Working livery...great or nightmare?

nicolenlolly

nicolenlolly

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I need some advice please.

I am not happy with where my horses are, there is a lady who throws all her garden waste in my field, the travellers opposite have nicked them once, I have no hard standing, nothing useful it's just a field and the ragwort is horrendous, I spend hours for weeks trying to pull the stuff. My husband has offered to spray it and we will this year but I don't want to spend fortunes on someone else's fields for them.

I have been offered working livery for my daughters 2 section a's and my cob for £50 per month but I don't know if I like the idea of someone else riding my horses and being told when I can and cannot have access to my boys. I know it would be good for their progression as they are only 5 so it would teach them a thing or two but....oh it's s battle that keeps going round in my head that I can't conclude.

Am I being a wus...would you do it or do you do it and it works nicely?

Thank you in advance for any advice xx
 
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I know some people who do this and it has worked out well for all involved. I think it depends on the rding centre, and how well you get along with the staff! You would need to draw up a riding schedule and insist it gets stuck to.

I think if you are renting a field, then maintenance of it is your responsibility, TBH. The theft would concern me more, and I would move for that reason.
 
Personally - absolute nightmare.

If you want to go ahead, it seems a pretty obvious thing to say, but definitely go down to the RS for a day and watch a few lessons, watch how the horses are handled etc, so that you can see how it all works.

It's one thing I would never, ever put my horse through again, but it really just depends on the yard. I know people that it worked out really well for.

Hope you manage to get something sorted :)
 
As long as you know exactly where you stand, make sure you let them know they can use horse for x amount of hours, x amount of days, make sure that you can ride horse when YOU want, then it can work.

I've known some places use horses so much, that a. horse hasn't had energy for what the owner wants to do, or b. owner came up ready to ride, to find that horse is already in a lesson, so owner is unable to ride.

I personally will never have a horse on working livery again, but its been a godsend for others who are unable to get horse fit/more experienced riders are on the horse so horse is being progressed.
 
I would also have a chat with some of the grooms working at the yard- having worked at some very different yards myself, I know there are some that would always treat the horses well, and others that go behind owners backs when they know they won't be around :(
 
Personally, I quite like the working livery my horse is currently on. But she's not your typical riding school horse (big and forward going) , so she's only in a handful of experienced lessons a week. I actually think the instructors use her more for their training sessions or for riding out with a student on a hack.

However, I think you should be asking as many questions as you can think of. E.g. have you been told you can't control when she's ridden? I'm perfectly able to pull mine out of lessons for a day or two if I want to compete, etc. The yard knows when I come down to see her so she usually isn't used then.
Also, probably best to have a nosey about the yard to see how the instructors teach and how the staff treat the horses. Maybe book a lesson for yourself or your daughter so you have an excuse to nosey about?
 
My lad is on really light work at a riding school (he's still quite green so is either on a lead rein or with the more experienced riders) and I find it works really well for me. I wouldn't have been able to afford him if he weren't on working livery.
I'm up there every day and know all the staff and other liveries, how they operate and how the lessons/hacks are handled.
The only thing that I worry about is when there are young inexperienced riders on board in case they jab him in the mouth but to be honest I've not seen anyone do that with him yet so it seems to be an irrelevant fear so far :D
I think it can work out really well if you find a good place to have your horses work but I would agree with the above advice about working out a schedule and checking that things on the yard are done the way you would like them done.

Good luck! :D
 
Depends on the school. If it's a good one, you may find it's actually like cheap schooling for your horses, I ride somewhere that has lots of working liveries, and lots come on unschooled or with issues and it takes the school about 2 months to begin ironing them out and making them into useful, schooled, polite horses. Of course, some places will take the mick as it's not their horse they're ruining so they don't care. Would need a lot of checking out the school to decide.
 
I personally wouldn't entertain the idea. I hate the thought of anyone/everyone on him of all different abilities pulling, yanking and kicking in every direction.
 
Bionic Boy said:
I personally wouldn't entertain the idea. I hate the thought of anyone/everyone on him of all different abilities pulling, yanking and kicking in every direction.
Click to expand...

This is what worries me the pulling his teeth out/jabbing him in the ribs sort...

Thank you for your advice it really is difficult cos over the prolonged winter they were just left-too muddy to use and no where to clean them so it is like starting again every spring. I know what you are saying arizahn that maintenance is our job but it was awful when we took it on and they dump random scrap vehicles in the field or go and fly kites in the field as apparently it is funny watching the ponies "chase" the kite?! So we have had to fence it, fertilise, seed, weed and the old lady who owns it is very old so her sons will probably kick us out when she passes on which is why I'm loathed to invest big money in really making it fab-if I could buy it then that would be different.

Oops I'm rambling...housework time but thank you for the advice, I will endeavour to spend random hours down there, get to know some people there and enrol my daughter for lessons, she's only 5 so she should be in with the tugging kicking sort!

Thank you, choccy brownies all round :) xx
 
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