Would you be happy with this ?

[ThePlumVan]

Horse on full livery including ad-lib hay.
Often I ride after dark under the lights when everyone’s finished for the day. Sometimes, like tonight I find him with hardly any hay or water. This is 7pm and he’ll be without until 8am the next day so 13 hours potentially.

They say he’s gorged on it. I use trickle nets and it’s only sometimes this happen mostly he’s got enough. Also, hay is delivered twice a week so when they run out ‘that’s it until next drop off’. When the water is filled to the brim it lasts the night but they clearly haven’t done that either.

Would you be happy with this ?

It doesn't sound great! Leaving him without hay overnight is bad enough, but the water would concern me more.

Can you put a solar powered webcam in his stable?

Completely unacceptable
I would expect a late top of of hay and water to make sure he had some.
What time do they do last checks ?

No. Badly run yard and smacks of laziness. Water especially - why aren't there more buckets in there? You can't run out of hay and just shrug it off!

I wouldn’t be happy no. I wouldn’t keep a horse where forage is not stocked and freely available-never heard of anyone getting deliveries in a just in time fashion for horses. Sounds dodgy to me! What do they do if a horse needs box rest and eats more?!
My girl is on 1.5% body weight hay and she does run out early, but she’s on a vet diet for EMS and insulin dysregulation so she’ll die if she’s fed more. But in a well horse this is unacceptable.
Water should never be restricted.

No absolutely not.

Definitely not

No, absolutely not. I would want a second bucket in there given the importance of always having water available. I’d also be very concerned about the hay supply system. To my mind it’s not good enough to say that’s it if it runs out…hay is something that there should always be plenty of. I don’t think you can run an ad lib hay regime in the way they seem to!
Can you give him extra hay after your ride?

Absolutely shocking and unacceptable! I do full liveries and I make sure that they all have enough hay and water to last them the night and there is always some left over when I turn them out in the morning. Some horses are thirstier or prefer deeper water so might have two full trugs. Even the greedy ones with tiny holed nets have a full net that they work on slowly through the night.
Leftover hay gets put in the field and leftover water is used for rinsing feed buckets as all buckets get cleaned every morning and replaced with fresh water.

Thanks for your replies - I’m being made to feel like my horse is somehow at fault when I raise the issue.

The hay is locked away at night so I can’t top up without knocking on the house and getting told he’s had plenty and has just gobbled it quickly, and the water is fine if it’s filled up so I know they haven’t done it that day or they haven’t done it to the top.

Would I be unreasonable to buy and store extra hay for him when I find him without, and knock it off my livery bill ?

Water is a big issue but easily solved with an extra bucket.
If a horse has no hay overnight when confined to a stable I'd expect them to become bored -!even if not hungry - which cannot be good news.

OK fair enough I need a second water trough for when they don’t do it (perfect) like me 😁

Very not happy about the hay situation though.

They don’t actually sound nice, reasonable or caring at all. I’d expect any yard owner or manager to have a conversation with me about anything I wasn’t happy about and at least try to resolve it. Sounds like they are just shutting you down.
I’d be putting feelers out for a new yard or if that’s not an option buying my own hay and giving extra each night.

@ThePlumVan

OK fair enough I need a second water trough for when they don’t do it (perfect) like me 😁

Very not happy about the hay situation though.

Your best bet is to move tbh, full livery requires 100% trust. You don’t trust them (rightly) so move on.

No, I really wouldn't. Sadly some full liveries totally take the piss (witnessed first hand at a few places) using second rate hay, underfeeding to save money, not checking water and mucking out infrequently. I'd also not be happy on paying for ad-lib hay and it running out/being rationed. You shouldn't have to pay for additional if it is in your contract. I always used trickle nets for my fatty and even being a massive pig she couldn't gorge herself (and would have). I also always had two buckets for water. Can you look for another yard? I wouldn't trust after those issues.

Agree that moving is the best thing here. They aren't going to get any better.

Water is a big issue but easily solved with an extra bucket.

Only if they're bothering to fill them up though. If they can't be bothered with one, I doubt they'll bother with two. The hay would really concern me as well. It really isn't good for a horse's gut health to have an empty stomach for those prolonged periods. I'd be moving yards.

Definitely move. They're not even meeting the most basic of your horse's needs, and don't seem to care. Seems unlikely to improve, as you've already brought it up with them.

I’d definitely move. Your horse is going to be at serious risk from gastric ulcers from the lack of hay.