Possible yard move - which one

[NoProblem123]

Horse on full livery. Everything included except exercise.

Current Yard A - big livery yard. Nice brick stable. Lots of friends there !
But - Lacks basic maintenance everywhere but particularly the meneges which are largely unusable most of the year (flooded, horses turned out). All jumps broken. Fields not looked after (Pooh, weeds, fencing). The whole place extremely muddy in winter. Yard Manager does not follow basic requests (rug changes, feet washed/picked). Better hacking (with friends!) but general lack of care.

Yard B - Smaller yard, same distance from home, no friends at all there !
£200 pcm more expensive. Amazing ménages with jumps, but limited hacking. Great turnout but they look after it so limited in winter. Smaller wooden loose boxes. Extra facilities including Walker, treadmill, washer, solarium are included. Manager seems very invested in her horses so I’m hopeful of a higher level of care.

What would you do - A or B ?
And if B - Do you think it’s worth that much extra ?

Is there an option C? I wouldn’t want to keep a horse at either of them tbh..

I'd say neither sound great but then I would never be on a yard with limited winter turnout. Horses don't care about arenas and walkers and solariums, they care about grass and turnout.

Yard A sounds terrible but surely there's a better option than B, even if it means going further afield.

B without a doubt.

I'd look for c... Have you thought about a good diy yard and employing a freelance groom with the money you save?

Is there an option c? If not which does your house prefer? Do you have transport? If so could you stay at A and box up to a school when needed?

I would keep looking .

Thanks Guys - the search continues !

Why doesn’t someone open the perfect livery yard, brand & market it, and roll out the franchise so they’re everywhere 😁

how limited is limited.
I think turnout is an absolute basic welfare necessity and if the only yards in my area offered limited turnout I wouldn’t have a horse.

I think it depends a bit on your horse and what you do, if I was more of a competition type and only hacked out occasionally and the 'limited' turnout still includes being out a substantial part of the day in winter and my horse was OK being in at night, I might consider Yard B, but £200 pcm more is really a lot particularly if you mainly want to hack and it's worse hacking than where you are now. If it wasn't for the care issues at Yard A you could easily make up for broken jumps and flooded menages by going out to arena hires, lessons etc with that £200 (you could even buy yourself some jumps pretty easily with that money although doesn't solve the issue of no usable surface to put them on) ... but muddy turnout and a yard owner/manager that doesn't seem to care does sound miserable to me. Maybe as others have said keep looking?

@NoProblem123

Thanks Guys - the search continues !

Why doesn’t someone open the perfect livery yard, brand & market it, and roll out the franchise so they’re everywhere 😁

BHS Approved is what you are looking for But there aren't many really (cost I imagine)

www.bhs.org.uk/professionals/become-bhs-approved/approved-livery-yards

How limited is limited turnout? If these were the only 2 options I'd go for B but neither of them particularly appeal. And I've yet to be on a livery where the fields don't get trashed to some extent in the winter, largely because they know they'll be coming in so the fence lines/gateways get hammered.

@ariela even then it varies, I looked out of interest for my area, the first one that came up I would rather have my horse pts than on that yard, others are lovely. They tend to be big

As PPs have said, what are your priorities (hacking, menage) and your horses and what are your bare minimums. Screen A B and others accordingly.

You could ask the manager of A what their plans are for the menage in Winter?

If hacking and time with friends are your priority then I'd stay with A over the Summer until you find somewhere affordable and better then drag your friends along.

Good luck.