Policy on livery yard for in-foal pony - I'm not happy

[Clava]

Why am i ridiculous, because i disagree with you ??
If you can prepare a field for a mare and foal without being out of pocket, good for you, the yo has said she'd be out of pocket, thats the person id listen to in this story over your statement, and for what ??.

Ridiculous that the YO needs to be out of pocket, she can charge any extra she likes and as this owner apparently can't move her mare she will be stuck paying whatever the YO likes for these extras.

 

[Queenbee]

You can do whatever you want, give her what she wants or don't or give her notice to leave and tell her that your yard is not suitable for a foal.

Well....you never know, you may be lucky....she may find a more welcoming yard on which to spend her money.

If you've got a spare field that isn't currently in usable condition (so I assume its just stood there used for nothing) I don't see the problem with her using it, especially if she's paying extra!
Sure, she should have told you earlier. But perhaps she didn't know herself?
You come across as a YO that I'd run a mile from

Bit unreasonable on her part,but she is your customer- you sound a bit abrasive, maybe why she hasn't been open with you?

All of the above I'm afraid.

 

[tessybear]

If you are willing to keep foal then charge accordingly they are a pain in the backside and require a lot of attention to check they haven't got themselves in some form of trouble they are drawn to dangerous situation

However if not ask them to move the owner was the one who went behind your back so ultimately it will be her foal and mare at risk.

But i agree about being careful how your word this on here, its very easy for said livery to log on and spoil your reputation and business.

 

[Queenbee]

Hmm, just read some more of the thread... Tricky and yes I'd be ticked off that it was a planned foal and livery wasn't upfront about this, but your choice is simple, give notice or accommodate. If it was me, as a livery I'd be pitching in to help yo sort the other field, clear it, check boundaries etc.

 

[Shadow the Reindeer]

Bl***y h***! How many yards charge £25 INCLUDING hay ?
I think the YO is well within their rights to tell the livery where to go. Their yard, their rules, if you can't follow it, you know where the door is.

 

[Shadow the Reindeer]

With hay being how expensive it is, i could imagine many businesses breaking even on £25 pw.

Ours has just gone up, but like I keep saying to the Yo, quality is better than cheap poor quality hay/haylage.

 

[Tinypony]

Hmm... a grad total of 4 posts by op and both guaranteed to start a bun fight. A yard that only charges £25 pw including hay? Really? A YO that thinks horses could stay in all night with nothing. Hmmm... that's all...
I honestly can't see how anyone could identify a yard from these posts though, so no point getting breeches in a twist about that.

 

[Goldenstar]

OP I would be very cautious about having a foal on a DIY if the owner is not experianced.
I would lay out in writing the following
the charge you are going to make to the separate paddock.
I would insisit that foal is haltered a once and taught to lead immediatly .
I would lay down that the foal must be weaned by so many months ( you chose ) and say that full livery cost must be paid from this date .
I would lay down how you expect the weaning to be done.
I would also charge extra for the foals livery while it's at foot.
I don't know what type of yard you run if there children ar weekends and evenings or if it's horses in work or grass type livery but foals can be a pain and the combination of other liverys and an inexperianced owner could make for a fraught time for.
I have always been charged extra for the foal when a mare was in livery at stud with a foal at foot .
Mares often travel to stud quite close to foaling so they can see the stallion on there foaling heat, so unless foaling is very close it should not be a problem.
It's your yard if you don't want a foalserve notice no one should have to have situations they don't want on their own yard.

 

[FreddiesGal]

I would insisit that foal is haltered a once and taught to lead immediatly .
I would lay down that the foal must be weaned by so many months ( you chose ) and say that full livery cost must be paid from this date .
I would lay down how you expect the weaning to be done.
I would also charge extra for the foals livery while it's at foot.
I don't know what type of yard you run if there children ar weekends and evenings or if it's horses in work or grass type livery but foals can be a pain and the combination of other liverys and an inexperianced owner could make for a fraught time for.

Why and why? The yard is 'yours', not the foal.

