People who work full time on true DIY livery...

[ILuvCowparsely]

How do you manage yard rules? For example round my way in winter yards want horses in early afternoon, this I find impossible working full time, I can’t leave work midway through the day to bring my horse in, however the yard owner doesn’t see this is a problem and expects me to bring in by 2pm. Is this common? Do you use freelancers for bringing in, or buddying up with another livery ?

My liveries pay extra for any services they want

 

[pinkypug1]

It is a real struggle with 9-5 job that’s why I moved my horses home. I do miss the company but YO didn’t seem flexible to those who worked these hours and ‘buddy system’ not allowed as they YO wanted the extra money! With extras some months full livery would’ve been cheaper!!

 

[SO1]

When I was on DIY I was on grass livery so it was fine, but I did have friends at the yard who were on stabled livery and in the winter the stabled horses had to be in before dark and that meant those who worked full time often came in their lunch break to catch in. TBH very few of the liveries worked full time or didn't have family support to help them.

I am on part livery and it has been great for my career I can work more flexibly at short notice as don't have to go to the yard as all care done. Our yard is part livery or assisted DIY - assisted DIY includes turn out and catch in Monday-Friday.

I don't think I would want to be on a DIY yard where there was no emergency assistance if I did not have family and friends who I could call on to help at short notice.

 

[BaronSamedi]

I work the night shift in a BP petrol station 4 nights a week and have 2 on full DIY, it’s hard but I get by abs so have some help from my friend who is a single mum with two young lads so we swap favours

 

[Rosiejazzandpia]

Pre covid I was a bar supervisor, long late shifts. The earliest I would start was 11am, sometimes started at 4pm which was great because I could ride before work.
Now I'm furloughed and decided to pick up a second job. Max 9am start, working from home, lucky to get a convenient lunch break, finishing at 5 is OK can dash up to make up morning feeds and have a quick cuddle before it's dark. Any later it's a bit of a nightmare.

Luckily YO brings in for a quick feed and check over in the morning, I wouldn't be able to manage on a traditional yard who require you to bring in at a certain time. Glad to be on a yard where they can be out 24/7, genuinely don't think it would be feasible to keep a horse on any kind of structured livery for myself personally.

 

[PSD]

Although my yard is classed as DIY, the yo does offer livery services if absolutely needed. However I’m lucky that I have some good friends on there and we all muck in together. Whoever is down to the yard first feeds the block, it’s just what we’ve sorted between us. As for turnout, we don’t have times they have to be in, we either buddy up (luckily my best friend is on the same yard and has a mare so we bring in/turn out together) or the last person to bring in will bring the last 2 horses in. It’s not a rule as such to bring the last 2 in, it’s just common sense to not leave one out alone.

winter is hard but I am very lucky that when I’m working one of my livery friends will throw her morning net in. I could go and feed before work but it’s a lot easier for my friend to do it! We return favours too, for instance mine gets fed in the morning and I will feed my friends at night. I understand not everyone is as lucky as I am though and it’s one of the reasons I won’t ever move yards as I probably wouldn’t get the same elsewhere.

 

[racebuddy]

I work full time , and do shifts and on diy livery , always do him mysef in am even when on work at 7am , yard is very flexible and can be on for 6am thrugh until 9pm on weekdays and 7.30pm on weekends , there is a lady who does livery services if needed so when on middle shift / late shifts I pay to get him brought in at teatime for me , lucily also have all year good turnout so less time mucking out twice a day ect , I had him on part livery and absolutely hates it , lost all control of him felt like he wasn't my horse , wasn't allowed down before 8am in the mornings and had to be off by 5pm every night , def not suited for me or my horse / and was being kept in all the time , even when dry and sunny , had to wait for other horses to be out even though he is absolutely fine on his own , my current yard has camera evevrywere so do feel happy that if something was wrong would get called and there is also a lot of people about all day which helps also , x

 

[huskydamage]

I have tried to share jobs with friends at the yard to help each other out but when I moved I couldnt find anywhere DIY without 'curfew' times,most places were full livery too. I ended up renting on my own as everywhere else was so restrictive. I work shifts and have do my horses whatever time I finish (which I can't control). Could be 2pm could be 2am! I could probably never go back to livery for this reason

 

[Sussexbythesea]

I work full time and have two horses on DIY livery with no services provided for by the yard itself. I do have flexible working which is a huge help but pre-covid there were at least a couple of days a month I’d have to travel. At one point when I had just the one horse I was on a project travelling almost every week. There was a free-lancer based at the yard so I used her for odd days. She was very thorough but she was really expensive charging the same price as off yard clients she travelled to and moody so I was always on tenterhooks about whether she’d actually be in the right mood to ask. Later I made an arrangement with another livery to do my horse Mon-Fri whether I was there or not. It was a lot cheaper and worked really well for both of us. Mostly I prepared everything for a week so the work was around an hour a day if done efficiently.

Currently there are one or two reliable experienced people on the yard I pay to do services as and when required which works well. I love being around my horses and the yard and don’t really ever begrudge the significant work they are.