Why did you decide to leave your yard and any regrets?

asterope said:
I don't think 9tails was tarring everyone on DIY with the same brush - I think the point that was being made was that a lot of inexperienced/uneducated people (those who "buy on a whim") think they can afford to keep a horse because DIY is so cheap, pushing up demand.
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Thank you, asterope.
 
redredruby said:
Am I the only one thinking that there clearly needs to be more regulation and accountability for livery yards? Particularly as it so often involves the welfare of horses.

Out of interest- how many of these yards were BHS approved? And does BHS approved mean anything in terms of the day to day running of the yard?
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Speaking for myself, I run a very small livery yard - all part livery. I am not paying the BHS for approval when some of the worst yards people have told me about are BHS approved. I am always full (as full as I want to be as I don't want more than five horses to do. I used to have eight but that's too much for one person IMO). What benefit would it be for me to pay the BHS to approve me? I don't make much money out of the yard and can't afford to be paying out more. I've run the yard eleven years. My longest serving livery has been with me nine years and travels 45 minutes each way to get here. She has several yards local to her but doesn't want to keep her horse anywhere else. I don't think BHS approval is a good measure of the quality of a yard.
 
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I've been on 6 yards. Three I left due to care/service issues. One I left as old horse was destroyed. Went back with new horse and YO gradually became more unstable. Mananged to get out without being threatened with a shotrgun, unharmed horse and all my tack and equipment.

Did a short stint at a BHS approved yard that thought that 'winter turnout' meants 4 hours in a small hard core paddock, no hay in round feeder - despite it being promised - scrapping with one another. It was the most luxurious yard I'd been on but the lack of turnout, ad lib hayledge and 2 hours per day on a horse walker meant bonkers horse.

Went to small yard with brilliant level of care, year round turnout but grazing was pants. That yard folded in a year.

Now at friends house. Couldn't be happier. Pony very chilled. I actually enjoy spending time there.
 
Yard 1 - Stopgap until a space came up elsewhere (spoiler: It didn't). Nice facilities, but no winter turnout.
Yard 2 - Turnout was a couple hours in the school. Full livery but felt I had to be there every day to check water, haylage, and finish up the rubbish job the YO did of mucking out. Mouldy, sprouting haylage too.
Yard 3 - Left as sold horse. Didn't immediately come back due to the yard instructor and this atmosphere she caused.
Yard 4 - New Horse, lovely yard and people, but too far away, costing too much fuel. Assisted DIY but worked out very expensive. Winter turnout was a couple hours in some hard standing.

Aaaand back to Yard 3 - Instructor and cohorts have left, and yard has started offering DIY with stable, so I jumped on that with my filly and am very happy to be back here. She gets 24/7 turnout year round, and has the stables to come in to for grooming, feeding, and a night or two a week just to be in the warm and dry. It can be very muddy (clay soil!) and the fencing isn't great in places, but good facilities, people, hacking, and filly is very happy and settled there :)
 
Normally it's people on part or full livery who get jumped on with the proviso that they don't have a good relationship with their horse! I am seeing yards disappear with the relaxation of planning so compromises always have to be made. I have been on yards where the YO becomes a very big fish in a small pond and forgets liveries are paying customers not charity cases. I see the opposite when liveries seem to have no idea of costs and make idiotic demands (and I do mean idiotic). End of the day, the problem is that horses are expensive. The work is relentless and there are no real short cuts. Even in summer with horses living out you still have to check the, worry about flies etc etc. I don't know any yard owners who are wealthy!
 
I hate yard hopping, but I've had to do it over several occasions.

