Livery not doing poo picking causing bad feelings

Passtheshampoo

Passtheshampoo

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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?
 
This is absolutely my pet hate. I have it written on their livery agreements how many barrows i expect them to collect in summer and in winter depending on size and that not doing their share will incur a cost of £2 per barrow if i have to collect it. yes sometimes they don't do the whole quota one week but do the next and more besides . I have 1 girl who is a bit lax but i find that a 'reminder' on the feed room board usually acts as a kick up the bum. A couple of summers ago i got really narked when i had 2 liveries not pulling their weight with poo picking- i filled every barrow and trug with **** and left it all on the yard to make a point. Touch wood i haven't had a problem since ;)
 
Tell her she does it or goes, it's that simple. You've got to be stronger and tell her that you know she isn't doing it or isn't doing her fair share. People will get away with what they can.
 
Could you arrange times and have people do it in pairs or get together and do it all at the same time? When i was at a yard with relaxed rules people did tend to take the P and i found if i wanted my horse on clean grazing i was going most of it! Its really annoying and unnecessary.
Alternatively individual turn out? That way you and your more helpful liveries are not carrying her all the time and it will be very obvious if she hasn't done hers so maybe she will be less inclined to lie?
 
Have a rota - either weekly or specific days that way is more obvious a person not pulling their weight. After 11 years I know how much my mare produces a week so pick up that much & do on a Sunday morning. Problem comes when others do more than their share as no motivation for lazy livery to bother & the others feel hard done by.
 
ester said:
As Mongoose, final notice.
The proving she has/hasn't done it might be tricky if not set days though?
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I have a poo picking board and liveries mark on it everytime they do a barrow. i know how many barrows it is to clear my field weekly and people don't falsify on the board as it would be obvious if there was still muck in the field.
 
Been there and had this problem! In the end we divided the field up and allocated areas for each person to clear. Then is really obvious who isn't doing their bit and easier for the YM to step in
 
ester said:
As Mongoose, final notice.
The proving she has/hasn't done it might be tricky if not set days though?
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read a similar thread yonks ago and it was suggested that everyone had a designated skip bucket/dumpy bag that they HAD to fill on set days, and YO would check them, before up ending them. So everyone got same treatment and YO could see how much each person was picking.
 
I'd second the suggestion that YO divvy up the field into separate turnout areas for each livery for a while, everyone to be responsible for doing their own: then you'd find her out! You may find that this arrangement suits people better anyway, personally I always keep my own horses separate from livery's.

As well as, YO you could b0ll@ck the shate out of her and tell her that she either gets on the end of a shovel and jolly well pulls her weight NOW or you give her notice - and carry out your threat if she doesn't. Frankly, you DO need to tackle this straightaway as although it sounds like you've got a super little team at your yard, if not dealt with things like this have a habit of festering and you don't want ill-feeling and/or squabbling developing on the yard.
 
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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I would point out the yard rules and say if she does not do it the charge of you doing it will be added to her bill.

Here the part livery includes poo picking, but diy does not and there is one charge for us doing it and one charge if they do some
 
Simples, if jobs not done from polite asking, I would then put their horse /pony on its own - adjacent to others, if this isn't being done. Easy to see who poo-picks then :)
Then if still not done they get billed and notice given too.

I take at least 1 month deposit as well as a month in advance, thus stopping people doing a runner as they are 'being bullied' at yard.
No, this is being asked to carry out your part of livery contract.....
 
As galaxy suggested I'd split the field 'virtually' into 4 and have each person (you and 3 liveries) responsible for a certain area. That way, you know if she's pulling her weight or not but you don't have the hassle of creating individual turnout.
 
When I was on livery with a shared field, we all had a strip of field to poo pick. YO tied coloured ribbon to a tree at one of the field and then the other to show your strip to clear. It worked. If it didn't get done the YO would do it and charge livery per wheel barrow
 
I would set up a yard rota - with the field to be completely cleared each day not just do 'x' number of barrows and then slap on a hefty charge for each day that it isn't done. I poo pick 9 daily (out for approx 16 - 18 hours in summer) and it takes me less than 30 minutes.
 
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There is always someone on a yard that seems to think that the rules are for everyone else & not for them. As a condition of being on livery at your yard the client is required to poo pick on a regular basis. If one livery isn't doing her fair share put her on notice that if she doesn't get her act together she'll be asked to leave.

You must be prepared to show her the door if her laziness continues & she doesn't do her quota. As for spliting up a field into area for each livery to clear, I know mine poo in a particular place so one area would be much more heavily laden than other places so don't think that would really be fair or work.

As for possibly losing a livery, there are plenty more out there & you will soon have another in place who will cause you no problems & do their quota of picking. :)
 
We had this issue at my Yard.

In the end we set up a rota so each day someone had to clear the field. Not just a Barrow but completely clear the lot. It worked out well and everyone was picking less up in the long run as there was never any left overs from the previous day.
 
Allocating each livery a section of the field is a great idea.

A yard I was on once required each livery in a shared field to pick up a specific number of barrows per week, except the lazy ar*es there would only pick up a few of the closest poos (big field), so the majority of the field was hardly touched, and there were 6+ horses out there.

My boys weren't in that field thankfully, and I *shared* poo picking with the YO. No, wait, I poo picked our whole field as she was as lazy as her lazy liveries.
 
I'm surprised allocating bits of field works, on the basis that most have specific toilet areas? Surely some end up doing way more than others?
 
Thank you so much for all your replies so far. Splitting the field isn't really an option and splitting areas of the field wouldn't work as our horses tend so poo in 3 different spots only. I am going to put a chart up on my notice board for liveries and myself to mark up date and no of barrows cleared . Lazy livery seems to come up twice a wk in summer although if asked won't admit to that! How many barrows per week is reasonable for an owner to clear lm thinking 7?? Yes I must get tough and give her the hard word re charging her if it's not done / she can find another yard.
 
Eh Frumpoon, i have two acres for a horse and if I didnt poo pick it would be disgusting in no time ! This is one of the reasons of greatest resentment on yards, when someone doesnt pull their weight. Its the reason I hate sharing a paddock
 
eggs said:
I would set up a yard rota - with the field to be completely cleared each day not just do 'x' number of barrows and then slap on a hefty charge for each day that it isn't done.
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This is the way I'd approach it too. If she doesn't follow the yard rules, she gets charged. Heftily.
 
Do you really? Is that 24/7 turnout? I'm really lucky where we are right now the lady has at least 1-2 acres per horse, I strip graze mine to contain lami risk and even so I don't poo pick my paddock at all...he has 2 loo spaces which he doesn't graze from and the rest is clean
 
Frumpoon said:
Poo picking shouldn't really be necessary if you have correct acreage per horse
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Sometimes it has nothing to do with acreage it is more to do with



  • fields looking better
  • not soiling the grass
  • reducing worm burden
  • Reducing the risk of Grass Sickness
  • because It can be embarrassing if you show new liveries around and the fields are covered with ****, makes it look like you don't care for your land
  • stops the grazing having sour patches
  • you muck out your stable so why not muck out the field
  • gives the horses nice clean area where they don't have to spend time trying to eat round all there droppings.
  • People spending fancy time making sure the bed it mucked out yet they leave their play area a mess!!!
  • good time to dee ragwort at the same time
  • also to spot any broken fencing or rubbish discarded in the field
  • also to spot rabbit holes
  • find any lost shoes which could penetrate soles
  • If you also drive the ponies in the field when the horses in and you do not want the trap covered in **** either
  • If you jump in the fields and droppings all over the place can make a horse slip when jumping
  • visitors walking in the fields don't want to walk in it in their good shoes
 
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