Yard closing!

Pearlsasinger said:
I bet you will look back in a year's time and think "Thank goodness we left that place". It is stressful as it happens though.
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Possibly not. Smallwood is in a lovely area and has a BE standard cross country course, great arenas, very good turnout, impeccably maintained, and arguably the best haylage made in the area, on site. They've been operating a model for a while now of "full-minus" livery where the horse is completely done by them with the exception of actually mucking out the bed. In 2022 that was £110 a week and they were full all the time. The nearest equivalent in facilities was £170 a week at the time and is now at least £180, though that does have a farm ride. I assumed Smallwood went to that model as a way of minimising griping from owners. It will be hard to beat.

This is a really big shock.
.
 
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ycbm said:
Possibly not. Smallwood is in a lovely area and has a BE standard cross country course, great arenas, very good turnout, impeccably maintained, and arguably the best haylage made in the area, on site. They've been operating a model for a while now of "full-minus" livery where the horse is completely done by them with the exception of actually mucking out the bed. In 2022 that was £110 a week and they were full all the time. The nearest equivalent in facilities was £170 a week at the time and is now at least £180, though that does have a farm ride. I assumed Smallwood went to that model as a way of minimising griping from owners. It will be hard to beat.

This is a really big shock.
.
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I’m afraid this is factually incorrect and all those effected will absolutely look back thinking leaving was a good thing despite how awful this experience is.
The prices of this yard have rocketed year on year and the service has dwindled at the same speed of inflation.This is comparing apples with pears not just in terms of basic part livery vs fully inclusive full livery but also facilities, one arena is under water and the basic xc course is predominantly flooded
 
ycbm said:
Possibly not. Smallwood is in a lovely area and has a BE standard cross country course, great arenas, very good turnout, impeccably maintained, and arguably the best haylage made in the area, on site. They've been operating a model for a while now of "full-minus" livery where the horse is completely done by them with the exception of actually mucking out the bed. In 2022 that was £110 a week and they were full all the time. The nearest equivalent in facilities was £170 a week at the time and is now at least £180, though that does have a farm ride. I assumed Smallwood went to that model as a way of minimising griping from owners. It will be hard to beat.

This is a really big shock.
.
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I looked around there once and thought it looked super until a 5 minute chat with the owners. I got a really bad sense of "oh hell no" from them and couldn't get away fast enough.
 
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abbijay said:
I have been on the same livery yard for 12 years and they have just served notice to all of us (circa 25 horses). They are giving up and renting it out to a rehab yard. We have 28 days to move off.
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I know Harry Moran Eventing has full liveries in Goostrey and has some stables coming available. Nice yard good arena etc. go on his Facebook page for a look. His full livery is a good price for the service.
 
That email from the livery yard is awful I'm sure all their liveries are going to be absolutely thrilled about the new venture.

Some people are just unbelievable so selfish and no thought for anybody but themselves and lording it all over social media.
 
Hope youve got sorted OP.

Thats a ridiculous timeframe to close down a yard. Thank heavens you have your parents to help out and take some of the stress away
 
Ah this is so stressful. I saw the update on SW FB and thought as it had clearly been a fairly big change of direction, that liveries would have more notice. We thought our yard was going to close at the end of last year (rumour network went crazy and owner denials were unconvincing at the time), and it was such a worry. For us it was about facilities, turnout, and people, but we have quite a few old retired horses on our yard who wouldn't cope well with a move so it was a real worry. I hope you get fixed up soon, but it's great that you know you won't be homeless in the meantime.
 
Will the new person running it not want to have just some bog-standard liveries? Surely filling an entire yard with 'rehab liveries' will be nigh on impossible (not to mention really labour intensive)? Most places I know of offering rehab liveries only have a small amount in at a time (usually max 4!)
 
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