Yard 1 - I used to be a working student/barn rat there and ran away as fast as I could when I bought the horse who was the only reason I was staying there. Bad hay (and not enough of it), flooded stalls, poor field management and horrible attitude against some of the horses.
Yard 2 - Stopgap while I was looking for a yard after I ran away from Yard 1. Good care and management, overall a nice yard, but no grazing at summer, only small sand paddocks. We stayed there for a few months at winter, so it was tolerable.
Yard 3 - Seemed like a dream come true at first, but then the grazing changed to much smaller fields and the YO grew disinterested in horses, which affected quality of care. I wasn't informed when my horse came in hopping lame. Commute was very hard for me, too, so I finally decided to leave.
Yard 4 - A bit messy, but wonderful care and good facilities. Wouldn't have left, but, unfortunately, the YO sold up and moved abroad, so everyone was given their notice.
Yard 5 - Didn't get anything of what was promised when viewing and in the contract, and the YO turned out to be inexperienced & batshit crazy. Horrible memories, moved hastily after a few months.
Yard 6/7 - Everything was fine, wouldn't have moved, but the yard changed management. Decided to stay, but the new YO had a very different vision of how the yard should be run, became greedy and accepted a lot more liveries than the yard could cope, and it also affected the quality and amount of hay given (even if we were promised adlib hay), so I grew increasingly uncomfortable and moved.
Yard 8 - Fine in the beginning, promising even, but this last winter the quality of hay was horrible - mouldy all the way! - and the elderly, non-horsey YO didn't care at all - she just wanted to buy what was cheaper. Had to move in the name of my horses' health, beside, for some reason he was not himself and unnerved all the time while living there. I regret losing the hacking, which was spectacular there.

Finally, yard 9, belongs to a friend. It ticks every box and I hope to the depths of my heart that there won't ever be a reason to move.
 
Ah so accrediting yards is actually an income stream for the BHS......that explains a lot!!

I agree with Luci07 that running a yard is never going to make you rich which makes me wonder why those who have no love (or even like) of horses go down that route. And perhaps that's why we so see the shortcuts being taken that compromise care - to save costs.
 
redredruby said:
I agree with Luci07 that running a yard is never going to make you rich which makes me wonder why those who have no love (or even like) of horses go down that route.
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Well that's easily explained, if you live somewhere with land and you had no animals on it, you'd have to do some maintenance to stop it turning into a jungle. And get a job to have an income. So much easier to not have a job, take livery money every Saturday and do no maintenance either.
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
Well that's easily explained, if you live somewhere with land and you had no animals on it, you'd have to do some maintenance to stop it turning into a jungle. And get a job to have an income. So much easier to not have a job, take livery money every Saturday and do no maintenance either.
Well, when it is explained like that, yes it makes perfect sense! Depressingly so.....!
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FrankieCob said:
We were both happy with Frankie living out in a huge field of horse friendly grazing for ages. Then I moved 300 miles away and its all been a bit tramatic since!

Yard 1: Parks Trust paddock shared with someone. She turned the shelter into a stable and stabled her horse 16hours a day. Frankie just bimbled about on the outside. Still might have worked if her horse hadnt been kept alone for ages so completely flipped everytime he couldnt see mine

Yard 2: Assisted DIY. I knew it wasnt the best yard but they promised me turnout and had facilities. He was turned out once into a mudpit and ran through the electric fence, that wasnt turned on, so that was the end of that! He did get turnout for an hour a day in a sand paddock but I wasnt happy with that for him as a youngster. So he went onto grass livery at the same place, but a 20min walk away up a massive hill. He loved it and it was ok while he was turned away

Yard 3: I'd bought anther horse in the meantime and found a yard a few miles from home, lots of turnout, reasonable hacking. Run down and run by crazy people but I thought it would be ok. In the mean time the other horse went on loan so I only had Frankie again. YOs turned out to be way more crazy than I ever could have anticipated! And all sorts of problems with the turnout.

Yard 4: Moved him to a yard a mile down the road, would have worked just fine if they hadnt been given notice 2 weeks before christmas, so that left 12 horses looking for new homes at very short notice!

