New yard ticks every box, but no school?

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crazycorkey

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Hi all, so I'm scheduled to move yards in the next 2 weeks as my horsey is desperately unhappy and bored at current yard.
The new yard we are going to has the best grazing I have ever seen, beautifull large airy stables, closer to home and £20 per month cheaper.
But no school!! There is sort of an area to lunge in one of the fields.
There is a school less than 2 mins away but obviously have to hire it. Think it's £10 per hour.
Would you move yards considering it's perfect in every other way?
Have pretty much been to every other yard and 99% are full.
Xx
 
No I wouldn't.... but it does depend what you like to do with your horse. If you like just to have a plod about then maybe you could do without? I like dressage, so couldn't be without a school (have been without for a while due to current one being resurfaced and really missed it, now we have it back I just love it!)
 
Sounds wonderful! Twenty years ago hardly any of us had arenas at our yards and we all managed and competed etc!

If there is a school that you can hire nearly then its fine.
 
If you think that your horse would be happier there then yes. I have been riding for about 13 years now and have never had a school, and compete succesfully at local competitions prelim dressage, showjumping and hunter trials etc. You can school on hacks, so long as you have some decent hacking around you? This may be more difficult with the dark mornings/evenings through the winter but I have always managed by hiring a school every so often.

Sounds like a lovely yard!
 
We came across this situation when we moved last April.

However we would never think about moving off.

We moved from a yard with a menage (although it was on the small side) but was an absolute dive and so dangerous - there was a mechanics section on the yard and car parts everywhere! The local kids were also always bothering the horses, setting fires in the spare fields, people moving the horses into different fields etc. The final straw was when my boyfriends mare dropped weight drastically.

We moved to a yard just up the road that is fantastic but has no menage. The stables are lovely and big/airy, you get your own field if you want it, you can ride in the farmers fields, the hacking is much safer, the drivers on the roads around there are much more considerate and the farmer who owns the place is lovely. It doesn't have a menage but we tend to school in the fields in Summer as it teaches the horses to have manners in a large open field and is good for showing practice.

We do hire one up the road sometimes as well through winter which is £5 per horse (whether you have half an hour or an hour).

I think if you horse will be happier and it's closer/cheaper etc then I would personally move yards
 
You have filled me with confidence re competing and not having access to a school. It really is perfect in every other way.
The hacking is really Fanastic, quiet roads and not only that but if I choose i could stay on yo's land and hack for over an hour before reaching a road.
 
I also wouldn't, but like above poster said, it depends on what you like to do. I also like to do (or atempt to do) dressage, so love to have the school and couldn't be without one now.

However, to get most of what I want at a yard, I have to travel a lot further :( I still haven't found a yard that hits all of my wish list, but have found one that has the "must haves" so the extra bit of travel is worth it.

Have you looked slightley further afield for any other yards?? What do you do with the ned? Do you need a school?

:D
 
If you hired an arena once a week it would cost you £20 a month more than you are spending now - provided you can afford that £20 a month isn't much more for great grazing and lovely stables :)
 
I don't have a school on my yard (home) but borrow friend's nearby. Winter is a bit more difficult - its very hilly around here and I don't ride if icy. Having said that, lots of people's schools freeze too so they can't ride in them either!

I school a lot on rides too, and put jumps out in the fields in summer. It teaches the horse to be more balanced/self-thinking to be on slightly uneven ground. So many people spend all their schooling hours in perfect menages and then struggle at shows/events when they're on grass or unflat surfaces. I never have that..
 
Honey08 said:
I school a lot on rides too, and put jumps out in the fields in summer. It teaches the horse to be more balanced/self-thinking to be on slightly uneven ground. So many people spend all their schooling hours in perfect menages and then struggle at shows/events when they're on grass or unflat surfaces. I never have that..
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I have found that in some cases too. My horses have always had excellent footing when competing out on grass. I have friends that would only school on a surface and their horses would have problems when doing dressage on grass or an unflat surface.

My young'un was hacked and schooled on quite hilly country, he had the balance of a mountain goat!

However on grass you will have the problems with it being too wet/too hard/frozen etc. But some schools have their problems too too deep/too shallow/frozen etc.
 
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Myluckystar sounds like you last yard was a drag, got very similar problems at my yard now however to top it all off he is mostly stuck in the school to 'safe guard' yo fields.
 
We've recently moved from a yard with all facilities (except loo and kettle for humans!) but muddy paddocks, to one with no arena/hot shower/lunge pen etc. The horse is much happier, so we are too. We can use one of the paddocks in Summer for schooling/jumping:eek: A proper loo, tea room with fridge and freezer, no bitching and mostly older folk. The grazing is good.

The only downside I have personally is that I now have to send the horse away to be re-started instead of him being done on home ground.
 
I couldn't be without an arena.

I have my horses to compete and in the winter I get to the yard in darkness so need somewhere floodlit with good footing to exercise the horses.

