Yard manager must have had bad day!

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Irishlassie

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YM gave several of us a *******ing today!! One for not getting to yard by 8, another for staying late sat (8.30) she was cleaning tack quietly ready for Sundays show, but had light on in tack room and it was using excessive electric!!!!! Me for not throwing muck heap back correctly, and another for texting someone else to do horse cos she broke down, she should have told YM then she would have done horse and broken down livery would have been charged!!! Oh the joys of bad temper YM....
 
I think I'd be leaving her to grump about the yard on her own. I certainly wouldn't be happy being told when I should get to the yard and when I should leave by, unless it's in the contract. And I'd certainly want to choose who did my horse in an emergency. I doubt very much if I'd want somebody so bad tempered to do it.
 
Gosh, I am lucky.

Sounds like more than a bad day....sounds like someone needs to take a big old dose of MTFU and not take their own problems out on everyone else. That kind of attitude gets pretty short shrift from me.

Oh...and If I want to stay on a yard to clean tack and I pay livery...I damn well will....because I'd never sign a contract that said I couldn't!
 
I get why she doesn't want people on late or very early tbh, without warning. Because that's when anyone could be about and it's not normal hours for a livery to keep- probably put her on edge a bit.

All livery yards we've been on have had a 'no one past 8, no one before 7 without warning' rule and I thought it was very reasonable.
 
Lolo said:
I get why she doesn't want people on late or very early tbh, without warning. Because that's when anyone could be about and it's not normal hours for a livery to keep- probably put her on edge a bit.

All livery yards we've been on have had a 'no one past 8, no one before 7 without warning' rule and I thought it was very reasonable.
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I would honestly hate that. I like to be able to go and do late checks on the horses. Not every night, but when they are in through the winter, I like to make sure they are not too hot or cold and change rugs accordingly. Early mornings...I am mostly up the yard by 6am and done by 7 to go home, walk the dogs and shower before work.

I can understand it if the yard is on someones own land and it may disturb them, but I actually like that people come and go when they please where I am. The horses never get upset or stressed if someone has to be there at 5am to leave for a show or riding club doesn't finish til gone 9pm. It means that if a horse is ill and needs a vet through the night or just somebody monitoring, the other horses don't care. The only yard I have been on that was that strict with times...well, whenever something happened that meant we were there really early or late, all the horses got upset and stressed and I would never want that.
 
When I was working 12 hrs a day, with a 45min commute, it would have been impossible for me to get to my yard before 8pm. My lovely YO fully understood this, we popped in, mucked out, fed and off home, caused no distruption, never disturbed the YO and no bother to anyone, I now have the horses at home and still miss my old yard
 
A yard with time restrictions would be very difficult. Our YO's are happy for liveries being around at varied times as its another pair of eyes about the place and stops the hectic 'rush hour' effect.
 
I couldn't cope with time limits :frown3: At one point, I was doing my loan mare at 5.30am then onto my loan boy straight after til we moved them all to one yard!
 
_GG_ said:
I would honestly hate that. I like to be able to go and do late checks on the horses. Not every night, but when they are in through the winter, I like to make sure they are not too hot or cold and change rugs accordingly. Early mornings...I am mostly up the yard by 6am and done by 7 to go home, walk the dogs and shower before work.

I can understand it if the yard is on someones own land and it may disturb them, but I actually like that people come and go when they please where I am. The horses never get upset or stressed if someone has to be there at 5am to leave for a show or riding club doesn't finish til gone 9pm. It means that if a horse is ill and needs a vet through the night or just somebody monitoring, the other horses don't care. The only yard I have been on that was that strict with times...well, whenever something happened that meant we were there really early or late, all the horses got upset and stressed and I would never want that.
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Also if folks are about at odd times it's more difficult for intruders and any problems with the horse are likely to get picked up "out of business hours". At this time or year, you might want to ride at 5am or 9pm, a: because you can, b: because it's an amazing thing to do and c: it maybe the only time you and your horse feel comfortable when the weather is hot.

I once looked at a yard where ALL horses had to be fed at 6pm. I walked away at that point (mentally - I wasn't rude enough to walk out of the tour!!)
 
Your post amused me - not laughing at you but just thinking how different things are here. We don't really qualify as a yard per se. We own a few acres around our house, I wanted company for my mare, and one thing led to another, so I now have 5 liveries. They are treated as family, they come and go at whatever time of day or night they choose, bring their dogs, their children, their friends. they are all LOVELY, and we regard them as among our best friends.

But what made me smile was the time restrictions on your yard - and many others, evidently. I once had an exceptionally hardworking livery. She and her husband ran their own transport business in the village, and some of the vans were on overnight runs, so she kept very strange hours. One winter's morning (about 4a.m.) with a light fall of snow on the ground and a big moon, I looked out of the bathroom window and there was this livery, doing her poo-picking. I went down in my dressing gown and made a cuppa, and we were putting the world to rights in front of the Aga for ages. She explained that she was so wide awake after reorganising the vans, because of the snow, that she felt she wouldn't sleep, and besides, she said, the frost made the poos lift beautifully!!

so there won't ever be any time restrictions in this neck of the woods..........
 
