Is it time to call it a day?

[Niddlynoo]

A bit of an essay coming up - sorry! About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer that had spread to my bones, lungs etc. I have been on chemo for the last year and been off work since then. I have a Haffy (my daughters) and a 16hh heavyweight cob (who I haven't ridden yet, but am allowed to start again in spring as I had major pelvic surgery last summer).
I keep them at a small yard (4stables and about 7 acres) with two other horses. The yard has one big field, approx 4acres, two fields around 1.5 acres and a tiny paddock which has no fencing on one side as the people who live next door chopped all the hedging down leaving sheep netting. The owners of one of the other horses insist she has the big field, but don't want my Haffy in with her because he's too playful. So at the moment the two mares have the big field. One of the other field was used as starvation last year and has no grass at all, and my boys have been in the other one. The YO has now said they can't go back in there as they have made a muddy track along the fence line ( eyeing up the girls) and it doesn't look nice. So consequently I have been feeding hay all winter, and the others have lots of grass and used about a bale between them.

Do I talk to YO and try to explain that I don't think it's fair, or do I just put up with it? I know as soon as the grass grows, my boys will have to go into the tiny paddock so the other mare can go on starvation in the paddock my boys are in. By the way, they all live out 24/7.
Sorry for the long essay!

 

[Wagtail]

Sorry to hear about your health problems. I hope that you will be able to start riding again in the future.

I can understand where your YO is coming from on this, being a yard owner myself. But I really don't understand why, if that mare needs limiting during the summer, she is out 24/7 on such a large area in the winter. It is more dangerous in terms of laminitis risk at this time of year due to the cold nights forcing the grass to retain more sugar.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Sorry to hear about your health problems, but glad to hear that you will be allowed to take up riding sometime during the spring.

About your horses, it perhaps doesn't sound quite fair to me, but yard owner's yard - yard owner decides the rules. I can't tell you what to do or not, however, if you do want to say something about it, I suggest that you first sit down, and think through what it is that you want the YO to do about it.
For example, is it that a rotating schedule was introduced on the yard, one week your horses are in the big field, next week the mares are in the big field. Or is it that you want them to change the size of the fields by moving the fencing. Note that I don't know if either of this is realistic suggestions, but it was the two first things that I could come and think of.

But if you know for certain that talking to the YO won't change anything, except that they would know that you feel that the situation is unfair, then, personally if I was in your situation, I doubt that I would bother about saying anything.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Wow, so unfair!
Could there be any chance of splitting the big field into two? Surely any yard owner can see that things must be fair between two liveries each with two horses and presumably paying the same in livery fee's.
What gives the other livery the right to be the one that makes this call?

 

[poiuytrewq]

Sorry re-read I don't think I got that quite right did I!?
The other livery only has one horse?
Do they all live out? Could you maybe turn one set out at night and one in the day to give all a good leg stretch and bite of grass?

I think i'd be looking elsewhere.