why did you leave your livery yard?

[MochaDun]

Yard 1 - there 9 years, was great at the start and had a lot of fun over several years but facilities and grazing declined as not managed well and had a deeply unpleasant last winter due to a few liveries being silly and YO not sorting it quickly. Also over the years a lot of people that I rode very regularly with and became friends with left and it just wasn't the same place anymore. Have left behind two people though that were great and miss them and their lovely oldies.

Moved to Yard 2 just 3 months ago and don't want to be moving from there in the foreseeable...we've only just settled in - it's lovely and I've got my riding mojo back and they're a good crowd.

 

[miss_c]

Moved to Yard 2 just 3 months ago and don't want to be moving from there in the foreseeable...we've only just settled in - it's lovely and I've got my riding mojo back and they're a good crowd.

And you can meet up with me for hacks!!!

 

[sandy3924]

Because YM was a dirty old man who found it very hard to keep his hands and dirty thoughts to himself. Happy now on a lovely yard where I look forward to going each day instead of dreading meeting the lecherous old git.

 

[CrazyCobLady]

Because YM was a dirty old man who found it very hard to keep his hands and dirty thoughts to himself. Happy now on a lovely yard where I look forward to going each day instead of dreading meeting the lecherous old git.

That is horrific. Did you report him?

 

[Shooting Star]

yard 1 - it was a field with no facilities to moved to a yard where I could have a stable & there was a school

yard 2 - combination of having moved house so there were better yards nearer to home and also we had to buy all hay & straw from the YO at seriously inflated prices

yard 3 - yard was sold, and then unsold but by the time the sale fell through I'd committed to moving to yard 4 and as the future of yard 3 was still uncertain I decided to carry on with the move

yard 4 - horse was PTS

yard 5 part A - technically the yard left me! Was a full livery on a yard that was sublet with the YO doing DIY and the YM doing full but the YM moved her business to another yard & I didn't feel ready to leave so moved to DIY and still there so no yard 5 part B yet!

 

[MiniMilton]

I was at a yard that I thought was amazing. I was on full livery as they didn't offer grass livery. Every time I went up my horse was out in the field. And sufficient turnout is a big deal for me. Then I got a bit suspicious. I went up at 11pm and yep horsie was still out. Not sure how many months I was paying full livery when my horse was just out at grass. I went up the next night at 10pm with my horse box (horse was still in the field) I loaded her up and left a note on the gate for the YO telling him he was a robbing b*****d

 

[Boulty]

First yard I was on I left to go to University (horse went out on loan)

Second yard more or less shut down and only kept a handful of people who'd been there the longest on. Sadly I wasn't one of them.

Only just moved off yard 2 this weekend and still at the "help everything is new and I don't know anyone!" stage right now so fingers crossed I start getting to grips with new place soon!

 

[Fransurrey]

Yard management was simply incompatible with mine and ponies' needs. Fields were rotated every 3 weeks, so I could never rest. No shelter at all, so at the age of 21, Henry suddenly gained 3 rugs! Manager was ultra clean. Even moaned about the muck on the driveway after the heap was collected, then swept the whole drive! She got very very stressed about trivial things and it rubbed off on everyone, including my ponies. I went after 3 months (just under). My replacement livery left after the same period and my friend who is still there has been on the list for my yard since I left! Manager is actually a lovely person, but her micro management and OCD needs some attention and she just can't see it.
There was also a dangerous mare in my field, which triggered the actual move. Would have been easily solvable with correct management, though.

 

[bgb]

YO was just batty!

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

Yard 1 was a riding school, there was too many horses on too little grazing. Also, as some others have mentioned, lessons came first so we struggled to get into the school to ride. There were some seedy goings on as well that also had me concerned.

Yard 2 was a nice yard, quite large but was spilt into smaller sections so it actually felt more intimate than it really was. YO was great, very helpful but unfortunately he had domestic issues, wife left & he turned to his best friend 'Johnnie Walker', yard went downhill so we moved. He's since given up yard, still works with horses & we're still friends.

Yard 3 seemed nice when we went there but soon realised that it was very cliquey. It was more like a social club than stables. All owned horses but most rarely rode, just critisized those that did & spent time with their horses. Bitchiness just got too much so we moved as we couldn't relax & enjoy the horses.

Yard 4 is where we are at now. Yard is at a private house & there are only 5 horses there. It has a nice outdoor arena that never floods or freezes. The stables are large, light & airy, rubber matted & brick built. Everything about the place is wonderful. There's a secure alarmed tack room, loads of storage space & the yard has full cctv. The YO's wife is the horsey one & we get on great with her & have the same views on looking after horses. The Husband isn't horsey at all but he does a fantastic job of looking after buildings, paddocks etc. He levels the arena every morning & if someone has a lesson booked he will level again before the lesson starts. Nothing is too much trouble for them, it's our little piece of heaven. We've been there for 3 years now, we were the last liveries to arrive with our 2 horses as 2 stables had just been converted. No one has ever left there & I can't see us ever going either.

