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

My horse was on full livery at a yard, and I gave permission for the YO's son to ride my horse occasionally when escorting a hack. My horse was a Quarter horse and only ever ridden Western in her Western saddle. One evening when grooming her, I noticed a large lump on her back which was obviously very painful to her. It transpires that YO's son had ridden my mare in a 'spare' English saddle they happen to have lying around. It hadn't fitted her properly and caused the swelling. I should also add that they sometimes borrowed my Western saddle for weddings. The groom felt safe riding to his wedding in a Western saddle on a grey livery horse. I had the vet come out to my mare to make sure there was nothing sinister going on with the sudden swelling.
I never allowed him to ride her again, she had always looked after him and deserved much better from him. He apologized eventually , but only after I told him exactly what I thought of him and threatened he'd never father children if he went near her again. I was surprised that he had done this, and to say I was upset is an under statement. I left the yard as soon as possible after that, I didn't feel I could trust the YO or her family ever again...
 
Hexx said:
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.
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The scary thing is - if you had not turned up that day it could have gone on for months - that is frightning.
 
Exactly! And had it happened in the past? No one was saying. You put so much trust in the people that look after your horse, for them to abuse that trust is unforgiveable.
 
This sort of thing has never happened to me, however, I did work on a yard once where the YO's daughter (an adult) would use a saddle belonging to a livery when they weren't about and a friend was able to hire a trailer off her ex YO, the trailer belonged to another (full) livery!! The cheek of some is just unbelieveable.
 
I am lucky enough to have my horses at home, having said that none of my family would dream of riding my mare without asking me first. They would expect the same courtesy from me. All who are on livery should make it clear if their horse/pony is to be ridden by anyone else.This should be in writing. (I would have a notice on my stable door making it clear what my wishes were) Surely any YO should be aware that insurance does not cover if permission is not given. As for using tack trailer etc. isn't that theft!? Happy New Year everyone. Blwyddyn Newydd Dda.
 
Have sort of had this happen too. My lad was out on loan, with it written in the contract that only the loaner could ride him and that he *must not* be jumped (ex-JA pony, with a truly wicked stop, looking for a quieter life). He was being used as an escort horse at a riding school. I found out when I got a stroppy phone call from the owner of the place saying she'd been trying to use my boy in jumping lessons, but he'd been pitching her students off and given one kid a concussion. As I recall I laughed in a very unpleasant fashion and said that was exactly why it had been stated in the loan contract that he was not under any circumstances to be used in said riding school.

I went to pick him up the next day only to find they were *still* using him, this time for a grooming demonstration! :eek: I walked onto the yard, demanded to know what the ever loving h*ll they thought they were doing - cue ponio eyeing me sidelong and stomping down on the instructor's foot! I was a total cow about it and stood there smiling until *he* decided to get off. Yep, could've moved him. Didn't. Also decided I should worry a bit less about him - turns out he's very good at taking care of himself!
 
Someone said to me the other day her friend could take my two boys out for a hack and may be interested in hunting one!!! Errr no!

I have been on the other end, when I was 14 I was asked by my friend to look after her mare and coloured yearling. Mum dropped me off and I did horses etc.. Anyway to girls ages about 20/21 asked me if I would hack one of their friends horses out, thinking nothing of it I said ok. Turns out the nasty little bullies were just using me (I was stupidly trying to impress them :( ) ad I was riding one of the yards Liverys horse... Only found out as we hacked past my mum who knew the lady. The lady was furious as I got straight off the horse and led him home. Not only had the girls used to me get at her they had done it before, but the horse was a known bolter and wasn't to be ridden by anyone other than the owner or her pro trainer. My mum went mental at girls and so did owner. I was slightly embarrassed but owner wasn't mad at me, also my first expierience of yard bitches!!!
 
Wow, these all sound shocking! I have never had any experience of this myself, and hope I never will.
Such blatant disregard of the terms made is unbelievable!
 
I know! I was just a kid too having just come off ponies! Only expierience on a horse (apart from a few trots round a school) were complete school masters. Reckon that someone was looming down as we didn't get far untill mum spotted us and I quickly got off as soon as I knew! Girls were planning the ridgeway :s
 
when I had my first pony, i was on a diy yard, YO was totally horse clueless but lovely - but didn't have a clue what was going on on the yard :( anyway my pony had been lame and had been on box rest for a few weeks and as I was bringing her back into work...it started off with 5 mins at walk a day etc then progressed, and as we were on say around 20 mins of walk a day I had to go away with school for a week so parents were in charge and they were just going to walk her out in hand as opposed to what ridden work I'd have done with her etc building it up to around 30/40mins of walk only. When I got back dad said that one of the girls had been riding her just at walk - to save him time :rolleyes: so hmmmm i thought - not too happy but I suppose no harm done, only to find out the next day that she'd been trotting and cantering my poor pony and had even jumped her :eek::eek: one of the liveries who rented the small farm house at the yard and lived there had come home one lunch time to see my pony being ridden and thought it was very strange for her to be jumping!! not happy at all...
 
