Yard owners own horses

[Mossi]

Has anyone else experienced yard owners using the best grazing and giving all year turnout to their own horses, but restricting the livery horses to the rougher grazing and restricted winter turner, i.e alternate days or just a few hours a day or none at all?

 

[Elsiecat]

I imagine most do it, it is their land at the end of the day!

 

[piebaldsparkle]

It's their land, why would they not give their horses the best grazing?

 

[Luci07]

Mine doesn't...

 

[Shutterbug]

As one YO said to me "this yard was built for MY horses - if people don't like it they are free to go elsewhere*

 

[crabbymare]

Their land their rules if the liveries are not happy with it they can choose to keep their horse at a different yard

 

[Mossi]

Yes its their land, but when they have plenty of it, its not fair to the livery horses. They want you on their yard, they want your money, but they don't want to manage the land to provide the best for all horses. I certainly wouldn't do it if I was lucky enough to have my own livery yard, all horses are equal and deserve equal care. Its not so much the best grazing that bothers me, but the fact that the owners horses can go out as much as they like all year, but the livery horses are restricted.

 

[Elsiecat]

Yes its their land, but when they have plenty of it, its not fair to the livery horses. They want you on their yard, they want your money, but they don't want to manage the land to provide the best for all horses.

Flip the bird at them then if that's how you feel and change yards!

 

[burge]

Yes its their land, but when they have plenty of it, its not fair to the livery horses. They want you on their yard, they want your money, but they don't want to manage the land to provide the best for all horses.

Most livery yards never have enough land for the number of horses and a lot DO manage their land properly. Their land, their choice.

 

[Mossi]

I'm sick of moving, I've done it so many times, all I want is all year turnout and a safe stable so I can manage my horse as I want to. It's also impossible to find a private yard/land to rent. Sorry for the rant, but I'm sick of yards that think as long as there is stable provided for your horse that's all that matters and they are often very rude if you suggest anything - in my experience anyway, as it's just easier for them to force you to keep your horse in. I've also often found that they tell you they have all year turnout, you move on, then things change the next winter and your beloved beast spends too much time confined.

 

[Elsiecat]

I'm sick of moving, I've done it so many times, all I want is all year turnout and a safe stable so I can manage my horse as I want to. It's also impossible to find a private yard/land to rent. Sorry for the rant, but I'm sick of yards that think as long as there is stable for you horse that's all that matters and they are often very rude if you suggest anything - in my experience anyway.

Why don't you see if you can rent your own small yard? (If funds allow it obviously). Or possibly between you and another friend?

 

[Mossi]

Why don't you see if you can rent your own small yard? (If funds allow it obviously). Or possibly between you and another friend?

I look all the time, still am.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

My livery has the best field for hers in that its the best-drained and all the gateways have got hard-standing down, whereas where I've got mine is just sheer swamp at the moment.

The stables are all more-or-less the same so nothing better or worse there.

I can see why people feel upset if the YO puts their own horses in the "best" grazing: I'd be pretty aggrrieved if this happened at a yard TBH, BUT at the end of the day its a case of put up and shut up or take a hike up the road...........

 

[madeleine1]

my liveries get turfed out for winter. lol

 

[Queenbee]

Has anyone else experienced yard owners using the best grazing and giving all year turnout to their own horses, but restricting the livery horses to the rougher grazing and restricted winter turner, i.e alternate days or just a few hours a day or none at all?

Oh my god that's absolutely shocking and selfish behaviour
What a cheek!! Anyone would think they had a right to use their own land


If this is happening to you op, I suggest you move and buy your own land then you too can do what you like.

 

[Enfys]

Oh my god that's absolutely shocking and selfish behaviour
What a cheek!! Anyone would think they had a right to use their own land


QUOTE]

ROFLMAO (is this really a serious thread?)

Selfish beggars. How dare they?

Mine bagged the paddocks on either side of the house so she can see her own horses from all the windows. She also uses the biggest stables in the barn.

