Things going missing on yard...just about fed up of it..

[Wiz201]

I have been on yards where you really do have to lock everything up. Have a dejunk of everything at the yard and keep things at home that are not in daily use. Keep tack in your car. Chain up your feed bins. Have old chest freezers or lockable cupboards for everything like spare rugs, grooming kit and headcollar. Put tie rings in your stable low down and use buckets with handles which you can padlock to the tie ring. Padlock your haynets too. Some yards are a joke and if you tie the horse for tacking up then go for a hack you can expect to never see your headcollar or rope again unless you first locked it away! Use permanent marker and name everything then lock it up. No need to have arguments with people then.

I am horrified that there are places where you head collar could go missing that quickly!!!!! I am so glad to be in my own place. I could not stay in a place where I had to padlock my haynet!? Why was it this ladies business how much you feed your horse. I often give an extra net if I am bringing in early and it's bloody Christmas of course people are going for family meals.!?

Lock everything away and then rummage through her stuff when you know you wont be caught to see if she has it! If you find your things then I would take them back. If she ever says anything then crack her over the head with a bucket and tell her to back off before you tell everyone she is a thief!

Yep, lock stuff away. I'd even put feed in containers that you can lock up with padlocks too and take anything you don't use regularly and put it in your car and make sure your car is locked before leaving it to go on a hack etc.

 

[Kezzabell2]

what an absolute witch!! who does she think she is! some people are total idiots!

and what right does she have to take hay away from someone elses horse! if someone done that to mine I would totally kick off! my horse is on box rest at the moment, he often has 2 hay nets over night, esp at the weekend as I don't go down so earlier!! id rather he had too much than to run out of and be without food for so long!

 

[HaffiesRock]

I would have gone absolutely mental if I caught someone interfering with my horses!!

I have had a couple of problems with theft in my time
The first was the most ridiculous run in with a woman, ever! I have quite a distinctive grooming kit with my ponies name inscribed into it. I arrived at the yard one day and my dandy brush and hoof pick were laying on the wall with my haynet tied up (probably with my hay in it) A friends horse was being ridden by her new sharer who I only met a couple of times. I assumed a mix up as the girl was new, so I swapped my haynet with the correct one and put my brushes back in my box, with the intention of pointing out the correct things to use when the girl finished riding. Anyway, I pottered around and then the girls mum came marching over, screaming in my face to return her daughters things. I was a little shocked and stunned and politely explained they were my things and she had used the wrong stuff. She was adamant they were her daughters things, brought from home and she demanded I empty my grooming bag to return them! If I hadn't have been so shocked, I'd have told her where to go, but I handed her my bag and asked her to point out her brushes. She asked her daughter who picked out my dandy brush and hoof pick. Even when I pointed out my horses name on the brushes she had the cheek to imply I'd just scratched it in myself in the last 2 minutes! Luckily YO was there who confirmed it was my grooming kit. The lady called the YO and me a liar, grabbed her daughter's arm and left, leaving the horse still tacked up and tied to the wall!! Weird!

 

[HaffiesRock]

The other instance still hurts me today

I was on a yard where the YO lived on site so during the winter she offered to hay my pony who lived out 24/7 as his gate was literally next to the barn. He was having a full bale a day as zero grazing and he was unrugged. I was putting half a bale in a bag so she could just chuck it over the fence when haying hers. After a few weeks my pony seemed to be losing weight and I was worried. When I arrived in the evening he didn't have any morning hay lefts so YO suggested I up his hay before I called the vet out as he "obviously wasn't getting enough". I agreed (and felt terrible that I wasn't feeding him enough) and so started giving him a bale and a half a day. 3/4 am and 3/4 pm.

One morning I was heading to a meeting and passed the yard. For some reason I felt the need to pop in and check my pony, and I am so glad I did! I found my pony stood by his gate eating one slice of hay. In the next field I found the YO with my hay bag (care bears duvet cover so definitely mine!), feeding her horses my hay. I was absolutely gutted as I trusted her and I left before she saw me. I came back up that evening and took 2 full bales up to the top of the field (with great difficulty due to the mud) I left 1 slice in the hay bag and left to go yard shopping. I luckily found a new place quickly and moved that weekend. I didn't see the YO again (never really did anyway due to the times I was up) but the fact I left without saying a word and she never text or rung me to see where I was/if I was OK spoke volumes!

Unfortunately, within a week of moving onto the new yard, the crazy lady (who accused me of stealing the grooming kit) and her daughter had bought a pony and moved on too! She was trouble from the start but I stayed out the way and didn't get involved.

Oh the joys of livery yards!