YO has closed the school - ideas pls

I agree with yo
Most liveries dont see what a stressful low paying job yo have.
It is annoying to see facilities being abused with little care because they pay their livery.
Two days is a small sacrifice and is basically to make the point to all liveries. As I am sure it is probably more than one person and the yo is doing it out of despare!!
 
I would be annoyed at loss of school for 2 days but even more angry at the inconsiderate people who left their mess in the school. At my old yard I seemed to be one of very few who would pick up after themselves and inevitably after everyone else or YO would blame whoever was last in the school (usually me as I rode late). Got to the stage where if I saw someone's horse make a mess I would loudly point it out whilst they were riding- made me look like a right busy body but people did at least pick up after themselves once they realised someone had noticed. Maintaining a school is an expensive business and I agree that whilst you pay for the right to use it whilst on livery, people should respect it is the YO's property at the end of the day. Can you not find out who is not picking after themselves and name and shame them to the YO? I would have no qualms about doing that if their actions were affecting my enjoyment of my horse.
 
milliepops said:
I do understand why she was annoyed about the droppings, and yes, it's only 2 days. But I plan my week in advance and had a lesson booked, which is adding to the annoyance!

If there had been some warning I'd have picked the blooming poos up myself regardless of who left them there :( :mad:
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Totally understand your frustration. Is there a booking system for the school?
 
I am with the YO as well, someone has not respected her property and I presume that this isn't the first time it has happened as well; I don't think she would temporarily shut the school for a one-off incident.

It is only two days, get over it? The indoor school at my yard is closed on a regular basis for clinics, shows and people hiring it and nobody ever complains as it is a facility that we are very lucky to have.
 
Bosworth said:
I am afraid I am with the YO in this one. I know how irritating it is as YO to ask people not to leave droppings in the school, I have been out and cleared everything up several mornings a week because liveries were too damn lazy to clear up after themselves. I have asked, i have written and asked. In fact I once tried everything, every livery denied it being them. So what else is there to do. Clearly it is someone who uses the school, so stopping it being used until they get the message is often the only way to get it through to them. Droppings left in ruin the school, and once the school is ruined it is ruined for everyone and is an expensive and timeconsuming job to sort out. It is surely better to close it now, tell everyone why and perhaps the lazy sods will get the message and clear up after themselves. As for it not being the wrong doers that are being punished, well how is the YO supposed to know, without standing watching over everyone. In which case they probably would not reveal themselves. I am sure that every livery knows who left the mess. If so let the YO know so they can be sorted. If you know and keep quiet then to be honest you have to accept the closure. I do not feel it is being treated like a child, although clearly the person who is too lazy to clean it up wants to be treated like a child and cannot accept responsibility for their own actions. 2 days is not long, nor the end of the world.
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I do take my hat off to you as I can't understand why anyone would want to be a YO, such a thankless task with so many militant women around. Still they'll rue their difficultness when yards start closing due to YO's not making any money, fed up of the aggravation, development taking away land etc etc.
 
I'm sympathetic to the YO too. There are always some people who do not respect the facilities provided and rather than have the upset of listening to their denials or excuses, its less stressful for the YO to impose a blanket ban and let peer pressure do the rest.

We've known all sorts of measures by exasperated YO's in the past - school being closed, fields being closed, rubbish bins removed and all rubbish had to be taken home, CCTV on school and locked unless pre booked and key obtained by walking 1/2 mile to the farmhouse, etc, etc.

Sometimes, the only way to make people act fairly is to make a stand.
 
Bosworth said:
I am afraid I am with the YO in this one. I know how irritating it is as YO to ask people not to leave droppings in the school, I have been out and cleared everything up several mornings a week because liveries were too damn lazy to clear up after themselves. I have asked, i have written and asked. In fact I once tried everything, every livery denied it being them. So what else is there to do.
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This sounds like a different situation though. Unless she's been out talking to the other liveries, this is the first I've heard of it. That's why I'm annoyed.

