School use numbers?

dianchi

dianchi

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Just out of interest how many horses does your yard allow in the school at once?
20x40 arena

I chose not to ride my 4yo this eve as there was 7 in the school already.
Just wondered how others handle this?
 
We don't have rules about that, but even with my saintly 4yo I would have made the same call as you did! He'd have probably been fine, but it would have fried my tiny brain trying to keep my eye out for so many horses as well as thinking about what we were doing!
 
7 horses in a 20x40 is a LOT. I would have said 3-4 is more than enough in that size space.. Even then.

We have a 30x60 and while there are no rules, 6-7 is enough for the space.
 
Plus they were doing trec so obstacles out too!
Just starting to find it tricky to ride in the eves
You can only book the school of you have a lesson, and it's basically first come decides what's happening in the school that night, so basically it's impossible to practice any dressage test unless you ride at 9pm.

We only have one school, that we have to pay £1 for 30min for lights
Just starting to wonder if I can do all winter?
Already have a head torch on order to try avoid £40 extra cost each month to switch lights on!
 
We don't have rules, as such, and are fortunate to have a nice 40x20 outdoor plus a bigger indoor, so generally we manage to get some space to ride, but do have to share sometimes. We've had as many as 6 or 7 in the indoor together which is more than enough. Generally, when there are large numbers in there it's because the weather is awful, so we can end up "hacking" round and chatting just to give the horses a stretch. I'd say 2 or 3 in a 20x40 is plenty if you're all intent on actually doing some serious schooling.
 
So what do people do?
Am thinking of turning my 4yo away now for winter and just trying to keep her mum going.
Def can't do two in this way!!!
 
dianchi said:
Plus they were doing trec so obstacles out too!
Click to expand...

Now maybe it's just me, but I think that's a bit rude. When you know you're riding at peak times and others need to share the space I don't think that's the time to be getting out equipment, whether that's jumps, lots of poles in awkward places or Trec obstacles.
 
Sadly it's a common theme, apparently last year only two people rode all winter in the eve so they basically did what they want- and still do.

Also setting up stuff before they have horses in so that even if you try and ride before them your stuck riding round poles/jumps whatever!

YM being very helpful "sort it out amongst yourselves"
 
dianchi said:
So what do people do?
Am thinking of turning my 4yo away now for winter and just trying to keep her mum going.
Def can't do two in this way!!!
Click to expand...

Well quite! Wouldn't hurt her to be turned away. Assume you can't ride at less busy times? If so your only alternative, if this sort of thing is a regular occurrence, would seem to be to move somewhere where it's easier to get in the school, either where more people ride during the day rather than evening, or where the horses -to-school ratio is a bit more favourable.
 
Not looking forward to this over winter. We have a large well lit school and with 5 in it I felt a bit crowded last year as it was, we might have 1 or 2 more people riding st night this year but even so by the time I get there hopefully it will be just 4/5 max. My steering isn't good enough for a crush! But it wouldn't harm to turn her away whilst it's horrid dark and busy!
 
Sadly I work full time and earliest I can get to the yard is 6.30 and mornings I get chores done.
Yes not the end of the world to turn away (quite in favour really)
But still stuck with busy eves in the long run it seems
Of course the school is empty at weekends as being able to hack and compete takes over- but that's what I do too!

The other "danger" is that our 30min lighting has no warning bell just plunged into darkness-
Mildly worrying with even just 4 of you in the school!!
 
Hmmm, no yard is perfect, there's always something you have to compromise on, but that does sound a bit of a pain. I hate those stupid meters, understand why YOs do it, as school lights are so expensive to run, but I would much prefer to pay a bit more for a safer arrangement (and not having to have the right change). And it's one thing having a plan for your schooling session, but sometimes when things aren't quite going to plan you just need that extra ten minutes to be able to finish on a good note.
 
