Poo Picking in the dark

[ScribblingHorse]

I know this topic has been covered quite a bit but I really feel I need some input. I have recently moved my horse to a new yard and the owner is OCD about poo picking. The horses are in individual paddocks of about an acre and I don't have any issue with the poo picking per se. There is a good worming program in place as well. For the winter the horses have been moved into rough paddocks. I have a 22 mile commute to work (I work full time), it's 26 miles from my job to the yard, then another 8 to get home (there is a shortage of good local yards). Due to the nature of my job I often have to work late. Regardless of this, in the winter it would be always be dark by the time I arrived at the yard. The yard is in the middle of nowhere and no-one lives on site. By the time I arrive most evenings everyone else is gone. I am not keen on going out into a dark field on my own at night with no-one else about. I live on my own so if anything happened no-one would know until the yard owner came to check the horses (usually between 9 and 9.30pm). This week my horse had colic (first time ever in 22 years???) and I had to take some time off work. Thus I needed to catch up on some things so 2 nights in a row I got to the yard after 8pm (the YO brings my horse in earlier). I had cleared the field on the Monday, and they had been kept in for one day, my horse doesn't poo much in the field anyway. I got to the yard at 7.40pm on the Thursday night to a very abrupt note ordering me to poo pick. I found it rather offensive. I did do the poo picking and there was an 'enormous' total of four poos! Not really enough to get all shirty about. Like I said I have no issue with the poo picking, always clear the paddock at weekends and do it in the week if I am there early enough. But after a 56 mile round trip and long day (not even taking account of the risk) I am not inclined to walk around a dark paddock for the sum total of 2-3 poos each night, especially when most nights I don't get home until 9ish and still have to eat dinner and study for a degree. Surely weekends in the winter and daily in the summer is more reasonable? Or even twice a week in the winter? I think this this is more sensible and allows for people who work full time. Sorry to go on. Comments?

Its sounds like your work is not compatible with having a horse on what sounds like (assisted?) DIY livery. Its not the Y.O. fault that you have a silly commute. Why don't you pay someone else to do the poo picking for you?
Maybe you should move to a yard closer to home/work or maybe full livery?
If its just 4 poos, then it should be a quick 5 minute whizz around the field. I'm not sure what you think is going to happen to you, assuming there are no other horses in the paddock (you've said they are on individual turnout)? Invest in a decent head torch and you'll be able to see your way around the field.

What about paying someone to poo pick for you?

I could go either way on this, they clearly aren’t out for long so it won’t take you too long to do it ( agree re head torch, my current one is an aldi bargain and it’s super bright) or you could try to get yo to agree to you poo picking less often, difficult if you are new there because they may not be convinced you will actually do it,

And I wouldn’t fret about being the only person there, presumably you have a phone in case of emergency.

I think it sounds like a bit of a nightmare. If there's a shortage of local yards then you might have to just put up with it. Sounds a bit batshit to me though.

Britney, as I said there is a shortage of good yards locally. I moved yards because the one I was at was unreliable and frequently forgot to do people's horses, even on full livery! It was so bad when I left I was the only livery. A lot of yards closed during the recession and the good ones left have huge waiting lists. I've had horses on livery yards for 30 years so not new to the game.

There isn't always a mobile there. I am happy to do it, just not when I finish work late, not for the sake of four poos. The YO is new to running a yard and has never been on one herself, having spent most of her adult life married to a farmer and not working. I don't think she understands the concept. The yard isn't cheap so it's likely most of the people who can afford it will work. It's new so not full yet and four people have already left on bad terms since it opened in April ...

Blackboot, I think you are right that I might have to put up with it. Having been happy at one yard for 12 years, it rapidly went downhill when the owner's son took over. When I left it was half empty (20 stables empty - was a big yard). This yard used to have a waiting list. The one I moved to were so unreliable it was untrue. Forgetting to feed, not doing haynet, no turnout in the winter, even though it was in the contract. My horse is elderly and deserves better. The new yard owner is at least reliable. I suppose as an older person myself I take offence to being addressed like a child when a discussion could be had, like adults. Oh, the other liveries don't poo pick daily as they work too. Apparently, it was just my 'turn to be told off

It sounds like the YO is just one of those YOs who always have to have something to moan about. If you are otherwise happy with the yard, and there really isn't another one that would suit you better, then I guess you have few options.

Is it worth having a face to face conversation with the YO and try to come to a compromise over the frequency?

As for doing it in the dark - mine live out in a field in the middle of nowhere. I do what I can with a head torch and get most of it (field runs to about 3 acres) on a daily basis. It doesn't take long because I know where they tend to poo. I have often thought that, in the dark, anything could happen to me and it would be a while before I was found even though I carry a mobile. But you can't live a risk-free life with horses!

Yard owner sounds like a nightmare to me, like others have said I'd would ask someone up there and pay them to do it. If you didn't get something in place the batshit yard own will have it in for you!

What about setting a whatsapp group with the other owners and just doing 5 fields on one day each? Once you had a wheelbarrow and shovel out you might as well pick up a bit more anyway and you could then get your allowance done in one day?