What are the barmiest yard rules you've had to put up with...

Casey76

Casey76

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... and how long did you stick it out for (or are you still eye rolling and putting up with)

just for fun... ;)

Fortunately my yard doesn't have anything too bizzare :D
 
there was one where we weren't allowed to be on the yard past 8pm or before 8am. Made life with a 9-5 and a 45min one way commute interesting! But it was literally right next door to my house at the time. It wasnt the reason I left though, that would be down to the weird, passive aggressive YO and her staff. Really good hacking too, shame.
 
Winter turnout only in paddocks the size of a very small garden - with 4 horses in! It was the sort of yard where rules changed on a daily basis at the whim of the owner, didn't apply to everyone (obviously her relatives that kept their horses there didn't have to follow same rules as everyone else!).

I think she would have quite liked to ban us from using turnout rugs as well as she always made remarks about them and preferred to keep hers 'au naturale' - because obviously turnout in tiny pens is natural...!
 
Farmer YO decided to make hay in one of the horse paddocks - Fine. Our horses were turned out in the paddock behind it with access through the first paddock. Farmer decided we couldn't go the direct way through the side of the hay paddock to the normal gate, we had to walk round three sides of a square around both paddocks to a gate, down a track, at the very back of the rear paddock, mainly via a single track, high hedged, lane, often in the blooming dark.
 
I once had a horse on loan at a small livery yard. I texted the YO to tell her my horse's owner was coming up the following day to see her. She said this was fine. She then proceeded to have a complete fanny attack after a few weeks of ignoring me because I had let "strangers" on her yard and allowed them to turn my horse out. Yelled at me for being selfish and disrespectful. Safe to say I am no longer at said yard...
 
All horses to be in by 5pm from October - April, because it's dangerous being out in the dark..... Even though during January its dark long before then....

Pretty sure most people have a job that finishes at 5pm so it was impossible!
 
this post is brill!! so many stories to tell---had one yo who wanted to be yr friend one min and then slagged you off the next-criticizes what you did with the your own horse (told her no uncertain terms to keep her opinion to herself) another rule was stable doors must be kept open after turnout??? forgot one day as she yelled at me before I have even got into yard! i was out of there very quick!
 
This thread is amusing!!! Where do I start!!!!
How about a sweeping rota to clean outside other people's stables!!!

No horses allowed to be tied up on yard

No horses to be fed before 8am at the earliest or 5 pm at the latest

Full livery where you have to do DIY when YO away (frequently!!!)


No turnout before 9.30am or after 3pm!!!

If I think of more I'll post them, these weren't ALL on the same yard but were/are genuine rules. Needless to say I'm not on any of them any more!!
 
how about a Y/O paid to feed my horse and refusing to add water to the feed!? Said horse was a very good dooer and only on light chaff and balancer, YO was so lazy they wouldnt walk to a tap to put a splash of water in my horses’s feed , there was no tap in the feed room and all the horses got a scoop of wet sugar beet from a massive pre-soaked bin that was left for days and days on end. I of course did not want my horse having a scoop of sugar beet and ended up having to provide a water container with a tap on it, to sit next to my feed!
 
YO absolutely off her rocker.... would change the rules like the days of the week. Dependent upon how much you paid for your own particular livery, was also dependent upon how well you were treated! All liveries had to skip out and turn out her own horses when it was 'turning out' time as she'd gone out for the afternoon.

Allegedly poo picking was done for you, but this was definitely NOT the case as we all found out within a couple of weeks of being there. Also you were expected to poo pick for the 'full/retirement livery horses too that were in with yours!!! (she was getting paid for doing this, but loaded the work onto the part liveries).

Would regularly have mornings in bed or disappear for the day, or announce she was having a weekend off.

Prices went up and up and services went down and down....so I got off there quick march. She was and still is the most deceptive woman I've ever met involved in the horse livery industry.
 
Having to put up with another livery threatening to kill me quite often and the yard owner not wanting to get involved because she doesn't like confrontation - seems pretty barmy to me! 7 years later I'm still alive!
 
muckypony said:
All horses to be in by 5pm from October - April, because it's dangerous being out in the dark..... Even though during January its dark long before then....

Pretty sure most people have a job that finishes at 5pm so it was impossible!
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My rule is that we will only bring in/turn out part-livery horses during daylight hours for safety and practicality reasons. However I'm more than happy for DIY liveries to do so at whatever time suits them.
 
