menage use.

[TicTac]

How do you folks out there share the use of your menage?

There are only four of us liveries that have to share the menage at my yard. Myself and my daughter ( we usually school/lunge together) and two young girls aged 10 and 12 who are supervised by their mothers. We all work full time so we have an agreement that if you book a lesson at a particular time then the school is for your use only. ( we do this by writing on a blackboard for all to see) the rest of the time it's pot luck so to speak.

However this evening at 5.45 just as I was tacking my horse up, one of the mothers who's child was having a lesson at 6.30, starts leading the pony into the school to lunge it for 20 minutes before hand. ( They have only had the pony a week and are new at the yard) So I said to her, that as she had allready booked the school for an hour later, then it was unfair of her to expect to have the use of it for another 1/2 hour as I was about to go in there and ride myself. She then went off on one and took the pony into the field to lunge it. ( I think it must be in training for the grand national as they lunge it every day for a good 20 mins before they ride and he's a good ol native!!)

Thease particular owners are new to horse ownership but are the know it all type, if you get my drift, fresh out of a riding school. ( and yes, I know we all have to start somewhere) I don't want to cause any bad feeling but do you think I was unreasonable?

 

[chestnut cob]

I think you may need your YO to clarify the situation and the rules. We never really have an issue at current yard, although YO uses the arena a lot for teaching so I have to fit in with her if I want my own instructor to teach me at the yard.

At a previous yard, you were only allowed to book the arena for lessons and even then, as it was a huge school YO expected that you could share it with one person (ie, two of you having lessons with different instructors) if it was a busy time such as saturday. Other than lessons, no one was allowed to book the arena at all and we were all expected to share. We wouldn't have been able to tell someone not to lunge in there unless there were already a couple of people in the arena and equally, the person lunging would be expected to keep out of the way of those riding.

Sorry, probably not much help! The best thing is to get YO to clarify what the rules are.

 

[Coffee_Bean]

Why couldn't you have shared it? Surely the mother could have lunged in on a small circle at one end and you could school round it if it isn't a kicker or anythint?

At my yard the school is booked for lessons, and they're written on the board, and you just ride in it when you want. You do not have sole use of the school unless it is a lesson. You share it.

 

[TicTac]

Forgot to say that the other girl was in there riding her pony and I was going to share with her!

 

[diggerbez]

i can understand why you were a bit annoyed and totally appreciate that this lady can't hog the school all night! on my old yard we used to have some HUGE rows about use of the arena- we were meant to only be able to book if for lessons and then it turned out that some people (who were in the YM's clique) were booking it just to school and longrein and didn't want to share!!

and the other thing that they did was book clinics with a dressage rider for 3 hours (fair enough) but then allow them to overrun by an hour EVERY WEEK!

on new yard you have to book arena eveytime you use it so always get it to yourself. this is great but can only book for half an hour at a time so not great for me with a baby that really DOES have to lunge before riding- 30 mins isn't quite long enough. also people have started booking 3 months in advance which i do think is a tad ridiculous! i mean how can you know that you are going to want to ride at 6pm on 4th August?!!!

i'd judt have a word with this lady tomorrow and try to iron out the problem before it escalates...calmly!

 

[alex_mac30]

Hi
At my yard, we book the school for lessons, with the agreement that if your lesson runs over people can come in. In the cast of lunging before a lesson I think it should be included in the time you book.
At other times it pot luck, we have a rule that only 2 people can go in there at a time and if people are waiting then you only have 20 minutes. I usually have the school to myself, so its not too much of a problem.
For lunging you have to ask the person in the school if they mind sharing.
It works quite well if people stick to it, its not offen you have to wait or get out the school for someone else
M x

 

[Nosey]

I would never ride in a school where another horse is being lunged - personal preference perhaps but could be disastorous if it went wrong!

 

[millimoo]

I agree with nosey, Lunging & Riding is a bad mix.....
I think you were right in being a bit put out, and anyway if the option is there to lunge in the field, maybe they should continue as it hammers and tracks the surface quicker than riding.

 

[Quadro]

at the yard i was at at uni you would book the school and if you did not use it at the time slot or well late or over ran they charged you !!!!!
you were also not allowed to use the school more than twice a week (if you did you were charged!!!!) as it "damaged the surface" even though the surface was there to be ridden on ????

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

The only time we share the menage is in the winter when time is short. Most of the time you get sole use, especially if you are having a lesson, (we are lucky as there aren't that many of us) and most are happy to share if they are schooling on there own. To be fair most people only ask to share when your time is coming to an end - ie the last 10 mins or so - lunging at the same time has never been raised but there wouldn't really be the need as there is the jumping paddock or a field that could be used if necessary. I'm rambling but essentially if the school has been booked most of the time you get it to yourself.

It just sounds like they need the rules and ettiquette of using a school explained to them.