Trying to do the right thing when moving yards...

BlackRider

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I've found a new yard to go to, and although I've seen many people leave without giving notice, I always feel that isn't the right thing to do.
So I gave my notice last night, which is 2 weeks YO seemed fine about it.

Then got a text this morning say that she's decided to close my field, so my 2 will only go in the school until I leave. This is then she can rest it...

Sigh...
 
I had the same dilemma and have given a months notice but am also paying for my new field. My YO has been brilliant and I can move them when I'm ready and my field is securely fenced etc. I think if you are being charged for grazing then you should have the right to use it and if the field needs resting then they do that after you've gone. What does your contact say?
 
If you haven't got a contract, you haven't got a leg to stand on. Her decision does seem a little unfair though and leaves a bad taste ....
 
I can sympathise. I had been on a yard for several years when my friend who also schooled my horse a couple of times a week got her own yard (her parents were moving as well to live in the house attached to the yard).

I gave the YO 2 months notice as I thought that would be helpful. I had no issue with the yard, but it just made a lot more sense to move to the yard my friend was buying. After about 3 weeks they asked me to leave as soon as possible because it was causing a bad feeling for me to still be there when I was leaving.

It wasn't anything I said or did, I rarely saw anyone as I rode in the evening most days after work. Most of the other liveries rode in the day time and the YO had a young child so would tend to be indoors when I was there. Before I said I was moving it was all very friendly, and we all socialised together away from the horses (including lots of parties etc at each other's houses).

I moved into my friend's yard the day after she and her family moved in - poor things, she was great about it, but really could have done with having more time to organise things.

I was really hurt at the time, especially as the day I turned up to move my horse there was noone around, the horse was tied up outside her stable, and all my stuff including my tack left in a pile. :( Nowt so queer as folk. :rolleyes:
 
move now....


why do SOME yard owners have to be so horrible?!!

i left a (brilliant) yard last year as it just didnt suit my horse sadly... i stil lpaid a week even tho i left in 3 days i gave him a weeks rent as i felt it only fair.
 
The last yard I kept my horse on where brilliant about me leaving, but no sooner had I moved there I sort of handed my notice in. We were buying a property and horse was coming to live with us, so I explained early on so she knew what was happening. When we eventually got a moving date I told her when it was and she allowed me to pay for the days I was actually there, so it was very fair all round.

I dont know why some yard owners/managers get so upset about people moving we all move for varying reasons and in the future their yard might suit us again, the first yard I moved from where lovely about us moving and I would have gone back at some point if need be.
 
Unfortunately being a yard/land owner makes some people behave like a Lord of the bleddy manor. When moving I always play it safe and my next stable is always lined up ready from the day I give notice, just in case. Some yard owners take it very personally, and therefore behave like utter idiots. I'd speak to your current yo face to face and ask for the grazing to be reinstated. If she's the kind of wally who sends a text like that, I bet she's a pussy cat when confronted politely. Enjoy your new yard :)
 
I am still in touch with most people who have left my yard. I remember when a friend and I left a yard years ago and the owner cried. Then she asked us to leave earlier than our month's notice. It obviously hurt her. It can feel very personal when people leave your yard. It is only human to wonder what you have done wrong etc. Luckily the people who have left my yard have left due to reasons I could fully understand, such as going away to uni.
 
Sometimes they take it very personally. When I last tried a yard, the ponies didn't settle at all. One was very depressed and suffering as there was no field shelter, the other was a complete lunatic on rides - very unlike him. After a month I couldn't take anymore, so despite the other liveries being ok (although I felt very much an outsider, not having the lovely ariat chaps, stubben tack, a million supplements in the feeds, lol)I decided to tell the YO and say I would leave at the end of the month.

She invented a two month notice rule and because FIL did some fencing for her and another friend did a lot of work there in the fields, I felt I had to stay, so as to not cause bad feeling. Lovely yard, but due to that I'd never go back, even if they had a shelter in every ruddy field!
 
Oh its so sad when it ends like that. I was so lucky last year when out of the blue I got offered the little yard up the road from my house I'd been after for years, literally the day after my mare foaled. It was in a right old state and we needed a month to clear up the mess/do urgent repairs before we could move the horses there. I told my YO where I was immediately that I would be leaving - she'd been so good to us for the year we had been there (and I had planned on staying there for a LONG time) that there was no way I wanted to upset her in any way or for something to get back to her on the bush telegraph. I was so lucky that whilst she was sorry that we would be leaving, there was no funny business or silly game playing going on to force us into moving early.

Its such a shame people feel the need to carry on like this, don't they realise that nothing is forever, you could recommend the place to others or even decide to go back there one day if you part on good terms.
 
When I gave my notice (one month) to move at my old yard, at first YO was fine but then she must have gone away and thought about it. After a couple of weeks she started to make my life very difficult and got the stable manager to do the same. So, instead of leaving in a huff I went and brought a bottle of fine wine and some olives, took it to her and told her I would be leaving tomorrow. She had no choice but to receive the news and the wine with good grace and I left on a good note.

My husband said it showed weakness to get her a gift but I thought it showed that I was not a bitter old bint.
 
My friend and I tried very hard to do the right thing and it was all in vain I'm afraid:(
We have the opportunity to move to a lovely yard, it's by invitation only so we were very fortunate to have been asked if we were interested in moving there.
To cut a long story short we decided to move there. Pretty much every previous livery on our current yard has opted to do a virtual runner or move with little or no notice, leaving all there mess behind them.
My friend and I decided that we would do the decent thing and tell YO we were leaving, explain why, what a difficult decision it's been and that we hoped we could still remain friends. Sadly YO was not impressed.
We have worked tirelessly all day in order to leave the Yard and tack room immaculately tidy, as it seems we are not welcome there for a minute longer than necessary, and have to leave tomorrow.
 
Its a shame some YOs seem to take getting notice so personally. Its a business after all, and most people leave a yard for reasons of personal preference as to their needs at the time. I have left 3 yards over the years, have given required notice twice and on one occasion did not as it was financial and I couldn't afford to stay there anymore on full livery. I returned to my previous DIY yard who were happy to have me back as I had left on good terms and the yard I was leaving understood and were happy for me to go without notice and have said I can return anytime. That's how it should be. It does nobody any good to be harboruring bad feelings simply for someone taking their business elsewhere. OP's current YO has now lost any possibility of her returning in the future and no doubt will not be recommended to anyone else as a potential livery. Where is the business common sense in that?
 
I didn't tell my last YO when I was going to leave, as she has a reputation for letting horses loose on the road if you pee her off. I was only on that yard 6 weeks thank God, and I got my boy off with not too much harm done to him. Now she is busy bad mouthing me and all the other liveries who left (or got thrown off after I left). She doesn't have any liveries now as far as I know - I wonder why?!

My current YO would not be like that at all, but TBH unless I move to another part of the country I am never leaving my yard - it is brill!
 
If you haven't got a contract, you haven't got a leg to stand on. Her decision does seem a little unfair though and leaves a bad taste ....


Works both ways though - if there's no contract then the YO hasn't got a leg to stand on either if the OP just wants to go.

I'd be off, you've tried to be decent and she doesn't want to know.
 
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