No time restrictions on our very quiet little yard. I love it there, the YO does know our 'usual' hours though and you can bet your bottom dollar that if I am there at an odd time one of them will come out and ask if everything is ok or if I want a hot drink. When your on colicky tummy watch it's always good to know you have back up. God bless my lovely little second home :)
 
Lolo said:
All livery yards we've been on have had a 'no one past 8, no one before 7 without warning' rule and I thought it was very reasonable.
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I've never kept my horses on a yard with such rules, and never would either! Week days I'm always up at the yard way before 7am, and if I'm at the office then it's often near 8pm when I get there in the evening. The last yard I was at I was often there til 9pm in the summer as I rode after work.. Each to their own I suppose.
 
blimey, that's very restrictive! bad temper or no bad temper I couldn't be on a yard like that.

I leave for work before 7am so have to have dogs and horses sorted well before that

I would be questionning whether I actually wanted to stay on this yard or not - silly rules and unhinged YMs are why I now keep my horses at home
 
Irishlassie said:
YM gave several of us a *******ing today!! One for not getting to yard by 8, another for staying late sat (8.30) she was cleaning tack quietly ready for Sundays show, but had light on in tack room and it was using excessive electric!!!!! Me for not throwing muck heap back correctly, and another for texting someone else to do horse cos she broke down, she should have told YM then she would have done horse and broken down livery would have been charged!!! Oh the joys of bad temper YM....
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Depends on the rules of the yard, they all seem fairly normal reasonable rules that occur on a lot of livery yards.

a)Horses to be checked in a morning first thing.
b)Liveries to be off the yard by a certain time without prior arrangement (clean your tack at home rather than stay late to do it)
c)Muck heap to be kept tidy
d)YO to do horses if you are unable to do them yourself

The YO has a duty of care so a) and d) are perfectly reasonable.

Times make sense so that YO can go round and check security at a reasonable hour, also know if a car comes down the drive they know they need to go check because they aren't expecting anyone else. So b) too is perfectly reasonable as long as they are happy to let you have early or late access if required

Most yards have restricted space so muck heaps being kept neat and tidy reduces the number of times it needs collecting. Also if you don't do it then your YO probably has to so doing c) saves time and money for the YO. I suppose she could just charge you for her time in doing it.

I think if YO point out these things before there is a problem, everyone knows where they are at and it saves having a big fall out later down the line.
 
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Time restrictions really do make it hard on DIYers - my last yard opened at 7am (so I couldn't do mine myself before work :() and we had to be off by 9pm (shame in the summer as it was nice standing around chatting after doing evening stables). I think the YO said it was something to do with her insurance!
 
Lolo said:
I get why she doesn't want people on late or very early tbh, without warning. Because that's when anyone could be about and it's not normal hours for a livery to keep- probably put her on edge a bit.

All livery yards we've been on have had a 'no one past 8, no one before 7 without warning' rule and I thought it was very reasonable.
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Wow, that seems rather harsh! When I am at Uni I am always on the yard before 7 (I'm hacking out as soon as its light in the winter, that's after I have mucked out etc) and often stay late in the evenings.
 
Where I keep my horses is very informal but we're asked not to go up before 9am (especially at the weekends) (they do make an exception for an early show start though). But they happily feed and turnout for us in the mornings and it works fine for me as I'm constantly knackered enough as it is without having to get up even earlier than I already do (6am) to get dogs walked and catch the train to work (I did used to do it but I'm very happy not to). And the horses are used to an 8.30/9am breakfast time followed by half an hour or so to let it go down before turnout. And I get a guilt-free lie-in on the weekends!!
There's no restriction on times at night but because it's such a personal yard I don't turn up late (I'm usually gone by half eight at the latest). In terms of riding in the heat - we're lucky that the field we're riding in (we also have a school) has lots of trees and always feels pleasant to ride in even when it's baking hot.

Can see why some yards are strict about this as many of them are also people's homes and it must be nice to have some time when there aren't other people wandering about outside.
 
Try being a YO/YM for a few years, then not have a bad day ever!! Also if running the yard from your own premises, all the coming and going can be intrusive, hence why time retrictions may be put on.

It is a very stressful, tough job with limited financial reward, and however pleasant and tolerant you think you are, the challenges of running a livery can make any sane person go 'overboard'. I know from bitter experience and gave up doing liveries and have a lot less 'bad days' now!!!!

As with a lot of these issues, if you know the rules before you move in, then you can't really complain about them in 'hindsight'.
 
