Random ponder for full livery yard owners......

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matthew

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I was thinking about christmas time.
If you own a full livery yard- do all your staff get the day off on christmas day/boxing day. Meaning that you the yard owner has to take care of every single livery................................??? just wondered how this usually works.
 
Haha yes! I don't own a full livery yard but I work at one (Bossanova's sister's). Poor Boss and co. have to go and muck out all the horses on Xmas morning!
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ETS: I think I'm working Boxing day though
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no hunting for me!
 
I used to stable on a full livery yard - half the staff got xmas off, half NY and on Xmas Day/Boxing Day/NY Eve and NY day the horses stayed in unless owners did them and were just mucked/skipped out and hayed/watered/fed.

I used to do my own - they would feed/turn him out for me instead of anything else then I would go down after lunch, muck out, fetch in/ride and help the staff with evening stables
 
I have a yard of 10 including my own horses. At the moment I don't have any staff as I like to do it myself! So christmas day will be for me to do. I live on site which is a bonus! Hopefully the weather will be dry so I can leave outdoor rugs on to make life a little easier!

As of yet nobody has offered to do their own horse, even though they are all coming down late morning for christmas breakfast! Mug, me? haha
 
When I had a horse on full livery, I used to go and do them so that the staff could have an easier day. Its only fair and got me out the house for a few hours for some fresh air. Got them at home now, so we will all be helping.
 
At my last yard the full or part livery owners had to come and do the horses themselves on xmas day, just because it was the only day off they had all year!!

One person chose to work it for a couple of people just as the money they were paying was better
 
yep my groom has Christmas day, boxing day and new year day off !!

All the liveries do there own horses - if they do need to be done we charge £10 !! They all turn out themselves to - I will bring in though but early about 3ish x
 
Over here I do all the horses every day of the year including Christmas Day, however in England owners did their horses on Christmas Day.
 
at last place I worked, staff had Xmas day and Boxing day off. Everything that could go out, did go out (rugged up to the eyeballs
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) and the owner went round with a bag of nuts and a trailer load of hay for the rest. Nothing would get mucked out for two days which was kinda gross but that was the system... In practice though, usually one of the teenager helpers would come up and muck out on the boxing day as they wanted the money.

At my current yard, my boss holds a Christmas morning fun ride for all liveries and everyone who comes to that helps to feed and hay any ponies kept in/full liveries. We probably won't muck out but we'll put fresh straw in all the boxes so the horses aren't standing in dirty beds for that one day.
 
When I was working, mainly hunter livery yards or riding schools, it was always all hands to the pumps so we could be done and finished by about 10 o'clock, then not have to be back again until 4pm unless you were lucky and had the afternoon off. As I would be living in and far away from home it didn't matter to me anyway! Next day would be mega busy with hunters too.
It's probably why I think Christmas is vastly over rated!! It's just another day to look after the animals, same as any other day; cows have to be milked twice too for farmers! There are some jobs you just can't leave until the next day but we do try to have everything stocked up ready to hand to make it easier for ourselves.
 
We are mainly a DIY yard but i actually offer to do the horses on christmas eve, christmas day, boxing day, new years eve and new years day - obv for a fee - but i am told i am too cheap lol!
i actually enjoy it as i am down at 5 - and it just seems so magical on christmas day - i still manage to travel around the country to see relatives on christmas day etc! it just all in the planning!
 
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