Yard Owners

how I afford to look after my horse:

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Shilasdair

Patting her thylacine
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Thought I'd do a quick poll to see how you feel about yard owners...
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I have a contract that says I need to give 2 weeks notice but he also would have to give me the same, and if anything happens to my boys its on my own back which is fair enough. I would give 2 weeks notice unless something big happened.
 
verbal contract.all the other owners now have written though

trust completely-used to work for him, know him very well.

supposed to give a month as livery is billed monthly

yes I would-or I would pay the month. bloke is running a business afterall.
 
I've just moved yards and have answered for the new place, I don't have a contract yet but there's one waiting for me to sign in the office and I'm guessing it's a months notice.

At the last place we had no contract, I didn't trust my YO and I gave 2 weeks notice.
 
I'm a little disturbed that my current yard doesn't have contracts so I have no idea what the notice period is but I'm happy there and I knew the YO before I moved there so I do feel I trust him
 
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Im guessing this is my fault!!! Sorry I know not all YO are baddies!!!!!

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Everything, not just this poll, is YOUR FAULT, Dianchi.
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Edited to add: But it seems not everyone shares your rose coloured specs if you look at the percentages....
 
I'm a yard owner - yes I have a contract for every livery customer, each has to sign and return and I take a copy and give it back. Livery is charged a month in advance and customers are required to give a months notice. And yes I do charge that. This is a business, I have to give customers 1 months notice if I want them to leave - but never have. I also have never had a 'bad' livery who has left in a huff, all the ones who leave my yard have done so because they have either moved house, bought land and have left on good terms, some coming back for holiday livery.

Not all yard owners are mad - many certainly are - but there are some of us who are normal and professional.
 
Have answered in full support in the other post. I'm on a great yard now though - You only see the owner when something needs fixing/the muck heap needs moving, YM does the rest and she's ace. IMO the best yards are not run by the owners.
 
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Not all yard owners are mad - many certainly are - but there are some of us who are normal and professional.

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I don't understand why YOs don't all run a professional business like you, complete with (fair) contracts, notice periods etc.
At one yard where I kept my girl (it was a DIY yard), the YO came out bitching one day, saying 'I hate all these horse owners - don't they realise I don't want them here - it's my HOME' (no liveries went near the house) while her husband told my friend at 8.30am 'Just muck out your horse and f*** off - we don't want you hanging around here, so don't even think you're riding!'
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i dont have a contract, i trust YO a little but only been there a few months & dont have much contact with them but they've been really helpful so far. i would believe that its a months notice but i think they'd be happy with just a week
 
Don't have a contract
Trust my YO with my horses life and while we sometimes disagree on somethings she would always be the first person I would go to if I needed advice or help.
Don't have a notice period but if I left through choice I would give 1 months notice (or if I had to go sooner I would pay for a month).

But I have an unusual arangement - my YO is a good friend who I have known all my life and she is also my next door neighbour. I am her only livery so it is just her horse and mine and the rent I pay her merely covers 50% of the bills (electric, water, hedge cutting etc) and the maintainance that her and her husband do, it is very much a token amount.
 
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cant answer shils me old buddy......

as i've got my own yard....
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It's probably you they're all distrusting and complaining about!
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Boody good job, then i wont be getting any batty owners!
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[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Im guessing this is my fault!!! Sorry I know not all YO are baddies!!!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Everything, not just this poll, is YOUR FAULT, Dianchi.
S
grin.gif


Edited to add: But it seems not everyone shares your rose coloured specs if you look at the percentages....

