Is this fair?

E

eahotson

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I pay currently £60 a week part livery. This includes bedding (fair) stable (fair) feeding (excellent) school (excellent) holding for farrier vet etc. turnout (fair to poor).I have no quarrel with that. I am a good client, try to be pleasant and amenable. Raised £100 for RDA fund. Have stayed over night there in cabins (and payed) occasionally and eat in their cafe when its open and I am down there.No we come to the crunch THE LESSONS. Instructor comes 3 times a week, twict toteach for BHS stages and once horse owners. The stages are also for YO sons. Everyone else pays £20 a lesson BUT they also use one of the yards own horses. I provide my own.I also let them use (and this WAS NOT part of agreement when we settled livery prices,) Callum on THIS instructors lessons if I am not there and they use him as an escort horse when they are short as well. (o.k this is no bad thing). Just feel I should be given even a small reduction as the lessons are group and frequently very mixed ability and its not really the money but more the principle of the thing. Feel I am being made a fool of.What do u think?
 
I think you have a fair point there! Is it a school and they use your horse every now and then! I would have thought that if you have lessons with them on your own pony then it should be cheaper for you than people using school horses! I would mention it to YO and if she has a problem with it say that she cannot use your horse for her sons!
 
We don't get any discount in lessons at our yard if we use our own horses. YO's view is that the instructor still has to be paid, and her horses still have to be fed. I thought it was a bit odd at first, but guess i'm just used to it now
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TBH I don't really think you are being made a fool of, £60pw is actually very cheap.
If you don't want them using your horse then say so, but if the turnout is poor and you can't be there to ride surely the exercise is good for him?
 
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TBH I don't really think you are being made a fool of, £60pw is actually very cheap. If you don't want them using your horse then say so, but if the turnout is poor and you can't be there to ride surely the exercise is good for him?

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I agree. I am sometimes very confused about what you actually want from your life as a horse owner to be honest.
 
£60 is REASONABLE for the area and facilities.I used to pay £80 but my horse was not used and the facilities turnout etc. MUCH better.Its not even the mone really. It just grieves me a bit to see other people turn up OCCASIONALLY not even regularly and pay exactly the same as me when I am a good cash paying regular livery yard client and have been for a bit.If they use him its to suit them not me believe me.
 
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If they use him its to suit them not me believe me.

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Of course it's to suit them - it's called business!
 
AMYMAY I understand business believe you me. Why do you think I always pay cash to a small business??????? Not cheques for instance.In business there is a fine balance between the needs of the business AND of the client. I try to be a good client. I pay IN CASH very promptly and regularly. I let them use my horse A BIT and UNDER CERTAIN curcumstances as well to help them really.Many of the clients there are no where near as good.What I want from my riding is a pleasant yard, a nicely schooled pleasant horse (not a superstar) and for him to be looked after when I am not there (he is) .There is more to this than I am willing perhaps to say.There often is in situations like this. I find it hard to find a GOOD livery yard really. I found one once that was crap but the teaching was superb and it made up for a lot.
 
I think Amymay is missing the point totally! If someone uses my horse on a lesson and someone is making money out of it, then I think I SHOULD receive some sort of rebate. If money is being made, then it should be shared with the resources. Hope that makes sense,

A client will pay for the use of a horse - fair enough? So, if eahotson's horse is being used, the YO does not have to pay for the horse's keep as this is being paid for by eahotson. So the YO takes the money and eahotson just gives the horse a bit more food to allow for the extra work. Hmmm - if this is a favour, then the favour should be returned at some point.

However, if you are happy with eveyrthing else, then maybe just leave it. I can see that it is irritating though, and little things can really bug you after a while.

So - my feeling is that if the horse is being used as a yard horse a couple of times a week, then the YO should give some financial reimbursement. It is not only the horse, but the tack etc that is being given extra wear and tear.
 
But ultimately you never seem to be happy with either the livery yard you are at or the horse you own.

I suspect you are more than capable of looking after your horse yourself - so why not find a nice small livery yard that will give you assisted DIY when needed. There are plenty of very good instructors who will come out and give you lessons - or you can hire transport and go to them. However your decisions always seem to be based around other criteria that never seem to work out ultimately.
 
Actually Amymay you may have a point. I tend NOT to go for DIY because of other commitments and the neares yard to me (about 5 mins drive actually) has NO winter turnout, VERY limited summer turnout, absolutely NO hacking and one instructor, so if you get on with her fine, if not not and I can't try before I buy if you see what I mean? Most of the yards near me are very similar. Ness was nearer to me than current yard but without wanting to go into great detail it wasn't what I first thought it was. Its a public forum and i have to be careful. Nothing terrible but present yard STILL a milliom times better. You are right though, I should revise my priorities.
 
