Yard rules

[chaps89]

Don’t take this the wrong way Starzaan but I don’t think I could be on your yard, or in fairness that you’d want me ?
That said I am a diy-er through and through and whilst I am generally tidy, life happens and sometimes things aren’t as tidy as I’d like but so long as the ponies are the right way up and have food and water, my view is I can always catch up on myself. (I do hate getting behind though!)
For me being at the yard is to relax, having to adhere to lots of rules and watch my back and check I’ve not done something I shouldn’t isn’t very relaxing.
(This btw isn’t a dig at you S, just my general feeling. Also I completely get where you’re coming from and the type of service you offer being in line with price point, so fair play, really I’m in awe of the fact you can be so organised )

I was once at a yard where the closing time was 6pm, I lived an hour or so away and was on DIY though paid for a freelancer several times a week. I went with it as it was supposed to only be for 2 or 3 weeks until the clocks changed, but they decided to keep it. That was a real PITA! Mare was pts not long later but I think I’d have had to have left anyway if not as it just wasn’t realistic for me.
(I could get there early as I liked in the AM but I’m not a morning person and being up at 5.30 to be there 6.30/7 to have time to do jobs and get back for work was bad enough)

 

[Starzaan]

Yep, I don’t offer DIY because I’m aware that my rules and the way I like a yard run just don’t work with lots of DIYs. But I do really love offering a shit hot service, and my extremely long list of rules helps with that ?

Also, being so organised means everything runs smoothly. Everyone knows where they are - horses and people. Everything is in a routine and is clear for people. The best piece of advice I ever had was from Bill Levett, who said he wants his yard to run so smoothly that if he broke his neck at an event, any halfway competent groom could walk in and take over without ever having set foot on the yard before.

 

[chaps89]

Yep, I don’t offer DIY because I’m aware that my rules and the way I like a yard run just don’t work with lots of DIYs. But I do really love offering a shit hot service, and my extremely long list of rules helps with that ?

Also, being so organised means everything runs smoothly. Everyone knows where they are - horses and people. Everything is in a routine and is clear for people. The best piece of advice I ever had was from Bill Levett, who said he wants his yard to run so smoothly that if he broke his neck at an event, any halfway competent groom could walk in and take over without ever having set foot on the yard before.

Completely agree!

 

[Cob Life]

8am opening time seems very harsh for anyone who works standard hours - mine need to be completely done by 730 for me to have a chance of being on time!

Anywhere I have been has had very sensible rules like clearing up poo, picking out hooves before you leave the school and mucking out tools put in safe places (so no horse accidentally stands on a stable fork etc).

Same here, though I know one of the local yards all horses have to be brought in my 2pm everyday, all year round, which is impractical for people who work and the YO wouldn’t do it unless you were on full livery.

Other than that nothing too crazy, one was a stickler for hi vs, you never went on a road without it, even just leading which is a good thing and has rubbed off on me.

I’m quite tidy so would poo pick arenas after use, and sweep yards, tack room etc. anyway

 

[Juniper Jack]

I've only seen posted rules at two barns. One had two ridiculous rules -- you couldn't ride bareback but you didn't have to wear a helmet. And the barn was closed on Mondays. With the gate locked. No way, if I'm paying you to board my horse I'm paying for 24/7 access to him at need.

The other barn had a list of rules of which I remember only 3:

If you open it, close it.
If you take it, put it back.
If it meows, feed it.

 

[Ratface]

Many years ago, I looked at a yard which was shut to clients on Mondays. Nice yard, hideously expensive. I could have afforded it, but didn't. I like to be able to see/ride my horse when I want to, within reason.

 

[Fluffypiglet]

I’m moving to Starzaans yard! That’s not a bad price for full livery around these parts and it sound amazing to me! I’m a neat freak and expect full level pandering for my horse ? (current yard does a pretty good job of it in fairness)

 

[Red-1]

Yep, I don’t offer DIY because I’m aware that my rules and the way I like a yard run just don’t work with lots of DIYs. But I do really love offering a shit hot service, and my extremely long list of rules helps with that ?

