Novice riding my GP horse without permission?!

I only read the first page, I'm sorry, but I think it is time to sit down with your YO and let her know how you feel, without blame or aggression. The fact that she over reacted suggests she was defensive and aware she had not treated you fairly.
Point out that you pay for her to ride him in your absence, not just anyone, that is the contract and if she doesn't have the time, she should make it clear at the start who will be doing the exercising. Maybe she wasn't clear on that, maybe she was. Then you can make a choice - do you want to accept a lesser rider, or look elsewhere for someone to work your horse.
Nothing to do with the competence of this girl, it has all to do with the contract between you and YO. Your ultimate sanction of course is to move - are you prepared to do that?
The past is done, you need to ensure your wishes are adhered to in future so that if you choose to you can go away on holiday confident things are going as you want them to.
 
If the girl events up to 1* then she's not exactly a 'novice' as per title, is she?

That said, if I was in your situation I'd be livid. How dare YO allow just anyone to ride your horse without your express prior permission - particularly when being paid herself for the service. I had same problem years ago with a young TB stallion I had on livery. Discovered YO was letting her 13 year old daughter walk him down to his turnout field on the road every morning before school, in just a plain headcollar. I was livid. How stupid can you get?? :eek: I moved, pronto.

However, I had somewhere to go. If you dont OP, then be careful how you deal with the situation - but DO raise the complaint. Definitely. The insurance situation alone would worry me? Let alone how he might ride. Grrrrrr..... The cheek.
 
I'd be furious if someone rode my horse without permission... It's a serious breach of trust. I would be moving my horse immediately! No amount of grown up discussion could amend this.

However, seeing that nothing awful happened try and take a positive from it, and if she hacked him on the road and all was ok, he might have enjoyed a pressure free ride! Bit like when the girls occasionally ride Blitz, he has a whale of a time and so do they.
 
Spyda said:
If the girl events up to 1* then she's not exactly a 'novice' as per title, is she?

.
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If you read the whole thread you will see that it is the YO who events to 1*. The novice is a 14 year old pony clubber who has only been riding two/three years
 
I would be totally furious if I paid for something, and then something else happened. This other livery could have ridden your horse badly apart from anything else. Grrrrrr.
 
Ladyinred said:
If you read the whole thread you will see that it is the YO who events to 1*. The novice is a 14 year old pony clubber who has only been riding two/three years
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Sorry! I have read whole post but where it stated 'she events up to 1*' it really wasn't clear who OP was referring to. Thanks for the clarification, though.
 
Why don't people read the thread PROPERLY before posting!!! So annoying!
I'd be hopping mad OP and my horse is just a bog standard job. But don''t cut off your nose to spite your face. If you love the yard and your horse is happy, try to sort it out, you may struggle to find another suitable yard and it'll be disruptive for your horse to have to move. Good luck.
 
It appears there are all the normal "I'd be furious/livid, you must move yards immediately" responses but really isn't the best plan to sit down with the yard owner and have a clearing of the air and then get on with life? You say you like the yard and your clearly like the yard owners riding so unless you want to back yourself into a corner where you have to move yards then I would tend to sort the situation out rather than turn it into a full blown row.

Sometimes its even best to admit to having contributed to the problem yourself ie say it was perhaps your fault for not being clear about who you want to ride your horse etc etc (not saying it was your fault, just that tactically sometimes its best to throw that in).
 
I wouldn't move yards, but I'd want a good explanation, and a refund on any costs I had paid for the YO to ride.

not a nice situation to find yourself in.
 
I would be furious, especially if you have never seen them ride before. also I class my self as a competent, confident and experienced rider but a gp horse i'd push the wrong buttons!!!!
Is the yard owner mad. She would have been better getting some extra time in the horse walker than letting a random ride if she didn't have time.
Sorry for ;ack of punctuation......ranting!!!
 
If you made it clear that YO was the only one to ride then I would be spitting feathers and my boy is a million miles away from being a GP horse!

