Survey on livery yard restrictions during the UK lockdown

[HappyHollyDays]

Fusspot what a sensible and caring yard owner you are. I know your yard is small but you have accounted for everyone’s needs and ensured their mental health is catered for. In addition you haven’t made people pay more for doing extra work. I hope your liveries appreciate all your efforts.

 

[fusspot]

Fusspot what a sensible and caring yard owner you are. I know your yard is small but you have accounted for everyone’s needs and ensured their mental health is catered for. In addition you haven’t made people pay more for doing extra work. I hope your liveries appreciate all your efforts.

Thankyou-I am just trying my best.I am lucky in that all of my owners are sensible and very thoughtful and I appreciate them as much as they appreciate me.
I understand it must be hard for those that have owners that don’t listen to social distancing rules and use horse time as social time which is not on in these difficult times,but if that was me, they would all be getting a strong worded message telling them that if the rules are flouted by anybody once more then I would be making a total lockdown.

 

[Gingerwitch]

Thankyou-I am just trying my best.I am lucky in that all of my owners are sensible and very thoughtful and I appreciate them as much as they appreciate me.
I understand it must be hard for those that have owners that don’t listen to social distancing rules and use horse time as social time which is not on in these difficult times,but if that was me, they would all be getting a strong worded message telling them that if the rules are flouted by anybody once more then I would be making a total lockdown.

I agree with nearly everything you say but feel that only the one's who flout the rules should be banned. I cannot control the actions of others so to be penalised for their infractions and would make me pretty upset that I am being punished.

 

[Jill's Gym Karma]

We have to remember we're in an unprecedented situation; a national emergency. The last time the country had to face deprivation like this was probably the strikes of the 70s, which of course had a political edge. The only people who remember living through WW2 (compulsory ID cards, curfews, rationing, requisition of property etc) are in their 90s now.

The only frame of reference for dealing with this pandemic is China, which is culturally a world away from European attitudes to state control.

And of course we're not blessed with political leaders of competence and integrity currently.

With livery yards offering such a wide range of set-ups and services, it's not surprising that the government rules have been interpreted differently. And of course there are always those who automatically obey rules, and those who look to bend them. It can be argued that UK rules have not been as clear as they could be; I do wonder if this is deliberate as we don't have the manpower to rigidly police such a densely populated country.

I'm basically saying to cut YOs a bit of slack for having to make difficult decisions in a time of global panic.

 

[Anna Clara]

Thank you so much for putting this together, it was really interesting to read and go through the results. I'm no good at results/analytics but thought it was laid out really nicely too

Feeling very grateful our yard is still letting us up and really hope all those missing their horses get to see them soon.

 

[Gloi]

My yard has asked owners to work out a rota so no everybody doesn't arrive at the same time. This seems to be working fine. The YO's elderly parents live on site and they are isolating in their house. I consider myself moderately vulnerable due to health issues so have put mine on full livery though he can shortly be at grass 24/7. I have just been going up once a week to check on him and he is fine especially as they are now out in the daytime and I'm sure he's enjoying a break. I am finding myself wanting to get back to riding though as the weather picks up but not sure when I will do.

 

[Equine_Dream]

Would others on your yard not understand that if you are struggling with weight issues for the horses then it is more essential for you to ride / lunge etc than it is for them? Maybe if you have time slots you could ask someone who has uncomplicated horses to give up their slot so that you have time to ride, and in return if they have some small tasks to take care of you could do them. This is how it is working on our yard, no restrictions from YO, but those of us who can are staying away to leave the yard free for staff and the couple of owners who have genuine welfare issues. This seems to work quite well, and despite a bad start on the first weekend when too many people went I understand that the yard is not almost empty.

Thank you for your advice. Unfortunately there are some very selfish people on my yard, and I can foresee a great deal of bleating to YO about the unfairness if I were allowed to exercise my horses.
Your yard sounds like it has taken a very level headed approach. Unfortunately what you describe would require people to firstly behave like adults, and secondly have some common sense. I think both of these qualities escape many owners on my yard.
I do sympathise somewhat with our yard owner. It is a difficult situation.
A solution I thought might work; we each have an hour slot. There are two paddocks for the liveries, and as long as they observe social distancing, one person from each paddock may be on the yard at the same time.
I thought it might work if we were allowed to exercise during our hour slot. If the YO doesn't want people hanging about on the yard or using the menage, then we could hack out, or long rein as we are surrounded by miles of hacking and bridle paths.
Even if I had to stick within our hour time slot, I could tack up, do a quick 30 minute loop, untack and hose down in that time. It would at least make some difference to my two fatties and make them get some form of exercise.
I think I will need to approach the YO and try and find a solution sooner rather than later. Having watched a good friend loose her mare to laminitis last year, it's not something I ever want to watch my horses suffer with if I can help it.

 

[Leandy]

Thank you for your advice. Unfortunately there are some very selfish people on my yard, and I can foresee a great deal of bleating to YO about the unfairness if I were allowed to exercise my horses.
Your yard sounds like it has taken a very level headed approach. Unfortunately what you describe would require people to firstly behave like adults, and secondly have some common sense. I think both of these qualities escape many owners on my yard.

Surely one of the key rules for YOs should be same rules for all. You really can't have different rules for different people (even if they think they are special cases) that is a route to extreme discontent.