The worst was the one that had no rules - as many people in the arena as felt like it, even when it was dangerous, YO standing there watching people come in and canter around the arena not observing left to left, outside track for faster paces etc and no comment made.

Kids on the yard until as late as 10.30pm at night unsupervised with no real time for adults to ride, the list goes on...
 
mega spoilt ponies said:
No leg straps on rugs - only fillet strings allowed.
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If that is on part/assisted/full livery I can understand that, some horses kick when you go under their back legs so it is safer to use fillet strings and also much quicker. If it is your own horse though that you rug up yourself, seems unnecessary!

I have never liveried on a proper livery yard, always been DIY on a private yard but most of my horsey friends keep/kept theirs on livery, rules include not being able to feed your horse anything but the supplied competition mix or a basic cheap sugary chaff :o even if you paid for it and put it in the feed room yourself. No visiting at all on a certain day of the week, the yard was shut. Turnout depended on your social standing, if the YO liked you then your horse got turnout, if they didn't then the poor thing was left in and the owners were told it was turned out (I heard them telling one of the favored liveries this!) they had limited and rotated turnout for the horses. (not a rule, but still barmy)
All horses had to wear shoes, no barefoot allowed.
Nobody was allowed to use the mounting block, ever ! it was there purely for display :p

It's no wonder they are always moving yards.
 
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Hoof_Prints said:
If that is on part/assisted/full livery I can understand that, some horses kick when you go under their back legs so it is safer to use fillet strings and also much quicker. If it is your own horse though that you rug up yourself,ds.
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Full livery, and it has nothing to do with safety, they freely admit it is a time thing. I dont like the rules because i pay a considerable amount of money and dont appreciate somebody dictating to me what rugs and boots my horse can and cannot wear.

Pure laziness, and not the level of service i would offer my paying customers. Them over stocking and not having sufficient staff shouldnt mean my horse gets a lower standard of care.
 
mytwofriends said:
No shampooing of tails on the yard, as the suds would make a mess.

Oh yes.
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Yup, had that one - even when it was raining...
No bed down during the afternoons, my horse is one of the odd ones who will only wee when the bedding was down - so he would have to wait every day until beds were put down for a wee.
No horses in the school when the instructor was teaching, but YO wouldn't give any warning to when the lessons were booked.
Farrier told to tie up somewhere different every time he visited, even if yard was empty.
Horse accused of being a rig because he squealed with other horses tied up outside his stable.
Staff would turn out 4 at a time per person - even though they frequently lost them or horses ended up in kicking matches..
 
I'm glad I have mine at home and can make up all my own barmy rules!

I think I shall keep my mounting block for display purposes, and only allow myself to mount from it on Wednesdays. I shall have turnout only between 6am and 7am and 10pm and 11pm, and I shall only wash tails if the moon is full and the wind is from the east. :D

Having never been on a proper livery yard I've never had to deal with barmy rules, only difficulties with keeping him at a private yard where I would be informed that the farrier had been booked for me so I'd have to take the day off work (not happening), told one minute that the horses couldn't be out when it was even slightly wet, and the next that keeping them in when they were physically shivering with cold was 'mollycoddling' them, that he had to have a breakfast feed (which kept happening after I said no, using the feed and expensive supplements I'd paid for, in varying and unknown quantities). I suppose it was just differing opinions on horse care, but it really got under my skin at the time.
 
Ha, got a lot of these:
- No water to go down the drain unless through a sieve (under any circumstances)
- No rugging after 1 May
- No catching in on Mondays or before 8am
- No tieing up on the yard (we were grass liveries, no stables!)
- One DIY yard, you had to choose a time to give your horse it's evening meal and if you weren't able to feed within an hour of this time they had to go without (apparently otherwise they will get colic from change of routine!)

Worryingly, this wasn't just one absolutely insane YO, just the highlights from the 5 or 6 yards I've been at.

Just thought of another one, looking around a prospective yard:
Me: so you mentioned I can bed on straw or shavings
YO: yes that's right, but we don't have many people using straw. We don't allow it on the muck heap so you have to take it home. WTF??!
 
To get fresh straw, you could not transport it in a wheelbarrow or a sack, you could only transport fresh straw if it was first put in a sack then the sack transported in the barrow. Dirty straw to transported in wheelbarrow...... I could never get my head around that one!
 
