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

I've been ok so far with yo, most haven't been the best people persons but good and fair with the rules and horses. Occasionally I might have raised an eyebrow over what they did but it never really affected me and my horse. I've been lucky that the last one sepecially was fab with my boy and couldn't have managed without her help.
That said I may have to go looking for a new yard if I get another and after reading all these I can't say I'm looking forward to it!
 
At an old yard the arena was resurfaced with chopped up carpet, then signs went up all around the edge saying 'no riding on the track'....I just ignored them and nothing was ever said, but very odd nonetheless! The carpetty stuff was horrible too. We also had to poopick the arena with marigolds, which were never replaced even when they fell apart and the cuffs rotted.
 
Possum said:
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??!
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Hahaha! this is one of the best I have heard !!
Im luck to be on a relaxed DIY yard where we just get on and do our own horses, liveries help each other out when needed and no taking our horses muck home :)
 
How about having perfectly normal and sensible rules (e.g. put jumps away after use, sweep up after yourself etc) ... But they're never enforced and most don't take any notice of.

The jumps have been up in the same place in the school so long now, weeds are growing around the bases (grr!).

:-(
 
Nooo a cafe would be the worst thing to ever happen to me! I would get nothing done!
I love my yard, even more so after reading this thread!
 
Wow... I love my yard.

We have the standard rules, sweep up after yourself. If coming up the yard later then normal (especially in the winter when it is dark) text to let them know. If you bring your horse in and it leaves one horse in the field you must bring that horse in so it isn't alone.

Thankfully we have a lovely yard owner and all the liveries are great. :)
 
When I moved to my current yard YO told me she doesn't like lots of rules and everyone just uses common sense. The reality is that there are literally hundreds of rules. You only find out what the rules are after you've broken one when the YO puts up a very rude/sarcastic/patronising and threatening note. YO retains the right to change the rules on a per person basis depending upon whether she likes you/your horse etc. YO retains right to change the rules with no notice. It's the notes that drive me mad, one day I will put an equally rude and sarcastic comment on one of them.

Over the years I've learnt:
Don't leave a wheelbarrow in the barn (it was OK for the first 8 years I was there!)
There are various places I can't park (changes frequently)
There is a maximum gap between parked cars
There is a specific piece of tarmac we can't walk across as we will damage it (OK for farmer to drive a tractor over it though!)
Take your bagged dog poo home don't put it in the bin. Liveries get blamed for all dog poo found on farmland despite the fact it is criss-crossed with footpaths/bridlepaths so it could be anyone.
Horses can only be shod in shoeing area - this was a very strict rule until it was used to build two extra stables. We no longer have a shoeing area and strangely that rule disappeared.
I could go on and on!
 
MotherOfChickens said:
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.
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I was at a place like that with a "curfew"! And a yard owner with no social skills! They went mad when an owner stayed in her colicky horses stable one night! And no 24/7 turnout in the summer, I absolutely hated having to bring my horse in on a hot sunny June evening at 8:30pm!
 
Possum said:
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??!
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This made me chuckle! Take it home! In what? Your handbag?! A tesco carrier bag? A suitcase? Seriously!
 
I was on part livery Monday-Friday - horses MUST be mucked out by 10am at weekends. I wouldn't have minded if he was kept in, but I paid extra to have him turned out early on a weekend so that I could enjoy a lie in and go for breakfast with friends/family and enjoy my days off before going to the yard to sort my stable and bring him in!.

Current yard is lovely but there have been two things that have surprised me. They provide electric fencing but we have to provide an energiser/battery (which is quite an expensive cost for something I'll never use again if I move!) and we have to take rubbish home (which is so inconvenient!).
 
I'm so glad that our yard has just common sense rules! Haha but I did make the rules! Luckily we have lovely people on our yard who use their common sense and lovely yard owners! It really does make me appreciate our lovely yard after reading this thread!
 
A friend jeeps her horse at a very big, busy yard near home and the rules are gobsmacking!
Fantastic hacking facilities but can only be used when hacking out with a member of yard staff. New horses on the yard aren't allowed in indoor school (ok if for quarantine but then horses are turned out with all the regular, long term liveries so shouldn't make any odds?). All horses to be mounted from mounting blocks. All horses must have martingale or at least a neck strap. Turn out for full liveries by members of staff only - my friend got told not to turn her own horse out as somebody else would do it? Plus she pays a blimmin' fortune for it!

My yard, back when I had horses of my own and when I didn't have stables at home, was thankfully very relaxed though there were a few questionable rules.
Mucking out in mornings only - if you where on DIY and wanted to muck out at 3pm, good luck! Everything was deep bedded but new straw was only allowed into stables on tuesdays and thursdays. No mucking out on Saturdays - skipping out only.

No riding/lunging other liveries horses, even if all parties have relevant insurance. All well and good til the yard staff and YO start asking liveries to ride the YO and RI's horses. Hacking out in groups of 3 or more only - though fine if you hack YO's horse out by yourself? Honestly don't mind rules like this but if they're no good for YO why should we put up with them?

My yard generally was ok on rules though
 
Past Yards...

1 Nobody allowed on the yard before 8am or after 8pm
2. No turnout in winter unless ground was frozen
3. No loose schooling allowed either!

