Why did you leave your last yard/s?

[fattylumpkin]

Everyone is leaving the yard I'm at next weekend all on the same day............

.........but it's because our YO has bought super swanky new premises with several hectares of meadow, 60km of untrafficked hacking in the forest, an 800m sanded track for sulky driving, and all within easy riding distance of the county riding club and school!!! And for us 'originals' the stable fees remain the same! I'm in heaven!

 

[horsemad32]

In a lifetime of having horses: house moves, lack of grazing, dodgy goings on (non-horse related).

 

[pansymouse]

Last time because the farmer was threatened by the MoD (owner of the land) with termination of their lease because they didn't have express permission to have livery horses despite having had them for 30 years. Time before that because my mare didn't settle and I didn't like it either and the time before that because the local feral brats kept breaking in and trashing the place. I moved three times in 2012

 

[dogatemysalad]

Apart from moving house, it's been because of lack of winter turnout, or having opening and closing times.

If YO's were honest when you view, it'd save a lot of upheaval.

 

[miss_c]

Last yard I left after 3 months purely because I got my own little rented place which is perfect for me.

The yard before I left after 3 years due to needing more facilities.

Yard before that was 3 weeks and because it was a stop-over yard with nothing but a stable and tiny paddock, having had to move in a hurry.

And the yard before that I left after 2 years due to bullying. I felt sick about going up there and it got to the point that my Mum would go up and muck G out for me.

Current yard... I will only leave kicking and screaming!

 

[Blythe Spirit]

Interesting if scary reading - there really are some dreadful yards out there eh!? I am amazed how many YM/YO etc are riding others horses without permission - I would be beyond furious if this happened to me.
ANyway in 20 or so yrs of horse ownership I have moved because
1. I worked at the RS and livery yard I kept my horse on and when I moved jobs I moved yards
2. my mare needed a quieter life so I moved from good facilities/poor hacking to poor facilities/good hacking!
3. after my mare passed away I bought a younger green horse so moved again to get decent schooling facilities back
4. moved because the YO gave up and the YM set up another yard not too far away
5. moved because I moved house
6. moved after 5 yrs because of something my husband (didn't) do and we got thrown off - given 24 hrs to move horse without setting foot on the yard again (at risk of getting 'seriously hurt' by YO's hubby) or YO would turn my horse loose on the main road apparently (clearly a real horse lover NOT)
7. Moved after 3 months because of bitching, nasty notes, and dressage Diva who felt she owned the yard - not a nice place at all.
8. Now on an OK yard and I won't move again unless I have to! lets hope not!

 

[Blythe Spirit]

Apart from moving house, it's been because of lack of winter turnout, or having opening and closing times.

If YO's were honest when you view, it'd save a lot of upheaval.

How true - the current add for my yard says 'all year turn out' - but in fact its an hour in a bark chipping 20x20 square! and then it says 'selection of XC jumps' which there are but sadly they are all in a heap of broken wood just outside the school!

 

[catdragon]

If YO's were honest when you view, it'd save a lot of upheaval.

This ^

Been on 3 yards - always full or part livery - Promises given - standards fell or goalposts changed or rules got more stupid (opening times etc). Got fed up with being on a big yard with all its inherent problems..

Now on current private yard - only 4 of us (5 horses) all of us DIY - basic facilities BUT lovely people who I share them with and fabulous YO - no backstabbing, no cliques, no false promises. 18 months since I moved and have never looked back

 

[The_Dappled_One.]

Well my first yard I left because my horse died. Didn't go back with my second horse as the YO put padlocks on the fields to stop people turning their horses out, despite paying for all year round grazing.

I thought my last yard was perfect as we were like a little family. I soon found out that 'cliquey' yards like this will bitch anyone out that is slightly different, and that turned out to be me. The YO took on the yard not knowing anything about horses, 'rescued' an ex-hunter then suddenly turned into an expert. She blamed everything on me and my horse, always put him last (she bought hay in for everyone, but one day decided when we were low he wouldn't have any despite me paying for it) and was just downright awful.
Not to mention the yard's facilities. When we went to view it, the arena was fine and we were told the yard was going to be concreted the next month. 6 months later, yard is a mud bath, arena was dangerous to ride in as they put cheap surface on (complete with bits of glass and pottery, lovely) and she stopped us riding in the field, so basically I was paying for a riding area without having one. There were too many horses for the amount of fields, so she only had one field resting for the summer. Meaning she was going to have that field while everyone else had to make do with no grazing, despite paying for it.
The best part of this was leaving. I packed my stuff while they were there, got a message from her asking if we were leaving, got another threatening to throw us off if I didn't answer, then hopped on horse the next morning and hacked him to the new yard. I hope they enjoy their lack of grazing and dangerous arena because I'm loving paying £20 less per month for more grass and facilities.

