Spinoff: Liveries- your worst 'where's my stuff?' experiences?

[Shadowdancing]

So a sort of 'this is why I hate my stuff moving' account...

Last yard I shared storage with a really nice girl, but she was really young and a bit careless, as you are when you're that age... and my stuff just kept disappearing! I would turn up to ride and find my saddle stripped bare of strirrups, girth and nummnah. My tools weren't there when I went to get them because she was using them. etc. It drove me crazy but they always came back in the end...

The moment I snapped came later....

My black buckets were always vanishing so I spent extra to get yellow ones I could find and wrote my horses name all over them.

One day I was using them to top up my horses water and things looked... odd. Foamy... film on top. I rinsed and rinsed and it just kept happening... then one day showed up at the yard at an odd time and yes, my storage mate was using my buckets... she was putting veterinary stuff in them and using them to clean her horses injured leg!!!

I went mad and from then on everything I owned had chains and locks on it. I couldn't believe I could have poisoned my horse!

So for the sake of venting and reminding each other how things can always be worse... what are your 'Where's my things gone?' tales?

 

[milliepops]

when I was a child I kept my pony on a farm. I was good friends (so I thought) with the daughter and she also had a pony. My stuff kept walking, so my parents bought me a box that I could put a combination padlock on.
After a while my stuff started walking, from the locked box :confused3: The box would be locked again but with things missing.

One day we were playing (lego probably, I was that age) in friend's bedroom and I happened upon a piece of paper that had my combination number written on it. Never felt so betrayed. I thought we were best mates. she must have spent hours working that out. It wasn't like I had any fancy stuff anyway.

24 years later, lol, and I haven't forgotten! Time to move on perhaps?! :lol: I'm on such a lovely yard now, nothing like that would ever happen Love where I am now, it's not flash but the people are fab.

 

[Cowpony]

I'm on a big yard which is also a riding school, so you can imagine how much "walking" goes on! In most cases it's not deliberate, just that new helpers don't know if something belongs to a livery, will use it and then it goes back into the riding school boxes. I usually work on the basis of a 2-week life cycle. If I still can't find it after 2 weeks of looking I probably need to resign myself to buying a new one. Most of my stuff is in a big wooden box which is therefore reasonably safe, I have my wheelbarrow painted with my name, and my mucking out tools are secured with a combination lock. That's as a result of the worst "walking" incident when my very distinctive broom disappeared. I looked everywhere for about a month and just could not find it. Then some other liveries left and my broom re-appeared in the tool store, with the bristles worn down to nothing on one side. Grrrr! I can't decide whether they realised it wasn't theirs when they packed everything up, or whether they just thought they would leave it for the riding school as it wasn't worth taking with them.

Oh and I've lost count of the number of hoofpicks I've had to buy. I keep one in the pocket of my fluorescent now, so I can always find it.

 

[glamourpuss]

The last livery yard I was on I shared a space with 2 other girls, sweet girls...but my God they drove me mad.
I'll lend anyone anything, provided it is looked after & given back. They saw this as carte Blanche to treat my stuff as their own.
- horses turned out in my rugs
- my grooming kits/numnahs used
- one time one of them was going to a show & just decided to take my jumping saddle.
The one that made me see red was when I went to use a pair of brushing boots & there was only 1. I hunted high & low....I finally found it on a gatepost at the end of a nearby bridleway.

 

[Cowpony]

The last livery yard I was on I shared a space with 2 other girls, sweet girls...but my God they drove me mad.
I'll lend anyone anything, provided it is looked after & given back. They saw this as carte Blanche to treat my stuff as their own.
- horses turned out in my rugs
- my grooming kits/numnahs used
- one time one of them was going to a show & just decided to take my jumping saddle.
The one that made me see red was when I went to use a pair of brushing boots & there was only 1. I hunted high & low....I finally found it on a gatepost at the end of a nearby bridleway.

:eek3:

 

[milliepops]

- one time one of them was going to a show & just decided to take my jumping saddle.
.

^^ that would have had me with steam coming out of my ears :mad3::mad3::mad3::mad3:

How did you deal with that? I also don't mind lending people stuff, but I do insist on being asked first

 

[Enfys]

Mine are actually as a YO !

