Livery yard owners deserve a medal

slumdog

slumdog

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After fixing ANOTHER bit of bloody broken fencing this morning, I have no idea how livery yard owners aren't all grey haired and rocking in the corner.

Since having our own place I have a total new respect for anyone who has liveries. I had no idea of the amount of time the maintenance takes up and that's just for 6 horses! I swear some horses just break stuff for the fun of it!
 
I TOTALLY agree with you!
In April we took on our own small yard (my 2 horses and friends 1 horse)
Financially, to make it work we had to take on 2 liveries to help cover costs.
Since April, all I have done is
. Tidy up after people
. Poo pick
. Repair fences
. Pull weeds
. General yard repairs
. Harrow school
. Arrange hay/ bedding delivers

It's a nightmare! And we only have 2!! How people run proper livery yards I'll never know!

I think I've probably forgotten how to ride as I never seem to have the time!
 
Another poacher turned gamekeeper!

Never realised when I was a punter at someone else's yard just how difficult the job of YO is.

You're no-body's friend, at times everybody's enemy, and work like a slave (unpaid!) from dawn to dusk and beyond.

I'm lucky in that I've got a lovely livery at the moment - long may she stay :) but in the past I've had to virtually "do" someone else's horse as if it were on full livery (it was on DIY:() just because they couldn't be bothered, plus deal with her non-horsey boyfriends who smoked non-stop and behaved like a louse. Plus went away for the weekend, not telling me where she'd gone, and leaving pony shut in the stable, from whence it tried to break down the door non-stop.
 
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In the end it was why mum packed up, weekends spent rebuilding dry stone walling, criboxing stable doors and poo picking/harrowing the arena to be met with liveries' faces of dissapointment that they had to wait to use it...

Saying that we had the world's most fantastic livery ever who kept Anglo Arabs and as a teenager she was an absolute god send to me.

There are good and bad in both!
 
lucky you mine dosent fix fenceing maintain the fields and yard is expensive mine deserve a kick up the backside
 
I sometimes wonder if the bad YO's started out good but were sent bad (&bitter&slightly insane!) by the the bad liveries?;) I can certainly see how that can happen,after a couple of the liveries I've had in the past... (And the busier/bigger the yard,the faster the decline into bitter insanity:D)
Considering no YOs make a proper living out if it,it is actually a way of life full of constant and pretty thankless, tasks. It's a good job horses are quite addictive as a hobby:D
 
Agree wholeheartedly with Venevidivci. I can see how the job can turn you into a miserable old hag very quickly!
I do not envy those with busy yards to run!
 
I love my YOs. They have some basic rules, generally to do with tidiness (school, fencing, rugs on doors) but all things that make sense. Theyre there to help out - when I arrived at the yard the male YO who isn't actually horsey was loading a horse cos he just wouldn't go on for his owner and was really patient with him.

They are very understanding and helpful and the yard is friendly abd relaxed generally. Has its odd moment like anywhere. But each person can manage their horse in a way that works for them without criticism or judgment and they keep an overseeing eye to make sure things are ok.

Moving house soon and going to have to move and am pretty gutted!
 
Mine certantly does! After two weeks of the arrival of my new horse, she developed colic and if it was not for my yard owner's diligence and tireless effort to care for her during the nights, I may not have my beautiful girl still here today. My yard owner's also my trainer and I owe everything to her, she derserves a medal for sure!!:D
 
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