Rules... livery yards

[blitznbobs]

So I am aware that livery yards need rules but what rules at your livery yard are good and are there any crazy weird rules?

The one at mine is that all jumps must be left up at 1m despite me never seeing them jumped at that height ... I’m sure there are people that do but they seem to be the exception rather than the rule!

 

[vickie123]

Not sure if this one is weird but certainly seems a bit anally retentive.. my friend was on a yard that insisted you picked the horse’s feet out by the entrance to the outdoor arena and then again when you left the arena. My friend forgot a couple of times and was chucked off because of it. Well that’s what she told me

 

[JFTDWS]

I once looked around a DIY yard (not an RS) where they wouldn't allow you to ride bareback because the YM had worked with horses professionally and seen terrible accidents, all caused by a lack of a saddle, apparently... I remain unconvinced!

I haven't come across any weird rules on my current place. The YM is as daft as I am

 

[ihatework]

I’ve been on a few different yards over the years but nothing really bizarre springs to mind.

Just one yard run by a very well meaning but exceedingly anally retentive YO, to the extent that if your horse shat on the yard you not only had to drop everything to sweep up immediately but also drag the fecking powerhose out to wash the yard. I lasted the most unrelaxing 4 months of my life!

 

[Pc2003]

One I was at a while ago you had to muck out as soon as you turned your horse out and you couldn’t leave it till the afternoon or after you had ridden etc and you weren’t allowed to leave rugs over your stable door. Not even a sheet

 

[milliepops]

I’ve been on a few different yards over the years but nothing really bizarre springs to mind.

Just one yard run by a very well meaning but exceedingly anally retentive YO, to the extent that if your horse shat on the yard you not only had to drop everything to sweep up immediately but also drag the fecking powerhose out to wash the yard. I lasted the most unrelaxing 4 months of my life!

Bloody nora, I was on one yard for 6 weeks who I thought took the biscuit for being unwelcoming, but that trumps mine! the place I was on, if your horse pooed on the drive on the way out for a hack you had to come back, put it back in stable, pick up dropping and could then set off again. Bad luck if someone's horse did a second poo! Some days it felt like you'd never get going, lol!

Last place had the most irritating rules, most appeared to be made up to suit whichever livery shouted the loudest (no lunging even for vet, jumps went up for half the week and could not be moved or altered, some bonkers and highly complicated rules about how you were allowed to book the school, not allowed to wash horses outside stables because it made mud, but no hardstanding provided... um..)

Current yard just seems to have sensible rules, it costs double what I was paying before which is painful but worth it for the complete lack of nutters and nutty rules.

 

[Starzaan]

Not sure if this one is weird but certainly seems a bit anally retentive.. my friend was on a yard that insisted you picked the horse’s feet out by the entrance to the outdoor arena and then again when you left the arena. My friend forgot a couple of times and was chucked off because of it. Well that’s what she told me

As an ex yard owner who paid my life’s savings to the people who built my school, I had this rule too for my liveries.

Nobody messed with my surface. 🙈

 

[Frumpoon]

There's a yard on Cannock Chase where the rules run to something like 3 pages and include everyone must wear hi viz at all times, there is a one way system that everyone must abide by to walk round the yard and nobody is allowed to make eye contact with any horse other than their own

 

[vickie123]

As an ex yard owner who paid my life’s savings to the people who built my school, I had this rule too for my liveries.

Nobody messed with my surface. 🙈

Well I just realised (reading a post above) that I’m guilty of asking my livery to clean up and wash down any poos on the yard ASAP. So I am myself anally retentive

 

[Blazingsaddles]

So I am aware that livery yards need rules but what rules at your livery yard are good and are there any crazy weird rules?

The one at mine is that all jumps must be left up at 1m despite me never seeing them jumped at that height ... I’m sure there are people that do but they seem to be the exception rather than the rule!

The rules are that there are no rules. Which makes for an interesting experience..lol.

 

[awelshandawarmblood]

These are from a few different previous yards.....