Also, being so organised means everything runs smoothly. Everyone knows where they are - horses and people. Everything is in a routine and is clear for people. The best piece of advice I ever had was from Bill Levett, who said he wants his yard to run so smoothly that if he broke his neck at an event, any halfway competent groom could walk in and take over without ever having set foot on the yard before.

I can't leave for work unless everything is clean, emptied and the trailer chucked up.

I used to work in a risky job and I had it so that, if I was injured on duty, the horses would firstly be OK where they were for an extra 12 hours, and if someone came, they could be put to be, or turned out, without anything further needing to be done. So, water always ready in the next place.

Oh, and, bizarrely, I draw a few buckets of water, kept outside, enough that I would have enough for another 12 hours if the water was cut off! They are rotated in winter as they stay fresh, or used for watering in summer as the water goes off in the sun! We also have head torches charged and ready in case the electric cuts off.

 

[Ratface]

I can't leave for work unless everything is clean, emptied and the trailer chucked up.

I used to work in a risky job and I had it so that, if I was injured on duty, the horses would firstly be OK where they were for an extra 12 hours, and if someone came, they could be put to be, or turned out, without anything further needing to be done. So, water always ready in the next place.

Oh, and, bizarrely, I draw a few buckets of water, kept outside, enough that I would have enough for another 12 hours if the water was cut off! They are rotated in winter as they stay fresh, or used for watering in summer as the water goes off in the sun! We also have head torches charged and ready in case the electric cuts off.

Red-1, you're a woman after my own heart!
I, too, worked in a risky job, which is why my horses have always been on full livery, with an instructor on call to keep them ticking over until I recovered.
Apart from being fired at with a shotgun (the assailant was standing next to me and didn't know I could move sufficiently fast to disarm and flatten him at the same time) and being threatened by yet another shotgun-weilding loon, who I disarmed by promising him "a nice cup of tea" whilst we had a little chat. I asked a colleague to put the kettle on and phone the police at the same time. That was the memorable occasion when the Consultant Paediatrician uttered the never-to-be forgotten words "You can't shoot me - I'm a Consultant!" He was rather stout, and would have made an easy target . . . He relocated to a more salubrious district soon afterwards. The other Consultant would have flattened Mr Shotgun with a swift punch. And then adjusted his bow tie.

 

[Peglo]

@Starzaan your yards sound amazing. Not at all how I keep my own horses at home of course ? (a few starlings got into me stables and one shat on me saddle. Rocked up at dressage and thought I probably should’ve cleaned that off but my bum would hide it anyway ? saddle is plastic!) but I would actually love working for you. I like a regimented work place.

 

[Starzaan]

@Starzaan your yards sound amazing. Not at all how I keep my own horses at home of course ? (a few starlings got into me stables and one shat on me saddle. Rocked up at dressage and thought I probably should’ve cleaned that off but my bum would hide it anyway ? saddle is plastic!) but I would actually love working for you. I like a regimented work place.

That’s really lovely of you, thank you. I’m really strict with staff but I also like to think I’m fair, and offer all the things I wished I had had when I was starting out. They get training in any areas they’d like, their horses are done in work time, they have free access to all the facilities etc. and they are all treated like humans, not robots!

 

[Iznurgle]

Red-1, you're a woman after my own heart!
I, too, worked in a risky job, which is why my horses have always been on full livery, with an instructor on call to keep them ticking over until I recovered.

Dare I ask what your job was?!

 

[Snowfilly]

I did come across one which didn’t allow heavy horses… ok fair enough, they’re big and trample the ground a lot. But they had three 17.2 heavyweight hunter types there, all shire crosses bred by the same person and turned down my friend’s 15.2 Comtois because he was a draft! He was hogged, clipped and shown in cob classes, I still think she should have introduced him as a show cob and he’d have been allowed.

