What would be the last straw for you?

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WeeBrown

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What has made you leave your livery yards in the past?

Even now, as I type this, I am still fuming from today. I'm on half-term hols and due to the menege not being timetabled I spent all morning hanging around waiting to go in the menege. At our yard lessons with instructors take precedence over liveries using the menege. There are two instructors who teach regularly (by that I mean are around, they don't have set days or times) and I never know when they are happening. Even if I think I've questioned every possible livery, there is always one who rings the instructors at the last minute to book a lesson so I turn up, tack up, am in the menege 5 mins and then have to come out again. Today was the final straw when someone from a different yard turned up so one of these instructors could see if they could sort her horse out (this instructor actually keeps horses at our yard). He hogged the menege by putting up a set of fences so I assumed he was going in shortly, then this client with her horse showed up and he chatted to her so I groomed my horse. He still wasn't in after I'd finished so I poo picked and then when he finally went in the menege I was informed that he'd be in there an hour and then the other instructor was due to be up to teach another livery so I could go in after dinner - yeah thanks for that! Glad I didn't. Field mate who was also effected turned up later this afternoon only for him to be teaching yet another livery! And as I was leaving (by this time really worked up, 2 hours after I had arrived) YO said "Leaving already?!". I knew if I said anything then it would not have been a pleasant scene so I shall have to see her Saturday as I am out with family tomorrow. When my horse is hackable it wouldn't bother me quite as much as I could exercise her that way (although I still pay the same rates and should have access to the menege). At the minute though, due to her already lack of schooling and her being in and out of work last year, she has had to go back to basics so I need the menege to train her. By the way, the yard is really lovely except for this - wonderful alarmed stabled, yard owner who is usually approachable and some really nice liveries - it's all these factors that make me not want to go elsewhere but I'm just not getting chance to ride or I'm going up really late at night to guarantee getting in.

So after that long winded explanation of what is making me, again, wonder if I ought to just find somewhere else...what was the last straw for you?
 
Oh dear, I'm sorry
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. I've had days when I've gone up to ride and it's been a total waste of time so I know how that feels, but I'm very fortunately still on my first and only yard, which isn't perfect but it's got its blessings.

I'm surprised that the menage isn't more 'timetabled' - in my (very limited) experience from the days of yore when I worked at bigger yards I understood that the school was a very good source of income and, at least at the few yards I worked at, the secretaries or YOs kept very strict timetables that riders booked in advance for, whilst running over meant paying for the whole next hour (to keep the stragglers in check). It would be nearly impossible to manage a good income from it if the YO isn't keeping strict records of access like that, and surely it won't be doing their business much good if they aren't providing everyone with good chances of schooling? Perhaps when you tackle her about it, you could come at her (I'm assuming the YO is female
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) from the business point of view of 'how much potential income might you be losing?' and 'perhaps a timetable might be a much fairer system' etc., then liveries can check the timetable beforehand and have at least a reasonably good indication of when they can ride. Anyway, that's me burbling. I hope you figure out what to do.
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I left my last livery yard when my YO decided to lay into me that i had forgotten to do somthing (very long story) i was only 14 at the time and was going through a hard time as it was. She made me cry and when my parents went to talk to her she laid into them...that was when i left.

I am now nearly 16 and at the new yard....i love it here it is in a great place lovely people nice large school...free transport to places..BUT.

Recently they have decided that my horse doesnt have the right to go out! he now hasnt gone out in a field for about 2 weeks apart from the other day when i actually boxed him down to a friends yard.

I have talked to the YO and they say he will go out...but nothing happens....that was my last straw...so i am again moving...i hope
 
Tried that one already, she said she'd get people to write their lessons up in the tack rooms - we have three of these, only a few of the liveries have access to all three and as yet no one (as far as I am aware) has been asked to write up their lessons and if they have no one is doing so. I don't have lessons with the instructors (my horse is taken to another yard for lessons) so obviously I am not writing on the board when I am 'booking' it out.
I will mention it again to her when I speak to her on Saturday.
 