Yard 5: Went onto full grass livery and wintered out on 30 acres. Horse very happy and as he was only a rising 5yr old there werent any issues with working him etc

Yard 6: We were buying a house 25 miles away so knew he would be moving soon, but once we got into Spring he piled weight on, so went to the friend who ran Yard 4. He was there a month for weight loss and general education. Loved the yard but it was nearly 20 miles away from the new house so wasnt going to be sustainable

Yard 7: Loved it! Small school but good hacking, lots of assistance. Minor gripes about lack of storage space etc but he was happy and so was I. Fast forward to winter. YM lost interest completely, standards of care dropped dramatically. I got a text on Boxing day at 8pm to say she was giving the yard up but her groom would be taking over. Tried to give it a go, but standards of care dropped even further and I started having to go up at random times to make sure he was ok. 30th December I turned up unexpectedly and found he had been stood in since 3pm the day before, in his turnout rug and headcollar and had been given 4kgs of hay to last more than 24 hours. So another move!

Yard 8: I had serious misgivings about this one! YO seems like a complete nutter, but thought it was better than where he was. YO turned out to be so much worse than I could ever imagine! We lasted 3 weeks and off we went to a new yard

Yard 9: Started off brilliantly, they were very kind to me and seemed to look after him very well which was important as he was on full livery. They didnt listen to anything I said about managing him though and fed him lots of lovely haylage and buckets of pony nuts. I hoped it would all settle down as I was paying them to ride him 4 times a week, so I assumed lots of work would mean he was ok with more food. They almost never got turned out though, and while that was ok in the depths of winter, when its glorious sunshine and he was stood in it started to niggle. It then all broke down very badly. He was gaining 10 to 15kgs a week on a weigh tape. I wasnt allowed my saddle fitter to come and recheck his saddle even though it clearly didnt fit and was due to be rechecked. There were a few incident of screaming and shouting at me, then storming off before I could say anything.I stopped riding and in fact almost stopped going up as it was so awful

It all came to a head when my trimmer did his feet and said either he had to go on an immediate diet as his feet were inflamed and he was showing signs of LGL as by this point he was massive!

Yo screamed at me the next day and made me empty his haynet. Because obviously the way to deal with a fat horse is to starve it?! So we did yet another emergency yard move!

I still am sorry that I couldnt make it work at that yard, but there was literally no way to make it work out and I've been left with a horse who went there a good weight, sound and happy and he is now immensely fat, saddle not fitting, back knackered and coming out the other side of LGL :'(

Yard 10: DIY yard but hes got a stable/shelter in a pen with no real grass and has slip rails which allow him into a paddock, which is the old winter grazing. YO opens his slip rails every morning so he can go into his pen. He lives a life most people wouldnt want for their horse, but for him its perfect! He has straw and low calorie haylage to eat overnight, alongside chopped straw, and in the day he gets access to a small section of rough grazing. Hes lost a little bit of weight and is sound again. Sadly his back is sore as he had massively outgrown his saddle and it had knackered his back

If this yard doesnt work out, I'm selling up and giving up! I cant handle the stress and worry any more! Not sure if all yards are like this or its just the yards in this area. I know when I was in he NE there were loads of places that would have been suitable, some not, but maybe knowing the area meant I could avoid them!

But I refuse to keep him somewhere where he doesnt have decent turnout and where I cant manage his weight. But fingers crossed it seems good so far!
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Hi FrankieCob--I def agree with you--I know afew people that would rather sell up than go round yet another c**p yard that gives empty promises-hope all works out for you-you deserve it to x
 
sunshine100* said:
Hi FrankieCob--I def agree with you--I know afew people that would rather sell up than go round yet another c**p yard that gives empty promises-hope all works out for you-you deserve it to x
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This; I'm another one who would rather give up; I won't get another horse after my current boy. I love him to bits; he is the best thing in my life after my family (and sometimes before!) But the stress of keeping him at livery is slowly eating away at my enjoyment and its starting to affect other aspects of my life.
 
