Livery yard viewing - I am DISGUSTED

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miss-understood2011

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I have just been to view a livery yard thats quite close to where I now live and I have to say I have NEVER seen anything quite like it!! It looks smart enough until you go through the gate (which is key pad entry so at least its secure - the yard is also alarmed so thats good too)

The car park is a potholed mess with a trench (or soon will be) across it - but i could live with that if I had to....the stables themselves are really spacious (14ft x 14ft i reckon) and fully rubber matted with integrated tackrooms (i was hopefull at this point), however on closer inspection i would use more shavings in a hamster cage and they'd be clean which these were not - they were damp(from urine) and had remnents of faeces still in them even though it was obvious that they had been "mucked out", the horses water buckets had clearly only been topped up - not cleaned out as the bottoms of them were black and there was feed / shavings floating on top (even though the horses were out)

The yard itself COULD be really nice but at this moment its more like a H&S nightmare - tools just chucked around, full wheelbarrows just dumped anywhere baler twine all over amongst other things. The amount of hay in the haynets shocked me too,,, unless they're feeding mice! the tractor in the barn has its "forklift" part on the floor with the spikes poking out from under piles of loose hay (how unsafe)

They have quite a nice upstairs kitchen area which if kept clean would be a lovely area, however i'd be reluctant to even sit up there at the moment never mind eat up there

I was then taken outside to view the paddocks - they're a decent size and not over crowded (i think she said a max of 4 per field) but the fences needed some serious TLC - panels missing (just left where they had fallen) wobbling posts, gates that "drop" when opened / dont open properly and in NONE of the fields were there any hint of water for the poor horses within the fields and i dont think they'd been pooh picked for months! and its quite obvious they have been severly poached over winter - by the pot-holes? hoof holes in them :(

The menage is another strong point, its HUGE and very well floodlit (free of charge to use and no charge for lights)and has some jumps too but this is also unmaintained and very deep in places and shallow in others with the membrane clearly evident in some parts which would worry me when riding / working in there

on glancing across the menage i noticed the muck heap - taking up a full paddock - turning the grass black as it "leaked" but with horses grazing just a few yards away from it!!

For the "luxuries" of this place they want at least £75:00 a week - and apparently have a waiting list pending more stables being built - which brings me on to their own horses... their stables are nothing more than metal cages and they are standing on concrete with a thin layer of soaking wet filthy urinated on straw - the couple of stables that do have a "floor" have in effect rubber "tiles" down but these do not fit together properly and have humps / ridges in them where straw/ pooh etc has got underneath

I dont think I shall be taking my horse there!!
 
miss-understood2011 said:
the tractor in the barn has its "forklift" part on the floor with the spikes poking out from under piles of loose hay (how unsafe)
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It is the done thing to drop a loader on the ground when a tractor is not in use. It would be far more dangerous to leave it up in the air, what if it failed and dropped on somebodies head? That would do far more damage than if someone simply tripped over the forks.

This is what you have to put up with if you cannot afford you own place. Are you looking for full livery?
 
I really am surprised that anyone would want to run a livery yard these days. Me, my OH and my children poke around ag machinery all the time and we're all still alive!
 
I think I know this yard.....in fact I'm certain. Three of the liveries recently moved to me, one of which was seriously under weight. I have two spaces coming up soon and offer nearly the same livery plans. Pm me if you want to know more
 
And they have a waiting list?!?! The yard where one of my friends keeps her TB was recently taken over by new people and they found it acceptable to put around 10 horses on full competition livery (and not particularly reasonable priced may i add!) in a tiny paddock and bring them in by rounding up with the quad bike which freaked them out and ended up with one of the horses almost getting tangled in the dangling pieces of barbed wire off the fence! eekkk....there are some clueless YO's out there!
 
I am not defending the yard

but here yes we keep the horses on thinner beds that's the owners choice

owners are given 1 bale a week goes in Saturdays, stands to reason if the horse is messy the bedding goes down in quantity . Its up to the owners to by extra if they don't obviously the beds are thin I can only work with want is in there and the 1 bale i put in.
we have allot of grass at the moment thus the hay intake is down the owners here only want 1 section at night as the horses are very overweight again thats the owners choice.

also we have cut down to 1 feed the evening one with supplements again owners choice.
when they change to nights they get breakie only with supplements.

£ 75 is not allot you get what you pay for diy cost when you add it is around 65 including all feed and hay .
round here top part livery is £160 we are £ 87

there has to be a variety of standards out there to suit every pocket .


tho dangerous stuff lying around tools string etc is not acceptable a degree of safety is a must for all yards.


i leave my owner horses beds up where pee was to dry in day some owners dont want that so they go down.


All I am saying is amount of hay / bedding could be the owners request and not YO fault
 
Well, I pay £20 for grazing, £10 for a stable, and £10 for forage including turnout and "turn-in"-
We pay for shavings at cost, most big horses take two bales, but my boy is OK on a bit over one per week, the YO is OK with this, I am sure that he would not put up with owners who keep horses on wet bedding.
The contract rules are quite strict, but he is very helpful, by which I mean he will help me out in an emergency, with no extra charge
 
I think it's a shame that the owners of this yard aren't doing a very good management job, because it sounds like the place has the facilities etc to POTENTIALLY be a very good yard & they could make themselves a good living from it if they ran it properly!
 
joosie said:
I think it's a shame that the owners of this yard aren't doing a very good management job, because it sounds like the place has the facilities etc to POTENTIALLY be a very good yard & they could make themselves a good living from it if they ran it properly!
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Q: How do you make a million pounds out of horses?
A: Start with two million pounds.

Most livery stables do not make a 'good living' because few owners will pay what it would actually cost to do so.

It could be a location issue but I'd consider £75 per week bargain basement for part livery and you get what you pay for.
 
paddy said:
Q: How do you make a million pounds out of horses?
A: Start with two million pounds.
Click to expand...

LOL - very true! - ok maybe "good living" wasn't the best way of putting it :p what I mean is that it could potentially function very well as a business if it was run properly.
 
I am 99.9% sure i know this yard and if I am right (apologies if i'm not) the 1 bale per week is in no way at all the choice of the horses owners as I can think of at least 4 liveries (including myself) that also buy extra shavings (and not from the yard as they dont keep stock) purely because there wasnt enough bedding in and what was in was filthy so had to be taken out. One livery was (and prob still is) mucking her stable out AGAIN on an evening due to the "mucking out" standard of the yard.

If its the yard im thinking of (again sorry is it isnt) if you think its bad now - you need to see it in winter! the horses go out hock deep in mud into fields with no water (cos taps dont work), no grass and no hay etc provided on a regualr basis.. (when they remember to order some) and when they do order it you're charged for it (£40 was my last bill for 'field hay) liveries are also "looked down on" for washing the mud off their horses legs cos it makes the barn wet (just by the top end that no-one uses anyway), there have been "promises" of wash area (indoor and outdoor) and a heated rug room to dry rugs but in all the time i was there these never came to anything

Again, sorry if its not the yard im thinking of but i'd put money on it being the same place and leaving was the best thing i did for both me and my horses
 
Yeah have found most livery yards I have known have either promised but never delivered and also said they wouldn't expand but then have and had too many horses for the grazing available or else made the yard cramped!
 
NO AND NO would i keep a horse there.Its a health and safety nightmare by the sounds of it.Filthy stables,bad fencing and generally run down is no place to keep a horse.
Find somewhere else to go-far far much better for both you and your horse(s).
 
I don't wash my horses down in winter i leave mud to dry then brush it off, washing causes cold legs and chapped skin and mud fever
 
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