Turn out problems with full livery

SO1 said:
I have only been on full livery once when my pony was recovering from an injury and he and all the other horses went out every day unless there was heavy snow.

The YO used to send me photos so I could see what my pony was up to whilst I was at work especially if he was doing something nice like having a sleep or relaxing.

I have friends on full livery yards and they have never had a problem either. However these are yards which specifically say the horses get to go out everyday and customer will come at random times for example if they have some time off work so would notice if some of the horses that should be going out were not.
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Yeah I have been told the same and bedding and hay was "ad lib" but then it changes once you are on. I was always buying my own hay/shavings/ straw otherwise horses would be standing on no bed with nothing to eat all day. One livery yard I was on one of the other liveries used to come down 3 times a day (on part livery) to "freshen up" her hay/straw I.e. Put little amounts in so YO couldn't tell her that she was using more than the allocation of "ad lib" as YO never saw her put more than a section of each (small bales) in. Was ok for that livery as she lived 10 mins away and she didn't have to work.
 
Eek. I'd say not normal. My horses / ponies are all on full livery and are out pretty much as often as I expect them to be. Ponies are out 24 x 7. Horses are out 24 x 7 in the spring / summer and as much as possible of the autumn and out for 4-8 h per day if or the rest of the year (depending on weather / ground conditions). They eat either what my yard owner bulk buys (whitch is good quality) or what I supply. Supplements are given as per instructions on the packaging. I don't see the point of keeping a horse at livery if they are not going to be kept in a way I am happy with.
 
I cannot wait to be able to turn my liveries out, they go out over night during the summer, in during the day which suits the horses, the owners, who can ride whenever they want without feeling the horse is missing out on the turnout time and especially me as there is less mucking out, less hay being fed and after this very long wet winter it is a relief to be able to have a bit more time to catch up on other jobs.
 
lme said:
Eek. I'd say not normal. My horses / ponies are all on full livery and are out pretty much as often as I expect them to be. Ponies are out 24 x 7. Horses are out 24 x 7 in the spring / summer and as much as possible of the autumn and out for 4-8 h per day if or the rest of the year (depending on weather / ground conditions). They eat either what my yard owner bulk buys (whitch is good quality) or what I supply. Supplements are given as per instructions on the packaging. I don't see the point of keeping a horse at livery if they are not going to be kept in a way I am happy with.
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That's all very well if you can trust the YO, I left my own place to get a cottage on a LY, being closer to work (stupid hours) he promised the earth before moving, ad lib hay, turnout if needed, but seeing him turnout at his convienience and punch the horse in the head, no way was he handling my lot, he cancelled To because there was no grass, fair enough, then would remove hay from stables cos we were using too much, my smallest is 15 2hh, largest 17hh and they eat a lot, I didn't mind a price rise, as all the other liveries were ponies, but a week after moving onto the yard? The crunch came when my lad seriously hurt a young mare, mounting her, previously lived with our mare with no problems and point blank refused to seperate the sexes, then turned out his pony mare into our field,despite claiming my lad was dangerous, bloods came back, my lad was gelded properly and not a rig, effectively stopping my turn out, I had a huge argument with YO, telling him he wasn't getting a penny more of mine and moved horses and house shortly after, within the paid for period, explained what had happened to the new YO, who happily gave me a smaller field for mine, my lad has never behaved like that before or after that incident
 
Ok FG that is hands down the worst experience. I have had suspicions about YOs smacking horses (one of mine got incredibly headshy) and I have seen some cruel/nasty grooms but nothing like your charming ex-YO. I have experienced the removal of hay after leaving the yard for the night (that was a BHS yard and YO rang me at 11pm to tell me that she had removed my hay as I had used her good hay and not the hay allocated to the liveries; 5 day part livery there was £450pm and 7 day £650 but that did not entitle your horse to "good hay".)
 
Yes moved yard a month ago for the same problem only sorry I didn't do it sooner! I overlooked things and ended up doing jobs myself like haying as sometimes I would go up and no haynet. So I used to fill and put one in. If I asked I was always told it was just about to be done. Hmmmm. But they were getting turnout so I put up with the niggles. But then turnout stopped so I moved elsewhere. Now I wonder what was really going on as I now gave a much calmer and happier horse even when they were supposed to be out all day..
 
Feel your pain - am looking for yards and may reluctantly have to go part/full livery as the options near where I live are so limited. However, have had my fingers burnt on more than one occasion having been told one thing and yet in practice something else very different was happening. Horse currently located over an hour away at a friend's yard because I trust them, but can't keep him there forever!

Unfortunately this is fairly common practice on yards and it is often difficult to say anything to the YO as you're made to feel ungrateful/stupid etc etc.

If you can move, move. And if you can find decent DIY then do it. I much prefer to be in control of my horse. But this isn't always possible due to life/work situations.
 
I've known this happen a lot. Especial if fields are a fair walk ie more than 3/4 mins. It's quicker to skip out again than turn in and out change rugs

Unfortunately I would be looking elsewhere
 
CBAnglo said:
Ok FG that is hands down the worst experience. I have had suspicions about YOs smacking horses (one of mine got incredibly headshy) and I have seen some cruel/nasty grooms but nothing like your charming ex-YO. I have experienced the removal of hay after leaving the yard for the night (that was a BHS yard and YO rang me at 11pm to tell me that she had removed my hay as I had used her good hay and not the hay allocated to the liveries; 5 day part livery there was £450pm and 7 day £650 but that did not entitle your horse to "good hay".)
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Can anyone else see the similarities with yards like this and some care homes??? The bad examples of both are all about money, not care. My sister used to run a garden centre which was owned by a chap who had a couple of care homes. He lived the life of Riley on the profits from the homes. First class everything. As to livery yards, so many have too many stables and nothing like enough turnout, even where the ground and grazing is good. If you can squeeze on a few more grass liveries...
 
