Livery Yard Issues - Help

[Jellymoon]

Sorry, now seen that straw has been covered!

 

[I'm Dun]

I'd also be wary of feeding straw to horses that arent moving. I love straw and have fed it in all forms over the years and it works brilliantly. But some horses do colic and the risk for this is vastly increased if horses are stood in a box 24/7. So just be aware of the risks before you start feeding small bale straw.

 

[JFTDWS]

one of them is metabolic which most grass livery is not going to cater for.

I guess that leaves something like a track livery.

Which isn't going to be cheap, and depends entirely on whether there's one semi-locally. They are becoming more common, but still very patchy in terms of availability.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

Well thats the thing isnt it. I don't have certain pet because I cant provide a suitable environment for them. A retired horse with no turnout is awful. And both horses are unhappy, banging doors and standing hours with nothing to eat.

There are plenty of retirement places that can cope with EMS.

Something needs to be done about livery yards with no turnout in this country.

On the whole I agree but the yard originally had turn-out last winter so that’s changed since the OP went there.

My yard of 14yrs closed last year and I could only find one suitable space after months of looking but I had two horses. I reserved that space and paid for that as well as my two existing spaces but a second never came up so I ended up moving both further away on part-livery and obviously wasted money reserving a space, The grazing became like a mud bath in October and due to that and some other reasons I had to move again now they are on two different yards as I couldn’t find two spaces together but they also have different needs it’s been a really hard and stressful 12 months and I’m still splitting my time between two yards. I was on the verge of selling one last year when he had to have colic surgery so it’s not like I could sell him then or my older horse who has had some soundness issues.

The OP already has the horses and it’s not easy to find a place suitable for a metabolic horse many yards are too inflexible. I’d want to be near mine if he needed to be carefully managed so I could ensure that they were being cared for properly.

And what’s to say if they sold or moved one horse they would end up in a better situation? It’s hard out there livery wise these days.

 

[Peglo]

Is it the topchop zero chaff you use? I think they add stuff to it to make it more palatable. I use the honeychop oat straw chaff for my fatty as that is all it is and she only ever touches it if she needs it. I’m not even half way through my bag since November. She only gets 1 haynet at night but she’s bedded on straw so she maybe eats it but I think the chaff would be preferable.

Could you give them one of them haycube things to try and entertain them for a bit?

Could you ride and lead your boys so they can hack together? It might give you more time if you can exercise both of them together and be more social for them.

Sorry your yard has changed so much. It did sound like a great place before the no turnout and a shame when you get along with everyone. I’m not surprised they are kicking the doors though. I hope you find a resolution.

 

[Gingerwitch]

I had this once, went to a yard that was perfect in the summer -and on paper.
In the September it was very wet and we kept in for a couple of days.
That soon became the norm.
You would drive down the yard track and hope to see ‘out’ on the board.
It rarely was.
I managed one winter, in from sept to end April.
We were promised it that was a one off.
Next winter same pattern emerges.
I moved in the January and hour solid drive away.
Still there and it’s exactly what I was promised.
Dreading the price rise in April, but that isn’t the yards fault, so will need to find the money or give up one or more horses.
Good luck op - if you didn’t care you would not be posting
X

 

[SEL]

Cheshire is notoriously bad for turnout according to a friend up there (& she's an equine vet)

I did one winter of a YO promising X and not delivering, then the following autumn there was a max exodus of liveries.

Sorry OP. Have you tried hay balls? Keeps one of mine occupied without eating a lot.

 

[scats]

I asked my liveries to keep in for 1/2 days during that big storm before Christmas and I felt so guilty (it was a strong enough storm to blow a huge sheet of metal cladding off one of the sheds).

I promised my liveries all year turnout when they looked around the yard, unless exceptional circumstances, and I can’t imagine going back on that. It feels like a lot of yards lie to get people on and then change the rules.

 

[JFTDWS]

It feels like a lot of yards lie to get people on and then change the rules.

This is the problem, I find. I've encountered this a few times - although often from new management who, I think, don't forsee what winter is going to look like. I tend not to go to yards where the management has recently changed now - at least with long standing yards, you can find out what happened the previous winter.

There's a huge difference between a safety decision for a storm (flooding / high winds), based on the topography of the individual yard, and just closing the fields in October.

 

[paddy555]

I guess that leaves something like a track livery.

Which isn't going to be cheap, and depends entirely on whether there's one semi-locally. They are becoming more common, but still very patchy in terms of availability.

how expensive are they? I have found a few advertised but not much detail on prices.