Eeek now I feel bad
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We don't actually pay for use of the menege - it is included in our monthly tarriff which I already feel is a pittance. I wouldn't mind paying for use of the menege - in fact I was actually booking lessons with one of the instructors a while back just so I could guarantee access to the menege. I feel like paying one of them (not to teach me) but just to stand outside so I have priority
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How much does your YO charge for the menege? I feel this could penalise some of the liveries who already own a few horses and couldn't afford menege hire on top.
 
Alas, we have no menage, which is one of the major drawbacks of our yard for me since Brandy is such a nutcase and really needs working in before going out on a hack
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but there are two close by - one about three minutes' walk away is gigantihuge indoor school owned privately by a lovely lady who will hire it out for £5 an hour (except she's often busy so it's not reliable), and another about a twenty minute ride away owned by a tackshop, but that one is a quarter of the size and they charge £10 per hour. And it's a twenty minute road-ride away on a horse who needs to be in the school before she goes on the road... Catch 22. Anyway, the big indoor school doesn't have any equipment (the owner is much more into dressage) whilst the little outdoor school has jumps and whatnot, but using those is extra. Thankfully I value my life too much to fling myself and Brandy at even the smallest crosspole anyway, so that isn't a big deal for us.
 
Our DIY yard has a diary and you have to book your time in the school, you can only book an hour and if you are jumping that means that in your hour you have to put up and clear jumps. Each stable can only have 2bookings in the diary at any one time. This system does work really well and is rarely abused. The most annoying this is when you have got up a silly o'clock on a saturday morning to use it as it is booked out solid to then find a couple of people cancel and you could have ridden at a more reasonable time (particularly nasty in the middle of winter when coping with frost!) Maybe you could suggest a similar system to your YO, or at least a diary for the whole yard to use?
 
At my yard we have a white board in the middle of the yard, if someone has a lesson they write it on the board and no one else can use the school at that time. I have been at the yard over 2 years now and have never had a problem with this method, is really useful as you can plan when you are going to use the school amongst the other liveries.
I left one of the yards i was at, cos my horse was on working livery, and on the contract it said he would do 9 hours of work a week. I knew for a fact, after looking in the diary several weeks running that he was being used for more than this, didn't mind about this as he was young and needed the work. However, when I asked the yard manager if he could go in the holiday field for 2 weeks while i was away (this was the norm for the working liveries whilst the owner was away), she said 'no, cos he doesn'te do enough work'. Anyway came back from my hols and he was so skinny where he hadn't been fed for 2 weeks (i was the only one that used to feed him in the summer). I had a lesson with my instructor who said he needed to go to the holiday field for 2 weeks to put weight on. I was so frustrated after all this that I found a nice DIY yard for him. We have never looked back
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We used a diary at my old yard - lessons took priority and the person having the lesson had sole use of the school. We could book the school out for an hour at a time at the most, and if you weren't using it for a lesson people were allowed to share. The system worked really well, and people tended to get into regular time routines during the week so it worked out okay.

My new yard uses a calendar, which isn't as good as a diary but is more used for booking lessons, the rest of the time it is a free for all.
 
IF a lesson means sole use, then sessions should be managed by YO and some slots, say ever 2 hrs, reserved for a shared use for other liveries on a regualr basis.
And one central diary, not a board in each tack room.
 
But why can't they have a blackboard with the booked times on it ?
It sounds totally disorganised to me and it would drive me nuts.
We have priority over our liveries but I try to warn them if a lesson is booked, so they can arrange their own riding round it.
I think a pleasant talk with the Yo explaining how frustrating it is to have to gamble on whether you can or can't use the arena is perfectly justified, and if she won't help, then move.
I used to be a DIY livery, and various things made me up sticks.
One YO fed all her horses from our feed. If you locked the bins she simply took food from their feedbowls after we had gone home.
Another insisted we muck out on the yard for easy removal by his tractor, when it got to the stage my horse had a 3 feet wide path to and from the gate through the muck heap, I moved.
Then there was the family in the next door block who divided their huge box into three stables. They used angle iron bars which they poked through the dividing wall to make partitions, problem being they stuck out into my horse's box!
I used to push them back inside the wall, they pushed them back. Eventually I made some concrete and concreted the two brick wide hole to one brick, so they couldn't push the poles out into my side.
They pushed it out when still not set and I rang them and shouted down the phone. (tough family so I must have been angry not to be scared).
They didn't ever do it again, but as that was the same yard as the muckheap path, I moved anyway..
I have to say in your case if things don't improve, move..
 