We had a barn with stalls, pump room, tackroom, Office/workshop - what happened in the tackroom was up to them, but the flip your lid tantrum came when we found a livery hauling our air compressor out of the workshop (marked Private) and then found her rummaging around helping herself to rivets and power tools to mend her trailer. Not appropriate behaviour for a YO, I admit that, up until then I had never found it necessary to lock my own shop on my own yard

Then, and this is when I really lost it - I had my own stalls, made up, for my own horses, the same livery ignored the 'liveries only' stalls and put her horse in my foaling stall. I asked her to move, so she did, into the next foaling stall. I am afraid to say that I was not very polite, about her, her thug of a horse, or anything else about her ... she was gone within a week of her months notice. I am (not) heartbroken that she blocked me from FB I later found out from others that she told them she used my stalls because they had good beds, of course they did, she could have had one too, if she paid to be an inside boarder

 

[Red-1]

Many years ago I took a new horse to a new livery yard. The horse was a bit skinny, so I told the YO that I would buy some balancer to feed, and was astonished when she replied that I should just help myself from that sack over there, that belonged to another livery, but she would not notice!!!

Needless to say she eventually lied to me too, and I left after a short time.


ETA, I did not obviously use any balancer from the other livery, I bought my own, which, surprise, did not seem to last long!

 

[MargotC]

First and most expensive was when I loaned and did eventing. All loaners were given their own small space to store things, now this was at a big equestrian centre and unfortunately the spaces had no locks. Had I been older and wiser I would have brought my own lockable solution, but I was about 14. My brand new Mountain Horse boots disappeared over the course of a day. I put up a note on the information wall which was subsequently taken down, same happened to a second note, and I never saw those boots anywhere. Had to fork out for a new pair and I left shortly after for additional reasons.

Second involves multiple episodes with the same person.

When I had the gelding I had two saddles. An English allround type and a Western for hacking. Well, the Western saddle disappeared on me. I found it by chance downstairs in the sheep area: a livery had used it to break in her Arabian. I would remove her girth, take the saddle up with me, and this would repeat itself. Another time I found it with adjusted stirrups for her children. Eventually had to take that one home to stop her.

When I had the mare and the horses had been moved to a summer paddock, I kept my things at the yard and the saddle and bridle and necessities in the car for easy access. Well, I went down to the yard to check on things and a second saddle of mine (the English allround one from above) was nowhere to be seen. Sheep area empty this time and I was at a loss. About a month later I found it in a shed next to the summer paddock; clearly in frequent use and there for anyone to take. Took it home with me.

Reading this back I have no idea why I kept from confronting her. She was much older than me and had a serious attitude problem and I never did well with confrontations but her behaviour really belonged nowhere and there were other incidents with smaller things.

Should I ever have horses again everything will be marked loudly, kept firmly under lock and key, and/or taken home.

 

[xDundryx]

The last livery yard I was on I shared a space with 2 other girls, sweet girls...but my God they drove me mad.
I'll lend anyone anything, provided it is looked after & given back. They saw this as carte Blanche to treat my stuff as their own.
- horses turned out in my rugs
- my grooming kits/numnahs used
- one time one of them was going to a show & just decided to take my jumping saddle.
The one that made me see red was when I went to use a pair of brushing boots & there was only 1. I hunted high & low....I finally found it on a gatepost at the end of a nearby bridleway.

Say what!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's ridiculous! i'll lend people anything as we've all been in need at some point but just to take and things like saddles stirrups etc etc, the mind boggles.

 

[DD]

when I was a child I kept my pony on a farm. I was good friends (so I thought) with the daughter and she also had a pony. My stuff kept walking, so my parents bought me a box that I could put a combination padlock on.
After a while my stuff started walking, from the locked box :confused3: The box would be locked again but with things missing.

One day we were playing (lego probably, I was that age) in friend's bedroom and I happened upon a piece of paper that had my combination number written on it. Never felt so betrayed. I thought we were best mates. she must have spent hours working that out. It wasn't like I had any fancy stuff anyway.

24 years later, lol, and I haven't forgotten! Time to move on perhaps?! :lol: I'm on such a lovely yard now, nothing like that would ever happen Love where I am now, it's not flash but the people are fab.

^^^^
that's appalling

 

[Cowpony]

First and most expensive was when I loaned and did eventing. All loaners were given their own small space to store things, now this was at a big equestrian centre and unfortunately the spaces had no locks. Had I been older and wiser I would have brought my own lockable solution, but I was about 14. My brand new Mountain Horse boots disappeared over the course of a day. I put up a note on the information wall which was subsequently taken down, same happened to a second note, and I never saw those boots anywhere. Had to fork out for a new pair and I left shortly after for additional reasons.

Second involves multiple episodes with the same person.

When I had the gelding I had two saddles. An English allround type and a Western for hacking. Well, the Western saddle disappeared on me. I found it by chance downstairs in the sheep area: a livery had used it to break in her Arabian. I would remove her girth, take the saddle up with me, and this would repeat itself. Another time I found it with adjusted stirrups for her children. Eventually had to take that one home to stop her.

