Livery yard and old owner issues?

C

Charlotte&&Prince

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I'm having issues with the YO. My horse is currently out in the grass keep field with 3 other horses. There's an overweight grass keep pony and then there's mine (DIY) and also two TB's who are also DIY's. I moved into this field as the YO said the grass keep needs company and mine stays out unless it's raining all night/morning. Grass keep is £75 p/m and DIY is £125 p/m as i don't have a tack room, if i did it'd be £170. I moved him to this field under the understanding that another youngster was coming the week after as grass keep, this youngster never came. I brought my horse in as it was heavy rain for 24 hours, because I brought mine in the TB's couldn't come in as the grass keep would be by himself. My YO then guilt tripped me for it.
These TB's are a massive issue, when I bring my boy in they gallop up behind him bucking and kicking, they block the gateway and when i try to get my boy to the gate they pin us in the corner and start kicking and biting at each other and me and my horse. They aren't small either, around 16.3. My pony then pulls away from me as he's getting kicked and it can take me up to half an hour to get him in as he keeps bolting to get away from them. The other day they did it, got my pony through and the grass keep pony bolted through the gate before i could close it. Luckily he stopped a metre outside the gate to eat but I had to call my mum and get her to help me get mine in and put the other back. My pony was shaking, spooking at everything and just generally very anxious after this. To top it off, his lightweight is getting torn slowly but surely from bites so much so that I don't want to put any new rugs on him until he's out of that field. He's also coming in with massive bite marks over him where they're bleeding and swollen.
I know horses will be horses and of course they're going to have a few scraps but it's to the point where one side of his bum has 5 bald patches with scabs from bites and he's gaining more every day.
I've asked the yard owner twice if i can be moved into a field with 2 other ponies where there's also less grass, the first time she said "no, another TB is coming on the weekend on grass keep so bear with it for another week at least" then the second time I brought my mum (I'm 18 for gods sake!) and we both asked her, she said yes but she'll have to talk to the other horses owners in the new field first. As of yet i'm still waiting for an answer and that was on Monday!
He's getting "cresty" as the field is 8 acres of fertilized grass to 4 horses, he's getting injured daily, I'm getting pinned into a corner every time I catch him and I'm a student with no money to get rugs repaired/replaced all the time! I don't like using grazing muzzles, I just don't like the thought of leaving something on his head when I'm not there!

Reading this I think the best thing to do is move, I'm paying far too much money a month to be dreading going to the yard/going to catch my horse! I'm giving my old yard owner a ring tomorrow to see if she can offer me a grass keep deal for the summer as I am waiting for a space in September at a yard about 2 minutes down the road from hers. I was going to stay at my current yard until then but this is all getting tedious! I don't demand my own field but I do demand mine and my pony's health to be taken into account, and for me to be allowed to use my stable if I'm paying for it!
I don't know if I'm expecting too much, whether the fact I've always been lucky enough to go to yards with individual paddocks has made me a bit of a pansy! Would anyone else put up with this, am i just overreacting?

Thanks for reading!
 
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No i dont think you are over reacting.

As you said horses do get in to scraps but what you have described is far from that. Its dabgerous. For you and your pony.
You pay for a stable so get to use it when you want.
Not when the yard owner says its ok.

Speak to yard owner again and say you want to move fields now or you will be leaving.
This may spur them on.
If not, stick to your plan of moving yards now.
 
Until you move, u would keep your pony in during the day and turn out at night once the TBs have come in. It would help with his weight too. The situation is dangerous and your pony is being attacked. You're not being unreasonable. Or can you separate the field with electric, keeping yours and the nice one together and the terrors in the other bit?
 
You aren't over reacting IMO. I would calmly ask again to move fields (explain your reason why) and if they say no I would ask for a copy of their public liability insurance as, legally, should something happen to your boy now the issue has been raised they are liable for any damages caused (vet bills, LOU etc). I would also record the conversation so you have evidence of the conversation, should you need it.

I think far too many YMs forget that liveries are paying clients and that they aren't doing us a favour!!
 
I am a yard owner and would never allow this sort of thing to happen. I always rearrange the turnout if any owner is having problems getting their horse out of the field. It is highly dangerous trying to get a low ranking horse out of the field that is terrified of one or more of the others. I had a situation recently where there were four in the field (my two, and a mare and her yearling). One of mine and the yearling made it impossible for the owner of the mare to get her out unaided (not because she was being bullied, but because my mare and the yearling would so their level best to slip out before she could get the other mare out. :mad:) I made sure that I went down every time she needed to get her horse out or put her back in. So I could catch the troublesome pair and hold onto them. This obviously got a bit tedious, and so I rearranged the fields so that the mare was put in with a gelding that did not cause problems.

