Moral dilemma – me being the last one keeping the place going?

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leftfield

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OK. To put it bluntly, the yard I keep my horse on full livery has been running on a shoestring for a while, and now I am the last of the full liveries it’s being run on a threadbare shoestring!

The YO is a lovely, caring and knowledgeable horsewoman, and she has done a lot to help me in the past.

But…. The fences are bordering on dangerous now. I am lucky in that my mare is in a smaller field surrounded by hedging and her field is the only one, which isn’t too bad, but the geldings perimeter fencing is broken down, ancient, chewed through wooden rails, held together with loose twisted barbed wire.

The sand ménage is now unusable for 75% of the year, either flooded or frozen solid in winter, or too deep and stony in dry weather. I’m boxing out and paying to hire other ménage’s.

In a bid to cut costs the YO recently changed all bedding over to shallow wood pellets. My mare is a leggy TB and she likes to lie down. I’m noticing more nicks/cuts on her legs since the change in bedding from deep shavings to shallow wood pellets, and the bed makes her dirtier and smellier than shavings did, but rules are rules and the beds are staying.

All this for £135 a week full livery – which is everything except ridden exercise. Lunging and horse walker exercise is provided in the week for me. However I have opted out of her being lunged because of my concerns about the school surface.

Over the last 2 years or so, most of the part liveries and all of the other full liveries have left, and no new liveries have replaced them for obvious reasons. The yard, which is less than half full, now has mainly grass liveries and DIYers who I rarely see ride. I am the only ‘rider’ and the only full livery left. If I was to leave, I am pretty sure the lack of my livery could cause the whole yard to fold.

With that thought on my shoulders, plus the fact the YO has bent over backwards to help me in the past what on earth shall I do?
 
You can't stay simply to keep someone else's business going.
If you feel it would be best for you and your horse to leave then you need to go,unless the YO is able to sort the issues out.
 
I think you need to put yourself and your mare first here. Tell yo your concerns and if nothing changes then personally i think i'd leave. Best of luck
 
Definitely agreed.
Sit down with our YO and explain your concerns as you have so politely and well put to us. She sounds like a decent lady so she shouldn't take it badly - tell her you are contemplating moving yards as your horse is obtaining cuts from the bedding and you are unable to ride as the school surface isn't suitabe for the majority of the year.
Bring up any other issues and see what she says. You sound like you are happy there aside from the obvious :( but you can't stay and compromise your horse owning pleasure to save someone else's business
K x
 
You need to put yourself and your horse 1st. You are paying a HUGE amount of money and not even getting what you pay for.

It's sad her business will fold, but if she had kept the yard together it wouldn't be like it is. I'd go and see her once you've found a new yard and say you're really sorry but you know it is time for you to move on.

Your horse is expensive and important to you. Why should you have to compromise?
 
You are paying £135 a week for fully livery, but your horses bed is scrimped on, the fencing is dangerous, and you cannot use the menage?
Kind of scratching my head as to why you are still there.
I bet you could find better for less money elsewhere!
 
Yes, thank you. I agree with you. I hope you don't mind me asking for a few opinions before I decide what to do.

My main frustration is the school surface. If the school was safe to use for a bigger percentage of the year, then I wouldn't have this dilemma, and I'd probably just try offering to pay a bit more if I could have her old shavings bed back.

However I am already paying a lot extra to hire other peoples schools, and if I was to pay extra for shavings on top, it would start to become utterly ridiculous, considering it would be easy to just move and go to a yard with far superior facilities for less money.

I can see tears ahead ....
 
I agree with everyone else, if I were you, I would sit down with your nice yard owner over a cuppa and discuss the issues! I understand where you're coming from a bit, I have several friends who keep their horses on a very small DIY/part yard, which is dirt cheap, but the standard is slipping more and more, the fencing is now dangerous, they don't have a floodlit school, and don't have any off road hacking. Lots more problems keep occurring which aren't being fixed. One of the friends has left, although she is great friends with the yard owner, and had a lot of trouble making the decision to move yards - but the roads were really getting to her - now she has moved yards, she and her horse are a lot happier, and she's still friends with the yard owner :) But the other friends are feeling concerned, because they really like the owner and know that if they leave, the business will probably collapse...however the problems are really getting to them! It's tough, but you really need to put your horse first.

Also, £135 a week is alot to pay for unsatisfactory service. Near me, there is a livery yard/eventing yard, which has a charles britton floodlit 40 x 40 school with really good SJs, i think they have a horsewalker, brilliant hacking, local gallops/XC, and nice big boxes etc, it's a brilliant yard, and their full livery, which includes everything except exercise is £100 a week!

Goodluck, I hope you can sort out your difficulties without too many tears :( Can I just ask, if the YO is a lovely, knowledgeable horse woman, why hasn't she done anything to maintain the yard? Is it just lack of funds? Poor her, and poor you, must be a hard situation to be in :(
 
Thank you.
Yes it is lack of funds. She knows that the fencing is due for replacement and the school needs drainage and resurfacing, but there is no money.

Personally, if it was me (and I stress that I don't know my YOs personal finantial situation, but I think it's pretty desperate) but if it was me, I'd take out a loan, fix these two major issues, which would hopefully be all that was needed to entice lots of new liveries back. I suppose she has thought of that already and I suppose it isn't possible otherwise she would have done it?
 
Sounds like there is little hope for the business which is very sad but I would be putting my horse first. The thought of coughing up £135 a week for what you are getting is making my eyes water just reading it!

Move before something bad happens.
 
Others have answered sensibly, so have an off the wall idea :D

You pay £135 per week, which is not an inconsiderable amount over the year, added to which you pay to hire a school elsewhere, don't know how much that is, but will add up.

YO is a friend, and a friend in need by the sound of it. How about considering going into business with her? Brain is too tired to work out the details, but maybe something for you to mull over :D
 
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