That turned into a bit of a story, livery yards are so much fun!

 

[monkeybum13]

I have only left 2 yards.

1st yard closed down, a real shame otherwise I'd still be there!
2nd yard a lack of winter turnout which was fine until my mare's injury meant she needed more regular turnout.

 

[xgemmax]

1/ because my horse cut his chest open on barbed wire fencing and nowhere else to put him
2/ no school and needed somewhere to ride in the winter

 

[LeannePip]

Last yard i left becuase my horse was going through re-hab for a stifle issue, very expensive being on part livery for a horse you cant ride, plus she needed 24/7 turn out, which although turn out at yard was brilliant, couldnt support 24/7 - moved her to DIY out 24/7 with stable and ok facilites, save about £300pm to pay off massive vet bill! but will move her back once shes 'fixed' or try and get a mortgage for the bit they are selling!

 

[hairycob]

I only put my last move so will give my complete history too.
Yard 1 - was there 5 years. Was closecto home but only grass livery. Our needs changed & fences weren't being maintained so moved to yard 2.
Yard 2 - was there 4 years. YO a bit batty but lovely group of liveries & great turnout. YO retired & a family member took over. Increased charge & doubled the number if horses on the yard. Dealing so a lot of coming & going. Some not so nice aspects of horse care. Other liveries had found a yard to rent but location didn't suit me. When they left I didn't want to stay by myself because of some things that had happened so temp move to a friends place.
Yard 3 - friends place as temp bolt hole 1 month.
Yard 4- best of a bad bunch with spaces. Could have been good but YO was non horsey & had his finger in a lot of dodgy goings on. Family from hell that arrived were the last straw. 4 months later places came up at a private yard friend was at so moved there.
Yard 5 - loved it & thought I would be there for ever but both my horses got atypical myopathy.
So right now I am at a private yard owned by a friend of a friend who let me take H there when he came out of hospital.

 

[Pplanck]

I was at my last yard for just over 6 years. It was a small private yard and I was the only livery there with my horse and my sons pony. The other 7 horses belonged to the yard owner, most of his horses were under 5 years old, they were turned out with my mare to teach them manners. We never had a school but were about 2 mins hack from beach so we schooled and hacked there and in summer had a field to ride in. If I went on holiday yo looked after my horses and if he went away I looked after his. Everything was great until yo moved a friend of his onto the yard, he acted like he owned the place. He was a horrible man who tried to tell me when I could ride, turnout or do anything else with my own horse, he told people to stay away from my horse as she was dangerous, she is the Mose trustworthy horse I know, I warn people to be careful when feeding my sons pony as she is cheeky but never worry about my mare. She never lived new man at the yard and always put her ears back at him, she never did this to anyone. We moved to another yard about a year ago and should have done it ages ago. We are still near the beach, have quiet roads and off road hacking, a field for riding in summer, an outdoor and indoor school, our own paddocks to turnout whenever we want and our stables each have individual tack/feed rooms attached. I was thinking of retiring my mare before we moved, my now 18 year old mare has lost about 10 years since moving and my son and his pony have came on in leaps and bounds. As for the old yard owner neither him or his family talk to us anymore. So happy at our new yard and so are my horses.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

.

If YO's were honest when you view, it'd save a lot of upheaval.

Well that statement makes it seem like ALL Y/O lie?? Well they don't I tell everyone what our yard is like - the rules are up for them to see on the visit- the terms are told to them on their visit and the routine. Then they ask any ? they want then go away to think and either return for second visit or move in same day (its happened a few times) or you don't here from them again.

Everything is on our website for them to see.