Is this followed on from my thread? As this has happened to me!
Don't know whether to be upset of angry. I haven't confronted them yet but have plans to move. Others said on my thread to say something once I've left and moved my stuff but not to get in a big argument about it! I do really want to storm down there tomorrow, present them with the photo evidence and just walk out with my horse in tow!!!

It's horrible because I don't know how many times she's ridden him, I know she's jumped him which a) he hadn't done for years so I was going to reschool him and b) isn't fit enough to do fast work yet.

He's been lame on a couple of occasions that we never found why. Makes me think he pulled something and recovered while he's been in so much recently. :(
 
I would be absolutely furious - they would get a piece of my mind and would be dragged off my horse. I am at a Livery Yard but it is a very close knit community and as I work there I am there most of the time anyway... and after seeing my boy's handstands I doubt many of them would be keen on riding him! ;)
 
I wouldn't leave my saddle at a yard unless it was a proper secure building, even then I probably wouldn't routinely.

I would be annoyed if someone rode my horse with my tack, but I might be a bit more questioning than all guns blazing, however I am quite particular about saddles fitting so if it was some random saddle I would definitely lose my cool and consider leaving, but would bear in mind if a yard staff they might have been instructed to do so by the YO, which would probably push me over the edge, and if I found my horse being used for a lesson to earn them money without permission.... God I just cannot believe someone would do that!
I am usually happy to help people out e.g. if their usual horse went lame, so I would find it unforgiveable if I wasn't asked, and to be honest I would expect something in return like they'd muck out for me or something!
 
i dont think anyone would want to ride either of mine if they wished to live... and thats not because of me but because one is a complete nut job and has so many buttons that if you press too many he has a melt down, rears and runs then takes of and its bit like riding a fast jelly as you just dont stay on very well :o and the other is the king of rodeo and he likes to test new riders with head between the knees rodeo and then whips around and drops the shoulder... pair of horses that no one volunteers to ride :p

but if i ever did find anyone riding my horse i would be absolutely livid... just thinking about it is making me angry and i wouldnt be held accountable for my actions!
 
Superhot said:
My horse was on full livery at a yard, and I gave permission for the YO's son to ride my horse occasionally when escorting a hack. My horse was a Quarter horse and only ever ridden Western in her Western saddle. One evening when grooming her, I noticed a large lump on her back which was obviously very painful to her. It transpires that YO's son had ridden my mare in a 'spare' English saddle they happen to have lying around. It hadn't fitted her properly and caused the swelling. I should also add that they sometimes borrowed my Western saddle for weddings. The groom felt safe riding to his wedding in a Western saddle on a grey livery horse. I had the vet come out to my mare to make sure there was nothing sinister going on with the sudden swelling.
I never allowed him to ride her again, she had always looked after him and deserved much better from him. He apologized eventually , but only after I told him exactly what I thought of him and threatened he'd never father children if he went near her again. I was surprised that he had done this, and to say I was upset is an under statement. I left the yard as soon as possible after that, I didn't feel I could trust the YO or her family ever again...
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Wow. That's horrible. Especially as I appreciate how difficult it can be to fit an English saddle to a Quarter Horse. This practice of riding without permission is horrible, it is theft, for want of a better word.
 
i would absolutely blow my top!! riding someone elses horse without permission is no different than driving their car without permission:mad: Anyone caught doing either would probably learn some new expletives :eek:
 
This is a spin off thread as someone else has a horse being ridden without permission whilst she is at school, we had the GP one, and then there was another one when the girl saw a picture of her horse on facebook and then this one....all in the past 2 or 3 months - so maybe it is more common than you think.
 
My concern would be what happens if an accident that seriously injures either the rider or the horse should occur. There is always a price to be paid for doing something without permission sooner or later.
 
Personally I would go NUTS and yard would see a side of me they never had before. Being schooled is part of my livery package BUT its by the same lady and THAT has never changed or been an issue. If she was sick or on hols it would be discussed who would be riding my mare.
 
This has luckily never happened to me as I have fairly recently moved to a lovely yard where I am on DIY, however I do have a friend who this happened too.
First of all, she went away on holiday, and paid for assisted DIY - her horse was not to be ridden, just fed, rugs changed etc. when she came back she noticed a few things were a little odd, she is a neat freak and before she left she had cleaned all her tack and her numnah, and came back and all her tack was grubby and dirty with sweat marks.. A few days later and her tack just disappeared when she went to go on a ride, another livery had been using her tack (when she had her own bridle but was in between saddles) and helped herself to Lily's tack! Needless to say she was angry about this, and pointed out rather strongly that tack was fitted to individual horses, one size does not fit all..
Not quite the same, but had this have been me I would have been LIVID!
 
Even better, I saw my pony being offered to someone I didn't even know for a ride on another forum. Ok, it was a fairly small niche forum but it was one of the few that got through the IT filters I could read at work. The fellow livery was easily recognisable because of her pictures and she used my horse's name in the post (I guess she didn't realise that I might read that forum!)

There was a long discussion about how reliable the pony was and how she'd make sure that I was at work that day but that they'd have to be back before 3pm to give time for her to make sure that he dried off if he sweated up on the TRAILER, yes she was planning to take him off the yard!

