Yard Owners. Your turn. Gripes about liveries.

Enfys

Enfys

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OK, let's put the boot on the other foot, there are plenty of moans about YO's from liveries (and I'm not getting at anyone here, this is general, not specific) so............

Do you YO's have any moans about liveries?
 

I had loads of moans when I had my own yard. Liveries used to do my head in! Always complaining and moaning. There was always some thing for them to moan about, even though I would bend over backwards to help them and would always listen to their suggestions. Theres just no pleasing some folk!
 
Yep!
1) Poo-picking the arena when finished. No-one seems to think it is their responsibility and there are always cries of "it wasn't me"
2) Yard shuts at 8, we ahve been there since 7. Livery turns up at 7:55 wanting to ride when all you want to do is go home to bed..
3) Leaving a mess (litter, hay, shavings) and not cleaning it up
4) Moaning about their stuff going missing when you know full well it is because they leave their stuff lying around the yard and don't put it away
5) Coffee mugs left everywhere around the yard for the fairies to collect and wash up

Phew! I know they are niggly little things but they do grate on me. Having said that, I do have a good bunch of liveries in so the little things I can put up with (although I do huff and puff at them some times!)
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We only have 7 liveries, so its not too bad.

But they still moan! Most of them do showing, and we showjump so theres always a clash of opinions there!

Their latest big moan, was that we were lacking in grass in the winter, so we fertilised the fields and one livery is moaning that her ponies are prone to laminitus (sp?) i have told her she can section a small areas off for hers, but noooo she just huffs and puffs! Arrrh, what more can i do?

She also moaned that the muck heap is getting full, my OH has been mad busy to empty it so yes it needs doing. But she never throws her muck up and keeps it tidy. (she says shes too old!?)

I have come to the conclusion that livery owners will never win!!
 
Actually Enfys I'm glad you brought this up as I do feel that us poor YO'rs get a proper beasting on here sometimes. I do appreciate that there are some funny ones out there (have met many of them in my time) but we are not all bad.
I have had liveries in the past that I bent over backwards for and all they did was moan. they wouldn't even by happy if their horses were on Evian.
I would like people to think that their YO is a person, cannot have eyes in the back of their head or be everywhere at once and at the end of the day the yard is their business, not something for people to take liberties with!
**gets off soapbox**
 
I've told people that they will be dropping into their shoes if people don't buck up their ideas!
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funnily enough I have better things to do at 10pm at night that pick up a days worth of droppings from the arena
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ones that live in the biggest tip in the tackroom - everything in a mess - and then wander around accusing all and sundry of 'nicking my brush/whip/gloves/etc' when what is supposed to have been 'nicked' is at the bottom of the heap

ones that think the yard is a prime dumping ground for empty coke tins, crisp packets etc and never ever think that the wind might just blow it off that window ledge....

people who never shut gates

people who when you say the arena is closed 'cos I'm going to grade it think it applies to everyone but them

people who think when you say - yard closed tomorrow as it is one day I'm having off in about every 3 months - think it applies to everyone but them

people who can't park but 'litter' their car and take up enough space for 3
 
Oh my god I could go on forever!!! Our yard shut at nine, during last summer we had one livery in particular (who didnt even work by the way!!) turning up at half nine some nights!! Disturbing the dogs and us!!

Picking feet out onto the yard then not cleaning up after themselves!

Just generally not cleaning up after themselves!!

One livery in particular used to get on my nerves, she knew bugger all, couldnt ride, yet I found her once power spraying a cut on another liveries horses leg, and walloping it when it tried to kick her... she used to stick her nose in everywhere... asked her to leave in the end!

Not poo picking, leaving gates open, not cleaning their feed areas and attracting rats... leaving poo in wheel barrows! Adlib hay& straw was paid for with their livery and they took complete advantage of it!!! The amount of hay they chucked out was unbelievable, soon learnt their lesson though when winter came and they had to buy their own as there was none left!! People stealing my stuff!! One woman sold a brand new bit of mine on ebay!!!!!! Claimed she thought it was hers, even though hers had teeth marks on it and was blatently used, while mine hadnt entered a horses gob!! Locked my tack room after that everytime I wasn't in there!!!!

God... I could go on forever!!!
 
How can you close a livery yard? I would be furious if YO told me I could'nt go down to see my horses because she "wants a day off!!"
 
Ooh I could write a book ..........

I really could ....

but I've said before on here, some of my liveries lasted over 10 years, some about 10 minutes - and as I get older, I am not afraid to tell them where to go, so I have a happy yard. And yes, I do have a few rules, which are mostly about safety and horse welfare.

I think I might write that book ...
 
