Which of these 2 liveries would you choose?

[WoahThereNelly]

Which one would you go for?

Livery 1 - Small yard (9 liveries) with very friendly liveries and good community spirit, no real yard politics except for quite overbearing yard manager who likes everybody to have the same opinion as her on everything and can be quite bossy about it. Small outdoor school with floodlights. No indoor or other facilities. No toilets, tea room. Small tack room, no other storage. Hacking is OK but involves riding down a busy main road to get there. Kids and dogs welcome (I have both).

Livery 2 - Huge yard (50+ horses) but this is a smaller division of 10 within the main yard. Main yard has riding school, competition yard etc. Multiple floodlit outdoor areas, indoor school, horse walker, lunge pen, solarium, treatment rooms. Not entirely clear how much competition there is for these with the riding school - told there is never an issue finding somewhere to ride but there's no booking system as such. Miles of off road hacking straight from yard. Only the yard owner and 2 grooms really around - no other liveries as it's a breaking and schooling yard. Tea room, toilets, storage, heated locked tack room and rug washing. Kids are allowed within reason, but dogs definitely not.

Both yards are only £90 between each other in monthly cost, no added extras - have checked.

Apologies for the total lack of paragraph spaces...very annoying how the app does that.

The second one without a doubt , nothing worse than a livery yard where all and sundries dogs are running amok . Also even on a small yard if there is only one school it could get congested at busy times . The hacking is also better at the large yard .

Second one for sure! A small friendly yard is great if you get on with everyone but hell if you don’t, as you just can’t avoid them. Plus the second one has better facilities all round and better hacking, no brainer imo!

Second one, without a doubt.

Interesting, thanks guys! What if you were already at Livery 1 and knew you really liked everyone but had the option to go to Livery 2? Would you take the risk for the greater facilities etc for just £90 more?

I’d pay £90 more for the hacking, to be honest. But that’s because that is what I consider “riding” . What is your priority?

I would move as the pp said it’s worth the £90 for the hacking alone .

Toilets would be a deal breaker for me! Only downside of yard 2 I think is no other liveries, I like the social side of our yard, riding out with other people or even just having a chat.

I’d still move, the hacking would be worth the price increase.

The facilities and hacking are hugely important to me. But the idea of a massive yard does scare me a bit and I know how lucky I am to have found such nice liveries so couldn't decide if I'd be stupid to leave them.

@DuesToTheDirt Yes, exactly. It's how much of a dealbreaker that ie, versus all the facilities really.

@weaselwords I love hacking too :) But I also love schooling, lunging and would be well up for entering the odd competition they run at Livery 2. I have no transport so our world is currently very small where we are, just the same one arena and same circuit hack via busy road. I do sometimes feel my pony gets bored but I'm quite sure that's my own projection!

Yard 2 then, but make sure that your old yard feels loved too, so that you can go back if you need to.

Yard 2 without a doubt.

Yard 2, good hacking is really important

The only thing I would check @WoahThereNelly is the turnout situation at yard 2 as sometimes large ,busy yards have limited turnout particularly in the winter .

I'd go for yard 2 as well on the basis of the hacking. I also like basic facilities like toilets.

@Floralnomad

The only thing I would check *@WoahThereNelly* is the turnout situation at yard 2 as sometimes large ,busy yards have limited turnout particularly in the winter .

Exactly this! Yard two sounds great from everything you’ve described, but the most important things for me would be turnout and quality of care (unless DIY).

If those two things stack up, I’d pick yard two for sure! I’m on a yard with similar facilities and, although I’m mainly a leisure rider rather than a competitive rider, my horse and I enjoy all the fancy add-one, and having an indoor school makes winter riding much more enjoyable.

*add-ons

Thank you everybody...just to give an update, I've actually stayed at Yard 1 as I got quite upset at the idea of leaving all our friends at Yard 1 and my horse is so settled there.

I am thinking I may be slightly nuts though. Yard 2 ticks so many boxes, has so many facilities and was a fabulous price. I think I've list the opportunity now though anyway.

Just to get rid of ‘overbearing yard manager’ I’d go for option 2.
Every other thing you list would be an added bonus.