 

[Queenbee]

Bl***y h***! How many yards charge £25 INCLUDING hay ?
I think the YO is well within their rights to tell the livery where to go. Their yard, their rules, if you can't follow it, you know where the door is.

Different subject from op but I pay 27.50 per week, including hay, individual turnout, ad lib hay all year round. We generally stable during the day in the summer but if we don't, that does not affect our entitlement to hay. In my opinion prices should not change from summer to winter, it should be a flat rate all year round which takes into account the expense and needs all year and is charged per week accordingly. In the winter our horses eat more hay, in the summer. They eat less, my yo could charge 30 in the winter and 25 in the summer, but no she charges a flat rate, and our entitlements are the same. In my opinion even though the livery has been underhand not informing yo right from the start about foal... Yo/op has some funny ideas about running a yard

 

[Polos Mum]

For £25 a week DIY inc. hay I could save myself a fortune in the winter. My big horse eats a bale a day - even at £3.5 a bale that'd be £24.5 a week - so my stable and field would be costing me 50p a week - bargin.

 

[Equilibrium Ireland]

Wait, so it's ok to have an endless stream of unhappy at my livery posts complete with moaning. But yet a YO comes on here and she sucks?

Agree with every word of Maesfen's post. Well written and so true.

Terri

 

[Elsiecat]

A yard that only charges £25 pw including hay? Really?

I was on a yard that was £30 a week inc hay in winter and haylage in summer with straw also provided.. 25 pounds a week if you didn't want the straw but just wanted forage.

 

[ribbons]

E Ireland, I was just thinking the same. Post after post of liveries slagging off their yard, all ok and receiving sympathies and comments of "that's awful" "that's dreadful". "move now, that YO is so bad"
Yet a YO who has been treated like a fool and has the cheek to complain gets taken to the cleaners by this forum.
Said it before and I'll say it again, buy your own land and problem solved. Oh wait, you can only afford a few pounds a week, never mind we'll use someone else's facilities and act as if it's our own.
You pays your money, you takes your choice.

 

[ozpoz]

Wait, so it's ok to have an endless stream of unhappy at my livery posts complete with moaning. But yet a YO comes on here and she sucks?

Agree with every word of Maesfen's post. Well written and so true.

Terri

Yes , I was thinking that too.

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

TBH sounds like OP wanted us to justify her feelings that she wanted the livery with bun-baking mare off. Which yes, she is entitled to give notice to the livery for this reason if she as the owner feels it is not safe to accommodate (or livery not prepared to foot bill for additional work/fees incurred). For me, while a pain, I would rather my YO had the guts to say to me up front that she wasn't comfortable with dealing with a pregnant mare and subsequent foaling, than sit and stew and quite probably make things very awkward on the yard. And make it public knowledge on the web that she wasn't happy, before speaking to me.

And £25/week with hay included? Bargain! I pay £28/week for stable and paddock alone!!

And others have said, the 'fact' you didn't know the livery had sent her mare to be covered certainly reads as if there is a relationship breakdown already. Maybe you knew it was on the cards, and are now just realising what is entailed and rather than admitting you are possibly out of your depth (sorry, but you don't read as if you are a horseowner) you are back tracking....

Make a decision - upgrade and foalproof your facilities and charge accordingly, or give the livery notice and hope no-one alerts them to this forum.

 

[Maesfen]

Terri and Ribbons, completely agree with you. I think it shows the huge chasm between YOs and liveries, particularly those at the lower end of the cost spectrum and that they don't have any clue at all of what is the true cost of keeping their ponies for the land owner themselves.

 

[ozpoz]

The YO is "possibly out of her depth and not a horse owner" !! shock, horror .. but yet she is showing a lot more common sense about the reality of a single mare and foal on a yard that isn't equipped than all the expert horse owners posting here.

 

[Aarrghimpossiblepony]

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=458129

What i will say, is this OP seems to want to save money left right and centre whilst reducing the quality of the services on offer. Just caught up on the 'hay' thread.

As she only charges 25/week including hay, who can blame her?

Never heard any yard provide hay in the summer when the price is that low for grass livery.