 

[Equine_Dream]

Surely one of the key rules for YOs should be same rules for all. You really can't have different rules for different people (even if they think they are special cases) that is a route to extreme discontent.

Exactly and therein is the issue. Yes you can argue that I need to exercise mine for welfare issues, but then that opens a can of worms and can be broadly interpreted. Ultimately either everyone is allowed to ride/exercise or none of us are. As I say I do sympathise to an extent with our YO as it is difficult to keep a balance between limiting how many people come to the yard and how long they are there, with ensuring people can manage/enjoy their horses as they see fit.
Hence why I thought letting people ride in their hour time slot would be a compromise. You would still only be allowed on the yard at your designated time, so no multiple people on the yard at once, and it would give owners like myself the chance to exercise horses.

 

[Winters100]

Exactly and therein is the issue. Yes you can argue that I need to exercise mine for welfare issues, but then that opens a can of worms and can be broadly interpreted. Ultimately either everyone is allowed to ride/exercise or none of us are. As I say I do sympathise to an extent with our YO as it is difficult to keep a balance between limiting how many people come to the yard and how long they are there, with ensuring people can manage/enjoy their horses as they see fit.
Hence why I thought letting people ride in their hour time slot would be a compromise. You would still only be allowed on the yard at your designated time, so no multiple people on the yard at once, and it would give owners like myself the chance to exercise horses.

But to me allowing those with genuine welfare issues to attend but not those who do not need to be there is the same rule for everyone, i.e. the rule is not to attend unless very necessary for the health of your horse. Surely people would be ashamed to try to claim that they had welfare issues when everyone knows they do not? I mean on our yard we have about 40 horses but we all know exactly who has problems with them, so it would be ridiculous if I tried to claim that my 2 perfectly normal horses had weight or health problems. We have one horse recovering from a very serious injury, one recovering from a surgery and 1 native, and no one questions that those are the people who should be on the yard. I really feel sorry for you to be on a yard where people are so selfish, and to be honest childish, that they cannot understand that horse welfare has to come above their perception of whether rules are applied to all.

 

[Gingerwitch]

But to me allowing those with genuine welfare issues to attend but not those who do not need to be there is the same rule for everyone, i.e. the rule is not to attend unless very necessary for the health of your horse. Surely people would be ashamed to try to claim that they had welfare issues when everyone knows they do not? I mean on our yard we have about 40 horses but we all know exactly who has problems with them, so it would be ridiculous if I tried to claim that my 2 perfectly normal horses had weight or health problems. We have one horse recovering from a very serious injury, one recovering from a surgery and 1 native, and no one questions that those are the people who should be on the yard. I really feel sorry for you to be on a yard where people are so selfish, and to be honest childish, that they cannot understand that horse welfare has to come above their perception of whether rules are applied to all.

You are not in the situation that many people face ie. they have been banned from seeing horses, yours is a voluntary abstinence that is a world of difference.

You continually resort to calling people selfish and childish if they do not agree with you. No it is called fairness, they all pay the same so are entitled to be treated the same.
Why should people be ashamed to want to see there horses ? Why should you have to make up reasons to see your own animals ?

You are bragging that you are happy on not seeing your own from March to October, that is your choice but frankly for an owner to be bragging that they are happy to ignore their animals for this amount of time means that these are just trophy animals and i feel sorry for them.

 

[Equine_Dream]

But to me allowing those with genuine welfare issues to attend but not those who do not need to be there is the same rule for everyone, i.e. the rule is not to attend unless very necessary for the health of your horse. Surely people would be ashamed to try to claim that they had welfare issues when everyone knows they do not? I mean on our yard we have about 40 horses but we all know exactly who has problems with them, so it would be ridiculous if I tried to claim that my 2 perfectly normal horses had weight or health problems. We have one horse recovering from a very serious injury, one recovering from a surgery and 1 native, and no one questions that those are the people who should be on the yard. I really feel sorry for you to be on a yard where people are so selfish, and to be honest childish, that they cannot understand that horse welfare has to come above their perception of whether rules are applied to all.

You would think it would be simple and just a case of using common sense but sadly I think many people on my yard would try and bend the rules to suit themselves as ridiculous as it sounds.
My two natives are both very good doers. My husband's horse however doesn't put weight on very easily so leaving him to chill in the field for a few weeks won't do him any harm. If it was just him we wouldn't be at all concerned with riding during lockdown. I would also totally understand if someone else with a good doer was exercising and riding theirs to keep weight in check, or if someone had some rehab exercises with their horse following an injury.

 

[Winters100]

You are bragging that you are happy on not seeing your own from March to October, that is your choice but frankly for an owner to be bragging that they are happy to ignore their animals for this amount of time means that these are just trophy animals and i feel sorry for them.

No, I did not ever say that I was "happy" not seeing my horses. My point was that we are, in every country, asked to stay home at present and this is what I am doing. Going forward it is obvious that risks will remain, and that until there is an effective vaccine we will risk unknowingly passing this virus on to vulnerable people, this risk is obviously greater if we do not limit our social contact and our visits to places that others use.

The horses are not ignored. I have made proper arrangements for their care and this is undertaken and monitored by experienced people. I am quite aware that I am not the only person in the world who can give adequate care to my horses.

Thank you for your concern in feeling sorry for my horses, but I can assure you that they do not need your sympathy given that they are receiving excellent care and remain in good health.