Would you keep your horse at a yard where nobody lived onsite?

C

Charlie31

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 April 2016
Messages
245
Visit site
I've been looking for a new yard. We're not blessed with a good selection in my area and my horse has a few specific needs, which makes it all quit difficult really. I've found a couple that seem to largely tick the right boxes, with the exception that nobody lives onsite. I feel a bit uncomfortable with this, probably less of an issue if the horses were out but if they stabled and something happened in the middle of the night it could be a problem.

Would this put others off too or would you go for it if everything else about the place was right?
 
Mine are currently on a yard where no one is on site overnight.
The YO is going to be moving next door at some point but currently the DIYs are the last on the yard and then no one is back until morning.
TBH at the last couple of places I have been, although YOs have been on site they didn't get involved with the horses at night so it made no material difference.
 
I have done, more because it was a case of weighing up pros and cons.
If I’m honest I don’t like someone not being on site - if I was in this position in future I think I’d rig up a camera, technology is so much easier now that I’d be happier with that
 
Obviously it's more common than I thought then. I'd not really come across it before. It is a good point about it not necessarily meaning much if the YO is onsite - our current one doesn't come out and do any late night checks and a lot of the stables are far enough away from the house that they probably wouldn't realise if anything was going on.

A camera would definitely be a good idea for peace of mind, I hadn't thought of that. Would I go to sleep at all then though??
 
Our yard doesn't have anyone on site from normally when I leave (6/7pm) to when I get there (6/6.30am). YO does have cameras though so she can check the yard and does check to see if heads are over doors!
 
I rent a field so no one is on sight. Its never concerned me that no one is on site at any of the places I've had horses. If my ponies can't be left for health issues (colic etc) I'm with them anyway. My parents stud/livery yard had no one living on site, we live about 30 miles away. This never caused a problem for any liveries or our foaling mares. It may of meant we stayed over at the yard more as the mares got closer to their due date and showed signs of being ready than we would of if e lived closer.
We never had issues with ponies doing the selves a mischief overnight. Feed buckets were never left in overnight, no rugs were hung in stables and hay was either fed from the floor or a hay rack that ponies couldn't get their feet in.

I can't see it an issue especially if the pros out way the cons. Like others have said if it really was a deal breaker you could get a camera for the stable.
 
I wouldn't, our YO does a 10pm check and is, what I would consider to be a deterrent should any unwanted visitors arrive to steal tack, or heaven forbid, my horse.
 
I’ve been been anywhere with someone on site 24/7. I have my own stables now with someone living just the other side of the fence, so about 20m away, which is reassuring. Old yard did have a fire when I was there so I’m paranoid about it now. All horses ok thankfully but the thought of what could have happened is awful.
 
My current yard is the only one out of four that I’ve been on that does have someone on site. That being said, no one else except myself and the person I share with has any reason to be in our block, so I don’t think anyone would know even if something did happen. The only real upside I can see is that it does seem to deter thefts, as we have an annual spate of robberies in the area each winter but nothing has ever been taken from my current yard.
 
I have been on a yard where the field and stables had no near neighbours. It never concerned me in the field but I really didn’t like to stable them
 
The only yard I have ever been on where YO/YM lived on site, where the two yards I worked at and kept my horse at while I was working there. Before that and since then, I have been on DIY yards. Although the last and current yard have the landlord/YO living in the vicinity, but they are not horsey so would not be doing late night checks or be close enough to hear if there is any commotion.
 
Charlie31 said:
I've been looking for a new yard. We're not blessed with a good selection in my area and my horse has a few specific needs, which makes it all quit difficult really. I've found a couple that seem to largely tick the right boxes, with the exception that nobody lives onsite. I feel a bit uncomfortable with this, probably less of an issue if the horses were out but if they stabled and something happened in the middle of the night it could be a problem.

Would this put others off too or would you go for it if everything else about the place was right?
Click to expand...
No I wouldn't personally.

But then after late night nets are done your horse obviously isn't seen again until the next day which is basically the same as if you had your own place or were on a yard with no one living on site.
 
All the yards I have been have had someone live on site, however there is a big difference to that and somewhere that does late checks. I have been on yards where they say they do but know damn well they don't so the point of someone living on site is of no significance. From a security point of view most have had CCTV but again having been a victim of rural crime, I have lost pretty much all faith in whatever benefits it is meant to bring.
 
I have been at a few yards with no one on site never had issues apart from someone stealing the electric fence and energiser a few times, but that could happen if someone were on site.
 
Mine don't have anyone onsite. I don't like it. The neigbours are grand and check them every morning, which is incredibly kind of them, but we're putting up cctv anyway. I'd not have anyone else's horses if we weren't onsite as I'd feel responsible for them.
 
Yes I’m on my second yard with no-one on site at night.

The last one was within a private estate where there were three separate yards and various workshops. The outer boundary was padlocked at night. I think there may have been a security firm that patrolled randomly.

The current one is on a farmyard also part of a bigger estate. The cattleman used to check lights etc. Were off about 10pm but not check the horses but sadly he died a few years ago. There are a couple of estate cottages across the lane of which the residents keep an eye out for any suspect happenings like lights in or gates open etc. but again no-one to check the horses. I’ve been there 9 years now and touch wood nothing has happened that needed a late night intervention. It’s a great yard and IMO better than the majority of other yards I know of.
 
