Livery Yard Access Times

Maesfen said:
I agree totally with both Ribbons and Paddy.

You'd have to pay me a fortune for me to ever take DIY liveries again, I can't believe how selfish they can be towards other people and their property.
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Obviously had some bad experiences / people .. ..

.... Bit of a sweeping generalisation surely, we are not all like that I promise!!!
 
OP why not discuss this with the YO if the yard is perfect in so many other ways? They may be willing to make an exception if you explain and promise no noise and no other visitors with you.

We are on a farm DIY livery, the only liveries at present, and we couldn't ask for better. We are welcome at any hour of the day or night; if for some reason it is very late and unexpected then they will come out when they see the lights, but it has never been an issue. Saying that we have never taken advantage of them and are usually gone by 6pm all year round Its tatty and scruffy but there is no happier place to be!
 
I definitely couldn't cope with some of these opening times. I'm on full livery but like to ride before work if I can so I'm often at the yard by about 7am. Same at the weekend, I like to ride before turnout so my horse gets as long as possible out without me having to drag her in halfway through the day. The yard manager is often at the yard by 6am in the summer to ride her horses before work.

Luckily we don't have access hours, the owner's house is at a reasonable enough distance that he's not affected by the lights and doesn't seem to mind us coming and going at all hours, although obviously it's polite to keep as quiet as possible if turning up early/late.
 
ribbons said:
I have some lovely stables empty now because I'd never have liveries again.
In an ideal world a livery yard owner shouldn't need to make opening and closing rules, respect and consideration should be enough. But if some liveries like to turn up in the middle of the night because they fancy saying hello to their horse, I'm not surprised some yards put time restraints in place.
Never mind the yard owner, I'd be furious if I was another livery. Someone turning up in the middle of the night for no good reason, disturbing all the horses, unsettling their routine.
I don't think I've ever heard anything so selfish and inconsiderate from a livery, and I've heard plenty.
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If that was aimed at me, then you should perhaps get the full facts before hurling personal insults. The YO's house was separate to the yard, and he never remotely knew or could see me turning up in the night. No lights were ever turned on, I don't need to turn a light on to simply say hello to my horse. Thirdly, no other horses were remotely disturbed by me turning up, because there were no other horses in any stable near her. The other three horses on the yard were all around the other side of the block out of sight. Fourthly, the YO never once in nearly 5 years of me being there was 'furious' at me turning up whenever I wanted, and he never put any restrictions in place at all, which is why I liked it. I had complete freedom there.

If you are the sort of livery owner who jumps to conclusions and hurls personal insults the way you did in your post, then it's probably a good thing your stables are empty.
 
You didn't give any facts.

You just said nothing, even the devil himself, wouldn't stop you turning up to see your horse whenever you wanted, even the middle of the night for no other reason than to say hello.

I didn't hurl any personal insults.

Just said I wouldn't want a livery with that little consideration any where near my property.

Take that as you will.
 
ribbons said:
You didn't give any facts.

You just said nothing, even the devil himself, wouldn't stop you turning up to see your horse whenever you wanted, even the middle of the night for no other reason than to say hello.

I didn't hurl any personal insults.

Just said I wouldn't want a livery with that little consideration any where near my property.

Take that as you will.
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Yet again, getting your facts wrong. I did not say that the devil himself wouldn't stop me turning up 'even in the middle of the night for no other reason than to say hello' whatsoever. I said that the devil himself would not stop me from seeing my horse when I wanted (hence why I would not be on a strictly time restricted yard). I then said that on my current yard however I would not turn up beyond 8pm unless absolutely necessary because they would not be happy about it. I then said that at my old yard, I used to turn up anytime, even the middle of the night to say hello. My old YO had no problem with this whatsoever. Or I would not have been there for nearly 5 years, and the last livery standing when it sadly closed. He didn't see it to be inconsiderate at all, or he would have told me in no uncertain terms. My current YO however, would do, so therefore I do not do it.

Take that as you will.
 
Hey, I'm not going to argue with you.
I took your first post as it read, and thought it was a strange attitude to have when other people's facilities are needed to cater for your horse.
If the owner and other liveries had no problem with your nocturnal visits, fair enough. Though it sounded like if they did, the devil himself wouldn't stop you anyway.
I doubt many other yards would be so casual, and if they were, I wouldn't want to keep a horse there.
 
I thnk there is a world of difference between a DIY yard and a full livery yard. For full livery I do prefer the opening hours arrangement provided that reasonable exceptions can be made for competing, lessons, etc. I've been on yards like this and it has worked very well.

