Keeping in DIY

Leave hay to be put in and a bucket of water to top up. If you can be there then a quick skip out too. Try and get them out in the arena for a little bit later on or a walk to stretch legs.
 
When ours were at livery, we put them.out if we could get there. Fortunately my sister worked shifts so we could work round that.

We often talk about "Poor little horses out in the snow". YO's partner heard a couple walking past the fields remarking that our horses were out. She told them " the poor little owner has just set off to walk back home up in the village, after walking down, putting the horses out, mucking out and filling up hay and water for tonight".
 
I guess it’s a similar principle to those who keep them at home i.e. no option to pay for part livery services?

When mine have to be in I fill enough haynets for the week at the weekend, beds get done ‘properly’ at one end of the day and droppings skipped out only at the other end of the day (and go back late night to skip out if your yard doesn’t have a closing time).

If you have friends on the yard see if you can alternate with them so maybe they’ll skip out for you at one end of the day if you have time to do the same in return at the other. Or throw hay in for you etc. Or you share the 10pm skip out on a rota.
 
I muck out as normal, let them run about in the school and leave with plenty of hay & water - rugged up warm and stick carrots in the haynet to give them some amusement for 10 mins... I'll skip out in the evening, exercise in the school / loose school etc, top up hay & water and feed.... I have bought a mirror for one who cannot cope with change in routine
 
Go up as normal as if to turn out. Fill and hang a big net of hay for each. Top up water buckets. Skip out thoroughly, rake beds back tidily and change rugs if needed.
After work, go back up and turn out in school or in field if weather has improve for an hour. Muck out properly, scrub water buckets properly and refill, hang night nets and put in dinners. Bring back in and change rugs if needed.
 
When I work I employ a freelancer to bring in if I’ve managed to turn out otherwise I do a scanty muck out of the 3 fill water and replenish hay and give a feed (they don’t get morning feeds) of soaked meadow cobs to make sure they have wet fibre going through them. After work a better muck out, leg stretch if possible. Arena 7 mins walk away so not an option when snow n ice around. I hate insy days.
 
Highmileagecob said:
Any chance you can buddy up with someone to share the load?
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Yes....when mine was on livery they lived out 24/7 but for the odd night or two of appalling weather they'd come in overnight. We'd each leave everything ready for our horse, then one of us would bring them in on an evening, and the other person would turn back out again the next morning. Slightly different situation but the same principle. None of us had time to be running up and down to the yard multiple times a day so this worked really well.
 
I have coblet on DIY at a local yard but work 8.30-4.30 and have 3 kiddies. I pay the YO £2/day to turn coblet out for me in a morning over winter and then I get there at 4.45pm , muck out, water. hay etc and then fetch him in just as the light is now fading fast. YO also brought in until last week. I always do an extra haynet or 2 and extra bucket of water if it looks like they will be staying in and YO will do a cursory skip out in the morning again paid of course.
 
I had 3 on DIY in a horrible wet (flooding) winter with one on post surgery box rest. Almost killed me! The YO would have preferred horses in to stop the fields getting churned up but with a yard of semi retirees that wasn't feasible.

Turning up one dark evening at 5.30pm when it was p'ing it down and having a livery tell me crossly that all the others had come in at 3 meant I nearly smacked her. If they were that worried they could have brought my 2 in and just chucked hay at them.

We got offered this yard a few months later and it's been such a relief to make my own decisions.
 
atropa said:
Go up as normal as if to turn out. Fill and hang a big net of hay for each. Top up water buckets. Skip out thoroughly, rake beds back tidily and change rugs if needed.
After work, go back up and turn out in school or in field if weather has improve for an hour. Muck out properly, scrub water buckets properly and refill, hang night nets and put in dinners. Bring back in and change rugs if needed.
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This.
 
When my horse was stabled (now lives out all year round), on the the occasions couldnt go out in field for weather or medical reasons, I used to get up early, muck out, hand graze, and hand walk or exercise before work. This yard had an indoor school. Then repeat process after work. Made for a long day!
 
We have had a change of YO on our DIY yard recently; previously we had assisted, now we don't. We've had to buddy up for turnout/bring in etc. People just muck out when they can, some do first thing, others late after work. We also have a yard WhatsApp group for messages about turnout (basically whoever gets there first does it and tells the others). Also on the plus side it's saving me quite a bit of money not paying for assistance 🙃 Hopefully you can make it work with the other liveries. It's not easy when you're working. I'm lucky that we have such a good bunch of people where we are!
 
Maybe you could club together to pay for a freelance groom some days for an hour say. They could do two or three and you could share the cost?
 
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