Livery Yard Dilemmas

[JesusMaryAndJosephAndTheWeeDon]

Urgh, I utterly love my livery yard, close to home, lovely quiet lanes to ride on, nice outdoor arena with lights, hardstanding parking for a trailer, secure, year round turnout, nice indoor stables.

But they are withdrawing services. I have a busy full time job and a commute. I can't do 100% DIY. So I have to move. I can't find anywhere that offers what I want within reasonable distance 😩

I have found one place that seems nice with decent hacking and year round turnout and an owner that seems reliable and kind.

But there isn't really any trailer parking, it would be on grass and visible from the road. I can't have it at home. There is very little storage and the school only has one light. I ride after dark most weekdays. No one else has transport and it looks fairly low key no one going competing or whatever, quite a few ponies.

The other yard I have found the hacking looks stressful and they don't have weekend services except for holidays. But the facilities are excellent, storage is a bit less than I am used to but manageable, free trailer parking that looks hard standing and out of sight of the road.

I am so torn. I don't want to move but need the security of services and I don't know what to do 😩

Help or sympathy greatly appreciated

Can't you team up with other liveries at your current yard and help each other out? Presumably you aren't the only one in this situation?

Could you advertise for a mobile groom on Facebook or similar? Someone who could do some jobs for you for a fee? There's lots of this going on where we live. Maybe you could share costs with other owners?

Yes lots of people in a similar position but it just isn't very reliable.

I have limited time so can only return so many favours. Then there are holidays and last minute stuff.

Could do but we have to find someone and they have to be reliable and then there is the worry that the owner seems to have "checked out" a bit. I worry that we will start to get loads of grief about stuff like use of lights and water etc as I don't think they have fully considered the effect of going 100% DIY. I've lost confidence and don't want the stress of being dropped in it at the last minute while dealing with a stressful job.

Can you pay someone to do the day to day care?

I know a lot of dog walkers/pet sitters also cover horses and will be insured and happy enough to do turn outs, mucking out, feeds, making up bedding and bringing in at night.

It's a service I offer - at the moment I do it ad-hoc for one horse while the owners are away but I'm sure there's a market for those services if you ask around.

Neither option sounds great. I’d 100% recommend asking on FB very few livery owners have websites and if they do they don’t update them. You might be surprised how much is around

Offer a small fee and / or free use of the horse during the week to someone who has time and experience to look after and exercise it daily - then you can do it at weekends or when you have time?

We used to be on DIY - two of the long-standing liveries had banded together to offer services. It was an arrangement we made with them, not the yard owner and it worked very well. None of the other options sounds great tbh so would be worth exploring ways of staying where you are

Oh god I don't want a sharer, I am up most nights to ride, so exercise is not a problem. It's turning out and bringing in at reasonable times and having chance to muck out in between.

Already tried that and messaging horsey friends in surrounding areas to see where they are and where there friends are.

Definitely speak to other liveries and look for a freelance groom. I wouldn't leave a yard I liked unless it was absolutely necessary because good ones are so hard to come by. You may have to prepare yourself for maintenance etc to go downhill as DIY yards are never usually maintained as well, especially as you say the YO seems to have checked out a bit.

The option of paid help on the current yard is being looked into, there's a lady who has offered some days already but it is finding someone reliable to cover the rest.

One of the reasons the yard owner is giving up is difficulty finding people to work. This is the second time this year we've had problems with having no one to provide services, we've had issues in the past and it is becoming more frequent.

Things like maintenance are a concern and the grazing, if there is no one providing services then horses will be hanging around the gate waiting to come in for ages trashing the ground and will be turned out overnight for more of the year meaning less grass.

Then if people leave you could lose valuable support.

It sounds like you have two separate concerns and it might help to consider them separately:

1. Removal of livery services: This one can probably be solved with freelance services, and I would investigate this fully before even considering leaving a good yard.

2. Owner losing interest, worry about general decline of the place and grazing etc. This is a bigger worry, but it seems that it hasn't happened yet and might not do! If you see things going downhill in this respect, then for sure you will need to move, but it doesn't sound like you're there yet.

So my suggestion would be stay, use freelance services, see how it goes, if it's not working, move to yard 2. Yard 1 doesn't sound right for you at all.

Could you afford to move to full livery , when you cost everything up and your time it sometimes works out to be not that much more expensive . Whereabouts in the country are you as someone might be able to make a suggestion .

Full/Part Livery is what I want.

I had day to day care done, and I just had to groom, and ride. Although I visit daily, and often do more than this there was no pressure to be there at a specific time or to get essential jobs done. This was needed because my job involves a commute and is the type where I can need to do long hours or travel.

I am struggling to find anywhere that will offer similar within a reasonable distance that also has decent facilities and decent hacking (don't mind roadwork but I don't want it to be so busy you can only hack by going out early on a Sunday morning).

How much do you like hacking? If you're not big on it, I'd try the second yard. I think at the first you'd find it difficult to ride in the week? If you'd rather sacrifice weekday riding for weekend hacking, I'd go for the first.

I think if you need services, trying to find a fudge on your current yard won't work, and I'd try either of the other two whilst you keep an eye out for something more suitable?

If you have a trailer then boxing up to hacking is a possibility at weekends, I assume? So I think if it were me, I'd try yard 2 for the winter at least?

Thanks for all of the input, we now have 7 day freelance cover which will hopefully work so that I can stay. But so many people have left or are planning to leave, I feel really sad that the atmosphere will change, I worry about whether it will be profitable for the freelancers and that I will miss friends.

I’d look further afield for a full livery or 5 day livery , worth going further afield for somewhere with better facilities .

Horses business are finding it difficult to get staff, let alone reliable ones. I am lucky at our yard, the staff are fantastic. But they are well paid and live on the yard in good accommodation. Our livery has gone up to pay for it!

The days of staff prepared to live in cold mobile homes for low wages is long over!

I'm not saying anyone should have to live in substandard accomodation. I am quite happy to pay my way and would rather pay than mess about with reciprocal favours.

I have relatives that work with horses so I absolutely support them having decent conditions.

Our yard is pretty nice to work at, indoor stables, long hoses that reach to the stables, close by muck heap that is cleared by tractor so doesn't need to be forked up. No poo picking as the fields are done by tractor. Hard surfaced track to the fields. Stone in the gateways so you don't have to paddle through mud. Electric lights, hot and cold running water. A heated kitchen, with seats microwave, fridge, and dishwasher. Decent parking.

Indoor and outdoor school and great hacking if they want their own horse there.

Draw backs are that you need your own car as it is a tough walk from the nearest train or bus stop and there is no on site accommodation for staff just the farm house.

Where we are accommodation is £££ to rent, petrol is expensive as we know and few buses. My friend is freelance, amongst other jobs she grooms. She is very experienced and reliable and charges £15 per hour.