No doing favours for friends - only allowed to deal with your own horse

Opening hours in summer 8am until 6pm so as to cut down on disturbing them in the house

No rugs over doors

No tying up horses anywhere but inside their own stable

Any fly spray to be applied in the stable & any rug changes to also be done there - not in the field

All horses to be fed from small holed haylage nets with the net ring drilled into the rear wall of the stable to minimise the chances of horses making a mess dropping strands over their door onto the yard

Very complicated booking rules for the school & a max of 30 mins per person per day even for lessons

 

[Flicker]

OMG some of these are so funny! My yard is so laid back it’s horizontal by comparison. Just the usual, sensible rules about hats, hi vis, arena bookings and poo picking, thank god!

 

[Nativelover]

Ever changing rules according to the mood of the YO
I empathise with the above poster, if your horse shat on the yard drop everything to clean it up, including soaping and rinsing!
A sweeping rota that you were never told about when it was your turn, until the actual time you had to sweep.
Feeding rota that didn’t include everyone.
Ever changing access to turnout.
Only allowed to buy feed and bedding from one place.
One yard had a fortnightly delivery day for hay/bedding. You were to put it all away in peoples bays in the feed shed, regardless of if it was yours or not. There were a few liveries who were always busy when the delivery came leaving it all up to the few idiots of us who were there, even if you hadn’t ordered anything you had to put it away if you were there !!

 

[Northern]

Not sure if this one is weird but certainly seems a bit anally retentive.. my friend was on a yard that insisted you picked the horse’s feet out by the entrance to the outdoor arena and then again when you left the arena. My friend forgot a couple of times and was chucked off because of it. Well that’s what she told me

We have this for our indoor school. It actually makes sense - the office has a little bag of surface hanging on the wall with a small message explaining this was what was picked out of just 1 hoof. Imagine 20-30 horses a day walking out the surface and you would be replacing it quicksmart!

 

[chocolategirl]

Not sure if this one is weird but certainly seems a bit anally retentive.. my friend was on a yard that insisted you picked the horse’s feet out by the entrance to the outdoor arena and then again when you left the arena. My friend forgot a couple of times and was chucked off because of it. Well that’s what she told me

Ah well as someone who has just shelled out 60k on a new arena, I totally get this! My clients have to clean feet thoroughly before entering and pick the surface out before leaving. I think if you had made that sort of investment, especially in view of the fact you would never recoup it, you may not think that rule so anal!🤨

 

[Lexi_]

I don’t think we’ve got any apart from poo pick your fields and don’t leave crap lying around. The YO is lovely!

 

[case895]

There's a yard on Cannock Chase where the rules run to something like 3 pages and include everyone must wear hi viz at all times, there is a one way system that everyone must abide by to walk round the yard and nobody is allowed to make eye contact with any horse other than their own

I wear wrap around sunglasses all summer. How would they know?

 

[Auslander]

I'll hold my hands up to the poo on yard thing! I don't insist that it's picked up straight away - as long as it is picked up before the owner goes home. It makes me happy if they give it a quick blast with the hose, purely because my yard is very new, and all the concrete is lovely and clean. It makes me a bit sad when there's a big splodge of dried on poo welded to the ground! That said - I'm more than happy to do it myself if the liveries haven't.
I like the yard super clean and tidy - but I'm pretty sure that none of my liveries think that makes me a bad person!

 

[Tihamandturkey]

So lucky - zero rules - lovely small relaxed yard - mind you I'm really tidy/obsessive so I never leave a mess behind me 😅

 

[flying_high]

I looked round a yard with the rule could only use school wearing a body protector?!?

 

[merlo89]

My current yard has no rules.

It’s a nightmare, horses loose, livery’s shouting at each other, no respect for other people!

It is a disaster waiting to happen...

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Just the usual, I think, but the cleaning out of feet makes perfect sense, especially having been on a yard where you could see and feel the concrete under the very thin surface (nothing above a walk for my horse in there!) then I agree!

We have a lady with several horses who is a dragon with the kids, bloody brilliant! If anything looks odd, like a pony stood for no reason for ages on the yard, she will go and tell the relevant child to stop messing about and put the poor pony away!

