What kind of Yard are you on?

AmyMay

AmyMay

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Is it me - or are others amazed at the lack of basic care that seems to go on on some yards. That and the lack of knowledge seemingly displayed by some owners just makes me quite speechless.

Am I the only one that has kept horses on yards where people know what they are doing - or at least have a YO that will not tollerate abuse, neglect, general thoughtlessness of any type?

I only ask because of the number of posts we all read from people concerned about horses on their yards.........
 
am on a riding school/livery yard, we have a couple who own the yard. Both are incredibly knowlageable one used to joust all round the world and worked at stud yards for many years. The other used to work at stud yards, groomed for the calvalry, and also used to be the lady that rides behind the man in a dress in displays!

They do not tolerate any kind of neglect and we have rules, all the kids at the yard that help are signed to a contract so if necessary they have ground to throw them off the yard.
 
I am on a private livery yard with just 7 boxes at the back of the YO's house. Currently we have 2 horses and apony and its lovely. Have been working there and riding out there for 5 years and love it. There has never ever been a row over anything and in the time i've been there, the vet has only ever been called once to help pony with colic.
 
The two yards I have been on are both DIY and the yard owners pretty much left us to it - not a problem for me, but on the other yard the other owner was frightened of her horse and at times fairly ignorant - unless people are told they will remain ignorant.

Yes I too am amazed by some of the lack of basic knowledge that appears on here

ETS This was the first yard that I shared with the ignorant one - Pagancloughie has now come to my yard and it's fab
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Thats why I drive as much as I do to get to my yard! The knowledge, skill, care, etc .... is un-replaceable. My mare has been a big financial and emotional commitment so I could never 'risk' her at the hands of numpties.

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I am on a yard at the moment (not for too much longer) that is a mix of RS, hunters and livery with the odd bit of selling on too.

I am 7 day part livery (no exercising/tack cleaning etc.) so all my horses basic care should be adhered to and I shouldn't need to go up twice a day ... however I do.

I have arrived on the weekend at 11am to find my horse in a dirty bed with no hay or water (on more than one occassion)

This weekend I arrived saturday morning and sunday evening to find he hadn't been given the antibiotics he is on.

I went up early morning last week to find that the useless groom had given him a massive corner manger of oats and barley - this horse is on box rest and getting bran/chaff

It amazes me just the sheer common sense,lack of customer service and basic horse knowledge some grooms have and YO's actually employ.
 
i work and keep my pony on a riding school/livery yard, YO/boss is brilliant, cant fault her at all, some of the kids that keep ponies with us lack common sense sometimes but with only a few exceptions most of our liveries will listen to advice from us and act on it.

kids that come to help can be a bit of a pain sometimes but YO soon puts them in their place, if they wont be sensible and help when asked then their parents are told and if they still dont buck up they get a scary talking to from the boss lol!
 
We are lucky as mine and The_stropsters horses take up most of our small yard
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we only have the yard owner and 1 other livery. We all get on really well and if anyone has any problems we all help eachother out
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very relaxed........... but owner does keep eye on but not in your face which i like. YO is good friend and very friendly with other liveries.......
But last summer did had silly woman at yard, she lasted less than 5weeks and if she hadn't of gone and she would have been ask to leave.
As her care was cr*p and to the point of neglect........ and i would have fallen out with her big time........YO had notice but didn't do anything as we have 'yard bossy boots' and she was on case and woman does have huge reputation for this behaviour...... get horses it then give back or sell within 5 weeks........
just happy she left before i had to say anything as i hate confrontation in yards......
 
On a DIY yard at the mo,and all seven horses well cared for by their owners,good sized beds,well fed and all well cared for.....before have been on Full Livery at three yards over the years,apart from the first one which I left sharp after 6 months due to lack of bedding,hay and out of date feed....while paying a premium top rate to boot,I had my horse in two very good yards......I could go Full Livery,but TBH never felt like my horse was my own......have been time on yards(more so DIY)where I have seen people that are totally clueless as to the care of their horse.....has made me wonder why they have it in the first place...worrying it really is...think you should have some form of ID that your capable of looking after one....given that their a 'High Risk' animal!
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I have only been on two yards and both were small and run by very experienced people. My main concern as a novice owner when moving from my first yard was that I continued to have good help at hand - I have got this in abundance.

No way on either yard would the YO have let standards slip, in both cases my ponies have been treated like the YO's own.
 
Im on a small private yard , abit like happy hacks yard .

Yo has her house at the top of the lane , and the actual yard is behind the house , it also has 7 stables . There is just my 2 , and another horse owned by a knowledgable owner and We have a new livery in who has a horse out on grass livery , Havent really got chatting to her yet but so far so good .

Yo is knowledgable and I think wouldnt want any complete novices on the yard , she will help out if she can if there is an interest from a novice but only to a certain extend if you know what i mean .
 
I'm on a DIY yard run by non-horsey hands off people. We have two liveries who do not visit their horses every day (one only comes down twice a week) and a numpty who brought a very opionated yearling as their first horse. Everybody else takes care of their horses and ponies although a few of the teens spend hours galloping and jumping without a thought for their ponies (however they are otherwise well cared for)
 
Small private yard, about 20 paces behind YO and family's house. There are our 12 horses and 2 liveries horses. 8 stables, though only 3 are in use as only our 3 boys come in at night. Most knowledgable people there would probably be myself and B (YO) ha ha ha though B's daughter is a vet nurse so she helps us out should there be any health problems.
 