Need extra for your horse outside of the winter months it is included, go buy it yourself.

 

[Maesfen]

and hope no-one alerts them to this forum.

Even if they did I think the livery would find the strength of feeling behind her deceit and hopefully feel ashamed of herself for acting in such a manner - but then again, if she's behaved like that it does sound as if she has no shame anyway in her quest to get everything her own way just because she thinks she's owed that right.

 

[amandaco2]

The owner should have told the yo. Definatly.
Now the horse is about to foal I'd probably allow her to stay and charge her accordingly for the different facilities and thereafter consider if you want this person to move off once the foal is old enough to move...
But really I'd just discuss it with the person in question directly, posting on forums about this kind of thing is possibly going to cause a lot of problems...

 

[Coblover63]

Her livery may have gone up anyway.... that thread is old!

 

[Goldenstar]

Why and why? The yard is 'yours', not the foal.

Because unhalter broken foals can pose a risk to those around them and Op,is a yard owner with a duty of care to the other liverys .If foals are left to long on the mares they became total pains in some cases .
There's no way I would have an unweaned not halter broken foal around other peoples horses after eight months old .
A friend today is trying to sort out his new project a rising three year old still with its mother and not halter broken if Op does not set some ground rules now that what she risks happening.

 

[Patterdale]

Ribbons I totally agree!

We don't, and never will have liveries at our place because although some horsey people are lovely, we wouldn't be able to put 'No weirdo middle-aged horsey harpies who want to run the yard for us please' on the ad.

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

Even if they did I think the livery would find the strength of feeling behind her deceit and hopefully feel ashamed of herself for acting in such a manner - but then again, if she's behaved like that it does sound as if she has no shame anyway in her quest to get everything her own way just because she thinks she's owed that right.

Sort of my point -the livery could cause much more damage to reputation to the YO than the YO can to the livery, especially if said livery does have the mentality of being owed a right.

Something doesn't add up to me - could be perfectly innocent in that the OP is angry so not coming across in the most amenable way, or could be that we only have one side of the story...

 

[ribbons]

To be honest, narky liveries who are a pain to have usually gain a reputation quite quickly, and this one is a deceitful demanding unreasonable nuisance. If she's not known by other yard owners it won't take long.
If a yard provides a good service for a fair price any damage this sort of livery can do by bad mouthing is negligible. The best yards usually have a waiting list.

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

The YO is "possibly out of her depth and not a horse owner" !! shock, horror .. but yet she is showing a lot more common sense about the reality of a single mare and foal on a yard that isn't equipped than all the expert horse owners posting here.

Not entirely sure common sense is being displayed by either YO or the livery, that aside, OP would've got a lot more constructive feedback had the question been posed along the lines of 'Livery has put her mare to foal, do I do A, B or C?'.

Whatever happens, now might be a good time to issue new contracts to the current liveries with the clause about breeding stock/foals etc.

And copy of the current sample contract from the BHS:
http://www.bhs.org.uk/~/media/BHS/F...ry Yard Agreement Guidelines and Example.ashx

 

[putasocinit]

And what is it that a foal who will be protected by its mother, and managed by its owner going to do that will be so shocking and frightening that it warrants so much concern. 6 months down the line it will be weaned and may become another paying livery or sold on somewhere else, life really isnt that hard, hope you sort it out so everyone is okay incl little pony and foalie.

 

[Tnavas]

Who says?
I can't imagine their being an actual law on this?

Somewhere I have read this on a legal document - it will probably be part of an equine welfare bill - but I definitely saw it - not a New Zealand thing either.

For those of you that think the government wouldn't be bothered - there are a lot of very old laws still kicking around.

The reason for not charging is that the foal will be primarily fed off its mother and weaning was generally done at 6 months of age.

If the livery yard is supplying additional services yes then they can charge more as doing anything with the mare and foal will need extra staff.

But for just grazing no they cannot charge. The foal is not grazing.

 

[eggs]

All the studs I've known have charged more for a mare and foal at grass than for a mare without a foal at foot that is at grass.

My foals have all been grazing well before they are weaned. Fields still need poo picking