I cheat No one and No-one cheats me

 

[wren123]

Left two small private yards, one because moving house, other because sold horse due to pregnancy!
Only left one proper livery yard with nice facilities because my pony was on part livery, which in my area means all jobs done and turnout, brought in but no exercise. Arrived one day to find my very well schooled, easy pony being used for a group lesson ridden by a very inept working pupil! I was fuming, this pony was used because she was a saint, but she had never been ridden by anybody who balanced themselves by the reins which this pupil was doing.

 

[McCauley]

Left last yard for reasons so many others seemed to have listed... 'it DID NOT do what it said on the tin'.

YO's promises of looking after your horse as if they were her own??!...Pah,..what a joke.
Apparent Full Livery there if you needed it?..Nope, the other liveries who i became friends with looked after my horse, while YO sat in the house on her backside or stayed in bed.
YO had 'day's off' at the drop of a hat with no notice and you turned up to find nothing done.
YO didn't know how to separate 'business from pleasure' and told you all financial troubles and how much everything cost and how much they had to cut down on including hay, feed, bedding etc (this was supposedly included in your livery, but you never ever got what was included). The hay was either 'rocket fuel' or 'dusty/mouldy bales and you couldn't buy your own in. Bedding,..you couldn't buy your own in, but they never had enough in, so again, you had suffer with substandard bedding.

Had to fight for any bedding for your stable, that you couldn't use alot of the time because YO didn't want them in mucking up the 'oh so pristine' stables, otherwise YO would have to get off backside and skip them out (also included in the livery package initially).

Poo Picking was supposedly included in the livery package too and turns out the liveries had to do it, while again YO sat back and did naff all, or just went out for the morning/afternoon.

YO used to try to coerce you into buying minerals in bulk, then charge you over the odds, so YO's horses were fed for free.
YO gave initial impression they were competent rider....not true by a long shot.

The place was horrendous, a total nightmare and the YO did all they could to literally NOT do any work/jobs and make sure all the liveries picked up the chores....but boy could they charge and put livery up, oh a least twice a year.

It made me feel quite anxious and very wound up...and this was suppsed to be my 'pleaure time and my hobby/passion'..Ha,..that YO made it anything BUT.

This Yard has a website that appears to look like horsey heaven in terms of what it allegedly offers,...and infact it was horsey hell. the turnover of liveries at this yard is very high.....mmmmmm wonder why?!!

It still angers me to this day that i wore 'rose coloured glasses' when viewing the place and was taken in by it all and that i put my horse through having to live on this place for a time.

thank the lord i'm out of there. Left good friends behind, but we keep in touch regularly so that's great.

 

[Penny Less]

First yard. Horses out all year on marshes, not allowed to use the field shelter!
Second yard. Seven horses on 3 acres, I was the only one poo picking
Third yard. Turned into a scrapyard, machinery left laying everywhere
Fourth yard. lovely to start with, became Run down, no maintenance done, ragwort everywhere, total DIY as in mend your own doors, roof etc! a very nasty livery that made me dread going up there.
Fifth yard. present yard, v happy there, hope to stay for a while !

This is 5 yards in 35 years so not as bad as it sounds !

 

[Grumpy Herbert]

I left my last yard as I was moving to the other end of the country - it was a lovely private yard, with just me and the owner on site, and I loved it.

The one before that I left because my horses were being neglected. They were on full livery and I wasn't able to get up as often as I would have liked (the whole reason they were on full livery). I went up on most of the really bad snowy days we had a few years ago, only to find that my horses were being left out in the field. The YOs claimed they couldn't catch them, yet me and my non-horsey husband went straight up to them and got them in no bother at all. I was then told that if I brought them in, then they wouldn't be turned out again! What made matters even worse was that when I went up, they had no hay and no water in the field- and I was still paying full livery rates. (for what was really very poor grass livery) Needless to say, we moved pretty damn quick out of there. I felt really let down, as I'd been there for years with no problems and considered the YOs to be friends. The problems really started when I was able to go up less often - the YOs clearly thought they could just take the p*ss and wouldn't be found out.

 

[stilltrying]

1. Required to feed hay supplied by YO, VERY poor quality & £5 a bale
2. Not allowed to feed haylage (YO horses fed on haylage and "select" liveries also, but not myself)
3. Turn out restrictions imposed in winter (half day) - i was the only one who worked full time, help wasn't offered.
4. Things went missing...

