What's the strangest yard rule you've come across?

Jesus calm down! No need to be rude I'm not complaining and did on many occasions pay for the school lights, I just found it weird not to be included in livery price. Which I might add was already very high!
 
Achinghips said:
. Hat for leading in and taking out to field!!!
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I think that's actually a fair point and good sense! Not that probably many of us do it but I bet we've all had a near miss at some point when handling a horse on the ground where a hat would have been a good idea and going in and out of fields can always be the point where something can happen.
 
Haven' t read the whole thread sorry but I loaned a pony to a woman who kept it on a yard which turned out to have a rule about no bedding near the door-which was fine until the pony got acute laminitis and needed a thick full bed, and was being denied it. The fields were full of horses with tendon injuries which had been turned out because the yard owner didn't allow box rest.....
 
I can understand the reasoning behind some of these, but others are bonkers! :D I feel very lucky that our yard has no written rules (no contract, indeed!) but everyone seems to respect the unwritten ones.

Pay on 1st of the month in advance
Pay the farrier on the day
Text YO if arrangements change
Don't phone her after about 9 (she'll be in her jammies)
If you put the lights on in the school, remember to turn them off!
Be sensible with water

I think it would be impossible to enforce a 'dress code' as we are a sartorially elegant bunch! ;)
 
My current yard is very relaxed - there are a few rules but they are all reasonable, such as sweep up any mess you make, pitch muck to the top of the heap, don't let dogs bother the horses, turn lights off when you aren't using them etc. Nothing is enforced as such but it is all reasonably common sense and there never seems to be any issues with people not sticking to them! We are also asked to poo pick our fields (we each have our own paddock) regularly throughout the week or the yard staff will do it for you and you will be charged. Our hay and straw are provided by the farmer (at a very reasonable price), and we pay for them on an honesty system - mark down what we use and pay at the end of the month. Horses can be turned out/bought in whenever; if your horse is kicking up a stink because you are late turning out/bringing in then you can either come earlier, pay for the yard staff to do it or let your horse get on with it!

There are some rules I have come across (not necessarily at yards I have been on):
1. No dogs - I understand not everyone likes dogs being around horses but I think it's unfair to tar all dogs with the same brush! I keep mine on a lead at all times when around horses and can't see any reason why I shouldn't be allowed to take her with me. This was a particular gripe as the yard owner/yard staff had dogs around all the time... One rule for them and another for everyone else.
2. Horses to be in by 3pm - I am convinced rules like this are just a ploy by yard owners to squeeze more money out of DIY liveries, as most people who work can't bring in at this time so have to pay for yard staff to bring in, and also the longer a horse in it it's stable the more hay and bedding the livery will have to use.
3. Raking the school after every use - more of a pain than anything else, not hugely unreasonable but livery wasn't cheap and if yard owner had put in a proper school and not a cheap one then it wouldn't have needed raking after every use!

An equestrian establishment near us has a "no hoodies or brightly coloured clothing" rule, and recently had new branded items of clothing for sale to staff/members, including bright pink and bright blue hoodies! :confused::D
 
all feed, roughage, bedding and supplements to be purchased from YO - anyone caught bringing feed onto the yard (even feed that they do not stock or will not order in) will be charged - it actually turned out cheaper to buy elsewhere and be charged as she was sometimes up to £8 a bag dearer!!
No hosepipes - cut legs must stand in a bucket - not sure about when they cut their elbow though?? wheelie bin???
dogs allowed but on leads - on or off it didn't matter they were still the unmuzzled GSDs dinner!!
no payng anyone else to see to your horse
no charging for riding someones horse as they could be paying her s**t staff to fall off instead!
school must be cleared of poles/jumps and poo after riding (we had a so called dressage rier on yard - she like to trot circles - and insisted she couldnt work around the single jump in the mahoosive arena. even after she left it was still a rule.
horses only to be fed in a stable
in spring horses are weaned onto grass - YO opens gate to grass and someone in your field must somehow get there at a random time to bring horses back to bald paddocks.
plus side - yard open anytime (if you can get past guard dogs) I used to be there at 0530am and sometimes left after 2200 on pre show nights.
jump what you want when you want and how you want - same with hacking.
lots of socialising (and bitching!)
 
The only weird 'rule' I have had (had a few unreasonable one's) is that on a yard where we had our own piece of a big field taped with electric fence we had to put all 8 of the yard managers horses back in which was very regularly and not expect her to come and put them back in herself! This only came about one evening when my friend called me and said 'x's horses have all got down and pulled down our fences and I've just spent 2 hours putting them back up' I called the YM as I was doing mine and my friends horse the next morning before work and would not have time to put fences back up so if at all possible could she please go and put her horses back in. She went mental and said I would always put your horses back in and I expect you to do the same' the difference was my friend and I had one horse each, our horses never got out because we kept our battery charged, poo picked our sections and our horses had plenty of grass and she had 8 horses that were always getting out because the electric was never on, they had no grass and a field full of poo! We always sorted them out if they were in any danger but it took the **** so we left fairly quickly!
 
alma said:
Ive been contemplating moving from my yard, but after reading this threadm think Ill stay put!
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Me too - but suddenly I`ve gained a whole new appreciation of where I am at the moment! :) Our rules are extremely tame by comparison after reading some of these!
 