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With today im starting to feel that this is the case!!!
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Sadly I think many liveries attach more importance to their status in the YO head than actually happens.
Yes people leave for a dozen reasons, they may hate their next door neighbour (stable), they resent the YO having more turn out than them, or they get fed up with muddy paddocks/ too many horses, what have you..
Please remember if you leave the YO doesn't take it as a personal insult!
Some folks chnge yards like they change their phones, and some will never be satisfied.
Some change because they move/want better hacking/just fancy a change of scenery.
The best way is to give your YO notice and smile when you do it. Thank them for their help (and many of us do give loads of help believe me, I am considered to be the first port of call before the vet/feed merchant/instructor etc all unpaid!)
Make up a reason if it makes you feel better but leave on good terms.
You never know if you may want to go back...
Leaving without notice is cowardly and sly, and I for one would be offended. I wouldn't chuck your horse out on the road without notice so would expect the same consideration back.
In over 35 years of being a YO I have thrown just two people out, and then with notice.
One was caught in the act of stealing hay, the other was a raving nutter who rang her fellow liveries and accused them of hitting her horse round the head. When asked why she said "God had told her.."
She refused to go so I wrote to her warning her that at the end of the month's notice I would tie her horse out in the lane, and I would have too..
I've never had contracts with any of mine, I tell them it's a mutual trust situation, I will do my best for their horse and in return I trust them to pay me. Often they struggle and are late but it's rare for me to have to remind anyone, they just pay when they can.
I'm getting to an age when secretly I wish I had no liveries, as I find the worry at night thinking they might be cold or wet upsetting. But I agreed to care for their horses until they died and so I shall unless I get too ill to cope.
The DIY liveries I have now are nice people and I find being honest works best with them, if they fail to sweep up I do it in front of them, they then usually take the hint!
The days when I had 15 DIY's weren't easy, so please think before you cast nasty comments about your YO. Do you always pay on time without being asked?
Do you sweep up, don't disturb them at meal times and always expect them to be oracles of knowlege about every ailment and ridden problem?
Do you realise how much money has gone into providing the arena/stabling/jumps for your use? The average arena costs around £20k how long would it take for the profit from your livery take to cover that cost?
All I'm saying is see it from someone else's point of view.
I had to be a DIY on three yards with 15 horses for six months when we sold our last house, and believe me they were sorry to see me go..I behaved as every DIY should and never had a cross word with anyone.
Yes most YO think inwardly "Damn , that's x amount I'll lose when they move" when you give notice, but they don't resent you for it.
just move with dignity and goodwill is all we ask...
 
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Trust my YO with my horses life and while we sometimes disagree on somethings she would always be the first person I would go to if I need advice or help

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Thats the same with me and she is my neighbour i know them very well and am very good friends with the YO's daughter. I go places with them and they have asked me to go on holiday with them this summer and we did alot of camping last summer
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I think though that all this was done as neighbours more that YO and customer.
 
I can't answer your poll as am a (new) YO but for info we have a detailed contract, do a yard induction, email newsletter, ask 4 weeks notice and I like and trust all my customers! Am interested to learn more and provide the best service in the area as reputation and word of mouth is everything!
 
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Sadly I think many liveries attach more importance to their status in the YO head than actually happens.
Yes people leave for a dozen reasons, they may hate their next door neighbour (stable), they resent the YO having more turn out than them, or they get fed up with muddy paddocks/ too many horses, what have you..
Please remember if you leave the YO doesn't take it as a personal insult!
Some folks chnge yards like they change their phones, and some will never be satisfied.
Some change because they move/want better hacking/just fancy a change of scenery.
The best way is to give your YO notice and smile when you do it. Thank them for their help (and many of us do give loads of help believe me, I am considered to be the first port of call before the vet/feed merchant/instructor etc all unpaid!)
Make up a reason if it makes you feel better but leave on good terms.
You never know if you may want to go back...
Leaving without notice is cowardly and sly, and I for one would be offended. I wouldn't chuck your horse out on the road without notice so would expect the same consideration back.
In over 35 years of being a YO I have thrown just two people out, and then with notice.
One was caught in the act of stealing hay, the other was a raving nutter who rang her fellow liveries and accused them of hitting her horse round the head. When asked why she said "God had told her.."
She refused to go so I wrote to her warning her that at the end of the month's notice I would tie her horse out in the lane, and I would have too..
I've never had contracts with any of mine, I tell them it's a mutual trust situation, I will do my best for their horse and in return I trust them to pay me. Often they struggle and are late but it's rare for me to have to remind anyone, they just pay when they can.
I'm getting to an age when secretly I wish I had no liveries, as I find the worry at night thinking they might be cold or wet upsetting. But I agreed to care for their horses until they died and so I shall unless I get too ill to cope.
The DIY liveries I have now are nice people and I find being honest works best with them, if they fail to sweep up I do it in front of them, they then usually take the hint!
The days when I had 15 DIY's weren't easy, so please think before you cast nasty comments about your YO. Do you always pay on time without being asked?
Do you sweep up, don't disturb them at meal times and always expect them to be oracles of knowlege about every ailment and ridden problem?
Do you realise how much money has gone into providing the arena/stabling/jumps for your use? The average arena costs around £20k how long would it take for the profit from your livery take to cover that cost?
All I'm saying is see it from someone else's point of view.
I had to be a DIY on three yards with 15 horses for six months when we sold our last house, and believe me they were sorry to see me go..I behaved as every DIY should and never had a cross word with anyone.
Yes most YO think inwardly "Damn , that's x amount I'll lose when they move" when you give notice, but they don't resent you for it.
just move with dignity and goodwill is all we ask...

