Help me choose a yard please!

[Mynameisinigomotoya]

Sorry this is long...

Hello! After being on a wonderful livery yard for nearly twenty years, I am now in a position where I need to find a yard to keep my daughters pony. I have 2 contenders. One is great for the pony. And one for the children. Please can I ask for your options? Both are part livery.
Daughter is 8, she is just off the lead rein Andover VERY quiet loan pony has returned to her owners and we now have a much more forward section A for her to progress on.
We like hacking at the weekends which involves 2 ponies, 4 children taking turns, a toddler in a back pack and a few dogs. ☺️

Yard 1: professional yard. Large indoor and outdoor school. Fantastic (really fantastic) off road hacking. Large stables, all year turn out. Horses out over night in summer. BUT no other children other than my daughter (8) and her friend. It’s quite formal and lots of ‘big competition horses’ and although it’s friendly it’s not quite the right fit. No instruction on site. Lots of smart clinics and competitions there. We have to do a lot of shushing of the children and always feel a bit like we are a nuisance or disturbing the peace.

Years 2: professional and well run but much smaller. 1 outdoor school. Brilliant owner and instructor. Kids club, summer kids camp. Happy and relaxed atmosphere. Ponies calm and happy. Children have fun and freedom but boundaries and are taught the ‘right way’.
BUT... hardly any grazing. Ponies only get about 3-5 hours out at grass a day. Although this is all year round. And the hacking isn’t as good, narrow country lanes and the odd bridle way and a Forrest about twenty minutes away.

I really want to go to the second yard and my daughter will benefit her hoodlum of a pony will learn some manners. But I can’t get my head round keeping a pony stabled 19 hours a day!!! It’s just not what I’m used to...

Any pearls of wisdom ?

Frankly I think limited turnout is abuse.
I’m sure people will disagree but I wouldn’t be touching that yard with a bargepole

@lastqueenofscotland

Frankly I think limited turnout is abuse. I’m sure people will disagree but I wouldn’t be touching that yard with a bargepole

I agree, the limited turnout would make this a no for me. I hate it when my horse has limited turnout for the few days over the winter that it is too snowy or icy to turn them out all day. I couldn't imagine that year round.

I also think yard 1 isn't ideal either. If it is not a child friendly yard it sounds like you might need to keep looking for other options.

Whilst a lot of ponies do not need to be grazing 24 hours a day, stabling one for that length of time would, I think, lead to so many problems. As well as the obvious welfare issues a pony cooped up for that length of time would most likely turn into a bored, frustrated and potentially unrideable pony.

My mare is currently on week 16 of box rest, she’s allowed out for 30 minutes a day walk exercise and whilst she is coping reasonably well I feel awful for her, particularly now as the weather improves and the others have sun on their backs and are out in drying fields rolling and exercising. To do something similar to a healthy pony would not be something I could contemplate, sorry.

Thank you everyone. You’ve confirmed what I thought. Instinctively I know id feel so sorry for the pony.
Unfortunately these are the only options within a 30 minute drive. So it’s the pony or child child who gets a good time. It’s a rubbish compromise both ways.

Tbh there are only two yards locally that offer all year turn out and only one (my old previous yard) which offers 24 hour turn out in the summer. But these are small paddocks and I prefer herd turn out in a large field. Ho hum

Thanks everyone

Yard 1 and join the Pony Club for the fun stuff.

3-5 hours a day, all year round? Sounds really rubbish. I'm more of a realist than many about 24/7/365 turnout which of course is the dream, but I def wouldn't go for that - my realistic minimum (what current yard provides) is 24/7 in summer and in overnight in winter, with restricted turnout to 3-5 hours a day for perhaps the worst 4-6 weeks of the year depending on how wet/frozen fields get - that's bad enough IMO (mine are OK with being stabled so long as they have plenty of hay but I still worry/feel guilty about them) and I def wouldn't feel good about going to any less, no matter how good the yard otherwise.

I totally feel you on wanting a yard with other children around, it does enhance their enjoyment of course but pony's welfare has to come first. At least it sounds as though they have pony-loving siblings to spend time on the yard and ride with and as others have said you can get them out to PC and lessons etc for fun with other children. So long as they are reasonably well behaved not feral and aren't doing anything actively dangerous or disruptive I would try and put aside the feelings of 'not belonging' on a competition yard - I'm not a serious/competitive rider myself but our yard has several people with strings of high powered dressage/SJ types and whilst I can see how they could come across a bit snobby or aloof it's more the case that they're very focused and wrapped up in their own horses and what they need to be doing at any given moment so don't tend to engage with others as much. But I doubt very much they mind (or even notice TBH!) the scruffy, noisy incompetent rest of us either, they certainly don't have the time or energy to be judging or interfering, AFAIK the only thing that rubs them up the wrong way is hogging the facilities or getting in their way in the arena which the other competitors are far, far more likely to do than those of us that mainly hack or lead children slowly around are!

Unless you are going to be working your pony really hard every day I think the limited turnout at the second yard could lead to a pony that is not suitable for someone just off the lead rein . The hacking also doesn’t sound suitable if you are going to have children walking / riding bikes whilst they wait for their turn .

Your daughter won't be 8 forever...right now she seems so small but in a couple of years she'll be a preteen! I'd go with what's right for the pony.

@MarySanderson

Yard 1 and join the Pony Club for the fun stuff.

This with bells on, she can do camp,rallies, competitions with the local pony club and you will meet a big group of people away from the yard which is a plus. As others have said she will also grow up and the yard will still suit her.

I may be in the minority here but where I come from many horses are stabled in almost all day, and they are OK and thrive and are not killer beasts from hell. If the pony gets overexcited, it can always be lunged before ridden.

It's all in the management. 3-5 hours a day is not bad. A pony will not need to be grazing 12 hours, they will just become prone to obesity and all the other associated issues. Will get a muzzle inevitably and that's no better.

I like the kid-friendly place. Kids need to have fun, not rules and competitions. I would not want to be at a yard with no other kids where I feel like a nuisance.

Lastly - have you asked your daughter? Which one she liked more?

Completely disagree with the above poster.
I’m from an equine background where we don’t turnout (racing) and I’m such a militant turn-out obsessive now.
Leaving a horse in a box so they aren’t grazing and getting fat (so presumably not with ad Lib hay...) is just asking for ulcers.

Children with pets need to learn that the animals welfare is infinitely more important than them enjoying the animal. They aren’t a toy.