Yard manager must have had bad day!

[[59851]]

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.

This, I would HATE to be on a yard with time restrictions, I work full time to help pay for my horses so there would be no point in me having them if all I could do was see them for less than an hour after work.If the only yard I could get was restricted I would rather move to a field or sell.

I love the yard I'm on at the moment, come and go as you please (if very early or very late I am very quiet and try not to use lights in winter, carry a torch instead) Many of us ride in the evening and then have coffee and chat until gone 9pm in the summer, you have to make the most of that!!

If I had my own yard I would not have restrictions, as long as clients were quiet and respectful when keeping early/late hours I would welcome extra eyes and odd timing can help security too. I suppose it depends on what kind of personality you have, but if you don't like people around and want ultra privacy I wouldn't think running a livery yard is the right thing for you!

 

[[59851]]

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.

Those are sensible times, The only isssue we had on my yard was a mother and daughter who used to have screaming rows at 10pm at night disturbing YO's daughter in law and his elderly parents - they were asked to leave!!

 

[Honey08]

I think that having some time limits is fine, but those sound a bit OTT. I can understand not wanting people on the yard at 5am or after 10pm - that sounds reasonable, it is someone's home after all. Most yards with such rules would be flexible if something was ill or someone was having to set off for a show early, as long as they were informed. The only yard I ever stabled on requested no arrival before 6am or after 9pm IF POSSIBLE as they also ran a B&B, so wanted a bit of peace for guests. They also had a rule that DIYs should have fed by 9am and mucked out daily, otherwise the YO would do it and charge for the jobs. It worked fine.

 

[Tiffany]

If the yard owner lives on the premises and house is very close to the yard then I understand why there are time restrictions. Our yard times are 7am to 9pm although, if going to a show early or getting back and we let YO know there isn't an issue.

If YM/YO unhappy about something then all means let liveries know but in a proper way rather than shouting.

 

[Lolo]

Well, our yards have never had more than 8 people on, and the most restrictive was with just us and one other family. They were very low-key though, and the owner's house backed onto the yard so they heard disturbances clearly and also anyone coming and going, hence the worry if it was an unscheduled arrival at an unusual time. If you gave warning (like for early shows, or coming back late from something) they were fine.

It was pretty much the only rule!

Tbh, we're now on a private yard which my sister manages and the horses are left to it from about 7 onwards and then she's on the yard at 6 in the morning...

 

[Slightlyconfused]

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.

At my yard the gate opens at 6am and locks down at 9:30am......

 

[micramadam]

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..........

Oohh! I think I want to be on your yard. You sound great.
No time restrictions on our yard either. This was much appreciated when Ruby was having her regular colic attacks. Meant I was at the yard several times through the night to check on her myself. YO even took us to Utecht vet hospital at 4am in the kidle of the winter with snow on the roads. There are no real rules, we all use our common sense and no bitchiness either! I may be paying or livery but at the end of the day the horse is MY responsibility.

 

[Lizzie66]

I think that having some time limits is fine, but those sound a bit OTT. I can understand not wanting people on the yard at 5am or after 10pm - that sounds reasonable, it is someone's home after all. Most yards with such rules would be flexible if something was ill or someone was having to set off for a show early, as long as they were informed. The only yard I ever stabled on requested no arrival before 6am or after 9pm IF POSSIBLE as they also ran a B&B, so wanted a bit of peace for guests. They also had a rule that DIYs should have fed by 9am and mucked out daily, otherwise the YO would do it and charge for the jobs. It worked fine.

Either I have totally misread OP post or a few of you have misinterpreted the morning time. OP says that one of the liveries was told off for not being there by 8am. There seem to be a lot of people saying that they would want to be there earlier, the YO doesn't appear to have a probelm with earlier just wants to make sure all are seen first thing.

Also the late evening complaint was not about riding the horse late or returning late, it was about sitting around on a summers evening cleaning tack inside using YO electric. Most Livery Yards don't make a fortune and lights or water being left on is a good way to run a high bill up for the YO, why not take your tack home to clean it rather than use YO electric.

Personally sympathy is with YO, there is nothing more aggravating than having rules that aren't enforced. Half the people stick to the rules, half don't. If they aren't enforced the half that stick to them get very resentful of those that don't, and they also end up getting annoyed at the YO for not taking control.

