MiJodsR2BlinkinTite
Well-Known Member
My old lad was on Working Livery at an Equine College.
He went there totally green & unschooled; came out after 2yrs-worth of WL responsive, balanced & fit!
What I would say is that whilst you may be "impressed" with the yard you know and obviously have a good enough relationship with them to consider WL for your horse; however do bear in mind that the actual WL experience might be totally different - and you might end up thoroughly disillusioned with the yard and hate everyone on it!
You WILL rock-up to ride and your horse will already have been "used" that day; your horse will have been turned-out when you asked for it not to be; as well as clipped the way you wouldn't have done it yourself, etc etc. You also will very probably have to have the Yard's choice of vet & farrier; you will be lucky to see either as everything will be sorted by staff. This may or may not suit you.
You will also need to label your tack: EVERY part of it. And I mean EVERY part. Reins, stirrups, bits, girths, the lot. I found little metal dog-tags were good for this. And for pity's sake don't send your brand-new Stubben kit to WL or the lovely shiny stirrups that Great Aunt Flo gave you on your first-ever days hunting: go to your local 2nd-hand tack shop and get stuff that's cheap & cheerful. If you can, and if your horse can have one, get a saddle that's cheap & cheerful, and ubiquitous, such as a Wintec. And make sure that if you can you are there for saddle fittings as where mine was at they'd allowed a situation to develop where he was actually being worked with a very sore back, and when he couldn't be used for lessons anymore they were pretty damn quick to chuck him back at me and I had to find another place somewhere else PDQ.
The plus points are that you will be on a big yard where lots is happening; where mine was at there were competitions most weekends. Also there were regular clinics and experts coming in and it was generally a very buzzy atmosphere.
Oh and will just say this in closing: do be aware of the duration you leave your horse on WL. There was a horse on the yard when I was there who had been there way too long. He was one of those quirky horses and his owner just couldn't cope with him, which was why he was there as needed the exercise. However he had thoroughly gone stale. Mine was beginning to go that way after two years, which was why at the close of that year I decided to bring him home.
He went there totally green & unschooled; came out after 2yrs-worth of WL responsive, balanced & fit!
What I would say is that whilst you may be "impressed" with the yard you know and obviously have a good enough relationship with them to consider WL for your horse; however do bear in mind that the actual WL experience might be totally different - and you might end up thoroughly disillusioned with the yard and hate everyone on it!
You WILL rock-up to ride and your horse will already have been "used" that day; your horse will have been turned-out when you asked for it not to be; as well as clipped the way you wouldn't have done it yourself, etc etc. You also will very probably have to have the Yard's choice of vet & farrier; you will be lucky to see either as everything will be sorted by staff. This may or may not suit you.
You will also need to label your tack: EVERY part of it. And I mean EVERY part. Reins, stirrups, bits, girths, the lot. I found little metal dog-tags were good for this. And for pity's sake don't send your brand-new Stubben kit to WL or the lovely shiny stirrups that Great Aunt Flo gave you on your first-ever days hunting: go to your local 2nd-hand tack shop and get stuff that's cheap & cheerful. If you can, and if your horse can have one, get a saddle that's cheap & cheerful, and ubiquitous, such as a Wintec. And make sure that if you can you are there for saddle fittings as where mine was at they'd allowed a situation to develop where he was actually being worked with a very sore back, and when he couldn't be used for lessons anymore they were pretty damn quick to chuck him back at me and I had to find another place somewhere else PDQ.
The plus points are that you will be on a big yard where lots is happening; where mine was at there were competitions most weekends. Also there were regular clinics and experts coming in and it was generally a very buzzy atmosphere.
Oh and will just say this in closing: do be aware of the duration you leave your horse on WL. There was a horse on the yard when I was there who had been there way too long. He was one of those quirky horses and his owner just couldn't cope with him, which was why he was there as needed the exercise. However he had thoroughly gone stale. Mine was beginning to go that way after two years, which was why at the close of that year I decided to bring him home.