I think I would have a chat with YO to understand what happened and why. I would explain how upset you are and why. State very clearly that no one is to ride him but you and YO and if she does not have time or doesn't want to ride him then you will find an alternative arrangement.

I think the reaction to the conversation would make me decide what to do but my worry would be what is happening when you aren't there that she says is being done at the moment.

I hate confrontation but it does annoy me when you pay for a specific service to find it hasn't happened. Good luck!
 
Skewbald1 said:
Thank you for the response. It was the fact that I am the last to know what is going on with my own horse, I don't even know if she is insured or not. From the looks of the pictures the girl has hacked him on the road too. It takes some guts for even me to hack him round the roads as he is, like I said, very very sensitive and can find the whole ordeal mind blowing. Yard owner is now acting as though I should be thankful for it, like she was doing me a favour!! I guess this is the downside of having a horse on full livery, you don't know the ins and outs like you do when you're on DIY
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My horses are on full livery and i make sure i know exactly what goes on.
You need to find a new yard, now this morning - even if it is a stop gap you can demand that the girl takes down the photos off face book and my horse would be removed by tomorrow morning and by christ would everyone know the exact reason for it. What would have happend if your horse had been hit by a car ? how do you know what this person had done damage wise either mentally or physically.

Sorry the yard owner/manager would be getting a verbal slapping
 
imr said:
Another thought is can you get your trainer or someone else suitably skilled to ride when you cannot, in which case may be easier to move and/or deal with issue. Or even send him to trainer when you are on hols?
Ps I'm glad he came to no real harm, that's the only saving grace
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She wont know that till she has ridden him though will she ?
 
As someone who has evented and will be again. ... 1* is a good aim...but it's riding at 1* not 4* and the dressage element is similar to a good Novice BD dressage test. Hardly riding at Carl Hesters level!

I would wonder what else has gone on as well. From a practical perspective, if there had been an accident, would your insurance have covered your horse ? Did the girl have her own as YOURS would not have covered her for personal injury.

You pay for full livery. You pay on the understanding that your YO rides the horse. We have a mix of full and part liveries on the yard and there is not a cat in hells chance that another livery would ride another liveries horse UNLESS with full permission. Even the yard staff tend to have "their" horses they ride.

Unless the YO apologised and refunded the money, I would move as trust would be gone. You are paying for a service and your horse to be worked. It is therefore NOT being done as a favour!
 
Sorry to here this story, I can fully understand how you feel!
My horse is on part livery (not to be ridden) but I have seen photos of a girl hacking him (with the rest of the yard who when asked have denied ever seeing him ridden!) My horse is a very unfit tb, I'm doing basic flatwork with him and he was lame all summer. She told me that she had jumped him and he jumps like a stag etc. I'm fuming so moving yards next january. You should move yours!
 
Crimbowitch said:
My horses are on full livery and i make sure i know exactly what goes on.
You need to find a new yard, now this morning - even if it is a stop gap you can demand that the girl takes down the photos off face book and my horse would be removed by tomorrow morning and by christ would everyone know the exact reason for it. What would have happend if your horse had been hit by a car ? how do you know what this person had done damage wise either mentally or physically.

Sorry the yard owner/manager would be getting a verbal slapping
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I don't know you can say you know exactly what goes on unless you have granny cam thing in the stable and paddock.
I think OP is right not to consider stop gap yards and the like that sort of thing is very damaging from some horses moving yards is very similar to the horse as being sold a working owner is only with the horse a few hours a day at best so it's a severe overestimation of the owners part in a horses life that they don't don't think everything is different and worrying when they change homes .
One of mine had been on four yards in the year before I bought him (same owner) he's now a different horse in his temperament I would like to think its because I a marvellous horse carer but really it's because he's been a year in one place although it is a very nice place to be.
This person is a fourteen yo child and blameless in this it would be extremly wrong to make this an awful experiance for her however if I was OP I would be speaking to her parents and explaining the seriousness of the situation the potential ramifications if it had gone wrong to the horse and the child who would have not be insured on OP's cover the child was riding without the owners permission.
A grown up forthright disscussion with the YO is called for a verbal slapping will be women arguing something which has no place in the relationship between a customner discussion a severe failure in the service provided to valuable and potentialy easily damaged damaged horse.
I sense OP is conflicted, moving yards with that level of horse is not easy and going to the trainers seems to be the only other option ATM then OP can not ride daily .
It's a good job the pictures where on FB that's how OP found out.
 
