People who move from yard to yard .....

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browbrow

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Hello guys

Was having a chat to my horsey pals in the pub last night and we got on to the subject of moving yards, we were talking about a very nice but nutty girl on our current yard who has been on every livery yard in are area in the past three years, she has been on DIY part and Full and each yard she has left as it 'wasnt good enough, too expensive, didnt like the owner, no one to hack out with etc...' (all yards perfectly nice too!) It always seems to boil down to her selfish needs and she has left yards even though her horse has seemed very happy there. She has been to eight different yards in two/three years. Now we were all had conflicting opinions on the moving yard topic - I for one thought that if your horse was happy and healthy where it was you should really stay where you are were as others thought that you should move your horse as and when you like if your not happy, I was thinking that to move a horse so much was a bit mean on the horse and how saddening it is to think that the fate of a horse is always in its owners hands and they have no say in where they end up?? It would be just interesting to see what others thought - I know due to house moves and things people have to move horses but would you up sticks and move yards if there was someone on the yard you didnt see eye to eye with? I just think that jumping from yard to yard when horses are so sensitive would be ideal for them - but maybe i'm wrong and it doesnt affect them so badly? My horse is so happy where she currently is - I would really have to think long and hard if I had to move her somewhere else.
 
If I was on a yard where the fact that i didnt get on with the people was making me really miserable, and so i wasnt enjoying my horse then Yes I would move, I wouldnt stay somewhere just becasue i thought my horse was happy......... sometimes we put a bit to much human emotion and feeling onto horses i think
. In the same breath i would also move if i thought my horse was seriously unhappy on a yard........
 
I've moved my horses around a lot, usually due to differences with yard owners and the facilities no longer being cared for, but I'm glad we did, the yard we're at now is fantastic, if I hadn't moved around the way I had I would never have met my instructor, or found this yard. My mare really doesn't care, and it actually makes her easier to deal with, she may be full tb but at camp last year she was the first one who went in her box and didn't go crazy, she just settled down to eat perfecty happy. I know if I ever needed to compete her away from home, or take her on a riding holiday she wouldn't be in the least bit fussed, as she knows wherever she goes she gets fed and cared for, she also doesn't have a problem being away from other horses, but does enjoy their company. If she were more nervous and harder to settle in, or got overly attatched to other horses then we wouldn't have moved as it would have been detrimental, but as she's a calm personality she doesn't seem to mind.
 
I am one of these people who has moved yards quite a bit recently. I have moved 3 times in the space of 2 years.
The first move was because I moved house, I only had my old pony at that time and she was happy where she was, but due to moving home I had to move her too.
I then bought my big horse, then decided to move yards to be on the same yard as my friend so that I had someone to hack out with and go to shows with. At this point the yard I moved from had hardly any grass and to be honest my horses werent particularly happy.
I have recently just moved them again to my partners parents farm. This time I would say my horses were content where they were, however, I suspect not many of us could refuse free livery!! Also the yard I was leaving, the owners were pretty useless!
i now intend to stay where I am for good, my horses are happy and settled, especially since they have been moved together.
So I would disagree that owners who move a lot are selfish.
 
I know one or two 'yard hoppers' too. Always seems a selfish thing to do to me as well.

Obviously if you are genuinly unhappy where you are - then it does make sense to move. But not every two mins.

I am wrestling with this myself at the monent. But Thumper is so settled, I am reluctant to do anything really.
 
Ha Ha 'Yard Hopper' there is one on every yard isnt there!!

I think it is right to move if the yard goes downhill or your horse is unhappy - I always wondered what it would do to the mental state of a horse - as they are herd animals and tend to stick to family groups unless they are stallions.

I know I have had to move my pony once as she did not settle at the first yard she was at but dont know how jumping from place to place would affect her.
 
well i have nived my horses three times in the last 8 months moved from 1st one were my horses were happy but just was getting worse and worse safty wise for the horses so had to move them i had found a nice yard but was on the waiting list which seemed like it was never going to come up aspecially waiting for 2 stables.so i moved to a place temporaly only eneded up being there for 3 weeks as the waiting list i was on came up! so moved there and horsesjust wernt happy the yard lyed to me about turnout a hell of a lot less than she said i wont go down past 6 hours a day turnout and she said that they have 6 hours in winter and 24hr in summer i spoke to another persn there ans she said the same little did i no they were both lying and it went down to 4 then 2 then none on weekends so i had to move and people wasnt that friendly so i have since moved and my horse are happy and im happy every move has been for the horses, it would have to be a really bad situation if my horses were happy but i wanst to move! i belive in moving around to find the best place you can for the horses but not just doing it for the fun of it or change on senery
 
Ive moved 4 times in 4 years but I don't consider myself a yard hopper as my horses weren't happy or I had a genuine reason for moving:

New horse, I was finding difficult to work with, so moved to be near my friend to help me, but 10 miles away from home and clay soil.