I share a yard with 2 friends, the YO lives some distance away, isn't horsey & rarely visits so we are left to get on with it. It works out pretty well (for me!) as I tend to get things run the way I want, mainly coz I'm an evil old battleaxe who takes no prisoners lmao!
 
Achinghips said:
1. No lunging in the arena - ever!!!! (must use lunge pen, made of rotted woodchip - though unsuitable builders sand surface about a a foot deep, which made it unusable unless you wanted vet bills)
2. After you've taken your horse out, shut gate - hinges will drop!
3. No liveries on Yard after 7pm or your car WILL be locked in - no exceptions!!!
4. Hat for leading in and taking out to field!!!
5. Move hay in nets in barrows!!! Any one who disobeys will be asked to leave
6. Any pooh found outside field (and we know who you are) you will be asked to leave!!!
7. NO children under 16 to lead a horse - under any circumstances or you will be asked to leave
8. You must purchase hay from the livery owner
9. No bedding other than shavings
10. £50 deposit for tack locker key
11. No turnout in rain for liveries but those on full livery, turnout will be decided by YO
12. All horses in at 1.30pm every day
13. Pick out feet before leaving arena
14. £1 for use of lights
15. No use of coffee facilities on show days
16. No outside instructors
17. No dogs (though I loved that one!)
18. Farrier will be decided by Yard owner
19. Worming programme to be administered by YO and bill sent to clients

Any violations of above got huge red capital letters notes on their windscreens full of the same exclamation marks (!):D
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What a load od boll ocks :D
 
I'm glad my yard doesn't have rules as such!
The only real rule is "Use your bl**dy head" and it seems to work ok :P

I'm sure there are a few stricter rules for liveries, but I just ride there.
 
Did laugh at some of these. Am currently on a good yard with some rules, which are sensible. However our last yard took the biscuit really. Some of their rules were:

Only one flap of hay (small) per horse morning and night.
You must leave the premises by 6.00 pm on a Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. You may not arrive at the stables until 9.00 am on any day, and on show days with prior permission.
However their barmiest rule was that you may not discuss your horses's health and possible vet needs with anyone one else but the yard owner, who I would add was not a vet, not even the yard staff. I got called into her office and told off because I was overheard by her husband discussing my daughter's old pony, who I was concerned about with my instructor, who also knew him well. Was told if I was concerned I should ring YO or speak to her husband, who would make the decision to call the vet about either of my horses, not me.

I left the week after.

They went bankrupt about a year after I left. As a business owner I would never wish this on my worst enemy, but this YO really, really deserved it.
 
Not my yard but someone told me that they couldnt lunge their horse in their school becuase their surface was expensive and the YO wouldn't allow it! :rolleyes:
 
Vixen Van Debz said:
I read the Hartpury livery rules only last week: you can't wear any bright colours at all, and absolutely no hoodies. I found that odd as our entire yard live in hoodies and bright, contrast joddies most of the time!
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I was at Hartpury and the hoodie thing was because the horses might get hold of your hood and strangle you. I can understand it but it was inconvenient! And they preferred you not to wear bright colours as they wanted you to look smart but I wore lime green wellies while I was there so that doesn't really stand!

I can understand people wanting things to be tidy but some of these are crazy!
 
the thing is, a lot of these make perfect sense when you've seen (or heard about) it all go wrong.
no hoodies - too right. riding in hoodies, ugh. i heard about a kid falling off, horse somehow got hoof in hood, and dragged kid along, nearly strangling it.
no riding when someone's lungeing - i think it was Lucy Wiegersma who got quite badly hurt a couple of winters ago when she was riding in the school when someone else was lunngeing, the lunged horse got away or something and really set hers off, and she got seriously decked.
i think those are smart rules tbh.
the best so far is 'return hoof pickings to field horse came from', that's fantastic, can't have that naughty mud migrating anywhere!
 
I sometimes ride in some very smart hoodies that come from equestrian stores but having just read about horses hoof getting caught in the hood if you fall of, I will never ride in one again.
 
Some of these are hilarious! I'm very lucky in that I livery at a working farm, with a horsey YO, so the few rules we have are very sensible. Things like, lock the tack room if you're not in it, clear up behind yourself etc, etc.
A firend left our lovely, happy yard to go to one with an indoor school. There was only 4 other liveries there even though the facilities were great and it cost about the same as bog standard, farm type livery. She soon discovered the YO was a bit poo obsessed. They had to poo pick the fields everyday (fair enough) but he'd go out in the evenings (no overnight turnout) and leave little markers in any poops left behind! He had a different colour for each livery, they had shared grazing so the lord only knows how he thought he could work out which horse left which poop! She didn't stay there long!
 
