Ariston
Member
Posting in the hope of getting some unbiased opinions on yard situation for my eventer.
I’ve been at my current place for 2.5 years, mostly very happily. It’s DIY but I pay for part livery services on top. I have to order all my hay, feed and bedding to be delivered, although can normally double up with someone else ordering - but it’s q a lot of admin, and I don’t have a lot of time spare/am not able to get there every day to monitor what I have or need.
My yard owner rides for me when I can’t, at £25 a time, and lunges for £15. The school is great, and the grazing is fine - a field to myself all year as my horse is not great turned out in a group. The yard itself is fine but not perfect - the stable is quite small, the yard is quite scruffy, blocked drains outside my stable which means year round puddles (and flies), and a lack of tie up points because there’s a lot of grass liveries who get brought in to ride and need to be tied up. It’s busy all the time, and taking my dog there is quite stressful due to the number of other dogs (particularly big boisterous ones).
I’m now 8 months pregnant and recently had to stop riding, so am really struggling to get enough work into my horse (who needs 4-5 times a week) - my yard owner can only do a couple of days a week so I’m scrabbling to get him ridden by a number of others.
The alternative is the competition yard next door (owned by some very close friends). It’s got loads of facilities - although I get to use those already - and is a very different set up; very much a livery/competition yard. My husband already has a horse on loan there (on grass livery) so we are often backwards and forwards between the two yards, and I have good friends who stable and work there. The costs would work out relatively similar - except for I’d be paying for a part livery package and not have to think about ordering my feed, bedding, hay etc. There’s staff onsite, all of whom I’d be happy hacking or schooling my horse, and my friend herself is a 3* eventer so could school/jump/prepare my horse for me getting back on board post-baby.
The stables are huge, albeit they are rubber matted with very very minimal beds - literally enough to soak up wee, which isn’t my ideal. He would be turned out for 4 hours a day (as opposed to 6 now) - not as much but he’s a bit of a field diva, so 4 is plenty.
If I moved I wouldn’t be able to move back were things to change....the current yard has a long waiting list, and the owner would probably be pretty miffed I’d decamped to her neighbour. There is a real lack of other yards locally so not lots of other options unfortunately.
I think I’m just looking for a bit of reassurance that moving to suit my current life stage wouldn’t be a bad idea 🤯 I’m dreading a winter at the current yard, scrabbling riders together and trying to keep baby warm and dry without a barn stable/indoor tie up point. But equally I keep thinking better the devil I know and do I really want to go back to handing over responsibility to someone else (which at the moment is exactly what I want to do!).
Opinions welcome!
I’ve been at my current place for 2.5 years, mostly very happily. It’s DIY but I pay for part livery services on top. I have to order all my hay, feed and bedding to be delivered, although can normally double up with someone else ordering - but it’s q a lot of admin, and I don’t have a lot of time spare/am not able to get there every day to monitor what I have or need.
My yard owner rides for me when I can’t, at £25 a time, and lunges for £15. The school is great, and the grazing is fine - a field to myself all year as my horse is not great turned out in a group. The yard itself is fine but not perfect - the stable is quite small, the yard is quite scruffy, blocked drains outside my stable which means year round puddles (and flies), and a lack of tie up points because there’s a lot of grass liveries who get brought in to ride and need to be tied up. It’s busy all the time, and taking my dog there is quite stressful due to the number of other dogs (particularly big boisterous ones).
I’m now 8 months pregnant and recently had to stop riding, so am really struggling to get enough work into my horse (who needs 4-5 times a week) - my yard owner can only do a couple of days a week so I’m scrabbling to get him ridden by a number of others.
The alternative is the competition yard next door (owned by some very close friends). It’s got loads of facilities - although I get to use those already - and is a very different set up; very much a livery/competition yard. My husband already has a horse on loan there (on grass livery) so we are often backwards and forwards between the two yards, and I have good friends who stable and work there. The costs would work out relatively similar - except for I’d be paying for a part livery package and not have to think about ordering my feed, bedding, hay etc. There’s staff onsite, all of whom I’d be happy hacking or schooling my horse, and my friend herself is a 3* eventer so could school/jump/prepare my horse for me getting back on board post-baby.
The stables are huge, albeit they are rubber matted with very very minimal beds - literally enough to soak up wee, which isn’t my ideal. He would be turned out for 4 hours a day (as opposed to 6 now) - not as much but he’s a bit of a field diva, so 4 is plenty.
If I moved I wouldn’t be able to move back were things to change....the current yard has a long waiting list, and the owner would probably be pretty miffed I’d decamped to her neighbour. There is a real lack of other yards locally so not lots of other options unfortunately.
I think I’m just looking for a bit of reassurance that moving to suit my current life stage wouldn’t be a bad idea 🤯 I’m dreading a winter at the current yard, scrabbling riders together and trying to keep baby warm and dry without a barn stable/indoor tie up point. But equally I keep thinking better the devil I know and do I really want to go back to handing over responsibility to someone else (which at the moment is exactly what I want to do!).
Opinions welcome!
