Livery yard dilemma

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Heathy82

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I need help with a livery dilemma. I have been on my current yard for 5 years and I have been spoiled. It has just 8 horses, is beautiful with an indoor & outdoor school, a few XC fences, large well maintained paddocks but hacking involves lots of roadwork. The YO is quick to fix any breakages all for a bargain price of £120pm. However, now we have moved house, it is 15/20 mins drive each way and now I am a Mum aswell, time is precious, so a 45 min round trip just to T/O or B/I is excessive. I need my boy closer to home.

I have 2 options and I am so completely torn between them. They both offer a completely different experience for me and my young horse.

Yard A is a 2 minute walk from my house £150pm - stunning private house with 5/6 acres fenced off into 6 paddocks all with field shelters. Situated on the bridlepath to extensive offroad hacking (permit required) Lovely indoor barn stables, large and airy with windows at the back of each overlooking the paddocks. Floodlit school is currently overgrown with grass (would make a lovely paddock) but the yard owner has said she does want to get it resurfaced and has been getting quotes for a silica sand surface. Trailer can be parked in the paddock for £30 per month but tack would need to be kept at home. Owner keeps her horse there and has 1 other livery currently with space for 2, and she says 4 would be her maximum. Individual turnout but horses could touch over fences. Electric gates to the driveway so very secure

Yard B is 5 minute drive from my house £120pm - large farm type livery with 30 horses. Stable in barn is smaller than I am used to. Huge fields, group turnout. No poopicking though. Floodlit woodchip arena and separate jumping paddock. Great hacking either on the farm or on a huge estate (permit required). Hay/straw must be bought from the farmer. Limited storage. Trailer parking is £15pm. Seems a very sociable place. A bit rough around the edges. A typical farm which has evolved into a livery over the years. Has public rights of way through the yard and fields which worries me re:security.

My horse is rising 6. He is a pretty chilled boy and although I do hack alone, he is better in company as he can be sharp. So I guess my Q is, would you put a young horse on a quiet peaceful yard with a perfectly useable grass arena for now (which may hopefully be resurfaced soon) but with very few options for a hacking buddy (maybe that is a good thing?) or on a big yard which is a bit rugged and clunky, but is bustling and has lots of hacking buddy options? I have been on a big yard before and experienced the bitching and stuff going walkies so I guess that's also a consideration although the big yard is also a lot cheaper?

Never been so torn on a livery yard before. Help please!
 
Wow, normally these posts (and there are many, lol) are very black and white but I read your dilemma with interest and to be honest I would be hard pushed to choose as well. Not very helpful, sorry :) If I had to lean one way I would say the small quiet livery. I should imagine once a space is taken they wont come up again, at least not very often so I would try that and if it didnt work out I would put my name on the list for the big one and move.

Just to add ... having a horse that hacks alone is a blessing so you really need to concentrate on that, you wont regret it :)
 
Gosh, I wouldn't want to move from where you are currently if I were you. Would you not be able to pay for assistance at either end of the day at your current yard, so that you only have to go up at one end of the day?

If not, I suppose it sounds like yard B may be better for your horse with the group t/o and hacking buddies. At a bigger yard, there's always someone around in case something happens. However, it depends on the size of the land the herd is turned out on and whether the fields get any chance to rest, etc. If you're used to things being a bit quieter and more peaceful then it will take quite a bit of adjustment for you.
 
If you really can't make your current yard work for you, then for your horse I'd choose yard B because of hacking buddies. It's not that difficult to stay out of the bitchiness really and if you lock everything up nobody can "borrow" it can they. The limited storage isn't a problem if the farmer sells hay and straw on site, you can buy as you need. You could put a rug rack in your stable, alter your feed so you use one of the complete feeds and only need one feed bin, anything you don't use regularly eg spare rugs store them at home.
 
I think I would go for choice A, I would prefer a smaller yard, your horse would get used to hacking on its own, maybe you could ask to hack out with the yard owner/livery a couple of times so she can show you the rides? There would be less yard politics with fewer people around and I wouldn't be keen on a public right of way through a yard!
 
15 - 20 minutes drive to a yard is nothing, many people driver much further. You say it's a long drive just to turn out & bring in, surely when you're there you muck out, stuff hay nets, groom etc? You want to change from a yard you know & love, pitched at a very reasonable price just to save a few minutes each day in travel? You mention the lack of off road hacking, you've put up with it for 5 years so why is it now an issue?

I think you should stay with where you are & what you know, it's not like you are looking to gain by much anyway.
 
I'd stick to your current yard and pay for services. I'm sure someone will appreciate a tenner a week to turnout.

Alternatively I'd definitely go with Yard B. Small yards give me the heebies as the horses seem to be on high alert. Plus you'd have to cart your tack up every time which means that your two minute walk now involves the car.
 
I'd try to make your current yard work for you by paying the owner / one of the other liveries to do one end of the day so you only have to make one trip. If you really can't make that work I think I'd go for Yard B, but I'd pay to keep your place at current yard for a month (and make sure you leave on good terms!) so you can go back if you hate it. A woodchip school would worry me as they can get very boggy and/or slippery in winter but that is better than the promise of sorting out a school - very frequently these plans don't materialise.
 
Thanks everyone for taking the time to read and respond. In response to Toby_Zaphod - if I groom, ride and muck out in the morning, then in the evening all I need to do it bring him in so yes 45 mins to do just that, when I have a 2 year old screaming in the back of the car with me is excessive. Also, with Summer coming, I would like to ride later in the evenings after my daughter has been bathed and put to bed, and having my boy closer to home is much more appealing for those situations.