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Yard 1- car broken into and handbag stolen. Some property turned up in a rather unpleasant fellow livery's street. Shame as cheap livery and good hacking, winter grazing not great though.

Yard 2 - just a field as a temporary fix, but I did love the peace and quiet.

Yard 3 - poor grazing, odd rules but fairly pleasant place to be. Saw an ad and went for yard 4

Yard 4 - spent 4 very happy years there. Grazing wasn't the best but really was a lovely place to be. Space became available at yard 5 and I went for it as the summer grazing at 4 was up a particularly steep hill which was slippy when it rained and quite dangerous and I had 2 older boys. Very, very sad to leave.

Yard 5- fantastic grazing, biggish yard but such a lovely place to be. It got sold and was being expanded, then I lost my older boy and the other became a nightmare so I moved him to yard 6

Yard 6- worked really well for me with a small baby and horse settled really well. Was expensive then one day got repossessed,with no warning for us so went back to yard 5, which is now double the size but has been improved in many ways and has excellent hacking. It's not perfect but it's the best yard I've been on for my horse and he's the one that has to live there!
 
Have moved yards twice.First was not enough all year round grazing or company.Second poor livery owner management and expected my horse to stay in field on its own when his field mates moved to another yard.Moved to small private yard which was in grounds of large house by chance recommendation from friend who lived in area.Out all year stables lovely,water/ electricity, two other horses for company and its perfect.Glad to be away from busy livery stables. If you can find something nearer for you it would be much better for a start and work out the pros and cons.Moving to a more suitable place will be less stressful long term.All year round grazing livery may be best as it gives a lot more flexibility.
 
Mrs G said:
This; I'm another one who would rather give up; I won't get another horse after my current boy. I love him to bits; he is the best thing in my life after my family (and sometimes before!) But the stress of keeping him at livery is slowly eating away at my enjoyment and its starting to affect other aspects of my life.
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Yes I know EXACTLY how you feel when you say this, given previous experiences I have had.
 
Mine sounds like I'm a serial yard hopper but I promise I'm not! Just a lot of different circumstances with horses meant different needs!

Yard 1 - stupidly dated the yard owners son and when we broke up decided to leave (I was young!!)
Yard 2 - Was a stop gap, no school and not really set up for my 2 17hh!
Yard 3 - Lovely yard, only left as moved house and yard was in the wrong direction.
Yard 4 - Moved back home so moved the horses closer to home. Amazing yard but was an hour in the wrong direction.
Yard 5 - Had to leave as yard was going to be sold to developers but couldnt give a time frame. I had 3 over 17hh so left as soon as I found something else.
Yard 6 - Perfect yard although hacking was rubbish. I lost 2 of my boys there and was left with one horse that needed inhand walking on a firm surface. The yard was on a big main road so wasn't suitable.
Current yard is perfect so far!

This is over the space of 10 years if it makes me sound any better!!
 
Yard 1 - Grass livery yard when I first got my old pony when I was 18. Only cost me £60 per month for field and stable. But no other facilities and not great hacking. Couldn't catch the pony half the time and she got obese! I was there for 4 months.

Yard 2 - Excellent facilities and hacking, only left as I had to have my horse PTS and I gave up for a year and a half. I was at that yard for 3 years and I didn't go back when I got a horse again as it wasn't practical travel wise as I'd moved jobs and it was no longer on the way, it was about 30 mins out of the way.

Yard 3 - Lovely yard, I was so happy there and had a fab time with my pony, but when she sold and I got my current mare, she hated the indoor school, so I tried for a good 9 months with her before I decided to move. I was at that yard for almost 3 years and still sad I had to leave, but I had to do what is best for my mare.

Yard 4 - Current yard, been here almost 3 weeks, excellent facilities, mare is lovely and settled with her new friends and I can finally school her properly.
She's currently on box rest after kicking out at the fence, but once she's recovered we'll get cracking again.
 
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