 

[skint1]

Some of you guys have had such a terrible time, I feel lucky by comparison.

Yard 1, a farm basically, just my friend and I there. I moved my daughter's young (at the time) ex racer to a yard with a school so she could school the horse on, the hacking was quite poor in winter as the fields were often waterlogged etc. We still were connected to the farm though and eventually the mare was returned back there where she lives now as a companion to my friend's horse

Yard 2, a friend's yard. Was there about 6 months. My friend has a heart of gold but as a YO she is really bossy and it was difficult at times. The grazing was awful, poo picking was traumatic and logistically difficult and the hacking also wasn't great though the school was fab. Her daughter didn't like my daughter and didn't hide the fact, lots of bitchy teen girl stuff and the YO didn't help. In the end it all got a bit unpleasant and I wanted to preserve our friendship so I moved to Yard 3, where I have been ever since. No yard is perfect but for us that is as near as it can be, don't see us leaving there in a hurry.

As I get older there is less I am willing to endure I think, I wouldn't want to be on a yard that was a riding school, or where the grazing or stabling were inadequate or no off road hacking. The school isn't great, I would love to see it modernised, but it doesn't really bother me as I am a happy hacker.

 

[exracehorse]

yard 1 - YO money grabbing, miserable bag. Rude. OK if you were one of her 'favourities'. Fencing dire, nothing repaired. House removal junk dumped in horse fields. High turnover of horses, and all in the same field. Bad security. Tack rooms left open and no one at yard as out on hack. Lots of people coming and going that didn't even have a horse there. 3 separate kicking injuries on my horse. Horse walked over crap fencing onto busy road. Horse got leg tangled up on crap metal fencing and dislocated its hip. Horse got leg caught in rubbish dumped in field and messed up its hoof big time. Hay and feed being stolen but nothing done about it.

yard 2 - lovely YO big field etc but no schooling ring. After two years left.

yard 3 - schooling ring, very small, lovely other liveries, lovely YO - wont move until my horse's legs fall off.

 

[Biglets Mummy]

Being expected to do every one else horses as I was the "single,childless one" who clearly had nothing better to do than bring in rug and feed everyone elses every night but funny old thing the favor was never returned.Bitch troll of a YO complaining that my horses produced to much wee and it ruining her rubber mats.... But she knows EVERYTHING about horses.
Moved to my own place and as the previous poster said my stables aren't posh and a bit rough but I wouldn't be anywhere else and my boys are glad to have my attention back instead of splitting myself 9 ways.
Previous yard was with my trainer( and who i classed as a friend silly me!!) who I had been training with twice a week for 5 years. Been their 2 months and she suddenly got very very nasty.Asked a vet if he thought,while I was standing their, I was too fat to ride my ex racer. Vet laughed in her face. I was just dying inside. Ended up with her ripping into me telling me what a totally crap rider I was and that I had ruined my horse (but she would take it off my hands for nothing as I had made it worthless....) Happy to take my money for 5 years though.......Just got a field and left but she wrote to me for over a year as she couldnt understand what she had done wrong...Too many other tales on that person to write but lets just say I wouldnt xxxx on her if she caught fire. Ugly individual....
Yard before that paid to have my 6 acres cut for hay.put it in the barn and then saw the other livery bring a tractor up and took a half.....Yep....Never paid me a penny as old chap that ran the mower over the place fancied him and said it was only fair as he couldn't afford to pay for hay for his 3 racers in training. 250 bales.Proud to say did a flit on that one and left 2 months rent outstanding in lieu of the hay and the arena I had paid for and built that he was allowed to use for nothing!!! Some people get it good dont they!!!!!

 

[khalswitz]

Was at first yard for years - was fine before I went to uni as worked at the riding school to help cover keep, was nice and handy and lots of people my age (very much a young person's yard). Then sold horse to go to uni.

Got another horse whilst at uni (accidentally), and he was a working livery to help cover his costs. Had a fab time, although over the couple years was well aware that everyone else was going to uni and I was slowly becoming much older than all the other liveries except the liveries who were way older than me but timid riders so not so much fun... but my sister also liveried her horse there so she kept an eye on mine whilst away and we rode together in the hols. Stayed until I left uni, when I took him to current yard.

I'm now on 2nd horse at that yard, private farm with three liveries total, only one other riding livery and YO so nice and quiet, fab hacking, floodlit sandschool for evenings and he can live out 24/7 on part grass livery incl all my haylage and hard feed... only downer is my lack of transport as is very out of the way, so not ideal for getting to things with him, but YO is very good at offering lifts.

I would consider moving to somewhere at least hackable distance from one of the competition venues, but with needing flexible part livery due to work travel, 24/7 turnout due to PSSM (or maximal turnout anyway), and a floodlit school for riding in winter evenings but without it being too expensive is pretty much a pipe dream...