Stayed for 1 & 1/2 winters then horse went lame on 3 legs due to the clay mud and we had house up for sale so needed to be closer to home.

New yard ok, couple of real bitches, more interested in tea room than riding. Bought another horse which was 20 years old, got ran and bit to hell by younger horse whose owner too bone idol to excercise it and said he was born to run round the field all day.

Got chance to go to private yard with both horses. was great for the old lad at first, but yard owner completely barking. I've never had anyone interfere so much with how I look after my horses. I couldn't ride so my horse was bored and the old boy took a hole in his suspensory ligament because of their inadequate fencing. Was then stuck there for a while due to his injury.

Found loovely yard for both horses. Moved them on 23rd December! Am staying forever. got own barn, tackroom and fully self contained. horses all in small herds, ours are in with 2 others, and only 2 other owners and YO great.
 
I used to yard hop - before we settled at the current one we moved to 6 in three years. The first one I left because I moved but the others I left because I wasn't happy there and it was affecting my horse. My current yard is great - it hardly has any grazing but my horse is more relaxed there than she has ever been. We've been there two years now and will only move if I move house and the travelling becomes too expensive
smile.gif
 
Hi Twinkle (saw your lovely boy at longwood last year), turnout seems to be a problem all over essex- the usual excuse is essex clay. But horses and mud go hand in hand. Alot of yards round us are not well looked after and usually are run by the dodgy dealer type and the ones that are in a good state seem to restrict everything. I have found it best to stay with freinds on a privately rented basis. That way as long as you pay your rent you get lesft to your own devices but easy for me to say i can fill box space but those that can't speak to local land agents and look in tack shop ads, i think the freedom makes for happier horses and humans.
 
Hi lexiedhb - not when they chasing my 20 year old boy round.. haha..

no, seriously, I've learnt that old horses don't do well in big herds. He wants to munch for a few hours then go to sleep. xx
 
I left one yard because there was a particularly poisonous livery there with a drink problem, I knew if I stayed it would only be a matter of time before I ended up nicking her, and I do like to keep my social life and professional life separate where possible. True to form, a couple of weeks after I left she punched another livery. I had been there about 2 years

I went from there to a small rented yard, totally DIY with no facilities, and struggled with training the horses as a consequence, and spent my whole time doing fencing, topping, clearing paddocks, etc. Kept that on for about a year.

Finally arrived at where I am now, with a school so the horses can be trained easily (do miss having an indoor school in winter though) and have been here over two years.

I don't consider myself to be a yard hopper, and have always left places looking better than when I found them - but if a better opportunity comes along then it is always worth considering.
 
I was at my orgional yard for around 2 years, in retrospect it was nice but there were compromises, no winter grazing and a water logged school, I moved to a new livery yard where I worked while I was still at uni, it was nice to begin with but went from 8 liveries to 17 then the owner sold it so I bailed, managed to get a stable at monster yard which was huge intially ok but had such a high turnover and wierd rules, so then last septemebr we moved to where Bailey remains, private, all adult liveries, indoor school a bit ramshacle and YO's daughter is a nightmare but generally ok. I don't think I was a yard hopper but I would consider myself a fully fledged livery coniseur of NE Lincs I've toured them all, trying to find somewhere were theres no compromise - its imposible, but you can find a balance. (PS I've always left on good terms and even had leaving cards from YOs-polishes halo)
 
I've only ever moved yards when I've moved house!
Been on current yard for 11years now. The yard manager has changed 5 times during this time, but the basic concept of the yard hasn't (assisted DIY). It's a 30 box yard and 2 other liveries have been there longer than me.
Have contemplated moving lately to save money - it's fairly expencive, but has really good facilities. But I just can't imagine now being anywhere else, and although I can live without an indoor school I'm not sure my kids can as that's all they have ever known.
 
I moved my gelding form teh yard which we bought him from about 2 weeks after the purchase as I felt it was not a safe or beneficial environment to keep him in.

I have considered moving yards, but so far I have found no justifiable reason for me to do so from my current one.

I think if there is an issue which is affecting the horse./owners health or causing problems then a move has to be considered, but only if the issue can not be resolved or worked around.
 
Of course you should move yards if you are not happy. Why on earth would you force yourself to stay at a yard where you hated to visit and didn't enjoy looking after your horse. What is the point of having a horse if that is the case? I really can't believe that you would force yourself to be miserable because you thought your horse was having a good time!
 
I suppose you could say that I yard hop - was at Ty's first yard for 9 months but the school kept flooding and I could never school him so moved to a full livery yard but there was no turnout and Ty got very grumpy.....moved to where I am now and only moving as I've moved house.

So yes, I'm a yard hopper!
 
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