I would have thought for £675 pm one could have got a reasonable track livery presuming there is one nearby

anyone on track livery? what are the good points and bad ones (other than 24/7 T/O)

 

[I'm Dun]

I had this once, went to a yard that was perfect in the summer -and on paper.
In the September it was very wet and we kept in for a couple of days.
That soon became the norm.
You would drive down the yard track and hope to see ‘out’ on the board.
It rarely was.
I managed one winter, in from sept to end April.
We were promised it that was a one off.
Next winter same pattern emerges.
I moved in the January and hour solid drive away.
Still there and it’s exactly what I was promised.
Dreading the price rise in April, but that isn’t the yards fault, so will need to find the money or give up one or more horses.
Good luck op - if you didn’t care you would not be posting
X

I managed 2 weeks and sent mine off to live with a friend over a hour away while I sorted something else. It ended up being 45mins away and a complete pain in the backside to get to, but so be it.

 

[GrassChop]

Are they allowed a treat ball/hay ball? Might encourage them to move a bit more and gives them a little extra to eat.

 

[I'm Dun]

how expensive are they? I have found a few advertised but not much detail on prices.

I would have thought for £675 pm one could have got a reasonable track livery presuming there is one nearby

anyone on track livery? what are the good points and bad ones (other than 24/7 T/O)

The not very good one near me is about £400. You would absolutely get change from £675 on most of the ones I know

 

[toooldtofalloff]

Hi H&H forum members,

I'm in a pickle.

I'm on a beautiful yard with my two horses, one retired, one in work, and both on 7 day part livery. I've been there for almost 2 years and the yard has doubled in size in the past 9 months.

My issue is this. We have been in since the beginning of October, there is no turn out at all, and whilst my horses appear to be happy and both have much larger than the average stable, (plus they are exercised daily - one ridden, the retired chap does in hand stuff), I'm struggling a bit with the ever-changing goalposts from the YO.

I pay £675 per month (great yard, I'm happy with the cost) and with that I have access to hay/haylage, limited, not ad-lib, plus straw bedding or I can buy shavings from the yard as they bulk buy. My contract says part livery includes turn out and bring in daily, feet picked out, rug changes, hay nets made up, a skip out of the stables, I do a more thorough muck out every evening, water, feed (not included) etc.

I'm struggling a little as YO in the past few weeks has been a bit upset about things like putting in additional hay nets (which I make up in advance as they no longer do my hay nets), because I think they are struggling with the additional workload for their part and full liveries, as the horses are all in. It's not a small yard, it has approx 40 horses and 3 members of staff plus YO, so I do get it and understand the pressure they're under, plus the rising costs of everything being in. They have now decided that they will not provide any services to part liveries past 11am as that's all they cover, which isn't correct as bring in, when they're out, is normally around 4-5pm.

I've done all I'm able to do to help in terms of making feeds in advance, getting hay nets ready etc but I'm not sure what else I can do to make things any easier. Sadly, I now find I'm in a situation where a hay net given in the morning is expected to last all day until I arrive after work, which is often not until 4-4.30pm. I've been told that time is money, and I do understand this, however, I was not told when moving to the yard that there would be no winter turnout and the services I pay for would then be an issue, or I wouldn't have moved there! The only option available to me right now is to go on full livery, which I can't afford, try to get there in my lunch break to feed a net, which isn't doable, or pay a freelancer to pop in, which again is not affordable.

I have tried speaking to the YO about this and said it takes less time to put a net in than it does to bring in, which is a service I'm paying for. I haven't said anything about the other things I get ready in advance and that they are part of the services that should be provided, and I pay for, as I don't begrudge doing the extra stuff as I'm happy to do whatever makes it easier. My primary concern is that my horses are spending long periods of time without forage. My retired gelding has had ulcers in the past which were incredibly challenging, and expensive, to resolve and I don't fancy my chances at going down that route again, for his sake and comfort more than mine, but also as it's incredibly expensive as ulcers are now excluded from his insurance policy.

I love the yard, the people, the location, everything, but this situation is really getting me down.

I'm tidy, I pay my bills on time (often in advance of the due date), I get on with everyone, help when needed etc, so I'm a bit frazzled to find myself in this situation and just really needed to share as I wonder if I'm being silly or unreasonable to feel this way.

If you got this far, thank you for reading. And thank you in advance for any advice you may hav

how expensive are they? I have found a few advertised but not much detail on prices.