I am sure that every livery knows who left the mess. If so let the YO know so they can be sorted. If you know and keep quiet then to be honest you have to accept the closure. I do not feel it is being treated like a child,
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I don't know who it was, i know who it wasn't but that doesn't help :confused:

Feel a bit sad that yards have to be like this. My old yard was chaotic but never had this atmosphere :(
 
Our YO wanted to shut our indoor school for 2 days too because someone had put a poo on his newly laid wall - it was pathetic but half comical after! I got there at half 4 and the whole indoor was shut up - i asked him why and he explained - i stormed off (i was in serious stressy mood as it was my last day to go through my first ever dressage test!) then i knocked on his door and said 'i really need to use the school to go through my test tonight for tomorrow, if i pick up the poo can i use it please otherwise i've wasted paying for my dressage entry cuz some idiot put a poo in the wrong place!' (I think he picked up on my fuming/stressed/anger levels!!) and he said that was fine but he still wanted to know who put the poo there!! x It was pathetic but i needed to use the school and he was fine after! x Maybe just offer to poo pick it - explain that it wasnt u that left it there but you really need the school, or accept that your horse acan have two days to chill and let whoever did it learn a lesson xx
 
Tash88 said:
I am with the YO as well, someone has not respected her property and I presume that this isn't the first time it has happened as well; I don't think she would temporarily shut the school for a one-off incident.

It is only two days, get over it? The indoor school at my yard is closed on a regular basis for clinics, shows and people hiring it and nobody ever complains as it is a facility that we are very lucky to have.
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but she had a lesson booked with no notice to cancel or change it? i understand the two days but "get over it" may be a little harsh.

i keep mine at home and not lucky enough to have a school but i know if i did i would certainly look after it cus its a privilege.


im with whoever said Witch hunt!
 
joeanne said:
Reduce your livery bill accordingly.
When she says you can't do that, its not fair on her, you can reply with she saw fit to punish YOU for someone elses wrong doings, and as such you are returning the favour.
VERY unprofessional. She should have had the droppings cleared and billed the party in question for her time.
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Any one acting like this would be off my yard. Although closing the school is not something I would personally do. I have been in this situation and it is very annoying. I found out who it was and just had a polite word. It may be more than one culprit if the yard is large and if so, the YO is perfectly within their rights to close the school. Liveries having a hissy fit and reducing their livery would be bang out of order. Not the kind of person I would have on my yard. And I am extremely reasonable and easy going. If a livery has a problem, they should politely discuss it with the yard owner, not just decide to dock the livery money.
 
amymay said:
Yes Millie - it did. And it made everyone think about how they used the facilities generally.
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That's promising then. I was worrying in case it didn't work and she does it again, and again..:(

jenz87 said:
I agree with yo
Most liveries dont see what a stressful low paying job yo have.
It is annoying to see facilities being abused with little care because they pay their livery.
Two days is a small sacrifice and is basically to make the point to all liveries. As I am sure it is probably more than one person and the yo is doing it out of despare!!
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I'm sorry you feel that way. I honestly don't think I abuse anyone's property. I should have expected this though as threads about livery always end up with YOs and liveries at odds with each other.


FfionWinnie said:
Totally understand your frustration. Is there a booking system for the school?
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Thanks FW, nice to know I'm not completely off my rocker. No, we are not allowed to book the school.
 
I'd be pretty annoyed, especially if I had a lesson booked that I then had to cancel (so it is a bugger for the trainer as well) because some tool didn't clean up their poo and the YO thought this would solve the problem.
 
Wagtail said:
Any one acting like this would be off my yard. Although closing the school is not something I would personally do. I have been in this situation and it is very annoying. I found out who it was and just had a polite word. It may be more than one culprit if the yard is large and if so, the YO is perfectly within their rights to close the school. Liveries having a hissy fit and reducing their livery would be bang out of order. Not the kind of person I would have on my yard. And I am extremely reasonable and easy going. If a livery has a problem, they should politely discuss it with the yard owner, not just decide to dock the livery money.
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Wagtail I'm not the sort of person who would make a fuss over my livery payments. I don't like making a scene and I don't like to get people's backs up.

And you sound like you would deal with this sort of situation a bit better, i.e. by talking to the liveries concerned. We all got a group text about this last night which seemed like an odd way to deal with the situation. Can't help thinking having a conversation about it face to face would have yielded a better result.
 
I can understand your frustration if you had a lesson booked, and I do think your YO should have given you a chance to cancel your lesson with more notice. However, I am a YO and can totally understand her side of things.

My school cost a LOT of money, and if my liveries were abusing it and not picking up droppings I would do the same and ban them from using it until they decided they could be bothered to pick up after themselves. I don't want to pay to replace a surface just because people are being lazy!

The "punish the majority for the misdeed of the minority" thing does work in my view. I'm sure the people who didn't pick up their droppings are mortified that everyone else on the yard is suffering due to their laziness, and are aware that people are not best pleased with them.

