Yard Theives

[lzbth_w]

Would love to hear fellow liveries stories on people stealing from them and how they managed it...

I'm relatively new to owning my own horse, so have had a lot of start off costs and bought a lot of things new. Started off with my brushes being used and not being put back. My muck scoop was filthy within a few days. Then my fly spray had gone down drastically and mane and tail.

I went on holiday for a few days the other week, and my new whole bale of hay was almost gone by the time I got back. I filled the remaining haynets with what was left and even they have gone missing.

I recently stocked up on feed and supplements. I'm awaiting new feed bins, so feed was in bags - only cut off corners to maintain freshness and stop spillage. Arrived to yard a day later with bags fully ripped open and half the feed gone. my bag of garlic was half empty too! Someone owned up to feeding my horse but even that does't explain how so much has gone.

Everyone pointing fingers at each other - feel so upset as can nolonger trust anyone! I've been so kind to everyone and they seem to think they think they can just take advantage of my kind nature and feed me their propaganda The rings door my stable door have also been removed yesterday which was total tipping point </3

 

[scats]

I’d be moving if I were you!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

What does the YO?YM say about it all?

 

[Red-1]

Sadly I have been at a couple of yards where some of this stuff happened. Feed being a common one, as well as supplements.

I would invest in a metal, lockable feed bin. A metal, lockable tack locker. A lockable grooming kit.


I would mark all rugs, headcollars, ropes, mucking out items (padlocked to the wheelbarrow), haynets, buckets...


Just never leave anything out!

Moving is also an option, but this is common in many yards.

 

[lzbth_w]

I&#8217;d be moving if I were you!

I'm seriously thinking about it. Only think holding me back is that I loan the horse from the YO..

 

[lzbth_w]

What does the YO?YM say about it all?

People are pointing finger that they've spotted her taking some. I went up to speak about it to her last night and she said that she'd only used it to feed my horse.

Even though I feed her myself so don't see the need for her to do that as then I'm unsure how much she's being fed?

 

[lzbth_w]

I wouldn't mind if people asked or told me that they needed to borrow something. I was really happy with my yard, but this has suddenly happened more and more frequently with no one admitting fault.

It's just so sad that people don't see it as stealing!

 

[Pinkvboots]

I have been on some yards with some terrible thieving liveries, I have even had rugs taken out of my stable and seen them on other peoples horses some people are just so blatant about it they just don't care, I would buy a trunk you can lock and put as much of your stuff in it as you can with hay and feed its so difficult to store it if people are stealing it, this is why I like yards where you have a lockable locker for your stuff although I have known people to climb over the walls to get to them, we ended up putting wire over ours and a lot of others followed suit when we had a very determined thief!

thank god mine are kept at home now.

 

[9tails]

Put purple spray in your fly spray bottles and mane and tail. Then buy new and keep it locked away. The horse with the purple streaks is owned by the thief.

 

[be positive]

I'm seriously thinking about it. Only think holding me back is that I loan the horse from the YO..

The YO needs to step in then, a few minor bits and bobs moving about or being "borrowed" is one thing but this sounds like it is endemic within the yard and is totally unacceptable, as the YO owns the horse you are stuck and unless she is the culprit she needs to get her yard under control before something really valuable gets taken.

 

[HBII]

Sorry to hear about this OP, apart from having a word with your YO and marking / locking up your stuff, I dont really have much else to offer.

Put purple spray in your fly spray bottles and mane and tail. Then buy new and keep it locked away. The horse with the purple streaks is owned by the thief.

BRILLIANT!!!

 

[Surbie]

Put purple spray in your fly spray bottles and mane and tail. Then buy new and keep it locked away. The horse with the purple streaks is owned by the thief.

The YO needs to step in then, a few minor bits and bobs moving about or being "borrowed" is one thing but this sounds like it is endemic within the yard and is totally unacceptable, as the YO owns the horse you are stuck and unless she is the culprit she needs to get her yard under control before something really valuable gets taken.

Both of these. If you can't move yards the YO needs to sort it out, it's gone way beyond people borrowing stuff and not putting cleaning/back.

I love the idea of purple spray in the bottles other people pinch.

 

[Magnetic Sparrow]

I'm with Red-1. Lock up everything you can, mark your stuff, keep anything valuable at home or in your car when you aren't using it.

I've been at yards where there is theft and it is manageable, although hay/haylage is a tough one. I appreciate that changing yards might be an issue.

 

[henmother]

If you are staying put , lock everything away . Fill your Haynets and padlock them together . I couldn't cope / afford for my stuff to go missing! Even people using your brushes is a damn cheek ! Get some big plastic boxes , think aldi has them online for £15 . I picked up one from Homebase recently which will fit three bags of balancer easily . If it's locked away they can't get at it . As for feeding your horse , unless you had asked , they shouldn't have done that !
Is there a yard board / book ? I'd be tempted to write something along the lines of , please ask if you need anything from me. One other option would be to have some sort of cctv, but if your yo won't do anything ,even if you caught culprits, I suppose it'd be pointless. You'd think she'd be upset knowing she has thieves on her yard!

 

[lzbth_w]

Thank you all for your comments. Will definitely be taking some of them onboard. As sad as the situation is, at least I know that many others have been affected.

I am going to keep small things at home and just take them with me when I need them until I have found a lockup. Am also going to put a 'polite' notice inside my feed bins addressed to any thieves. I have just purchased new stable rings and will engrave them before putting in my stable.