Ooooooooooo great queation! Mmmmm lets see! When we had liveries what were my main gripes!
Not forking up the muck pile!
Not sweeping outside their stables!
Smoking in the barns and by the muckheap when we were strictly NO SMOKING (I'm sure the fire brigade had better things to do that come and put out our muck heap after one incident!)
Thieving from each other!
The general bitchiness and backstabbing...

and my favourite being told by one livery that because she paid £19 per week she should be entitled to turn her horse out where she wanted as I didn't pay livery and mine and my sisters horse had their own 1/2 an acre paddock each and so should her horse! (not because she was worried about her horse being out with other horses but it was further to walk to the fields than the paddocks (by about 100m).... I'd like to know who did she think paid for the property in the first place by my maths with what we had spent on buying and doing up the property that gave mine and my sisters horses 13,158 weeks livery pre paid each at that point!
I had enough in the end and asked everyone to leave except one person, who remained with us happily for nearly 10 years until a couple of weeks before we moved to the west country and even then she didn't want to go, I would have her back anytime she kept to herself and got on with doing her own horses and was always helpful!
 
excuse me - it's the same as a riding school being closed on a monday

also- sometimes you do need to goto the hospital or the doctors - in my case I have to have a regular scan every three months

so tough - it's written into the livery contract that 4 mondays in the year the yard will be closed

I have no staff and do everything myself 365 days a year - including all the horses both before and after my scan

however if you've ever been to hospital you will know that 'appointment times' can be anything up to 4 hours hanging around - so the yard is closed

and as I don't have any diy or part livery - tough - if you throw your toys out of the pram for not seeing your horse for 4 days in the year I hope you never go on holiday at any time for 2 weeks in Spain, nor go to a cousins wedding, or christening of your godchild or whatever else

on the other hand - you would be more than welcome to ride on xmas day - when a LOT LOT LOT of yards tell their clients to bog off

so don't say you're 'furious' before you think of how many days you DON'T goto see your horse !!
 
[ QUOTE ]
How can you close a livery yard? I would be furious if YO told me I could'nt go down to see my horses because she "wants a day off!!"

[/ QUOTE ] Totally agree!!! I sympathise with the plight of the sane and reasonable YOs (don't get me started on the mad, unreasonable ones), but I would never expect to be told that I couldn't have access to my horse for a day because the YO wants the day off - maybe in the wrong business?

Edited to say after reading airdale's reply: If its written into the contract then fair enough, your liveries are making an informed choice. I have never heard of such a thing before, but then I have always been on larger yards that have staff. Your yard clearly wouldn't suit me or Lillie but then horses for courses ....
 
[ QUOTE ]
How can you close a livery yard? I would be furious if YO told me I could'nt go down to see my horses because she "wants a day off!!"

[/ QUOTE ]

Is that really what you meant airedale? I can't believe someone would 'close' the yard to the liveries? What about the horses? Or did you just mean 'no services'?
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I'm a livery but I really can see how frustrating it must be to have liveries on your yard.

I'm in 1 of 6 stables in a U shape. I'm the only one that rakes the yard and leaves it nice and tidy. In my book you should take pride in your yard wether you own it or not and always clean up after yourself. I find it satisfying to leave it all nicely raked with no bits of straw or shavings littered about. I go down at night after work and it looks like I've not touched it!
I dont want to fall out with anyone on the yard so I'm not even going to go there but it would be nice if people would have a bit of pride and clean up after themselves!
 
Its hardly a day off if all the horses are looked after the same as any other day is it? just a day that the horses who are on full livery have to have a day off as the YO isnt there.
 
I know that having liveries is like having a herd of untidy daemons invading....but...a message to YOs.
- Don't continually ask your 'good' considerate liveries to do everything/whinge to them about the others whilst leaving the offenders living a peaceful life ('well, they won't poo pick anyway so there's no point asking',)
We're sick of it.
S
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I'd add that as the 'carer' for the horses I see a heck of a lot more of them than their owners

I've got one atm that turns up and rides at the weekend and doesn't realise I spend the next 5 days patching her old horse up again so that she can ride it the next weekend

and so on and so on

yes - people work - and so do I - and no matter how much you want to be with your horse you have to earn the money to be there in an office or whereever - but as stated above - it's a hard physical job outside and the old saying 'fresh air and exercise' - you get tired and you do need to get some rest between 9pm and 6am the following day.

You don't earn a lot of money (unless you're one of the 'posh lot' of yards) but you probably know more about which shoulder the horse likes being scratched on etc than the horses owners do.

If you want a yard that is open 24x7 there is a nice impersonal one not that far from me that is open all hours and has about 26 staff - however the staff wouldn't notice if your horse had a leg hanging off, the horses are in boxes by numbers and not names and are fed by box number and not name.