I've never been on a place with visiting hours, I think it would make me nervous, but I can understand being a YO/YM is pretty stressful, you'd need the wisdom of Solomon for a start
 
All this talk about restrictions is making me wonder what size of yard you are on. How many horses on each yard? I wonder if the bigger the yard the more rules seem to be in place.

I could not be on a yard that stopped me going after 8pm. In the summer (not this year) I have been out riding until almost 10pm. I always feel as if I have to make the most out of every second of summer daylight.
 
Re time restrictions - perhaps the YM lives on-site and wants to know when people are going around. I imagine living (particularly if you live alone) on a yard with all kinds of bumps in the night could be unnerving when you don't know if it's an avid 3am poo-picker or a mad axe man :)
Or maybe she runs round naked after 8.30pm... who knows! But I suppose if she lives there it's only fair to have a few time rules if that's what she feels happy with. Does sound like she went a bit overboard though!
 
Our business hours are 6am-9pm. This seems to suit most on DIY just fine.

In winter I'm at the yard by 5am, which YM is happy for me to do as long as I'm quiet lol. Her front door is about 20ft from the barn door, so if you're not quiet, the dog will start barking at wake YM up, which understandably is not very pleasant.

There are no qualms about someone other than YM tending to a horse if the owner is unable. In fact, there's a livery who actually earns money by offering services to the other DIYers for a lesser (more reasonable) rate. No problems with this at all, which I do find strange.
 
I used to be on a yard of 40 horses, no time restrictions at all.

Just as well, as due to my work hours I'd be mucking out around 5.30am, and often wouldn't get to the yard on a night before 9pm. I was there one Friday night plaiting at 10pm as I had to leave early for a show the next morning. I let the YO know I would be late so she didn't panic, and she even came up and offered me some stew down at the house! When Genie was ill I was going to the yard every 3 hours for days, and she came up once or twice in the middle of the night to see how she was doing.
 
Sidney said:
Try being a YO/YM for a few years, then not have a bad day ever!! Also if running the yard from your own premises, all the coming and going can be intrusive, hence why time retrictions may be put on.



As with a lot of these issues, if you know the rules before you move in, then you can't really complain about them in 'hindsight'.
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That is exactly why, after one experiment, we will never have a livery again. But we were simply doing someone a favour - she took the p. There is no benefit to us in having other people tramping in and out of our yard, which is also our home. If someone is running a livery yard and expecting to be able to pay a YM out of the money their customers pay, I would have thought that they really should have a clear contract in place and ensure that the customers feel comfortable there. I would also have thought that being as flexible as possible would encourage customers to stay long-term which can only be a positive thing.
 
Sidney said:
Try being a YO/YM for a few years, then not have a bad day ever!! Also if running the yard from your own premises, all the coming and going can be intrusive, hence why time retrictions may be put on.

It is a very stressful, tough job with limited financial reward, and however pleasant and tolerant you think you are, the challenges of running a livery can make any sane person go 'overboard'. I know from bitter experience and gave up doing liveries and have a lot less 'bad days' now!!!!

As with a lot of these issues, if you know the rules before you move in, then you can't really complain about them in 'hindsight'.
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Agree with this basically!! I'm a YO and we live on site: however we only have one (DIY) livery who's thoughtful and considerate in the extreme, so issues like this simply don't arise as I trust her and understand that if she's prepping for a show or whatever she's likely to be at the yard either late or leaving early in the morning.

We've got a security alarm fitted here; and livery knows how to work it. Which makes life a whole lot easier for security etc. I can understand where the OP's YO is coming from tho' - its not easy trying to run an outfit if people are coming and going at all odd times, and the buck stops with YOU if something goes t!ts up - liveries are all too quick to blame the YO if anything of theirs is pinched, but often don't realise just how difficult it is to maintain security at a yard, and/or have people hanging around and you don't know who they are or whether they're OK or not. So this is probably why the YO in question came down like a ton of bricks.

At any of the bigger yards I would guess that there ARE certain rules about what times you can be on the place and if you want to come and go and be free-and-easy then I would think it would be the livery's choice to find somewhere which is mebbe a bit more relaxed? I remember when I had my boy on working livery, I was given set times of when I could visit the yard, and also when it was required NOT to be:). Its a question really of you pays your money and does as you's told if that's what the rules are, kind of thing.

Don't know if OP has signed a contract to the effect of detailing what times they should/should not be on the yard? TBH keeping the muckheap tidy is something that ANY yard will require.

Would think that if the set-up at any yard doesn't suit any of the punters, then they are at liberty to find somewhere else more to their liking rather than stay there and grouse.

Better still, try being a YO for a week and see how it suits. I've been in both positions, i.e. poacher turned gamekeeper, have had mine on livery and now am a YO - and so can appreciate it from both sides, BUT the bottom line is if you don't like the set-up, then don't stay!!! And particularly don't stay and moan about it:) That doesn't do anyone any favours.
 
What a misery guts, as a paying client, I'd find somewhere else, where you get spoken to reasonably, for whatever reason.
 
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