 

[Booboos]

I sympathise with you OP. YOs can't have their cake and eat it. If they want the best facilities for themselves they should have a private yard with no clients, if they want the money from liveries they should cater to their needs. Imagine going to a hotel where the owners keep the biggest, brightest, best decorated rooms and give the guests the poky, crappy, dirty rooms!

You have to move though, otherwise you are paying for someone else to have fun with their horses at your expense.

 

[jrp204]

So the YO gives you turnout, excepting that is probably the wettest year for decades, the fields get trashed and you have no grass in the spring? Would you complain about that too?
It's simple, YO owns the land, they have made a huge investment so THEY can keep their own horses and offer livery, their arse is on the line when things go wrong, why shouldn't they have what they want. You are not paying to keep the YO owners horses, you are paying for a service, stabling etc.
If you're not happy, go to the bank, borrow half a million + and you can keep YOUR horse in the biggest stable and the best field.

 

[mon]

Well said JRP only half a million doesn't go a long way and would probably earn more better invested rather than putting up with liveries like that. I am a land owner, farmer, work every day even Xmas day when my dad died this year, and likes of her totally put me off ever turning any land I own in to livery land. Animals don't call you.

 

[quirky]

Our YO does none of this, her horses are on the same regime as liveries.

If she did choose to do it though, there'd be no gripes from me. Her land her decision on what goes where, when, with whom and for how long.

There's got to be some perks to being YO, let's face it, not everybody could do it. Managing the horses is the easy bit .... putting up with their owners is another thing altogether

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

also there may be little damage from one horse (YOs ) having free turnout but the land might not cope with all horses on the yard being given it.

I really think you can only moan about it if there were other liveries being given it and not others. What YO does for her own horses on her own land is not relevant to the contract you have with her for the livery of your horse.

If the turnout isnt sufficient, you will need to move somewhere that suits you better. But I dont really think that given the horrific weather conditions this year that short of buying a lot of land or moving out to the wilds or paying a kings ransom that you are likely to find somewhere that hasnt had to make compromises on turnout or have fields that look Somme like - it's just the way it is this year.

 

[sarahann1]

Their land, their rules.

With the disgusting summer we've had I can completely understand horses having to stay in longer than would have been initially indicated. Our YO had to ask folk to keep horses in for the last few days because the ground was so unusually saturated and the grazing would have been wrecked. Normally our horses can be in or out as we please.

 

[MillionDollar]

Move if you don't like it, their yard, their land, their rules!

I'm a YO, and yes mine do have the best paddocks but they have the same turnout as the liveries (at the moment around 2-3 hours per day as it's so wet).

 

[Mossi]

So the YO gives you turnout, excepting that is probably the wettest year for decades, the fields get trashed and you have no grass in the spring? Would you complain about that too?
It's simple, YO owns the land, they have made a huge investment so THEY can keep their own horses and offer livery, their arse is on the line when things go wrong, why shouldn't they have what they want. You are not paying to keep the YO owners horses, you are paying for a service, stabling etc.
If you're not happy, go to the bank, borrow half a million + and you can keep YOUR horse in the biggest stable and the best field.

The place has 150 acres, but they don't want to manage it properly so that all horses can get enough turnout and the chance to be a horse not in a cage for hours and hours. The fields are not trashed BTW. As for 'paying for a service' - it's not exactly good service - any other service industry operating this way wouldn't survive, but badly run livery yards get away with it because there are no regulations and some of them don't have a clue about horses. I AM looking to move as too much stabling is just cruelty. So there is plenty of land, there will be plenty of grazing in summer whatever, its about having space to roam anyway, not too much lush grass. To be quite honest, with hindsight I wouldn't have got a horse if I could have forseen all this, unless I could rent or buy my own land. I have found the whole livery yard experience (in my area), disappointing, restrictive and disheartening. This has been my experience, I'm sure there are some lovely properly run places out there, but not near me.

