Made my manege disaster into a website!

catembi

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I've posted on here a number of times over the years regarding my disastrous manege, & now I've decided to allow others to benefit from my experience by creating a warts & all website, complete with lots of photos. This is designed to show what can go wrong when you don't research companies properly, and try to do things on the cheap.

I was going to post the link on here, but there is a page at the back with links to my novels, so I can't. So if anyone wants to see what an awful manege looks like, & can promise not to look at the novels page, pls PM me & I'll send you the link!

Any constructive criticism welcome!

T x
 

Iwantakitten

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I've posted on here a number of times over the years regarding my disastrous manege, & now I've decided to allow others to benefit from my experience by creating a warts & all website, complete with lots of photos. This is designed to show what can go wrong when you don't research companies properly, and try to do things on the cheap.

I was going to post the link on here, but there is a page at the back with links to my novels, so I can't. So if anyone wants to see what an awful manege looks like, & can promise not to look at the novels page, pls PM me & I'll send you the link!

Any constructive criticism welcome!

T x

Could I have the link please?
 

Red-1

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Me too, although I do have some FAB awful ménage photos of my own, from a company who went bust and slightly changed their name, and in consequence they did not have to right the wrong. I have not been so organised to produce a web site though, well done you, and I hope you have taken legal advice.
 

catembi

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I'm working my way thru the list, but apparently am only allowed to send one PM every 60 seconds...!

Yes, Red1, that's pretty much what happened. The short version is that my 'drainage layer' is random cr*p that DOESN'T drain & the membrane was just laid loose, so every edge has come up. The people who installed it had, by that time, closed the company & now run 2 or 3 more from the same address. 100% the same people. They have basically stuck two fingers up at me & said, hahahaha, it was X LIMITED COMPANY that installed the school, which is now defunct, so **** you!

I ride every day, so am reminded every day of how stupid I was. I've sewed down all 9 widths of membrane i.e. 9 x 20 m BY HAND, but they work their way up again. It's like playing whack-a-mole...as soon as I deal with one bit, another one springs up.

See the photos & be warned...! Why don't you post some of yours on this thread, Red1, so that I can feel slightly less of an idiot!

T x
 

Red-1

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Very professional, and I like that you did not name and shame.

I even bought a book!

Funnily enough I am also a retired "civil servant", and have written some of a book about my "experiences" and would love to publish on Amazon, so kudos to you.

Sadly the photos may be mine, but the arena belonged to someone else. If it makes you feel less foolish the price of failed arena was around £30,000. The footings were great, the mistake was made with the type of sand (cheaper) which was so fine it went through the membrane and blocked the drains, the arena then flooded, the rest of the under surface turned solid, the arena was so deep both with sludge and water that it was not safe to use.

They tried to dig new sandy trenches above the membrane, this was not cool, the surface was now deep and sludgy in places (I had to teach in long boots or my short boots would actually pull off) and not in others, so then we also had a trip hazard.

The great thing is that if people follow your advice, the "new" company will be registered at companies house, along with the old, so people could see that there have been two limited companies at the same address.

As a person who has also scrimped and saved for an arena, I am sorry that your experience has not been good. :-(
 

Madali

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I see you are in my neck of the woods.
We are shortly going to start the process of installing a ménage please can I have the link so I can avoid any Cowboys lurking around.
Thank you
 

catembi

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Yes, that's what makes me the crossest! I am just a normal person with a normal office job who has worked very hard to get my house with field, and in the early days when the school was new, I was soooooo pleased with myself! One night, I was riding in the dark (I have tripod floodlights & a long extension as unlikely to get planning for proper lighting) in the depths of winter. I was cantering along in pretty dire weather, the school was riding amazingly as it was new, & I thought, here am I riding my own horse on my own school on my own land...I can ride properly in the dark and (probably!) hail, and nothing can stop me now. I am the luckiest person in the world!

And now this has happened, & there is absolutely nothing I can do about it. I consulted 3 lawyers from the back of HH mag, & they all said the same thing - these cases are v tricky; as the ltd co is closed, there will probs be no assets unless they have run-off insurance & basically I'm stuffed.

This has been festering away while I did all that sewing, so at least it's out in the open now which is probably healthier!

And thank you for buying a book - let me know if you like it!

T x
 

catembi

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HMIS13 - I am not ignoring you, but I can't send you a PM! I am not sure whether you might have set your account up so as not to be able to receive PMs? I'm afraid I'm not familiar enough with the more advanced workings of this site to be able to tell you how to fix it.

Madali - don't worry - the company that did my arena is now defunct and has been for a while. The other companies that they operate are (thankfully!) nothing to do with maneges/arenas. But I seem to remember from one of my previous 'woe is me' threads that someone else had a similar experience from a different company - so please do your research or you might end up making your own 'public service announcement' website!!

T x
 

Haniki

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I would like the link to your website too please, so will send you a PM.
I'm so sorry it went wrong for you. Keeping horses, particularly in the winter, is such a commitment for those of us that work fulltime.
Having an arena must have seemed such a help. Unfortunately, having a faulty arena must seem worse than having no arena at all.
 

catembi

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Yes indeed, riding on my school is worse than riding on the field! And over the last few days, 4 new edges have emerged that I will have to deal with very shortly.

It's more of a bother than it looks - for every little bit that emerges, once I get out there with my shovel & rake, it usually turns out that about 4 to 6 ft has come loose. So I have to dig out about an 8 to 10 ft channel, then get my dustpan & brush & carefully sweep it clean, & particularly sweep out any surface that has got underneath. Then I have to sew it, which is far from fun (but big thanks to Cremedementhe who kindly sent me the right needles for the job FOC) then cover it up. Then move onto the next one.

My heart sinks every time I spot an edge, but if I don't keep fixing them, we're going to break a neck or leg on them.

T x

We have tried glue, which you can see as the white stuff on the photos on one emerging edge, but it didn't really hold.
 
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