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well bloody said HH.....


i'm sure if the boot was on the other foot, half of the whingers on here woul be silent......
 
My YO is a babe
I am left to my own devices, she never moans.
If i can't get there for any reason (very rare) she will see to my horse for me.
If i have been out hacking for hours she will appear with a coffee for me.
We can talk about anything, yard related or other. If i have a problem, she will do her best to sort it.

I never take her or her yard for granted, i know how hard it is to find the right balance
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Well said HH. And Dianchi - as long as you are of the livery customer type who is a normal human being, who doesn't think it is normal to turn up at 11pm to muck out, borrow other liveries stuff, complain about everything, leave full wheel barrows everywhere and generally treat the yard as a doss house - then you are welcome here any time.
 
Hey, all you YOs, stop hijacking my poll
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Not one of you can deny that there are some hatters out there who own livery yards....you must meet them on 'the circuit' as they all seem to be 'would-be' somethings...for example dressage riders (as in they would be Olympic dressage stars if they weren't fat, fifty and couldn't ride one side of even a riding school plod having just finished a career in hairdressing/accountancy/running a pub).
Right, I'm off to hide now.
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I'm sure there are YO's are as good as some who post on here.

But not all are.

The reasons I'm leaving my current yard:

* My horse is turned out with a lunatic who attacks me every time I try to bring my horse in - YO refuses to do anything about it resulting in me needing two other people with me when I bring mine in - one to keep the lunatic horse away from me, another to do the gate so me and my steed can make a quick getaway without having to worry about closing gates.

* The YO decided that the second lunatic horse on our yard should be turned out in the paddock right next to the menage. No one can use the menage now whilst that horse is out. Yesterday, my OH lunged my horse for me. The second lunatic horse was bucking, rearing, charging the fence and then tried to jump into the menage. The YO refuses to do anything about it.

* The YO had a right go at me and swore at me whilst I was holding my 21 month old over something VERY trivial.

* They refused to believe that the mucking out I was paying for wasn't being done despite me having to go down every morning and muck out infront of them taking two wheel barrow full out.

* The second lunatic horse is a loon in the stable too which is next door to mine. This horse has trashed the storage box inside it's stable, pushed the stable door out of place, regularly charges the stable wall to get to my mare. The YO refuses to do anything about it saying it is normal horse behaviour.

* The YO has doubled the price of my haylage, we are only allowed to buy hay/haylage/straw/shavings from them.

They really spat their dummies out when I gave them my notice. I have given them the contracted notice. I have been pleasant and polite throughout it all.

I pay on time, I keep my area clean, I help where I can and whenever necessary. I don't demand anything, I've made only one request, to turn my mare out elsewhere so I don't carry on getting injured trying to bring her in. So I'm not high maintenance and all I ask for is a bit of respect.

Not all YO's are like this, but not all YO's are reasonable, intelligent people either

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My YO is generally excellent, we all have a written contract with her and need to give a month's notice. Even if I didn't have this with her, I would still offer to give a month out of courtesy. I'm moving house and so am yard hunting. YO does know I will be moving at some point but I haven't given notice yet as I don't have anywhere to move to. There's a chance I will move the horse herself before the end of the notice period (once I give it), but I will still pay up to the end of the notice. I think that's just courtesy.

I know my YO won't have trouble filling my space once I go as she has a waiting list
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