Yard owners and grooms/workers

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HorsesRule2009

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Hello

I normally lurk on the board but am going to try and post a bit more, and thought now would be a good time as i would like a bit of help please :).

Are there any yard workers/grooms or yard owners on here?

I work on a yard atm and am finding it really hard going have been there a few years but am having to do more at the moment and dont no if im just being a sap or if there is a bit much work for 1 person.

So to any that does/ has done or employs yard workers, how much work do they do?
-How many horses do you have to muck out?
-What type of beds are they, is it a full muck out or deep littered?
-Also how big/small are the stables? ( some of ours are nearly 20 foot square and are bedded down from wall to wall with large deep beds and there fully mucked out everyday)
-What about rugging, turning out etc?
-Haynets?

Basically your day to day routine how many horses you do and how many of you on the yard?

thank you in advance :)
 
Okay so im a groom and a worker lol, work some days, groom others.
Working days: 7 start, hay all horses and put hoses out to troughs, feed horses that get fed. Most hay goes on floor but some get haynets, tends to be the ones that rush through it. Then 8 stables each, make feeds, turnout/bring in horses. All done for 10ish. Groom and Tack up horses for riding school, teach/take hacks out till 12 and then again from 1 till 3 in the afternoon. In summer its later. Then after work, exercise horses if we havent been able to while taking hacks out. In winter we probably have an extra 4 horses each to muck out.

Days when im a groom: Down at yard 3 hours before we need to leave. ( Im the only groom) Get horses ready, (Groom/Wash, hotcloth, plait if needed but tend to do that day before, get studholes and studs sorted if jumping on grass, boot/bandage up. Get lorry sorted, shavings in, haynets up, extras in if were staying overnight, get the horses in and then travel. When we arrive boss goes to enter walk course etc and i get horses ready IN the lorry, bring whatever one out, leg boss up, put up jumps in warm up, run about with a cloth and whip looking useful, generally holding a horse or two :p Then untack horses when done, have cups of tea and lots of food:) Then travel home, unload horses, unbandage, rug up, sort their hay etc. Then start on the lorry, take droppings out then wash the windows and walls (its white inside). Then im done. Sounds quite a bit but its not when you get used to it and the banters amazing!
 
Oh and beds are full muck out every day, although we have rubber matting so bedding is quite shallow. And we have pony boxes, which are quite small not sure measurements and then horse boxes too which are pretty big, also not sure of measurements!
 
I'm a YO of a livery/schooling yard, on my own at the mo, do have help in summer when I'm v busy.

10 horses on yard atm, only 6 stabled at night.
Currently basic routine:

6am: Breakfast for stabled horses, skip out stables quickly during breakfast.

Bring in 'grass horses' and turnout out 3 livery horses.

Ride three 'schooling' horses then turnout.

Work 'grass' horses (3 or 4 year olds) so only 20mins or so each, then turnout.

Full muck out of all stables, 12 x14 all deep shaving beds on rubber matts.

Bring down hay, make feeds up, sweep yards, clean tack etc.

Teach/ride for rest of the afternoon.

5pm bring in and change rugs of stabled horses, feed all horses. (Liveries do their own)

10pm: extra hay and skip out stables.

10.05pm crash out exhausted!
 
Well - I'm a yard owner (though I work as well! :D) At present we have 21 boxes occupied (by 24 sets of feet as there are 3 pairs of weanlings sharing a box per pair.) Most boxes 12 x 12 or 12x14 - though 4 huge ones (15x23) and a couple of 12 x 20. the 4 huge ones are semi-deep littered with shavings, the rest are paper on rubber matting.

Normally 3 staff on stable duties - they do the feeding, turn out, mucking out for the stabled horses while I do all the outside feeding and checking. Then they do the haynets for those who have them, and fill barrows with haylage to position round the yard - plus usual sweeping and tidying. Then coffee, then exercise - normally they hack 1-2 horses each before lunch. After lunch it's more turning out and bringing in, any treatments, and the many 'odd jobs'. I have one staff member who is mainly a rider - he does the ground work with backers while stables are being done. And then rides or schools breakers when someone is available to help.

In-between the normal days, there are vet days, farrier days, physio days and all the usual disruptions! Today one took a youngster out hunting - so we were one down. Just meant a few less essential jobs were put off until tomorrow!

Staff finish at 5 - I do late night stables every night (hay/feed/water) at about midnight!
 
We currently have 32 horses/ponies, all in at night and 30 of them turned out during the day.

7 – 7.15am feed all, unlock gates etc.

8am majority of staff come in – usually 4 or 5 except Mondays when it’s 3 as we don’t have any lessons then.

All horses going out get rugged/booted up and turned out. The liveries that don’t go out go on walker (owners instructions).

All stables mucked out – we use rubber mats so beds are not gigantic, drinkers cleaned, yard swept. Hay is mainy in hay bars or on floor so not many nets to fill which saves time.

Lessons start from 9am onwards depending on what we have booked. Horses not out are skipped out and hayed throughout the day. Evening feeds are made up. Muck trailers emptied. Coffee breaks are staggered over the morning.

