Livery yards, all the same?

I dont think the perfect yard exists - unless you keep your horses at home and do everything exactly the way you want things done. I have been on 3 yards,a big livery yard on full livery which excellent facilities, and 2 smaller yard on DIY. My current yard is probably the closest to my kind of perfection I can get - doesnt mean it would suit everyone though. My YO is a fab instructor, which is the main reason I moved there, she has good turnout, an outdoor school which is great to ride in - access to fab hacking and she really does care about the horses. At the moment they are on rotational turnout due to the weather while other yards in the area have no turn out at all so the effort is being made - shes happy to feed and hay in the evening so long as everything is left out for them and she turns out for us (included in livery of £30 per week). Shes a very laid back sort, and if you want something done then you just have to ask. The fact that she has a full yard with a waiting list says it all really.

There are things that I would love - an indoor school would be one - but unless Im willing to move somewhere with less turnout or a less pleasant YO, or somewhere more expensive, I can do without. There are little things that mildly iritate me about my yard but nothing that I cant live with - for example lack of storage for shavings would be one, and the YO does charge over the odds for selling her own shavings - but then she grows her own haylage and charges fairly for it and we will not be one of those yards struggling to find haylage this year - you take the good with the bad and have to balance it out I suppose :)
 
Misinterpreted said:
The yard I'm at is very nice.

I have individual turnout for my two. Many good yards offer this, and it is such a huge relief having it. I can hay as I please, and my horses don't run the risk of getting kicked by someone elses! You usually have to pay extra for individual turnout, but I wouldn't be at any yard who couldnt offer it.

I think running a livery yard is hard work, and there are more yards barely scraping through to cover their costs, than there are making decent profits. I do repairs myself if they affect me. If my horse breaks his fence, I repair it, etc.
It's hard to comment not knowing the yard, what you pay, etc, but in my experience if you want 7 star facilities and service you have to pay 7 star prices.

Also, managing a smart, well run livery yard, with DIY horses is difficult. Our YO has a contract which states all DIY owners to attend to their horse at least twice a day (unless they have assisted livery). Turn out and bring in have to be done within certain windows of time each day (unless you're riding, or its on box rest), stables have to be made before 11am each day. If an owner is late, it's all done and they are charged. By noon every day all the boxes at our yard are prepared and the yard is swept and immaculate. The horses at our yard are very settled and have a solid routine. We also all know where we stand, and if we oversleep or are held up in traffic we know we'll be charged and there's no arguments!
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horserider said:
Oooer, that yard sounds like my idea of hell.
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Mine too. I'd never keep my horse on a yard like this. The whole point of having my horse on DIY is that I have flexibility to do things at a time that suits me.

I've been on 4 livery yards, and have enjoyed being on all of them. No yard is perfect so there needs to be a bit of give and take but good communication between liveries and yard owners solves most problems in my experience.
 
Misinterpreted said:
We are all different :)
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This was going to be my next point, I don't expect that every new livery will fully fit in or see eye to eye on how we do things, even if most do.

However waiting for 6 weeks for their light to be done is out of order, I know in the old days I would of refused to pay my rent after such a long time till ti was done. The trouble with holding out rent, is that it's the begining of the end at that yard!
 
OP you have just mentioned my yard down to a T. Restricted hay, not allowed to feed in fields. I no longer seem to have a say over when and what i feed my pony.

Trying to find a half decent yard to me is like Gold dust.
 
Misinterpreted said:
We are all different :)

My idea of hell would be a DIY yard that is a free for all. Stables not being mucked out until tea time. An unswept messy yard. Horses kicking the doors and going nuts waiting for late owners to turn up. People giving their horses feeds at all hours of the day in front of others which creates havoc. Many horses having no solid routine. Having to struggle and fight your way through the fields whilst trying to avoid being ambushed and kicked by other peoples horses who are wanting to come in...
I've briefly been at yards like that, and I much prefer the serene order of the one I'm at now. ;)
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My last yard was what you would describe as a free for all - some of us mucked out am, some pm, we all fed our own horses and turned out and brought in when it suited us. The horses were all settled and happy and we had no problems with door banging or horses making a fuss when others were fed. In fact I've never seen such relaxed horses.

As you say, we are all different and what suits one person won't suit another. At the end of the day its our hobby so its important to be somewhere that fits in with your lifestyle.
 
There was another thread very recently about this same subject, so I won't repeat my post there, BUT just to say please don't tar all YO's with the same brush!