Now I keep my horses at home together with a couple of friends who keep their horses with me. I feed and turn out in the morning but as the access to the yard is only a couple of metres from the back of our house and the lights from the school shine into our living room we have an unwritten agreement that unless they have to leave early for a show, vet, etc that they are off the yard by 7.30
 
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I run with ribbons. No more liveries for me either. I ask a question. If you have your dog in kennels would you expect to go visit it 24/7? You would not be able to. If your horse is at livery you are buying the service, you are not renting/buying the premises. If you want 24/7 access to your horses go rent/buy your own stables and land. If you are on DIY that is slightly (but only slightly) different as access must be made at reasonable times to enable clients to carry out the DIY. However if you work such odd shifts that you need access in the middle of the night and do not want to go on full/part livery then you will be limited in where you can go. If you are just nocturnal and want to visit your horse for a hug then 'hard luck' buy a teddy bear. My horses live at home, the yard has a pretty strict routine other than competition days (& no yard on this thread has suggested that they would not make exceptions for early/late for competitions as long as they knew in advance) and the horses are totally relaxed. Also it would be very easy to spot anything/anyone moving around on the yard as it is camera controlled out of hours. Open hours on a livery yard would be security nightmare.
 
sport horse said:
I run with ribbons. No more liveries for me either. I ask a question. If you have your dog in kennels would you expect to go visit it 24/7? You would not be able to. If your horse is at livery you are buying the service, you are not renting/buying the premises. If you want 24/7 access to your horses go rent/buy your own stables and land. If you are on DIY that is slightly (but only slightly) different as access must be made at reasonable times to enable clients to carry out the DIY. However if you work such odd shifts that you need access in the middle of the night and do not want to go on full/part livery then you will be limited in where you can go. If you are just nocturnal and want to visit your horse for a hug then 'hard luck' buy a teddy bear. My horses live at home, the yard has a pretty strict routine other than competition days (& no yard on this thread has suggested that they would not make exceptions for early/late for competitions as long as they knew in advance) and the horses are totally relaxed. Also it would be very easy to spot anything/anyone moving around on the yard as it is camera controlled out of hours. Open hours on a livery yard would be security nightmare.
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Err, I am and always have been on DIY. And the yard in question was all but a private rented yard more or less. The yard owner had very little to do with the liveries other than take their rent, and make sure the land didn't get churned up/destroyed.
 
It's very difficult to be a yard owner, especially with full liveries, and we do need some privacy. I'm very fortunate, all my liveries are lovely and totally respect our privacy however it's not always been that way, some previous liveries have thought I have no right to any privacy or a private life, one even told me the yard was "my life" and I had no right to expect to do anything outwith work! I'm happy to have people on the yard at night or early in the morning if they make prior arrangements but I must admit to being annoyed in the past when I got up ridiculously early to feed a horse going to a show and recieve no thanks for it. In contrast a current livery was so apologetic when a new horse coming from the continent ended up arriving at midnight and tried to pay me for the electricity for having the lights on late! Another consideration if security, our tack rooms are locked after the staff or I lock up for the evening, other people having access to a person's tack without a staff presence could upset some liveries.
 
Having been both poacher AND gamekeeper (i.e. punter and YO) - I've never encountered any yard where there is a time restriction like OP describes, apart from one yard I was on over a Bank Holiday where the staff very obviously wanted to get away for THEIR time off, and I'd taken my boy out for a hack and one of the staff was waiting at the gate for me to put mine away and be gone when I rode through the gates on return!!! :(

As a YO (DIY), we live on site and did turn a livery away once who wanted to be at the yard at 3.00am regularly, to load up and go off to shows. This was simply because the yard is very near the house, and we knew that it would be a problem with the dogs barking, the inevitable banging loading up and the lorry starting up, so we said "no, sorry".

Our current livery is sometimes here early, i.e. before 6am, and sometimes back late (shows), but she, bless her, is considerate to a fault and always lets us know when this is going to happen, so not a problem.

Personally I would avoid any yard with this sort of access restriction. Horses being horses, you can't guarantee to be finishing whatever you're doing, on time, and if you're JUST getting that stride right - and then have to cut it short coz the yard gates are closing, then how frustrating is that going to be???

Nope, I'd look for somewhere else, even if desperate.
 
ribbons said:
Hey, I'm not going to argue with you.
I took your first post as it read, and thought it was a strange attitude to have when other people's facilities are needed to cater for your horse. .
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I find his attitude quite incredible, the point is that a livery yard is a business that offers rent of a stable and use of land, it's not that "facilities are needed to cater for our horses" it's that people with these facilities offer them for rent, the analogy for dog kennels only works for Full livery, if kennels were DIY and I had to feed and excercise my dog there then I would want access when I wanted it to suit my working and family life.

I do get the impression That too many small time yards hold on far too tightly to it being their home, if it is keep it as such, if you want to run a business from the premises and therefore have paying clients then accept loss of part of your personal life, same goes for a B and B if you open your doors to paying tenants expect some upset in your routine.