Will also be talking to YO tonight to ensure that no one else feeds my horse including herself unless I have specifically asked someone. I'm going to suggest that she talks to every livery one to one the difference between borrowing and stealing before, as someone else mentioned, something more valuable goes missing.

If all else fails I'm sure my husband would love to tell them whats what. Will keep you updated

 

[DirectorFury]

I had this on one yard, I knew who was doing it (there were only two liveries!) but they had 4 horses and I had 1. I told the YO and she said she didn't want to know!

They were stealing hay and using my tools, tools were solved by padlocking them to the wall by my stable. I used large round hay which was more complicated to secure! I asked them to stop taking it and the next day the glass tube light above my bale had been 'mysteriously' smashed so my hay had glass fragments in it. After that I left the round bales in my trailer and padlocked all the doors; it meant I couldn't take the horse anywhere but was worth it to stop those ar**holes. They also stole all my whips (jump, lunge, schooling), and (on one memorable occasion!) 'borrowed' my jump saddle without my permission to take to a riding club camp for a few days!

I left in the end as the YO refused to address it.

'Hilariously' the mother of the two brats is/was a policewoman! She also sold a horse with a known lameness problem without disclosing it. Horrible people are everywhere and the best you can do is remove yourself from the situation. Unfortunately this might mean giving up your loan horse .

 

[lzbth_w]

I had this on one yard, I knew who was doing it (there were only two liveries!) but they had 4 horses and I had 1. I told the YO and she said she didn't want to know!

They were stealing hay and using my tools, tools were solved by padlocking them to the wall by my stable. I used large round hay which was more complicated to secure! I asked them to stop taking it and the next day the glass tube light above my bale had been 'mysteriously' smashed so my hay had glass fragments in it. After that I left the round bales in my trailer and padlocked all the doors; it meant I couldn't take the horse anywhere but was worth it to stop those ar**holes. They also stole all my whips (jump, lunge, schooling), and (on one memorable occasion!) 'borrowed' my jump saddle without my permission to take to a riding club camp for a few days!

I left in the end as the YO refused to address it.

'Hilariously' the mother of the two brats is/was a policewoman! She also sold a horse with a known lameness problem without disclosing it. Horrible people are everywhere and the best you can do is remove yourself from the situation. Unfortunately this might mean giving up your loan horse .

I'm so sorry to hear of your experience! Fortunately there has been no spiteful breakages so far. I just can't stand the lying, as it ruins what is otherwise therapeutic for me. I'm just hoping the culprits will realise that what they're doing is actually really wrong, as I initially really got along with most of them.

I'd be absolutely gutted to leave my loan horse behind. I've loaned others in years before but I've really bonded with her and trust her completely - the YO has said she'd only ever sell her on to me. As soon as I can I'm sure I'll buy her.

 

[KittenInTheTree]

Having gotten fed up with our resident yard gremlins, last winter my husband and I made a sort of wrap around girdle for our round bales out of chicken wire, and then padlocked it in place. Cheap but effective - it's amazing how much longer the haylage lasts now.

 

[splashgirl45]

i havent had anything of great value taken but recently my small scissors went missing and i assumed i had been careless and not put them back so i asked my friend who i share the feed room with (just us two) if i could borrow hers and she said hers had also gone missing....thought nothing of it, then went to use my fly spray and it was almost empty and i had only filles it up the week before...this morning i noticed a small knife on the floor in the yard and thought it looked like mine, checked where mine should be and guess what.... it was missing!!!!!! its really irritating, i will lend anyone anything and all i ask is they put it back or replace if its something like fly spray....never had anything like this before...i like the purple spray idea...may have to try this if my new fly spray goes down quickly...

 

[HappyHollyDays]

Thieving is never nice. Homebase do very sturdy lockable black plastic boxes for £14.99. They can take two bags of feed, countless rugs or all your bits and pieces. You can also buy a lock which will secure your tools to the wall.

 

[Shay]

Sadly locking stuff away os the only solution.

Although snappy mouse traps in my feedbins were quite funny.....

More expensive stuff - UV solution. You can get in cheaply (and often free) from the Police. Douse everything in it and put up a sign to advise would be thieves that you are using smart water.

 

[little_critter]

You're probably in quite a strong position then.
Ask the YO to get the thieving under control, if she doesn't, say you are moving. If she won't allow your loan horse to move then say you are ending the loan. Might put a firework up her backside!

 

[Beausmate]

I know this isn't the most recent of threads, but if you are still there, OP, and no-one has nicked your tie rings, you could use a couple of security screws to prevent them being removed. Also works for anything else you might want to lock.

I have had cheap locks pinched before!

So glad I am no longer on a livery yard. I was accused of being petty by one YO's son, as I got so sick of having my wheelbarrow 'borrowed' and left full of muck/rubble/concrete in various places around the farm, I locked it up. He thought that as I was using their storage (I'm paying for it!) then he should be free to use anything of mine. Nope.

 

[Equi]

Feel for you! Fortunately not something that happens at my yard (must be the only one!) but i have everything locked away in most cases anyway cause im a little obsessed with boxes and padlocks for no real reason other than i love them! The only thing i ever left to the masses was a new fork and brush. The fork was broken within a few weeks (noone owned up but i know it was one of the younger liveries) and the brush has never been seen again since i left it there. Not too worried as both were cheap and the fork was crap actually and i didnt even use it myself favoring the "yard" ones...but i was still annoyed noone owned up to it.