 

[canteron]

Starzan, I think I would like your yard- except the excessive numnah washing which is not very eco and the tail washing - but then I bet your horses are posh with spindly tails, whereas mine has the thickest tail ever - oh and she hates cold water so I have to take many buckets of water at a perfect temperature out to the yard!!

 

[zandp]

When it's the YO's family who cause all the mess it's difficult to have rules. Our dogs don't come on site but their dogs shit everywhere and it's left. They dump their muck wherever they like on the yard, including the other week right across the entrance to my stables. They waste hay constantly but have mentioned that they're going to stop liveries feeding it in the field. Only liveries mind you not them. They lose all their feed buckets / hoof picks etc and take ours and my wheelbarrow regularly goes missing. They have tie up areas out on the yard, none of the liveries on the main yard do, we have to do everything inside our stables. My equipment is spread around various places on the yard as we don't get storage space really, we have to find it and make it ourselves.

The rules are meant to be if hacking you wear hi viz, if you're on a horse you wear a hat and only smoke in the tea room or by your car. Pick up poo from the schools and put jumps away. None of this happens if the family are involved and there are precisely 3 liveries who actually use the muck heap properly by forking up / depositing muck as far back as they can. They got rid of the actual muck heap by promising that we'd have tie up areas there, and then don't let us use the area where the muck heap was. We now dump it in a tractor bucket, having been promised it would be emptied twice a day. We're lucky if it's emptied twice a week.

Typing out this I'm wondering why I'm there.

The liveries are generally a nice bunch, access is unrestricted (although if I'm working unsociable hours I always let them know) and we can use our turnout areas however we like and whenever we like -they don't ever say you can't turn out today.

 

[Fieldlife]

Haha ok then, I don’t think I can possibly do all of them, but I shall get as many as I can.
I have always had the standard rules about behaviour towards people and horses etc but I have also had (some of these apply to staff too, I have mainly owned and managed rehab and high end livery yards).

- A horse must never enter a stable with poo or wee in it.
- All mucking out finished by 10am at the very latest.
- No clutter outside boxes - headcollar, hoofpick, and two rugs hung up, with the lead rope rolled up. I always make sure there is LOTS of storage space elsewhere, but I hate a messy yard.
- Yard, walkers, all communal spaces, pool barn, treadmills etc must all be swept after use, droppings picked up immediately, and yard always left tidy.
- There will NEVER be a time it’s not ok for a livery to visit their horse. 3am? Fine. Midnight? Fine. Your horse, you have access whenever you want. We all need to snuggle our ponies in the middle of the night sometimes.
- All ridden liveries will have Equilab app used during EVERY session, and a screenshot sent to the owner after riding.
- Photos and videos of all rehabs, full and part liveries sent to owners every day, no exceptions.
- All banks must be at least 2ft high (we measure by a certain brick on the wall) and beds need to be thick enough to hit the top of the shavings forks we use. Beds started with 15 bales of shavings, or half a heston bale of straw, no exceptions.
- HORSES BEFORE HUMANS is my most important rule. If a horse needs something, it comes before us, every time. They are the priority no matter what else is going on.
- Tails must be silky enough to run a hand through at all times, and horses must ALWAYS be groomed every day, trimmed and pulled as needed so that they look immaculate at all times.
- Boots and numnahs are put in the wash after every use, fleeces, coolers, fly and stable rugs are washed weekly, and turnout rugs are washed at the end of the season and put away ready for the next winter.
- Fly masks are washed every evening and put on fresh in the morning.
- Water drinkers and mangers, are to be cleaned every day, and water drinkers checked each time you walk into the stable.
- Tack is wiped down after every use, and stripped on a Sunday afternoon, for a full deep clean ready for the next week.
- An owners request is never too big or at the wrong time. If they need you to stand with them while they mount, walk with them while they hack, have the horse ready and standing by the mounting block when they drive in, then it's done.
- All horses are tested for strangles prior to arrival, and any contagious diseases doing the rounds at the time such as EHV.
- Staff are to have a proper lunch break every day, either from 12 - 1 or 1 - 2, and get two full days off a week without question. Staff horses are done in work time, and any staff horses stabled with me get put on a rota so that staff members don't have to come to the yard on days off if they choose not to, as their horses will be mucked out etc. as normal.
- Every livery is assigned a groom, that groom is the owners main point of contact, and takes responsibility for that horse. They muck out, groom, prep for competitions, take responsibility for rehab work etc. This allows continuity for the horse, the owner and accountability for each groom. Grooms are in teams to provide continuity on days off, so each horse is assigned a groom and then a "back up" for their primary grooms days off.
- All stables have a number, and this corresponds to everything. Buckets are marked with numbers, tack is stored in number bays, etc. for ease of use by staff. Horses are also colour coded, red amber or green, for new staff to know at a glance if they need to check what they need to know about amber and red horses.
- Nutrition is key - pre work and recovery feeds are fed to everything without exception.

