What does DIY mean to you

Hullabaloo

Hullabaloo

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I've always thought of DIY livery as giving the freedom to do things at a time and in a way that is convenient for the individual.
I am on a yard which is completely DIY - a group of us rent the area from the yard owner, then organise ourselves as we please. We can turn out/bring in whenever we like and come and go at whatever time suits us. This is great as I fit in doing my horse around my work commitments (and occasional social life!). However, I know of a yard in our area which advertises for DIY, but has very strict routine which means owners who work end up paying for a lot of extras and have to fit in their time at weekends around the yard. Also, it seems some of you have to fit in with yard opening and closing times.
I'm not saying there is anything wrong with this, just that it doesn't give the freedom I would expect from DIY.

I was wondering how flexible other people's DIY is?
 
DIY to me is (based on experience of previous and current yard).

I 'do' my horse myself. However I am governed by rules of the yard - so turnout during times speficied etc.

However, field management is the responsibility of the YO.
 
I see it as meaning you have a stable and turnout and then do as you wish with your horse. I do see the point though of those YO's who have access rules and who live at the yard, if I had other people's horses at my home I would not want them turning up at all hours of the night. There is also the problem of horses that have been brought in and settled for the night by their owners then being disturbed by people who come much later so maybe that is an issue for some. I guess people have to find a yard with rules that work for them.
 
My diy livery sounds just like yours we rent the stable,field s and school from the owner (who is non horsey)and we do what we want with them come and go as we please
 
DIY is to me i do everything myself reg my horse!! which includes fixing things they break, replacing summer padk tape and insulators ect, the money i pay for my diy i assumed just covers the rent of the stable and winter/summer turnout, and not anything else, i follow the rules at our yard as they are there for a reason and is beneficial to all, if i didnt agree or like the rules implomented i would vote with my feet and move!! there are so many livery yards around and now more than ever before offering DIY ( i actually wouldnt like anyone else to do my horses)
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I see DIY as being the rent of a stable space and access to grazing- you do everything yourself- but under the rules of the yard. I can understand these opening and closing times as we have stables at home and the idea of someone turning up and making noise every morning at 5am would drive us all mad. Also one yard I was on in Wales did have a 10pm closing time and some liveries used to TURN UP at 10pm to bring horses in etc which although its DIY i think is unacceptable!
 
I've always known it as "do it yourself" YO often put in loose rules though, mainly to save fields, on noise etc. Plus if they have visitors to thier yard they're going to want it to look respectible so have minumum standards.
 
We do everything ourselves Can turn out when we want, bring in when we want (though have to be in overnight in winter) we get told which fields we are having, and thats about it!! YM occasionally (!!) repairs fencing etc,but is completely unhorsey. No time restrictions on being at yard. the liveries are generally quite close though, so we all help each other out if need to bring in etc
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Also one yard I was on in Wales did have a 10pm closing time and some liveries used to TURN UP at 10pm to bring horses in etc which although its DIY i think is unacceptable!

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Totally.

My previous yard's rule for winter stabling was that all horses had to be in by 5.30pm. Assisted DIY was available if you weren't able to be at the yard by theis time.
 
DIY is you do it all yourself. many livery yards will offer extras at a charge to make more money hence some yards will have routines that dont really cater for those who work daft hours etc this is how they make more money out of DIY liveries......others who dont have routines may have people who dont keep up with worming, vacs etc so m,ay feel a set routine would be better
Even if it it DIY I suppose some sort of routine should be set by the YO or Manager and some of the closing times I read are a bit silly as alot of people dont finish work til 6pm say and their yard closes at 7pm?? What if theyve got to drive an hour to get home??!!!
 
My current yard is very much DIY - there is no opening/closing time but we have to make sure we're quiet if we're late. As long as I don't put my horse or anyone else's in danger and adhere to the yard rules (sweep up after myself, put tools away etc) I can do what I like.
At my old yard mornings were any time I liked but all horses had to be in by 6pm between September and April and we couldn't be on the yard past 7pm. Luckily it was 15 mins away from the office so I could get there in time to chuck her in as I finished work at 5:40pm!!
 
