What would you do?

[lovelyfrenchie3000]

I have one of my horses on an assisted DIY livery and for the most part, it’s great. However, I have regularly come up to the yard to see my horse left out alone and galloping around the field. I have started to message on the group chat for someone to bring in for me if I know I will be later 5pm. However, the other day, nobody did. People have to walk past my field to get their horses and I was told that the last horse in was one in the field next to mine.

It’s fine in the summer and at weekends but I am starting a new job soon and I won’t be at the yard until 5.30 and I’m really stressing about it. I am tempted to move yards.

I thought it was just common sense to not leave a horse out on their own?

 

[Barton Bounty]

Usually that is a given on a yard that no ones horse is left alone. Mine would go bananas and probably colic.
if your on assisted diy, should they not bring in anyway? ?

 

[Ali27]

Could you ask if somebody could bring your horse in return for wine? I’ve been in the position of always having to bring someone’s horse in on a regular basis otherwise it was left on own but never got anything in return. It made me feel like I was being taken advantage of and it was an expected!

 

[Trickywooo]

I would never leave another horse out alone. Is there a reason why your yard can't bring him in for you if you are assisted DIY?

Personally if you can't find someone to bring him in I would move. Not worth the risk of him injuring himself in a panic.

 

[Abacus]

I agree that he shouldn’t be left alone. But if you are always last (or will be when you change job) then it’s not really fair to expect others to do him every day, so perhaps you should use yard services if they are available (or move).

 

[smolmaus]

I appreciate people doing me the favour of bringing mine in if she will be alone for more than 10-15 mins and I would do the same for them but it is a favour, not an obligation. If you're on assisted DIY you can pay for the service if you need it reliably.

I know the other mares in with mine and would be happy to bring them in but that isn't true for every horse on the yard, especially if they are stressed. There are insurance issues at play if something goes wrong when you are handling another liveries horse. It should be the yard staff doing it, really.

 

[ihatework]

It’s fine as a one-off but gets a bit dreary if a DIY is repeatedly left to look after someone else’s horse.

Id ask if any of your fellow liveries would be interested in extra £ and pay them to bring yours in with theirs. That or you pay the YO for the service.

 

[Goldenstar]

It’s assisted DIY so you just pay to have have horse brought in .

 

[abbijay]

Either you pay up and get it resolved by the yard or you ask around if anyone would be interested in an arrangement where you do morning turn outs and they do afternoon bring ins. As a final option could you ask someone to leave their horse out and you will bring it in when you get yours? That way you're offering to do more work rather than asking others to do your jobs for you. But just expecting others to do it regularly tends to bring about an atmosphere on yards.

 

[Birker2020]

We have a rule that no horse is left on its own, so if someone brings theirs in and this means another would be left out on its own then we would either get theirs in first and then ours in or ask staff to get the horse in and then that charge is put onto the owner of the horse left out by writing in the diary by staff.

Like IHW says, it gets annoying if its a repeated offender that just won't make arrangements for their horse because 'someone else will do it for me'.
I'm not suggesting that is you OP, just saying.

You could do what I've done and asked my friend if she will leave her horse out who is next door to mine so that when I get there after work I will then get them both in. They are company for each other and saves us both money and I don't mind helping out.

 

[Red-1]

I would just pay the yard to fetch in at 4pm or whatever. Especially when you change jobs and it will be a daily event.

I wouldn't be please to have to fetch in someone's excited horse.

 

[AmyMay]

It’s assisted DIY so you just pay to have have horse brought in .

This. It’s an easily solved issue.

 

[Winters100]

Sorry if this comes off as harsh or lazy, but I would definitely not get involved in bringing someone else's horse inside on a regular basis. I would gladly do it very occasionally, but not regularly so that it became my responsibility. I mean what if this other owner needs to ask someone to bring hers in as a favour, is s/he then also responsible for arranging the same for yours? If you know that your horse cannot be left alone then you need to get there earlier, or if that is not possible make proper arrangements.

Also, and I am not saying that it is the case with you, but I have in the past been asked for favours only to find that the horse is ill mannered. We have one lovely lady on our yard who is somehow blind to the fact that her horse needs a good lesson in how to behave. I have helped her out a fair bit in the past when her horse was on box rest, but I could tell that she didn't like it when I told her that I was walking him in a bridle and carrying a schooling whip, her reply was 'yes he is a bit bossy, but it's just his character'. Eventually the horse worked out that I was bossier than him, but if I did not like this lady so much I would for sure have refused to handle the horse.

Personally in your shoes, since you like the yard, I would try to work it out. Pay the YO to bring in, or if that is not possible pay a fair rate to make it worth their while, or exchange chores with another livery.

 

[Zoeypxo]

I had this problem before.
offered to pay other liveries 5x a week to bring mine in as i work till 5:30, they all said no
YO didnt want to do it either as its diy not assisted.
i wasnt told one day that all the horses were being brought in early and mine was left alone (no one contacted me either)
My horse jumped a 5 bar gate to bring herself in in a blind panic, ripped her legs to shreds on a fence and cost me £350 out of hours call out to get vet out to patch up her legs and give bute.
When i asked why i was not contacted they said they didnt see my horse was in the field (16.2 bright orange wb)

eventually some nice liveries moved in and we had a good deal going.
I turned out 7am mine and theirs so they didn't have to come to the yard in the AM, they brought mine in everyday before 5 with their horses.

a few yrs later they moved so i moved too, couldn't cope with being back to horse being left alone and no one willing to help even for £££!

she lives at work with me now luckily.

what im trying to say is if there was an option for assisted diy i wouldve made very good use of it and not expected any liveries to help .
you may even be better off on part livery.

 

[dottylottie]

if turn out is included in your livery but not bring in, could you possibly arrange to turn out yourself before work instead and have the staff bring in for you? or just pay for yours to be brought in 5x a week by staff.

I’ve been on a yard where liveries weren’t actually allowed to bring in each others horses because this meant we were taking business from the YO who had staff for this, but equally weren’t allowed to leave anything alone - recipe for disaster imo! no winning because either people are, rightfully, upset their horse is left alone, or they’re upset because their horse is brought in at 4pm when they wanted it out until 7pm, but nobody wants to do a million trips to and from the field, and this is made 10x harder if one or both horses don’t like being taken out side by side!

honestly if nobody on the yard can help, paying a freelance groom might be the best bet but it’s not worth someone coming out for the sake of 10 mins, so it would be more worthwhile to have the horse on diy and pay the groom to do jobs instead - which the yard might not be happy with either? it’s amazing how complicated a simple task can be made with horses lol