I was very tempted to take the day off work, let her load the pony, give it 5 minutes and then call the police with a report of a stolen pony and the vehicles reg number, then press charges. Yes, I'm evil. The only reason I didn't is that she was a notoriously bad driver - the reason no one would go out with her, many horses went down in her trailer due to the appalling cornering - so I took a screenshot of the thread and printed it off.

I went to the yard that evening, was listening to her talking about her trip out - I don't know if she realised I could hear her, probably did but she was a very stupid woman - then started asking (casually) where she was going, who with etc etc. After a couple of minutes you could see the penny very slowly dropping so she tried to disappear :rolleyes: then the fight started. She was told in no uncertain terms how out of order she was and how short the rest of her life was going to be if she even thought about pulling a stunt like it again, So...now the YO appears and tries to defend her 'pal', all about how there must be a misunderstanding - copy of thread handed over, all the info there in black and white - then I was told that it wouldn't have done any harm and really, I was over reacting. I don't think I have ever spoken through such gritted teeth for 5 minutes, without swearing once before or since while I told both silly bints their fortune.

I moved both my horses from there within a week. I believe that the yard also lost approx 50% of their liveries within the month because of this - not because of the original silly cow but because the YO was even more stupid to
to agree with it. I took great pleasure also in making sure that the story was spread far and wide even to the extent that I registered on the original forum to 'apologise' to the member that she didn't get a ride on a stolen pony...

Vindictive, moi?:D
 
cbmcts said:
Even better, I saw my pony being offered to someone I didn't even know for a ride on another forum. Ok, it was a fairly small niche forum but it was one of the few that got through the IT filters I could read at work. The fellow livery was easily recognisable because of her pictures and she used my horse's name in the post (I guess she didn't realise that I might read that forum!)

There was a long discussion about how reliable the pony was and how she'd make sure that I was at work that day but that they'd have to be back before 3pm to give time for her to make sure that he dried off if he sweated up on the TRAILER, yes she was planning to take him off the yard!

I was very tempted to take the day off work, let her load the pony, give it 5 minutes and then call the police with a report of a stolen pony and the vehicles reg number, then press charges. Yes, I'm evil. The only reason I didn't is that she was a notoriously bad driver - the reason no one would go out with her, many horses went down in her trailer due to the appalling cornering - so I took a screenshot of the thread and printed it off.

I went to the yard that evening, was listening to her talking about her trip out - I don't know if she realised I could hear her, probably did but she was a very stupid woman - then started asking (casually) where she was going, who with etc etc. After a couple of minutes you could see the penny very slowly dropping so she tried to disappear :rolleyes: then the fight started. She was told in no uncertain terms how out of order she was and how short the rest of her life was going to be if she even thought about pulling a stunt like it again, So...now the YO appears and tries to defend her 'pal', all about how there must be a misunderstanding - copy of thread handed over, all the info there in black and white - then I was told that it wouldn't have done any harm and really, I was over reacting. I don't think I have ever spoken through such gritted teeth for 5 minutes, without swearing once before or since while I told both silly bints their fortune.

I moved both my horses from there within a week. I believe that the yard also lost approx 50% of their liveries within the month because of this - not because of the original silly cow but because the YO was even more stupid to
to agree with it. I took great pleasure also in making sure that the story was spread far and wide even to the extent that I registered on the original forum to 'apologise' to the member that she didn't get a ride on a stolen pony...

Vindictive, moi?:D
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Just...Wow! That is shocking, even when you have proof there, then they still don't apologise! And the fact that the YO did not just kick them out, or at least have a lenthly "chat", is even worse!
 
Dizzy socks said:
Just...Wow! That is shocking, even when you have proof there, then they still don't apologise! And the fact that the YO did not just kick them out, or at least have a lenthly "chat", is even worse!
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Yep :mad: apparently I was just 'over reacting'. When I told both of them that over reacting would have involved killing both of them veeeeery slowly and painfully (and that would only have been a slight over reaction IMHO) it really didn't go down well.

Silly bint 1 had the nerve to try and start a row with me online when I posted on her thread, lets just say that both of us got banned from that board and the thread deleted but I still have the printed out screen shot somewhere...
 
I can't believe people are surprised this happens. I know a riding school that will use the livery horses (not ones in working livery) for both staff to escort hacks and clients to ride in lessons. They know which owners work all day and won't be at the yard.

I've seen at another riding school, a client with an afternoon lesson booked, turn up in the morning for a hack on her friends full livery horse (a private arrangement between them both), only to be told after handing over payment for her lesson that she'd already had her ride today!
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
I can't believe people are surprised this happens. I know a riding school that will use the livery horses (not ones in working livery) for both staff to escort hacks and clients to ride in lessons. They know which owners work all day and won't be at the yard.

I've seen at another riding school, a client with an afternoon lesson booked, turn up in the morning for a hack on her friends full livery horse (a private arrangement between them both), only to be told after handing over payment for her lesson that she'd already had her ride today!
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What happened?

I am in shock I honestly cannot believe what I am reading - at least threads like this bring it home for folk that have a few niggles may check things out a little more.

Isn't it very very sad though - I really am shocked with the attitudes of the cheeky so and so's
 
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