 

[jrp204]

The place has 150 acres, but they don't want to manage it properly so that all horses can get enough turnout and the chance to be a horse not in a cage for hours and hours. The fields are not trashed BTW. As for 'paying for a service' - it's not exactly good service - any other service industry operating this way wouldn't survive, but badly run livery yards get away with it because there are no regulations and some of them don't have a clue about horses. I AM looking to move as too much stabling is just cruelty. So there is plenty of land, there will be plenty of grazing in summer whatever, its about having space to roam anyway, not too much lush grass. To be quite honest, with hindsight I wouldn't have got a horse if I could have forseen all this, unless I could rent or buy my own land. I have found the whole livery yard experience (in my area), disappointing, restrictive and disheartening. This has been my experience, I'm sure there are some lovely properly run places out there, but not near me.

Just because they have 150 acres doesn't mean they want to run horses all over it. They may be managing it badly in your eyes, but it is their land to manage how they want and they do offer a service, maybe not the one you want but are your expectations realistic. Describing stables as 'cages' and their extended use as 'cruelty' is a bit extreme. Whilst not ideal, managed properly it is neither cruel or poor welfare, leaving a horse out in a cold, water logged field, allowing it to be a 'horse' would in my books be pretty heartless.
Since the weather has been pretty intolerable this winter perhaps a bit more tolerance wouldn't go amiss, you never know, come the drier, lighter evenings the yard may not be so bad.

 

[Mince Pie]

All the horses on the yard go out in one herd (2 in summer as day or night t/o) so YO's horses are in the same field as ours and have the same restrictions (2 days in p/w in winter) as well.

 

[MillionDollar]

Just because they have 150 acres doesn't mean they want to run horses all over it. They may be managing it badly in your eyes, but it is their land to manage how they want and they do offer a service, maybe not the one you want but are your expectations realistic. Describing stables as 'cages' and their extended use as 'cruelty' is a bit extreme. Whilst not ideal, managed properly it is neither cruel or poor welfare, leaving a horse out in a cold, water logged field, allowing it to be a 'horse' would in my books be pretty heartless.
Since the weather has been pretty intolerable this winter perhaps a bit more tolerance wouldn't go amiss, you never know, come the drier, lighter evenings the yard may not be so bad.

Agree completely with this.

I don't think anyone wants to see horses cooped up in a stable all day but this winter has been completely ridiculous, our land has never been so wet. The horses only have to walk over the ground and they are sinking so deep that it causes a LOT of damage to the grass, so you might not see a trashed field but YOs have to look after the grazing by restricting turnout. The trouble is is when a livery trashes a field and then leaves.

Why don't you think of grass livery if you want your horse out more?

 

[catkin]

I don't have liveries but I must say that I am managing my horses very differently this winter to how I have in the past.
That is partly down to the weather but mostly down to the type of horses we have here - the only reason that our ponies are getting all day every day turnout is because they are smallish, unshod and very very sensible therefore the are not messing up the grazing too badly. If we still had the big playful TBs that would be very different - we would probably need to be restricting them more.
It's a pretty hard judgement-call to balance present and future horse-husbandry needs, especially this time of the year. For anyone with liveries I'm sure it must be many times more difficult.

 

[putasocinit]

You could ride more or longer, lunge, walk out in hand, my cob who loves being out currently with the wat logged fields just stands and waits by yhe fence for me to and get him in after mucking out, he doesnt want to be out.

It might seem unfair but if you remove yourself from the situation and look at it with diffent eyes it might seem right for now.

Everyone is fed up with the wet, even the animals

 

[noobs31]

OP I was at a yard like that many years ago. The YM put all her horses in the closest paddocks to the yard, the rest of us were bunged all over the place. Damn dangerous doing your horse in the dark you had SO far to go, and many of the fields were accessible only via the fields with her horses in!

So yes, they CAN do it. But it's not a great idea as over time everyone voted with their feet. YO sacked YM and closed it down, unsurprisingly. It's short-sighted, to say the least. Good luck finding somewhere else. I found with this particular YM that this was just one example of her complete lack of comprehension on how to treat paying customers. And the yard wasn't cheap. If you're second best in the grazing stakes, it's likely you're second best in all other areas too!