 

[Viva]

The short version- Pretty much no turnout for 6 months of the year, and an unapproachable YO, whose answer to most things was "if you don't like it, leave", so we did.

 

[glamourpuss]

1st yard - left area. Was a lovely place & even with a period where another livery tried to make my life hell, I still wouldn't have left had I not moved.
2nd yard - moved to the area. Everything seemed great although I was told they couldn't guarantee turn out every day in winter but there would be some. When I left in the February the horses had been in since the beginning of October with no access to any turn out unless we supervised them in the indoor school. I was disgusted.
3rd yard - I loved. The arena surface was dire, the fields a bit over grazed but the YO really did her best & every horse was happy & healthy. I left when the YO decided to take a job on a pro SJ yard & I was concerned the girl taking over wasn't experienced enough.
4th yard - what a mistake! I got swept in by fancy stables/arena & big talk. I soon found out why the place had so many empty stables. The spoilt princess owner (parents had set her up on the yard) was an utter bitch. She interfered with how I kept my horse (changing rugs unnecessarily, putting sugar beet in my horses feed etc), she ran me down so much it left me with confidence issues to this day. I didn't last a month, I was paid up but I did a moonlight flit with another livery.
5th yard - horse heaven. Fantastic hacking, ok arena, no interfering, no bitching would probably still be there now if we hadn't moved.
6th yard - nice yard. YO was a bit unstable but the other lovely liveries made up for it. Left to move to my own place where I am now.
The period of time for these yards is 16 years & I moved to my own place 2 years ago

 

[TheHairyOne]

First yard was OK - bit run down, but happy, until a woman with arabs moved in - she basically took over the place, got the yard manager sacked.

I'd love to know if this is the same arab woman who was on our yard for about a year! Was bonkers and finally forced to leave by our very good yard manager!

Only had 2 yards, both DIY, though the first one offered services. 3 years at the first one, but a lack of maintenance of fencing and stable and school meant it was getting slightly dangerous. The amount of turn out was being decreased slowly but surely...from fields shut in the worst weather, to basically not being allowed to turn out for months in winter. And it only had an indoor school with no where else to ride, with pretty awful hacking.

Current yard, nearly 4 years. No intention of leaving. Got a fabulous set up for my sister and I with our own little block and own fields, 24/7 365 day turn out and a yard manager who farms, so the land is kept excellently and he stays out of managing the horses - unless you ask him to help when he is brilliant 99% of the time. Took a bit of a chance when we moved as the fencing at the new place was rubbish and no school at all, but he promised it would be done and sure enough it was! And we were allowed to sort our own fencing in the mean time unlike the last place. The hacking is amazing, no road work at all unless we want to go further afield and xc jumps all over it built by the hunt and our own ford! Hacking distance to a big competition venue as well for times when we want to get out more horses than our 2 horse one can carry!

Oh, and there are now maybe 15 liveries, a fair few with multiple horses, and we get on great! Yard's basically invite only now.

 

[ellie11987]

Extremely limited winter turnout
Tiny school that didn't drain so riding was practically impossible in winter
Small stables
Not allowed to provide ad lib forage, I saw YO and YM empty peoples nets from stables if they thought they had too much.
Incompetent liveries.
very, very poor maintance - ragwort, leaks, doors broken etc. Pretty much ready to be demolished.
YO would text and tell me she'd moved my horse to a different (smaller) stable without my permission - happened on 2 occasions.

 

[fjordhorsefan]

Left my last yard over 2 years ago because YO neglected my horse (on full livery 40 miles from home as a temp. measure). She was supposed to be a friend, but basically was too lazy to feed any of the horses (this was December and January!) or put hay in the fields. She was reported to BHS welfare - the only horses on the yard that were not neglected were the 2 on DIY livery!! Love my current yard, will only leave there if I move far away!!

 

[Frumpoon]

I really think some of these places ought to be named and shamed - like livery list but with actual experiences rather than the gloss....it's a totally unregulated industry - imagine a world where in order to go to work you had to leave your beloved toddler or child with someone who may or may not have as much experience as they say, is not registered anywhere, is not answerable to anyone and can inflict whatever damage they like as your child (horse, whatever) is considered property so it's not abuse.....