When I had the mare and the horses had been moved to a summer paddock, I kept my things at the yard and the saddle and bridle and necessities in the car for easy access. Well, I went down to the yard to check on things and a second saddle of mine (the English allround one from above) was nowhere to be seen. Sheep area empty this time and I was at a loss. About a month later I found it in a shed next to the summer paddock; clearly in frequent use and there for anyone to take. Took it home with me.

Reading this back I have no idea why I kept from confronting her. She was much older than me and had a serious attitude problem and I never did well with confrontations but her behaviour really belonged nowhere and there were other incidents with smaller things.

Should I ever have horses again everything will be marked loudly, kept firmly under lock and key, and/or taken home.

OMG! My broom pales into insignificance. If I ever found somebody using my saddle I would go absolutely apes&%$!!

 

[ycbm]

I used some of the first ever ready made horse food mix. A local shop made it. I thought that it was disappearing from my dustbin, so I put a note inside the dustbin 'please do not take my food'. The next time I opened the lid there was a note in it 'we don't feed our horses rabbit food'. OKayyyy - so how come you saw my note then?

Worst one ever was a yard manager. Vet left bute for my horse after stitching up a cut. Next day yard owner said 'I didn't give her the bute she doesn't need it'. The stitches burst with the swelling and he never even gave me the unused bute and I was so gobsmacked I never even asked for it.

I had a friend once who I realised never gave back anything I lent her - video, bottle of imaverol. Last straw was a bit that I thought she was still using then spotted it hanging on a hook in her garden shed, miles away from the livery yard and no other tack in sight.

 

[SEL]

My YO is a bit of a cowboy and when I was having a moan about his staff 'borrowing' stuff one of the other liveries told me that he once sold her saddle alongside one of his horses! I completely believe her having seen him in action..... (all my expensive stuff lives in the car / at home)

 

[ROMANY 1959]

When the yard I used to be on was still a riding school lots of my stuff went missing.
Brand new blue head collar eskadon brand
Fur topped O/R boots in red
Wheelbarrow, found 3 weeks later in YO garden full of leaves
My brush walked regularly...
My lorry used twice without my permission , once I was actually following it down dual carriageway !!!!
Other time used it to collect a horse from a dealer 90 miles away,
And I was on holiday then, accidentally found out weeks later.
Yard kept a set of keys in case needed moving when I was not there you see.
So many brushes, sudocrem, buckets, feed etc was hard to keep track .

 

[ycbm]

I borrowed someone's horse a long, long time ago and she went batshit crazy. I couldn't catch my gelding and I knew he fancied her mare. I knew the mare well. So I popped a headcollar on her and led her across the yard about 20 metres to the gate. My gelding came to the gate. I put her back in her stable and caught him. I should never have told her! (It was the days before mobile phones, I couldn't ask.)

 

[MargotC]

OMG! My broom pales into insignificance. If I ever found somebody using my saddle I would go absolutely apes&%$!!

Quite. I have nothing but sympathy for those who elect to keep horses on their own yard and keep liveries out. It gets difficult as a livery when there is a problem and you cannot easily confront the person. In my case the woman was related to the yard owner and I had nowhere else to take the horses in the event of a blowup so saying nothing seemed the lesser evil. Having to take tack home each time is a whole added stress. You live and you learn and I will never put up with it again.

 

[MargotC]

I used some of the first ever ready made horse food mix. A local shop made it. I thought that it was disappearing from my dustbin, so I put a note inside the dustbin 'please do not take my food'. The next time I opened the lid there was a note in it 'we don't feed our horses rabbit food'. OKayyyy - so how come you saw my note then?

Worst one ever was a yard manager. Vet left bute for my horse after stitching up a cut. Next day yard owner said 'I didn't give her the bute she doesn't need it'. The stitches burst with the swelling and he never even gave me the unused bute and I was so gobsmacked I never even asked for it.

I had a friend once who I realised never gave back anything I lent her - video, bottle of imaverol. Last straw was a bit that I thought she was still using then spotted it hanging on a hook in her garden shed, miles away from the livery yard and no other tack in sight.

Those are pretty cheeky.

 

[Hallo2012]

I borrowed someone's horse a long, long time ago and she went batshit crazy. I couldn't catch my gelding and I knew he fancied her mare. I knew the mare well. So I popped a headcollar on her and led her across the yard about 20 metres to the gate. My gelding came to the gate. I put her back in her stable and caught him. I should never have told her! (It was the days before mobile phones, I couldn't ask.)

yeah i would have gone batshit crazy too.

dont go messing with my horse for any reason other than they are in immediate danger..............................

 

[ycbm]

yeah i would have gone batshit crazy too.

dont go messing with my horse for any reason other than they are in immediate danger..............................

