Livery not doing poo picking causing bad feelings

just out of curiosity is it a real english thing? I'd never heard of it in over 30 years on irish livery yards. I've a tiny turnout field at home and i do it, but wouldn't like to be paying on a yard where i was expected to do it. I'd imagine it's a nightmare to get everyone to do their share.

A livery on a yard 2 years ago said it to YO during a livery meeting, as she'd read it on a BHS leaflet. Yo at the time said he'd implement it by adding a set cost onto livery and hiring someone to come in specifically and do it each day.

was just wondering if any other irish liveries had come across it on their yards?
 
I can't imagine not poo picking a field. My lad shares a field with another horse which belongs to my friend. We have a system worked out between us which makes sure the field gets cleared daily. I did it today and removed 21 droppings from the two horses produced in one over night turnout period (coming off the field during the day at the moment due to the heat). If it weren't done daily it would be filthy in no time. OP I would point out to your livery how many poos a healthy horse produces in a day and ask her where she thinks it all goes?

.... And then serve her with notice ...
 
ditto if my chap was out 24/7 it would be a barrow per day.

we've had 2 on 4 acres, and we have massive acreage here for the number of horses (only 10, prob 30 odd acres total) poo picking has nothing to do with not having sufficient acreage! It is good for everything for it to be done, including my waistline. My mates contractor hubby does have a sweeper though, now that is a good bit of kit ;).
 
I've kept horses for 40 years and we never used to pop pick. Think we are all aware of the benefits of clearing droppings regularly so see it as part of general horse care and land maintenance
 
We've got 3 horses out 24/7 and about a barrow a day per horse is average. The lady i share my field with is lovely, we keep on top of it but equally don't stress about it if someone has to miss a day, life happens.

I get very stressed about poo picking rules and issues because I have been on a yard where the YO was very subjective about it and used it as a weapon against people. The YO would tell us all to 1 barrow per day for each horse we had, which was fair enough and certainly not onerous. The problem was that for their own 3 no one was doing the daily barrow. So the field, whilst never a cesspit was also never completely cleared. The YO would blame this situation on whichever livery was in their bad books that particular day- and it could be quite unpleasant.
 
Yes splitting the field into sections does work. Seen in be done for years. However only 4 horses or so in a large field so they do poo all over it so there was never any issues
 
Another friend I shared a field with and I did the sections thing, it worked ok too. If we found that the horses were hanging out more up the top end for example, then we'd adapt our sections to allow for it.
 
paddi22 said:
just out of curiosity is it a real english thing? I'd never heard of it in over 30 years on irish livery yards. I've a tiny turnout field at home and i do it, but wouldn't like to be paying on a yard where i was expected to do it. I'd imagine it's a nightmare to get everyone to do their share.

A livery on a yard 2 years ago said it to YO during a livery meeting, as she'd read it on a BHS leaflet. Yo at the time said he'd implement it by adding a set cost onto livery and hiring someone to come in specifically and do it each day.

was just wondering if any other irish liveries had come across it on their yards?
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I'm not Irish. I consider it a "fussy person" thing rather than an english thing. I've never been on a yard with a strict poo picking rota. It's one of the things I check on viewing a yard and if there is a rota/number of barrows etc then I won't move my horse there. I've been on a few yards that have said everyone to do one barrow per week, which is obviously never going to get the field cleared but I'll happily do that much, and places with pairs turnout where as long as the other person is doing their share I'm happy to chip in and do it at days/times to suit me. Most of the yards I've been on didn't have any requirement to poo pick the fields though.
 
The last couple of times mine has been on group turnout, the last one was 30 acres so they harrowed it. The one before that we were expected to poo pick. The YO lived on site and kept an eye out for who was doing what. If you didnt do your poo picking then you were grouped together with other liked minded people and they let you get on with it, then just harrowed when they changed fields. The "good" liveries who did poo pick were grouped together so their horses has clean grazing. It was still a bit hit and miss!
 
Oh for a horse that didnt poo in every part of the field ! Most fields in the SE I think are small, land is too expensive here.
Cant bear to see a paddock full of poo, same as paddocks full of ragwort. It keeps the flies down in summer if you poo pick and stops areas of long rank grass. If you have acres it possibly isnt so important pr if you are lucky enough to be able to harrow
 
Passtheshampoo said:
Ok so I have a livery young woman in her early 20s who v rarely poo picks. Yard rules are we all do our fair share. One of the other liveries does far more than she should and I as YO also do more than my 2 horses produce. Despite asking lazy livery to muck in on a regular basis it's just not getting done. She also says she's done it when asked but I think this is far from the truth. I only have 3 liveries and up to now I've probably been too soft and not challenging enough. What happens on your yards when someone is letting the team down and YO how do you deal with this?
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We had someone on a previous yard not only not pooh pick (all individual turnouts anyway) but rarely bothered mucking out her horse. YO spoke to here on more than one occasion. One day another livery got stuck into her bed and managed to get seven wheelbarrow loads out of her stable. Her paddock was littered with poohs. It was difficult as she was such a nice person, but we all felt really sorry for her horse.
 
I don’t / wont poo pick. I used to, but I now have long term, unresolvable arm damage – both tendon and ligament damage, that isn’t going to heal, unless I rest my arms. And keeping horses DIY and resting arms is a bit tricky.

Poo picking sets my arm pain off like nothing else! It is some kind of repetitive strain injury.