We had to wash and scrub any areas where our horses did a no 2!! The yard was immaculate though which I liked. I would never had left if they hadn't sold it. We had a number of people come and go very quickly as they couldn't cope with YO's OCD. She'd have hoovered if she could.

YO also moaned about leg straps and buckles. Tbh I think she had a point at times. Fair enough leg straps if you need them but clips on rugs are much quicker and easier in the cold. I choose the rugs I buy differently now.

Nothing else banned though.
 
Crikey have had a few mad YOs/YMs!
Some of the crazy rules I've had:

If you are the only adult on the yard you had to supervise any kids (don't have any myself but YO and her mate would bring theirs up then go for a hack leaving them behind!!)

Although I was on DIY I had to cover the YOs holidays and look after her horse and dog at the drop of a hat

YOs unclipped horse must always wear a rug, left it off one day as it was nearly 30 degrees and the poor thing was dripping with sweat and she went mental

When on DIY i had to rescue a horse from being attacked by another in the field then patch its ripped shoulder muscle up till the vet got there as YM didn't like blood and first aid "wasn't included on her working livery agreement"

YOs horse apparently only needed one small bucket of water a day when out and I would get shouted at if I topped up the empty bucket at lunchtime

When i asked if i could install rubber matting i was told if i wanted to use rubber floor matting I would have to also put it on the walls, then as i had to screw it to the wall which damages it i would have to leave both the wall and floor matting if i left

When I left a yard I was told I couldn't drive up the grass track access to get my hay from the barn as it may leave tyre tracks (was in summer) also I couldnt wheelbarrow it to the road as the (string tied) bakes may blow about and make a mess on the grass (drove the 4x4 and trailer up there anyway)

The whiteboard was a thing of horror and each day I would find something stupid/snotty written on it, I.E. "your horse snorted at mine over the fence today I find this very aggressive behaviour, this is my yard and I will not have my horse put at risk, you have to put another fence up 1m in from the boundary fence tonight or your horse will have to stay in until you do"
 
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I know a yard where you can only have lessons from the YO. No other instructors allowed.

As a yard owner, I had to speak to a livery about her insane bedding. Deep litter meant knee high and she added and removed a builder's 1m cube sack per day. I was emptying the muck trailer twice as often for her 1 horse and the muck heap was out of control. Cue stomping off in a huff, hiring a 3.5T van to collect her horse and smashing one tail light on my flower planter. Schadenfreude...

In the end my wife got sick of having people traipsing in and out and we are now livery free for good.
 
muckypony said:
All horses to be in by 5pm from October - April, because it's dangerous being out in the dark..... Even though during January its dark long before then....

Pretty sure most people have a job that finishes at 5pm so it was impossible!
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Ridiculous! I think a lot of YOs forget that people actually have jobs. Like when ours said we could only turn out for 2 hours at a time - erm yes, so I'll just drive 13 miles back from work to bring him in in two hours!?
 
I don't think the rule about tying up outside a stable is barmy, been on a yard that everyone did this and personally I thought it was dangerous
 
Mine are at home now but I remember many years ago going to look at a diy yard for my mare and they had a rule that everyone had to be off the yard by 4.30pm??!! Needless to say I did not move there and it was probably the reason that out of about 15 stables only 3 were taken.
 
case895 said:
I know a yard where you can only have lessons from the YO. No other instructors allowed.
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We had this for a while, purely because YO's insurance company wanted to charge her nearly double for the privilege of allowing external instructors!!

Absolutely none of us minded, we boxed out if we wanted to use someone different, I don't think that is that barmy :/
 
case895 said:
I know a yard where you can only have lessons from the YO. No other instructors allowed.
.
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I've known a few yards with this rule. Don't see it as a problem as long as you know before moving to the yard. More often than not it is the lesson fees that provide a living wage to the YM.
 
There was a rule that I understood the reasoning behind, however it was completely impractical for me, on a yard I viewed but never chose.

Poo picking from the arena or tracks had to be done immediately, not after finished schooling. Fair enough except there was no poo bucket at the arena, so had to take the poo back to the yard... I don't like interrupting a schooling session anyway, but to dismount and walk the horse back to the yard, somehow tie up or tag along with you and the tools, then to restart... Seemed a bit mental.
 
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