Some geldings will still mount a mare, just because they dont has testicles doesnt mean they dont know they are male and some mares will insist on the gelding covering her so sadly sometimes its the mares at fault. Good job you moved.
 
I have not read this whole thread, but I just wanted to say that I am experiencing a similar issue. My horse has been in all winter because she cant wear a rug in the field and is clipped. Now the weather is warmer, I wanted to start turning her out. YO rearranged some horses and allocated me a paddock with another horse. My horse went on full livery a couple of week ago and the person in charge of her wellbeing has not been turning her out as much as I would like. She told me that she thinks my horse can't go out without a rug as it has been too cold. Admittedly the weather has been miserable, but i reckon that she would have been ok to go out for a few hours in the day time providing it was dry. Today the weather was lovely and I went to turn my horse out after riding only to find out that there are now other horses in my paddock!! WTF! Very frustrated!!!
 
TT55 said:
I have not read this whole thread, but I just wanted to say that I am experiencing a similar issue. My horse has been in all winter because she cant wear a rug in the field and is clipped. Now the weather is warmer, I wanted to start turning her out. YO rearranged some horses and allocated me a paddock with another horse. My horse went on full livery a couple of week ago and the person in charge of her wellbeing has not been turning her out as much as I would like. She told me that she thinks my horse can't go out without a rug as it has been too cold. Admittedly the weather has been miserable, but i reckon that she would have been ok to go out for a few hours in the day time providing it was dry. Today the weather was lovely and I went to turn my horse out after riding only to find out that there are now other horses in my paddock!! WTF! Very frustrated!!!
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Is it a medical requirment that the horse is clipped ?
 
Gingerwitch said:
Is it a medical requirment that the horse is clipped ?
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No. She was clipped when i bought her back in December. She was in hard work for most of the winter though, so would have got too sweaty otherwise.

May have a rethink next winter and let her have the winter off (or just hack) and see how she fares staying out and growing a wooly coat!
 
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TT55 said:
No. She was clipped when i bought her back in December. She was in hard work for most of the winter though, so would have got too sweaty otherwise.
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You may be able to get away with a trace clip and still turn out this winter - just make sure the trace clip is quiet a narrow one - but make sure you get someone good as it could turn into a full clip ! lol

Poor mare - cant believe they are still not turning her out - most horses have their coats through now.
 
Gingerwitch said:
You may be able to get away with a trace clip and still turn out this winter - just make sure the trace clip is quiet a narrow one - but make sure you get someone good as it could turn into a full clip ! lol

Poor mare - cant believe they are still not turning her out - most horses have their coats through now.
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I know :(

Yes, she does have her coat through and she is no longer wearing a rug in the stable. She recently had an impaction too so i'm desperate to get her out. In fact it was the YOs idea to get her out asap. But then again i'm never sure who makes these kind of decisions... I spoke to the person who looks after her just now and insisted she goes out tomorrow. I won't be able to check so here's hoping I see some grass stains on her on Friday!!!

So frustrating as yard has been really great so far!
 
It sounds like some of you need a hidden camera so that you can check what's going on with your horses.

I felt the same way when I had CM on part livery. It didn't work out at all, the final straw was when she had an accident and they didn't tell me or call the Vet. I turned up to ride, to find a horse with blood coming out of it's mouth and various other small injuries and they then closed shop and never told me what happened.
 
Faracat said:
It sounds like some of you need a hidden camera so that you can check what's going on with your horses.

I felt the same way when I had CM on part livery. It didn't work out at all, the final straw was when she had an accident and they didn't tell me or call the Vet. I turned up to ride, to find a horse with blood coming out of it's mouth and various other small injuries and they then closed shop and never told me what happened.
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That's awful Faracat!

Luckily all the staff keep an eye on my horse and do inform me if she isn't looking right (was notified straight away when she had colic) so I do like to give them the benefit of the doubt. However I find that because it is a large yard, there are often communication issues, which often lead to upsets like this. Moving yards isn't really an option for me so I hope this gets sorted out.
 
I'm still cross about it and it's about eight years ago now.

The good thing that is relevant to your situation is that I've never clipped CM. I used to have quite intense lessons on her too, but with a proper warm up and essentially, a proper cool down it was fine. I found Bucas rugs with the 'stay dry' lining very useful - I think it's called the Shamrock cooler - and she was always fully dry before turnout and never got a chill. She could wear turnouts though, so not exactly the same.
 
Faracat said:
The good thing that is relevant to your situation is that I've never clipped CM. I used to have quite intense lessons on her too, but with a proper warm up and essentially, a proper cool down it was fine. I found Bucas rugs with the 'stay dry' lining very useful - I think it's called the Shamrock cooler - and she was always fully dry before turnout and never got a chill. She could wear turnouts though, so not exactly the same.
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I plan on doing some work with her to see if she will accept the rug. Foolish me for buying the horse with this issue! Naively never thought it would be a problem, but it's actually a real pain in the backside!

Problem is that we tend to play polo (horse is a polo pony) in the evenings through winter and sometimes we don't finish until 8-9pm or so. It's then a nightmare to wait for the horses to dry and I reckon i'd be there until midnight if she was hairy! I'll see what happens though and figure out what i'm going to do when the time comes :)
 
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