There were more but I can't think if them of the top of my head! Needless to say I am not at any of these yards anymore - at a lovely Private Yard now with all year round turnout and no ridiculous opening and closing times! :)
 
I*HM said:
... Fantastic hacking facilities but can only be used when hacking out with a member of yard staff...

...Hacking out in groups of 3 or more only - though fine if you hack YO's horse out by yourself? ...
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Rules in an arena, or for riding in fields belonging to the yard I can understand, even if they're ridiculous rules. Their property, their rules. But rules for hacking out?!?! As in, on public roads and bridleways?!? What the actual fridge?!
 
I was once on a yard many moons ago where if you were on holiday, the YO would decide who was to ride your horse in your absence - not you.

She also didn't allow you to bring your horse in during its turnout time (9am - 4pm). You had to either request to keep it in all day or just ride outside of those times.

Weird. Can safely say I moved.
 
FinkleyAlex said:
They provide electric fencing but we have to provide an energiser/battery (which is quite an expensive cost for something I'll never use again if I move!) .
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My friend owns a yard and does this with the energizers, because everyone kept nicking the ones she provided!
 
Gottaloveaginger said:
I was at a place like that with a "curfew"! And a yard owner with no social skills! They went mad when an owner stayed in her colicky horses stable one night! And no 24/7 turnout in the summer, I absolutely hated having to bring my horse in on a hot sunny June evening at 8:30pm!
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they wouldn't have liked me then - camped out in the next door box to my mare for 4 nights when she was due to foal, have spent several nights on the yard or going back every two hours to check a sick one etc
 
Oh my goodness! I have loved reading these, what an eye opener! I had no idea livery could be so bad! My yard was the only one I looked at and it's great, no daft rules, everyone's friendly, we're all DIY so we all help each other out. I am never ever leaving and will be sure to give my YO a massive hug and thank you tomorrow lol
 
You must poo pick a 10 acre field containing all bar one horses that are not your own and you will get nasty messages if you don't. However feel free to just chuck ragwort in the hedge I don't want you taking it home...

We were bagging it up and putting it in the car
 
Sherbie said:
Hahaha! this is one of the best I have heard !!
Im luck to be on a relaxed DIY yard where we just get on and do our own horses, liveries help each other out when needed and no taking our horses muck home :)
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You should consider yourself very lucky. Edinburgh is an area where the YOs mainly range from the insane to the downright dangerous
 
This thread is like 'therapy' for getting out all the niggles and knots we liveries endured at the hands of the Barmy Army YO's out there (and no, I don't tar every YO with the same brush!).

I have at long last found a yard where me and my boy are as happy as larry so to speak,...but boy oh boy have I been on some yards where the rules and regs (and charges too) where downright ludicrous to say the least.

One YO tried to get all us liveries to bulk buy some bespoke minerals (which weren't cheap I can tell ya,...but good stuff nonetheless). What she didn't realise is that the 3 of us that were interested at the time worked out that what she was asking us to pay upfront,...actually included feeding her OWN horses (4 of them) for free!!!!! We broached the subject of what YO was paying for their own horses and...mmmm YO went all coy... Aha... been rumbled.

Suffice to say we turned her ever so tempting offer down and did the deal between the 3 of us. She wasn't best pleased and turned nasty and out came the change of rules yet again,...just to make our livery lives a misery. Nasty piece of work that one was...and still is. Thing is this person thinks they are so blessed to be the provider of such great knowledge of all things equestrian, but the outside world know different!!! LOL
 
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Entertaining but very sad thread. I never endured livery like described but was very happy when we were able to buy our own land. Perhaps YO should undergo Personality Testing like Business? A money earner for BHS?
 
For a little while I was chuckling away thinking I have never endured 'the crazy'. But I actually have, just in lesser doses.

- Horse was on working livery... for lessons... He easily earned his keep, and some. Turned up one day to find person riding said horse (clearly no lesson going on) to find that YO had said to a customer that they could loan my horse for 3 days a week. Permission was never sought from me! AND I often use to turn up to find that YO had said they could ride, even though they knew I was coming up and was then told 'oh your horse has worked quite hard, perhaps take it easy'. I never saw a discount in my livery bills BTW, and he was still doing the same amount of lessons.

- Wasn't allowed to use own farrier.

- Yard not open before 9.00am, closed at 7.30pm on weekdays and even earlier at weekends.
 
this thread is a reminder why it would be a very good idea for livery yards to be licensed in some way. There are some people out there who just shouldn't be allowed to run this type of business. I've met quite a lot over the years !!!
 
Oh boy, I've been on some crackers! My favourite of the insane rules mostly belong to one place & either weren't declared at the outset or were brought in later.

- Not allowed to pay the farrier directly, must do it through the yard owner at a hiked up rate to cover his own horses too. (I didn't & theoretically left the place in debt as I'd never paid the owner for shoeing. My horse was barefoot & I paid the farrier myself).
- You must turn your horse out in the new fields that have been fenced. With ditches. Horses don't jump ditches. (I was doing low level 1 day events with mine. I refused).
- The deal breaker was no more ad hoc turnout, horses can only go out for 2 hours & must be brought in by the new YM. Not a chance. Don't want them standing in & I'd seen her idea of how to handle horses!

There were more, but I think I've blotted them from my mind!
 
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