Opening hours at yard? Why ?

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moorhillhorses

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Hey guys :) our yard does not have opening times. Liveries can come up anytime to ride. We feed at 6am, 10am 3pm and 7 pm. Some livery owners work late and ride maybe at 9pm. We are relocating next year which means new rules etc. I'm asking about opening times because the younger liveries 15/16 year olds who's ponies are on grass leave the yard a mess. Paper, gates open , wheel barrows full , lights on. If we done opening hours it means the yard is closed at something pm and I can sleep knowing the alarms set etc. rather than going back to the yard at 11 pm to check again and tidy up because a livery has possibly been up. Is this why yards have opening hours? What happens if owners work late? It will stop younger liveries hanging out for hours eating and messing and then riding there ponies. If they ride there ponies messed about for half an hour and went home that would be great, but the my sit for hours . When I was a kid livery or not we brushed the passage way cleaned tack etc. so why does your yard have / not have opening hours and what happens if a livery works late?
 
Think in a way you have answered your own question! What about exemptions for people who work so that they can ride later? Sounds as if your main problem is the younger end not doing their bit! And no, you shouldn't be tidying up after them!! Maybe some "new rules" about lights being switched off, tidying up etc; would help?- and being quite firm about this.
 
Ours is open 8am - 8pm. They'll stretch it if I want to compete or have a lesson offsite in the evening but if I worked late on a regular basis it wouldn't work. The owners live on site and are very security conscious so gates are locked etc. the hours are a bit tight but I compromise on those because everything else works for me - I'd prefer 6am - 10pm in an ideal world although if I wanted to muck out and ride before work it would need to be even earlier. I'm on part livery - I can't guarantee I'll a,ways get away from work and often have to work in the evenings - and if I couldn't afford that I couldn't manage DIY on my yard with my current job.

But yes, in your shoes I'd have some stricter rules!
 
Would I just let the people who work late come up? Is this ok todo. I have been firm and they still are lazy. The new yards an hour away so it will be new customers which is good to do fresh rules x
 
My yard doesn't have opening hours, but without an arena and much lighting we don't ride late anyway, the last person leaves at 9pm.
think the thing at our yard is we have enough respect and care to turn lights off and tidy up for ourselves
sounds like you need to be strict with them about tidying up and locking up securely
 
I don't think you can have exceptions to opening hours for some liveries and not others as a matter of course. If the kids hanging around is the problem, perhaps don't take kids on? Although adults can be just as bad!
 
I was going to do a pay and go system for lights etc. we won't be doing any DIY so they have no need to muck out or feed. Just ride and groom. Yes done adults are as bad!x
 
When the owner lives on site I think it's mostly down to not wanting people wandering around their property in the night/ early hours of the morning, both for privacy and security.
 
Could you make a fixed rule that any liveries under 18 not accompanied by a parent must be off the yard before 9pm. That's more than reasonable, they should be home by then anyway! And send a letter out to all liveries to be signed - in the case of under 18's by parent or guardian, stating the new rules and that if things are not left tidy etc then they will be requested to find alternative arrangements for their horse / pony.
 
Our yard closes at 9pm October -April unless in an emergency or by by prior arrangement. YO lives on site and wants to know that things are secure before going to bed. It is relaxed in summer because the farmer is out working later.
 
If you live onsite its not much fun having people wandering around from 6am-11pm. You can hear gates open close, the dogs usually go nuts. Also it may desensitise you to burglars. If you are used to ignoring the dogs at 11pm then burglars would have a free run of the place
 
I couldnt be on a yard that was closed on a morning, I have to be up doing mine at 6am on a work day!

I can understand evening closing and would say 8/9pm on a winters night is a perfectly exceptable time to lock up and leave, obviously except for emergencies.

Your problems sound caused by the younger ones, I would implement strong rules that revolve around tidiness and safety, and notices everywhere, we all forget to turn lights off so a notice at the exit is most helpful!
 