Also in the summer the ground can get far too hard to jump on, so again I need an arena.

I have been at a yard without arena before and whilst the yard was absolutely perfect in every other way, I did move after a year as I worked out I was paying a lot of money for not a lot of riding!
 
Hi borgrae yeah tried near and far but everywhere seems to be either full or not taking DIY. A royal pain I have to admit. Literally got to the point where I had rang every yard advertised on the net so in the end just drove around asking and hoping.
 
If it's £20 less, plus you're not having to travel so far, there's some cash towards school hire. Wasn't there something in H&H not so long ago about someone competing at a high level (dressage I think) without having a school?
I used to hack down to the local common and school my horse there, current yard has no school and the hacking is all main roads, so I'm stuck with riding in the field, but as a previous poster has said, it helps with behaviour when working in an open space and I think it helps balance a bit too.

End of the day, if your horse isn't happy where he is, you're not going to be getting the best out of him anyway.
 
Ive been at the same yard for 10 years. Lovely plave but not school. Whilst on ponies was doing Disc & BN. Backed one last year and re schooling another this year. Absolutly fine. We just box up once a week to a near by school and we only do that because my new one has a bit of a temper and its safer then doing it in an open field.

I did keep one horse at a big yard with huge school horse walker ect. and I didnt really like it. Im one to put my head down and get on with it - without people interfering.
 
crazycorkey said:
Hi borgrae yeah tried near and far but everywhere seems to be either full or not taking DIY. A royal pain I have to admit. Literally got to the point where I had rang every yard advertised on the net so in the end just drove around asking and hoping.
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I feel your pain!!! :(

It has taken me a LONG time to find a yard (finally) that has most of what I need for me and the ned. Being in the North West and living in Blackpool, Yards arn't on my doorstep and the ones that are, have no grazing, hacking, facilities etc etc!! It's been a nightmare, so I totally understand what you're going through!

It sounds like you've found a really nice yard though. Like I said, I couldn't manage without my school (in Summer when the ground is too hard, or Winter when it's dark and I need flood lights), but if you can manage without, I would say go for it!!!

Good luck with your move, and I hope it all works out!! Let us know how you get on! :)
 
Have you looked slightley further afield for any other yards?? What do you do with the ned? Do you need a school?

:D[/QUOTE]

I do use the school a fair bit these days, since he took off with me on a road recently I have decided that sticking to the school whilst I rein him in, best bet for both of us. however the area where the new yard is is so quiet with minimal cars unlike where I am now so feel more enthused to start hacking out with him.
 
Def move, nice stables good grazing with a lunging area, if you "really" need a menagery, hire the one down the road, but then I hack mostly, may not suit you if you are a stressage Diva :)
 
Beausmate said:
If it's £20 less, plus you're not having to travel so far, there's some cash towards school hire. Wasn't there something in H&H not so long ago about someone competing at a high level (dressage I think) without having a school?

This is What I'm thinking too, I'm cutting costs in livery etc so dont ming paying to hire the school. It's not so much the money but the inconvenience of not having access to school when ever I want.
Keep changing my mind, one minute im over the moon to move the next minute I'm thinking I should keep looking.
Really though I keep leaning towards moving, as honestly havnt seen such ample wonderful grazing like this before.
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Is the hired school £10 per hour, per horse & rider, or £10 per hour and that's it?
Cause if it's £10 flat, and you can stand to share, then it's not costing any more than your current livery.
Plus you'll be saving on transport costs to and from the yard.
 
Pedantic said:
Def move, nice stables good grazing with a lunging area, if you "really" need a menagery, hire the one down the road, but then I hack mostly, may not suit you if you are a stressage Diva :)
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Diva, me? Never lol.
I'm looking to do a bit of local sj hopefully by the summer but do love my hacks. Would realistically only be looking at schooling twice a week for 30 mins a time so £10 extra a week I can def live with. So I'm hoping this will work out for the sake of his sanity :)
 
Mythical said:
Is the hired school £10 per hour, per horse & rider, or £10 per hour and that's it?
Cause if it's £10 flat, and you can stand to share, then it's not costing any more than your current livery.
Plus you'll be saving on transport costs to and from the yard.
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Not sure as of yet, the yard owner doesn't use the school but she did tell me that the liveries do so could possibly share with them eventually. I'm hoping they will let me split the time but something tells me I might be unlucky.
 
Why not negotiate with the school owner a regular fee per month for arena hire, paid by direct debit, seeing as you will be using it regularly. If I owned an arena I think I'd prefer 'a monthly fee' rather than faffing with ££ each time it needed hiring.
 
Dubsie said:
Why not negotiate with the school owner a regular fee per month for arena hire, paid by direct debit, seeing as you will be using it regularly. If I owned an arena I think I'd prefer 'a monthly fee' rather than faffing with ££ each time it needed hiring.
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That's a great idea, didn't even consider that. I would much rather it that way easier for both of us then. :D
 
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