There is no restriction at all on my yard, people ride and arrive as early or late as they like, the horses are used to it, all routines are separate as all are DIY.
 
Hence the reason my lovely spare stables are empty, and my acres of land not needed by my own horses are grazed by sheep and cut for hay.
It is first and foremost, my home. I don't mind others who don't have such facilities renting them from me, but not when they think £25 per week gives them the same free access as it does me, and whinges when it doesn't.
This is why, I suppose, so many like me have unused facilities, while so many liveries are squished into yards, trying to make it pay with over stocked land and horses kept in or up to their knees in mud.
Such a shame.
 
I've been on quite a few yards - all of whom had owners living on site . . . and that's a desirable feature of a yard. I LIKE the fact that the YO can see/is involved with the horses on the yard . . . it means if my boy is off colour or out of sorts, or if something untoward happens on the yard, YO knows about it. In return, I totally respect that my horse essentially lives at someone's home and am respectful. If we will be leaving the yard super early to go to a show, we let YO know . . . similarly if we will be coming home late or having the vet visit late . . . it's called courtesy. IME, most yard with set hours are flexible wrt to competitions and vet visits. My current YO is VERY lenient, especially as the school as right outside her house . . . she recognizes that liveries work and the only time some people have to ride is late (8 p.m.) . . . but I do think there is a limit and I try to be respectful of the fact that my YO has a life too.

P
 
When I was on part livery yard was open 7am to 8pm weekdays and 7-6pm weekends.
You could go earlier/later for shows by prior arrangement.
Staff fed just before they closed, locked tack room,closed, locked gates, thenlights out. I'm another who would hate someone popping in at all hours, disturbing my horse- horses deserve a rest period/routine too. Infact reading the times some people choose to do their horse I don't think I'd want to be on a yard without restrictions!
 
Evie91 said:
When I was on part livery yard was open 7am to 8pm weekdays and 7-6pm weekends.
You could go earlier/later for shows by prior arrangement.
Staff fed just before they closed, locked tack room,closed, locked gates, thenlights out. I'm another who would hate someone popping in at all hours, disturbing my horse- horses deserve a rest period/routine too. Infact reading the times some people choose to do their horse I don't think I'd want to be on a yard without restrictions!
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Snap.
I would personally run a mile from a yard that allowed people to come and go as they pleased.
Just not my cup of tea (or my horses, she likes peace and quiet)
 
Archie73 said:
Would you keeo your horse at a full livery great yard that had reatricted access hours (6pm Saturdays and Sunday's and 9pm most weekdays) it's in kent I work in Central london and live 30 mins drive from yard?

Thanks for your opinions.
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Yes depending on why the restrictions are in place and if they were flexible considering I was working in London.

Some yards they live on premises and don't want people coming at all hours of the night.

6pm is a bit early -0ur's are shut at 8.30pm week days and the same weekends, but if going to early show or ate back its fine as long as you text or call your going to be late.

It's bloody annoying when liveries come up at 7pm and faff around not doing anything then start taking up at around 8.30pm not leaving the yard till gone 10pm.
 
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twobearsarthur said:
Snap.
I would personally run a mile from a yard that allowed people to come and go as they pleased.
Just not my cup of tea (or my horses, she likes peace and quiet)
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Personally I like to check my horse when I like for peace of mind. For instance, my mare can be prone to gassy colic in the spring, so quite often at my old yard I would pop my head over her door through the night as the yard was only a couple of miles away from my home. As it happens, I actually caught her colicking late on a couple of occasions because of the late night visits and got the vet out. Another occasion I sat out with her in the field most of the night to monitor her. My old YO was perfectly happy with that, and it gave me the freedom to care for my horse to the best of my ability, without having to rely on someone else's judgement. My current yard now would perhaps be a bit funny about me turning up at all hours, however I imagine they would be fine with it if I told them in advance that I may do it ie for a few weeks in spring. But that's just me, I prefer to make judgements on my own horse than rely on that of other people/YO's, having had a few bad experiences in the past, which is why I would always want my horse on DIY. But I digress...
 
I am on a part livery yard that shuts at 9pm and I work in London and 9pm is late enough for me to do whatever I want to do during the week, I would not want to stay very late as I don't like to get home that late on week nights because of work the next day. Prior to this I was on a DIY yard that also shut at 9pm.

I am not sure if the yard shuts earlier at weekends but at the weekend at the part livery yard most people are gone by 5.30 as the part livery horses are all fed at 5pm. YO does a late night check every night at 10pm including giving extra hay/feeds for those that need them.

Both yards would offer flexibility if going competing and coming back late.