Another one that is diy near me - yep - it's diy - you can go there whenever you like - but it IS diy - and when one of the horses had colic about 18 months ago and the diyer didn't check it herself overnight and stay with it - it died - 'cos the diyer thought that when the chips were down the YO would check the horse all night

I don't agree with what happened to that horse and had it been here it would have been checked all night even if I hadn't been paid - 'cos the horses come first

and before you think - oh YO wants a day off - think howmany sick days you've had from your day job with flu or gut ache or a migraine or a sprained ankle or.....

I don't have any sick days - if I'm sick it doesn't matter - I still have to get up and do the animals - no matter what - no 'duvet days' here.

When was my last holiday - oooh - I think that was about 1989.
When will my next holiday be - probably about 8 years time when I retire finally.

do I mind not having holidays - nope - I love the animals - but on the other hand I don't stand for anyone throwing toys out of pram for nowt
 
All our liveries are fab (well ok, there's one slightly annoying woman but her horse is lovely so makes up for his owner!!)

Maybe thats because theyre full liveries so dont get involved in the day to day running of the yard. Theyre all considerate about using the school when there's lessons/young horses being worked, they all lock things up when they leave if theyre up early/late. They all clean up after themselves without being asked, they dont use the yard as a place to gossip and all genuinely love their horses.

The yard where I work is pretty good too-its assisted DIY, though some people dont sweep up after themselves and leave jumps out etc but generally through ignorance rather than laziness
 
I'm not a YO so hope I'm not intruding on this !!

Just like to say its very interesting seeing things from YO's point of view! Think most of us 'nice' liveries - although we gripe on here about stuff - do actually appreciate what YOs do. I don't even own my horse - I loan him from another lady on the yard, but do make an extra effort to keep everything clean. Yesterday not only did I sweep and clean my feed room - which I do 3/4 times a week but also swept and cleaned the WHOLE tackroom of everyone else's mess, dust and hay bits, cans bags everything and then took a big black sack home and put it in my rubbish, I didn't even leave it there!!! I always pick up poo from school, get my own horse in at weekends (others stand and wait for them to be delivered to their door even though they are there!) and sweep my bit of yard every night!! (couldn't do it all yard way to big for just little me on my own! And always throw my muck up (as high as I can, I'm only 4ft 10" !!! ) Yet YO still seems to pick on me
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don't know what else I can do!!!
 
I don't understand, if you close the yard so you can have a day off who does the horses on that day? If it is still you then how is that a day off and what difference does it make whether the owners come in to ride?
 
omg i don't know where to start! We used to have fantastic grazing for our liveries, and they were kept in their own paddocks (but they could share if they preferred). A couple of them really looked after their paddocks in the winter but others didn't and just chucked the horses out every day regardless and then moaned when the gateways got muddy and that so and so's paddock was so much better! Then they would moan their horses were too fat, so we would section some grazing off and then they would moan they had no grass!!! You turn a horse out 6am -7pm at night in winter I gurantee you the paddock will get cut up!! UGH! one particularly unpleasant woman used the school on christmas day (ok thats fine) but it was quite close to our sitting room and then proceeded to have a full scale row with her equally unpleasant teenage daughter! They were screaming at each other! Which of course we all heard as did our guests!
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It is always apparent who the ones not pulling their weight are. I must admit that when I started out I didn't want to rock the boat, but now I go straight in their for the perpetratitors (sp?). I think you actually earn more repsect that way and on yard, everyone should pull their weight. If people don't like the way I run my yard they can always leave...
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However, all my rules etc are their for the safety and well-being of the horses and staff
 
I don't think there's anything wrong with having the day off - but who does the horses on that day - sorry, bit confused!
 
the same 'fairy' that jumps off the xmas tree and does all the horses on xmas day whilst the rest of the world that has horses on full livery are getting pissed

i.e. me - who ironically doens't close the yard on xmas day !!
 
airdale - it sounds like you 'tar all full livery people with the same brush' and don't think much of them! I have been on full livery for years. I get down at least 3 times a week and usually 5 when I'm at work, everyday when I'm off (some jobs are 7 days a week 52 weeks a year, mine isn't yours usually is with cover for your time off from others). If my horse is ill for any reason my job takes a back seat (if I did that all the time, I wouldn't have it). I am always there for the Vet. I know my mare extremely well and better than anyone else.

Its clearly good for both of us that I'm not on your yard
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I totally understand you needing a day off!
Oh and my worst ever gripe is DIYs that don't come up at a sensible time in the morning to turn their horse out! I don't understand the problem, if they are too lazy/busy/whatever just ask someone else to see to it!! Hate seeing stressed horses left in mid morning!
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lol well put airedale- your reply made me chuckle- and i agree with you as your yard is run like that and you take on the full care of the horses and so are (very) entitled to a day off !!
 
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