Stupid, thoughtless and dangerous - yard rant

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fatpiggy

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So the farm has decided to cram another 4 shoddy homebuilt stables into the cowshed (told me when I moved there they were keeping it small and simple at 6 horses, now there will be 20 on exactly the same amount of grazing). Yesterday they took off the galvanized roof which leaked like a seive anyway. So the upper stables have rain blowing straight in since that side faces SW. Today they were up on the apex before 8am with an angle grinder. Shame no-one had mentioned the roof being removed to the liveries at that end in the first place so there were several nervous horses and one terrified pony cowering at the back of its stable with what sounded like a motorbike over their heads. Of course health and safety is the least of anyone's worries, so I hope no sparks get into the straw beds and no-one falls off the roof or the ladders since no-one is wearing a hard hat, using goggles or anything else which I thought was required by law.

But hey, what does it matter when they will be screwing more money out of gullible owners? They have just had the cheek to put the rent up to cover the cost of all the work that now needs to be done since they haven't done any maintenance at all for years. A fence which was intact right around the fields for a start would be nice. We currently have an abundance of broken or leaning fence posts with electric tape draped all over the place since it is broken in several places. Luckily the sheep fencing is basically keeping them in. Not the sheep though, they've climbed up it like a ladder and moved to a field with some grass on it.

What I wouldn't give to move but I'm told the other local yards are worse in one way or another and it would finish my old girl off anyway. Pointless complaining as they just kick you off. We have no redress at all.
 
Sounds really grim, sorry to hear all that..:(
FWIW, I'd be going personally to check out all/any of your other options, even if people had told me they were bad...there may be things that you could put up with that others won't, just because things have been so bad where you are - the lesser of two evils kinda thing.
And whilst the move may be hard on your mare..wouldn't it be better than having someone angle-grinding over her head...plus all the other c**p you are putting up with and paying for the privilege for..
You may have other options you don't know about yet...but won't find out about unless you go look!
Failing that, someone else more well-versed in livery lore might know how to best apply pressure to improve conditions where you are.
Good luck, keep us posted. :)
 
I'm sorry but I would move yards even if I had to travel a few more miles.

I was going to a livery only 2.5 miles away, I though Ideal until, upon closer inspection the yard was badly run and a lot besides. I now travel 14 miles to the livery I'm on now and it is wonderful, so organized, friendly and well run. Fortunately I only have to go once a day. If I or my horse had to endure what you are going through I'd go mad. Good luck to you, hopefully things will turn out better :)
 
Luckily my old girl isn't affected by the racket, she is in another block a few yards away. I have looked into the other local yards but they are just unsuitable for her. I already drive 17 miles from home to keep her out there as there isn't anything nearer, plus she doesn't box anyway and my petrol bill is well over £250 a month. I can't really afford that, so going further is just impossible. All I want is a decent stable and decent all year turnout so that she can see out her days. No fancy facilities that I can't use and don't want to pay for. I know the winter makes most people feel gloomy but I'm thinking more and more that I should just have her PTS and walk away. I have to help her through 8 inch deep mud to get out into the field and her poor old legs find it so hard. She plants her feet before she gets to it and I feel so mean but her arthritis needs the movement and being shut up alone in her stable all day every day is a lonely existance for a friendly and sociable horse. I had asked for bark chippings to put down (as I do each year) but didn't get any and the mud is so deep and wet now its too late.

The yard wasn't too bad when I first moved on and if you asked for something to be done it was and pretty promptly but now they've clocked horses as easy income everything has gone downhill. I've been trying to fix fencing or do an emergency mend when I should have been on my way to work so many times its a joke. When the water pipes are frozen you get told to bring water with you. Great in the mornings I can just about stagger down my stairs and to my car with a 5 gallon container, but what am I supposed to do in the evening, bring it from work? A bit of cheap pipe lagging would greatly help the situation but that's too obvious. Electric off for 5 days, no problem use a torch to muck out. Thanks.

Needless to say I'm a big yes voter for licencing of all yards!
 
But surely if everyone on the yard felt the same way as you (hopefully they do) and you ALL had words with the YO and basically stood up to him/her about how bad the yard it getting and what needs to be done then surely they will have to do something for the sake of loosing all their liveries and creating bad name for themselves?

I can’t understand how a yard like this could bring in more business unless folk don’t give a rats bottom about the environment they keep their horses in, if they don’t care or have the balls to speak out then I guess you won’t have enough support to stand up to your YO and say …hey, this just isn’t good enough, standards are slipping and unless something is done, we are leaving kinda thing.

Good luck.
 
Loads of it sounds like a yard i was on once, they didnt give a toss about the horses, and after saying they were starting small ended up with over 20 horses, lots of grazing but not enough given to the horses.
Regularly building work,without telling you, angle grinders, lorries and they flew about in tractors really fast, yes it was a working farm, but it was also a bloody livery and im astonished nobody was killed YET.
You and your horse are living in purgatory, id rather spend another 10 mins in the car and be happy that put up with it
 
My immediate reaction is to leave. How can grazing designed for 6 now accommodate 20 ?

I know you say about costs etc but I think I'd be looking at retirement specific homes for her with grass livery and friends to see out her days.
Often not as expensive as you think even if you have to travel further you could reduce the number of days you go.

It sounds far from ideal on your current yard.
 
Have a look at retirement livery yards, there are some good ones. The amount you are spending on petrol would easily pay for them.

If you didn't have to go every day, they give full livery, you could afford to be a bit further away.

The places I have seen look great for oldies, no facilities just good fields and stables/shelters.
 
Ooh, under NO circumstances would I not see her twice a day every day. She's my responsibility and I take that very seriously. Also, as she has been on borrowed time almost the entire time I've had her and at rising 29 isn't going to go much longer, every moment with her is precious -one day soon I'll never see her again. When I moved her to the farm she was devastated and it took her a year to really settle down. Now she has been there even longer than at our original place. Seriously, I just couldn't do it to her again. The whole point of moving her was for the last time and I've always said next she moves off it will on the back of the knackerman's lorry.

As for complaining, its a waste of time. I nearly got chucked off when I raised alot of concerns about an elderly pony (wasn't any of my business, mustn't interfere with how other people keep their animals, being a trouble maker). Since then we have another pony in a similar neglected state - all the liveries complained within 24 hours - was anything done? No. RSPCA have visited twice now. Believe you me, all of us (bar the two who don't care anyway) are fed up. There are other yards around but the good places have long waiting lists and another only does full livery. Another has YO who is a mental case and throws people off for using too much straw. Ours is one of the few that has all year round turn out (24/7 even in the winter unless the field is flooded as it is now) and that attracts people. As someone else has said, Cheshire land is expensive and scarce. We are on the edge of suburbia so that adds to the pressure. Also, the grazing tends to be very rich and mine has just been diagnosed with low level Cushings. Two others moved onto ours for that reason.
 
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