which yard to choose - please advise

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bluewhippet

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I am inexperienced in livery yards, this being my first horse. At the moment he is on part livery at a very beautiful and organised private yard. There is a large tack room that only I use and a sand school with a few jumps again only used by me. Horse has his own paddock with very good grazing, haylage and bedding and turn out, bring in and quite often mucking out are included in the price of £60 a week and a vet lives on site as well. I know my horse will be brilliantly looked after.

It takes half an hour of quiet roads to get to any good bridle paths and that is my only drawback, that and that I sometimes get a bit lonely (but I am not the most sociable person and quite often enjoy the peace).

A friend recommended somewhere much more rough and ready in the other direction and I seem to have got drawn into it. The hacking there is brilliant, it is much cheaper - £95 a month for unlimited turnout, stable and bedding and use of school and another £8 a week for haylage. There is no tackroom, and it is a busier sort of place but not frantic by any means.

And then there is a third place which is a very friendly riding school with schools indoor and outdoor, jumps, cross country course and use of fields to ride in and reasonable hacking. This is the closest to my house and costs £125 a month but I would have to buy hay and bedding.

Both second and third would be DIY and I have young children so tend to be a bit hurried anyway.

Am I mad to be wanting to leave the first place? I am hankering after the hacking at the second place and the facilities of the third place and the buzz of both of them.

But is this just because I have never experienced busy and chaotic yards and once I have, will I long for the peace and the quality of the first place? And the fact that I only need to go up once a day because YO did so much for me?

I usually know my own mind and I am really at a loss. Would welcome your thoughts/experiences.
 
Stay where you are for a few months till you get to know the horse, and the yard, as it can be unsettling for any horse to move and have a new rider, also they will help you out with any queries you have as they know the horse, and will prevent any silly things going wrong, which always seems to happen in the first few weeks.
 
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the fact that there is a vet on site at yard 1 would be enough for me to stay there. But we each have our own set of requirements - what i may find as important, others maynot. personal choice xxx
 
MrsD123 said:
Stay where you are for a few months till you get to know the horse, and the yard, as it can be unsettling for any horse to move and have a new rider, also they will help you out with any queries you have as they know the horse, and will prevent any silly things going wrong, which always seems to happen in the first few weeks.
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I agree with this. While you're undecided, it's probably better to do nothing. At least you and your horse can get to know each other and surely there's no hurry?

You could move later if you wanted to.
 
I've been here since the spring and got on really well. I don't know if I am just getting drawn into someone else's enthusiasms (the person who has left) and longing for her hacking when actually mine was okay and I have a lot of advantages here.
 
with winter coming i'd personally stay put, i've got kids and having someone help out at one end of the day makes life so much easier at the best of times but especially in winter!

maybe once the worst of the weather has been and gone you could rethink moving to your friends yard if there's space.
 
I suppose it is just very true that you can't have everything perfect. Here all the horse's care and the stables, paddocks, storage, school are great and the hacking is okay.

Other place is the opposite and the riding school is somewhere in between but it is closest and very friendly. Seem to be longing for 3 different places and probably in winter you are right, Riding High, help and ease are very important so that I actually get the time to ride at all!
 
I would stay where you are.

I have 2 children and a horse on DIY and in the winter it can get very difficult fitting everything in without factoring in any riding. Then if the kids are ill.........nightmare!

Whilst it may sound great having other people around, if any of your stuff is moved or goes missing on a busier yard it will probably really annoy you and waste your time looking for it.

If you were happy where you were before the friend suggested you move, then I'd definately stay put. The grass isn't always greener!!
 
Would definitely stay where you are, at the end of the day, it sounds IDEAL, your horse is happy, apart from the isolation, it sounds gorgeous, what more do you want?
 
Gosh can I join you where you are now?! Sounds idyllic! Seriously, I'd think carefully before moving, there is a lot to be said for reasonably priced livery with help on tap and good facilities.
 
stay at the yard you are at! Sounds fantastic, you can always meet other people to ride. If you move your horse to a busier place it may be upseting to his normal rhythm and may take a while to settle. I wouldnt move him unless he or yourself are unhappy
 
Nearly every day there is another thread on here with someone going on about the problems they are having at livery yards! Mostly with other liveries.

I'd stay where I was and enjoy the peace over the winter! By the summer, if you're still missing riding with others, move then.
 
i think you are probably all very right and if I move I will look back in a month and think why? why? why? When both children refuse to get into the car on the dark cold evening to get him in, and when I get to the stable and realise that I haven't got my saddle because I left it at home (no tack room) and when my grooming kit disappears...

Thanks
 
Stay where you are and buy a trailer to get to decent hacking. I think you'd be daft to move. Where you are now sounds lovely!
 
I have been at all sorts off yards, and to be honest when i was on the bigger yard, i never rode out with anyone because i just wanted time to myself!, i am at big yard now, but it is very quiet, its lovely, i would definitely stay where you are!
 
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