 

[Sleipnir]

Yard 1 - Started there as a working student, but quality of management and service started declining rapidly. School horses being used for 4 hours a day and more despite being sore, sick, arthritic, underfed, with ill fitting tack, etc. Favouring some horses over others and giving them better care. Overgrazed pastures - the same fields for 30+ horses all year round. Bad, bad, moldy and rotten hay, not enough water, dangerous, leaky and very small box stalls (not enough place for a horse to lay down or even turn around), ridiculous rules and a controlling YM, as well as an oblivious YO who started growing chicken in the stables and thought he's the bee's knees. Promptly left right after buying my horse from them (had desperately fallen in love with).

Yard 2 - It was a temporary solution after fleeing from Yard 1, but I would have left anyway. The YO had good intentions, but there was not enough space for all the horses and the main stable hand turned out to be a drunk who would sometimes threaten horses. Also, the area was very industrial and some part of the territory was a scrap yard. Stayed there for 2 months.

Yard 3 - Seemed like a paradise at first. I loved it. Small, private yard setting, miles and miles of hacking, horses outside 24/7 with shelters, ad-lib hay and a very friendly, family-like setting. I ignored the long commute (1 hour by bus and 40 minutes by foot through woods to top it). Unfortunately, after 2 years service started declining. The YM and YO in one person seemed oblivious to problems the liveries begged to solve - the pastures got overgrazed and were not tended, the yard needed lots of repairs which were never done, the horses didn't have access to all the shelters (resulting in not enough shelters for the herd) and finally the owner of the pasture fields decided not to give his fields on loan anymore and the pastures had to be moved about 3 kilometers away from the yard itself. To make things harder, the YO increased the fees. I couldn't afford it anymore, the commute was now downright impossible for somebody without a car and I didn't like the way things were going, so I left, accompanied by two other liveries. Ah, and one more thing - all the horses there had started looking very poorly, despite proper worming, good ad-lib hay and a theoretically fine setting. Naturally, I didn't like that either.

Yard 4 - The YO was a lovely, hard working woman, we now had a bigger arena with a set of jumps and an indoor arena (although a bit dusty), there were huge, lush pastures and the horses were well cared for, and the owner allowed my two friends and myself to build a shelter for our 3 horses to be kept 24/7 outside in winter as well. There were some drawbacks - the YO's 3 children ran amok all over the yard, things (especially treats!) went missing or showed up having been used, and the YO didn't really succeed in controlling them. However, most of the things pleased me and I was very disappointed when the YO decided to go out of business and gave us all a very short notice.

Yard 5 - wins the Crazies prize. After Yard 4 announced going out of business, my 2 friends and myself were quite desperate to find a good place. Our horses had grown quite fond of each other so we hoped to be able to keep them together, but there were really no suitable yards in the area. A YO of a small, private barn had heard of our problem and invited us to join her yard. Knowing that the YO was very inexperienced (only a year ago had been afraid to lead a docile horse), we were skeptical, but we needed a place at least for the winter, so we agreed. At first, things seemed to be going fine. The yard was situated within a beautiful nature park with limited, yet safe and stunning territory for hacking, the horses were turned out 24/7 in the summer and the YO promptly organized building of a wonderful shelter with an adjoined paddock for our 3 horses to be turned out in during autumn/winter nights, when all the other horses were stabled. But then the underlying issues started revealing themselves rapidly:

* Non-horsey friends of the YO practically living at the yard every day with their children running wild all around, even in the paddocks, unsupervised. I frequently had to rush in to save another toddler from being squished between playful geldings.
*YO spreading rumors and gossiping behind everyone's backs about all the liveries.
* YO's dangerous and often plain stupid practices with her own horses that left me cringing.
* It was already clear that we would move when the spring came as the yard turned into a field of mud and the pastures were both too small and overgrazed.
* Then the YO hired a YM who claimed to be everything and more, but was even afraid to put a halter on a spirited mare, stabled her gelding 24/7 due to him "being footy" (was not), talked the YO into packing and sealing off all the stable so that there was no more air and decreasing both hay portions and turnout time for all the horses (except hers/YO's), and started complaining that my friends and myself are "torturing" our horses by keeping them outside. They were also given too little hay and water so we started feeding and watering them ourselves (turned into almost an DIY situation for the price of full livery for a while), and their shelter was never clean enough.
*To top it, the YO got furious about me sending a picture to a fellow livery, who was then living abroad and trusting her horse to the YO, with the said horse in a completely empty stall, no hay and a frozen water bucket, and with at least 9 more hours to go until morning feed. The YO claimed that I had been "spreading rumors and blackmailing her" to "people not associated with the yard" - well, how cool is that, when a paying owner of a horse counts as "not associated" in a situation when the horse is badly cared for!
* The last straw was one morning when I came to find my friends' horse, who at that time had a tendon injury and was to be left in the small paddock/shelter at all times to heal, galloping and fighting my gelding in a large, extremely slippery paddock with deep mud! I ran to get him out of there and contacted his owner. Of course, it had not been planned and she had not given any permission to do so with her gelding. Turns out, the YM had taken the liberty to do so as she "was sorry for the poor horse who was standing there all alone" and that "would not matter if he heals or not, as he would not be able to compete ever again all the same"!!! My friend called the YO the very minute and...got screamed at for being ungrateful for the fact that "the YO had cared for the horse more than anyone in this world", and all three of us got our notices to move out in a message no more than a minute after that!

Crazy bat! We were even relieved that it happened and started searching for a yard that very day. We later found out from other former liveries that the owner had a history of messing with other horses and especially with mishandling ill ones - for example, secretly using a horse with a torn muscle for giving rides to her friends or leaving a horse with a heart condition outside, without shade or water, in a 30C+ day, with all the other horses stabled...the poor horse was found by her owner running crazy and overheated. Our current YO recently revealed that this woman had been calling her and trying to blackmail us - fortunately, she takes none of this nonsense.

Yard 6 - Started business on the premises of Yard 4. Would not leave, unless dragged away, kicking and screaming. The yard is managed very well, the YO tolerates no gossip, drama or BS, the horses are well fed and happy, and, although I choose not to communicate with some of the liveries beyond basic politeness, the overall atmosphere is nice and we even get yard events, such as small competitions or driving the horses to the seaside together for a good gallop. I hope to stay here for a long time as I hate to drag my horse to a new yard every 6 months or so, as in case of the last two yards before this!

 

[Nessa4]

Only been on two yards (both DIY) in 12 years.

Left first one after 2years because of various issues with yard maintainance (fence repairs, leaky roofs, dodgy electrics), but mostly because we had a three year old we'd broken and started and there was absolutly no off-road hacking. The school, though a nice surface, was not very big, so the youngster could only manage four or five canter strides before arriving in corner!

Moved to current yard, which is not perfect (few are!), but suits us - horses are happy (we now have another younster) there is plenty of reasonably horse-friendly hacking. YO is not particularly horsy, but is always open to suggestions for improvements and the other liveries are experienced and everyone gets on. Surface in arena not brilliant, (Deep sand), but YO rolls it regularly, and we tend to do most of our schooling on hacks. Can't see us moving any time soon. A new yard has opened locally offering indoor and outdoor schools, cross country course hot and cold water etc. but they are offering rotated grazing for 30 horses on one 7acre field so we won't be jooining them!!

 

[MerrySherryRider]

If YO's were honest when you view, it'd save a lot of upheaval.

Hell yes. Why don't YO's just tell you the livery fee is just for stabling and the grazing is an optional extra your horse's won't be getting when it rains, may rain or has rained.

I think my moves have virtually all been due to being missold turnout.

 

[dollymix]

I left my last yard as another livery, who I had considered a friend, fell out with another livery and was given marching orders by the YO. I thought this was very unjust as the fallout was due to the other livery who was allowed to stay. Just didn't sit right with me, especially as I'd thought of the one asked to leave as a friend...

Sadly, the so-called-friend turned out to not be a true friend as I was unceremoniously dumped in favour of my cheating lying husband who ran off with my best friend. As it happened, the livery I had moved off for (in support) decided my husband was far more use to her (he looks after their computers for practically peanuts... They are event photographers) and so they stood by him. I only see her now when her young horse is stabled on my current yard over winter.

Lesson learned!

However, I am very happy on the yard I moved to (one I had been I in the past). Yes, it has a few issues but generally I love it - nice, trustworthy people, including the YOs, who helped me through a very rough time.