Oh, last straw has been many things over the years, but generally, bitchiness, travelling time (if I have to drive for more than 5 minutes to a yard, it's too far) and quality of hacking.

With regards your problem, the YO needs to get her act together, and provide a big available to all diary. You write in when you are booking the school - like the idea of only being able to have two bookings in it at one time - and then you use the school. If someone else turns up and says they have a lesson booked - well, tough, they should have written it down. They will only make the mistake once. Tip - write it BIG and don't use pencil, it's too open to other people rubbing it out!
 
[ QUOTE ]
At my yard we have a white board in the middle of the yard, if someone has a lesson they write it on the board and no one else can use the school at that time. I have been at the yard over 2 years now and have never had a problem with this method, is really useful as you can plan when you are going to use the school amongst the other liveries.
I:)

[/ QUOTE ]

we have this system too and it seems to work very well
 
I have been at 4 yards in the 2 and a half years of having horses. The first one had no menage. The second one had a diary in the main office whereby you would put your name down and the amount of time you booked it for £5 for half an hr including jumps etc. The third yard had no specific timetable. There were only 5 liveries and if you had a lesson you booked the indoor using the whiteboard beside the indoor entrance it was all included in the livery. Otherwise you just used the indoor as you pleased, rode in with others and it worked quite well. The yard I am at now however has a diary in the main tackroom. The surface in the indoor is amazing and the indoor itself is giantic. £7.50 secures you half an hour plus jumps. However we do have a lunge arena, an outdoor sandschool, fields and a outdoor dressage arena. Do you not have fields you can use? Or perhaps is there somewhere that everyone uses that you can put a diary for the indoor?
 
You need a blackboard or a diary that ALL LESSONS MUST BE WRITTEN IN. If the lessons are not put in 24hrs before then the pupil must put up with having to share the arena, end of. This situation is NOT to be tolerated.
 
I can understand your frustration but if everything else is OK I would try and find a solution rather than move. We have a desk diary in the tack room and just write in if we want to use either school and do not share. If YO is hiring out to someone off yard, she marks the diary.

It's a simple system but works a treat.
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Might be worth a try.
 
come and live with me!
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sorry hun thats no excuse - you know how i feel about it - they really need a white board on by the gate so they can all put their names on at allocated times - would be so much easier and save you all the time you are wasting - and especially after the text you sent me, sounds like it didnt turn out to be such a great day after all
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hope your YO gets something sorted for you, not a good position to be in
 
[ QUOTE ]
I can understand your frustration but if everything else is OK I would try and find a solution rather than move. We have a desk diary in the tack room and just write in if we want to use either school and do not share. If YO is hiring out to someone off yard, she marks the diary.

It's a simple system but works a treat.
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Might be worth a try.

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That happens at our yard too. If anyone turns up and hasn't booked the school then liveries take absolute priority. Hope you can sort it out, seems a shame to leave if everything else is okay there. But the current system there regarding the school would drive me potty as well, you have my sympathy.
 
Lol...one of these days you're going to regret saying "come live with me" because she'll be there
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You have witnessed the menege probs first hand - think you got 15 mins in the menege and that was him being generous while he tacked up!
I'm going to see YO on Saturday and will state clearly that we need a board/diary to keep track of lessons. I really like the 24 hour notice idea, the 2 bookings in advance and board outside so shall be mentioning these - I'd even pay for the board all myself if it will get it started. The YO is lovely (well has been to me so far) and tries to please people, but think the lack of structure is only working for some.