 

[Sandstone1]

Not allowed to soak hay.

 

[scats]

The yard I grew up on had a load of new American barns built many years ago. The YO insisted that no rugs were hung up over doors or in stables and morning feeds could not be left on he floor outside, they had to be hung up.
You couldn’t leave anything outside your stable, other than a hung up feed. If you did, he came round in the morning and lobbed whatever it was into the stable with the horse...

Each stable came with the tiniest locker at the back and you had to squash everything in it- including your wheelbarrow.

My current yard has no rules other than look after the place. There’s only 4 of us there, we’ve all known each other for 20+ years and get on fantastically. The YO leaves us to it.

 

[JennBags]

The yard I grew up on had a load of new American barns built many years ago. The YO insisted that no rugs were hung up over doors or in stables and morning feeds could not be left on he floor outside, they had to be hung up.
You couldn’t leave anything outside your stable, other than a hung up feed. If you did, he came round in the morning and lobbed whatever it was into the stable with the horse....

These rules actually make perfect sense to me, feeds on the floors encourage rats and mice, and heavy rugs hanging on doors can pull them out of alignment (as well as looking scruffy!).
I also agree with the feet being picked out before using the school, keeps it nice.
The yard I was on generally had sensible rules but the annoying thing was one rule for one, and one for another. Also the rules would change or new ones suddenly be made up without anyone being told, so you could be told off for not following a rule that no-one knew even existed.

 

[The-Bookworm]

Not sure if this one is weird but certainly seems a bit anally retentive.. my friend was on a yard that insisted you picked the horse’s feet out by the entrance to the outdoor arena and then again when you left the arena. My friend forgot a couple of times and was chucked off because of it. Well that’s what she told me

Colleges tend to insist on that rule. Outside the arena is odd as feet would already be picked out.

 

[The-Bookworm]

There's a yard on Cannock Chase where the rules run to something like 3 pages and include everyone must wear hi viz at all times, there is a one way system that everyone must abide by to walk round the yard and nobody is allowed to make eye contact with any horse other than their own

Sorry that last sentence made me laugh.
I can't imagine the mayhem that would cause catching mine in a herd if I could see where the herd was fir fear of making eye contact with anyone else's horse.
Are the people running yards actually safe to be around horses!

 

[Slightlyconfused]

One yard we had to hand rake the school after use.

With the picking hooves one, mine get picked out when they come in from the feild before tacking up. So would they then need to be repicked out before going in the school?

 

[Caol Ila]

When I was doing my undergrad degree in the States, my horse lived at the campus barn. Didn't have an equine-related degree course or anything, but the barn had about 30 lesson horses and 30 student and staff boarders. Before my final year, our old barn manager, who was great, left and the university hired a new barn manager. Right before the academic year started, new barn manager sent all the boarders a letter detailing the new regime of barn rules, most of which were pretty anal. But the most draconian one ordered that all horses must look 'neat' (as per the barn manager's idea) and have their manes pulled. At this point, I'd quit competing so my horse looked pretty feral, with feathers (she's half-Shire,a fter all) and a long mane. When she asked me about it, I said, "I'm not going to cut or pull her mane or trim her feathers, sorry." I took a gamble that she wouldn't kick me out of the barn, because it was would look pretty bad for the university when I went over her head, as that's what I would have done. She asked me, "What do you compete in?" I said I didn't, and she mumbled grudgingly, "Well, I guess that's alright then."

 

[DabDab]

I don't think I've ever come across any particularly weird rules, just perfectly reasonable rules that seem to get bent to suit certain individuals. Like no dogs on the yard except for that one person, or restricted turnout except for that one horse who's owner proclaims that he's just too nuts to stay in, or one saddle per horse in the tack room except for that super important livery who has three competition horses don't you know, so absolutely needs to take over half the tack room....

The only frustrating time on a livery yard I had due to restrictions was a wet winter at one particular yard meaning the turnout was restricted to just a couple of hours here and there, and the yo then banned us all from using the school, which left those us of that worked traipsing around the yard hand walking our horses in the dark and the rain for weeks.