Your YO has a duty of care towards both your pony, and yourself. It is just not good enough! Ask if the field could be split with electric fencing and put the TBs in one side and the ponies in the other. If this is refused, then move.
 
I would move. You are paying an extortionate amount of money for you and your horse to have the cr*p beaten out of.

Can your new yard not fit you in on grass livery a few months early if you explain your situation? most places have plenty of grazing this year... and it would save you the hastle of moving twice and your pony having to settle into a new herd twice...
 
With YO hat on, it's not good enough. I'd suggest you explain in the same level as detail as you have to us what the problem is, how it's making you feel and that, reluctantly, if it can't be sorted satisfactorily, you feel you have to find somewhere else to keep your horse.

YOs can face a difficult situation and have to work with the facilities, clients and horses they have, and sometimes they can't accommodate (all) clients' wishes. However, they can perhaps find a compromise. You're def not being unreasonable.
 
Yove tried it, its not working and you need an alternative, you are at risk bringing your pony in, your ponys health is being put at risk as is yours, go with your mum to speak to ym and ask for resolution to the problem before either of you are hurt badly.
 
I think Wagtail puts very nicely what a YOer should do to help owners when this sort of silly horsey madness is causing trouble .
Since you have tried to sort it twice I would move if you possibly can , in the meantime speak to the YOer again be really clear about what your concerns are I hope you get it sorted soon .
 
Tell YO you are scared of the big TB's, please can you change fields, if not you'll have to move.

Aside from the danger element if your horse is getting cresty you need to get him off fertilised grass asap
 
I would split it however I can't due to the water supply and both gates to the field being in the same half of the field. I've told her in detail twice and I got the reply of "Next time you go to bring him in come and find me and I'll show you how to get him out." Today I got to the yard to find out that another livery's grand daughter, who I don't even know, had brought my pony in for me yesterday because they brought the TB's in and the other pony. They threw him in his stable, he trashed it (he likes water buckets and kicking his bedding down!) and they put him back out and left it for me to clear up today. I'm sorry but the only person who I allow to bring my horses in is the YO, myself or my mum. This is because he can rear, box out and bolt if another horse gallops towards him both whilst in the field or being led along the fence line, hence why I never turn out/bring in without a hat now. No one should be doing anything with my horse without letting me know/having my permission first.
I never ask the YO for anything, this is the first time I've asked for something and the fact that she's just brushed it off makes me angry more than anything else. The problem is that there's far too many horses on the yard for the amount of fenced grazing that there is at the moment, some paddocks there are 3 sometimes 4 horses to 2 acres. I don't want anything other than to be able to go to the yard, spend some time grooming and working my horse before putting him out in the field without worrying that he's going to be hurt the next day or he's going to come in with his rug in tatters! He has to live without a fly rug at the moment because these to TB's have ripped each others so much that they've broken the chest straps, broken the fillet strings and the rest of the rug has massive rips in it. I'm all for my horse learning to socialize with others, however he's such a push over that he's coming in with injuries and new tears in his rugs every day!
I know that finding somewhere for all of the horses can be a struggle but there is another grass keep horse only who is out with 2 cows in a field with barely any grass, surely it would be more logical to put the two pet cows in the large, grassy field with the thoroughbred and then put my boy and the two grass keeps out together in the field with less grass as they're all such good doers? That way I can bring mine in whenever i want, these two grass keeps are complete angels in the field and they'll always have each others company every night. I've tried suggesting this but once again it gets brushed off as "moving the cows would cause a lot of trouble, they're only in that field because they wouldn't herd in the right direction. Tomorrow my horse is coming in all afternoon and all night, there's supposed to be a thunder and lightning storm coming in and i'm sorry but I'm not keeping my horse out in that when I'm paying for a stable.
Another yard I've looked at is £140 per month for a proper concrete stable, rubber matting and paired turnout. At the moment my horses stable is a metal barred pen in the end of a cow shed. £15 extra and I get a warmer stable and turnout as and when I want to.
I appreciate how difficult it is to find the right field for the over 100 horses on the yard, however, I'm not willing to put my horse out again after tomorrow until he's in a different field. A new girl came with her 2 horses the other day, after I had asked to be moved, and she was then given a field for both of her horses on her own. One of them is a gelding so would have normally been put in to the same field as mine, however she asked to keep hers together and got it. Seems that if I was paying the £170 p/m then i would be catered to but because I pay the lower "student" DIY rate, I'm brushed off even when it's for a health and safety reason.
 
You need to enjoy your horse. Speak to YO and give them ones at chance, then contact the new yard to see if you can move early if that doesn't work. Hope you get it sorted quickly.
 
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