Basically, horses have to be happy, and immaculate at all times, as does the yard. People pay a LOT of money for luxury full livery or rehab, they have to feel like they get their monies worth, and the dirtier workings of the yard need to be somewhat of a mystery to them - they will never see poo in their horses stable, the yard unswept etc. if they come up after 10am.

I take such pride in running yards, and am so proud of have truly exceptional references and testimonials from some of the best vets and riders in the country. I am a bit of a nazi about some things, and am very, very picky, but it's all for good reason.

Do all horses (that are at a rehab stage to be allowed) get decent amount of turnout every day? My warmblood thinks the field is the best place ever, even in mid winter in poor weather.

 

[Archangel]

That’s really lovely of you, thank you. I’m really strict with staff but I also like to think I’m fair, and offer all the things I wished I had had when I was starting out. They get training in any areas they’d like, their horses are done in work time, they have free access to all the facilities etc. and they are all treated like humans, not robots!

There used to be a magazine called Stable Management. They used to visit a different yard every month and write up in great detail how it was run. It was really interesting and gave lots of insider tips about how a top class yard was run, I think your yard would have been one of the ones they picked.

 

[SEL]

If I ever kept mine on full livery I'd have liked @Starzaan 's rules. I've always been DIY (& now have my own place) but used to be horrified at how some full liveries were kept when their owners weren't around. Always conscious that I'd be leaving my horses in that care when I went away. I can remember coming back from a funeral 3 hours away and saying to my OH let's go check on the horses (dark, raining, cold) even though I'd paid for livery for 2 days. Found them both shivering in the field with no hay and no rugs. So there I was in totally the wrong clothes rugging up cross horses and carting hay across the field.

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

There used to be a magazine called Stable Management. They used to visit a different yard every month and write up in great detail how it was run. It was really interesting and gave lots of insider tips about how a top class yard was run, I think your yard would have been one of the ones they picked.

I still have a couple of copies of that mag! The yard I was training on was featured in it.

 

[Starzaan]

Do all horses (that are at a rehab stage to be allowed) get decent amount of turnout every day? My warmblood thinks the field is the best place ever, even in mid winter in poor weather.

They go out at 7 and come in at 5, no matter what the weather is doing, in same sex herds apart from the very rare occasions when horses genuinely are happier in a single paddock alone, or those who are on rehab.
i HATE horses standing in boxes! Some are out 24/7 in summer, those who don’t like it either stick to the winter routine, or swap round to going out at night.
I LOATHE restricted turnout. I plan on 2 acres per horse per year, and fields are rotated and rested. I will never ever over stock and I will NEVER shut turnout. Grass grows back, horses brains can’t be fixed after months of standing in doing nothing, fields can always be fixed.

 

[Starzaan]

Starzan, I think I would like your yard- except the excessive numnah washing which is not very eco and the tail washing - but then I bet your horses are posh with spindly tails, whereas mine has the thickest tail ever - oh and she hates cold water so I have to take many buckets of water at a perfect temperature out to the yard!!