My current yard does not offer assistance and has recently put a stop to us helping each other out otherwise I would ask a fellow livery to bring in on occasion for me. Believe me, I have deliberated this for months. Yes my current yard is lovely, but as also mentioned, the hacking is poor in comparison to 2 options mentioned and I think plenty of hacking is very beneficial for a young horse.
 
Heathy82 said:
However, now we have moved house, it is 15/20 mins drive each way and now I am a Mum aswell, time is precious, so a 45 min round trip just to T/O or B/I is excessive. I need my boy closer to home.
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Absolutely understand this, I just posted with a similar issue! As a working Mum (and I have twin 2 year olds, so appreciate your later comment about having a screaming 2 year old in the car! :) ), that 45 mins makes a HUGE difference to your day.

I guess it comes down to, how bothered are you about the lack of hacking buddies? If it's very important to you, then yard B is an obvious choice. How concerned are you about the public right of way that you mention - what are the yard's security measures like?

There's also the issue of having to keep your tack at home with yard A. It may only be a 2 min walk away, but it's a 2 min walk carrying your tack, there and back!

Yard A - school is overgrown currently, and much as the YO is looking into getting it resurfaced, that could be some time away in the future. Are you happy schooling on grass? It's also more expensive, including parking your trailer there, if that's a consideration for you.

Yard B - how bothered are you about potential bitchiness? Personally I just wouldn't get involved, but is that something you can do? Do you like the bustling business of a bigger yard, or is your own personal preference for more peace?

I think your real questions are going to be around hacking buddies, and having to store your tack at home/carry it to and from the nearer yard.

Good luck!!
 
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Difficult decision - I think I would go for the bigger yard. But that may be due to the fact i'm on a big yard now.

I stay out of the yard politics and I find most people to be friendly and supportive. It's always nice to have a hacking buddy too and you'll have plenty of them at the big yard. It sounds like you're used to a small yard so might not be an issue for you, but I think I would worry more on a small yard as there are less people to keep an eye on things etc. There's a public pathway through our yard (or past some of the fields) but there's CCTV for security and it hasn't caused any problems so far.
 
I cant bear group turnout for a number of reasons. I would definitely go with the smaller yard. Life is stressful enough without having to contend with 29 other liveries
 
FWIW I'd definitely go for B. Bigger yard, better facilities and great hacking. I've recently moved from a slick, smart yard to somewhere a bit more "farmy" and I love it. It's also minutes walk from home, and the point about lugging a saddle even that short distance is well made. My tack is at home but I drive up there on days I'm riding.

What always saddens me a bit about these "stay or move" threads, is the way someone always describes livery yards as bitchy! Going a bit of topic here, but I've been on a few yards over the years and have never experienced anything I would call "bitchiness" at any of them. If it's well run by a good YO or YM, any silliness should either not happen at all or be promptly nipped in the bud. Go to yard B. Good luck.
 
2 mins walk would swing it for me - so I vote A, the woodchip will be as bad as an old over grown surface anyway (even if YO A never gets round to fixing it)
The difference in price is only £30 a month (not much really) and you'll save that in fuel going there and back.
 
To be honest your current yard isnt far.
I traveled that far 2 and sometimes 3 times a day for 12 years before we moved counties!

But if you really want to move it depends on what you want.
I rarely hack with others so A would be ideal for me.
providing the arena is usable now.
Remember, livery owners are good at saying what they want to get done or improve but dont always do it, or it takes a long time!

But if you want company then B would be best for you.
 
I would go for yard A. As mentioned earlier hacking alone is always good training for any horse. The close proximity would clinch it for me though, horses and young kids are always a juggling act and anything you can do to make things easier is the way to go in my opinion :)
 
I can see why you asked!

I personally don't like individual turnout, I like horses to be horses and I take the odd scuffle and bite mark with the flow. It's interaction and thats healthy. It heals and my old show horse healed up and carried on competing and doing well despite the odd kick. Mares are much better behaved though and I don't have any such stories with her and she was in a herd of 6. You could eventually perhaps move a horse he gets on well with in together at a later date? If thats what you want.

I like the idea of a social big yard and if everyone gets on thats great. The only thing is I don't like woodchip on surfaces - too unstable for their legs so I would have to count that one out :(.

So yard A.
 
I think I would stay where I was and find a local independant groom to bring in for me.

You've got an indoor and an outdoor. Don't underestimate how good that is in the winter when you've got a young child to fit round.

Otherwise I would go for yard A and keep my tack in the trailer adding additional security if necessary!
 
Personally I would never agree to keep mine where any Public Right of Ways go through the yard or fields, too many people nowadays use them to gain access for theft, think nothing of leaving gates open and feed anything and everything to anything that moves, some dog walkers are also totally oblivious where their dog is when out walking, but only you know what will suit you
Good Luck with your decision, at least you have some really good points to all the yards
 
I would ask the current yard if they would help and offer a turnout/bring in. What would happen if you went on holiday?

Otherwise yard A would be my choice - if the yard owner will hack or anyone else who joins the yard. However having a horse that will hack in its own is so much easier than to have to depend on others.

Sharing fields and the public footpath would put me off yard B.
 
My questions would be how confident and experienced are you hacking/bringing on young horses. If confident then A sounds more appealing than B. However A sounds like a potential PITA, with so few horses and at someone else's home I would imagine you might run into logistical considerations around turn out / bring in times etc - will they help you out if you are tied up with the kid?
 
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