12noon exercising / schooling – staff can ride their own horses if not needed to ride any others

Lunch 1 -2 pm

2- 5pm lessons as booked. Horses not out put on walker (again as per owners instructions)

From 3pm Other horses are brought in (later before clocks changed), legs washed if necessary and rugs changed. Fed and hayed.

5 – 6pm horses skipped, yard swept. Staff finish between 5 and 6pm depending on when they started that morning.

7pm evening lesson start till 9pm (Tues, Wed &Thurs)

9pm horses checked, hayed etc if needed. School harrowed. Yard and gates locked up. I collapse in a heap!

Obviously throughout day routine jobs like tack cleaning, grooming, cleaning and tidying are done too. Staff don't have a set number of horse or stables to do as the number of lessons booked in any given day affects the number of staff on the yard.

Field maintenance etc is done by OH and son in their spare time (both self employed in other jobs). Summer is easier as 50 -60% of the horses are living out although they all come in first thing – OH and I get them in before staff arrive. Summer is also the time we catch up on things like painting etc. The staff seem to accept Winter is tougher but that’s just the nature of the job :)
 
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teamsarazara said:
Yup i set 5 minutes to get muck out of the stable, sweep up and then another 5 minutes to take it to the muck heap and back! speed muck outs!
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It would take me a good hour I'm sure...

Lean on the broom, have a chat, go fetch a cuppa...come back and lean on broom again, then chat once more to someone else in passing...

:D

I take my hat off to those who work with horses...
 
DragonSleigh-Bells said:
Do you set your staff so many minutes per stable to muck out? I know some do, just curious!
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Good grief no! Some horses are super clean and take 3-4 minutes - some are filthy trollops and take double that; and that's without the difference in box size (and the distance of diffrent stables from the bedding store/muck heap!)
 
DragonSleigh-Bells said:
c035.gif


It would take me a good hour I'm sure...

Lean on the broom, have a chat, go fetch a cuppa...come back and lean on broom again, then chat once more to someone else in passing...

:D

I take my hat off to those who work with horses...
Click to expand...

LOL! if im not working then this tends to be me... i normally start mucking out my 8 beds around half 7, and im done by at the very latest 9 and that includes strawing and waterbuckets for the ones that dont have automatic drinkers hehe!
 
JanetGeorge said:
Good grief no! Some horses are super clean and take 3-4 minutes - some are filthy trollops and take double that; and that's without the difference in box size (and the distance of diffrent stables from the bedding store/muck heap!)
Click to expand...

I know what you mean about some being mucky devils, one of mine (now they all live out 24/7) was sooooo disgusting it wasn't funny....:D
 
i work on a yard, i usually just muck out. I have 10 to do 2 straw 2 wood pellets rest shavings rubber mats but still pretty deep beds plus poo picking one field. i charge per day so take as long as i like.

When my boss is away i do full cover so feed/change rugs/pick feet/ turnout, then muckout do haynets/feeds before catch in/groom/rug/pick feet and feed in the evening
 
I'm freelance so work here there and everywhere (I'm also a sports massage therapist so fit that around the horses). Winter is generally easier for me as eventers have gone home for holidays. So will give you a general winters and summers days:
Summers:
up at 5.30am and go to first yard, put horses out that havent already left for event and bring those in that live out at night (we generally have more horses than stables to have to shift everybody around and muck out,the most we had in was 10)bed are half deep littered. Hay and feed the horses that are in for the day.
Around 7am I head to my next yard. I turn the 3 girlies out,breakfasts will have already been fed by nana. If I get time to muck them out in the morning then i will or I leave them until afternoon
8am I arrive at last work of the morning. Only 2 here, they get fed, mucked out and then probably ridden which we generally go on an 1 1/2 hack.
11.30am I will usuall go and ride my own
1.30pm back to first yard and exercise any that havent already been done by the girl who comes to ride, will do my second muck out and switch around
4pm head to yard with the 3girlies and finish stables off and bring them in
6pm head home :)

Winter is the same apart from I dont do the first yard as much as eventing season is over and just occasionally do them when owner away or is out competiting the babies
 
Writing all this down will really depress me!
8am start, haynets all round (Inc staff horses) then check those that are living out.
Rugs changed and pick feet for all that are in (up to 21) and turned out for the day. I lead 2 at a time or it would take too long.
Once everything is out, fully muck out (Including under banks) big, deep straw beds (again up to 21 to do), fresh straw in and waters cleaned etc.
Sweep yards and fork and level the muck heap (It's like a work of art!)
Hopefully grab 15 mins for some lunch around the 1pm mark
After lunch make feeds and haynets. If we have a full yard there will be 63 nets to make and weigh! (so depressing working this out!)
Then around 2.30pm we get horses in, rugs changed, feet done and fed.
All boxes are skipped out again before we leave for the day at 5 ish.

At 9pm one of us goes back in to hay and water everything for the night.