I moved yards to one where it was not required. In winter we don’t. In summer, my two have own field, and I pay a friend’s daughter a monthly sum to clear the field. As I would prefer was clear. Yard allow it to be put in pile in corner outside field.

I will happily outsource, or pay yard, but I WONT do it on a regular basis. The resulting arm and body pain defeats the point of having riding horses to compete.


I'd not move to a yard where fields full of poo. I would move to a yard with a rota / requirement as long as paying sensible amounts or outsourcing to someone else was feasible.
 
YO here. I have it written into my contracts that if a livery hasn't done something by a certain time/day then I will do it and they will be charged. Price list included with their contract. For example, if the fields haven't been cleared of poo by the end of the weekend then I will do it Monday morning. I make allowances for shift workers/people who work weekends, within reason, as long as they are not taking the piss.
If this starts to happen regularly, without prior agreement, then they will be given their notice.
I like my fields to be kept clean. Its better for the grass and its better for the horses. Poo picking is one of the best things that can be done to reduce worm burden.
 
wingedhorse said:
I don’t / wont poo pick. I used to, but I now have long term, unresolvable arm damage – both tendon and ligament damage, that isn’t going to heal, unless I rest my arms. And keeping horses DIY and resting arms is a bit tricky.
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I also have issues with one hamstring and my back, poopicking literally cripples me for about 48 hours. If the yard met requirements for everything but had to poo pick I would ask if I could pay for the service, or save up and buy one of those amazing looking hoover things :D
 
Pop her horse in the stable. If she won't muck out in the field put her horse back in the stable. Charge her for a full stable of bedding and hay and leave it in. End of. No poo picking no turnout.

I don't poo pick our field as its nearly ten acres so the yard has a poo picking machine that goes over the field once a week. Farmer whisks the poos into line with an old hay whisk and then goes over the lines with the machine. When I was in the other paddock I had to poo pick and I did it twice a week, two barrows twice a week, popped my music on my phone or called a friend for a good long chat and spent half an hour scooping up two barrows. It's not hard.

I have no time for people who won't do the chores, won't much out their stable, wont hay or feed their horse adequately, I just don't think you should have a horse if you cannot do the necessary. I have just had surgery and I have about four people currently looking after my boy as I'm paranoid about his care.
 
Also to add, we only do it in the winter turn out paddocks, theyre hard standing. Not the fields. I dont do my winter paddock as its just mud :/
 
I have a suggestion which I don't think I've seen so far.

We have an agreement in our field that each person has a section to be responsible for, the person with the knackered back gets the front third, it's closest to the muck heap, person with a dodgy arm gets the middle third and I get the back third. Works really well, you can see straight away who is or isn't pulling their weight that way.
 
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Thanks again for all your great suggestions. As YO I'm in my 50s and have had 3 spinal surgeries yet still poo pick for my own 2 horses so you can see how fed up I am with lazy livery who is a fit able young woman. I've put my poo picking chart up on board tonight and have msgd lazy livery to advise on this ( couldn't advise her face to face as she's not been anywhere near the yard for at least 6 days so I can't wait for her have a 0 barrows on the poo chart so I can give her notice. Thank goodness my other 2 liveries are lovely.
 
I am so happy I dont have to spend my summer evenings and available daylight in the winter poo picking anymore and arguing with other livery wners who would rather have spotless fields that actually ride (only referring to my own experience here!).
 
Well she's not been up but knows we are up and if there was anything wrong we would be in touch. Don't get me started on that one though as she went abroad for a week last summer and never told me she was going. Everyone else arranges cover and leaves the usual permission to get vet out pts if needed
 
There is no requirement to poo pick at our yard so most people don't. The farmer harrows the fields every so often. There is one field where the liveries do poo pick regularly. Interestingly, we have started doing worm counts and there was absolutely no difference between the horses in the poo picked field and the ones in the other fields. All were found to have no significant worm burden.
However if fields are tiny or are winter turnout paddocks I can see why people do it then.
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
I'm not Irish. I consider it a "fussy person" thing rather than an english thing. I've never been on a yard with a strict poo picking rota. It's one of the things I check on viewing a yard and if there is a rota/number of barrows etc then I won't move my horse there. I've been on a few yards that have said everyone to do one barrow per week, which is obviously never going to get the field cleared but I'll happily do that much, and places with pairs turnout where as long as the other person is doing their share I'm happy to chip in and do it at days/times to suit me. Most of the yards I've been on didn't have any requirement to poo pick the fields though.
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Passtheshampoo said:
Thanks again for all your great suggestions. As YO I'm in my 50s and have had 3 spinal surgeries yet still poo pick for my own 2 horses so you can see how fed up I am with lazy livery who is a fit able young woman. I've put my poo picking chart up on board tonight and have msgd lazy livery to advise on this ( couldn't advise her face to face as she's not been anywhere near the yard for at least 6 days so I can't wait for her have a 0 barrows on the poo chart so I can give her notice. Thank goodness my other 2 liveries are lovely.
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In that case,OP, why not invest in a field vac? It would make your life easier all ways round!
Incidentally, although poo picking may reduce the worm burden, it also reduces the nutrients going back into the soil.
 
I was at a yard some years back and poo clearing was done on a rota I think twice a week and you had to put your name and date on a sheet to say you did it and leave your full Barrow by the muck heap to prove you had done it, drastic I know but it worked and if you didn't do it your horse had to stay in until you did it.
 
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