Stable yards and ice. Who IS responsible?

Enfys

Enfys

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Should a YO budget for de-icing as it were and be responsible for salting/gritting yards and making them safe, or, should owners do it themselves, or at least pay a little extra to help cover the expense?

Reading some posts on here it always seems to be someone else's responsibility and the buck is being passed faster than a gift in a game of 'Pass the Parcel'
 
well our yo wont have salt or grit put down because he says it rots the concrete,he has finally gone round today and ploughed it but still slippy
 
I think it depends on the yard set-up. I stable my girl at a full-livery yard, tbh i did expect them to grit the yard but they haven't and it is now dusted with a rather thick layer of snow and the horses have all been in for two days as YO thinks its too dangerous to walk them out across yard.
So yesterday to stop my horse's eternal boredom i walked her carefully across the yard to the indoor and let her blow off a bit of steam and have a roll.
So if they don't grit the yard by today, i'll be bringing my own!
 
Were told as owners of riding school/livery yard that if we put down salt or grit, if someone then slips we have admitted liability and can get sued for it.
Its a really sticky ground because we ourselves are sliding around all day everyday as are the horses let alone other people visiting the yard so its not because we dont want to put anything down, we just cant risk being blamed for it if someone falls over!
 
Yup I asked this last January. If the owner of land makes any attempt to make it safe and something happens, they are liable.

If they leave it then it is not their fault. xx
 
When worked for a major DIY store reason that was reason they gave for not gritting carpark.If they did it and someone slipped it could be seen as their fault for not gritting 'properly' but ok if didn't grit at all
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Don't know if true or not or just away of spending less.
Last yard didn't grit.Present YO does to certain extent round barns.
 
I think if stores didn't plough and grit parking lots here they'd not have any customers! My view is that I KNOW it is freezing, I KNOW it may be icy therefore it is my lookout if I slip and injure myself, why the hell should I blame someone else for my lack of care?

It seems that YO's are stuck between a rock and a hard place then. That's not right at all.
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its the blame culture gone mad....my YO has moved snow from the main areas we have to use and has gritted a very long lane up to the farm but i still fell over twice putting my horses out- it was funny though, i wouldn't dream of suing someone over it....
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Were told as owners of riding school/livery yard that if we put down salt or grit, if someone then slips we have admitted liability and can get sued for it.
Its a really sticky ground because we ourselves are sliding around all day everyday as are the horses let alone other people visiting the yard so its not because we dont want to put anything down, we just cant risk being blamed for it if someone falls over!

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sounds like what the pub said to me saturday night when i walked out and did a bambi on ice impression and landed on my ribs on the curb !!! PAINFULL
 
I bought my own and YO bought a load... I see my horses safety as my responsibility in the first instance and if I report something un-safe (fencing) then its the YO's responsibility to fix it (as its their fence)
 
I haven't a clue who is responsible........but I want my horses to be safe so i gritted the yard outside my stables. My horses can walk on it safely & so can I.

Why does everyone spend more time looking for someone who may or may not be responsible for something than it actually takes to do something about the problem themselves!
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The yard owner has a duty of care for anyone entering his premises. therefore he is responsible for making the yard safe and putting down the salt and clearing the snow/ice.

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My thoughts precisely, and Toby, absolutely agree with your comments too.
 
i dont really know if this would work or not but personally IF i was the owner of the yard and had my own horses there i would not be willing to risk leading my own horses over the ice so would have to do something . but could the YO not right something into the livery's contract so that the blame cannot be passed?
 
I spread the contents of my wheelbarrow across the yard this morning as I wish to keep my horse safe while walking across the ice. The YO has never put anything down on the ice at my yard.
 
This is my first winter with a horse and YO has just bought a tonne of grit (off my OH as he works for a DIY store) to put down as the horses have been in for four days now.

Apparently it's a problem every year at our yard and me and OH discussed buying our own and OH wasn't happy as other people would use it, until I pointed out that it was pointless just gritting outside our stable as we or Belle could easily slip elsewhere on the yard! Luckily YO has bought her own this year, otherwise I would have been buying my own or trying to get all the liveries to club together to get a big amount
 
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I haven't a clue who is responsible........but I want my horses to be safe so i gritted the yard outside my stables. My horses can walk on it safely & so can I.

Why does everyone spend more time looking for someone who may or may not be responsible for something than it actually takes to do something about the problem themselves!
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I agree.

We do what we can (ie contents of wheelbarrows etc) but to salt the yard all the way to the fields would be a rather large financial burden, especially if we had to do it daily for several weeks.

DIY livery here is only £15. It would have to be raised to cover the cost of salt/grit and buying equipment that could efficiently spread it to make buying the salt/grit worthwhile.

I have already decided that if it suddenly got any worse, I'm more likely to suggest we keep our horses OUT with extra rugs on as the fields are ok in themselves before I'd ban turnout for any extended periods of time.

