Yard owner knowingly let yard staff ride your horse without my permission

Armas

Armas

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As the title states never happened to me as my boy is kept at home. This is a follow on from another thread.
What would you do if you found the yard owner had let yard staff ride your horse without my permission.
To clarify.... Absolutely no permission given to ride your horse explicit instructions given to yard owner that no one is to ride under any circumstances.

If I arrived and caught them on my boy with out consent male or female. I would ask them to dismount tie my boy up then I would flatten them then remove my boy immediately.
 
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Ask them if they are willing to pay me £20 the usual cost for a lesson on a horse, if not then tell them where they can go :) Luckily we keep Tess at home so no hassle that wise :-)
 
Armas said:
As the title states never happened to me as my boy is kept at home. This is a follow on from another thread.
What would you do if you found the yard owner had let yard staff ride your horse without my permission.

If I arrived and caught them on my boy with out consent male or female. I would ask them to dismount tie my boy up then I would flatten them then remove my boy immediately.
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Same. I wouldn't blame the yard owner unless they had specifically put them up to it though. I would absolutely hit the roof with whoever took it upon themselves to ride my horse without permission.
 
If horse is on full livery it should be under arrangement who rides, all my owners know my staff and helpers ride everything, any special requirements as to who if they are fussy are discussed. If a horse is just on part livery though then no one should be riding it except owner.
 
I'd ask what was going on.

I've previously offered my horse as a getting-confidence-back-after-a-fall-from-something-else ride, and would be happy for my YO to hack him. If it was either of those situations, I'd think they were taken past suggestion / permission as current, and I'd just make it clear I needed to be asked in advance in future. If it was any other circumstance, I'd make it clear how unhappy I was, but I wouldn't leave automatically - it would depend on how they reacted and what I felt the outcome would be. If I couldn't trust them not to do it again, that's a big issue.
 
I would go mental - espeically as they would not have the correct fitting tack, especially as they would not know what work level they were at and one is only a youngster - a lot younger than we first thought so I want her to have another year to grow up.

I think I would be really hard pressed not to hit someone, espcially if it were a smirking teen - I would be arrested!
 
Armas said:
If I arrived and caught them on my boy with out consent male or female. I would ask them to dismount tie my boy up then I would flatten them then remove my boy immediately.
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My boy might flatten them for me :p hes a senstive soul , bless :o

I think if someone is letting people (yard staff) ride their horse as part of the contract, then it really must be stipulatated who is allowed to ride - as so much hard work can be easily un-done in the wrong hands.
 
I would ask the person to dismount, if they refused I'd catch the horse and pull them off it! I wouldn't necessarily be angry with them as they may not know YO didn't have permission to use my horse.

I'd also be straight on the phone looking for another yard and horse would be moved ASAP, same day if possible.

Certainly tack would be taken home until horse moved and myself, plus anyone else I could arrange, would be turning up at all kinds of random times to check up. If I found someone riding the horse again, I'd take whatever tack horse was wearing home and return it to the yard at the time I came to remove the horse. I wouldn't care whose tack it was or how many sets I had to confiscate before they got the message! If it belonged to innocent liveries I'd appologise to those people when I returned it.

I wouldn't be paying any money in lieu of notice and if I was owed money (eg if I'd paid until Saturday and the day all this happened and I left was a Wednesday), I would take goods to the value of what I was owed (eg a bridle belonging to YO or some of their hay, etc). I wouldn't bother asking for the refund since it would already be obvious I wasn't dealing with decent or reasonable people. I'd see no reason why I should be out of pocket due to a YO's bad behavior.
 
I would be raging I've always had quite quirky horses so Its never been a worry for me. I would be demanding YO to be looking at a disciplinary though for whatever staff member took the horse out and rode it.
But when i have full/schooling livery I always ensure from the start what members of staff are to ride the horse so everyone is clear.
 
Agree with above, I would be very very unimpressed! And I would blame the YO, they are responsible for what goes on on their yard and they should employ and train staff appropriately. Not that they should need to explain to someone they shouldn't ride someone elses horse uninvited and unsuppervised!!

As was rightly said on a thread about people asking to take someones horse hunting, I would react in a similar way to finding out someone was riding my OH behind my back !!!
 
Polos Mum said:
Agree with above, I would be very very unimpressed! And I would blame the YO, they are responsible for what goes on on their yard and they should employ and train staff appropriately. Not that they should need to explain to someone they shouldn't ride someone elses horse uninvited and unsuppervised!!

As was rightly said on a thread about people asking to take someones horse hunting, I would react in a similar way to finding out someone was riding my OH behind my back !!!
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??????? Riding your Other Half ????? :eek::eek: Now thats a whole other can of worms ;)
 
Kind of happened to me. I had booked her in for a massage but yard owner had written in the book hack instead of massage ( by the same person) so she was hacked. Didn't know till the person who had ridden her mentioned she was a bit footy out..... :confused: luckily she is a good rider and my mare likes her so no harm done :rolleyes:
 
Kikke said:
Kind of happened to me. I had booked her in for a massage but yard owner had written in the book hack instead of massage ( by the same person) so she was hacked. Didn't know till the person who had ridden her mentioned she was a bit footy out..... :confused: luckily she is a good rider and my mare likes her so no harm done :rolleyes:
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Why does you YO do this - has she the say on your horses excercise programme ??

I just find it very odd - if I employ a trainer to ride mine - then i expect the trainer to ride - if she wants one of her pupils to ride under her supervsion - then i will consider it - but i would certainly not be paying the same money.
 
Crimbowitch said:
Why does you YO do this - has she the say on your horses excercise programme ??