 

[Achinghips]

it was about sitting around on a summers evening cleaning tack inside using YO electric. Most Livery Yards don't make a fortune and lights or water being left on is a good way to run a high bill up for the YO, why not take your tack home to clean it rather than use YO electric.

Personally sympathy is with YO.

Because that's what yo's are receiving livery fees for, in part, surely? .... an attitude about electricity cost that you pass resentfully to your paying client, is unacceptable.

 

[honetpot]

Having been on a yard where people did not turn off lights, including the school lights, left gates open etc I can fully understand why there should be rules. I lock up and check round before I leave my yard I would be really cross if I had a livery who didn't do the same. I can see there should be some flexibility but having responsibility for animals is a 24/7 job and its nice sometimes to slump in front of the telly knowing that everything is tucked up safe and not wonder if someone has left the gate open, again.
As to stacking the muck heap, one of my pet hates, why does no one seems able to throw stuff up the heap or stack it properly so it ends up creeping across the yard, muck does not levitate up the heap by its self?
So I would be the grumpy yard owner, but you know exactly where you stand from day one.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

TBH I think this whole thing depends on the livery and the situation concerned.

We're a very small DIY affair and live on-site, we only ever have one livery (she has three ponies) - and we get along really nicely which helps everyone.

She's quite at liberty to be here in the middle of the night if she wants/needs; tho' knowing her, because she's a darling, and considerate to a fault, she'd let me know if she was going to be..........

In twenty years of "doing" DIY we've only ever had one really bad livery and she only stayed for a month thank god, but if we'd had many more like her throughout the years we'd have had to become like the OP's YO no doubt She brought undesirables on to the yard late at night (friends of hers plus OH chain-smoking & boozing - against the yard rules in virtually ANY yard I've ever been on); and we had to tidy up beer cans, fag ends etc. PLUS she shut her pony in all weekend and went away, and we hadn't got a clue where she was and had to do her pony for her. So if as a YO I'd had to put up with this sort of thing on a larger/longer scale, by god I'd have had to turn into a monster. And she was only one person on the yard - in a bigger place you'd have all the issues with personality clashes, bitching etc.

So if we'd had any more rotten eggs like this one, then we'd have had to run the yard with all the tenderness of the Gestapo and be far more stringent about times people were here as living on the place it was becoming a real nightmare, especially for my own horses who were getting stressed by the constant disturbances.

So perhaps the OP's YO has had a run of bad-uns, and this is why things are so strict??? There's usually a reason, and its usually because somebody, somewhere, has taken the P!ss big-time in the past unfortunately.

 

[Lizzie66]

Because that's what yo's are receiving livery fees for, in part, surely? .... an attitude about electricity cost that you pass resentfully to your paying client, is unacceptable.

What world do you live in ?

A livery yard is there to at least break even, if the costs exceed what you take in then you have to pass the costs on or say its not worth it and shut down. So I for one would rather that my YO make sure liveries are told if their actions are leading to increased costs and that they should take whatever corrective action is required.

The other option would be for the YO to increase everyones rates to cover the increased cost base. Now that would be unacceptable.

 

[Achinghips]

I don't mind paying a bit more for courtesy if yard is not making a profit, but each to his own. UK, btw.

 

[Lizzie66]

I don't mind paying a bit more for courtesy if yard is not making a profit, but each to his own.

Totally agree with you regarding courtesy, and if the YO was rude or used offensive language then I would agree that wouldn't be acceptable.

However OPs post is ambiguous, she sounds like she is laid back and easy going (and probably a very nice person) but also by the sounds of it a little untidy. I read it that the YO decided that she had reached the point where the straw broke the camel's back and that she would remind them all what the rules were and gave each of them an example of the things she did/didn't expect.

I didn't see anything to indicate that the YO had been offensive, just narked !

 

[Casey76]

Blimey I couldn't be somewhere that had a "lockdown" time... When the weather is upwards of 30C (and it often is here) I don't usually ride until 8 or 9pm. But my yard is on a farm, and we have no immediate neighbours.

We can often be found nattering away, having ordered pizza, at 10 or 10:30pm. As long as the last one off switches the lights off the YO is happy.