Ah, so we are lucky enough to have hot water wash bays so no need for buckets, but I don’t excessively wash tails - if they need it they get washed, but they get brushed out properly every day. One of my own horses has a LUDICROUSLY thick tail - no spindly tails here apart from the apaloosa!
And the numnah washing etc we try to be eco friendly as possible. We use rainwater collected from the roofs of the barns, and solar panels etc.

 

[Starzaan]

There used to be a magazine called Stable Management. They used to visit a different yard every month and write up in great detail how it was run. It was really interesting and gave lots of insider tips about how a top class yard was run, I think your yard would have been one of the ones they picked.

That’s really lovely of you, thank you. ?

 

[Starzaan]

If I ever kept mine on full livery I'd have liked @Starzaan 's rules. I've always been DIY (& now have my own place) but used to be horrified at how some full liveries were kept when their owners weren't around. Always conscious that I'd be leaving my horses in that care when I went away. I can remember coming back from a funeral 3 hours away and saying to my OH let's go check on the horses (dark, raining, cold) even though I'd paid for livery for 2 days. Found them both shivering in the field with no hay and no rugs. So there I was in totally the wrong clothes rugging up cross horses and carting hay across the field.

I’m so glad to read that you would like my rules. I am so proud that my owners all trust me implicitly with their horses. That’s the most important thing. They know that if they want something done, it will be done. I love my liveries as if they were my own, and they get the absolute best.

 

[HorseyTee]

I was on a yard where there weren't many rules really but 1 was that no horse was to be out alone, so if bringing yours in meant only 1 was left out, you had to bring that 1 in as well, which was fair enough as most would get upset being the last 1 out.

 

[Caol Ila]

I was on a yard where there weren't many rules really but 1 was that no horse was to be out alone, so if bringing yours in meant only 1 was left out, you had to bring that 1 in as well, which was fair enough as most would get upset being the last 1 out.

Ours has that rule, though you don't endear yourself to people if you take the p$ss and your horse is always the last out and you're hoping that a fellow livery will grab it. You know what time you get off work! One ex-livery really did not endear herself because hers could be tricky to handle, so no one liked bringing him in while leading theirs, but she did not want to pay the staff to fetch him. Most people who can't get to the barn before 6-ish pm (winter only... in the summer, they are out overnight) either pay the staff or make deals with other liveries.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I was on a yard where there weren't many rules really but 1 was that no horse was to be out alone, so if bringing yours in meant only 1 was left out, you had to bring that 1 in as well, which was fair enough as most would get upset being the last 1 out.

That works well until the last one out is conveniently the one who's owner is too scared to handle it, and she comes up tactically late so as not to have to bring it in herself, which is what happened at a yard I was at!

 

[Caol Ila]

LOL. Snap!

Definitely pays big dividends to train great ground manners. Fellow liveries are way more willing to help out when they know your horse is easy and friendly to handle.

 

[HorseyTee]

Ye I can imagine some people would take the pee with that.
Luckily where we were, most of us would be there around the same time anyway, or it would be different horses out last.

 

[Fieldlife]

They go out at 7 and come in at 5, no matter what the weather is doing, in same sex herds apart from the very rare occasions when horses genuinely are happier in a single paddock alone, or those who are on rehab.
i HATE horses standing in boxes! Some are out 24/7 in summer, those who don’t like it either stick to the winter routine, or swap round to going out at night.
I LOATHE restricted turnout. I plan on 2 acres per horse per year, and fields are rotated and rested. I will never ever over stock and I will NEVER shut turnout. Grass grows back, horses brains can’t be fixed after months of standing in doing nothing, fields can always be fixed.

Sounds brilliant. I have rarely found a UK South East yard where I am comfortable not seeing my horse every 24 hours minimum. And doing a bit of micro managing to look out for my horse.

 

[Starzaan]

Sounds brilliant. I have rarely found a UK South East yard where I am comfortable not seeing my horse every 24 hours minimum. And doing a bit of micro managing to look out for my horse.

There’s no feeling as awful as paying a huge amount of money and still not feeling entirely comfortable with the care they’re receiving.