your yard niggles, what are they

soulfull

soulfull

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NO yard is absolutely perfect. so what are the niggles/problems/etc at your yard?

Yard is owned by South Staffs college so you can imagine the cut backs etc and the red tape to buy a bag of nails!!!

Mine are
fencing needs sorting
repairs take forever
haylage is hit and miss quality and have to keep chasing to get it changed, so much so have had to buy hay on top of paying for haylage as part of livery bill. (they will not give a reduction either)
little grazing (horse is a fatty anyway, but comes in hungry)


However the facilities are fab, it is very easy to get too, competitions on site so I reluctantly put up with it
 
I can't fault my yard or YO :). Actually I can, it's a bit too far from home :(. I'd rather it was closer than 20 mins away.

I just have a gripe with one livery, who thankfully I don't see often as we go at different times.
 
That they should make a me and Samba sized space so I can go to the one just minutes down the road (with lovely facilites and option of part diy). To be fair the one I am on is only ten minutes drive but doesnt have a school and is only £15 less/month.
 
Very variable quality straw (often rubbish) and whilst the quality as such of the haylage is generally ok, the type varies enormously from dryish fine grasses to fairly wet leafy young rye grass!! So its very difficult to keep horses on a constant diet. So I'm paying £40 a week and having to buy extra bedding and hay!!!!! I would move but everywhere else within a few miles of home is a worse option for other reasons. By sorting the hay and bedding problem its a safe and good place for me and the horses, if a bit expensive! I could get better places if I move further away but whilst I have my old girl I don't consider that an option. It gives me great peace of mind that they are only 5mins away so that is worth a lot.
 
Liveries pulling hay off of the bale and leaving the stuff they dont use on the floor to be trampled on and ***** on by the dogs!
Also in the winter the full livery horses have turnout, and the DIY'ers dont.
 
My only gripes are that there is no winter turnout and yard hours used to be a bit restrictive but they seem to have loosened up on those since last time I was there. Also they only have haylage, would much prefer hay for my two
 
My only gripe is that we don't have a school. We are at grass livery and there's half a dozen of us and we all get on so well together. Only thing that would put the icing on the cake for me would to be to have a school
 
I seem to spend my life trying to find the near perfect yard... But something always has to give. We're moving yards actually this weekend, and think we may have found ALMOST everything we need. Only time will tell!! :) I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
 
I keep my horses at home, but my niggles are not having a school, the drains not working properly (just waiting now for the man with the digger to come and dig them up lol) and my own company! Although it's tough being on my own sometimes I am so glad I dnt have to deal with yard politics!
 
soulfull said:
NO yard is absolutely perfect. so what are the niggles/problems/etc at your yard?

Yard is owned by South Staffs college so you can imagine the cut backs etc and the red tape to buy a bag of nails!!!

Mine are
fencing needs sorting
repairs take forever
haylage is hit and miss quality and have to keep chasing to get it changed, so much so have had to buy hay on top of paying for haylage as part of livery bill. (they will not give a reduction either)
little grazing (horse is a fatty anyway, but comes in hungry)


However the facilities are fab, it is very easy to get too, competitions on site so I reluctantly put up with it
Click to expand...

OP, you probably ought to be more careful about telling the world which yard you are on then complaining about it! If you have gripes with the yard then maybe take it up with them personally rather than writing about it openly on an internet forum for the world to see.... it only takes 1 person to direct the college towards this thread...

I have too many niggles about my yard to bother posting them..that's why I'm moving this weekend! ;)
 
Mine was the times but to be fair I have got used to it all now and works fine, horse is very happy and settled and I am getting used to it, everyone is so friendly which helps too. :)

Yard owner I get on with too, great facilities, just I'd like a indoor stable rather than an outdoor one... only niggle I have ha ha ha how sad is that! :D
 
I wish it was closer to home (35 minute drive) and had a larger school but I can't really complain. they took us at very short notice and horse is happy there :)
 
No gripes at all. YO is fab, only 5 liveries and we all get on really well.

The only addition that would make the yard the absolute perfect place would be an indoor school, but there are no yards in my town or that close that have one.

We've got an outdoor school, excellent turnout, great hacking, yard is clean and tidy, can't ask for much more.
 
chestnut cob said:
OP, you probably ought to be more careful about telling the world which yard you are on then complaining about it! If you have gripes with the yard then maybe take it up with them personally rather than writing about it openly on an internet forum for the world to see.... it only takes 1 person to direct the college towards this thread...

I have too many niggles about my yard to bother posting them..that's why I'm moving this weekend! ;)
Click to expand...