I just make sure I wear decent boots (as my muck boots have me slipping on wet grass, never mind frozen yards) and go as steady as I can. I haven't specifically had any requests regarding the yard, but I'm not struggling too much with slipping and sliding when I turn my four out...and I'm a bad weather lightweight. Of course, I only have one person keeping their horses here, so there is not much of a revenue from livery to "play with".
 
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I have already decided that if it suddenly got any worse, I'm more likely to suggest we keep our horses OUT with extra rugs on as the fields are ok in themselves before I'd ban turnout for any extended periods of time.



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That is the first time I have EVER read that on here, what an eminently sensible solution.
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I have already decided that if it suddenly got any worse, I'm more likely to suggest we keep our horses OUT with extra rugs on as the fields are ok in themselves before I'd ban turnout for any extended periods of time.



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That is the first time I have EVER read that on here, what an eminently sensible solution.
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We have dairy grazing over winter. Six horses are out on a 17 acre field and can move to another field if and when needs be.

If the only risk is crossing the yard, I can remove that risk by leaving them in the field. The water trough is smashed with a hammer twice a day and I am happy to drag haylage down to supplement them (although in fairness there's oodles of grass to pick at).
 
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I have already decided that if it suddenly got any worse, I'm more likely to suggest we keep our horses OUT with extra rugs on as the fields are ok in themselves before I'd ban turnout for any extended periods of time.



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That is the first time I have EVER read that on here, what an eminently sensible solution.
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We have dairy grazing over winter. Six horses are out on a 17 acre field and can move to another field if and when needs be.

If the only risk is crossing the yard, I can remove that risk by leaving them in the field. The water trough is smashed with a hammer twice a day and I am happy to drag haylage down to supplement them (although in fairness there's oodles of grass to pick at).

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Patches, can M come and live with you for a couple of weeks please?!
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Were told as owners of riding school/livery yard that if we put down salt or grit, if someone then slips we have admitted liability and can get sued for it.
Its a really sticky ground because we ourselves are sliding around all day everyday as are the horses let alone other people visiting the yard so its not because we dont want to put anything down, we just cant risk being blamed for it if someone falls over!

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Ehhhhh??? that doesn't make any sense! I should think that making ZERO effort is more liability than making an effort. Showing that you've made an effort to clear snow and grit ice should prove less a liability than just neglecting it! It's not that I doubt what you are saying, I just don't understand the ill-logic of whatever law it is.

Meanwhile, we're iced in - and I don't have the option of just leaving my horse out in the field as she's been on box rest for four weeks - she was meant to start hand walking this past weekend but I dare NOT.
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i dont really know if this would work or not but personally IF i was the owner of the yard and had my own horses there i would not be willing to risk leading my own horses over the ice so would have to do something . but could the YO not right something into the livery's contract so that the blame cannot be passed?

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Sadly you can't contract out of the law of negligence.......

I'd just point out that the matter is different if the yard has any employees as they have duties to provide a safe place of work and to keep the workplace free from slipping hazards as far as reasonably practicable.
 
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I have already decided that if it suddenly got any worse, I'm more likely to suggest we keep our horses OUT with extra rugs on as the fields are ok in themselves before I'd ban turnout for any extended periods of time.

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Ditto this. Mine lives out but usually comes in every day for haynet etc but was far too slippy to bring him across the yard, so I skated up to field and fed/checked him at gate (he was toasty) and YO had put 2 round bales of haylege into the field for them to eat so they are quite happy. Rather they were stuck out than in!
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well our yo wont have salt or grit put down because he says it rots the concrete,he has finally gone round today and ploughed it but still slippy

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What an amazingly clever YO.
He actually PLOUGHED a Concrete Yard!
Do please tell us all what he used to do this.
 
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well our yo wont have salt or grit put down because he says it rots the concrete,he has finally gone round today and ploughed it but still slippy

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What an amazingly clever YO.
He actually PLOUGHED a Concrete Yard!
Do please tell us all what he used to do this.

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Miaowwwwww
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Have you ever heard of a SNOW plough?
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I plough my yard and my tracks on a daily basis throughout the winter, even the fields too sometimes, our tractor has a plough, our truck has a plough (and it is legal to drive with one on too) even my quad has a plough! I'd be doing it now, I usually am, but the UK has my snow
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Yesterday, the horses were confined to barracks because we had had a thaw, which then froze - ice rink!
Today, there was 2.5" snow down - proper snow which I could walk in, and made pushing a barrow difficult. So I got the horses out this morning. YO doesn't have a snow plough apart from the blade on his Matbro, whichwill only scrape the snow off the ice....
If the snow is still safe tomorrow, the boys and girls will be out again tomorrow. If not..... I really don't want a repeat of Last February when we ended up with 1.5" of solid, lumpy ice all over the yard. I will be shovelling and gritting.
 
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