I have been on 2 yards, my first one for 5mths - it looked lovely the other liveries were lovely, really kind and helpful but not interfering, but the groom and owner's partner were a nightmare and things didn't get done, you got charged extra for every little thing and the horses hardly went out. So I moved and the yard I am at now is lovely, 10 boxes in the owners back garden, fab facilities, a lovely knowledgeable YO who would do anything for you, and all the liveries are nice and get on. 1 horse is on full livery and the owner never comes up but our YO always makes sure the horse is well and happy.
 
Have been on 2 DIY yards

1/ About 20 horses. 18 of them were ridden once or twice a month (not that it matters) and otherwise left in a field to get on with it with a feed once a day and a bit of sh!t shovelling. Our 2 were the only properly ridden and I think.... cared for
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A lot of yard politics which eventually forced us to move along with the rat run that huge lorries used
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The YO was an ol' farmer boy and had no problem chucking in a bucket of feed in the morning
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2/ Yard i'm on at the moment, 6 of us, lovely people but then you always get one
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pretty much the same as the above yard concerning riding/care apart from they all come in at night. The YO is a multi-millionaire, she has graced me with her presence about 5 times in a year
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not that i'm bothered
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We are completely DIY. There are only 3 horses and 6 ponies and most of the ponies live out all year. Most of the pony owners are relatively inexperienced but they do all have decent basic care. They are checked at least once a day and have hay in their field, are wormed regularly etc.
Maybe we're just lucky - most of our gripes are about not poo picking the school and the state of the muckheap. We've never had any serious concerns about the level of care of any of the horses.
 
I rent the whole of my yard, 3 stables, 4-5 acres, would NEVER go back to livery or part DIY with others unless i had to. Came from lovely DIY yard but cannot beat doing your own thing!!
 
I'm the only livery on a quiet yard. YO has 3 horses and I have 2. There are about 20 stables in total as it used to be an Equine Spa, so there is plenty of room for standing horses when you are mucking out lol!

YO is manager of the education dept for EnduranceGB so she knows her suff. Sadly you do get a lot of people who don't know basic stable management. It's a shame more isn't taught as part of RS lessons.
 
I agree it is a shame more basic stable management and care isn't taught in RS. But a good RS is few and far between now.
Im on quite a large livery yard, I work there and livery is part of my wage. We dont allow DIY. Most of our owners are novice and need help with even basic things, but were a close and friendly yard so they have no worries about asking for help, and we try to guide them without making them feel like fools. We also dont charge for extras if it is things the horse needs for its own wellfare, such as feeding or vet.
 
I'm on a small Full Livery Yard (not including riding), people nice, but then I only see people at weekends as I'm the only one up there in the evening. I prefer to do my own horses but there are no liveries close by and it is a real problem finding livery, even full livery is hard to find. I do however find the duty of care terrible, my horse has come in with many injuries - last one last week and no-one had noticed, he has also started cribbing whilst being there so I have bought in my own haylage to make sure that he has complete ad-lib forage in his stable at night so that he has something to eat and help with the acid build up and no 7 times in the last 2 weeks they keep forgetting to put the haylage in! How many times can you complain???? so everynight I go up and check on him that he is still standing, has feed and water and nothing hanging off him - al for a nice expensive price!!! Anyone know of any good yards, camb, royston, saffron walden areas?????
 
Ive been on some awful yards. Ranging from full livery where the staff have been abusive to the horses and the head groom attacked a livery to DIYs where some liveries just fail to turn up.

Ive seen horses left in for weeks and sometimes months, reoccuring colic due to awful feeding habits and beds rarely mucked out. Ive seen people with good intentions but still lacking knowledge and doing such things as wrapping legs in elasticated bandages for stabling or continuously riding in tiny short side reins for schooling.

The yard im currently on is a top competition yard. Its lovely and the facilities amazing. The staff really do care for the horses too. The down side for me is the lack of turnout and that stresses me, although Jack does very well without.

It finally looks like we're buying a place with stables and land though and tbh, i cant wait to get the hell away from livery yards
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I am on a brilliant livery yard (part & full) - 18 boxes (8 in a big barn with individual stables & 10 on open yard, a couple of horses live out and quite a few are the YO's), cctv, alarmed, safe, tidy but lived-in...it is quiet, peaceful, run fantastically and the YO is lovely. All year turnout and plenty of it on good ground. We all get on really well.
Everything is done for my mare...apart from exercise (she is retired now anyway)..I know she will be looked after, checked, fed, watered, medication given, and if anything wrong it will be actioned straight away. Always helpful and any problems will be helped with.
I go down every day and do quite a bit myself but that is my choice...I have a condition which can sometimes knock me out for a few days so the knowledge that she is cared for and looked after as I would do it keeps my mind at rest.
I love being there myself...if I could afford it I may move in!!!
It is probably the best one I have been on...some have started fine but before long it just seems that standards slip. At one I couldnt guarantee my horse was even fed, supplements I paid for given to Ym horse instead, unsafe fencing, it beggars belief sometimes.
 
I am on DIY but it is my friends yard at home there is 6 stables with her 3 ponies and then my girl. she has been riding for nearly 30 years and is very helpful but can be quite lonly when on your own as there is nothing around but fields . I would not have it any other way only had my girl 6 weeks first horse and need all the support i can get.
 
Ive now got mine at home, so its just me...and what do I know!!

Before that I had my horse on full livery at a fantastic yard. The manager was the ex chief examiner of the BHS so really knows her stuff...everything was done by the book.
 
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