We livery on a working farm with a horsey YO too so the 'rules' we have are mostly just using your own consideration and common sense!!

Clean up your own muck (and fur!!!!) and put it in your own wheelbarrow
don't borrow anyone else's things without permission
don't overfill nets as you will be charged
no loose horses in the outdoor school
no rolling and if the horses do, smooth it over afterwards (totally understand to stop other horses tripping over the big hole they've made!)
rake your muck to the back of the trailer
no baling twine or rubbish to be put on the muck heap
Turn lights off in the school after use and put jumps away

Then, the usual 'season' rules about what fields the horses are in and what dates etc. I can't remember if there are any more. We can wear what we like, hack where we like and can have RIs down if desired, although YO does teach and very well so most of us use her :) It's a relatively relaxed yard, there's a large social aspect to it too.

K x
 
Blimey what a bunch of nutters !
I turn up and asked if I'm riding in or out, if in she'll Harrow the school for me. If out she'll walk up the drive and open the gate even tho I can open / close it on my horse. I get a cup of tea without asking :)
Apart from one yard years ago where I was shown six times in 4 days how to pitch muck onto the trailer I've obviously been very lucky !
 
I'm with kerilli on a lot of these! Make sense to me *blush* Some of them are brilliant though, I love that one about returning mud to the relevant field! And the farmer with his poo markers.

I know to a horse owner lots of the limiting rules, like not hacking out alone, or not jumping without somebody present, might seem ridiculous - but to a YO who's probably not going to be told where you're going, who only finds the horse when it's come back without you etc, it all makes a lot of sense. Same with the one only a few replies back about clearing jumps and poo from the arena - it annoys me if I've left them in mine at work and then come back to them the next day, let alone if they're somebody elses.

The ones I've never grasped are livery yards that won't allow other instructors or farriers on site, just seems a way to needlessly pee people off to me.
 
KateandSpotlight said:
Not my yard but someone told me that they couldnt lunge their horse in their school becuase their surface was expensive and the YO wouldn't allow it! :rolleyes:
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We aren't allowed to lunge in the school since we've had a new surface down (apparently the surface company recommended not to) but our YO built a separate lunge ring - so it's great as you don't have people riding and lunging in the same arena plus we now have a flood lit school and flood lit lunge arena. :D
 
we're lucky to have a lovly yard and common sense rules apart from one which is ''no other instructors allowed on yard, if you want to have your own instructor you have to hire out the school £25 per hour'' this is of course on top of whatever you're paying your instructor. it seems a bit silly because the one instructor on site we have is a dressage instructor, yes she is amazing BUT non of the liveries do dressage, 3 show jump and 3 hack so its a bit pointless. in result, we go offsite to have sj lessons instead :)
 
Not allowed to use a kettle on the yard, even though there was one in the tea room, you had to use the vending machine.

Had bars at the top of stable doors so horses couldn't drop hay on the yard.

HAD to hose legs at special bay by the field gate, and ditto pick hooves into a bucket before bringing horses in.

Absolutely NO mud on the yard.

No grooming on the yard, inside stables only.

No cantering or galloping in the school.

Stables had to be scrubbed and de cobwebbed (jet washed all over) once every three months.

No poo picking bottom fields, because you'd have to walk with the barrow to the muck heap (top field) via the yard and would get it dirty.

You had to use their farrier.

You weren't allowed to use paper because it smelt funny.
 
As a future yard owner, a lot of these rules make semse. They mostly seem to be about safety and security. Also, regarding specific colour for electric tape - that may have been part of the planning permission...
 
Had to sweep any remaining shavings, hay or straw up with a dust pan and brush.

Not allowed an outside instructor.

Jumps in school were not allowed to be taken down or moved.

Horses fit had to be picked up before leaving their stables (guess I agree with this one)

Tin cans had to be taken home and were not allowed to be put in rubbish bins around yard.

Oh and horses had to have hay at back of stable so they didn't eat over stable door creating a mess
 
EPRider said:
One yard I know will only have geldings on it.
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Actually I probably wouldn't allow another mare at our yard, we all have geldings who live out in a happy, relaxed herd. We had someone with a mare on the yard last year for a while, ugh, the damn thing was forever in season, refused to be caught, bullied the pony, developed an inseparable bond with one of the big geldings, who then refused to be caught himself, he & 'his' mare would just gallop madly around when anyone produced a headcollar, winding everything else up. Nightmare. Didn't help that the owner (supposed to be on DIY) would conveniently 'forget' to book any time off work for farrier, vet, dentist etc & just expect us to deal with the numpty mare for her every time. Meh, good riddance to the thing!!
 
We had to formally introduce any visitors to the yard owner - that included the vet, dentist and anyone else who came to visit. YO once quizzed an instructor about their capabilities - the lady was a well known and respected dressage trainer and judge. We lasted barely 2 months, as YO declined access to a locum vet because he wasn't British - OMG!
 
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