She had me doing the mare's penicillin injections the week before, it never occurred to me she would mind, it was a tiny yard and we all knew each other and each other's horses well.

Promise I won't touch yours

 

[Fiona]

She had me doing the mare's penicillin injections the week before, it never occurred to me she would mind, it was a tiny yard and we all knew each other and each other's horses well.

Promise I won't touch yours

Well I wouldn't have minded, that seems a most innocuous situation.....

I've been really lucky tbh, I don't think anything of mine has ever gone missing, and I've owned horses for 30 years, half at livery...

Fiona

 

[milliepops]

Well I wouldn't have minded, that seems a most innocuous situation.....

I wouldn't have minded either, but you'd have had to take both of the silly tarts in together , because leaving one of mine behind in the field results in a wild rumpus :lol:

 

[Cowpony]

Well I wouldn't have minded, that seems a most innocuous situation.....

I wouldn't have minded either. That does seem a very extreme reaction for leading her horse 20m and back. When you said you'd borrowed somebody else's horse I thought you meant you had ridden it, until I read further. That would definitely have merited a melt-down! Ours often get moved around if they are in the way or if the staff want to start mucking out. As long as it's done safely I don't have a problem with it.

 

[wiglet]

I went up to my DIY yard one evening and was puzzled to find my horse a bit sweaty under her rug. Figured she's been belting around the field. My friend coughed to me the day after that her horse was lame so the YO had given her permission to hack my horse out with her friends. She then went on to tell me how fast my horse could go… Not sure who I was most furious with...

 

[Fiona]

I went up to my DIY yard one evening and was puzzled to find my horse a bit sweaty under her rug. Figured she's been belting around the field. My friend coughed to me the day after that her horse was lame so the YO had given her permission to hack my horse out with her friends. She then went on to tell me how fast my horse could go… Not sure who I was most furious with...

Now that WOULD annoy me.... How dare they

Fiona

 

[pixie27]

Can't believe some of these stories - you just wonder what goes through some people's heads.

Mine is nothing compared to some of yours, but I left a really lovely hoody at my old yard while I was on hols. Didn't realise I'd left it there as I barely wore it around horses anyway, so must've been a post-work rush job. Came home and my YO told me she'd been borrowing it while I was away, but she'd washed it. There were huge sweat patches in the armpits and the smell of BO turned my stomach. Still has a faint whiff 18 months (and many, many washes) on.

 

[scats]

What frustrates me is when someone lends something from me because theirs has broken or they haven't had time to go out to get more etc. That's absolutely fine as a one off or even a week-off until they can get to the shop or replace. But when it's 5 months later and they are still doing it and I get down and then can't do my own jobs because my stuff is in use then that really annoys me.

Also people breaking your things and not replacing them.

 

[HeresHoping]

My last yard. I lent my ArcEquine to someone. They 'can't find it'. I am furious. They say I took it back. The thing is, whilst they were using it I had move some 200 miles away. If I took it back, which I categorically cannot remember doing, then it would have moved with me. We have looked everywhere.

I lent someone at that yard my beautiful Prestige dressage girth and my prolite pad, amongst other things. I asked if I could have them back some time later and she swore blind I had already had them back. I made a point of asking everyone on the yard, repeatedly. One day, when she wasn't looking I walked into her lock up and found both items in a bag hanging on the back of the door. I confronted her. Apparently, she was still using them so giving them back wasn't an option at that time. She was booted off the yard not long after.

 

[be positive]

I took one of my liveries out for a short hack to accompany another livery one evening, I had permission to ride him at any time and often exercised him for the owner, as we set off she drove up the drive only to see her horse disappearing the opposite way down the bridlepath, she phoned later not to go mad but to thank me for saving her having to ride at the end of a busy day, i was extremely apologetic but had no idea she was coming that day, she normally sent a text if she was, not quite a "where's my stuff" as she at least saw him rather than spending time searching the fields in a panic thinking the worst.

As for things disappearing, the never ending hoof picks that go off on their own where they end up is beyond me even ones with long strings on go and are never seen again.

Nearly every time a livery leaves they leave behind a pile of unwanted stuff, I have rugs, old grooming kit, various bits and bobs that I hold onto for a while in case they collect them, the last one that left a lot, had no room in the trailer, has "gifted" me 2 decent pine chests, several good pairs of boots, nearly new bandages, a load of other things, some are useless, but after a year they have been put to use, chest in my house varnished and useful, or chucked out, the funny thing is there were no hoof picks!!!

 

[MissTyc]

One of the girls on my yard was having a table top sale.
A new livery bought a nice blue numnah for £10 ..... **MY** nice blue numnah as it happens, including my old mare's name scribbled in biro on a label!