Goldenstar said:
I don't know you can say you know exactly what goes on unless you have granny cam thing in the stable and paddock.
I think OP is right not to consider stop gap yards and the like that sort of thing is very damaging from some horses moving yards is very similar to the horse as being sold a working owner is only with the horse a few hours a day at best so it's a severe overestimation of the owners part in a horses life that they don't don't think everything is different and worrying when they change homes .
One of mine had been on four yards in the year before I bought him (same owner) he's now a different horse in his temperament I would like to think its because I a marvellous horse carer but really it's because he's been a year in one place although it is a very nice place to be.
This person is a fourteen yo child and blameless in this it would be extremly wrong to make this an awful experiance for her however if I was OP I would be speaking to her parents and explaining the seriousness of the situation the potential ramifications if it had gone wrong to the horse and the child who would have not be insured on OP's cover the child was riding without the owners permission.
A grown up forthright disscussion with the YO is called for a verbal slapping will be women arguing something which has no place in the relationship between a customner discussion a severe failure in the service provided to valuable and potentialy easily damaged damaged horse.
I sense OP is conflicted, moving yards with that level of horse is not easy and going to the trainers seems to be the only other option ATM then OP can not ride daily .
It's a good job the pictures where on FB that's how OP found out.
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I know exactly what goes on as i feed, turn out and bring in myself to make sure i know exactly what goes on..... in the main for reasons not as serious as the op.... when i first returned from county durham i put my horse on full livery... i had agreed before what the turn out arrangements were... horses out by 9am in at 3.30, last check 5pm, skipped, hayed and waters done..... where i moved to i could choose to drive past the yard on my way to work and from work..... and just moving into a house you have all the normal things being delivered.... i started to get concerned that my horse was not in the field when i drove past in a morn.... ? so had a week off work - and would park up and then walk to the yard along the public footpaths..... urm 9am was more like 10.30..... 3.30 was more like 2pm... and even though i waited for a week i never saw anyone come back from 4pm till 5.30pm - so sorry i have become rather an untrustful sod - and i treat full livery as assisted livery, but i suppose for many that negates the point of being on full livery
 
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Daft question.... did the girl by any chance pay to ride your horse? I do know of a similar situation when the ym was paid to work a clients horse.. and the ym used the horse to give lessons on.... that was a bit of a heated saturday afternoon when the young girl told the woman that she should find the horse a lot more forward going, as she had had a lesson on smacking the horse to get her off the leg.... best entertainment i have ever seen, 60 year old women cant half be quick when they want to be !
 
OP I wouldn't jump ship if this is the only thing that has annoyed you in the time you have been there.

Yes I would be mightily pi$$ed off had my horse been ridden by someone not approved by me (and they aren't even proper comp ponies) but your very sensitive horse is settled and happy there and do you really want to risk unsettling him with a move when you yourself have said you have an international occasion to attend?

I would ride the horse, if no harm done then I would go for a coffee with YO and explain in a neutral setting that what happened was not acceptable and if she cannot find the time in future to let you know and then you can sort something out :) takes the prrssure of YO and it means that this won't happen again.

She did get defensive by the sounds of it so probably felt bad. I would also get her to tell the livery to remove the pics from FB and let it go at that.

Yes I imagine your livid, I woiuld be but making snap decisions and moving your horse based on righteous indignation isn't the best time to be doing it.