I would have thought for £675 pm one could have got a reasonable track livery presuming there is one nearby

anyone on track livery? what are the good points and bad ones (other than 24/7 T/O)

Gawsworth Track Livery in Cheshire (I think that's where the OP is from?) has a very good rep, in regard to your retired horse.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

I think Gawsworth has a mixed reputation from what I’ve read.

 

[ester]

Yeah we’re changing their good rep status

 

[I'm Dun]

Gawsworth Track Livery in Cheshire (I think that's where the OP is from?) has a very good rep, in regard to your retired horse.

Proceed with EXTREME caution.

 

[paddy555]

The not very good one near me is about £400. You would absolutely get change from £675 on most of the ones I know

that was around the price I saw on a local one, no idea if it is good or bad. I would have thought that track liveries were comparable to livery yards especially when taking into account 24/7. It will be interesting to see if anyone comes up with their good one and why it is good.

 

[paddy555]

Gawsworth Track Livery in Cheshire (I think that's where the OP is from?) has a very good rep, in regard to your retired horse.

I haven't been able to find out it Gawsworth is just for retired/rehabs or if any of the horses on track are ridden. Anyone know?

 

[ester]

I’m sure I’ve seen some are.

Obv pre requisite of that sort of li Sue is no shoes which might not work for the Op

 

[abb123]

I'm a bit confused. Cheshire is a great area for horses. I can't think of anywhere that you could be that would be more than 40 mins drive or so from a decent livery yard with daily turn out. Even the yards with bad turn out are on every other day? Expensive full livery with daily turn out and great facilities would be around £7-800 per month per horse and decent livery/turn out facilities is more like £600. Which part of Cheshire are you in that has zero turn out - we may be able to suggest somewhere closer that would be more suited?

 

[Muddywellies]

Why do yards change the goalposts? (I see it happen a lot) I'd most certainly be leaving, unless they are actively looking to recruit more staff and return to full service.

 

[quiteniceforacob]

how expensive are they? I have found a few advertised but not much detail on prices.

I would have thought for £675 pm one could have got a reasonable track livery presuming there is one nearby

anyone on track livery? what are the good points and bad ones (other than 24/7 T/O)

The one near me is £550 a month full livery - checks twice a day, haynets put out, varied terrain

 

[Miles76]

I've done all I'm able to do to help in terms of making feeds in advance, getting hay nets ready etc but I'm not sure what else I can do to make things any easier. Sadly, I now find I'm in a situation where a hay net given in the morning is expected to last all day until I arrive after work, which is often not until 4-4.30pm. I've been told that time is money, and I do understand this, however, I was not told when moving to the yard that there would be no winter turnout and the services I pay for would then be an issue, or I wouldn't have moved there!

You mentioned "time is money" and that's how our boarding facility here in California operates. I'm sure it's a very cost sensitive industry because there are so many costs involved.

Anyways our equestrian Center is in the process of switching over to a new style of automatic waterer that saves them a lot of time (money) cleaning. It's (a newer brand I think) called HorseProof. It uses a standard 5 gallon flatback bucket that swaps out real quick for easy cleaning and you can clean the float without any tools etc.. it's a pretty cool product actually IMO. They swapped a couple dozen of them out so far and I've personally seen the water stay cleaner as well. I asked the maintenance guy what he thought and he said he likes it cuz they are easy to install and it's less work for him.

Just thought I would throw this out there in case it it helps anyone provide better care /save time because we all know there's always plenty of other things to deal with ALL the time. I hope your situation gets better to keep your guys quality of life up.

 

[Apizz2019]

Welcome to the forum, Umpy. Love your user name!

You've had lots of great advice already, so I've nothing to add. I just wanted to say that I hope your silence is a good thing, in that you've been busy viewing lots of yards and have, hopefully, found somewhere more suitable for your horses.

 

[ycbm]

Welcome to the forum, Umpy. Love your user name!

You've had lots of great advice already, so I've nothing to add. I just wanted to say that I hope your silence is a good thing, in that you've been busy viewing lots of yards and have, hopefully, found somewhere more suitable for your horses.

 

[Welly Boot]

It's def not ideal but I think is more common. We've also just had one of the worst winters in terms or rain and wind. Things are slowly drying out but am surprised you are still in given the temperatures this week have jumped up and ground is drying. Hope you find a solution. Seems a lot of money for you to still be doing a chink of the work....