I see your point. However they are aware of the problems and too be honest EVERY yard has niggles, I am not posting saying OMG my yard is awful, it isn't awful. Its more a what a shame it 'could' be the perfect yard but for a few niggles. The point of explaining about red tape was important as it is not the actual staff but the red tape that holds everything up
 
Only problem really is the restricted grass/grazing...small individual paddocks, and winter is bone dry here. They limit the horses access to grass, which does bother me a bit. Other than that though, no complaints at all :)
 
Winter turnout would be nice.
And the indoor to be watered once in a while so you don't come out having had your organs coated in dust... and your tack.. and your horse.. yes it is really that bad!
 
Only one: wish we had more than one covered wash down area and that the one we have included warm water. Yes, we are THAT spoiled!

I just love our new yard - it's relaxed and friendly, the boxes are a good size (mixture of barn and outside stables), staff are knowledgeable, hay/haylage/straw is good quality, facilities are good and liveries are mostly nice (there are one or two I'm not crazy about, but that's to be expected).

P
 
Absolutely love my yard, great facilities and amazing friends. Only thing I would change is the surface which is too deep at the moment with the dry weather.
 
That my fab YO is leaving :( and I will be leaving for term time but hopefully we will be allowed to return in the holidays. Other than that the people are fab and the facilities are just what we need and the turnout is fab.
 
My yard is pretty much perfect! We have 24/7 grazing from March to October and then access to really good grazing during the day in winter! We also have a stubble field to blast on in the winter and off road riding and jumps in the summer.
My only tiny niggle is that the arena freezes in winter and then is deep and dusty in the summer! However, I prefer hacking to schooling so it doesn't matter!
 
The fencing at my yard is atrocious, it's ancient post and rail which if you were to blow on it, it would fall over. For this reason the horses break it and we have to patch it up with string.

The school surface and fencing round the school was a bug bear but that is being re-done over the next couple of days, yippee.

Ummm other things are minor, because it's a small private yard and not a big professional yard we have to sort out turnout ect between ourselves and we have to do maintenance. We also have to Harrow the school which means it never gets done as we don't have the tools to do it.

Bonus is it's cheap, loads of grass and all year turnout, nice
stables and warm tackroom, barn to tie up in in the winter. Farmers fields we can ride around and school in. We are left to our own devices and because there aren't that many of us it works quite well :).

Hacking is a bit pants as it's mostly lanes but they are quiet and there's lots of fields we can go in and canter round :).
 
firewell said:
The fencing at my yard is atrocious, it's ancient post and rail which if you were to blow on it, it would fall over. For this reason the horses break it and we have to patch it up with string.

The school surface and fencing round the school was a bug bear but that is being re-done over the next couple of days, yippee.

Ummm other things are minor, because it's a small private yard and not a big professional yard we have to sort out turnout ect between ourselves and we have to do maintenance. We also have to Harrow the school which means it never gets done as we don't have the tools to do it.

Bonus is it's cheap, loads of grass and all year turnout, nice
stables and warm tackroom, barn to tie up in in the winter. Farmers fields we can ride around and school in. We are left to our own devices and because there aren't that many of us it works quite well :).

Hacking is a bit pants as it's mostly lanes but they are quiet and there's lots of fields we can go in and canter round :).
Click to expand...

You have prompted me to say the good point :D

3 schools including one huge indoor. The stables are all indoors but with fab ventilation. Lovely alarmed tack room with hot water/kettle etc even a heater for winter.
Wash box, solarium (at least I think that is what it is)
horse walker
off road hacking around grounds, its limited but safe

So like I said the others are niggles
 
the hay is probably my only gripe with regards to the livery, sometimes it's lovely and other times it's full of sticks and all sorts.
a year ago the yard was a very fun and sociable place to be and everyone was keen to spend hours up there but a new livery turned up and she likes to look down her nose at everyone and thinks she's above us, she stirs trouble, 'hijacks' lifts from people who have transport for their horses and likes to spread lies, since she's been there people tend to quickly do their horses and leave rather than have a chat. it's not very sociable anymore.
 
Some off the fencing is in need of repair and I don't really get along with the other livery (it's just us 2 there and the YO) But he hardly comes up so I don't see him often. The yard is still in the process of being built so can't wait for the wash area and the floodlights :)
 
People hanging about drinking tea, smoking and gossiping, watching the world go by from their clique.... and not bothering with their horses
 
My niggles are the fences and gates, they're shocking quality and all held up with baling twine, but they do work. :P
And the bedding that my pony's on, it's like shavings but filled with dust and it's so yucky. Thankfully he's always out, so we never have any coughing issues.

Oh, they also have a barn next door that is right now just used for junk, but it could make a lovely indoor school with a bit of tlc. :(
 
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