I think if you are on DIY it is a bit different as some people like to do a late night check to top up hay.

If you like the yard maybe ask the YO if you can sometimes with prior notice go on a long hack and come back later at the weekend but that you will be off the yard by 9pm. It maybe that the YO has a 6pm closing at the weekend so they can occasionally go out in the evening and not worry about people not locking up properly.

My pony likes routine and I think people turning up at random times in the night when he is not used it might unsettle him or he might think it was breakfast time.
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
Having been both poacher AND gamekeeper (i.e. punter and YO) - I've never encountered any yard where there is a time restriction like OP describes, apart from one yard I was on over a Bank Holiday where the staff very obviously wanted to get away for THEIR time off, and I'd taken my boy out for a hack and one of the staff was waiting at the gate for me to put mine away and be gone when I rode through the gates on return!!! :(

As a YO (DIY), we live on site and did turn a livery away once who wanted to be at the yard at 3.00am regularly, to load up and go off to shows. This was simply because the yard is very near the house, and we knew that it would be a problem with the dogs barking, the inevitable banging loading up and the lorry starting up, so we said "no, sorry".

Our current livery is sometimes here early, i.e. before 6am, and sometimes back late (shows), but she, bless her, is considerate to a fault and always lets us know when this is going to happen, so not a problem.

Personally I would avoid any yard with this sort of access restriction. Horses being horses, you can't guarantee to be finishing whatever you're doing, on time, and if you're JUST getting that stride right - and then have to cut it short coz the yard gates are closing, then how frustrating is that going to be???

Nope, I'd look for somewhere else, even if desperate.
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Thanks.

To clarify my yard owner rents the yard and does not live on site. Part of the contract with the owner is that a member of staff has to be onsite at all times.

I found this out tonight.

So the issue is paying the staff member and finding one who yard manager can trust to lock up late who is willing to do so at weekends.

I work In london from 8.30 am until 6pm. I value my time with my horse but also value his happiness and his care here is 2nd to none.

I also have a partner who works nights and family to consider, I was offered a Valentine's lunch but would have missed a hacking Saturday on my horse so horse won.

I don't think I am asking for the world for 9.30 on the odd week night and not does my yard manager who is happy to oblige on her closing nights.

I don't really compete far but if I did that would be fine. She checks the horses at 10pm on weekends anyway. She is not unreasonable in anyway. I am just too busy trying to have it all I guess :-(

I value all your input. Thanks a lot.
 
Yet again the old communication system works again ie talk it through! Once everyone understands the other person's limitations most things can be worked out. What a pity more people do not adopt that policy and then perhaps ribbons and I would be offering some of our spare stables and facilities to those of you wanting livery.
 
All the yards I've been on have preferred hours and I think that is acceptable. I wouldn't normally want a yard that restricted me to any less than 6am - 9pm 7 days a week and reasonable out of hours by arrangement e.g. early show starts and of course illness.

I've found most people to be reasonable if asked. My current yard prefers people off the yard by 7pm in the winter which doesn't bother me now I don't school in the evenings but as long as you let them know you are there late they are OK anyway. Have to say it is not the type of yard you would want to be at if you were requiring regular late hours anyway as the school is not very well lit and you are likely to be on your own. It suits me now I do little competing.
 
sport horse said:
Yet again the old communication system works again ie talk it through! Once everyone understands the other person's limitations most things can be worked out. What a pity more people do not adopt that policy and then perhaps ribbons and I would be offering some of our spare stables and facilities to those of you wanting livery.
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Archie73 said:
Thanks.

To clarify my yard owner rents the yard and does not live on site. Part of the contract with the owner is that a member of staff has to be onsite at all times.

I found this out tonight.

So the issue is paying the staff member and finding one who yard manager can trust to lock up late who is willing to do so at weekends.

I work In london from 8.30 am until 6pm. I value my time with my horse but also value his happiness and his care here is 2nd to none.

I also have a partner who works nights and family to consider, I was offered a Valentine's lunch but would have missed a hacking Saturday on my horse so horse won.

I don't think I am asking for the world for 9.30 on the odd week night and not does my yard manager who is happy to oblige on her closing nights.

I don't really compete far but if I did that would be fine. She checks the horses at 10pm on weekends anyway. She is not unreasonable in anyway. I am just too busy trying to have it all I guess :-(

I value all your input. Thanks a lot.
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Thanks I have clearly talked it through. See my post above yours.

Some situations are just not able to be worked out due to factors above so now I must decide what I want to do myself.

I posted on here just to ask what other people would be happy with. I have a good idea now.

I forgot how much extra information you can get on here when you ask a question. Some very helpful, some not.

I do wish I was rich or had my own land but I don't so I can't be smug.

Thanks again ALL OF You
 
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