstep in my own private yard, it would appear they just want to grumble in their nice warm dry modern house that I won't let them keep their horses here.
 
Dee O'Dorant said:
Apparently it's not fair - especially not if you have just bought a place that used to be used as a livery yard some years ago and are refusing to allow people who used to livery there to come back. We'd been here less than a day before the people came asking when they could move their horses in and they were not amused to find that I have no intentions of having liveries.

They live next door - it's not as though they haven't had plenty of opportunity to buy the place and put up with the leaking roof, running water down the walls, lack of heating and hot water, filth and grime left by previous tenants and the up-and-coming enormous bills for repairs. I'm prepared to put up with the conditions to get what I want - my horses on my doorstep in my own private yard, it would appear they just want to grumble in their nice warm dry modern house that I won't let them keep their horses here.
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point, A* to u,
 
Dont see the problem, your land your horses your rules... he dont like it well sure there are other fields available elsewhere.

Im just grateful that my horse can get to go out even in winter months to be honest.
 
i had this situation on our last yard but the YO was very sneaky about it, which made it worse. The "livery" fields were very wet so all horses had to stay in 24/7. However, she also had a large 10 acre field that was on a hill and was drier, but we were told it was being saved for hay. Fair enough - thats her choice. However one day I was walking my dogs and went past her "hay" field to find all her 4 horses turned out in it, whilst all the liveries were in. I didn't say anything then but on purpose turned up half an hour earlier than usual to check on my horse that night and met the Yo and her Oh bringing in their horses form the field. She said they had only been turned out for an hour whilst she was mucking out. That was when I lost all confidence in her - I can't stand people who lie - and we found another yard and left. As did all her remaining liveries.
 
My YO does tend to mix hers in with the liveries. It's down to which horse gets on with which horse. I would say up to YO as they have the aggro but wouldn't be overly happy if I had to deal with some of the extreme circumstances described in earlier posts!
 
Fair enough for YO to choose the field they prefer, but not fair enough if the YO doesn't maintain all the fields to a standard that she would be happy to put her horses in. If the YO's field was for example the only one with secure fencing and the rest was in disrepair I'd be pretty narked.
 
LIZ66 said:
i had this situation on our last yard but the YO was very sneaky about it, which made it worse. The "livery" fields were very wet so all horses had to stay in 24/7. However, she also had a large 10 acre field that was on a hill and was drier, but we were told it was being saved for hay. Fair enough - thats her choice. However one day I was walking my dogs and went past her "hay" field to find all her 4 horses turned out in it, whilst all the liveries were in. I didn't say anything then but on purpose turned up half an hour earlier than usual to check on my horse that night and met the Yo and her Oh bringing in their horses form the field. She said they had only been turned out for an hour whilst she was mucking out. That was when I lost all confidence in her - I can't stand people who lie - and we found another yard and left. As did all her remaining liveries.
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Yeah, that's not fair at all.

At the moment most of the horses are in 24/7, but everyone has the choice to turnout for 2 hours (as it's so wet, they're normally out for 6 hours at this time of year :(). We do have 9 horses (retired and youngsters) on 20 acres out 24/7, including 3 of mine, and I have a weanling colt who is out with my sisters gelding for 6 hours per day.

I would never have my ridden horse out all day whilst the liveries were all in, that's not fair. Also I wish they were out anyway, much easier than mucking out twice per day, using more bedding and we make quite a lot out of services such as turning out and bringing in!
 
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