So made the suggestion on our yard page on fb
Apparently "let's wait till it's a problem"
Great so I'm the problem already
As no-one else is brave eno to say.
Feeling yard shopping coming on........... :(
 
Being forced to turn away your horse because you can't get into the school would annoy me. And completely agree there should be no jumping/equipment used at peak times. The YM should insist on that. And also 6-7 is ridiculous! You basically have to ride round together otherwise I can't imagine how everyone has time to get out of everyone's way (surely you spend all your time avoiding people rather than schooling?)

When I was on livery I just waited and rode at 9pm. The women who took over the school used it as a form of bullying so I refused to let them "win". Best part now is I have my own lovely school whereas those women are still bullying other liveries over that school.

If YM doesn't see it as a problem I am not sure what can be done though?
 
We have sole use of both the indoor and the outdoor, I thought that was fairly normal but reading this it seems we are incredibly lucky to be able to book sole use!

20x40 indoor and 40x60 outdoor - YO won't let more than one horse in a a time unless you get permission I.e for s group lesson, even then no more than 3 at one time!

We have a booking system and you get so many blocks free with your livery and after that you pay... Does mean it's a free for all when the booking sheet goes up each week though!
 
dianchi said:
Just out of interest how many horses does your yard allow in the school at once?
20x40 arena

I chose not to ride my 4yo this eve as there was 7 in the school already.
Just wondered how others handle this?
Click to expand...

We just used to use our common sense. It was difficult at the old yard if two were being lunged and two wanted to ride but that was in a huge 65 x 45 school, and even then it was tight. If the two lunging were at opposite corners on the one half of the school it wasn't so bad, but the two lunging would normally be opposite diagonals if that makes sense!

I am so lucky at my yard as I am the first up there in the evening (4.45pm) and i can ride in the school around 5.15pm and be untacked and ready to muck out by six! Then I can be home for 7pm when one or two are still there. I nearly always have the school to myself, most of the yard is taken up with racehorses and they tend to be gone by 4.30pm.

We have a new livery who has arrived but she isn't up till six and another one around 6.30pm. Its nice to have the space when you want but I do miss having company too. The yard I was at before was huge and you never were able to ride in teh school on your own unless you got there for 6.30am in the morning!

I think over crowded arenas are dangerous. Ours is huge so I can't ever see it getting crowded.
 
Tricky one there are always problems at peak times for use of the school, where I am we have 2 schools, first in can do what they like but if someone is already in there then you cannot put jumps up or obstacles out-I think that is fair.
we have a round pen too which takes some pressure off and one of the schools is no lunging and no line work.
no limit to numbers in the schools but most people dont ride-we have 2 people on the yard who try to control everything and are sneaky bullies, I am rarely up the yard when they are but to be honest they are a bit of sport for me as they (like most bullies) are quiet round people who stick up for themselves.
 
Could you suggest some sort of booking/ rota system with a maximum number of people in the school at any one time? Perhaps run it by the YO first. It doesn't have to be every weekday, maybe just 3 days a week. At least that way you'd ensure everyone got a look in. I'm sure the usual suspects would still try to take advantage, but at least you'd have a chance!

I used to ride in Portugal and they had numerous schools, including one Olympic size indoor. Well, when it was hot everyone wanted to use this school rather than any of the outdoor ones, so you would sometimes end up with 20+ horses going round, all doing their own thing! Luckily they aren't so keen on jumping so there were never any poles up, but there was always somebody longreining against the wall on the long side. Chaos does not describe it :p
 
dianchi said:
Just out of interest how many horses does your yard allow in the school at once?
20x40 arena

I chose not to ride my 4yo this eve as there was 7 in the school already.
Just wondered how others handle this?
Click to expand...

Blimey 7 in a 20x40!! If you ask me that's an accident waiting to happen! Haven't read all the responses to this sorry haven't got time, but on my yard I allow no more than 3 riding OR 2 lunging OR 1 lunging and 1 riding. I am very strict on this for health and safety reasons. If somebody s having a lesson, they have to write it on the board 24 hrs prior which will give them sole use. We have 17 liveries plus 2 of our own that are ridden regularly but to be fair, we only have about 6 of the clients horses that I would say use the school regularly. I think your YO needs to put something similar in place but if she won't I would just try and get down when everyone else isn't around, or look for another yard! A young hirse needs lots of room as the steering can sometimes be a bit dodgy lol!
 