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You are right though, I should revise my priorities.

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Do we agree on something?????
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Who'd have thought
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Well one of the things I found out about my last place (and I supose this part explains my touchiness now) is that you had to pay to go on staff lessons.No problem with that. I was a regular cash paying customer when I was a0 on working livery and later when I was on full. Later I discover I was the only one paying!!!!!! Other people were coming, using centres horses and instructor said they didn't have to pay. HONESTLY you couldn't make it up.
 
But is it a I scratch your back you scratch mine kind of thing?
If Callum were to need extra treatment for some reason or another then I would now expect them to do that for me and not charge extra since they are getting extra from you at the moment. Well that's the way I play things.

Personally I find all bigger yards like this to some extent and I much prefer the small private yards who don't seem to take liberties with their clients.
 
I have always gone on the you scratch my back etc. and try to be a good client REALLY. I just seem to feel sometimes that if you are a good client they take the mick however I think I am using this forum as a form of counselling as really I should change yards for a variety of reasons (not urgently just when I find a better one) but | am the sort of person who tends to cling to the familiar. Better the devil you know etc.Suspect \\\\\\\\\\\\\\i am not the only one like that.
 
Tricky one. I don't know what livery prices and facilities are like in your area, but you do seem to have a good deal generally. Does them using Callum inconvenience you or benefit you in any way? In other words, is he getting exercise that benefits him, or are you being deprived of riding him as he is being used? I don't see why you don't arrange your own private lessons - mixed ability lessons can be quite limited.
 
No Amymay there weren't. One was his friend.One was another full livery who (like me) had bought a horse off Barry.h er horse was lame (something she knew when she bought it, that there was a long term problem). There were money probs there as clients had never apparently (and all this came out later) paid for the staff lessons. Yard financial manager said they had to. They all complained. Instructor said they didn't. I was the new one. Didn't know and paid. No one told me!
 
Can you not say to them that if they use your horse in a lesson you get a reduction of £x in your livery? If they don't agree to that then don't let them use him!
 
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No Amymay there weren't

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All a bit strange then. Doesn't sound like the type of place where keeping a horse could be a pleasure really.
 
It does not inconvenience me him being used no. Whether I or Callum actually benefit is a good one.Prices are generally cheaper up here I think.Private lessons are not generally available there with the only decent instructor there.This is the down fall to this yard really.For me anyway.
 
I have found in life and livery yards that some simple rules keep everybody happy

Only take advice you think you can use, disregard the rest with a smile

Only give advice if it is asked for

Never discuss other liveries with a third party

Never discuss livery rates/services with other liveries (it doesn't matter what they are paying /getting, just get a decent service at a decent price for yourself)

Never feel forced to do something by peer pressure at the yard, however sometimes joining in on a product (bedding/haylage for example) can save money
 
When I was away at uni and my horse on full livery at home in a small riding school my horse would occassionally be used in term time when I was unable to ride him - approx 2 hours per week in staff lessons.

I still paid the same amount - all feed / hay / bedding etc was included in this price but the YO paid for half his farrier bill & worming costs and I was happy with this arrangement. He was barefoot but she had said if the work he was doing meant he needed to be shod she would have covered this cost.

So for me on the one hand my horse was being exercised - but he is the type who will more than happily do nothing for a few months so that didn't really bother me.

As for moving yards - I am also a better the devil you know kind of person - currently not happy with yard I'm at (not the above RS) but finding somewhere better proving a nightmare!
 
I can see your point totally. If others are paying the same as you for the services they provide and their horse is not being used then IMO they should give you some sort or discount or contribution. They are presuming its ok to use your horse, if it were me I would like to be asked each time my horse is being used. But if you dont say something they will carry on doing it as presuming its ok. If you are happy with the yard and you dont really mind your horse being ridden by others I would let it lie as I can assure you that there is something on every yard that will really annoy you so if you move then it will just be something else.

What yard are you on? PM me if you dont mind telling me
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£60 per week is quite inexpensive in my opinion for part livery with all the facilities you have. £20 is pretty cheap for a lesson too. Your horse is being exercised, you are being taught and surely that is what you are happy with?

Perhaps you should just look at the overall picture rather than trying to find problems with it? Who cares what others pay for or don't pay for......are YOU happy with what you pay.....if so, then enjoy it rather than gripe. If you are not, then stop them using the horse and get another instructor.

I personally can't see what the problem is.
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