I just find it very odd - if I employ a trainer to ride mine - then i expect the trainer to ride - if she wants one of her pupils to ride under her supervsion - then i will consider it - but i would certainly not be paying the same money.
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Well my trainer is someone else then the person who massages her. However the person who massages is a trainer at the yard as well and a good one at that.
By choice she would not be the one ridding my mare. Only my trainer does that. Having said that she is a great rider and I did not pay for the service as the YO made a mistake.
 
My pony I am happy for other people to ride, and have allowed yards to use him for lessons for staff without any problems. He likes work, and is happy to go out several times a day. That said, anyone who was lucky enough to survive catching, tacking up, mounting and riding either of my girls would get removed and then some serious questions would be asked. My tack doesn't live at the yard, and no one is keen to go near any of mine, so I'm not worried.
 
This happened to me - the YM "lent" my horse to the on-site instructor for one of her clients to ride. Didn't ask me, didn't think she'd get caught, but I happened to be down the yard early and caught the tail end of the ride.

Needless to say it was not pretty - I came EXTREMELY close to commiting GBH - how I restrained myself, I still don't know.

Horse and I were off the yard by the weekend - luckily a place came up at a friend's yard and we have been there for 8 years now.

Still makes my blood boil thinking about it 8 years later.
 
Hexx said:
This happened to me - the YM "lent" my horse to the on-site instructor for one of her clients to ride. Didn't ask me, didn't think she'd get caught, but I happened to be down the yard early and caught the tail end of the ride.

Needless to say it was not pretty - I came EXTREMELY close to commiting GBH - how I restrained myself, I still don't know.

Horse and I were off the yard by the weekend - luckily a place came up at a friend's yard and we have been there for 8 years now.

Still makes my blood boil thinking about it 8 years later.
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What did the ym say when you confronted her ? I am just astounded about this whole thing.
 
I would be absolutely livid and said person would need to vacate my property instantly :mad:

I was bad enough when the chap who bought the field next to mine came over and said what a lovely friesian I have, asked about her I said oh shes 10 and he said 'yes I thought about that I had a look in her mouth' YOU DID WHAT?!


Also dont agree with horses being ridden if on full livery by staff - unless id vetted each one of the staff no way would they be on my horse.
 
This happened to me I stipulated no exercise just turn out. Arrived unexpectedly one day to find her being used in a lesson by a very novice working pupil. I didn't make as much fuss as I would now as I was a lot younger then, and I was using the place as a stop gap until I found a nice diy livery place as we had moved to the area recently. But it still annoys me when I think about it, she was a very well schooled pony and had only been owned by one person before me who had broken her.


I had had her as a green 4 year old. Having said that she was an easy ride but didn't deserve to be jabbed in the mouth and thumped on the back by someone who couldnt ride well!!
 
We did have a case at my previous yard when a horse was left to be worked by the yo... she used the horse for the week for lessons..... so got paid by both :( .

The owner did approach the YO - but got very short shrift.....and she said the horse needed what she needed - in my term that was hard riding by an unsympathetic show off teen..... whom then bragged about it to the owner.

Owner was very very upset about it and never left her horse to be worked again, but did stay at the yard as it was 2 mins away from her house and did have good facilities.
 
A lot of you would be violent...! :eek:

I would clarify to the rider, YM, YO and all that nobody is to ride my horse without asking me. It would depend on circumstances whether I felt it was a one off, a genuine mistake. I had a horse on working livery who was supposed to be used for the riding school lessons, hack if accompanied by instructor, but another livery happened to mention she had fallen off him three times out hacking! :confused: how she managed that with a gentle well mannered cob I don't know, nor do I know why she rode him instead of her own horse but I did just clarify with YO that I didn't want fellow liveries just borrowing him for a hack when they fancied, which was the end of it.
 
wren123 said:
This happened to me I stipulated no exercise just turn out. Arrived unexpectedly one day to find her being used in a lesson by a very novice working pupil. I didn't make as much fuss as I would now as I was a lot younger then, and I was using the place as a stop gap until I found a nice diy livery place as we had moved to the area recently. But it still annoys me when I think about it, she was a very well schooled pony and had only been owned by one person before me who had broken her.


I had had her as a green 4 year old. Having said that she was an easy ride but didn't deserve to be jabbed in the mouth and thumped on the back by someone who couldnt ride well!!
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Did you say anything at all ? and did you take your tack away from the yard?
 
Crimbowitch - Her response was that she hadn't had time to ride him, so thought it would be OK. It was Monday!!!! She had the rest of the week to ride him (was on semi-full livery so got ridden 3 days a week).

The client riding him was a 13 year old novice and my boy is a big 16.1 cob who has a mind of his own, particuarly as he was 14 years old at the time and very, very fit.

She knew immediately she was in the wrong - you should have seen her face when she saw me and realised she'd been caught and was desperately trying to make up a reason for not ringing me and asking permission - she knew that the answer would be NO, so I guess she thought forgiveness was easier to seek than permission. How wrong she was.

The instructor tried to run away and hide, but I demanded she give me the money she had just earned off MY horse - she gave it up, as I think she realised I was not messing around.

I then informed the client's father that his daughter would not have been covered by insurance if there had been an accident and technically she had "stolen" the horse for the duration of the ride - a couple of other client's and their parents were there as well and overheard the whole thing. The instructor was definitely down a few clients after then.

Since then, it has been my policy to be very vocal about the fact that no one is to ride my horse without permission.
 
Armas said:
To clarify.... Absolutely no permission given to ride your horse explicit instructions given to yard owner that no one is to ride under any circumstances.
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In that case:

Take tack home
Find another yard
Inform YO I was leaving and that I wouldn't be paying notice because the incident constituted breach of contract / duty of care
Leave

I'm not one for throwing tantrums or punches, so this sounds a bit tame :p

Really struggling to imagine it happening, to be honest.
 
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