Kat said:
Our yard closes at 9pm October -April unless in an emergency or by by prior arrangement. YO lives on site and wants to know that things are secure before going to bed. It is relaxed in summer because the farmer is out working later.
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That sounds reasonable. Couldn't be doing with an 8am-8pm cutoff - all those lovely summer evenings wasted!! OP, you've answered your own question, the problem is bad behaviour, not opening hours. To me (a middle aged adult who came late to horse owning) if kids want to hang around chatting and soaking up a horsey atmosphere then that's great as long as they leave the place as you would wish to find it! :-)
 
A yard not too far from me closes at 8pm during winter time & 9pm in summer. YO lives on site.
However, they also ask people to respect yard closure between 1 and 2pm each day. That made life much easier for the YO than getting fed up with younger owners arriving by 7 and staying all day every day. Obs its not set in stone due to some coming back from or going to events, or vet visits etc, but on the whole its a quiet time for the horses there.
Introduced it 2 yrs ago & she says its made for a much better yard, only 1 left because of that ruling :)
 
I wasn't told about closing times until after I arrived at my yard and I found out by accident, otherwise I wouldn't have come. Opening hours have now been shortened further and it closes at 8pm when the gates are locked,
Haven't ever been on a yard which had restricted access and YO's tend to do late night checks of the animals anyway.

Leaving the yard in a mess, is a separate issue and is unacceptable at any time of the day.
 
minimilton said:
If you live onsite its not much fun having people wandering around from 6am-11pm. You can hear gates open close, the dogs usually go nuts. Also it may desensitise you to burglars. If you are used to ignoring the dogs at 11pm then burglars would have a free run of the place
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Same, although this morning one of the liveries turned up at 6.30am ( agreed time is 8am on weekends as my oh works very very long hours and likes to lie in until at least 9 ) dogs barking, all lights on, was not happy :(. Week days I'm not bothered, evenings I like my home to myself from 7pm winter and 9pm summer
 
Kat said:
Our yard closes at 9pm October -April unless in an emergency or by by prior arrangement. YO lives on site and wants to know that things are secure before going to bed. It is relaxed in summer because the farmer is out working later.
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The last yard we were at had this, unless by prior arrangement (getting back very late/ leaving early for shows) or an emergency. It was because the YO lived onsite and it was concerning for them to not know who was driving on and off the premises and also disturbed them. It never affected us, and always seemed very sensible.
 
AngieandBen said:
Same, although this morning one of the liveries turned up at 6.30am ( agreed time is 8am on weekends as my oh works very very long hours and likes to lie in until at least 9 ) dogs barking, all lights on, was not happy :(. Week days I'm not bothered, evenings I like my home to myself from 7pm winter and 9pm summer
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Well all jobs have a downside!! At the risk of sounding harsh, it was your choice to open your home up to others! Equally, if you have those rules then liveries should abide by them - they can choose to leave if not happy.
 
when I ran a full livery I or a representative would do a lat check some time after 11pm, there is no way I would leave horses from 8/9pm till 7/8am with out being checked any way so locking up and turning off lights is part of late check-if I had been out I would check horses on way home sometimes 2/3am.

part of living on site is have owners about if that does not suit I reckon you are in the wrong business
 
AngieandBen said:
Same, although this morning one of the liveries turned up at 6.30am ( agreed time is 8am on weekends as my oh works very very long hours and likes to lie in until at least 9 ) dogs barking, all lights on, was not happy :(. Week days I'm not bothered, evenings I like my home to myself from 7pm winter and 9pm summer
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your yard your rules but would not suit me I want to be coming back from a long ride at 8am on a weekend in the summer-maybe other half should invest in earplugs
 
Ours is open from 6.30 am to 9.30 pm, the YO lives on site and does late night check on horses. They also put in morning feed and hay, and will turnout if required. In case of emergency or show prep owners are allowed on 24/7 :)
 
We don't have opening hours at the yard we are at. It's at a private house & only 5 horses there & 1 of those is YOs. Horses are fed 6.30am in the week & a little later at weekends. In between times we can come & ride when we want. The school is lit so we can ride late if we wish but we don't like to stay too late as it's the YOs home.

We compete & sometimes need to set out early or arrive back late. This causes no problem we just let the YO know & the alarm is turned off for us. The YO competes as well so she understands. We don't have many rules on the yard, we are adults & have common sense & that works for us. The YO & her husband are lovely people & just love to have the horses around & people who they can relate to.

I appreciate some people need to be set boundarys/rules as common sense isn't strong in everyone.
 
We do have opening hours on my current yard but loosish - generally about 6am (earlier for shows is acceptable, just let them know) and yo asks that people aim to be off the yard by 8.30. They do understand it doesn't always happen and if you leave later you have to ensure everythign is locked/switched off etc. This obviously excludes emergencies (or foal watch :p, they were nice enough to let us stay in the next door stable)
 
My yard is open from 6am til 9pm. It's all part or full livery so no need to do anything other than ride or groom. Obviously competitions/autumn hunting are exceptions but there is never a problem with anyone sticking to these rules. In fact noone ever complains about it!
 
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