I have my own yard so am not faced by these problems but the livery yard near us as far as I'm aware the YO has set turn out and bringing in times and I think she does all this herself, unless the owners are on the yard at the time. As far as I know YO turns out horses about 6am and in at 3:30 ish in the winter and then in summer most horses are out 24/7.

I don't think it'd be acceptable for people turning up at all tiems and turning their horses out/bringing in at different times. I imagine it could cause all kinds of upset if say one horse was left out in a field cos all the others were brought in and owner of said horse maybe didn't turn up til a few hours later. I think set turn out/bringing in times make logical sense and if owner isn't there then they know the horse will be brought in and fed (maybe) anyway. I know this isn't then technically DIY but would make sense to me and certainly on a big yard you wouldn't wnat to leave one horse out on its own.

I do see myself as very lucky as can do what i want when I want with mine but the downside is not having anyone living on site so guess there's pros and cons on both sides.
 
I am on DIY - to me it means doing all your jobs yourself regardless of if you have turnout or not and what time the yard opens and shuts etc. We have about 40-50 horses on the yard and everyone sees to their own. We do have daytime turnout in the winter but they all must be in at night, we can bring them in anytime. In the summer most are out 24/7. I think all yards have to have rules regardless of it being DIY or full livery.

All our hay/straw is dropped off outside out stables each week, repairs and maintenance of the yard done by YO but we can paint the inside of our stables, put rug racks up etc.
 
We don't have set times etc and we have a list of sensible rules, like don't leave one horse out on it's own, pick up poo from the school etc. We generally help with maintaince as we are only charged £18 a week for stable grazing, use of school, space in feed and tack room and the yard has direct access to a bridleway. Other than worming and field rotation it's left up to each owner how they care for their horse.
 
I'm on DIY, there are 2 of us in an otherwise full livery yard. We share the same field so we both put our own out in the morning (unless we cant and we usually help each other out or YO is good and will do) and generally whoever gets there first will bring all 3 in. I have 2 they are ok to be left out as have each other for company. We dont have any rules at all, and i get there at 6am to turn out (but i do feed other DIYer and YO own horses in the morning more as a favour more than anything) and get down there at about 6.45 in the evenings and sometimes dont leave until 8.45. If i am going to arrive later (which rarely happens TBH) - say 8pm onwards i always text to say i've been held up and its going to be me turning up. I keep an eye on everything in our field, pull ragwort, keep water topped up - other person doesnt which is really irritating but hey ho!
 
I think of DIY as paying for a stable, grazing and use of facilities but all costs associated with feed, bedding etc and all care of the horse is down to the owner. Grazing should be maintained by the owner and the DIYer would be governed by yard rules. If you pay for the stable/grazing/facilities and have no rules especially if no-one living on site I'd think of it as renting.

Yard I used to be on had a rule that all horses had to be in by 4pm, which I think was partly due to the fact that it is dark by then, but still not very fair on people who work full time. It's u to the individual to find a yard with rules that suit them.
 
We have a similar situation to OP, and I don't really class it as DIY, it's more a 'private' yard. There are just 3 of us and we do everything, including paddock maintainence. We rent the whole lot, and owner is non-horsey, so wouldn't have a clue. But is happy to pay for improvements (we've just had it all refenced with post and rail!) in return for us keeping the place nice. We pay £25 a week each, but if one of us leaves, the rent doesn't go down!
We have NO set rules, other than to be respectful of each other
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DIY to me means that i am responsible for everything to do with the maintenance of my horse, feeding, mucking out, turning out, bringing in etc., and the YO is responsible for the maintenance of the yard, stables, fencing and paddocks. Obviously there are bound to be rules and providing these are explained to you BEFORE you move your horse to the yard, then you have to abide by them. After all you are on someone else's property! However, I would (could) not keep my horses on a yard where you cannot arrive at the yard before a certain time and have to leave by a certain time. That would not work for me and is IMO a little unreasonable. After all, we are usually governed by work commitments. I feel that if someone decides to run a livery yard as a source of income they have to accommodate their CUSTOMERS as much as possible. I do sometimes feel that some YO's forget that we are their 'bread and butter'!
 
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