ETS: the bottom bit of this post was really to say thanks to everyone for their input - missed the thanks bit off though. It has been helpful to get other people's views on the situation.
 
at a yard we were at it was the same and over winter you could only book half hour unless you were having a lesson then once a week you could have an hour ,it annoys me why should those that can afford regular lessons get favoured wouldnt be so bad if everyone could have one hour session a week ,i teach my girls and think i am entitled to the same as everyone else.
 
Your yard needs one central diary, located in a place where everybody has access to and is likely to go to. Keep a pen by the diary too, so there is no excuse - but I'd recommend attaching the pen to a piece of baling twine fixed to something, so that people are less likely to walk away with it.

A couple of simple (changes to?) yard rules would also help.

1. If the booking is not in the diary, then it's first come first served.

2. Bookings should be made at the very latest the day previous, so that everyone gets a chance to take a look and see when it's booked out.

3. If someone is only going to be lungeing in the menage, or perhaps using just half of it, then that could be entered into the diary also.

Does your yard have any restrictions on the number of people in the menage at any one time? If not, it may be worth considering a maximum number of say, 4 (for times when it's a free for all).

The above is what we did at a yard I used to be at (until I found a place of my own to rent), and it worked well.
 
We have the White board system, luckly we have 2 schools but that is only recent, before that in the winter if you could only ride at a time when a lesson was going on I used to just go in sorry if I have to work and my horse needs exercising and that is the only time then im sorry I will try to stay out of the way but I NEED TO RIDE MY HORSE!!! Now we have 2 schools one is for jumping with all the jumps set out it drive me mad when people go in there to do flat work lessons, I have kicked them out before with the YO permission!!!

Sorry I take no crap, my horse come first I will always try to to cause trouble but if that is the only time I can ride I will!!!
 
you just need to make sure that the diary idea is fool proof - ie no one can just add a time and turn up ten mins later and try and lie their wasy throught that its been booked for ages = ie - night before - YO taking tomorrows page out of the diary and writing on a whiteboard so that she has the proof that people have/havent booked etc

dont leave your yard for this - it can easily be solved x
 
LOL - I will never regret saying come live with me - Mol is welcome any day - ive already warned you with everything ive seen she might be stolen and seen as how you dont know exactly where mine live, shell be mine ***insert evil laugh***

i know what you mean about the last time I came over - 15 mins whilst he tacked up (and of course watched me ride lol) hes great isnt he! very generous!

You know its cos hes jealous of your ginger beast thats all!
 
Maybe I'm missing the point here but I don't see why you can't ride in the school while someone else is having a lesson ? I know it's a little trickier but we sometimes have 2-3 people riding in a 20x40 school, one who might be on a lesson and the others schooling ? How small is your arena ?

Sounds like your yard is nice apart this problem. Explain how you're feeling to the YO and see what they can come up with.
 
Another vote for seeing if you can calmly and rationally discuss the one thing that really seems to be bothering you, rather than leaving in a huff. If they tell you straight out things aren't going to change for whatever reason then you can weigh your options but until you have the conversation it seems a better plan - for everyone - to try to get a bit more organisation into the system.

I know it's really tough to be the person to stick your neck out but if you go in with a rational, calm attitude you might really be doing EVERYONE a favour.

First, establish what the rules really are. IF you are not allowed in the school during lessons/training periods then you at least have a basic right to know what the program is. If you ARE allowed in, even if you feel intimidated, then smile sweetly and go about your business. The problem comes if your goal is to be able to ride only on your own . . . If booking gives you priority then obviously the only way to do this is to arrange to book - the rules should be the same for everyone. If the arena IS open to all even during lessons etc. then you will simply have to take your chances and hope it's empty when you can use it.

Lots of good suggestions about how to work a system. Perhaps you could even offer to get a diary or similar and make suggestions about where to put it where everyone has access. Again, if you're polite and do it as offering help not criticising then it will likely be accepted in the same spirit.
 
Well YO saw me yesterday and approached me - she had heard that there were menege issues (maybe she's a HHO fan too!). She has decided to put up a board for people to book lessons on and anything else they consider important that they need to use the menege for (i.e me if a friend is coming over to ride). So we shall see how it goes but it seems, as usual, that YO is trying to be accommodating. Thanks everyone for your ideas.
 
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