The above is a general weekend day with no issues. There would be one member of staff and an apprentice in.

We are not set times to muck out by, but if I took an hour to do a box I would be out of a job sharpish!
 
I am joint Yard Manager at a Livery Yard. There are on average 2-3 members of staff working per day and 30 horses on the yard. Atm, all are living in at night and are turned out for a couple of hours during the day. They are all on either Full or Part Livery.

Our routine is something like this:

8 am - Arrive and feed
8.15 am - Get horses ready to be turned out
8.30 am - Turn out
9.00 am - Muck out (The horses are on wood pellet bedding with rubber matting and are mucked out properly each day)
10.30 am - Break
10.45 am - Exercise any horses/ponies down to be exercised
12 pm - Bring in horses, change rugs and pick out feet and hay
1 pm - Lunch
2 pm - Groom Full Livery Horses and clean tack if necessary
3.30 pm - Skip out
4.30 pm - Hay
5 pm - Finish

Most of the staff are part time and finish at 1 pm so I usually do the afternoon work on my own or sometimes with one other person to help.
 
7am start -feed all
7.15 - change rug on 'going out' horses and turn out
7.30-waterbuckets, first lot onto walker and muck out (full beds, mostly shavings, couple straw)
7.50- 2nd lot onto walker and muck out
8.30- pull first lot out for exercise.
9.30/10- pull 2nd lot out.
11.30ish- lunch haynets, turn out 2nd lots.
Lunch and any odd jobs
3.30 bring in from turnout, groom, sort rugs, skip out etc.
5 - feed.
 
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I am a YO with 8 horses, 1 living out until end of the month rest on part livery. It's just me working generally with OH lending a hand sometimes but also doing the maintenance!
Something along the lines of...
8AM Feed
8.15-8.45 Change rugs, boots and turn out all
9 Start mucking out - mixture of beds: 3 shavings, rest straw semi deep littered
Usually by 11 all beds, feed and waters are finished
11 Fill haynets for night and afternoon
12 Lunch
1 - 3 Poo pick fields, clean walker, clean tack, ride, any other jobes that are required that day.
3.30 - 4 Take horses in
4 - 5 Change rugs, pick out feet, hose down if needed etc
5 Feed and hay

Sometimes the routine gets thrown around depending on who what when bu that's the beauty of being your own boss- you can do things in your own order within reason, as long as it all gets done!
 
Reading all this I am so glad that I no longer

a) keep my horses in, and
b) have a Boss.

Been there, done all that (riding schools, hunt yards, event yards, racing yards, private yards, studs) and have absolutely no desire, whatsoever, to ever, ever, do it all again, Thank You very much.
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I live on site and have Boarders in addition to my own breeding stock.

I only have two boarding horses in (deep litter shavings on soil floors) and 23-ish out. I don't exercise or groom any of my Boarding horses.

My routine is that I have no set routine.

Stalled horses get fed about 7am, give or take half an hour, and that, and the fact that they will come in - at some time, is the only constant in their day. It works for us.
 
I'm a YO but at the moment I have no staff so I'm a worker too :) Routine changes depending on the season as we cater mostly for tourists and locals don't like to ride if it's too cold/rainy/windy :rolleyes: We have 10 horses including 1 foal. Boxes are about 10x12, except mare and foal which is about 20x12. All on shavings, all fully mucked out each day, usually only mare and foal in at night all others in for the day. Current routine is:
8-8.30 start. All horses brought in/out, hayed, fed and watered, muck out ones who were in.
9.30ish - Pooh pick
10 -ride
12 - lunch time hays/waters
14 - afternoon hays/waters, ride/odd jobs
16 - night time hays/waters, everyone in/out, muck out
17-17.30 finish. (at the yard! lots more to do in the office!)

Summer I had a girl working with me, still 10 horses with routine as above just times changing really we would start between 6-7am, break at around midday, start again around 4pm and finish hopefully by 9pm. If we had full board holiday makers we also had to do lunch and dinner with them, and of course all the usual office stuff as well as the riding and teaching in 40 degrees heat so it was really a full day, finishing around midnight if we were lucky :)

So what's your routine OP?
 
Hello,

Thank you for the replys.

To answer the post above
daily routine is arrive at 8-
rug up and turn out 12 horses ( give or take a few) to different fields.

once this is done feed the few that are left in and put day rugs on.

Fully muck out and bed down 14 boxes (large stables generally bedded wall to wall some straw some shavings) and do waters etc.
sweep yard and fork muck heap.

Fill haynets - night nets and morning ones

Get half horses in do rugs etc, turn out 1 other.

skip out stables for anything in, and do night rugs pick feet

hay up all stables

bring horses in, change rugs pick feet

make up hard feeds and feed everyone clean buckets

mainly done buy one person
 
HR2009 if you only have to muck out chuck out fetch in and do rugs and feet then what you have is a good deal! do you not have to exercise/groom? but if you have all day to do the boxes, nets and change the horses around then i think you have quite a nice job .. as long as you like doing the yard and keeping things spick and span.
 
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