Please help me make a decision- moving yards.

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millitiger

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Please help me make a decision, I am umming and aahing and really need to make a decision as currently paying £135/week for the 3 of them at a place with no facilities and only 2 of them have stables!

Yard One
-Floodlit 20 x 40
-1 x horse on full livery.
-2 x horses next door on assisted grass livery, inc haylage.
-Can ride in school on main yard with 4yro on grass livery.

Pros
-Cheaper
-YO’s seem very friendly
-Nice brand new stables.
-UK chasers course 400 yards away (membership £200/year) with xc course, 2 schools and sj track on grass.

Cons
-Not great turnout (go out everyday but v.limited space).
-Hassle getting 4yro from his field, down a pretty much sheer drop (field on top of a steep hill) and have to bring him through a field full of other horses. Would have to do it in the dark during winter as well.
-4yro normally fed short feed through winter, won’t be able to do that apart from bringing him in.



Yard 2
-Floodlit 20 x 40
-Horse walker
-2 x horses on full livery
-1 x horse ½ mile down the road on assisted grass livery, inc haylage.

Pros
-4yro will be getting decent handling everyday with living in, not so feral!
-Much easier to work the 2 x horses.
-On site of the UK chasers so no membership fee or roadwork.
-Horse walker if I cannot ride.
-American barn stabling.
-Good grazing, can stay out overnight in summer etc.

Cons
-More expensive
-Floodlit school is 400 yard walk down track/through farmyard- bit hairy with young horses in the dark?


If I choose Yard 2 I will be paying an extra £60/week over Yard 1. It is doable but I don’t like the feeling of stretching myself when I have a mortgage etc BUT I am on track for an 8% payrise in April (obv cannot rely on this) which would cover most of the additional cost, but not all.

Obviously it would be much easier to have them at Yard 2 but do I really need them both there? I will be riding the 3rd horse on grass livery during the summer months as well so riding 2 or 3 horses each evening after work and on weekends.

Argh, I just want to make the right decision as don’t want to be changing yards again anytime soon.
The 2 yards are less than ½ mile apart so hacking all the same, distance from work etc.

My friend has just moved out of the area and was at Yard 2 so I am going to ask her if there are any hidden cons to being there.
 
I think I would be going to yard 2
It just seems to be better value.Good turnout and the facilities etc.
400 yards isn't that far to the school and I am sure they will get used to it, as long as you don't spook yourself !
 
Ouch - more than £240 a month is a lot more. Would the 4yo be on short feed next winter? This one is coming to an end, so the bringing in down a slope won't be for long. What would the turnout be like on the second yard in winter? If it was me, I'd go for the first one.
 
So there you are then - three posts, three different answers!
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Hope that helps...
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Ouch - more than £240 a month is a lot more. Would the 4yo be on short feed next winter? This one is coming to an end, so the bringing in down a slope won't be for long. What would the turnout be like on the second yard in winter? If it was me, I'd go for the first one.

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i know, £240/month a lot! first yard is £572/month and second yard is £828/month (the joys of 3 horses!)

i'd still have to bring him down the slope in the summer too- obviously better than doing it in the dark in the mud but still have to get him through a field of other horses to get him out.

turnout on 2nd yard in winter good, out all day, nice flat paddocks, no mud.
 
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I think I would look at more options.. boths sound wrong.


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trying to find a yard that has 3 spaces, good facilities, good grazing and isn't £100/week/horse is absolutely impossible.

i have rung over 30 yards and looking at around 10.
 
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I am sorry but I would say neither too. I would try and get all your neds on the same yard at least.

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i could get the 3rd horse onto the 2nd yard but don't want to as the cost would be huge!

he likes living out anyway and would have shoes off in winter and work from March- October (getting on a bit) so i'm not actually too worried about him.

it is only 10 steps from Yard 1 and about 1 minute in the car from Yard 2 to the grass livery place.
 
Can just the 4yr old go to the second yard so that he's getting the handling & bringing him in doesn't involve coming through a field of horses?
 
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[/ QUOTE ]i know, £240/month a lot! first yard is £572/month and second yard is £828/month (the joys of 3 horses!)


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£828 is a big mortgage payment! even £572 is a huge monthly payment, it is as much as our mortgage payment and we have a house and 10 acres!

Can you pay that sort of money into your own place buy some land or a house with land? rather than paying it all to someone else to pay their mortgage? Just a thought!
 
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Can just the 4yr old go to the second yard so that he's getting the handling & bringing him in doesn't involve coming through a field of horses?