I'm NOT a livery yard person, and I sometimes don't understand how some folk can run yards the way they do and expect custom (worked in a yard for over ten years BTW) but if everything else is fine and you can sort this out why upset your horse when everything else is the way you both like it.
 
Unbelievable! I am a yard owner, and yes, occasionally am unable to fit in riding a livery's horse, but if that's the case, then I let them know, and obviously don't charge them. It would be unthinkable for me to allow another livery to exercise the horse! Liveries do occasionally ride one another's horses, but that is an arrangement made between them. Nothing to do with me.
 
I'd be beyond livid. He should have gone on the horsewalker if YO didn't have time to ride him. For anyone else to ride him, without your express permission, especially in dangerous situations such as on roads, is absolutely inexcusable. I'd have him out of there elsewhere asap... if YO can't be trusted, and hasn't even apologised... no way.
 
oh my god I would have gone mental! again like you tho if asked first probably would have said yes. I would not be happy to be paying for full livery and then for the YO to let any tom dick or harry ride my precious boy! If she didnt have time to ride him she should have told you before you went away or worked late!!!! :mad: :mad: :mad: grrrrrr!!!!
 
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Its the road thing that has got me the most....the YO experinaced at 1* wont hack the GP horse.... but has allowed a 14 year old Pony Club person to ride - was she off school or did she do this early morn or early evening - or was it on a weekend ?

And whislt i agree with what folk say about not upsetting the horse... as the owner i would be really upset at leaving the horse in the care of people that have not only let me down, but have put my horse in an extreamly dangerous position.

OP on a brighter note - where are you off to internationally and when are you travelling ?
 
Op what does your "normal" full livery package include? Riding or no riding? Is it specifically agreed in your livery contract who will ride him?

Or

Did you "just" ask YO to keep him exercised, or specifically state that only YO was to ride? I often find at work, even if you think you have spelt something out in black and White, it often comes back not quite how you wanted.

I would be mad about paying £YO for exercising horse when all you got was £small child. I would ask for a refund on the exercise costs.
 
I don't think it has anything to do with who was paid to do what; it's all about the pure cheek (not to mention the madness) of putting a 14 year old on a competitive Grand Prix dressage horse. The ramifications, for the child, the horse, and the potential undoing of years of training, are horrendous. I for one would be incandescent. I would have a word (several, and possibly non too polite) with the YO, and make different arrangements for future absences. I don't think I would contemplate moving, but I would expect the YO to apologise, and up her game in future.
 
Cortez said:
I don't think it has anything to do with who was paid to do what; it's all about the pure cheek (not to mention the madness) of putting a 14 year old on a competitive Grand Prix dressage horse. The ramifications, for the child, the horse, and the potential undoing of years of training, are horrendous. I for one would be incandescent. I would have a word (several, and possibly non too polite) with the YO, and make different arrangements for future absences. I don't think I would contemplate moving, but I would expect the YO to apologise, and up her game in future.
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I agree with all this I would be not trusting now if Op work schedule allowed it I would be turning up at odd times and seeing what's going on or getting a trusted friend to go and I would definatly be getting checks by a third party at different times daily when away from now on.
 
Face book has alot to answer for doesn't it - and i mean that in a good way - you would never of found out would you? that is why i was asking when the 14 year old had ridden your GP horse - surely somone on the yard must have seen what was going on - do you see many people on the yard.... Didn't some one else post recently that they had found our that their horse was being used to go on rides with without there permission too
 
id go insane, id go absolutely insane.
i would refuse to pay the charge for riding and id want grovelling apologies and promises for it to NEVER happen again (and next time you go away would have a few reliable spies report back).

thats if i loved the yard, if i didnt, id move.
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
id go insane, id go absolutely insane.
i would refuse to pay the charge for riding and id want grovelling apologies and promises for it to NEVER happen again (and next time you go away would have a few reliable spies report back).

thats if i loved the yard, if i didnt, id move.
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I can feel your blood pressure over the Internet LOL
 
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