Some of us aren't in it for the money; some of us DO care about the horses entrusted to our care; some of us would far rather, in this weather, be tucked up by the fire instead of lugging water and hay out to horses on DIY coz the owners are snowed up and can't get there but we do it because we care.

Some YO's really don't want to have to arbitrate between every petty squabble and tiff in the yard! OR have to make difficult decisions about turnout, use of arena etc etc, but they do.

In the past I've been both a punter and more recently a YO myself; perhaps everyone ought to "swop" jobs just once in a while and see how it feels to wear the boot on the other foot.

At the moment I've got a super livery and in the past have always had really great people and horses, spoiled by just one or two that basically paid for DIY and expected YO to "do" theirs; as well as one that basically neglected her horse and left it shut in the stable for 24 hrs without food or water, which I had to supply from my own purse as she left without saying a thing and I was never reimbursed.

So please don't let this develop into yet another thread bashing YO's; you couldn't exist without us, the smaller DIY yards like mine in particular.
 
My horse has just moved to a yard for some schooling. She is on full livery I pay £100 per week. Since this cold weather they yard owner has stopped giving the horses ANY water - the horses are SUPPOSEDLY taken to the water trough several times a day for water, but this isn't even happening. I am going down twice a day to fill water buckets myself, but as they are freezing over my horse is always left with frozen water in her stable in the morning, all the yard owner has to do is break the ice on the bucket but she cannot even do that. She is also not feeding my horse or any of her own horses, I have had to buy my own haylage as my horse refuses to eat the rubbish she is feeding. This yard was recommended by my VET!!! This is my second yard in 6 months and she is moving to a third yard in a couple of days time. Although i have money for full livery and would prefer full livery as I don't have much time during the week, I have now decided to put her on DIY closer to home so that i can look after her myself (which is what is happening anyway). I want to complain to the yard owner but she is very well respected locally and don't feel I can. i gave up horses 20 years ago because of the problems on livery yards, thought as a more mature person things would be better this time round, looks like i am wrong and am seriously considering selling my horse because it is no fun and just a lot of worry!!! And yes, I think the MAJORITY of livery yards are all the same, dishonest owners/managers who think they know best on every score and are bullies, most clients are also bitchy!!! Forgot to say the schooling hasn't happened, she has been ridden a couple of times by the yard owner and I came down the other day unexpected to see her being ridden by a 12 year old beginner in a lesson, so she is using my horse to make money, when she is being paid to school her!!!
 
It seems to be where you are located as well - some areas seem to have several good yards and others none. I'm on full livery and since I'm paying more than the cost of renting a room in a flat almost, I expect more than a leaking, tiny school which I'm told I can't use half the time and a stable with jaggy nails sticking out of it. But if I were only paying £25 or £30 a week DIY, I would'nt be so fussy. And despite the fact I'm paying £100 a week for full livery, I've been in a yard where the YO decided she would no longer change rugs following turnout (obviously with no deduction in price), hardly any bedding as mats used and turnout only when they felt like it.
 
I can beat you all on how crap my yard is. Its supposed to be a fantastic competition yard with excellent facilities, on paper it is, 2 outdoor arenas, 1 indoor arena, lunge area (indoors), horse walker, American barn and out door stables for DIY, individual turnout winter and summer, sounds great doesnt it, now for the reality, the lunge area is so decrepid and dusty that within 1 minuit you cant see your horse, the surface is dangerous and horses fall over, outdoor schools are never rolled unless an outside pony club wants to use it, so its banked about a foot high and dangerous, indoor school never rolled, dangerous in corners so horses fall over, muck heep over 20ft high, we are expected to stand on it and tip!!!! Hay not on time, if at all, rude texts sent to all liveries on a regular basis including to top ranking BHSIs on the yard. The owners didnt even say happy christmas to anyone this morning, the owners are the laziest sods on this planet and yet their hands are out 24?7 for anything they can charge for and do you know what this is supposed to be one of the better private livery yards in Gloucester, anyone hazard a ghess to which one it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Tilda said:
The first couple of yards I kept my girl at were run almost as hobbies by the yard managers and no assistance was offered which suited me, however they were really badly run from the point of view of maintenance, unsecure fencing or badly managed grazing which is more or less why I left and made the decision that my next yard would be run as a proper business.


Basically I would say try and find a yard that is run as a proper business and in my experience you will hopefully find something that suits.
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I think you have hit the nail on head - too many yards are run as hobbies and then you have the YOs resenting the customers and vice versa.....

The ones that are run as businesses tend to be a lot better, maybe not as relaxed and friendly as others but much better communication and services.
 
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