To be honest, it's only two days. Clayton and Lucinda Fredericks coped without a school for ten years, and still managed to successfully campaign horses at 4*. When I was growing up I schooled in the dark in a field, or with the aid of car headlights.
 
I'm a livery and agree with alot of what the YO's are saying. It would annoy me there was no notice given, I would go to YO and ask if I cans till ahev my lesson, don't ask you don't get, but apart from that its only two days!! It would pea me off more that people were just leaving their horses poop in the area, especially if I had to ride round it after them, I would just hope that the people who do leave their horses poop were as peed off as me and hopefully that would be an end to it. If she does start doing it more often I would then go and have a proper word. I agree with the other who would not tollerate a livery taking it into their own hands to reduce their livery bill.

Why don;t you just spend some time grooming, catching up on some tank cleaning ect.
 
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As a YO myself (don't have an indoor school, not that posh!:)) it needs to be borne in mind that the YO has obviously chosen to "close" the school for a period, for her own good reasons. The "reason" given being poo being left in there after someone's used it.

I gather from OP that poo being left in the school by one particular person is a fairly regular occurrence and that it continued unresolved until now, when YO has had to take action.

Presumably its in everyone's livery contracts that if they leave poo in the school then it has to be cleared? In a busy yard the YO won't always get the time to "inspect" the school before and after everyone's use (and why the heck should she???). Nor will she or her staff have the time to clear up after everyone else. Its a basic courtesy in any yard surely; that if you or your horse cause a mess, then YOU clear it up???

Its only two days - perhaps people just need to keep an eye on the offender(s) and/or get in there with a shovel themselves rather than grouse at the YO?
 
I would have been really annoyed as while it is alright to say "its only 2 days" but if you are working full time and need to keep the minimum of 3 lots of exercise in the week.. someone taking away the ability to work you horse is not on. It may well have not been convenient on the other days. I know very well what nights I will be down, at the beginning of the week due to my diary. I appreciate the frustration of the YO but if notice HAD been given, then that would have got the same results. I would not expect to be treated like a child and would be pretty hacked off. Sometimes something has to be said and thats fair enough, you may be breaking a rule without realising it. In this situation I would talk directly to the YO and ask her to manage this in a different way pointing out she is inadvertantlely punishing innocent parties. Could she manage this by treating this a warning? so people have advance notice? I would not, however, take it upon myself to reduce my livery bill as that opens up a whole different can of worms and is as unfair to the YO as closing the school is to you!
 
2 days?! I'm sure everyone on here who doesn't have the pure luxury of a school on site is quite amazed! :D

I can see why you're annoyed about missing the lesson, and do understand, but I think the guilty party will probably feel pretty stupid right now, and hopefully it should work and prevent it happening again. YO is probably trying to be harsh once, so she doesn't have to keep nagging about it. :)
 
My YM did this once, BUT you could go and ask for the key and still ride. It meant she knew who was using the school and if any poos had been left it was obvious who the culprit was. Miraculous ending of poos being left in and seems a more reasonable approach, but does require YM to be around constantly. Ours lived on site.
 
Wagtail said:
Any one acting like this would be off my yard. Although closing the school is not something I would personally do. I have been in this situation and it is very annoying. I found out who it was and just had a polite word. It may be more than one culprit if the yard is large and if so, the YO is perfectly within their rights to close the school. Liveries having a hissy fit and reducing their livery would be bang out of order. Not the kind of person I would have on my yard. And I am extremely reasonable and easy going. If a livery has a problem, they should politely discuss it with the yard owner, not just decide to dock the livery money.
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if everything is as the OP stated (I am not doubting you OP) then surely if the YO has a problem they should politely discuss it with the liveries before closing the school?

why can a YO have a 'hissy' fit and close the school but the liveries not have a 'hissy' fit and refuse to paythe part of their livery bill that the have been denied use of for 2 days whilst the YO has their 'hisst' fit?

if the school is part of the facilities you pay for you are within your rights to refuse to part for the use of it whilst it is closed-although I would be more inclined to speak to the YO to try and sort something else out as it seems unfair to expect liveries to police each other with regards to pooing in the school.

for those of you that state running a livery yard is a tough business I agree but I would imagine its tougher when you upset all your liveries but treating them like naughty children-I would be looking to move yards if this was my YO first course of action.
 