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probs easier if i explain properly!

horse 1- 16yro, hardy, likes living out so he will be v.happy out 24/7.

horse 2- 6yro tb mare. needs to work consistently, planning to consolidate at PN this season and then keep going up the ladder.
it would be impossible to do that on grass livery with this particular horse. also grass livery place only has space for geldings.

horse 3- 4yro. 17hh, likes living out but it getting feral again, and at his size i feel it would be easier to have him on a yard with a proper routine and i don't really fancy getting him through other horses 5 x a week.
not essential to be on a yard, but would make life an awful lot easier.

really, i think i just need one less horse!
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£828 is a big mortgage payment! even £572 is a huge monthly payment, it is as much as our mortgage payment and we have a house and 10 acres!

Can you pay that sort of money into your own place buy some land or a house with land? rather than paying it all to someone else to pay their mortgage? Just a thought!

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i know, my mortgage is considerably less than my livery!

houses round here with even a few acres are £600k +.

i am only 23 and have a one bed flat- i know that no mortgage company would even think about letting me have a huge mortgage and i don't have the deposit either (only have £25k equity in my flat).

we did look into it and even though the sums work out on paper, the mortgage companies wouldn't look twice at me unfortunately.
 
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Shame, I wouldn't feel happy giving that sort of money to someone else every month! What about some land to buy?

Good luck x

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looked at that too, but the most i could increase my mortgage debt by is about £30k- not enough to buy enough land for the 3 and have room/finance for a manege etc.

also looking into the possibility of renting the flat and then renting somewhere with land/stables instead.

horses, who'd have them???
 
Yard One on cost alone!

Could you not take a short feed up to him rather than bring him in, that would be easier and if you take it in a bag stuffed under your jumper, the others wouldn't mug you for it first! For the winter could he also not go on grass livery and be turned away for the darkest months? At his size, he's going to be a long time maturing so you could work him well this summer and then give him - and yourself and your pocket a break for the hard months and Millie would benefit from the extra work you could give her!
For the dark track to the school, just get a head torch, they'll soon get used to it especially if you do the run in daylight first, they won't think twice about it; I often get mine in in the dark, it never bothers them.
 
mfh_09- i know, i was thinking of putting 4yro back out 24/7 for a few months in the winter.

even just from Nov-Feb would help a lot £££ wise.

would be able to bring him in and feed fri/sat/sun.

i couldn't really take him food as he would be in the same field as my older boy who i know would come over as soon as he saw me!
4yro has actually wintered really well this year on Hi Fi and a handful of Topspec.
 
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I am sorry but I would say neither too. I would try and get all your neds on the same yard at least.

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i could get the 3rd horse onto the 2nd yard but don't want to as the cost would be huge!

he likes living out anyway and would have shoes off in winter and work from March- October (getting on a bit) so i'm not actually too worried about him.

it is only 10 steps from Yard 1 and about 1 minute in the car from Yard 2 to the grass livery place.

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Oh well that actually sounds better then. Especially if he is older and more of a fun horse than a comp horse lack with the facilities and what not. Now it doesn't sound so bad.xx
 
yeah. he is going to be more of a fun horse to allow me to concentrate on the 2 younger ones.

he is happy and very competitive at PN but having tried Novice it is a step too far and i don't want to push him as he owes me nothing
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I think if I were you, I'd rent the flat and rent somewhere with a yard. I know that finding 3 spaces on a nice yard would be very difficult - how about going in with someone else in that situation and clubbing together to rent a proper yard? Whereabouts are you - might be able to ask around?
 
Another option could be to find a sharer/loaner for the boy on grass livery (maybe someone who wanted to event at PN) and then keep the two on yard 2. I wouldnt like to risk a comp horse in an overcrowded field - its a false economy keeping an injured horse on full livery at the cheaper yard and not being able to ride.
 
We are in Worcestershire.

i was thinking of getting Pilfer a sharer during the summer (he has been on loan for last 2 years at pro eventing yard teaching the working pupils how to go around PN).

CBAnglo- that is exactly it! i am worried about the youngsters being kicked on Yard 1 whereas on Yard 2 they are out in individual fields.

i don't mind mine going out together but i don't like all geldings in one field and all mares in another.
 
Personally i would go for yard 1! Im pretty sure i know which yard your talking about, and im sure if you expressed your concerns they would do their upmost to help and accomodate you!

£60 a week is a considerable amount, i think you should chat it through with yard owner again.
 
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