Yes, there is a dressage yard near here where it was a new stable block and arena, but no permission for a house. There are some seriously valuable horses living there, but any horse is valuable to its owner after all. It is on a quiet lane but not particularly hidden and there are houses around but not close. I wouldn't really have felt happy about it, but I hope that the owner has some sort of camera/alarm rigged up.

My horse was once in livery and it was only because the YO was giving a late night check that she found he hadn't eaten anything and she was able to take him out of the stable and walk him round that probably saved him from colic - so it is that sort of situation that would be a worry.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I have to say I'm surprised by just how many yards don't have the owner living onsite! I've always kept my horses at yards where the owner lives there, even if it was a DIY yard and they weren't involved in any way, so I just assumed this was the norm.

It sounds from the various responses like maybe it depends a bit on the set up. I don't really worry so much about theft as I don't keep my tack or anything valuable at the yard anyway. I do worry about more catastrophic events such as fires as by the time anybody noticed it would be too late. I guess these are very rare events though and maybe I could minimise that risk by not going to a yard where people smoke onsite (yes, that does happen on some yards I know!!).

I'll think on it some more. The ideal would definitely be to have an owner onsite who does late checks whether they're stabled or in the field but the reality seems to be that this doesn't happen in the majority of cases anyway.
 
We have ours at home but my neighbours just own land, yard and stables and have 10 horses on site. Their land doesn't quite adjoin ours and the stables are about 700m from our house down the road, so nobody is anywhere near. They have been there more than 10 years with no issues that I know of.
 
My biggest concern would be colic/sickness over having things stolen. I've been spoilt by always being able to do late night checks 10-11pm after supper and a hay net. YO did too when on livery- feeding her own two only but either of us would have noticed if something untoward was up with the other horses (yard of 10ish only)
 
Im currently on a yard with no one on site, there are houses close by but I doubt they would see or hear anything. I would prefer someone to be there if Im honest but years ago I lost my mare to colic on a yard that was supposed to check at 9pm. From the size of her net in the morning, I very much doubt they were checked as she hadnt touched it so Im presuming wasnt right soon after we left. I found her the following morning, no bed on the floor, all up the walls, rug torn to bits, poor girl must have been colicking all night!
 
my old yard had owner on site and she did late checks between 10.30 and 11.......that didnt stop our tack being taken, the tack room was in full view of the house but YO would have been in bed when that happened......it is now alarmed...
 
I think in a good number of yards, I've only ever been on one with anyone living on site who would be close enough to possibly hear a sick horse in the night. Given that the yard in question had serious other issues (lack of forage, lack of turnout), I would sacrifice it in a heart beat. I don't keep tack on the yard anyway, it's locked up so would be tricky to get trailers etc out. Horses being ill, well there's only so much you can do - I have always done late night checks if there's nobody around, there's usually someone up there at first light in winter / early in summer. Yards are always a compromise.

Mine are currently on a yard where they live out, so fire risk is less significant, and their fields are overlooked by houses. I know one occupant watches them as she tells me how entertaining they are and how they all behave when I'm not around!
 
Just a Festive Troll in the Dungeon said:
Mine are currently on a yard where they live out, so fire risk is less significant, and their fields are overlooked by houses. I know one occupant watches them as she tells me how entertaining they are and how they all behave when I'm not around!
Click to expand...
one of the neighbours where my field potatoes are loves to report to me what's been going on in between my visits. it's really nice :) he also called us once when Millie was on the rampage into someone's garden :oops: always happy to have nosy neighbours and they enjoy watching them so everyone's a winner.

The last 2 colics at my yard have been in the day and they've been very quiet too so I wouldn't have expected a YO to have known about them from inside a house. I'm tempted to sort out a camera, I am only a 10 min drive away so realistically if I spotted an issue I could be there in time to make a difference. However I think YO would probably not approve, he thinks I'm barking as it is. Being the catch-all term that it is I am sure there are minor colics happening now and then overnight that we just never know about. A friend videoed horses at night for a project once and def saw things that would have an owner zooming out of the house but resolved themselves. tricky balance isn't it.
 
I don't live on site sadly, as cannot get planning, ever.
Theft (petty) has only ever occurred in daytime nearby and twice in 40+ years at mine.
Neighbours keep an eye open, at this time of the year its routine to see head torches bobbing about. House owners up the lane are pretty good at keeping an eye out for non routine vehicles.

I do worry about not being on site overnight, but also equally if am away long hours in daytime too, as happens with work, comps, camps or holidays etc.

Yes, mine are in overnight in the very worst winter weather unless high winds are forecasted in which case they stay out as huge trees behind the stables.
Equally in high summer they are not in during the day, in case of common fires, but are able to use field shelters at will.
 
I'd always prefer a yard with someone living on site, but that hasn't always been possible. On the one occasion I did livery with an owner onsite, there was a break in during the night which went undetected and I discovered it in the morning as first out on the yard....so it depends how attentive your yard owner is to whether it's an advantage!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top