Luci07 said:
I would have been really annoyed as while it is alright to say "its only 2 days" but if you are working full time and need to keep the minimum of 3 lots of exercise in the week.. someone taking away the ability to work you horse is not on. It may well have not been convenient on the other days. I know very well what nights I will be down, at the beginning of the week due to my diary. I appreciate the frustration of the YO but if notice HAD been given, then that would have got the same results. I would not expect to be treated like a child and would be pretty hacked off. Sometimes something has to be said and thats fair enough, you may be breaking a rule without realising it. In this situation I would talk directly to the YO and ask her to manage this in a different way pointing out she is inadvertantlely punishing innocent parties. Could she manage this by treating this a warning? so people have advance notice?
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Thanks, this sums up exactly how I was feeling. I did try to put my point across to her as reasonably as I could but it didn't change anything. I'm not going to make a big deal about it but as you say, I plan my riding around my work commitments.

Anyway, thanks for the debate guys, I'm sorry to those who feel I'm moaning over nothing as they don't have a school - I did say earlier that I have chosen this yard (and the extra cost and travelling) specifically for the school so it's not an accident that I've got these facilities ;)

Have googled some carrot stretches for the evenings and thanks to Ossy for the tack/tank :p cleaning suggestion, I think that's long overdue! :D
 
milliepops said:
Thanks, this sums up exactly how I was feeling. I did try to put my point across to her as reasonably as I could but it didn't change anything. I'm not going to make a big deal about it but as you say, I plan my riding around my work commitments.

Anyway, thanks for the debate guys, I'm sorry to those who feel I'm moaning over nothing as they don't have a school - I did say earlier that I have chosen this yard (and the extra cost and travelling) specifically for the school so it's not an accident that I've got these facilities ;)

Have googled some carrot stretches for the evenings and thanks to Ossy for the tack/tank :p cleaning suggestion, I think that's long overdue! :D
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I can quite see why you are annoyed and put out, I would feel exactly the same as I too carefully plan when I can ride well in advance.

HOWEVER the effectiveness in what the YO has done is to put people out and affect them. If you had advanced warning you would have planned around it and it wouldn't have had the same impact. The fact that you are mighty peeved in itself is enough ammunition to give the culprits merry hell so that hopefully there is no repeat ....
 
To return to the original question - what to do for the two evenings in question instead of riding?
Carrot stretches, groundwork (in the carpark if necessary!) reinback, sideways, halting to voice commands.
Thorough grooming session, including shortening/pulling mane and tail, trimming beard, ears, poll, heels as required. Use your fingers or a rubber curry comb to find your horse's scratchy areas (where he would mutually groom another horse) and watch his funny faces when you find them. Mine has one area on either side of his neck in front of his withers and another area on each side just behind the girth and below where the saddle flap would be. When I scratch these areas for him, he likes to wiggle his upper lip on the palm of my hand or on my arm as if he was mutually grooming me!

How about taking a load of photos if you haven't taken any recently, or try taking photos of his feet/shoeing for future reference?

Take your tack to pieces for a good clean, or tidy out your equipment box at the yard, preferably in front of your horse's stable door so he can be interested in the performance too!

In short, do some of the things you never usually have time to do because you are so busy riding?

I know it is frustrating that you are punished for someone else's lack of care, but the YO where I keep my horse has taken this course of action a couple of times and so I have learned to accept what we cannot change and change my thinking from frustration to an opportunity to do something else instead. Your horse would probably have one day off per week anyway, so you are only losing one ride.

Enjoy!
 
jools1234 said:
it seems unfair to expect liveries to police each other with regards to pooing in the school.
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Jools, that was my point really, added to the fact that those of us who come up in the evenings have no idea who has ridden in the day or when, so can't really be the poop police anyway :p
I've picked up droppings that have been left by others in the past, and would do so again, I'm an adult :rolleyes:

I would be looking to move yards if this was my YO first course of action.
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again, you've hit the nail on the head. It appears to be the first response which basically means no one could do anything to avoid this situation.

Right. Off to buy some carrots then. :cool: Need to get something productive out of this week!
 
Hong on love its only two days! I know its infuriating, annoying and the culprit should suffer not you, but honestly is it worth blowing a gasket over it and falling with with you YO if you have a fairly decent relationship with them.

For a start, isnt there a yard rule about cleaning up your own mess, secondly do you have decent turn out - if you do, then give the horse a couple of days off if you are able to. If you cant, then take them for a bit of a stroll around the yard. Or what about riding in the morning if thats feasible. It isnt perfect I agree, but honestly, is it worth busting a gut over? I dont think so, there are far more important things to worry about.
 
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