Sadly not interested
Would rather that there is an issue then fix it rather than be proactive :(

I can just see I will have to lunge at 6am and take a chance in the eves
 
dianchi said:
Just out of interest how many horses does your yard allow in the school at once?
20x40 arena

I chose not to ride my 4yo this eve as there was 7 in the school already.
Just wondered how others handle this?
Click to expand...

Wow 7 is a lot!

The large yard I was previously on, we didn't have any set rules but it was common sense.
4 was about about enough when doing your own thing.
When having group jumping lessons though there were sometimes 8 of us.
But then it was controlled and we took terns to jump.
 
We don't have rules as such, but 4 tends to be the most at any one time. I wouldn't take my horse in if there was more than 4 as she is still learning and sometimes our steering/accuracy could be better!
Lessons are sole use, but there are sometimes group lessons - max I have seen is 7 (with experienced riders).
Lunging is not allowed next to riding.
No rule on equipment, but we all tend to only use poles etc. if we are on our own or with one other and have discussed it.
I would not be happy to pay for a facility and have it so badly managed that I can't reasonably use it. And in my experience 7 people in a 20x40 will not allow quality schooling. Feel for you as sounds like a stressful situation.
 
dianchi said:
So made the suggestion on our yard page on fb
Apparently "let's wait till it's a problem"
Great so I'm the problem already
As no-one else is brave eno to say.
Feeling yard shopping coming on........... :(
Click to expand...

but it is a problem if you weren't able to use it because there were 7 people doing trec obstacles at the same time. That sort of thing really should be reserved for outside of peak times at least. I'd certainly have been asking them how long they were going to be!
We're lucky really, a 60x20ish and usually sole use, only ever up to 3. I can't actually imagine getting 7 in a 20x40!
 
i definitely would not be riding in a 20x40 school with 6 others unless it was a group lesson!

I'm lucky in that on weekdays usually I don't get down to the yard until 7:00/7:15pm at the earliest and so don't want to get in the school until at least 7:30pm by which time everyone else has generally finished so tend to get sole use anyway. We always book it for lessons with outside trainers. Occasionally there have been 3 of us in the school at one time and even that can get a bit difficult. At weekends its easy to fit around others as we have both an indoor (floodlit) and an outdoor (unlit) school and people go hacking or to shows as well (as do I).
 
dianchi said:
Sadly not interested
Would rather that there is an issue then fix it rather than be proactive :(

I can just see I will have to lunge at 6am and take a chance in the eves
Click to expand...

I would try and ride in the morning at least 2 or 3 days a week at least then if it's busy in the evenings on the other days you have had a few days of decent riding, I think 7 in a school that size is too many and I think it's really inconsiderate to put trek obstacles up in peak periods when it's busy I would have to say something to them, are there a few other liveries that are in the same position as you I would get together and speak to the selfish ones.
 
Hmmmmmm, you need to tie your YO down and have a chat I think.

If I was YO, I think I would try to compromise, split the evening arena use into two sessions.

Something like:

Jumping/Flatwork
Flatwork/Le Trec
Jumping/Flatwork
Flatwork/Le Trec

It is a tightrope act being a YO and I can understand why so many take a step back, you cannot seem to please all of the people all of the time, try as you might. You want to be helpful and give everyone an opportunity to use the facilities they pay for, but on the other hand you don't want to be in everyone's faces telling them what to do all the time. I always tried to let my liveries enjoy their horses without me telling them what to do.
 
My yard only has 9 liveries and only about 3 of us ever use the school, rarely at the same time. I normally have it to myself and very occasionally share it with one other. My riding club uses a winter venue and the outdoor warm up is a 20x40. We man the entrance and only allow 5 in at any one time. If someone is due in to compete before someone else who's in the warm up we ask the latter to leave and wait their turn. Not ideal but we publicise widely that this is what we do and a lot of people like it.
 
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